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

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Neil on why The Spectator is returning furlough money

From our UK edition

Earlier this month, The Spectator's chairman Andrew Neil announced that we would be handing back the government furlough money. He wrote, 'Instead of depending on furlough money from taxpayers, I have tasked the editorial and management teams to grow sales of The Spectator to 100,000 as quickly as possible.' Reader response was phenomenal, with thousands signing up to a Spectator subscription.  https://twitter.com/FraserNelson/status/1268109460419104768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Earlier this afternoon, Andrew spoke to Sky's Ian King to explain the thinking behind the move. You can watch the clip above. And to those who have yet to subscribe, well, you can sign up to a free trial here...

Steerpike

The five most explosive Trump claims in Bolton’s new book

From our UK edition

Donald Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton has made a series of bombshell revelations in a new tell-all biography. Claims that the White House does not want aired in public, with Trump's administration launching a legal bid to block the book's publication. However the volume, which is supposed to be released next week, has been leaked in its entirety to the New York Times and the Washington Post. American newspapers have been plastered full of the most outlandish claims about the embattled President, so Mr S has compiled the five most explosive claims from the disgruntled former staffer:  1.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Watch: Hancock’s social distancing slip up

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It seems Matt Hancock has forgotten his own rules. Shortly before PMQs this afternoon, the Health Secretary was spotted slapping a chum on the back in a blatant breach of the two-metre distancing regulations.  Less than a minute later, Hancock again disregarded his ministry's own guidance when he leaned in to have a chat with another MP. Perhaps Hancock could use the Ferguson defence and plead immunity given the fact he has already had the virus. Then again, that didn't end too well for professor lockdown... UPDATE Hancock has now released a statement apologising for the breach, saying:  I'm so sorry for a human mistake on my part.

Steerpike

Russell Brand’s brain fog over Edward Colston

From our UK edition

Back in the day when celebrities didn’t pontificate on the news but kept their political opinions to themselves, Russell Brand used to be a stand-up comedian. These days, he’s known more for his radical politics (and his former squeeze Katy Perry) than he is for his comedy. Naturally, Brand had plenty to say about last week’s removal of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol. Indeed, so informed was he on the subject that he had to remind himself of Colston’s name in his video lecture. Miss S was rather alarmed to hear that Brand appears to think Hitler and Churchill were as racist as each other and that he considers himself an authority on this matter because, ‘I’m a white person and I’ve got service people in my family history.

Steerpike

Watch: Boris’s car rear-ended in protest bump

From our UK edition

Boris Johnson's ministerial Jaguar was involved in a pile-up outside parliament earlier this afternoon. It seems a protester on Parliament Square tried to halt the PM's cavalcade as he was leaving via Carriage Gates after PMQs. According to the Mail's John Stevens, No. 10 is saying that there are currently no reports of any injuries.  https://twitter.com/snb19692/status/1273244222385160192?

Steerpike

Watch: Did Boris have beef with the wrong MP?

From our UK edition

Poor Alistair Carmichael. The Lib Dem MP was only standing up for beef farmers in his constituency, raising a problem with the UK labelling regulations. But it appears that Boris Johnson didn't recognise the Orkney MP, lambasting him for his supposed support for an independent Scotland. Yes, that would be the same Alistair Carmichael who served as Scotland Minister in the coalition government and has led the Lib Dem charge against a second independence referendum. Woops!

Steerpike

Watch: Hoyle hits out at John Bercow’s ‘retrograde’ Trump ban

From our UK edition

Since becoming the new Speaker of the Commons, the softly-spoken Lancastrian Lindsay Hoyle has sought to distance himself from the tenure of John Bercow. While the latter spent his days constructing long monologues and pontificating from the Speaker’s chair, Hoyle has instead focused on limiting his own contributions in the Chamber and attempting to be an impartial arbiter of Commons debates. Despite this change in approach (and the fact that he ran for Speaker as the anti-Bercow candidate) Hoyle has generally avoided criticising his predecessor directly. Mr S wonders though if that now might be about to change. This week, Hoyle was interviewed by chief executive of the rugby league team, the Warrington Wolves.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Coffey’s rash intervention

