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

Wednesday

Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt’s direct channel to Trump

The past few months have been testing for the so-called special relationship. President Trump's visit to the UK ended in disaster for Theresa May when the US President gave an interview to the Sun in which he declared that her proposed Brexit deal would kill any chance of a UK/US trade deal. However, not all Cabinet ministers had a wholly bad experience. On Tuesday night, Mr S headed along to Jeremy Hunt's Foreign Office Christmas reception at Lancaster House – also known as the 'Foreign Secretary's leadership launch,' according to a fellow Cabinet minister. In his speech, Hunt told guests how his own relationship with Trump had flourished on that visit. The reason? It's not that Hunt hit it off with Trump in person.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Diplomatic parking fines: the worst offenders

While they may be the bane of every driver who is stuck for a space in a busy city centre, most of us accept that when we've parked on those dreaded double yellow lines, we'll inevitably have to pay a fine later. But that's not the case for the various diplomats who inhabit the city of London. With the power of diplomatic immunity, the staff of embassies and consulates based in the capital are able to park where they like - and are not legally obliged to pay their fines. The result, as you can imagine, is some fairly huge debts racked up against the missions of London. In an effort to shame them, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has just released how much the the various embassies owe from last year.

Steerpike

Clive Lewis fails to get into the Christmas spirit

Christmas – the time for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. It's also the time of year for giving. Except that is if you're Clive Lewis. The Labour MP – and sometime Corbynista – has managed to raise eyebrows in Parliament over his attempt at a Christmas bash. While the bulk of Christmas drinks events in Parliament come with warm wine, crisps and the odd G n T, Lewis's Christmas bash could be described as less generous on the catering front. Mr S understands that guests invited to his drinks this week were asked to bring... their own refreshments and snacks. Still, it's merrier than anything the Leader's Office are planning. Jeremy Corbyn is yet to send out an invite for Christmas drinks for hacks.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Leave MP kicked out of Sky News interview

As we get closer to Brexit day in March and the campaigners for a second referendum begin to gain momentum, tensions are starting to run seriously high in the Westminster village. But the most recent spat between two MPs might just be the most remarkable sign yet of how fraught relations have become between Remainers and Leavers. On Sky News, Labour MP and second referendum supporter Anna Turley locked horns with Conservative MP David TC Davies about the impact no deal Brexit would have on the country's economy. As the two sparred over which economic forecasts by the Treasury should be taken more seriously, Davies - unable to get a word in - took the unusual step of declaring that he would look at his phone while he waited for Turley to finish.

Steerpike

Six reasons why revoking Article 50 would kill Brexit, not pause it

Have you noticed how many siren voices are suggesting that Britain rescinds Article 50 to buy time? The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, tells us that it is in the UK’s gift to avoid a no deal Brexit and buy “more time to decide what it wants” We have Sir John Major saying “We need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect. The clock must be stopped. It is clear we need the most precious commodity of all: time.” Versions of this can be heard elsewhere. But it’s legal nonsense, for reasons that are not properly understood. The ECJ did not give us carte blanche to revoke the notice and then re-issue notice as we see fit. Words matter, and each of its words has a legal definition.

Friday

Steerpike

Watch: Juncker vs May, Part II

Oh dear. Theresa May has had a wretched time at the EU Council summit – not helped by the face Jean-Claude Juncker appeared to take a personal swipe at the Prime Minister by calling her nebulous. The pair clashed this morning over the apparent comments. Now the European Commission President has attempted to smooth things over. Only Mr S suspects he may have done the opposite. Asked in his press conference, what the pair said to one another when May confronted him, Juncker said they 'were not dancing' in reference to Theresa May's 'Dancing Queen' days. He insisted he did not mean that May was 'nebulous' – the comment was directed at UK Parliament in general. As for now? 'She was kissing me,' Juncker added, bizarrely. https://twitter.

Steerpike

Caption contest: the Theresa May vs Juncker death stare

Theresa May has just had a humiliating night, as EU leaders rebuffed her bid for concessions on the Irish backstop, and told her the withdrawal agreement was no longer negotiable. The bleak response she received from the EU27 may explain this rather icy moment between Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker which was caught on camera at the beginning of the day: https://twitter.com/PhilipSime/status/1073516384095739904 UPDATE: Mr S is happy to provide an update for those wondering what the PM and Juncker were saying. Two expert lipreaders at Channel 5 have analysed the footage and reckon May was upset that the president of the commission had called her 'nebulous'. Footage below: https://twitter.

