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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When Jeremy Corbyn conducted his first Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, the Labour leader was criticised for appointing John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor over Angela Eagle. Given that this meant the three ‘top jobs’ went to men, Corbyn faced cries of sexism. Now in a talk on the patriarchy at the How The Light Gets In festival in Hay-on-Wye, Eagle
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Jeremy Corbyn has proved to be a divisive figure since his election as Labour leader. While the party has gained members, they have also lost the support of several high profile figures. Meanwhile many Labour staffers have been suitably rattled by Seumas Milne’s claim — in the VICE News Corbyn documentary — that staff are leaking PMQs intel to the
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When Seumas Milne wrote a letter of complaint to the BBC after Stephen Doughtly resigned from the shadow Cabinet live on Daily Politics, many in the Labour party thought it showed a lack of judgment on the part of Corbyn’s spin doctor. However, a new VICE News documentary on the Corbyn leadership — titled Jeremy Corbyn:
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This week Matt Hancock has found himself in the firing line over his social mobility drive. Following Hancock’s call for companies to ask job applicants if they attended private school at interview, the Provost of Eton College has threatened to resign from the Conservative Party. So, with Hancock — who attended the King’s School —
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Although George Osborne is currently lagging behind Boris Johnson in favourability polls, he can take heart that an intervention by an unlikely figure could hamper his rival’s leadership appeal in certain Tory circles. Caitlin Moran — the Times columnist who led a 24-hour boycott of Twitter in 2013 — has pledged to run for Parliament if BoJo ever
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Oh dear. Over the weekend, the Guardian ran an editorial on the EU referendum entitled ‘this campaign must show more respect for both facts and voters’. In the article — published on Saturday — the paper criticised the Vote Leave campaign for ‘recklessness’. They called on the Brexit camp to put an end to ‘deceptions’ such as the claim that we
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Last month Ntokozo Qwabe made the news after he wrote of his happiness at making a waitress shed ‘white tears’ when his friend refused to tip until she ‘returned the land’. Since then, a crowdfunder was set up to raise money to compensate the waitress for the incident, while Qwabe — who is a key figure
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At times in David Cameron’s EU renegotiations, it’s seemed as though the Prime Minister struggled to be in the driver’s seat. Now evidence has come to light that confirms Cameron’s power struggle with one of Europe’s main leaders. Speaking at the Hay Festival, Neil MacGregor — the former director of the British Museum — let
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Although Mark Carney has warned that a Brexit is the ‘biggest domestic risk to financial stability’, his predecessor Mervyn King takes a somewhat different approach when it comes to the impending EU referendum. The former Bank of England governor used an appearance today at the Hay Festival to hit out at the ‘wildly exagerated claims’
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Poor Ed Miliband. Since his defeat in the General Election, the former Labour leader has seen his influence fade — dropping to number 40 in this year’s Doncaster Power list. Now it seems some are struggling to even remember his name. On last night’s Question Time, Red Ed was mistaken for his brother David Miliband twice by his fellow
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Last year the Guardian‘s food police deemed HP sauce to be the condiment of ‘the establishment’, barbecues to be borderline racist and roast dinners to be tinged with ‘received memories of oppression and an enslaved work force’. Now they have a new enemy in their sights — octopus. Yes, a writer by the name of Elle
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With Steve Hilton in town to promote his book More Human, David Cameron’s former director of strategy is proving to be a thorn in the Prime Minister’s side. As well as coming out for Brexit, Hilton has claimed that Cameron is really a Brexiteer in denial. Now he has moved on to the topic of Donald
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If only Dr Éoin Clarke could learn from his mistakes. Earlier this month Clarke was left red-faced after his prediction of a shadow cabinet reshuffle failed to materialise. Not to be put off, the clip art-loving Labour activist — who has a PhD in Irish feminism — has been promising a ‘nuclear’ revelation regarding the Tory expenses row for some
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Oh dear. Today at PMQs, George Osborne could not resist boasting about the government’s new enterprise tsar, Sir Alan Sugar. When asked whether he could confirm reports that The Apprentice star would be assisting the government, the Chancellor replied that this was the case — after Sugar had recently told Labour they were ‘fired’. However, for
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With David Cameron away, it fell on George Osborne to field questions from Labour’s Angela Eagle today for PMQs. While Osborne had plenty of gags up his sleeve, it was Eagle who managed to provide her party with the biggest laugh of the session. Needling the Chancellor over the EU division in his party, Eagle pointed
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Although Jeremy Corbyn managed to survive the Queen’s Speech relatively unscathed last week, his republican beliefs are likely to be called into question once again thanks to a new appointment to his press team. Steerpike understands that Matt Zarb-Cousin has been chosen as the winning candidate to fill the ‘leader’s office media spokesperson’ vacancy first advertised
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At last month’s Westminster Correspondents’ dinner, George Osborne made light of his behaviour during his budget U-turn. Joshing about his decision to send his Financial Secretary David Gauke to field questions from angry MPs: ‘A big speech in parliament, the pressure is on, you lot are baying for blood. My answer? Uncork the Gauke.’ So,
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This week Eddie Izzard has embarked on a a 31-city tour to try and persuade young people to vote in the EU referendum. While this is just one of the genius strategies put forward by Britain Stronger in Europe as they notch up their campaign efforts, Mr S can’t help but notice that one of their most
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Although Bernard Jenkin tabled an urgent question today, the Conservative politician didn’t seem to feel any sense of urgency when it came to arriving in time to read it. As John Bercow called Jenkin’s name, the Eurosceptic MP was nowhere to be seen — leading MPs to joke that he was busy in Brussels. ‘I find it very
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Although David Cameron is keen to suggest of late that the dubious bunch backing Brexit includes Vladimir Putin and Isis, he may have more trouble brushing aside the latest figure to support Leave. The Prime Ministers former director of strategy Steve Hilton has penned an article for the Daily Mail in which he reveals why Britain ‘must’ quit