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

Saturday

Steerpike

New Yorker: Cressida Dick handled de Menezes killing with ‘dignity and grace’

From our UK edition

For some time now the New York Times has been a pioneer in the field of dodgy reporting on Britain. From declaring that Brits live on porridge and boiled mutton to suggesting that we love to cavort in swamps, the US paper of record has managed to paint an increasingly strange picture of life in this country. But could the NYT now be facing stiff completion from the New Yorker in the British fantasy genre? This weekend, the magazine published a strange defence of Cressida Dick, after she was forced to resign as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police by Sadiq Khan.

Steerpike

Will Neil Basu’s past comments come back to haunt him?

From our UK edition

Cressida Dick may be gone but will her replacement be even worse? The under-fire Metropolitan police commissioner quit the job on Thursday after five years in the role, meaning that three of the last four Met bosses have now been forced out in disgrace. Dick's departure has prompted an immediate search for her successor. Unfortunately, one of the very reasons for her survival at the top for so long, was a lack of a viable alternative, with many top cops preferring quieter pastures than London or opting for greater riches in the private security sector. Perhaps that dearth of talent can be shown in one of the early favourites for the role of Dick's replacement.

Friday

Steerpike

What Boris learned from John Major

From our UK edition

As yesterday's attack showed, there's no love lost between Boris Johnson and John Major. Mr S has previously chronicled the many times Major has criticised his successor, with whom he so publicly disagreed over Brexit. The enmity between the two men stretches back to the early 1990s when Johnson was the Telegraph's main man in Brussels and subsequently the paper's chief political commentator in Westminster.  The-then journalist had great fun lampooning Europhile excesses at the time of the Maastricht debate, something which naturally didn't make him popular with the pro-EEC Major as he tried to ram the treaty through Parliament.

Steerpike

Revealed: the hidden costs of John Bercow

From our UK edition

John Bercow may be gone but his legacy still lives on. The former Speaker of the House of Commons quit the role back in November 2019 but new costs from his tenure at the helm are still being uncovered more than two years on. Steerpike has done some digging and it seems the scandal-hit Speaker felt the need to call in the services of an expert PR adviser, despite him having access to both his own press secretary and the Commons media team. A Freedom of Information request has found that Bercow spent between £65,000 to £70,000 on the services of former journalist Tim Hames between 2015 and 2019. Who he, you might ask?

Thursday

Steerpike

Another day, another Guto Harri blunder

From our UK edition

Oh dear. Guto Harri's first week as Boris Johnson's new press chief hasn't got off to a great start. First, he took a pop on Twitter at Dominic Cummings. Then he gave an interview in which he offered faint praise to his boss – declaring him not to be a 'complete clown'. Next he rocked up Downing Street wielding a Tesco shopping bag like a samurai sword, bantering with reporters in a somewhat awkward exchange. And now, he appears to have indulged in another social media slip-up. For Harri this evening has retweeted his onetime fellow lobbyist Gavin Devine, after the latter attacked Tory critics of John Major.

Steerpike

Cressida Dick out as Met chief

From our UK edition

What a U-turn. Despite insisting this morning that she had 'no intention' of quitting as Metropolitan Police chief, Cressida Dick has this evening been forced out of her role running Britain's biggest force. Sadiq Khan was the decisive factor which prompted this change in Dick's fortunes after the London mayor said he no longer had confidence in her leadership. In a statement Khan told the press: Last week, I made clear to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner the scale of the change I believe is urgently required to rebuild the trust and confidence of Londoners in the Met and to root out the racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny that still exists. I am not satisfied with the Commissioner's response.

Steerpike

Does Oxford’s Bodleian Library really need a race adviser?

From our UK edition

It’s a difficult time for libraries. Budget cutbacks, online competitors and rival forms of media all point to a grim future for bibliophiles. Still, at least one trend is creating new jobs: the ever-increasing demand for PC-approved books means woke curators are very much in vogue. And now it seems that even the crown jewel of British university book rooms, Oxford’s Bodleian library, is trying to get in on the act with its latest right-on recruitment advert. For Mr S has been sent a copy of the newest ‘job opportunity’ the Bod are putting out for a ‘project manager for race and inclusion.

