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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Chuka Umunna has quit the Labour party and set up a new political party. Calling itself the Independent Group, Umunna said the party wants to go about ‘building a new politics’. But in a Q and A with journalists, Mr S couldn’t help but notice that Umunna also managed to spell out quite clearly the new
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Oh dear. After months and years of speculation, this morning seven Labour MPs announced that they are quitting the party over Jeremy Corbyn’s unsuitability to be prime minister. Chuka Umunna and Chris Leslie are among the MPs to say they are quitting the party and forming an independent group which is proud to be British
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Luciana Berger and six other Labour MPs have just quit the Labour party. Explaining her reasons for quitting Corbyn’s party, Berger said she had come to the conclusion that Labour is ‘institutionally anti-Semitic’. She said she was ’embarrassed’ to stay put in Labour. Here is her damning verdict on the party: I have become embarrassed
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Jacob Rees-Mogg often describes himself as a straight-talker who gives honest answers, no matter how unpopular they might be. But did his performance on Question Time last night live up to this billing? It was held in leafy Aylesbury, which lies on the proposed HS2 path thereby hitting house prices in the area – which explains
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What would Winston Churchill have made of the hysterical debate yesterday, which tried to boil his legacy down to whether he was a ‘villain’ or a ‘hero’? Mr S wonders if the man who liberated Europe might have been amused at the situation, not least by being called a ‘villain’ by a shadow chancellor who thought
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Winston Churchill is a war hero who saved Britain from the Nazis. At least, that is what many think of a man consistently hailed as one of the greatest ever Brits. Not so Chris Williamson. Instead, the Labour MP agrees with the shadow chancellor John McDonnell that Churchill was a ‘villain’. Speaking on the BBC’s
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It’s fair to say that shadow chancellor John McDonnell is no stranger to controversy, but last night he managed to outdo himself when he entered into the debate on Winston Churchill’s legacy. At a Politico event, McDonnell was asked by the host, Jack Blanchard, whether Winston Churchill was a hero or a villain. After a
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Tensions between the Labour leadership and some of its MPs reached breaking point once again this week, over the party’s failure to deal with anti-Semitism within its own ranks. Key to the dispute has been the treatment of Liverpool Wavertree MP, Luciana Berger, who her colleagues say has been targeted by a hard-left group in
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Given that there have been three Brexit secretaries, those from the EU side could be forgiven for forgetting the name of the latest British minister in town. Unfortunately Steve Barclay has no such excuse for getting Jean-Claude Juncker’s name wrong. Asked by the BBC what he was up to in Brussels, he responded by saying:
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It was only last week that EU leader Donald Tusk caused outrage across the Channel with an unusual outburst on the Brexit negotiations, when he said that that those who had sought Brexit without a plan deserved a ‘special place in hell.’ Now it appears that other EU leaders are falling over themselves to make
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Oh dear. Jeremy Corbyn was caught out last week after a video emerged of him claiming that the European Union was creating a ‘military Frankenstein’. It now seems as if that criticism of EU wasn’t a one off. Here is Corbyn making a speech at a rally in 2010 in which he says the EU
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When veteran parliamentary sketch writer, Quentin Letts, announced that he was leaving the Daily Mail to write for the Times, Sunday Times and the Sun last November, talk immediately turned to who would fill his shoes. The move was considered to be quite a loss for the Mail: Letts has been skewering politicians on behalf of the paper
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Last year, there was much mirth when it was revealed that transport minister, Chris Grayling, had awarded a £14m contract for extra ferries between Ramsgate and Ostend in the case of no deal to ‘Seaborne Freight’ – a company which had no ships, and no record of chartering them. Suspicions that Seaborne might not be
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Not for the first time, Nigel Farage is back. The former Ukip leader is backing a new Brexit party that has today been officially recognised by the Electoral Commission. The Brexit Party plans to field candidates across the UK and in any European elections, if they are held in the event of Article 50 being
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Whether it’s free tickets for Wimbledon fixtures, taxpayer-funded flights to Nova Scotia, or simply expensive drinks receptions, it’s fair to say that the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has not been afraid to enjoy the luxuries of his position. But now it appears that the Speaker has recently developed even more expensive
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Today, the think tank Resolution Foundation hosted an event which asked, after Brexit ‘Where are the Conservatives heading?’ Inevitably, the debate quickly turned to a vital issue which has become a battle for the heart and soul of the Party: whether the state should be telling people how much food they eat, and how big their
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As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss has shown herself unafraid to say what she thinks. Whether it’s the need to defend Conservative values, rallying against Michael Gove’s wood-burning stove ban or poking fun at her current party’s Brexit secretary related woes. On Monday night, Truss gave a speech to female entrepreneurs and founders
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Oh dear. Donald Tusk has been causing trouble this morning with his comments about some Brexiteers deserving a special place in hell. But it seems that the Irish Taoiseach is determined to go one better. At the end of a press conference in Brussels, Leo Varadkar was caught out on microphone making a gag with Tusk
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With Theresa May instructed by parliament to renegotiate her withdrawal agreement and attempt to remove the backstop, all eyes today were on the Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, as he headed to Brussels to discuss the Irish border issue with the EU. But at a press conference following the talks, it was President of the European Council,
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Venezuela is in ruins and its people are suffering greatly as a result of Nicolas Maduro’s failed socialist experiment. So who is to blame? Many would say the buck stops with Maduro himself. As a result, Britain and other countries have joined forces in recognising Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim leader in an attempt to
