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

Watch: Justin Trudeau mansplains mankind

From our UK edition

Justin Trudeau is no stranger to virtue signalling, but he has surpassed himself with his latest gesture. The Canadian PM was taking part in a Q and A at a university when he took a female* audience member to task. Her offence? Succumbing to the patriarchy and referring to ‘mankind’. Trudeau interrupted her to mansplain her error: ‘We like to say people kind, not necessarily mankind…’ Telling a female the correct word to use... Mr S would consider that mansplaining...

Steerpike

Why Osborne was wrong to trash Auntie May

From our UK edition

When David Cameron and George Osborne were in government, the pair heralded a new 'golden era' where the UK would be China's 'best partner in the West'. However, since Theresa May moved into No 10, questions have been raised about the health of this partnership. Osborne ally Lord O'Neill has criticised May for a focus on New Zealand when the priority should be China. Meanwhile, just last week Osborne appeared underwhelmed by May's trip to China – telling the Today programme that she needed 'a plan to engage with the rest of the world like China'. Further still, the paper Osborne edits – the Evening Standard – claimed that May had held a chinese symbol for luck 'upside down'.

Steerpike

Anna Soubry: Hard Brexiteers should be ‘slung’ out the Tory party

From our UK edition

The friction in the Tory party shows no signs of calming down. Anna Soubry is the latest Tory MP to cause trouble – again – by calling for Conservative hard Brexiteers to be 'slung’ out of the party. Soubry said it was time for ‘moderates’ to ‘take control'. She told Newsnight: 'My frontbench...is in hock to 35 hard ideological Brexiteers, who are not Tories...they are not the Tory party that I joined 40 years, and it is about time Theresa May stood up to them and slung them out…The time has come for the moderates…dare I use the expression, to take control of the party.' But Soubry wasn’t finished there.

Monday

Steerpike

80-year-old pensioner receives anti-Brexit death threat

From our UK edition

Here we go. There's been a lot of talk in recent months of the vicious rhetoric coming from Brexiteers - but what about ardent Remainers? Zac Goldsmith – the MP for Richmond Park – has taken to social media to share a letter that was sent to an 80-year-old constituent. Signed by 'the real 48 per cent', the author of the letter promises: 'We are coming for you. We are going to kill you.' https://twitter.com/ZacGoldsmith/status/960541047272112128 Well, Mr S did always think there was something rather sinister about the Remainer claim that Brexit voters would die at a faster rate to those who voted In...

Steerpike

Security minister’s Private Pike jibe

From our UK edition

After a weekend of Tory in-fighting, blue on blue briefing wars and confusion over the government's Brexit position, it's safe to say that tensions are running high in the Conservative party. One minister who is particularly rattled by the contents of the Sunday papers is Ben Wallace, The Mail on Sunday reported that the Security Minister – and close ally of Boris Johnson – is on the verge of resigning in order to trigger a leadership contest against May. Only this seems to be news to Wallace. The Conservative MP has taken to social media to note that 'there is something very Dad’s Army about the Mail on Sunday story that I’m resigning' – adding that he 'shall put the paper in the fireplace where it belongs': https://twitter.

Sunday

Steerpike

Toff takeover at Tories’ ‘black-and-white’ ball

From our UK edition

After Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, the Tories have been divided on how best to utilise their celebrity supporter. A proud Conservative, Toff's offer to share her million Instagram followers with the party was snubbed by CCHQ over concerns she was ‘too posh to win over Labour supporters’. Since then, the Made in Chelsea cast member has complained that MPs spun a trip she made to Parliament for TV work to make it look as though she had come for a meeting. Happily, Conservative MPs will soon have a chance to make amends with the reality star.

Steerpike

Former civil servant claims civil service ‘impartial’ on Brexit – says problem is… Brexit

From our UK edition

Oh dear. After a week in which senior Brexiteers accused the civil service of trying to frustrate Britain's exit from the EU, the Sunday papers have seen the first signs of fight back. In the Observer, Andrew Turnbull, who led the civil service under Tony Blair, claims the Brexit bunch are using tactics similar to those of rightwing German nationalists between the two world wars. Now Gus O'Donnell has appeared on Peston on Sunday to dismiss accusations that the civil service is trying to thwart Brexit. Defending the 'honesty, objectivity integrity and impartiality' of the civil service, the former Cabinet Secretary said the problem wasn't with his side but with... Brexit: 'Now of course, if you're selling snake oil, you don't like the idea of experts and testing your product.

