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
In recent years the Labour shadow cabinet has never done much singing from the same hymn sheet. But last night, in a rare display of front bench solidarity, three of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team took to the stage at the Daily Mirror shindig to mark the final night of their party conference in Brighton. Health
Whether it’s scum-gate, party democracy, membership expulsions or the minimum wage you’d think Labour had had enough splits this conference. But to add to that (growing) list of disputes is the issue of transgender rights in the wake of Rosie Duffield’s decision not to attend conference, as first reported by Mr S. Tensions have played
While all eyes in Brighton yesterday were on the shenanigans in the conference hall, Jeremy Corbyn’s loyal band of followers were meeting to discuss how to rid themselves of his successor. At The World Transformed, the rival socialist festival set up in 2016, the great and the not-so-good of the millennial left met for a
As day four of Labour conference begins here in Brighton, Mr S has been touring the conference centre and World Transformed festival to see how Keir Starmer’s party is preparing for government. It’s the first time the party has had an in-person jamboree for two years and thus far the occasion has lived up to expectations. Whether
It’s been a tough few days for Keir Starmer. Unloved by his party’s activists and outmaneuvered by his union barons, his conference season has had more rows than Hollyoaks. Still, the under-fire leader will no doubt be delighted to discover one Labour member is still happy to uncritically sing his praises – new recruit John
It’s day three of Labour conference and proceedings are in full swing. Whether it’s one of Andy Burnham’s 11 fringe events or yet another interminable motion in the conference hall, the rooms of Brighton have been packed to the rafters with Labour’s long-suffering members. Clearly Covid spreads in teaching settings but has the grace to
Much like Brighton’s weather, Labour’s conference started brightly but has now become a much more gloomy affair. As ‘scumgate’ rumbles on, cranks scrap in public while frontbenchers take subtle pot shots at one another. Still, despite all the bleakness and infighting, Mr S is delighted to bring news of one ray of light amid the
Long-suffering commuters have had further misery this month, thanks to the shenanigans of eco-warriors Insulate Britain. The group are an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion and have today blocked the M25 for a sixth time – despite a High Court injunction warning that they face jail if they carried on disrupting traffic on the UK’s busiest motorway. Members
Sunday at Labour conference was a trying affair. Beset by questions about whether Tory voters were ‘scum’ or not, many leading left-wing politicians sought out the fleshpots of Brighton to drown their sorrows. And where better to do that then at Dawn Butler’s legendary Jamaica night, held this year in the gratifyingly sticky confines of
Angela Rayner may not be a fan of Tory ‘scum’ – but it seems the deputy Labour leader doesn’t speak for all her party. Tonight at the Labour to Win rally, frontbench colleagues of the ambitious Rayner amounted a desperate rearguard offence to assure floating voters that they weren’t all that hostile to awful Conservative
It’s a hard time for Labour cranks. With Keir Starmer (belatedly) trying to rid his party of his more eccentric elements, many have found themselves barred from the movement they joined under Jeremy Corbyn. A number of them today pitched up today at The World Transformed (TWT) in Brighton – a rival socialist shindig just a
Whether it’s Michael Gove raving in an Aberdeen club, Humza Yousaf falling over on his scooter or James Duddridge mixing up Zimbabwe with Zambia in a eulogy, it’s certain been a summer for cringeworthy political clips. But now all those efforts have been trumped by a fresh entry from master of the video nasty, the star of the CCTV
Labour’s conference began yesterday and already there’s a familiar feel to events. We’ve had the timeless Labour shenanigans over membership rules, with an under-fire leader forced to compromise for his union backers. The party’s youth wing is on the war path, amid claims of organisers using ‘dirty tricks’ against Young Labour to scupper attendance at their
Quite soon, the word ‘women’ could be considered so dangerous as to be unutterable. That may seem hyperbolic, but Steerpike can see which way the wind is blowing. Even our most distinguished scientific voices are now shunning the w-word: ‘Women’ are out. That hateful word has been consigned to the ash heap of history where
The ongoing energy crisis has now seen seven companies go bust in recent months. On Wednesday, Avro Energy and Green Supplier Limited became the two largest companies to collapse. The industry is seeing high wholesale natural gas prices reach record levels, with firms unable to significantly raise their prices due to the government’s price cap.
Few journalists have been more celebrated by the liberal elite than Alan Rusbridger. The longtime editor of the Guardian for twenty years, a winner of the Marie Colvin prize for improving British journalism and a former head of an Oxford college: there are few baubles which have eluded his grasp. But now the Roy Greenslade
Well, the reviews from the critics are in. Keir Starmer’s 11,500 word essay dropped late on Wednesday night and two days on it’s clear the treatise has not had quite the impact Labour HQ will have wanted. The manifesto – described by The Spectator’s own Sam Leith as a ‘cliché-ridden disaster’ – has caused little excitement
A very undiplomatic row has broken out at the Foreign Office over the use of Chevening. The 115-room grace-and-favour residence has traditionally been used as the Foreign Secretary’s country house but last week’s reshuffle has caused a major headache for No. 10 after Dominic Raab was replaced by Liz Truss. Raab, who was demoted from the
Labour conference begins this Saturday and already expectations are running high. Ahead of his first in-person appearance as leader, Keir Starmer has dropped the season’s hottest release – an 11,500 word personal essay on his vision for Britain. There’s talk of rule changes, factional disputes and all kinds of rows over obscure procedure on the conference floor
‘The House of Lords’ remarked Clement Attlee is ‘like a glass of champagne that has stood for five days.’ But there’s more vim and vigour in the current vintage and now peers are fizzing with righteous anger. The source of the outrage? Recent efforts by certain staff in the Palace to usurp what many feel are
