Steerpike

Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

Tuesday

Steerpike

Ben Houchen tells Tory rebels: ‘shut up and get out of the way’

It looks like the sniping has already begun here at Tory party conference. On Tuesday, Liz Truss decided to use the event as a vehicle to launch her ‘Great British Growth Rally’ – an attempt to push the party to reduce the size of the state. That has not gone down well though with some of her colleagues, who’ve seen it as an attempt to undermine Rishi Sunak. Chief critic has been Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, who said ahead of the rally that he wished Truss had ‘more awareness’ and stayed away. Yesterday, Houchen went further at a panel hosted by the Centre for Policy Studies and CapX.

Steerpike

Health Secretary heckled for skimping on the detail

Who pays up to £242 for a member ticket to the Conservative party conference only to disrupt its events? You’d have to ask the young man who heckled the health secretary during his Q&A at Monday’s Health and Care reception… Barclay spent 15 minutes hinting at what the latest Tory plan to save the NHS might be – something Mr S understands he will discuss in more depth in his main speech on Tuesday. His focus was on technological innovation, getting patients seen faster and utilising other types of healthcare workers. Indeed, Barclay was particularly keen to emphasise a service that relied less on doctors, in a perhaps covert response to the BMA/government stand-off that has resulted in more than one million cancelled appointments.

Monday

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‘Stop Brexit Man’ Steve Bray gets into a scrap at Tory conference

Fresh from mingling with Bully XL owners, 'Stop Brexit Man’ Steve Bray has popped up again – this time at a conference fringe event asking 'Can the Tories win?'. Mr S thinks he knows what Bray's answer to that question might be. During the event, Bray stood up to unveil his ‘Stop The Tories’ top. But before he could yell ‘BREXIT’, one of the crowd decided to take matters into his own hands. The delegate tackled Bray into the corner before attempting to wrestle him out of the room. ‘This is assault,’ screamed Bray as security rushed to intervene. ‘Losers!’ he bellowed as he was hustled from the room. ‘No, you’re the loser mate,’ retorted an elderly gentleman to delighted laughter.

Steerpike

Does Rishi Sunak hate dogs?

Every world leader these days needs to have a pet. Joe Biden has a pair of out-of-control German Shepherds that are busily biting their way through the president's secret service guards; Boris Johnson had Dilyn, a Jack Russell which was as well trained as its owner; and Rishi Sunak owns Nova, a Red Fox labrador. The Prime Minister has been pictured working hard while stroking the dog. But does Sunak actually like his pet? Comments made by the PM at a fringe event at Tory conference suggest not. The PM told a Women2Win event that after enlisting the help of his wife and kids to get him elected, he begrudgingly rewarded them by giving them a dog. 'Ultimately I found myself at Pets at Home buying stuff for a brand new Labrador puppy that I didn’t want in the first place,' he said.

Steerpike

Scottish Tory leader takes a pop at Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is the talk of the Scottish Tory fringe at Conservative party conference — but perhaps not in the way the Prime Minister might hope. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross wasted no time at all at making a dig at his boss — perhaps a sly retaliation to the fact Rishi Sunak wasn’t able to name even four members of Ross’s shadow cabinet this summer. How very awkward…  ‘I am the final speaker before the Prime Minister comes,’ Ross announced to a gathering crowd, ‘so I have some small housekeeping duties to do…’ ‘As the Prime Minister will be coming up on the stage, I just need to sort this out for you, before he's in the room,’ the Scottish Tory leader continued — before deftly flicking his bendable microphone down to waist height. Ouch.

Sunday

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Rishi outlines Keir Starmer’s five ‘pledges’ in 1922 speech

Rishi Sunak’s first Conservative party conference as prime minister is off to a roaring start. Never one to miss a chance to stick it to his opponents, he marked the occasion by ribbing his opposite number Keir Starmer.  This evening in Manchester Sunak was guest of honour at the 1922 committee and ConservativeHome’s drinks reception. Taking to the podium, the Prime Minister couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke fun at the Labour leader.