Steerpike

Red Wall Tory in hot water over Facebook video

From our UK edition

Since being elected in 2019, a number of the 'Red Wall' Tory MPs have displayed something of an enthusiastic approach to social media activity. Lee Anderson generated headlines with his Facebook posts on England footballers 'taking the knee' at last year's Euros while Dehenna Davison has caused a stir with her TikTok videos. But few can match the efforts of Jonathan Gullis, the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, whose, er, energetic videos on Facebook live have promoted considerable comment in his local newspaper. Gullis, who serves as an aide to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, has taken to filming himself striding around the parliamentary estate with his AirPods in, addressing his constituents on the big issues of the day.

Steerpike

Watch: Truss and Lavrov clash in Russia

From our UK edition

Liz Truss is out on Russia, meeting the Kremlin's finest in between various photoshoots. But while the Foreign Secretary might enjoy cosplaying as Mrs T in her finest furs, her appearance this afternoon with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was more Theresa May than Iron Lady. In an awkward encounter Lavrov told a joint press conference that UK diplomats came 'unprepared' to Moscow and that talks with Truss were like 'speaking to a deaf person who listens but cannot hear.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPRcJCHXmmc Naturally, such comments were seized upon by some of the more Brexit-deranged critics here in Britain, as proof of Truss's failings.

Steerpike

Just how impartial are the SNP’s Covid experts?

From our UK edition

Those heading up Scotland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic have had some well-documented trouble separating their fandom for Nicola Sturgeon from their public health role. Professor Devi Sridhar, a member of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Advisory Group, has made so many appearances in Steerpike she merits her own byline. Sridhar has previously gushed that: I truly believe … the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whatever your opinion on politics, independence has tried to do a good job through this crisis. She has tried to brief the public, she has tried to message clearly, she has tried to listen to the scientists.

Steerpike

Nicola Sturgeon’s pensions untruths

From our UK edition

If Prince Harry really does want to stamp out 'disinformation' he ought to have a look at what's going up in Scotland. Two of the SNP's leading lights have claimed in recent weeks that Scottish pensions would be guaranteed in a post-Scexit nation, despite both the UK government and independent pension experts pointing out the opposite. And now the nationalist-in-chief, the great- greivance-merchant herself Nicola Sturgeon has decided to throw her weight behind the claim.

Steerpike

Omicron doctor attacks UK government ‘pressure’

From our UK edition

With case rates falling and Omicron (hopefully) in decline, it's a good time to remember some of the more hysterical predictions about the last Covid variant. For the South African doctor who discovered the Omicron strain has today given an interview to German newspaper Welt in which she reveals she was 'pressured' into describing the variant as more dangerous than it really is. Dr Angelique Coetzee was one of the first to report the new variant in November last year and said it caused 'mild' symptoms for those in her country. But she claims she was told by scientists and politicians from around the globe that her description was wrong – and specifically references Britain as being one of those countries which tried to discourage her findings.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Why is the BBC saying Boris’s Savile claims are false?

From our UK edition

Is Boris Johnson’s claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile ‘false’? The BBC certainly thinks so. During the Radio 6 bulletins last night, a BBC newsreader stated:  The Commons Speaker has rebuked Boris Johnson over his false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile after the Labour leader was targetted by protesters.  It's obvious that the dispute isn't nearly as clear cut as the BBC is making out Last week, the Prime Minister said during a Commons statement that Starmer had spent his time as head of the Crown Prosecution Service ‘prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile’.

Steerpike

Thérèse Coffey roasts Neil Coyle

From our UK edition

Parliament's work and pensions committee isn't normally where the fireworks fly, but all that changed this morning. Labour backbencher Neil 'Carling' Coyle tried to take a pop at Thérèse Coffey, the closest thing 2022 has to a modern Barbara Castle. After Coyle became frustrated with the answers he was getting from the karaoke-loving Cabinet minister, he turned his attention to Coffey's own future, irritatedly asking her: There was a rumour that the Secretary of State was going to resign. Is that the reason why you can't answer any questions today? Because you've got one foot out of the door? Cool as a cucumber, Coffey delivered a magisterial rebuke to the Bermondsey backbencher: Don't be ridiculous Neil.

