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
From our UK edition
After Tuesday's vote of Labour's National Executive Committee, Jeremy Corbyn is automatically on the ballot in any leadership contest. So, with the prospect of a Corbyn-led Labour for the rest of eternity (or until he retires) now looking likely, it's little wonder his team were in the mood to celebrate last night. In fact there was only one thing for it -- bubbles!
From our UK edition
News of Theresa May's coronation as the next Prime Minister is - as you'd expect - emblazoned on the front page of every newspaper today. However, the Daily Mail has gone one step further than its rivals -- claiming, pretty much, that it enstooled May itself. And judging by its jubilations, if seems that Paul Dacre sees her as a Manchurian candidate programmed from High Street Kensington. In fact, on reading their article 'how the Mail backed May from the start', one could be forgiven for thinking that the paper's editor Paul Dacre was moving into No.10 with May come Wednesday: 'The Daily Mail was the first newspaper to throw its weight behind Theresa May in the race to succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister.
From our UK edition
Today the Eagle has landed. After touring television studios yesterday with talk that she would run to be the next Labour leader, Angela Eagle officially launched her campaign this morning. Alas there was a problem. As the launch neared its end, Andrea Leadsom managed to upstage her by putting on a rival press conference to announce that she was dropping out of the Tory leadership race. As hacks raced across Westminster to make it to Leadsom's conference, the Labour leadership hopeful was left red-faced as she tried to take questions from the BBC and then ITV's Robert Peston only to learn that they weren't there.
From our UK edition
At the march against democracy last weekend, tens of thousands of people wandered the streets of London, desperately trying to work out what democracy meant as they tried to call for the result of the referendum to be overturned. Now the Brexiteers are fighting back. However, instead of marching for democracy, the 20 or so campaigners were standing relatively still for democracy outside the Mishcon de Reya offices. The law firm have been in the news of late thanks to their attempt to launch legal action to make sure that the formal negotiations to leave the EU aren't started without an act of parliament. The demonstration was organised by 'Invoke article 50 now!', a campaign group organised by Spiked. Alas the lawyers weren't so keen on this attempt at direct action.
From our UK edition
Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn fuelled concerns that he isn't interested in winning power when he failed to say that winning a general election was a priority, during an appearance on the Andrew Marr Show. Now Jon Lansman, the Momentum chief, has waded into the 'should winning matter to a major political party?' debate. After tweeting his followers to urge them to stand by Jeremy Corbyn in the face of the Labour coup, former Blair spinner John McTernan responded by suggesting that Corbynistas only care about their leader -- rather than the party or country: https://twitter.
From our UK edition
Although John McDonnell has been busy of late helping fight off the Labour coup, he was able to find time this week to mark the 30th anniversary of the rate-capping rebellion of the eighties. The Shadow Chancellor joined forces with Ted Knight -- the former leader of Lambeth council who once warned 'no compromise with the electorate' -- to reminisce about the patch of history which saw the group earn the tabloid title ‘the loony left’. Speaking at Clapham library in front of a crowd of Momentum activists -- who regularly referred to the Labour MPs behind the no confidence vote in Corbyn as the '172 Judas Iscariots' -- McDonnell talked about his time as the GLC’s finance committee chairman.
From our UK edition
Since Andrea Leadsom announced her leadership bid, the Conservative candidate has been dogged by allegations that she lacks the experience and knowledge to lead her party -- let alone the country. Reports this week from Leadsom's former colleagues claiming she exaggerated her banking credentials on her CV have only fuelled concerns that she could be out of her depth. Now Mr S understands that Leadsom could be in breach of parliamentary rules over the registered address of her leadership campaign.
From our UK edition
After Michael Gove was knocked out of the Tory leadership race in today's vote, Theresa May will go head-to-head with Andrea Leadsom in the race to be the next Prime Minister. So, with a prospect of a Leadsom-led government now looming, what would Leadsom's Britain look like? Thanks to an old blog dating back to 2006, we have a glimpse of her vision for the country. What's more, it seems that Leadsom actually has a recipe for a 'perfect British society'.
From our UK edition
After Michael Gove turned on his one-time ally Boris Johnson to pursue his own leadership ambitions, the Justice Secretary was accused of treachery and betrayal by BoJo's many allies. So, the news that Gove has been knocked out of the Tory leadership contest today will no doubt come as some comfort to those in the Johnson camp. In fact as soon as the news was announced, Boris's sister Rachel Johnson took to Twitter. In a tweet that suggests she is taking the news A.OK, Johnson said that Gove would at least no longer be able to cause division: However, Johnson seems to have already got cold feet about her comment. The tweet was deleted just seconds after it first appeared.
From our UK edition
As Andrea Leadsom's leadership campaign has progressed, a number of holes have surfaced when it comes to the Brexit champion's suitability to be leader. In fact, Leadsom's campaign was dealt a significant blow yesterday when it surfaced that she had amplified her CV somewhat. Today Leadsom's supporters are keen to show that they still stand by their candidate. To do this, an army of fans have embarked on a Leadsom march around Parliament. Alas the march hit a few snags which resulted in it bearing a closer resemblance to a march of the zombies than a victorious PR exercise. Firstly, Leadsom was nowhere to be seen.
From our UK edition
In recent weeks, Westminster politicians have found themselves compared to the characters of House of Cards and Game of Thrones over their post-referendum antics. Happily, parliamentarians were able to put such differences aside on Wednesday night as they took a well-deserved break from work at The Spectator summer party. As Labour's Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall caught up with Liz Truss, Laurence Fox -- the Lewis actor -- put on a passionate display for the cameras with his male companion for the evening. Meanwhile with a Tory leadership contest underway, Theresa May made sure to do the rounds and rally support for her campaign at the champagne-fuelled bash.
