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
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Today Boris Johnson has found himself attacked on all sides with his leadership bid now seen to be over before it even began. With his fellow Brexiteer Michael Gove running against him for leader, Theresa May has used her own leadership launch to pour cold water on BoJo’s ability to lead the country. The most cutting remark
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Oh dear. This morning Sarah Vine surprised Daily Mail readers after she declared in her column that both she and her husband Michael Gove had been ‘charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people’ following the Leave vote. While Vine’s central role in the Brexit negotiations prompted laughter in some quarters, it now transpires that she
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As Jeremy Corbyn faces even more Shadow Cabinet resignations today, it’s becoming difficult to locate a Labour MP who thinks he should stay in the post. Now the Prime Minister has added his voice to the cause. David Cameron — who is stepping down in the autumn — used today’s PMQs to call on Corbyn to
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Since Leave triumphed in the EU referendum, there have been growing concerns that the Brexiteers were not suitably prepared for success at the polls. As well as no clear plan of action, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have been uncharacteristically quiet since the result came in. Happily Gove’s wife Sarah Vine has now filled us in
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As the Labour party slowly implodes, Jeremy Corbyn is doing his best to keep the show on the road. To do this, the Leader’s Office today agreed that it would be a good idea to let Sky News film a meeting of the new Shadow Cabinet. Although Corbyn’s director of communications Seumas Milne clearly hoped this
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With Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet now somewhat depleted, brains at Labour are left with less choice when it comes to who to send onto the airwaves to protect the leader’s honour. As a result, readers ought to expect to hear a lot more from Diane Abbott — the newly appointed Shadow Health Secretary — in the
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As Labour MPs drowned their sorrows in Strangers’ Bar last night following a fractious meeting of the PLP, over in the Red Lion the pro-Corbyn contingent gathered for a pint. Mr S’s mole reports that Momentum’s Jon Lansman met with Richard Burgon, the Shadow Justice Secretary, and Seb Corbyn at the Westminster watering hole to give the
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While Corbyn faced an open revolt from MPs at tonight’s meeting of the PLP, over in Parliament Square the Corbyn fightback got underway as hundreds gathered for a Momentum rally in support of the Labour leader. Not content with the drama at the meeting, Richard Burgon — Labour’s former blunder-prone shadow City minister who has just been promoted
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It’s not proving to be a great day for Jeremy Corbyn. After over half of his Shadow Cabinet resigned, the Labour leader has now faced a revolt in the Chamber. While giving a statement on the European referendum, Corbyn called for MPs to refrain from in-fighting: ‘The country will thank neither the benches in front of
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Given the flak that Tom Watson received for partying until 4am at Glastonbury on Saturday as his party imploded, one could be forgiven for thinking that any remaining Labour MPs at the annual festival would have got out of there as soon as possible. However, there is a rumour doing the rounds that Corbyn’s new
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Ahead of the EU referendum, David Cameron’s sister-in-law declared that she would never vote Conservative again if Leave won. Now that Brexit is firmly on the agenda — and her brother-in-law set to stand down — Emily Sheffield is preparing to join the Labour party. Samantha Cameron’s sister has taken to Twitter to ask how quickly she
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Today Jeremy Corbyn has had not one, not two, not three but ten Shadow Cabinet members hand in their resignation. What’s more, with a growing number of Labour MPs confessing to having lost faith in the Labour leader over the EU referendum result, he now faces a difficult task trying to fill the vacancies. Happily, one man
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As Jeremy Corbyn tries to hold off the threat of a coup from members of his shadow cabinet, it’s probably for the best that he pulled out of a planned appearance at Glastonbury today. However, not everyone in Labour’s top command appears to have received the memo about putting the party’s woes above the annual music festival.
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It’s not turning out to be a great weekend for Jeremy Corbyn. First he had to pull out of a planned appearance at Glastonbury on Sunday to focus on Brexit, now his visit to London Pride has, too, been ruined by the referendum result. On meeting with members of Labour’s LGBT community at Pride, Corbyn was
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Given that the result of the EU referendum was likely to have a monumental impact whatever the outcome, Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to speak at this weekend’s Glastonbury festival was always a curious choice. Now faced with Labour MPs calling for his removal, it seems Corbyn has had second thoughts. The Labour leader has pulled out of his
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In last year’s general election, Andrew Cooper was left red-faced after his firm Populus’s final ‘prediction‘ of a 0.5 per cent chance of David Cameron winning a Tory majority turned out to be somewhat, em, pessimistic. Since then, Lord Cooper of 0.5 per cent has been on a PR offensive in an attempt to rebrand himself as the next
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Another day, another Brexit poll. This time YouGov claim to have discovered what a name can tell you about someone’s voting tendency. If you’re called Sheila or Graham you’re most likely to vote Leave, whereas those by the name of Kathryn and Samantha are most likely to fall into the undecided category. However, the poll finding that caught Mr S’s eye
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Although the Sun were only recently found guilty of ‘significantly misleading’ its readers with its ‘Queen backs Brexit’ splash, it seems the red top was onto something after all. While the paper reported that Her Majesty had expressed Eurosceptic views at a private meeting prior to a referendum being on the table, it appears that she
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It’s fair to say that Stuart Rose has not been of huge help to Remain in the EU referendum. Despite being tasked with heading up ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’, Rose has made a series of comments that have boosted the other side. Meanwhile in recent weeks he has retreated from the media spotlight, instead seeking solace in private
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In recent weeks, there has been a genuine concern among Brexiteers that the In campaign are hiding Stuart Rose out of harm’s way in a secret location. The hapless Britain Stronger in Europe chairman has all but disappeared from the media spotlight after a series of campaign blunders — from forgetting the name of his own
