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
Here we go. As of Monday, the Guardian is a tabloid – in the physical sense anyway. The paper's editor Katharine Viner has revealed the new look paper online – complete with masthead: https://twitter.com/KathViner/status/952647642517049344 RIP Berliner...
Since joining Parliament in the snap election, the Labour MP created a media-storm last year when she declared that she would not be friends with a Tory. Happily, Jeremy Corbyn sees no issues with such a stance and has just promoted Pidcock – appointing her Shadow Minister for Labour. Only it's a bit complicated. Just a few hours ago, Pidcock expressed her solidarity for her comrade Chris Williamson – who resigned from the frontbench – declaring that she was 'buzzing' to have him join her on the backbenches for 'the struggle ahead': https://twitter.com/LauraPidcockMP/status/951808065849954304 That show of solidarity lasted long...
This week's Cabinet reshuffle proved underwhelming on the whole but for one man, it marked a great change in fortune. Philip Hammond remained in post as Chancellor – something that seemed rather unlikely during the snap election campaign when Theresa May was plotting to sack him in a revenge reshuffle. So, it's little wonder that Hammond was in a celebratory mood this week. On Tuesday night, the Chancellor invited around 30 loyal MPs to the Treasury for drinks. Seen as a 'thank you' for their work towards the successful Budget last year, the Chancellor celebrated the fact that they were all still here. 'It was clear what he was getting at,' remarks one attendee.
This week Question Time moved to Islington. David Dimbleby chaired a panel comprised of Dominic Raab, Labour's Dawn Butler, Gina Miller, comedian Nish Kumar and Piers Morgan. However much of time was spent discussing Toby Young, who resigned from the Office for Students this week. With various derogatory comments made about Young, it fell to an audience member to address the elephant in the room: Labour's hypocrisy.
The news that Chris Williamson has resigned from the Labour front bench has been met with dismay by Conservative MPs who quite enjoyed his calls to double council tax on some of the highest-value properties. However, fear not, Williamson will continue to play a pivotal role in Corbyn's Labour. In an interview with Corbynista site Skwawkbox (natch), Williamson lifts the lid on his new role – as requested by the Labour leader. he will be using his background as a 'hunt saboteur' to work on the party's environmental stance: 'Jeremy has also asked me to develop our thinking around environmental and animal rights issues, in line with my background as a hunt saboteur.
Breaking news in today's Evening Standard. George Osborne has splashed on the revelation that Peter Stringfellow - the nightclub owner - has ditched the Conservatives in protest over its stance on Brexit. Stringfellow – who often attends the Tories' black and white ball – says he is quitting the Tories 'unless they change their direction and lead us towards Remain'. https://twitter.com/George_Osborne/status/951417047950528513 So, which party will he defect to? Well, judging by his previous comments, the party he favours next after the Conservatives is... Ukip. Yes, in 2012, Stringfellow warned he could defect to Ukip: 'This is the first time I have not supported the Conservative Party in 32 years of being in London.
This week, Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle proved rather underwhelming. In some quarters, the Prime Minister's decision to not promote or move any of the big beasts in her Cabinet has been seen as a tactical move so as not to fuel speculation over her eventual successor. That plan may have backfired. Mr S was curious to read Andrew Gimson's profile of Damian Hinds – the new Education Secretary – for Conservative Home.
This week, Toby Young stepped down from the Office for Students over concerns his appointment had 'become a distraction' from the 'vital work' needed. His decision came following a series of historic tweets that were described as sexist. Since then, Labour have been quick to go on the attack – asking why he was ever appointed in the first place. However, given that many supported giving Jared O'Mara – the suspended Labour MP who made a series of sexist remarks on social media – a second chance, there has been talk of hypocrisy. Happily, Andrew Neil was on hand to put this point to shadow cabinet member Debbie Abrahams on the Daily Politics: https://twitter.
The times they are a'changing. Just last month a row broke out within the Conservative party over the winner of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. It wasn't so much a difference of view over who should have won but over what the party should do about the winner. The winner – Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo, who first made her name on Made in Chelsea – is a Tory supporter who kindly volunteered to utilise her million followers for the party. Alas brains at CCHQ weren't impressed. Last month, Tory chiefs blocked Toff from becoming a poster girl for the Conservatives over concerns she’s 'too posh to win over Labour supporters'. However, the MP for Mansfield takes a different view.
Although Theresa May's reshuffle of junior ministers was less gaffe-prone than the main event on Monday, there's a feeling in the party that overall it has been an underwhelming event. With little change in the top ranks of May's Cabinet, critics have been quick to suggest that she is too weak to carry out a proper reshuffle. But now there's a new criticism being levied at the Prime Minister: too much change. Ed Vaizey – the former culture minister and resident Cameroon – took to social media on Tuesday to congratulate Michael Ellis on his appointment as the arts, heritage and tourism Minister. However, he went on to complain that the fact Ellis was the 'third arts Minister in less than 18 months' was 'not so good'. https://twitter.
