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
Dawn Butler is no fan of Boris Johnson. But Mr S couldn’t help but notice the Labour MP’s apparent approval for the Prime Minister in the aftermath of last night’s ITV debate. Butler attacked Boris as ‘full of bluster’ but then added: ‘Boris Johnson talked about the NHS with compassion, he talked about nurses and
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn’s clash last night during the ITV debate was notable for its lack of standout performance from either candidate. The audience, however, provided a much-needed dose of reality for both leaders. Corbyn and Boris’s campaign soundbites were interspersed with bursts of laughter. Whether that was the result of amusement or frustration remains
Jo Swinson has branded accusations she fired stones at squirrels as ‘very fake news’. Screenshots of what appeared to be a Daily Mirror story have been widely circulated online. The article alleges that a private video of the Lib Dem leader has surfaced on Facebook, showing her pelting the furry mammals with pebbles using a slingshot. The Remain
On the Marr show this morning, Jeremy Corbyn was asked – and refused to say – five times whether he would campaign for Leave or Remain in a second referendum. Referring to himself in the third person, Corbyn said the only thing Corbyn could reveal was that we would have a close trading relationship with
John McDonnell today explained that the broadband nationalisation plans are perfectly affordable – upkeep costs would just be £230m a year. This was based on a report from the National Infrastructure Commission. It compared going for full fibre (the bars in blue, below) with incremental upgrades of the copper system (orange, below) and gave a
One of the strange things about this election is that the Conservatives could quite conceivably wake up on 13 December to find they have won a majority, but their prime minister has lost his job. In 2017 Boris Johnson only won his seat of Uxbridge and Ruislip with just over 5,000 votes, placing his constituency
Oh dear. It’s been a difficult week for Nigel Farage. The Brexit party leader announced on Monday that he would not be standing candidates in Tory-held seats. He had hoped that in return the Conservatives would consider standing down candidates in a number of Labour heartlands where he believed the Brexit party would fare better.
After being heckled and called a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ when he was out campaigning in Glasgow today, Jeremy Corbyn was presumably hoping for an easier time once he escaped the crowds outside. Unfortunately though, the Labour leader proved this afternoon that he is more than capable of causing his own gaffes. In a later interview with
Jeremy Corbyn has been heckled on the campaign trail in Glasgow by a passer by who accused the Labour leader of ‘running away’. Corbyn was giving an interview when he was asked: ‘Do you think the man that’s going to be the prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?’ The
When Labour was hit by a cyber attack this morning it wasn’t long before the finger of blame was pointed at Russia. Corbynista MP Clive Lewis suggested it was ‘dirty tricks’. He wrote: But Mr S. recalls Lewis hasn’t always been so quick to jump to conclusions. In the aftermath of the Salisbury poisonings in
When it was revealed this week that the Labour parliamentary candidate in Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, had previously said she would celebrate the deaths of Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu, few would have thought to defend her comments. In fact the candidate herself apologised this week for the remarks she made in 2015. One person
The Labour party are not in high spirits today after their election campaign was derailed by the ex-Labour MP, Ian Austin, who this morning urged ‘decent, patriotic’ Labour voters to back Boris Johnson at the election because of Labour’s continued problems with anti-Semitism. Deeply unhappy with the news was Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott,
This is the explosive moment former Labour MP Ian Austin urges voters to back Boris Johnson. Austin, who announced that he was standing down as MP for Dudley North, told the Today programme that Corbyn is ‘completely unfit to lead our country’. He said that despite being a Labour party member since he was a
Oh dear. It’s safe to say the Conservative party’s election campaign has not got off to the best start. On the day of the official launch, the Tories have had a cabinet minister resign and a row over who is to blame for the Grenfell fire drag on. Now, they can add to that list:
When John Bercow was House of Commons Speaker, there was a sense on both sides that he was a politician who did not think much of Brexit. Despite the role of Speaker being a supposedly neutral job, Bercow’s decisions regarding Commons procedure led many to suspect that he held strong views on the issue. Now
Boris Johnson’s election campaign has got off to a dismal start but it seems Labour is determined to catch up. Diane Abbott appeared on the Today programme this morning to discuss her party’s anti-Semitism problem. But Mr S isn’t convinced her defence will convince many voters that things are all OK: Nick Robinson: Do you
James Cleverly was never going to have the easiest time this morning. The Tory party chairman, considered a safe pair of hands, had been sent out to do the broadcast round, after the party became embroiled in an row about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments on Grenfell yesterday, which were unhelpfully amplified by the Tory MP Andrew
Oh dear. Andrew Bridgen is a friend of Jacob Rees-Mogg, but it’s unlikely the Tory MP will be thanking his colleague for his latest intervention. Bridgen attempted to defend his chum on BBC’s PM programme just now following a furious reaction to Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell fire tragedy. Bridgen said that Rees-Mogg’s remarks were
This evening, as Parliament prepares to be dissolved ahead of a winter election campaign, MPs gathered in the Commons Chamber to hear the valedictory speeches of members who have made the decision to retire. Among their number was the Labour MP Kate Hoey, who is leaving her Vauxhall constituency after 30 years. Although the MP
Jacob Rees-Mogg was doing the broadcast round for the Tories this morning, to discuss the Conservative party’s plans for Brexit and the country, as the general election campaign gains pace. But instead of singing the government’s praises, the Leader of the Commons instead ended up being embroiled in a row about the Grenfell fire disaster