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

Coming soon: red wall by-election

Things are not going well for Labour’s Keir Starmer. After yesterday’s polling showed his first negative satisfaction ratings and a seven point Conservative lead, today brings news that Hartlepool MP Mike Hill has resigned from the Commons to trigger a by election deep in red wall territory. Given the suspension of last May's mayoral and local elections, this will be the first time Boris Johnson's popularity will be tested with the northern voters who gave him his majority in December 2019. https://twitter.com/keiranpedley/status/1371439039358906369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw While the timing of the contest is yet to be set, CCHQ will be licking their lips at Hill’s 3,595 majority.

Steerpike

Caprice the Covid seer

Today marks a special anniversary for those who have been following the course of the coronavirus since it first reared its ugly head in Wuhan. Exactly one year ago, arguably the UK’s finest scientific mind managed to predict how the UK would end up responding to the disease – weeks and months ahead of the scientists on Sage. This person wasn’t an academic or expert, however, but the businesswoman and model, Caprice. Speaking on the Jeremy Vine show, Caprice argued that we should close the borders and quarantine arrivals, wear masks and have a short, sharp lockdown to stop the disease before the outbreak got any worse. Caprice cited the experience of Taiwan and Singapore, who had used similar methods at the beginning of the pandemic.

Steerpike

The EU-AstraZeneca row: a complete timeline

Oh dear. This morning Sweden has become the latest European country to suspend use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine. It follows reports that some people have suffered blood clots after being given the jab despite AstraZeneca's data showing there have only been 37 such reports among the 17 million people across Europe who have been given the vaccine. Yet while some European health ministries across the continent are raising concerns about its effectiveness, others are lambasting AstraZeneca for failing to deliver enough jabs. French Europe minister Clement Beaune appeared on Radio Classique this morning and raised the prospect of the EU actually suing the company over breach of contract.

Monday

Steerpike

Inside the £2.9 million Downing Street press room

This afternoon ITV got the scoop they were all after – pictures of the elusive Downing Street press conference room. The room is based in No 9 Downing Street and has enjoyed an eye-watering £2.9 million makeover to host the cream of the nation's press for televised lobby briefings. The £2.9 million spending includes £1.8 million for 'main works' plus spending on other items such as £198,000 for 'long lead items', £33,000 for 'broadband equipment' and £1,400 on a core drill. It is here that Allegra Stratton, the Prime Minister's Press Secretary, will do battle with the parliamentary lobby in the site which formerly hosted the Privy Council Office courtroom.

Steerpike

Fact check: does the AstraZeneca jab cause more blood clots?

Germany, Italy, and France have this afternoon become the latest European countries to temporarily suspend use of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. It comes after the Dutch government said on Sunday the jab would not be used until at least 29 March, while Ireland said earlier in the day that it had temporarily suspended the shot as a precautionary step. In total that makes 11 countries including Denmark, Norway and Iceland who have suspended use over fears the vaccine causes blood clots. So should we be worried about the Oxford jab? Given the level of expertise supporting this vaccination, the answer is: no.

Steerpike

The Guardian’s troubles with Roy Greenslade

Roy Greenslade's confession last month that he was a dedicated supporter of the IRA during the Troubles has not gone down well on Fleet Street. Greenslade secretly wrote for the republican newsletter An Phoblacht and provided bail surety for an IRA man accused of involvement in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing. He wrote in the Sunday Times three weeks ago that he was in 'complete agreement about the right of the Irish people to engage in armed struggle', adding: 'I supported the use of physical force.' The backlash from journalists and victims of the IRA alike caused Greenslade to resign his post as honorary visiting professor of journalism at City, University of London, the finishing school for future hacks, having lectured in ethics there until 2018.

Sunday

Steerpike

Was the Clapham Common vigil unsafe? A look at the data

After facing widespread political condemnation, the Metropolitan Police has defended its handling of the Clapham Common vigil on public health grounds.  Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said that ‘Police must act for people's safety, this is the only responsible thing to do. The pandemic is not over and gatherings of people from right across London and beyond, are still not safe.’ Putting aside the varying behaviour of the police at proests during the pandemic, it's worth looking a bit more at her reasons. ‘Around 6pm, more people began to gather close to the bandstand within the Common. Some started to make speeches from the bandstand. These speeches then attracted more people to gather closer together.

