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
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Earlier this month Steerpike revealed that Lutfur Rahman has returned to the frontline of Tower Hamlets politics, six years after becoming the first directly elected British mayor to be removed for electoral fraud. Now it appears another old face has re-emerged to join Rahman in his bid to save the Tower Hamlets mayoralty, ahead of
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The last three months have seen a litany of humiliations for Brussels as its leaders try to procure and roll out much needed vaccines across the continent. Whether it’s been Ursula von der Leyen almost erecting a hard border in Ireland or Handelsblatt being briefed misinformation from a misread excel table, impounded meningitis jabs in Italy
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This afternoon the Prime Minister chaired the second meeting with business bigwigs on his ‘Build Back Better’ council, whose membership includes John Lewis supremo Sharon White, Heathrow chief Lord Deighton and Charlotte Hogg of Visa. The dry-as-dust press release to mark the occasion is replete with the usual jejune platitudes beloved of Whitehall mandarins for
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As Speaker, John Bercow could never be accused of underselling his position. During his tenure the diminutive parliamentarian attracted criticism for everything from his £37,000 portrait and coat of arms to his £45,000 apartment refurbishment to a £1,000 taxi journey. But one free ride Bercow did decline was the official Speaker’s State Coach, a gilded
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For the last three months journalists across the world have been missing the curious mix of bombast, arrogance, untruths and showmanship that was President Donald Trump. But is a new unlikely figure now filling that void? As an embattled, insecure incumbent staring down the barrel of defeat in an upcoming presidential contest dominated by Covid, Emmanuel Macron
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After the melodrama of Milf-gate and the shenanigans of Richard Tice, Mr S was not sure how much farce was left in the Hartlepool by-election. Thankfully, a whole new comedy of errors has now arrived in the form of the recently launched Northern Independence party. In its bid to break the mould of British politics, the party has
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The last ten weeks have been a depressing time for those few believers in the EU’s lofty ideals. The saga of the vaccine procurement and roll out would be funny if it was not so tragic, beginning with Ursula von der Leyen trying to erect a hard border in Ireland in January and now culminating
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All eyes were on Downing Street’s spanking new £2.6 million media suite, unveiled for the first time at this afternoon’s press conference. Speaking in front of a sea of blue backdrop, Boris Johnson was flanked by a brace of Union Jacks and his covid lieutenants Professor Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance. Johnson revealed that a
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The Sun newspaper has been on an interesting journey in recent years, ditching its page three girls, drawing up a diversity style guide and launching its ‘Green Team: Road to COP26’ coverage replete with eco badges for staff. Last week, the once freedom loving Sun even declared itself comfortable with the idea of vaccine passports in
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Oh dear. Over the weekend, Cambridge University’s Twitter account celebrated the graduation of its most recent cohort with some pearls of wisdom that it attributed to one of its former students – AA Milne, the creator of Winnie Pooh. Milne graduated from Trinity College Cambridge with a B.A. in Mathematics at the beginning of the twentieth century and
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Earlier this month the usual suspects were out in force for Liz Truss after it was revealed the International Trade Secretary would not be attending Boris Johnson’s summit on violence against women. As the Minister for Women and Equalities, Truss has won plaudits from the right of the party for taking on what she calls
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Oh dear. During the course of the pandemic, the University of Edinburgh professor of public health Devi Sridhar, has become a regular sight on television screens and comment pages – offering her insights on the best course of action over Covid. In her role on the Scottish government’s Covid-19 advisory group, Sridhar has previously caught Mr Steerpike’s attention for lobbying repeatedly
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In some ways you have to admire the sheer shamelessness of the French government. To spend the start of the year slagging off the AstraZeneca vaccine before threatening the seize those very same jabs showed a degree of brazenness that excelled even the usual French standards. But to accuse the UK of blackmailing Paris and
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The latest episode in Scotland’s longest-running soap opera was broadcast today as former first minister Alex Salmond took to YouTube to announce the launch of his new pro-independence party Alba. The new party, Salmond announced, would only contest list seats under Scotland’s additional member system, because, as he argued, the SNP is set to win the
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Oh dear. While the various bombshells Harry and Meghan rained down on the House of Windsor in their Oprah Winfrey interview have thus far been met by near silence by British royals, apparently one distant overseas relative did not get the memo.Prince Albert II of Monaco – the seventh cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II
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As President of the European Movement during the current Brussels vaccine crisis, Andrew Adonis currently has his work cut out. With polls currently showing that Brits now have a more positive attitude towards the UK’s future outside the EU than negative by a margin of two to one, any bid to get the UK to rejoin the
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Gibraltar has intermittently featured in the headlines in recent years amid repeated incursions by Spanish ships into the peninsula’s waters. The future of the Rock – which voted by 96 per cent to stay in the EU in 2016 – was subject to much speculation and briefing during the Brexit negotiations as Spain has long
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Who is in charge at Defra? Technically, it’s the environment secretary George Eustice. But in recent weeks there have been whisperings of the growing influence of the Goldsmith clan. Zac Goldsmith is a minister in the department as well as a close friend of both Boris Johnson and his fiancé Carrie Symonds. Just this weekend,
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Sir Charles Walker has earned himself the reputation of being one of the most consistent and outspoken critics of the government’s lockdown policy. The 1922 Committee stalwart has previously gone viral for passionate clips lambasting Matt Hancock’s 10 year imprisonment plan for returning holidaymakers dodging quarantine rules, attacking Boris Johnson for treating MPs like ‘dogs’ and
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BBC’s grumpiest news presenter Simon McCoy today announced he’s leaving the corporation, the latest big name hire poached by start up channel GB News. McCoy, 59, leaves after 17 years at the Beeb, signing off this afternoon’s News at One with the words: ‘From me, it’s good afternoon – and goodbye.’ Mr S thought it only