Thursday

Steerpike

Gary Lineker dealt a fast ball by his BBC colleague

Gary Lineker's tweets about Brexit has been getting on more than a fair share of people's nerves since the second referendum. After a brief sojourn as a responsible Remainer, the former footballer has since become a People's Vote fanatic, and can't stop ranting on social media about stopping Brexit from taking place. Now it appears that it's not just neutral observers who are finding his many interventions annoying. His colleague at the BBC covering cricket, Jonathan Agnew, took to social media this afternoon to say how unhappy he was that Lineker was breaking the BBC's impartiality guidelines: https://twitter.com/Aggerscricket/status/1073255577898356736 Mr S will leave it to readers to decide whether the cricketer or footballer is talking more balls.

Steerpike

‘Stop calling me insane’: Polly Toynbee gets taken to task over Brexit

Polly Toynbee has been complaining about Brexit again. This time though it appears that she has met her match. The Guardian columnist appeared on the BBC's Politics Live earlier today talking about the woes of a no deal Brexit. But she ended up being taken to task for appearing to question her fellow panellist Liam Halligan's sanity for disagreeing with her. Here's how he responded: 'You can't keep calling people like me, questioning my insanity. I've spent the last three years reading documents about no deal that you don't even know exist. There are many, many people out there who voted to leave the European Union – I know you don't like it – and there are many, many professional people who think no deal will be absolutely fine.' Has Toynbee learnt her lesson?

Steerpike

The New York Times’ petty UK coverage continues

Everyone's favourite Britain-bashing newspaper, the New York Times, is at it again. As Mr S has noted several times this year, the paper's coverage of Britain has rapidly slid from reasonably sensible to completely doolally, as it seeks to prove that the EU referendum has turned the UK into the worst place in existence. Recent highlights from the publication's coverage include the suggestion that everyone in London was eating boiled mutton and porridge until a few years ago, that nervous citizens are stockpiling food for a Brexit emergency, and that the town of Prescot has had to close its fire station (it hasn't). Clearly not having learned its lesson, it appears that the NYT is on the lookout for some dirt to dish on the country yet again.

Wednesday

Steerpike

John McDonnell’s crisis of confidence

As the Conservative Party continued to battle this evening over the survival of Theresa May, Her Majesty's Opposition had the easiest job in the world. All they had to do was watch the carnage unfold without slipping up themselves. But that might have been too much to ask for some this evening. Reacting to the news that Theresa May had lost the confidence of 117 of her MPs, was Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell. He expressed deep shock that Theresa May had lost the support of over a third of her parliamentary party: https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1072961182221377536 Mr S certainly thinks he has a point. But the red-book wielding shadow chancellor should perhaps apply the lesson to his own side.

Steerpike

Watch: Anna Soubry rows with fellow Tory MP

Theresa May has survived a vote of confidence but the Tory party is not a happy place. Anna Soubry and Robert Buckland have just had a very public row on Sky News. It's safe to say the two Tory MPs did not see eye-to-eye about what should happen next. Buckland told Soubry that it was 'time to move on'. But Soubry said the PM was just offering more of the same 'empty rhetoric': Soubry: 'Let me finish please' Buckland: 'This is time for compromise not for people taking artificial lines and looking for nirvana' Soubry later appeared to mutter that her colleague's words were 'absolute rubbish'. Oh dear..

Steerpike

Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg calls on Theresa May to go

Theresa May has survived the vote of confidence in her leadership, but Jacob Rees-Mogg has insisted the Prime Minister should still quit. The Tory Brexiteer said that the result was 'terrible' for the PM, pointing out that many of those who backed her were 'on the payroll': 'The PM must realise under most constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign' May has won a battle, but her critics are determined not to back down just yet...

