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

Thursday

Steerpike

Rayner’s youth blunder

Oh dear. After the government announced that 16- and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote in time for the next general election – in a move Reform's Nigel Farage has slammed as 'an attempt to rig the political system' – the Deputy Prime Minister penned an op-ed for the Times to praise the policy. But eagle-eyed observers were quick to spot a rather glaring error. The Ashton-under-Lyne MP reflected on the expectations placed on her shoulders when she was just a teen, writing: Nobody expected much of me when I become a young mum at 16. I was suddenly faced with serious responsibilities for putting food on the table, paying my bills and giving my son Ryan the best possible start in life. With support, I rose to the challenge.

Steerpike

Lefty MPs accept Glastonbury tickets in freebie U-turn

Well, well, well. It transpires that a number of left-wing MPs enjoyed some time away from their constituencies at this year's Glastonbury festival, soaking up the sun, music and, of course, the pleasure of being there for free. Former Labour MP Zarah Sultana – who may or may not have patched things up with Jeremy Corbyn following a rather botched party launch announcement – was gifted two tickets by Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd worth £630 after attending as a guest speaker. Green MP Ellie Chowns also registered a single ticket for speaking at the festival, costing £390, while Labour's Clive Lewis accepted a ticket, after being invited to speak, at the same price.

Steerpike

NHS diversity officer: I don’t know my own sex

The Sandie Peggie case against NHS Fife is only getting stranger. The tribunal resumed on Wednesday morning, after first being heard in February after nurse Peggie lodged a complaint of harassment related to a protected belief under the 2010 Equality Act after being suspended for complaining about sharing a changing room with a transgender doctor. Just weeks after the case adjourned, the Supreme Court backed the biological definition of a woman – and just this week Peggie's lawyer announced NHS Fife had cleared Peggie of all gross misconduct allegations. Now those present have witnessed another baffling twist –the senior diversity officer who gave advice that allowed a transgender medic into a women's changing room has claimed that she, er, doesn't know her own sex.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Foreign national benefits figures are ‘absolute insanity’, fumes Lowe

Well, well, well. It was only a fortnight ago that the government was forced to gut its own welfare reform in the face of a full-blown backbench rebellion, leaving Rachel Reeves with a £5bn black hole to cover up. And now, fresh from their self-inflicted bloody nose, the Department for Work and Pensions revealed on Tuesday that the number of people receiving Universal Credit has soared within Labour’s first year by, um, over a million. The DWP also acknowledged that over a million recipients are foreign nationals – in the first time the immigration status of benefit claimants has been published. 7.9 million people are currently on the dole. That’s a 16 per cent increase from the 6.8 million in the dying days of the last government, with the vast majority (6.

Steerpike

Rael Braverman quits Reform after attacks on Suella

A day is a long time in politics. Just 24 hours ago, the husband of former Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman was a signed-up member of Reform UK. This morning, however, Rael Braverman announced that he has left Nigel Farage's party – 'effective immediately'. Life comes at you fast, eh? It comes after the party hit out at Suella on Tuesday following the revelation that a Ministry of Defence leak in 2022 had endangered the lives of thousands of Afghans, resulted in launch of top secret Operation Rubric and cost the taxpayer over £7bn. Taking aim at the former Conservative government, Reform UK's ex-chairman and current head of DOGE Zia Yusuf was quick to point the finger on Twitter.

Steerpike

Sandie Peggie cleared of NHS misconduct

To Scotland, where the nurse at the centre of a trans tribunal against NHS Fife has been cleared of all gross misconduct allegations. On Tuesday night, Sandie Peggie’s lawyer said that the health board had cleared the nurse of four gross misconduct allegations – following Peggie’s suspension in January 2024 after complaining about sharing a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton. Peggie then lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief under the 2010 Equality Act while earlier this year Dr Upton had made an allegation of bullying and harassment against the nurse.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watchdog: most aid now spent on migrant hotels

Immigration is never off the news agenda these days, as Brits remain concerned about the influx of people to the country while the cost of living crisis and housing pressures only seem to worsen. Last week Sir Keir Starmer sealed a ‘one in, one out’ migrant returns deal with France’s President Emmanuel Macron which some number-crunching suggested is a little more akin to an, er, 17 in, one out set-up. The Labour lot have other borders-related problems on their plates too, however, as an independent watchdog has warned that the cost of supporting asylum seekers is set to absorb a whooping one-fifth of the gutted aid budget. Crikey!

