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
Oh dear. Just in case there weren't enough novelty Christmas songs out there, brains at Labour have decided it is time to offer up one of their own. Siobhain McDonagh, the MP for Mitcham and Morden, has rallied the troops to record 'National Living Rage'. The track -- which takes inspiration from Band Aid 20's 'do they know it's Christmas?
On Tuesday, there was surprising news in Parliament as it emerged that Philip Davies had been elected onto the women and equalities committee. Given that Davies has vigorously campaigned for men's rights to be given a better hearing and raised doubts about the intentions of some feminists, even an outsider could hazard a guess that it might not be a match made in heaven. So, Davies appearance today on the Daily Politics will most likely only add fuel to the fire. Davies, appearing alongside Caroline Lucas, compared himself to Ukip MEPs in Brussels as he tried to explain why he had joined: 'If I can bring some common sense to the committee that's surely a good thing.
In the old days, Tom Watson used to attend Jeremy Corbyn's Christmas drinks for hacks -- and even offer a speech of his own. However, in a sign that relations between the Labour leader and his deputy may not be so tickety-boo, the pair held separate bashes this year. As Watson thanked hacks for their work this year -- praising the Times's trouser-gate headlines and heralding ever closer relations with the Mail on Sunday -- he couldn't resist taking a few swipes at his boss in the speech: 'I do know that many of you were at Jeremy's event last night and I hear that it was genuinely a sumptuous affair, so -- as you can see -- out of the loyalty to the twice-elected leader of the Labour party, we've made a point in ensuring tonight isn't anywhere near as good.
It’s been 'one hell of a year' started Tom Parker Bowles in his opening address at this year’s Snow Queen Cigar Smoker of the Year Awards Dinner. The glitterati were out in full force as Americans and Brits came together to pay tribute to the best cigar smokers of 2016, as Kelsey Grammer was crowned 'Cigar Smoker of the Year', while Andrew Neil picked up the 'Lifetime Achievement Award'. Charlie Sheen -- shortlisted for a gong -- arrived to the event flanked by bodyguards and remarked that he had first been confused upon his nomination for 'Cigar Smoker of the Year' -- having initially thought 'I don’t have the right gown to wear', before wondering why he had been invited at all. 'Have you not f--king Googled this bitch?
Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, the party has struggled when it comes to forging a positive relationship with the MSM (mainstream media). Right wing press aside, Corbyn has taken issue with coverage from the BBC, New Statesman, The Guardian, the Mirror and Channel Four. However, are times a-changin'? Last night journalists were welcomed into the Leader's Office for Corbyn's Christmas drinks. True to form, Corbyn stayed on brand -- using a box Chilcot Reports as a handy door stopper. However, in a sign that he is willing to compromise in order to appeal to the masses, the vegetarian lay on a spread of chicken legs and pork pies for hungry hacks.
In the past year, the Guardian has declared tea-drinkers to possess ‘the worst possible English trait, up there with colonialism‘, HP sauce as the condiment of the establishment, street parties to be ‘a front for a middle-class nationalism that celebrates austerity’, and sunday roasts to 'evoke received memories of oppression and an enslaved work force’. So, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the publication isn't big on Christmas either. As the nation prepares to drink and eat its body weight in mulled wine, roast turkey and mince pies, over at the Grauniad hacks are adopting a Scrooge-esque tone with regards to yuletide.
Last year it was a bicycle, this year it's a dove. Yes, Jeremy Corbyn has refrained from using a photo of himself for Labour's annual Christmas card for a second year: However with May, too, opting for an illustration, Mr S is beginning to miss the Cameron and Miliband years.
It's handbags at dawn over in Downing Street. Last week, Nicky Morgan used an interview with the Times to criticise Theresa May for wearing trousers costing nearly £1,000 while claiming to be in touch with the 'JAMs'. The former education secretary said that she herself had never spent that much on anything 'apart from my wedding dress’. Now Morgan has found herself the persona non grata -- once again -- with No. 10. The former education secretary has been banned from entering 10 Downing Street, with May's Chief of Staff Fiona Hill breaking the news in a text referring to Morgan as 'that woman'. However, it looks as though there is a second reason Morgan is on shaky ground.
During the coalition years, Lib Dem conferences were well-attended events with many businesses, too, opting to exhibit. However, since the party went from 57 seats to eight in the 2015 general election, they have struggled to maintain their allure. So, perhaps brains at Lib Dem HQ can be forgiven for attempting to capitalise on Sarah Olney winning the Richmond Park by-election. The party is now marketing its upcoming Spring Conference with the line: 'Come and Meet our New MP'. Alas Mr S suspects it may take more than one new MP to put the party back on the map.
Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn tried to move the conversation from Labour's bad polling to human rights, with a speech to mark International Human Rights Day. However, while Corbyn wished to speak about championing women's rights across the world, Peter Tatchell and anti-war campaigners had other ideas. As the Labour leader spoke at Methodist Central Hall, Tatchell interrupted to accuse of Corbyn of not doing enough to condemn the actions of Russia in Syria: https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/807537203018510336 'What is happening in Aleppo is a modern-day Guernica. We haven’t heard the leader of the Labour party speak out enough to demand UK air drops to besieged civilians who are dying in their thousands.