From our UK edition
In April, Dennis Skinner was ejected by the Speaker from the Commons after he called the Prime Minister 'dodgy Dave'. However, today John Bercow appeared to feel no need to discipline the Beast of Bolsover for using the term at PMQs. When asking David Cameron to help him find the funding for a hospital in his constituency, Skinner suggested this could give way to some positive press for the PM. However, there was a snag in the likely headline: 'The press might have a headline saying: "the Prime Minister dodgy Dave assists the Beast to save the bolts of a hospital". What a temptation!' Perhaps now the Prime Minister is on the way out, Bercow no longer feels the need to protect Cameron's reputation.
From our UK edition
Last week the Daily Mail endorsed Theresa May as the next Tory leader. The declaration took many by surprise as not only was it very early in the campaign to come out for a candidate, it had been thought that the paper might opt for Michael Gove -- after his wife Sarah Vine suggested Paul Dacre favoured him in a leaked email. So, why did Dacre snub Gove just a day after he announced his leadership ambitions? While some have taken it to be a sign that the Daily Mail editor was unimpressed by the manner in which the Justice Secretary had turned on Boris Johnson, could any ill-feeling run deeper than that? In 2004 when Gove was Saturday editor of the Times, he penned an article for The Spectator about Dacre and the Daily Mail.
From our UK edition
The past week has proved to be a busy time for the Gove household. After Sarah Vine declared in her Daily Mail column that she -- along with her husband -- had been handed the responsibility of leading the country on behalf of the Brexit voters, she was left red-faced when an email she wrote expressing doubts about Gove supporting Boris Johnson's leadership bid was made public. In this, she suggested that her Mail boss Paul Dacre -- along with News UK's Rupert Murdoch -- would find it difficult to get behind a Boris Johnson leadership bid if Gove was not involved. Alas when the Justice Secretary turned on BoJo and announced that he would run for leader himself, the media endorsements failed to follow.
From our UK edition
Don't expect to see Ken Clarke on Sky News anytime soon. The former Chancellor has been left red-faced after the broadcaster aired footage of him engaging in a very honest assessment of the Tory leadership -- not realising the camera was rolling. No candidate mentioned got off scot-free during his lively discussion with Sir Malcolm Rifkind. While raising the prospect of Michael Gove as Prime Minister, Clarke expressed concerns about his 'wild' views on foreign policy -- concluding that, with the Justice Secretary as PM, Britain would go to war with 'at least three countries at once': 'I remember having a discussion once about something we should do in Syria or Iraq and he was so wild that I remember exchanging looks with Liam Fox., who's much more right-wing than me.
From our UK edition
After a week of Shadow Cabinet resignations amid a Labour coup to oust Jeremy Corbyn, there have been several theories doing the rounds as to what it means for the party. While some have suggested that Corbyn's director of communications Seumas Milne is stopping Corbyn from resigning, there have been reports that he will resign and allow John McDonnell to run. However, today Corbyn has decided to set the record straight. In a -- rather clunky -- video message to Labour members, Corbyn declares that he is not going anywhere: 'I have a huge responsibility, I'm carrying out that responsibility and I'm carrying on with that responsibility.' https://twitter.
From our UK edition
Today Andrea Leadsom has officially launched her campaign to be the next Tory leader. Speaking at the Cinnamon Club, the former banker declared that she would not be the candidate for the rich; 'the richest people in Britain will not be my priority'. However, Mr S cant help but wonder if she should have gone for a different choice of venue if she wants to be taken seriously as a voice of the working people. After all, the Cinnamon Club is one of Westminster's most expensive restaurants. A favourite of the metropolitan elite, the Indian restaurant serves a special gin punch for £400 a bowl. Meanwhile it's hard to get through a lunch there without reaching triple figures.
From our UK edition
After Michael Gove turned on his one-time ally Boris Johnson and decided to run for leader himself, there was disbelief and anger among the former Mayor of London's supporters. While Jake Berry declared that there was a special place in hell for Gove, his fellow Tory MP Ben Wallace has used a comment piece in today's Telegraph to claim the Justice Secretary has an 'emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken'. In the article, Wallace explains why he believes Gove just isn't up to being Tory leader -- let alone Prime Minister.
From our UK edition
So 17 million people vote to take Britain out of the European Union – but 40,000 of the Remainers took to the streets of London today to protest. We heard the voices of Britain’s growing anti-democratic movement: those who believe that Brexit was the result of consulting voters who were confused, malign, northern – or all three. Who, the Bremain protesters seemed to ask, are these people? Where the hell is Dunstable? Why do we Londoners allow them them vote? Every revolution has its reactionaries, and they were on the march today. Mr S was reassured to see the well-heeled crowd mocking themselves, with placards referencing 80s and 90s pop songs (“Never gonna give EU up”, “Nothing compares to EU”) etc.
From our UK edition
Although Mr S is running his own Michael Gove inspired Game of Thrones competition for readers, the Justice Secretary's colleagues also can't seem to resist sticking the knife-in when it comes to picking which machiavellian character Gove best resembles. After Gove turned on his former ally Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston, has claimed that when it comes to George RR Martin's fantasy novels, Gove is Theon Greyjoy -- or at least will be once Wallace is finished with him. Given that Greyjoy is best known for having his penis cut off, this doesn't bode overly well for Gove. https://twitter.