Steerpike

Priti’s failed crackdown on foreign criminals

From our UK edition

Priti Patel likes to talk a good game on foreign crooks. In numerous tweets and briefings, she's railed against those who 'poison our communities, ruin lives and cash in on vulnerable people,' as part of the Witham MP's war on crime. But when it comes to deporting those convicted of crimes, it seems that the Home Secretary's record doesn't exactly match up to her rhetoric, judging by new figures obtained by Mr S. For the number of serious offenders being deported from Britain has dropped by 65 per cent over the past five years – despite Patel's promises of a 'crackdown' to overhaul the legal system.

Tuesday

Steerpike

The Saj gets a rebrand

From our UK edition

Sajid Javid is having a bit of a tough time at the moment. Under pressure from Labour's new golden boy Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary was forced to admit to MPs today that the NHS waiting list in England, which already stands at a record six million, will keep on growing for another two years. In such difficult times, with the health service at breaking point and Tory tensions over tax rises to fix it, 'the Saj' will need every brilliant idea he can seize. So Steerpike enjoyed hearing about Javid's latest initiative to inspire his under-pressure health department. In his desperation for new ideas, the Bromsgrove MP has launched a new pun-based online feedback form for policy 'Saj-estions'.

Steerpike

Peers go to polls in hereditary by-election

From our UK edition

It's by-election day in Parliament. No, not another chance for voters to give Boris Johnson a bloody nose over 'partygate'; but rather the opportunity for one of Britain's blue-blooded families to take their place in the Upper House. For this contest is fought in the Lords, not the Commons, with votes limited to Tory peers choosing amongst themselves which of them should take Matt Ridley's seat, following his retirement from the chamber in December. Ridley was one of 42 hereditary peers elected by the Conservative hereditary peers, as part of the total 92 agreed as a compromise by Tony Blair in 1999. Voting is taking place on the parliamentary estate until 5 p.m today, with Steerpike's spies telling him this contest is one of the more keenly-fought in recent years.

Steerpike

Mandarins troll exiting No. 10 staff

From our UK edition

Clashes between special advisers and civil servants have become a fixture of the Whitehall landscape in recent years. Who can forget the Cabinet Office tweeter who fired off the ‘arrogant and offensive’ message in the middle of Barnard Castle-gate? But now it seems the Sir Humphreys of SW1 are content to leave direct confrontation aside and confine their expressions of discontent to veiled digs at those in No. 10. For Mr S couldn’t help but notice that among the documents uploaded yesterday to the official gov.uk website included a handy guide to seminars on ‘How to stand out in an interview and get the job you want’ with promised ‘tips on how to get ahead in an interview and secure a new job.

Steerpike

Chatty MPs fuel podcast boom

From our UK edition

Whether it's online, print, radio or broadcast, it seems we can't get enough of politics these days. And not content with traditional forms of media, an ever-expanding number of MPs are branching out into podcasts to share their thoughts with the wider world. Around half-a-dozen have launched their own shows in recent months, following in the footsteps of perhaps the most high-profile parliamentary podcaster: Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has hosted his fortnightly Moggcast show for ConservativeHome since 2018, often providing news lines which Mr S is only too keen to follow up.

Monday

Steerpike

Mob hound Starmer outside parliament

From our UK edition

An uneventful Monday was enlivened this evening by some rather unappealing scenes outside parliament. Walking back from a Ministry of Defence briefing, Sir Keir Starmer was surrounded by a group of foul-mouthed anti-lockdown protesters who yelled he was a 'traitor,' forcing the Labour leader to leave with a police escort.  Starmer had to be bundled away into a police car after numerous insults were aggressively hurled at him. Several demonstrators claimed the former top lawyer was guilty of 'protecting paedophiles' while other shouted  'Jimmy Savile' — a presumed reference to Boris Johnson's comments last week about the reviled TV personality.