From our UK edition

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has caused a bit of a storm in the Westminster bubble this morning – the 22-year-old's plea to the PM to extend free school meals into the summer holiday has not gone unnoticed.  As Katy Balls writes this morning, there is a growing feeling among Tory backbenchers that the cost of the scheme is small compared to the negative PR generated from falling out with a world-class footballer.  But it seems the secretary of state for the department of work and pensions didn't get the memo. Thérèse Coffey decided to fact check one of Rashford's tweets, pointing out that it's illegal for water companies to cut off customers' supply. https://twitter.com/theresecoffey/status/1272789819354161152?

Monday

Steerpike

Selfridges’ feverish store opening

From our UK edition

Non-essential shops across Britain opened their doors for the first time since lockdown today, as the government attempts to breath some life into the UK economy, while avoiding a fatal spike of Covid-19. Retailers meanwhile, face the difficult task of persuading people that it is safe to shop in their stores as the pandemic recedes. So far, the move seems to be working, with long queues reported outside Primark outlets around the country. Selfridges in the centre of Manchester was certainly pulling out all the stops this afternoon, to entice customers back into its store. The department store even hired a singer to serenade those queueing 2m apart, while they waited to enter.

Friday

Steerpike

Emily Sheffield replaces George Osborne at Evening Standard

From our UK edition

Today, it was announced that Emily Sheffield, founder of ‘This Much I Know News’ and former deputy editor of Vogue, has taken over as editor of the Evening Standard. She replaces former Chancellor George Osborne, who will now become editor-in-chief of the publication. Osborne spent three years at the helm of the paper. Sheffield takes over at an incredibly difficult time for the Standard – the paper normally relies on London’s massive commuter footfall to justify its advertising revenue. It has been reported that the paper’s distribution has almost halved since the lockdown began. Still, one thing remains unchanged: the Cameron-clique still clearly dominates the top rungs of the publication.

Steerpike

UKTV’s bizarre Fawlty Towers ban

From our UK edition

It’s been 45 years since the Fawlty Towers episode ‘The Germans’ first aired on the BBC, in which Basil Fawlty coined the memorable line: ‘Don’t mention the war’. Perhaps now though it would be more apt to say, ‘don’t mention Fawlty Towers’. Last night the Guardian reported that the video streaming site UKTV (which is owned by the BBC) has removed the episode from its catalogue, in the wake of Black Lives Matters protests around the country. It follows the move by streaming sites such as Netflix and iPlayer to remove the shows Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen from view, because of their alleged capacity to inspire racial hatred.

Thursday

Steerpike

‘I’ll fight you’: Locals vow to defend Baden-Powell’s statue

From our UK edition

Which statue will be the next to go? It won't be Lord Baden-Powell's if locals in Poole have their way. Campaigners want the effigy of the founder of the Scout movement to go because of his alleged racist views. But those who live in Dorset, where Baden-Powell's statue gazes across to Brownsea Island, aren't too chuffed about the prospect of it going. 'I'll fight you! I'm here, I will fight for him. There is nobody against it. They want it here,' one local told Sky News. 'We feel very strongly about that statue,' said another. Mr S thinks they deserve some kind of badge for their commitment...

Wednesday

Steerpike

A guide to renaming London’s landmarks

From our UK edition

Yesterday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that he was forming a new commission to investigate the landmarks, street names and statues of the capital, to see if they should be knocked down or renamed because of their racist past or links to the slave trade. The announcement came after a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol by Black Lives Matter protestors this weekend. Khan’s ‘Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm’ will examine various sites across London to see if they reflect the diversity of its population, and the mayor has indicated that it is not appropriate for certain figures to be memorialised in future.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Will Sadiq Khan have to knock down Millicent Fawcett’s statue?

