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
Given Scottish Labour’s rapid fall from grace north of the border, Mr S suspects that its leader Kezia Dugdale has grown accustomed to being on the receiving end of many choice words from the public. However, she probably wasn’t expecting Sophy Ridge’s most recent slip of the tongue. On Sky News, Ridge introduced Dugdale as the
With Labour beginning to gain ground in the polls, the party will be keen to keep its momentum going in the final days of the campaign. So, whichever brain at Labour HQ decided it was a good idea to send Diane Abbott onto the Andrew Marr show has some explaining to do. Explaining her credentials
With a slim majority of just over 2,000 to defend, Nick Clegg has his work cut out holding onto Sheffield Hallam in next month’s snap election. So, with less than two weeks to go until polling day, surely the Liberal Democrat is busying himself campaigning locally? Well, perhaps not. Mr S was curious to discover that the
In the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice, the BBC’s This Week has kicked off with a speech from Andrew Neil on the tragedies — and the ‘jihadi johnnies’ responsible. Last night, in the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack which left 22 people dead, Andrew Neil adopted a different tone —
Ukip has vowed to ban the burka if it ever comes to power and in its manifesto – which it launched today – the party calls on people to show ‘your face in a public place’. But there’s a problem: in the same document in which the party unveiled its policy, there was one person who could
Last month, Rachel Johnson managed to create a mini furore when it transpired that she had joined the Liberal Democrats. Given that the Mail on Sunday columnist has only ever voted Conservative in elections, the news came as a surprise to many — not least her brother Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. But has Rachel
Today Labour have announced that the party will re-commence its general election national campaign on Friday, after all campaigning was put on pause following Monday’s terrorist attack, which left 22 dead. Alas this memo has failed to reach one of Jeremy Corbyn’s ardent supporters. Although all campaigning is meant to be on hold, this afternoon a woman by the name
For weeks now, an email hoaxer has been trying to catch bank officials out online. After the prankster tricked Barclays boss Jes Staley, they set their sights on a new target: the governor of the Bank of England. Claiming to be Anthony Habgood, chairman of the court of the Bank of England, the hoaxer emailed
Just two months ago, John Prescott made the news over some indiscreet comments he made about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Following a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, the former Deputy Prime Minister was reported to have ranted: ‘They are just not up to the f—ing job. They’ve always been useless and now they’re running things.’
As is becoming a habit with Theresa May, the Conservatives have today performed a U-turn on their manifesto plans for social care. After unveiling proposals that would mean many would have to pay more for their own social care — up until their assets were 100k or less — there were cross-party complaints about the plans and
Well, that didn’t take long. When the BBC Scotland leaders’ debate finished, it was clear who the star had been: Claire Austin, a nurse who landed a direct hit on Nicola Sturgeon. She said that she has had to use food banks and that NHS nurses have had seen their pay rising by just 1pc a year for nine of
Oh dear. Given that today’s papers are filled with negative headlines regarding the Conservative manifesto, one would be forgiven for thinking that all Labour had to do this Sunday was sit back and watch. However, Jon Trickett has other ideas. The shadow minister for the Cabinet Office has taken to social media to share some
Oh dear. Come June 8, Labour are hoping to take the marginal seat of Blackpool North and Cleveleys from the Tories. However, the party’s local candidate Chris Webb might want to consider re-printing his campaign literature. Mr S was curious to come across Webb’s campaign leaflet. He says that, as a local boy, he would put
Oh dear. With both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn opting to give tonight’s ITV leaders’ debate a miss, leaders of the other political parties had the perfect opportunity to step into the spotlight and make a good impression in front of the electorate. Alas Ukip’s Paul Nuttall appeared to miss the mark. Nearing the end of
Although the Mainstream Media would have you believe that the major political force in this election is the Tories, is it actually the Workers Revolutionary Party who are on the march? Mr S only asks after the WRP’s Frank Sweeney appeared on the Daily Politics to explain why it has to be the Trotskyist group at
Before Theresa May revealed her plans to call a snap election, there was much speculation over what her surprise announcement might be. With hacks simply told that she would be making a statement outside No 10, theories doing the rounds ranged from royal drama to ill health relating to the Prime Minister. When Adam Boulton raised
Oh dear. After batting off accusations that he has been put into hiding for the course of the general election campaign, Boris Johnson today resurfaced on the campaign trail in Bristol. Visiting a Sikh temple in St George’s, Boris spoke positively about the opportunities that would come with Brexit — including ending tariffs on whisky between
Diane Abbott isn’t having the best election campaign so far. Although her seat is safe, the shadow home secretary has come under fire for her attempts to explain Labour’s plans to put more police on the beat. So, her appearance yesterday at the Police Federation conference was bound to be testing. After voicing her concerns on the
Oh dear. Given the number of complaints from local Conservative groups about the amount of CCHQ control freakery involved in candidate selection for the snap election, one would have thought that those who made the cut would be the crème de la crème of the party. So, Labour’s Peter Kyle ought to count his lucky
Oh dear. Today Labour have launched a ‘fully costed’ manifesto which fails to mention anywhere the cost of its nationalisation plans. So, with that in mind, Andy McDonald faced an undesirable task in appearing on the Daily Politics to explain how exactly that might work. The shadow transport minister appeared completely out of his depth