Friday

Steerpike

VIDEO: Jacob Beats Mob

From our UK edition

No one puts the Moggster in a corner. He was due to speak to the UWE Bristol Politics and International Relations Society. A bunch of hooded protesters entered the room, and started to shout. There are about a dozen of them, shouting about Brexit, some with their faces covered. The Moggster, rather than taking cover, walks towards the mob. 1) Masked thugs arrive to disrupt @Jacob_Rees_Mogg at an event in the University of the West of England in Bristol. pic.twitter.com/6Z0eCUBRGY — Peter Thompson (@P_G_Thompson) February 2, 2018 Then the scuffle @BBCNews a huge amount of (physical) violence at a Jacob Rees Mogg speech in UWE Bristol pic.twitter.com/bfaOqAVwc6 — Chloe (@chloekayex) February 2, 2018 And the stills.

Steerpike

Michael Portillo: Jacob Rees-Mogg offers what the public is crying out for

From our UK edition

With doubts about Theresa May's leadership rising, talk has turned – once again – to who might replace her. Jacob Rees-Mogg has topped this month's ConservativeHome leadership poll of members. So, is Moggmentum what the public needs? That's the suggestion made by Michael Portillo. Speaking on This Week, the Tory stalwart conceded that Rees-Mogg could have some of the answers: AN: Jacob Rees-Mogg is now the bookies’ favourite and indeed in some internal Tory party polling is the favourite to succeed, what do you make of that?

Thursday

Steerpike

Chris Williamson’s Carillion confusion

From our UK edition

Chris Williamson has been on Russia Today (where else?) lambasting the government for outsourcing to private firms. The Corbynista favourite said that ‘public services are being used as a cash cow to generate private profit’ – and, in the wake of the collapse of Carillion, it was time to ‘remove the private sector from all public services’. He went on to say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqmloGB2G-4 ‘The way in which the privateers make their margins is by screwing down the workforce that they employ, cutting back on their terms and conditions and diminishing the quality of service to the general public.

Steerpike

Jilly Cooper: Presidents Club outcry was ‘absolutely ridiculous’

From our UK edition

This is going to end well. The Financial Times' report on allegations of inappropriate behaviour at a Presidents' Club charity dinner is the paper's most-read story of all time. The investigation revealed hostesses at the event were groped, sexually harassed and propositioned. However, one writer has been left wondering what all the fuss is about. Step forward Jilly Cooper. The bonkbuster writer has told Londoner's Diary that she thought it 'was absolutely ridiculous' – 'it was just men having fun... behaving badly'. 'The girls knew what they were going in to, didn’t they? The fuss they made about it with everything going on. Also, Great Ormond Street Hospital sending that money back was a shocking, shocking thing. I’m old, darling.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Julian Smith finds Brexit diplomacy a piece of cake

From our UK edition

Julian Smith has his work cut out as Chief Whip. As well as trying to stop Tory MPs firing off letters to 1922 Committee chairman Graham Brady, Smith must try and keep both Tory Remainers and Tory Brexiteers in line. In a bid to do this, Smith met with the European Research Group – the all-powerful Brexit wing of the Conservative party – this week to try and ease concerns that the government is about to water down the version of Brexit it is seeking. Now Jacob Rees-Mogg is chair of the ERG, the group is seen to have greater potential for trouble. So, what was his strategy? Serving cake. A Victoria sponge cake was brought out to keep the rebels at bay – reports that the cake was homemade are yet to be confirmed or denied.

Steerpike

Watch: Minister resigns at the despatch box

From our UK edition

A government minister has just dropped a clanger in the House of Lords – by resigning for missing a question. Lord Bates told peers that he was 'ashamed' for not being there to answer a query from Labour’s Baroness Lister. An emotional Bates told the Lords: 'I am thoroughly ashamed at not being in my place, and shall therefore be offering my resignation to the Prime Minister...' His announcement was greeted with cries of ‘no, no’, and Lord Lamont even did his best to try and stop Bates in his tracks.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Baroness Trumpington: Theresa May is terribly boring

From our UK edition

Oh dear. Theresa May's bad week just got worse. On top of Tory MPs taking to social media, the airwaves and the papers to criticise her, it now seems that Conservative peers are going public with their grievances. In the new issue of Tatler magazine, Baroness Trumpington – who retired from the Lords last year – offers a rather frank assessment of the Prime Minister. When asked about May, the 95-year-old Lords stalwart and former land girl offers a trade mark V-sign to the interviewer: 'As I ask a question about Theresa May, Lady Trumpington flicks her fingers at me from across the table in her Chelsea care home, making the V-sign. She does it again, as if to make sure I’ve got the message.