From our UK edition

London mayor Sadiq Khan promised today that he will begin the process of pulling down ‘inappropriate’ statues around London – after Bristolians dumped the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in the river at the weekend. To investigate London’s landmarks, Khan has created a ‘Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm’ which will review statues and street names in the capital to make sure they reflect the diversity of its people. Khan said he expected the commission to find that it’s ‘not appropriate to be memorialising, or to be celebrating’ certain figures, especially those with a racist past and links to the slave trade.

Steerpike

Health minister: I can stick this on the scientists

From our UK edition

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the UK government has insisted that its decisions and policies have been led by the scientific advice on the virus. It’s a commitment that has allowed the government to convince the public that drastic interventions to stop the disease have been necessary. But, equally, there have been criticisms in some quarters that the scientists advising Number 10 have been used as human shields for the mistakes and unpopular policies of politicians. Health minister Helen Whately did nothing to allay those fears when she appeared on Sky News this morning.

Monday

Steerpike

Priti Patel: I will not take lectures from Labour on racism

From our UK edition

Priti Patel was in the Commons today, to be asked about the policing of the recent Black Lives Matter protests across the country. And, it was an understatement to say that the Home Secretary was taking no prisoners when it came to accusations from Labour that she or the government did not understand racism in this country. In response to Labour MP Florence Eshalomi – who asked whether the government and the Home Secretary recognised that there is racism and discrimination in the UK – Patel gave a remarkable speech in which she declared that she would ‘not take lectures’ from Labour about racism, and accused those who expect ethnic minorities to behave in a certain way as racist themselves.

Steerpike

Watch: Tory MPs clean Churchill’s statue

From our UK edition

Yesterday, protestors at a Black Lives Matter demo in London vandalised the statue of Winston Churchill which stands in Parliament Square. The protestors spray painted Churchill’s stone plinth so it read ‘Churchill was a racist’ and sellotaped a Black Lives Matter sign to the former prime minister – the man who led Britain against the Nazis during the second world war. In response, several Tory MPs decided to take matters into their own hands to restore the statue today. Taking inspiration from members of the Household Cavalry who scrubbed a memorial clean on Whitehall following protests last week, MPs from the Blue Collar faction of the Conservative party headed to Parliament Square this afternoon, armed with sponges and water to clean the statue.

Friday

Steerpike

BBC media editor apologises for ‘unforgivable’ blunder

From our UK edition

Another day, another BBC apology. But Mr S isn't convinced this one is actually needed. The BBC's new boss was announced this morning and it fell to the corporation's media editor Amol Rajan to fill in viewers about who Tim Davie is. Rajan explained Davie had a 'hellishly, hellishly difficult job' in manning the ship over the next few years. All for £575,000 a year. Poor Tim.  Rajan then told viewers that Davie was privately educated. He explained: 'He’s a father of three, marathon runner, big Crystal Palace fan. Interestingly, he was privately educated before going on to Cambridge and he’s someone who had a career in marketing…' But after coming off air, an urgent clarification was issued: https://twitter.

Steerpike

The civil war inside the New York Times

From our UK edition

After the New York Times published an op-ed written by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton – calling for the military to be deployed in the face of nationwide protests – the editors are facing a staff revolt. Reporters at the paper have been quick to take to social media to denounce their own publication. Mr S was intrigued by a commentary by Bari Weiss of what she calls a 'civil war' at her newspaper: The civil war inside the New York Times between the mostly young woke-types and the (mostly 40+) liberals is the same one raging inside other publications and companies across the country. The dynamic is always the same. The New York Times motto is 'all the news that's fit to print' The Old Guard lives by a set of principles we can broadly call civil libertarianism.

Steerpike

Is Piers Morgan changing his mind on lockdown?

From our UK edition

It was the plot-twist in the Covid drama nobody expected. At the start of the pandemic, Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan quickly became the self-appointed Robespierre of the lockdown movement. Anyone who broke the rules, or did not support tighter restrictions, was in his eyes a killer, responsible for untold deaths as the virus spread. But is Morgan now realising things are more complicated than that. This week Morgan criticised Labour's Barry Gardiner for breaking lockdown to attend a non-socially distanced Black Lives Matter protest. Then Guido Fawkes revealed that Morgan’s son had attended a Black Lives Matter demo in London.