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

Tuesday

Steerpike

Alastair Campbell struggles to be reasonable

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell took to social media last week to lament the loss of reasonable discourse in politics. After speaking on Iain Dale’s LBC radio show he praised the host, saying: https://twitter.com/campbellclaret/status/1025417273811652608 So has the earnest Remainer been taking his own advice when it comes to the merits of sensible conversation? Mr Steerpike thinks not. The timely intervention for more decorum came only one day after he unleashed a Twitter broadside against Brexiteer Arron Banks. Apparently not keen to engage with the substance of the debate, Campbell quickly descended into personal jibes, attacking Banks’ weight and drawing attention to his ‘moobs’ (man boobs). https://twitter.

Monday

Steerpike

Man who supported a burka ban to speak at Corbynista festival

Boris Johnson has found himself in a spot of bother today over an article in the Telegraph. The former Foreign Secretary uses his column to say that he disagrees with the Danish government's decision to ban burkas. However, he has been criticised for also saying that Muslim women wearing burkas 'look like letter boxes'. A number of top Corbynistas have been quick to denounce him for trying to appeal to the hard-right: https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1026422370293227520 https://twitter.com/evolvepolitics/status/1026420556680372224 https://twitter.com/DawnHFoster/status/1026398500869865472 Only Mr S can't help but wonder if they're all up to date with the programme for Corbynista favourite The World Transformed festival that coincides with Labour conference.

Steerpike

George Osborne learns his lesson

While David Cameron has reportedly busied himself of late telling friends how his old mate Michael Gove is 'mad' and behaved like a 'lunatic' during the EU referendum, his comrade George Osborne appears to take a rather different view. Rather than hold a grudge, the former Chancellor was spotted on holiday with Gove last month. Osborne and Gove embarked on a lads' holiday which consisted of taking in four Wagner operas on four consecutive days. While some have been quick to poke fun at their idea of fun, Mr S is just glad that Osborne and Gove have learnt their lesson.

Saturday

Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn’s cut and paste job

You have a tight deadline and if you miss it there will be trouble. Only it's a Friday and you've got plans so you do a slapdash job and copy and paste from a previous piece of work hoping no-one will notice. This at least appears to be what happened to Jeremy Corbyn on Friday. After a week of tawdry allegations of anti-Semitism, the Labour leader attempted to stem the anger growing at his handling of the situation by penning an article for the Guardian. Only readers were quick to point out that it bears a striking resemblance to the last article on anti-Semitism he wrote for the Evening Standard. Guardian, August 2018: 'Denying the continuing problem doesn’t help.

Friday

Steerpike

BBC presenter takes a swipe at the Today programme

Oh dear. The Today programme has been in the news this week for the wrong reason after new data showed that the BBC's flagship current affairs radio show had lost nearly a million listeners in the past year. The show's editor Sarah Sands has been quick to go into damage limitation mode – arguing that this isn't a sign of any problem with the show. Instead, it reflects the difficulties all broadcasters currently experience. But does everyone agree? It would seem not. Former Today presenter Sarah Montague entered the debate on Twitter where she made the point that her new gig – the World at One – had not lost listeners: https://twitter.

Thursday

Steerpike

Chris Williamson turns on Momentum

While the likes of Owen Jones are finally realising that it might not be a wise idea to back Peter Willsman following his rant about anti-Semitism, the same can’t be said for all prominent Corbyn supporters. Step forward, Chris Williamson. The Labour MP is doubling down on his endorsement for Willsman, in defiance of calls from Momentum for Willsman to resign from Labour's National Executive Committee. In a show of solidarity, Williamson has updated his Twitter biography to ‘JC9’ – a reference to Willsman’s election to the NEC. But he hasn't stopped there.

Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt’s wife gaffe goes from bad to worse

Jeremy Hunt started his new job as Foreign Secretary with a bang on Monday with a gaffe that rivalled those of his predecessor Boris Johnson. On a visit to China, Hunt told his hosts that his wife was Japanese. The problem? She is Chinese: ‘Erm, my wife is Japanese. My wife is Chinese, sorry. That is a terrible mistake to make’ Hunt was quick to apologise – and even documented his attempts to make it up to his wife by buying her flowers: https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt/status/1024305946275790849 However, Mr S suspects one bouquet won't cut it. It turns out that Hunt's wife has justification to be more than just a little bit annoyed at Hunt's slip of the tongue.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn dodges questions on anti-Semitism

Labour’s anti-Semitism problem isn’t going away. But it seems Jeremy Corbyn is hoping it will do. When the Labour leader was asked whether he was the man to patch things up between the Jewish community and the party, Corbyn was somewhat lost for words: Reporter: 'Are relations between the Labour leadership and the British Jewish community broken beyond repair? ...Can you fix the relationship, Mr Corbyn?' Jeremy Corbyn: 'Good morning, nice to see you. Goodbye…Can you close the window please.' https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1024649953782767618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr S. thinks this is hardly the best way for Corbyn to reassure people that he is taking the problem seriously...

Tuesday

Steerpike

Arron Banks’ G7 fail

With Theresa May's Chequers proposal unpopular across the board, there are many politicians and would-be politicians now asking themselves: could I do a better job? For quite a lot of these people, the answer is 'yes'. However, this afternoon Leave.EU's Arron Banks offered a reminder that sometimes the basics are harder than they look. The Brexit campaigner took to social media to correct Chuka Umunna for sharing a graph detailing growth in G7 countries. Banks's complaint? Canada, the USA and Japan aren't in the G7. The problem? They are. https://twitter.com/Arron_banks/status/1024274947672342530 Probably for the best that it was Vote Leave rather than Banks's Leave.EU won the official Leave campaign designation in the EU referendum campaign...

Steerpike

Chris Grayling’s Love Island opportunity

CCHQ's attempt to latch onto ITV2's Love Island fanbase by releasing a number of Love Island-themed water bottles with Conservative attack lines hit a bump in the road after it transpired that they had not been given permission to use the reality show trademark. Nevertheless, Mr S suspects that one Cabinet Minister is particularly thrilled to learn that the non-branded water bottles are in abundance in a cupboard at headquarters. Step forward Chris Grayling. Earlier this month PopBitch reported a visitor to the offices of the Secretary of State for Transport noting that all the staff there were trying to beat the heatwave with snazzy new Love Island water bottles. Everyone, that is, apart from the Secretary of State. The reason? No-one had thought to get him in on the round.

Steerpike

Momentum’s NEC candidates: a beginner’s guide

Labour's latest anti-Semitism row has gone from awful to even worse thanks to a recording leaking in which veteran left-winger and NEC member Peter Willsman dismisses some of Corbyn’s critics in the Jewish community as 'Trump fanatics', suggests critics could 'falsify social media' and questions whether his colleagues had actually seen anti-Semitism in the party. While Labour grandees and young Corbynista pundits have been quick to condemn the comments, a number of Corbyn allies are staying schtum. The problem is that with fresh elections underway as of last week to decide who will be elevated to Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), this comes at a bad time for the Corbynista wing of the party.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Hunt’s Chinese wife gaffe

Jeremy Hunt might have some explaining to do when he gets home from his trip to China. The Foreign Secretary has been in Beijing drumming up trade for Britain, but during discussions with his Chinese counterparts he accidentally referred to his Chinese wife as Japanese: 'Erm, my wife is Japanese. My wife is Chinese, sorry. That is a terrible mistake to make' Oh dear...

Steerpike

Project Fear latest: Brexit means… super-gonorrhoea

Oh dear. With Tory MPs and Opposition MPs alike united in their dislike of Theresa May's Chequers proposals, talk of a no deal Brexit is rife. Only this time around no-one seems able to agree on where Project Fear stops and Kamikaze begins. In today's Telegraph, a Brexiteer MP accuses May of being the most Kamikaze of all thanks to her new penchant for releasing no deal preparation notices. Far from being the stuff the UK should show to Brussels to prove they are ready, they say, talk of plans to stockpile food and bring in the army to deliver it are aimed at scaring Brits into accepting her compromise. What ever view you take, Mr S suspects that it's hard to deny Project Fear is back in some form.