Steerpike

John Humphrys has the last laugh at Oldie of the Year

From our UK edition

John Humphrys has had a rough time of late. Not only has the Today programme anchor voluntarily taken three pay cuts – with his salary thought to have been cut from £649,000 to under £300,000 – he has received little credit for it. Humphrys has come under flak from all sides after a conversation in which he joked about a female colleague's warnings over the gender pay gap at the BBC was leaked to the Sun. The comments irked Tracey Crouch – a government minister – so much that she refused appear on Today. So Mr S is pleased to report that Humphrys has finally found a safe space. The BBC anchor was a last-minute addition to the winners' list at today's Oldie of the Year awards. Announcing the winners.

Steerpike

Stepford students come for Jacob Rees-Mogg

From our UK edition

Here we go. First the Stepford students at LSE submitted a motion to ban the university’s free-speech society, next City University students tried banning newspapers at the institution famed for its journalism school, then Lincoln University's Student Union suspended the Conservative Society’s social media use after young Tories dared to suggest that the powers-that-be were intolerant of free speech. And now, it's the turn of Jacob Rees-Mogg. The Moggster is due to speak at Queen Mary University of London this week: However the university's Socialist Worker Student Society takes a different view – they say: 'This is our campus, and we won't have politicians who are against the welfare and freedom of our diverse student and staff body.

Steerpike

What the BBC won’t tell you about the leaked Brexit forecasts

From our UK edition

The leaked government Brexit forecasts have this morning been reported by the BBC just as its leakers intended: as embarrassing proof that Brexit is bad for the economy. If it had any vague interest in being impartial, perhaps the Beeb would have bothered to make the rather obvious point: not only have we seen such forecasts before, but the new figures are more optimistic than HM Treasury’s last effort. The government’s April 2016 analysis said that the economy would be 3.8 percentage points smaller than it otherwise would have in 15 years if we were to stay in the EEA; that has now been revised down to a 2pc hit. With a free trade deal outside the single market, the Treasury’s initial guess was a 6.2-point hit; it has revised that to 5 points.

Steerpike

Angela Merkel’s Theresa May jibe

From our UK edition

Theresa May's not having a good few weeks. With Tories scrambling to either criticise their leader or covertly campaign to be the next leader, May's premiership appears to be on shaky ground once more. Add to this a backlash from Conservative Brexiteers and a government Brexit forecast leak and it's safe to conclude things aren't about to get better anytime soon. Now it seems she can't even rely on her European allies for support. ITV's Robert Peston reports that May was the punchline to a joke Angela Merkel told hacks at Davos. He says that the German chancellor had journalists in stitched when she told a story about May's negotiating position: 'Merkel said that when she asks Mrs May what she wants the shape of the UK's relationship with the EU to be, Mrs May says "make me an offer".

Monday

Steerpike

Philip Hammond loses power

From our UK edition

Oh dear. After a weekend of on-the-record briefings against him, it's safe to say that Philip Hammond has found himself on the wrong side of the Brexiteers. The Chancellor's comments at Davos about close alignment and minimum change have led his colleagues to see red – with Nadine Dorries calling for him to be sacked. Now it seems her wish has been granted – sort of. Mr S can report that Hammond has lost power – or at least the Treasury has. Liz Truss reports that there has been a power cut at No 11. https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/958022509760253953 A pathetic fallacy or just pathetic?

Sunday

Steerpike

Toff sends Downing Street into a spin

From our UK edition

Since Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo won I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, the Conservatives have been left with a dilemma over whether to utilise their celebrity supporter. A proud Conservative, Toff kindly volunteered to utilise her million followers for the party only for brains at CCHQ to block any such move over concerns she’s ‘too posh to win over Labour supporters’. Although the Conservative consensus has since changed in favour of bringing her into the tent, it seems it may be a case of too little, too late. In an interview with Sunday Times Style magazine, Toff comes across a little bit disgruntled about her recent interactions with the Tories.