Steerpike

Theresa May has 80 per cent chance of winning the confidence vote, say bookmakers

It may be a terrible day for Theresa May, but the signs so far seem to suggest that she's at least going to win her upcoming no confidence vote. Four of the bookmakers: Ladbrokes, Paddypower, Betway and Betfair now suggest that the Prime Minister has an 80 per cent chance of convincing her MPs to continue backing her premiership.   Interestingly, Paddypower only gave the Prime Minister a 50 per cent chance of survival at the beginning of the day, but has since improved her odds in line with the other bookies. Were they convinced by the numerous ministers and MPs who have declared they will support the Prime Minister? If so, Mr S should remind them: the next round is a secret ballot, and MPs may not vote in line with their public proclamations...

Steerpike

Watch: Tory MPs refuse to talk on TV

It's all out war in the Conservative party today, and as you would expect, things are already getting a little heated between Tory MPs. The rift between colleagues backing Theresa May and those calling for her to go was very apparent on BBC news this morning, where Brexiteer and letter submitter Andrew Bridgen was talking about the upcoming no confidence vote. At the end of his interview, he was then asked by Victoria Derbyshire if he was willing to stay on and chat with the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, James Cleverly - who is backing Theresa May, and who had just joined them: 'I gather, that you don't necessarily want to talk to each other, so if you need to go, are you happy to, talk?' To which Bridgen replied: 'I'll go, that's fine' And walked off. Ouch.

Steerpike

The next Tory leader: runners and riders

It’s official, 48 letters of no confidence have been submitted to the chairman of the 1922 committee, Graham Brady, triggering a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister this evening. If she loses this, she will be required to stand down and a Conservative leadership election will begin. As James reports on Coffee House, already the next potential leaders of the Tory party are jostling to take Theresa May’s place. But any Tory MP who wants to take the Conservative Party throne has a tough ride ahead. First, they have to be popular among their fellow MPs, in an internal election that narrows the process down to two candidates. Then, after hustings, they have to win a vote among Conservative grassroots members.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May gets locked inside her car

Poor old Theresa May. The PM is hopping across Europe in a desperate bid to try and salvage her Brexit deal. But quite predictably things aren't going well. After arriving in Berlin to meet Angela Merkel, Theresa May got off to a bad start – by getting locked in her car. https://twitter.com/SkyNewsPolitics/status/1072463780007809024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr S is pleased to report that it wasn't long before the PM was freed, although he suspects that not all Tory MPs will be pleased about that....

Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow burns Philip Hammond

John Bercow gave Labour MPs a helping hand in the Commons yesterday by making his thoughts known on the Government's decision to delay a vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal. The Speaker said the hold-up was 'deeply discourteous'. But it seems he hasn't stopped his mission of making life tricky for the Tories. Philip Hammond urged John McDonnell to vote for the PM's withdrawal arrangement because it was the best that was on offer. But unfortunately for the Chancellor his remark teed up Bercow to take a pop at him: 'It's quite difficult to vote for something if there isn't a vote' Mr S thinks that Bercow does have a point...

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Labour MP grabs the mace in protest at vote delay

It’s been a day of high emotions in the House of Commons after Theresa May moved to postpone the vote on her Brexit deal. With Brexiteers, the SNP and Labour MPs distinctly unimpressed at the move, it all got a bit too much for one MP this evening in the Chamber. Step forward Lloyd Russell-Moyle. The Labour MP this evening made headlines after he broke a Parliament taboo. In protest at May’s decision to delay the vote, Russell-Moyle grabbed the ceremonial mace. This is against the rules and he has been suspended from the Commons as a result: https://twitter.com/dcakraemer/status/1072234234901860353?s=21 The Labour MP has so far succeeded in uniting warring factions in condemnation at his actions. Not that Russell-Moyle seems worried, he’s since been spotted in the pub.

Steerpike

Sarah Vine goes on the offensive over Brexit u-turn

Oh dear. It’s been a testing day for Her Majesty’s government after Theresa May decided to postpone the vote on her Brexit deal in order to avoid a humiliating defeat. The problem is no-one bothered to tell May’s so-called inner circle and just hours before the vote was pulled Michael Gove was sent on the Today programme to explain that the vote was going ahead. Could the communications meltdown prove the trigger to ministers turning on May? Mr S only asks after Michael Gove’s wife Sarah Vine - the Daily Mail columnist - appeared to suggest on social media that she was running out of patience with the Prime Minister.