Friday

Steerpike

Dominic Cummings’ fake news

With characteristic verve, former Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings has taken to his blog to brand the latest DCMS select committee report ‘fake news from the fake news committee.’ But has the high priest of fighting fake news being practising what he preaches when it comes to spreading false information? Mr S has cause for concern. Addressing the committee, he quotes the line ‘The truth? You can’t handle the truth!’ from the 90s film classic A Few Good Men, which he attributes to Tom Cruise. Clearly Cummings’ film knowledge is not up to scratch, while Cruise did star in the film, the quote itself was said by his co-star Jack Nicholson. Happily, Cummings has since issued an apology: [Pps.

Steerpike

Eight people who’ve changed their Brexit position

It can be hard work keeping track of how Brexit is going. Last week alone we had the government adopt a series of amendments which were designed to wreck the very plans they had put forward, a minister resign in order to support the government's original position, and a president argue that the proposals both would and would not make a trade deal possible with the US. Meanwhile, other politicians have contributed to the general level of confusion by dropping their old beliefs at will and adopting new ones with newfound zeal. Whether these changes of heart are indications of the power of argument and persuasion, or simply politically expedient choices, a number of public figures would prefer it if we simply forgot the positions they used to hold.

Steerpike

Gavin Barwell sets the bar low

Oh dear. It used to be that the Conservatives had their eyes on a 100-seat majority, now it seems that they’ll celebrate a draw. Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell appears to be spending his Friday attempting to rally the troops today by retweeting a host of 'favourable' polls and results from around the country. If council by-elections weren’t enough to convince the rank and file things were going well, then surely a surge in the polls nationally would do the trick. Or maybe not. It seems Barwell thinks Labour dropping one point to tie with the Tories is a reason to be cheerful: Mr S suspects this development might not be quite enough to calm Tory members still seething over the Chequers proposal...

Steerpike

SNP’s fake Brexit news

Given the current mess the Conservative party finds itself in, you'd be forgiven for thinking that all their opponents need to do is sit back, watch and enjoy the show. Yet it seems they can't help themselves. As Labour stay in the headlines with a fresh anti-Semitism row, the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford attempted to go in for the kill. Blackford shared a 'tweet' by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab in which he apparently referred to Scotland as one of 'England's regions': Only there's a problem – the tweet is a fake, as many users online had already highlighted. After being told this by several users, Blackford has eventually decided to delete his fake news...

Thursday

Steerpike

Labour MPs’ Love Island fandom moves up a gear

Last month Mr Steerpike revealed that a group of Labour MPs had formed a special WhatsApp group to secretly liaise with one another. The topic? Rather than anti-Corbynista plots, Lucy Powell, Jess Phillips and Stella Creasy message one another about Love Island – the reality show in which young Brits try and find love. Happily, the trio have now gone public with their passion. With recess upon us, the super fandom has moved up a gear – the Labour MPs appeared on This Morning to discuss the ITV2 show, and it’s fair to say, were delighted to receive their own personalised Love Island water bottles. https://twitter.com/thismorning/status/1022063492717785089 Not as though there's much else going on right now...

Steerpike

Boris Johnson’s new-found freedom

As Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson found himself restrained in ways that didn't suit him. Now on the backbench once again, BoJo is able to speak freely on Brexit. He's also able to return to a favourite pastime: cycling. Although Johnson is a well known cycling enthusiast, the keen pedaller has been stuck on foot since taking up office as Foreign Secretary. In 2016 the Metropolitan Police banned him from cycling to work, fearing he would be a target for a terrorist attack. Now he's back on the road.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Listen: John McDonnell – ‘we are a party that’s anti-Semitist’

A poll earlier this year found that almost two-thirds of the British public believe Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has a problem with racism or religious prejudice. However, up until now Mr S hadn't thought John McDonnell was one of them. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, the Shadow Chancellor attempted to rebuff suggestions that his party had an anti-Semitism problem. Only it didn't go quite to plan thanks to a slip of the tongue: ‘Let me put this message out to anyone: we are a party that’s anti-racist and anti-Semitist... sorry... we're against anti-Semitism.' Freudian slip?