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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It would be fair to say that Piers Morgan was one of the top cheerleaders for caution during our initial response to coronavirus. Since March he has consistently urged his Good Morning Britain viewers and social media followers to restrict their daily activities to help fight the virus. On Sunday he tweeted in support of cancelling Christmas in
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This afternoon, leading human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney (and wife of George) handed in her resignation to the government. Clooney has been a UK special envoy for media freedom since July last year, when she promised to use her position to stick up for embattled and persecuted journalists around the world. Her relationship with the UK
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Shots fired. The ‘rule of six’ has divided opinion in Westminster and beyond. While Health Secretary Matt Hancock championed the limit on group gatherings as the safest option – several of his Cabinet colleagues took the view that it was a step too far. Not that this has stopped ministers since taking to the airwaves to wax lyrical
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Cancel culture has come for Belfast’s finest son. Ulster singer-songwriter Van Morrison, consociationally worshipped god of Norn Irn dad rock, is under fire for a trio of new, anti-lockdown songs. One particularly on-the-nose number is No More Lockdown, which contains the lyrics: ‘No more lockdown No more government overreachNo more fascist bullies Disturbing our peace.No
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Chris Grayling recently went down in history as the one of the only men able to lose a rigged election. The former Transport Secretary had been lined up by No. 10 to chair the intelligence and security committee, but ended up being rejected by his fellow committee members when his Tory colleague, Julian Lewis, decided to
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Robert Buckland was touring the Westminster studios this morning, batting away questions over the Internal Market Bill and touting his new sentencing white paper. What he probably wasn’t expecting was yet another flurry of questions about a story that’s now more than two weeks old. Cue Kay Burley and her seemingly never-ending obsession with Tony Abbott,
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Lots of excitement in Westminster circles this morning over the four ‘senior American congressmen’ who have written a stern letter to Boris Johnson wading into the latest row over the Withdrawal Agreement and Ireland. The four US lawmakers have warned that a US-UK trade deal would be imperilled by any action the government might take
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It’s that time of year again. It gets darker sooner, the leaves are falling off the trees and a tell-all book has been published. ‘A diary of an MPs wife: inside and outside power’ is Hugo Swire’s wife Sasha’s account of life as a member of the Cameron set. The book – of which excerpts
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Oh dear. It seems the whips failed to assuage Charles Walker, vice chair of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives. The well-respected Brexiteer told of his frustration over Covid restrictions, as well as his concern over the controversial Internal Market Bill. And Walker certainly didn’t pull his punches. He clearly wanted to send a message when
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Fancy an ice-cream anyone? While defending his Internal Market Bill, Boris Johnson chose to make what appeared to be a pointed dig at one of the Bill’s opponents. Describing the possibility of a tariff border down the Irish sea, Johnson provided MPs with a handful of helpful examples. He explained that the Withdrawal Agreement risked: Tariffs
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Geoffrey Cox has been causing the government a bit of trouble of late. Ahead of votes on Boris Johnson’s internal market bill, the former attorney general has published an article in The Times on why he can’t vote for it – accusing the Prime Minister of doing ‘unconscionable’ damage to Britain’s international reputation through his proposals to break international
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When Geoffrey Cox was Theresa May’s Attorney General it was his refusal to go give his blessing to her Brexit deal that ensured her party would not vote for it. His reputation as a man with unbending principles meant many MPs simply took his word for it: if No10 said one thing and Cox said
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Nothing like a bit of alarmism to flog a few newspapers. In an apparent bid to capitalise off the Extinction Rebellion protests, the Guardian has set up a customised begging bowl at the bottom of each climate-related article asking readers if they’re prepared to ‘save the Earth’. Surely if one wanted to prevent climate change,
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The statue of Winston Churchill has been defaced again with another piece of graffiti branding the most popular Brit of all time ‘a racist’. It seems the Met police has arrested someone on suspicion of criminal damage. Meanwhile, police finally cleared Parliament Square, ten days after the Extinction Rebellion protests first began. But not before a group
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The general consensus in the media these days over PMQs is that Keir Starmer is a pro and Boris Johnson verging on incompetent. Today’s exchange saw Starmer once again turn the heat up on Johnson’s government. During a fiery exchange at PMQs, Keir Starmer criticised the government’s track and trace system. However, it was not what
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When Dawn Butler sent a message of support to Extinction Rebellion protesters who had blockaded newspaper printworks, it wasn’t long before her tweet was deleted. So what happened? It was widely assumed that the order to delete the message came from the top of the Labour party and showed all too clearly that things are now
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It wasn’t so long ago that Sir Keir Starmer was making headlines as shadow Brexit secretary for his role moving the Labour leadership in favour of a second referendum. However, since taking over the party, Starmer has gone rather quiet on the matter. With a global pandemic dominating the news agenda, that was understandable for a while.
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It feels good, doesn’t it? Hearing Labour say something sensible for a change. Last night, eco agitators Extinction Rebellion targeted newspaper printworks hoping to disrupt the distribution of papers like the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Telegraph. How did the Corbynite backbencher Dawn Butler respond to this attack on free expression, which has so far seen
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What a scandalous idea, drinking with someone you might disagree with. Rather than grilling the transport secretary over his own views, Sky’s Kay Burley instead decided to attack Grant Shapps over whether he would ‘have a drink with’ Tony Abbott because of his perceived ‘homophobia’. Which seems an odd line of questioning given the fact
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When Extinction Rebellion took over the streets of London last year, even some of those who disagreed with the aims of the movement found the number of protesters an impressive sight. Thousands of people descended on the capital, blocking streets and causing chaos as they desperately tried to outfox police officers. This week, Extinction Rebellion is back.