Steerpike

The Independent’s peer review disaster

Oh dear. Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell Oprah interview aired, a debate has been underway in the press over allegations of racism in the monarchy. So Mr S read a comment piece on the progressive newspaper-turned-website the Independent with intrigue. With the eye catching title: 'I'm a black British member of the aristocracy – I know what Meghan said was true', Alexander J. Maier-Dlamini the 11th Marquess of Annaville, said that he had no doubt the Duke and Duchess were telling the truth given his own experiences in aristocratic circles. The only problem? His title does not appear to actually exist.

Friday

Steerpike

When will Eddie Izzard get the message?

Eddie Izzard is a serial election loser, but try telling her that. The comedian has tried – and failed – three times to win a place on Labour’s National Executive Committee. But not put off by getting fewer votes than a man disowned by Momentum over anti-Semitism allegations in her last outing, Izzard wants to try again.  This time, Izzard is seeking to have a crack at winning a seat in the Commons. Asked by the Guardian whether the plan is to enter politics, she said: 'Yep. I’m not mucking about with this. I’m going in.' But what happens if – as is quite likely – Izzard's attempt doesn't pay off?

Steerpike

The Mash Report 2017-2021, greatest hits

So, farewell then, The Mash Report. This morning the Sun reports that the newly appointed BBC director general Tim Davie has ordered the axing of the notoriously unfunny BBC Two show after four series. The show’s creators were told at the time of the appointment to find a better balance of targets than ‘digs at the Tories’. Not that this seems to have been taken on board by the show's hosts.  Sources close to the Beeb’s top man report reportedly thought it disproportionately critical of Brexit — perhaps unsurprising given its main star Nish Kumar declared to the Guardian in 2019 that he had ‘still not got over it’.

Steerpike

Exclusive: Haberdashers’ Aske’s could change name over slavery links

In the wake of last summer's Black Lives Matter protests, a number of leading British private schools announced plans to decolonise their syllabus. Winchester, Fettes, Ampleforth and St Paul's Girls were all reported to be 'formulating new approaches' to teaching about Britain's colonial past and whether subject curriculums were inclusive enough. Now Mr S can reveal that the Haberdashers' Aske's schools are the latest to join the list. The governing body of the Haberdashers' Company has written to parents and guardians at its famous boys and girls schools in Elstree and its sister Federation in South London about its benefactor Robert Aske, a London merchant who died in 1689.

Steerpike

American Vogue declares war on ‘niggling’

In the wake of Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview, much American comment has been focused on the beastly British tabloid press. Reader's Digest was typical in claiming that the UK press is 'notoriously aggressive, some may say to the point of violating laws or the most primitive of standards'. Others focused on the headlines about Meghan Markle shown in the Oprah interview – despite a third of these actually coming from foreign or American gossip magazines. Now though American Vogue appears to have topped the lot. In an article published on Wednesday titled ‘A Brit in America Makes Sense of the Meghan Markle Oprah interview’, the journalist Hamish Bowles detailed his criticisms of Fleet Street's coverage of the Sussexes.

Thursday

Steerpike

Is Megxit the UK’s ‘George Floyd moment’?

Harry and Meghan are famously protective of their privacy and as a result hostile to those media outlets they don't personally seek out. But of all the British broadcasters, ITV are regarded as having the best links with the estranged royal couple. News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby is known to be a friend of the Duke of Sussex and was responsible for bagging the 2019 interview in which Meghan Markle lamented that no one had asked if 'she was ok.' So it was with interest that Mr S read a blog published today by the channel's highly regarded Royal Editor Chris Ship. In the article Ship focuses on possible upsides of the Sussexes' bombshell interview in which the couple made allegations of racism within the highest echelons of the royal family.