Although David Cameron tended to put a photo of himself and his wife Samantha on the front of his Christmas cards during his tenure as prime minister, Theresa May takes a different approach. Today the Prime Minister has released her official Christmas cards for 2016. Following her annual tradition as Maidenhead MP, May has chosen cards designed by children in her constituency: However, Mr S is concerned that one of the cards could only add fuel to the fire in the ongoing turf war between Larry the No. 10 cat and Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat. Given that Larry is a tabby cat, it looks as though Palmerston is the feline to make the cut this year...
Theresa May, you may have read, is fed up with obsequious civil-servants and their ticky-box ways. 'From the officials' point of view, what they owe to the minister, and what the minister expects, is the best possible advice,' she tells Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth in The Spectator Christmas issue. ‘Don't try to tell me what you think I want to hear,' she added. 'I want your advice, I want the options. Then politicians make the decisions.’ Sound stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree. The trouble is, civil servants who’ve dealt with May suggest the Prime Minister doesn't practise what she's preaching. 'Theresa May is more the type who says "Who was that person in the meeting who said something I didn’t agree with?
In today's Article 50 debate, MPs from across the House offered their two cents worth on what Brexit means. However, one Remain MP got more than they bargained for when they sparred with Brexiteer Bill Cash in the Chamber. After Cash argued that the vote for Leave was perfectly clear, Ken Clarke intervened with a counter argument. The Tory grandee accused Cash of double standards over referendums. Pointing to the 1975 referendum on Europe, Clarke said that Cash had argued that referendum was 'purely advisory': 'He will recall, he and I took part in a referendum in the 1970s when he was no doubt saddened to find he was on the losing side.
Although the BBC has traditionally been accused of showing anti-Conservative bias, since Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader the party has found itself waging war with the Beeb on numerous occasions. However, today Steve Baker swung it back to the Tories. The Brexit-backing backbencher used a question at PMQs to accuse the BBC of breaking its charter obligations by trying to 'create problems for the government': 'I'm sure my honourable friend will be astonished if not aghast to learn that a succession of journalists from the BBC have contacted me seeking to create to manufacture stories of backbench rebellion on the issue of the EU.
Christmas doesn't start until Nigel Evans sends out his annual card. This year's is no exception, with the Conservative MP'S 2016 offering as modest as ever. He has, however, decided to share the spotlight with another man this time around. Step forward Donald Trump. Perhaps Evans could help No. 10 forge ties with the president-elect should Farage's offer fail to appeal.
Here we go again. As Paul Nuttall tries to prove that Ukip is a professional party on the path to electoral success, he may wish to have a word with his party's campaigns team. With Ukip fielding a candidate in the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election, Nigel Farage headed there today to do some broadcast in support of his party. Alas, the campaign banner he stood behind had a glaring error. It read 'Hykenham' rather than 'Hykeham'. In future, Mr S suspects it's worth double checking the spelling of the constituency before printing the campaign merchandise.
Last month, word began to spread around Whitehall that the Prime Minister would not take kindly to any 'mansplaining' -- after No 10 took umbrage at male politicians, officials, diplomats and journalists talking over, patronising or failing to listen to May. As the Times revealed, the row was triggered after Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the national security adviser, managed to do at least one of the above during a visit to Downing Street. So, Mr S can't help but wonder how exactly May is going to get on on her upcoming visit to the Gulf region. On her two-day trip to Bahrain, May will become the first female politician to attend the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council.
Claws out in Westminster. Since Theresa May was appointed Prime Minister, several of her one-time cabinet colleagues have taken issue with her government's Brexit stance. After May sacked Nicky Morgan as education secretary, Morgan has become a key member of the post-Brexit awkward squad -- regularly voicing criticism of the PM. Over the weekend, the pair's relationship took another turn for the worse. In an interview with the Times, Morgan made a dig at May over a £1,000 pair of leather trousers the Prime Minister had worn in a photoshoot for the paper the week before.
In 2011, when the Liberal Democrats’ poll ratings had fallen to 10 per cent, Nick Clegg ordered a rebranding exercise, even looking at whether the party's name should be changed to distance the Lib Dems from their betrayal on tuition fees. Today, the Lib Dems are still polling around 10 per cent (on a good day). But what about the name change? On the Sunday Politics Clegg offered up a vision of Brexit that would mean staying in the single market and the customs union, paying into the EU budget, keeping free movement and accepting the supremacy of the European Court of Justice – prompting Andrew Neil to say: ‘Your party's called the Liberal Democrats. Many people watching this will think maybe it's time for a rebrand.
Throughout the EU referendum campaign, Nicholas Soames stood firmly on the side of Remain -- warning that a vote to Leave would be a 'terrible mistake'. Since the nation plumped for Brexit, Soames has called on the hard Brexiteers to keep their options open with regards to the deal. When Iain Duncan Smith penned a ConHome blog critcising Remain-ers for demanding the UK stay in the single market, Soames likened it to 'watching an arsonist return to the scene of his crime because the flames aren’t big enough'. So, Mr S was intrigued to be passed an invitation from Soames to his fellow MPs. He has asked any comrades who think Britain should be 'seeking the most sensible Brexit' to come to his office next week to discuss.