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Tory peer: stop funding the Conservatives

It's the first night of the Conservative party conference and (so far) the drama is yet to live up to last year's mini-Budget mayhem. But just down the road from the official venue in Manchester, rebel grassroots' group the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) tonight threw a black tie gala dinner. Some 300-odd attendees were in attendance, including Nigel Farage and around a dozen Conservative MPs including keynote speaker Priti Patel and deputy chairman Lee Anderson. Hopes of an appearance by Boris Johnson though, were sadly dashed. But while Patel gave a characteristically punchy speech that included lengthy praise of GB News, it was the performance of CDO President Lord Cruddas that raised the most eyebrows.

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Kemi Badenoch guns for Stonewall – and the charity sector

Kemi Badenoch’s war with Stonewall opened up on a new front this evening. Earlier this year, the business secretary incurred the wrath of the LGBTQ+ charity when she told government officials to withdraw from Stonewall’s top 100 employers’ scheme over the charity’s dubious positions on gender rights. Now, speaking this evening, she has raised the question of whether Stonewall and other charities should be receiving any public money at all.

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Ministers flirt with ECHR exit

It’s day one of the Conservative party conference and already Tory politicians are being probed on the tough questions. One of the hot topics in Manchester this afternoon was Kemi Badenoch’s declaration that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) needs to be ‘on the table’ as an option for the UK. Among the first to be pressed on the subject today were Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat at Onward’s ‘Future of Conservatis'm event. Both ministers intriguingly declined to rule such a move out. Asked if he agreed with Badenoch‘s opinion, Gove went first with a spritely ‘Keep every option open!’. Tugendhat answered more hesitantly, umming a little and coyly saying ‘I’m always happy to listen to ideas.

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Bully XL owners team up with anti-Brexit Steve Bray outside Tory conference

It wouldn’t be a Tory party conference without hundreds of protesters lining the streets. Manchester has not disappointed. From trade unionists, Steve Bray’s die-hard remainers, the Young Communist League, Extinction Rebellion and, of course, Just Stop Oil, anyone with a grievance appears to have made it to the Rainy City. Even Bully XL owners have trudged around Manchester today, chanting “muzzle Rishi, not our dogs!” – although Mr S can gladly report that they’ve left their hounds at home. Beginning their marches an hour late, Mr S isn’t quite sure that the activists managed to capture the attention of the Tory politicians they were denouncing – particularly as most were already safely inside the venue for today’s big speeches.

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Priti Patel accuses Suella Braverman of attention seeking

It's Tory conference – which means the Conservatives are at each other's throats once again. This morning, Priti Patel took a pop at Suella Braverman, accusing the Home Secretary of attention seeking. Patel also suggested Braverman was guilty of focusing on words over action. The slap down came a few days after Braverman used a speech in Washington to suggest multiculturalism had failed. In an interview with Sky's Trevor Phillips, Patel was asked whether Braverman's comments were helpful to Rishi Sunak. Here's what Patel had to say: 'To me, this is very much making interventions, statements, but actually Trevor I think we have to be realistic here to know that is not a substitute for delivery on changes around policy in government. I don't know what the intention was around that.

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Why did the Observer bury a poll showing Starmer’s shrinking lead?

As Conservative conference kicks off, there is a crumb of comfort for the Prime Minister in the latest polling in the Observer – but you'd be hard pressed to actually find it in the newspaper's write-up. The Opinium survey for the paper of more than 3,000 voters – including over 900 people who voted Tory in 2019 – shows that Labour's lead has shrunk to just ten points over the Tories. Sunak's party now has 29 per cent of the vote share, compared to Labour's 39 per cent. Mr S doesn't think the Tories should get too excited just yet. But it does mark something of a turnaround in the party's fortunes, given that a year ago Labour led the Conservatives by some 25 points. The Observer, however, seemed curiously shy about revealing this finding.

Saturday

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Labour is ‘not the natural party of governance’, says David Lammy

There’s just over a week to go before what might be the Labour party’s last conference before the general election. But while the mood in the wider party might be one of optimism, it seems that caution is the order of the day on Keir Starmer’s front bench.  Appearing on a panel called ‘Is Labour’s election triumph inevitable’ at the Cliveden Literary Festival, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy revealed that during Starmer’s party leadership campaign in the spring of 2020, he had some words of warning for the future leader. ‘I cautioned Keir not to suggest that Labour could win the election in one cycle,’ he said, ‘He didn’t accept that advice and decided to go for it.’ At least Lammy still managed to bag a place in the shadow cabinet.