Steerpike

Kew Gardens asks: are plants problematic?

Statues toppled, buildings renamed — last summer's BLM inspired iconoclasm changed the face of streets and landmarks across Britain. Surely though this reckoning with the past was merely restricted to the physical manifestation of our shameful past? Apparently not, according to the director of Kew Gardens. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Richard Deverell has today spoken of his concerns about the history of the plants based in the Royal Botanic Gardens in south west London.  The world heritage site plans to 'completely change' the display information on plants such as sugar cane to reflect their links to empire and slavery.

Steerpike

Manchester University scraps the word ‘mother’

Universities have traditionally played an important role in preparing young people for a life outside academia. These days, though, it appears that many institutions are more interested in lecturing their academics than teaching students – especially when it comes to using the right kind of language. That perhaps explains why the University of Manchester released on Wednesday a new ‘Guide to inclusive language’ for its staff, made by its ‘equality, diversity and inclusion team’.

Steerpike

The NYT’s royal blunder

Trebles all round at the New York Times after another dose of anti-British bile. Mr S last week noted that the Gray Lady's news reporting of Covid in the UK mixed misrepresentation with outdated figures. This week the newspaper has followed this up with the inevitable crowing comment piece to follow Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview. Titled 'Down with the British Monarchy' it mocks the Queen as 'some utterly random rich wastrel' and claims her own 'claim to legitimacy' is being 'the child of the child of the child of someone who was, centuries ago, the nation’s biggest gangster.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Revealed: Labour councillor’s role in party NHS film

Oh dear. Following up this afternoon's PMQs at which Keir Starmer led on the issue of nurses' pay, the Labour Party have tonight tweeted a new attack ad featuring a nurse in her branded lanyard. Calling the proposed one per cent pay rise 'a complete slap in the face' she says 'we feel completely betrayed' adding 'We've cared for this country along with millions of other key workers and we deserve better than this. We deserve to be looked after ourselves.' https://twitter.com/UKLabour/s... It turns out the nurse in question is Sarah Barber, an elected Ipswich Labour councillor – a fact which is not made clear in her party's tweet that simply claims 'Here's what this nurse thinks of the Government's pay cut for nurses.

Steerpike

Coming soon: No. 10’s vaccine home movie

'Extraordinary. Unexpected. Fantastic' is the tagline for the latest drama out of No. 10 Downing Street. Only this time the stars are not Carrie and the Vote Leave crew but Patrick Vallance, Chris Whitty, Kate Bingham, Jonathan Van-Tam and the other civil servants behind the UK's vaccine programme. A brief 51 second clip was released this afternoon on the official Downing Street Twitter account and has already gone viral. https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1369663017890222084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Billed as 'A Beacon of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story', details of the homemade docu-drama have so far been scant.

Steerpike

Watch: Boris hits back over Brussels vaccine jabs

Britain has sunk into a vicious bout of 'vaccine nationalism' — that is, at least, according to European Council president Charles Michel who made the bizarre claims last night.  Those in Westminster have been less than impressed by the Eurocrat's bold claims that the UK is undermining the bloc's vaccine plans, with Dominic Raab ordering EU officials to explain themselves to the Foreign Office. Responding to Michel earlier today, Boris Johnson told PMQs: 'Let me be clear we have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine, or vaccine components.' Strong words by a clearly irritated PM.

Steerpike

Tories mask up in battle to save the Union

First there was the Union Unit, then there was the Internal Market Act. Now Mr Steerpike can reveal the latest weapon of Tory MPs to fight the Scottish Nationalists: Union Jack face masks. A number of the new 2019 intake have been seen proudly sporting the emblems in the chamber to counter SNP members wearing the St Andrews’ cross opposite. West Dorset MP Chris Loder is the man responsible, purchasing them from a shop near Waterloo station. He told Mr S: 'I was looking across the benches sometimes and seeing these pretty ghastly masks from the opposition benches especially the SNP which are all about the politics of division. The one thing for me the Union flag is about is unity and no better time was there to demonstrate that.