Monday

Steerpike

Layla Moran’s nimbyism backfires

Oh dear. It seems that Layla Moran – the oracle of Oxfordshire – has been left with egg on her face once again. Since her election in 2017, the pansexual pioneer has distinguished herself in two ways. First, her consistent embrace of every passing progressive cause. And second, her determined commitment to oppose any new development in her constituency. No wonder Robert Jenrick has dubbed her 'the greatest Nimby in the House of Commons'... Whether it is new homes or solar panels, Moran is always there to block anything which might offer a boost to Britain's anaemic economy. One notable crusade was her 2022 attack on a new reservoir in Abingdon, to cope with consumers' increasing demands.

Steerpike

Gaza documentary report finds BBC misled viewers

Back to the BBC, which is better at making the news than breaking it these days. This afternoon a report has found that the Beeb's Gaza documentary that was narrated by the son of a Hamas official breached editorial guidelines and misled audiences. The review adds that viewers 'should have been informed' about the identity of the film's narrator – which was known by three people at the production company but, however, not by anyone at the BBC ahead of the documentary's release. The head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, apologised today over the BBC's lack of oversight and admitted this afternoon that: 'At BBC News, we are fully accountable. And we didn't run those questions to ground.' Oo er.

Steerpike

Who are working people? All Labour’s definitions

The Labour party has long been dubbed the party of working people – but despite the term being integral to the group's existence, Sir Keir Starmer's army have so far demonstrated an extraordinary degree of ineptness when pushed on its definition. After new transport minister Heidi Alexander caused a flurry of excitement at the weekend when she gave her own description of 'working people' – only those on 'modest incomes', apparently – Mr S decided to compile a list of all the, er, contradictory accounts of how exactly the phrase has been interpreted by the Labour lot.

Steerpike

Wallace’s BBC return ‘untenable’ after complaints upheld

Another week, another bit of bad news for ex-Beeb star Gregg Wallace. A report into the former MasterChef presenter has substantiated a whopping 45 complaints against the TV personality – making any return to the public service broadcaster 'untenable'. A seven-month inquiry by legal firm Lewis Silkin was carried out on behalf of the programme's production company. Speaking to 78 witnesses, it probed a staggering 83 complaints against the star – and upheld more than half. Crikey. The ex-MasterChef presenter faced more than 14 hours of interviews with the investigating team. Almost all of the allegations related to incidents occurring between 2005 and 2018, with most of these concerning inappropriate sexual language and humour.

Sunday

Steerpike

Thatcher hit job piece backfires

It is a century this year since the Iron Lady's birth – and conservatives are determined to mark it in style. Amid a whole host of dinners and seminars, the Margaret Thatcher Centre held a symposium on Monday to debate the legacy of the former Prime Minister. Among the likes of Lord Lilley, Sir Anthony Seldon and David Starkey was a writer from the New Statesman who duly filed a predictably snippy piece about the day. Quelle surprise... Yet it seems that the piece has backfired somewhat. For Donal Blaney, the conference organiser, has penned a letter in response.

Friday

Steerpike

Rupert Lowe cleared by standards watchdog

Well, well, well. It transpires that Independent MP Rupert Lowe – formerly of Reform UK – has now been cleared by parliament's standards commissioner after he was probed over funds for his independent 'Rape Gang Inquiry'. Lowe was investigated after allegedly failing to register hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations for his project, with more than £600,000 raised by a Crowdfunder started by the Greater Yarmouth MP in March. The Commissioner noted: I opened a formal inquiry on 10 July 2025. My inquiry sought to confirm whether these donations qualified as registrable interests and whether Lowe had failed to register them within the 28-day window set by the House.