Friday

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GB News civil war intensifies

It’s safe to say that this hasn’t been GB News’s finest week and there’s no sign of the drama stopping any time soon. First Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton were suspended from the channel for their, er, discussion about political commentator Ava Evans. Now Calvin Robinson has become the third presenter to be disciplined after posting a lengthy defence of Wootton online. Robinson’s defiant post appears to have set off alarm bells at GB News HQ. The Deacon’s fury at his colleague’s suspension was channelled into a 326-word long Twitter rant about the ‘pandering’ of his bosses to the ‘woke mob’. Wootton, he raged ‘brought so many people on board… including the careerist ambitious ones who are currently gunning for his job.

Thursday

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Rishi roasts Truss, Hancock and the lobby

To the Parlimentary Press Gallery dinner, held in the splendour of the National Liberal Club. This event hasn’t been held for four years, with Press Gallery chair Sam Lister joking that ‘Boris Johnson locked the country down’ to avoid attending while Liz Truss resigned the day her invitation to this shindig arrived. Lister gave the opening speech, turning her wit on a series of politicians including Tom Tugendhat whom she quipped had gone from a ‘security minister to a security risk’ in record time. But the highlight of the night was undoubtedly the speech by the Prime Minister. And Rishi Sunak took to the stage with aplomb, contrasting Lister’s rise with that of her counterpart Hugo Gye, the chairman of the lobby.

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Will Fergus Ewing now defect?

The SNP civil war has returned to the offices of Holyrood and nationalist infighting is only getting more toxic. Veteran politician Fergus Ewing was last night disciplined after months of vocally criticising his party’s policies — and voting against the government during junior minister Lorna Slater’s confidence motion.  Although his punishment has been dished up, the drama isn’t over yet for the Inverness and Nairn MSP. Today he informed reporters that he is still considering whether he will rejoin the SNP after his suspension ends... Could Ewing stand as an independent? Would he defect to Alba, the pro-independence party lead by former first minister Alex Salmond?

Steerpike

Rishi’s media round derailed by HS2

Ah the regional BBC round: the chance for any aspiring local reporter to make a name for themselves. Every year, in the run-up to Tory conference, the party leader must subject themselves to this ritual piñata, in which they face a barrage of quick-fire questions from journalists across the country. Last year it was Liz Truss's turn to face eight such grillings in under an hour, in which she was asked if she was 'ashamed' of her mini-Budget and accused of being a 'reverse Robin Hood'. This time Rishi Sunak didn't endure such a battering, though the PM would no doubt squirm if he listened back to his cross-examination on the future of high-speed rail. Appearing on BBC Manchester, Sunak repeatedly refused to answer questions on whether he will scrap the HS2 line to, er, Manchester.

Wednesday

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The knives sharpen for GB News

The GB News row rumbles on, with its enemies seeing the perfect chance to call for its closure. A genuinely indefensible blunder from two of the channel's regulars, Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton, has seen both suspended. But questions are now being asked about the overall culture – and even whether it should be banned entirely. Adam Boulton, former political editor of Sky News, was on Newsnight last night saying that it’s time for GB News to be taken off air, even going so far as to compare the station to Russian state media: I have to say I think the complaints have piled up against GB News. I think there is a delicate and important broadcast ecology in this country.

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SNP suspend rebel backbencher Fergus Ewing

Is open debate now too painful for the SNP? Fergus Ewing, one of the party’s longest serving (and most outspoken) politicians has tonight been suspended for a week after criticising his own government’s ministers and policies. The disciplinary action comes after a series of statements Ewing made in recent months attacking the direction of the SNP — which in some cases resulted in his voting against government itself.

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Watch: Lucy Frazer struggles through painful Sky News interview

The morning broadcast round is often dreaded by politicians sent out to bat for the government. Today it was the unlucky turn of Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who ended up being savaged by Kay Burley on Sky News while defending Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s call to reform the UN refugee convention.  Early on, Frazer had declared ‘that’s not my job, I’m not the education secretary’ when challenged by Burley about the government not doing enough to get kids back into schools. The presenter then scathingly told Frazer ‘I’m sure you’re going to tell me you’re not the Home Secretary either’, before asking her ‘whether ‘the government [will] commit to staying within the UN refugee convention’.