It's the morning after the night before and Theresa May's newly reshuffled Cabinet has just held its first meeting. Only there might not be much of a need for introductions given that the Cabinet hasn't changed all that much. Despite a brief game of musical chairs, the big beasts remain when it comes to the great offices of state. Shame the Prime Minister couldn't fit in the picture... Captions in the comments please. Update: ...
Oh dear. The new Conservative party chairman has a job on their hands transforming CCHQ into a digitally-savvy campaign machine. So, it's safe to say, that things haven't got off to the best start for the new chairman. The CCHQ Twitter feed announced Chris Grayling as the new chairman: However, just moments later the tweet was deleted. The reason? It's not clear that Grayling is the man for the job – his rival Brandon Lewis has just walked into No 10!
Theresa May's reshuffle is imminent. Although Cabinet's big beasts are thought to be safe, Justine Greening and Greg Clark are among those in the hot seat. As for promotion, Jeremy Hunt is tipped to be appointed First Secretary of State. If this were to happen, a new Health Secretary would be needed. There has been speculation in the media that Hunt's two likely successors are Dr Philip Lee and Anne Milton. Milton is a former nurse, working as for the NHS for 25 years. So, surely, complete coincidence that Milton's Wikipedia page has been edited 'anonymously' from Parliament this morning. The change? Clarifying Milton's husband's former role as a director of Virgin Healthcare. https://twitter.com/parliamentedits/status/950300917517168640 Watch this space...
It's reshuffle day – and the ministers thought to be in the danger zone include Justine Greening, Greg Clark, Patrick McLoughlin and Andrea Leadsom. So, with that in mind, one has to admire the decision by Leadsom to write an article for today's Times' Red Box on her priorities as Leader of the House of Commons for 2018. 'Since the general election I’ve been overseeing the preparation of further bills which we will bring forward over the coming 12 months. In 2018 it will be parliament that supports the most exciting advances our country is making. We will back the development of electric vehicles and the growth of the UK’s space flight sector, as well as investment of billions in infrastructure to support the extraordinary tech of the future.
The furore over Toby Young's appointment to the board of the Office for Students (OfS) shows no sign of dying down. The Mail on Sunday splashes on a series of 'sexist and obscene tweets' sent by Young – reporting the Prime Minister's apparent ‘distaste’. Now it seems that some can't even accept Young's work in education which contributed to his appointment. Appearing on the Andrew Marr show this morning, the Guardian's Polly Toynbee came up with a new line of attack. Toynbee complained that Young had only founded the free school that led to his OfS appointment because 'he wanted to create a school for his kids'.
It's fair to say that Michael Wolff's explosive biography of Donald Trump has caused a stir ahead of its publication. It's a struggle to find a news site that isn't splashing on its claims – from Trump's supposed desire to lose the election to Steve Bannon's comments on Russia. Despite the US President's lawyer has issued a cease and desist letter to block the official release of Fire and Fury, the publisher has decided to release the book today four days ahead of schedule. Hacks are now at pains to show that they managed to bag their copy ahead of schedule. Although the Times has the official UK serialisation, the Guardian managed to scoop the paper and publish first after they 'obtained a copy of Fire and Fury from a bookseller in New England'.
After Tony Blair's call for a second referendum (and maybe even a third if that one didn't work out) fell flat on Thursday, the campaign to stop Brexit looks on shaky ground. However, Newsnight have put forward an argument that could be just the thing to put life back in the campaign. In a film for the BBC current affairs programme, David Aaronovitch – who once said 'if every one of the PM’s demands had been turned down I would still have been in favour of remaining in the European Union' – appears to find a glimmer of hope: Brexit voters are dying at a faster rate than Remain voters!
Oh dear. Over the past few years, the National Union of Students has found itself in the headlines over the union's relationship with Jewish students. When Malia Bouattia was elected NUS president in 2016, three vice presidents of the NUS accused their president of 'anti-Semitic rhetoric' – with Bouattia referring to Birmingham University as a 'Zionist outpost'. An internal report later ruled that she should not be punished despite making comments found to be anti-Semitic. What's more, a report just last year found that many Jewish students 'do not feel their institution understands their needs'.
As expected, Tony Blair's latest Brexit intervention has proved universally unpopular. Brexiteers have hailed his criticism as the best advert for leaving the EU in weeks, while Corbynistas have gone on the offensive over his harsh words concerning the dear leader. Despite all this, Tony Blair can at least still count on one man to back him up: himself. In an interview with ITV, it was put to Blair that Corbyn actually did better than the former Prime Minister in the 2017 snap election than Blair in 2005. The reasoning goes that Corbyn won a higher percentage of the vote, at 40pc to Blair's 35.2pc. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Blair didn't take too kindly to this way of looking at things: 'On that basis Theresa May would be a more successful prime minister than Margaret Thatcher.
Oh dear. Coming back to work after the Christmas break is hard going at the best of times. So, spare a thought for Tom Bradby, who had a bad day at the office yesterday. The ITV News at Ten presenter was forced to cut the nightly broadcast short after the fire alarm went off. Bradby explained why the programme would have to be cut short – before evacuating the building. He then returned once the incident had been ruled to be a false alarm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh-HF94k6zw As they say, keep calm and carry on...