Steerpike

Rachel Reeves’s GDP hypocrisy

Well, well, well. Today the Office for National Statistics released its estimate for May's GDP. It showed a contraction of 0.1 per cent, following a fall of 0.3 per cent the previous month. The trend is not a positive one for Rachel Reeves – but she doesn't seem to be outwardly panicking – which is odd, given her analysis of a similar GDP drop back in 2022… Back in May 2022, Reeves took to Twitter to fume at the Conservative government over GDP figures that saw a 'dramatic drop' of 0.1 per cent. She raged: This adds to the worries families already face from the cost of living crisis. If the PM and Cabinet come back from their away day in Staffordshire today with anything less than an Emergency Budget, they will have failed.

Steerpike

Unite suspends Rayner over Birmingham bin strikes

Uh oh. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has been suspended by Unite the Union over the Birmingham bin strike – and the union has announced it is reviewing its relationship with the Labour party. It's yet another blow for Sir Keir Starmer's army as the union is one of the party's biggest financial backers. Talk about trouble in paradise… Trade unionists voted 'overwhelmingly' at Unite's conference in Brighton today to suspend Rayner, accusing the former Unison union rep of backing a council that had 'peddled lies'. Rayner isn't the only public figure Unite has gone after. John Cotton, the leader of Birmingham council, has had his membership suspended by Unite, alongside some Labour councillors.

Thursday

Steerpike

Lammy appoints campaign donor to Foreign Office board

Well, well, well. There has been a rather interesting appointment made to the Foreign Office board by David Lammy, as Karen Blackett joins as a non-executive director. This is not the advertising executive's first brush with the now-Foreign Secretary however – as it transpires that Blackett is actually a Lammy donor, putting a whopping £5,000 towards the Labour MP's campaign in the run-up to the general election last summer. How very interesting… Blackett has joined the board to help provide 'strategic direction, oversight, support and challenge for the department with a view to the long-term health, reputation and success of the FCDO' – and will be paid up to £15,000 a year for the job, which typically requires a commitment of 20 days a year for three years. Alright for some!

Steerpike

Watch: Nigel Farage’s bizarre fishing interview

As Sir Keir Starmer's migration talks with French president Emmanuel Macron drag on, the TV segments on the subject are getting progressively weirder. Take this morning's GB News piece aboard Nigel Farage's boat. The Reform UK leader was supposed to be getting quizzed on the noises coming out of the Anglo-French borders deal – which he suggested could look a 'complete insult' and a 'total humiliation' – but Mr S considered it may have been rather difficult for viewers to follow Farage's remarks given he spent a portion of the interview, er, catching fish and chucking them back in the sea again. While the presenter attempts to question Farage on Starmer's 'one in, one out' migrant deal, the Reform leader busies himself with catching mackerel. 'You can see Nigel's rod bending there!

Steerpike

Poll: The Spectator is decision-makers’ favoured read

Like Forrest Gump, The Spectator has an amusing habit of turning up at the right moments in history. Boris during Partygate? There was a copy of our mag in one of the No. 10 snaps. The latest season of Industry? There was a fake front cover proudly on display. And now it seems that this august institution is turning up on the right peoples' desks in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond... A new report out by Portland Communications polls what 529 decision-makers from the public and private sectors are reading every day. It reports that: Although our panel skewed to the left politically, one interesting finding is how much more influential the right-wing Spectator is compared to the left-wing New Statesman.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Nearly half of Brits think Starmer should step down

When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. The Prime Minister faced the biggest rebellion of his premiership last week after 49 Labour rebels voted against his welfare bill – despite the government making significant concessions that effectively put off any reforms until the end of next year – and now the public has delivered a rather damning verdict on their new PM. YouGov polling reveals that 44 per cent of Brits think that, just a year into Labour's first term, Starmer should quit the top job and let someone else take over as Labour leader. Crikey! The survey – which quizzed 1,702 British adults on 7 July – revealed that almost one in two Britons think the PM should step aside, while a third think Starmer should stay on as Labour leader.

Steerpike

Watch: Is Starmer set to extend the stealth tax?

Today's Prime Minister's Questions was a rather illuminating session. Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch will be rather pleased at the news headlines her line of questioning has generated, after she repeatedly quizzed Sir Keir Starmer on his government's tax pledges. While he gave an uncharacteristically direct response to her first query – stating that 'yes', he stands by his manifesto commitments not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT – he was much less clear on Badenoch's follow up. 'The Chancellor promised that she would lift the freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds because, in her words, they hurt working people,' Badenoch told the Commons.