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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When Michael Gove was welcomed back into government this year and appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, some wondered if Boris Johnson was really wise to trust his old nemesis with the serious business of government. After all, Gove both ran against the PM in the recent leadership contest and, infamously, stabbed him in
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Elections are a busy period for most politicians – the time when they hit the streets of their constituencies, knock on doors and hand out thousands of leaflets – all in an attempt to keep their seats in the House of Commons. And while some undoubtably do work hard for every ballot slip, some MPs
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To the launch of the final volume of Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher at Banqueting House. A mix of cabinet ministers, government aides and hacks descended on the Policy Exchange bash to hear both Moore and Boris Johnson speak. With the climate change Extinction Rebellion protests shutting down Whitehall, a number of ministers arrived
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Jennifer Arcuri has just broken her silence on the nature of her relationship with Boris Johnson. When quizzed on whether she had an affair with the future PM by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain, Arcuri refused to deny it six times. Instead she told Morgan: “I’m not going to be put in a position where
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Poor John Bercow is suffering from a lost voice this morning, which is somewhat unfortunate for a Speaker. But fortunately he has Peter Bone watching out for him. The Brexiteer Tory MP has taken to his feet in the Commons to express his concern for Bercow, suggesting he takes some time out to recover: ‘The Speaker
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Extinction Rebellion protestors have just sprayed 1800 litres of fake blood over the Treasury using an old fire engine. Unfortunately their protest backfired somewhat when the hose flew out of control, leaving campaigners covered in red liquid: Oh dear…
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Vice President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala has made her mind up about Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposal: it’s no good. The Finnish MEP said ‘it’s not a very serious proposal’. But has she actually read the Prime Minister’s letter to Jean-Claude Juncker? Err, no. ‘But I am more or less aware of the proposal,’ she
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Oops. The Conservative party is meant to be focusing on law and order today at its party conference, with Home Secretary Priti Patel taking to the stage to announce new money for tackling country-lines drug gangs and a new fund for the roll-out of tasers among the police. But only metres away from the main
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Boris Johnson survived his morning broadcast round without dropping any clangers but he did nearly get caught out on the floor of Tory conference. The Prime Minister was passed a cup of coffee by an aide, only for it to be quickly snatched back from the PM. The reason? ‘No disposable cups’, according to Boris’s
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They may no longer be Conservative MPs, but that did not hold back several members of the Gaukeward squad from heading to the Conservative party conference yesterday in Manchester. Former Tory MPs Dominic Grieve, David Gauke, and Alistair Burt took part in a fringe event outside the main conference area, organised by ‘Conservative group for Europe’.
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It perhaps isn’t much of a surprise that Mark Francois won’t be buying David Cameron’s book. But his reason for not splashing out on ‘For the Record’ is somewhat unusual. The Brexiteer revealed that he won’t be putting it on his Christmas list for the simple reason that he doesn’t appear in it. Francois told
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Mark Francois, Arlene Foster and John Redwood have just taken part in a panel discussion on Brexit at Manchester’s Comedy Club (where else?). Francois quoted Robert Frost’s poetry as he made his plea to the audience that he wanted ‘to live in a free country’ outside the EU. It won’t come as much of a
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Ben Bradley is full of optimism about the Tory party’s future. ‘This could be the best thing since Mrs T’, he said at a Blue Collar Conservatism fringe event last night. Bradley said the government’s plans to splash the cash on police officers and hospitals would go down particularly well with voters. But he was
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Dying is easy, comedy is hard. It seems it’s even harder when you’re a Tory politician. Mr Steerpike has barely had time to pick himself up from the floor after this afternoon’s humorous offerings from the Conservative party conference stage, with dreadful jokes infiltrating both the speeches and the awkward panel discussions between ministers. Here
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The judiciary has come in for a hard time following the Supreme Court’s decision that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful. But Lady Hale and her ten fellow justices found a staunch defender at Tory party conference this evening in the form of Robert Buckland. The Lord Chancellor hit out at critics who said
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After a successful turn on the main stage at Conservative party conference today, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg made his way to a drinks reception this evening to continue the festivities and to give another speech. There, the Cabinet minister began by listing the three areas where he felt the UK had been held back the
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What does a Tory rebel do after they have had the Conservative whip withdrawn and then voted against the Tories having a conference recess? Go to Conservative party conference of course. Dominic Grieve has caused a stir this evening at the party’s annual meet in Manchester. The former Conservative MP – who has said he
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Boris Johnson came in for criticism last week for his language in Parliament, but are his critics any better? Mr S headed down to a protest in Manchester timed for the start of Tory party conference to find out. It was mostly good natured, with clowns banging drums, a Boris blimp and a decent turn
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Jacob Rees-Mogg has just given a pretty accurate summary of the state of British politics. The leader of the House of Commons pulled no punches as he addressed the Tory faithful at party conference. Mogg said Corbyn is a ‘weak man’, likened shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer to Brutus and said the Lib Dems were
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The Conservative party may have improved its use of social media in recent years, ditching the staid pictures of Cabinet ministers at party conference for cheerful images of young activists and campaigners, but it appears that it still might be struggling when it comes to marketing its events. This week, in an Instagram post counting