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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This week Nigel Farage revealed that he had been left ‘worried’ about Boris Johnson’s ability to campaign for Brexit after his ‘slightly shambolic’ North London press conference. While the Ukip leader insists he has since come round to Johnson’s involvement, Mr S wonders what he will make of the Mayor of London’s turn on The Andrew
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To the Conrad hotel in St James where Nigel Farage went head to head with former Labour spinner John McTernan in a Ladbrokes’ Brexit debate. Although the EU was the number one topic on the agenda, the panel chair Isabel Oakeshott — who is the co-author of Call Me Dave — managed to get pig on the
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As Zac Goldsmith fights to be the next Mayor of London against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, he is striving to appeal to all Londoners. Alas, somewhere in the process of doing this, he appears to have got a bit confused. In an interview with Pink News — the news website aimed at the LGBT community, Goldsmith said that
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This week Donald Trump surged ahead in the race to be the Republican candidate in the US presidential election following Super Tuesday. Since then, there has been a lot of negative press surrounding Trump — with naysayers worrying about his plans to build a wall between America and Mexico, and ban Muslims from entering the country. While Piers
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With Nick Clegg now a mere backbencher, his former staff appear to no longer feel the need to protect the Liberal Democrat from negative publicity. Today Clegg’s former campaign manager Ben Rathe has written a blog in which he reveals what happened when his search for a location for Clegg to give a speech — at the
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Brexit campaigners make the argument that the European Union just isn’t working when it comes to Britain’s interests. While some are yet to be convinced, it’s safe to say that some parts of the EU parliament just don’t work full stop. Last night Paul Brannen, the Labour MEP, found himself stuck in a lift in parliament, in Brussels. When door
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Last night’s Question Time panel saw David Dimbleby joined by John McDonnell, Dominic Raab, Ukip’s Louise Bours, Jermaine Jenas and Zoe Williams. As the group ran through a range of topics from the refugee crisis to the rise of Donald Trump, the last question was about the proposed ban of rugby in schools. After 70
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When Richard Burgon appeared on Channel 4 News last year to defend John McDonnell over his fiscal charter U-turn, the shadow City Minister struggled to make a good impression. On top of not knowing what the deficit was expected to be for 2015, he appeared to concede that he was yet to meet with anyone in the City.
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Oh dear. This week Jeremy Corbyn claimed that Yanis Varoufakis would advise Labour in ‘some capacity’. However, whatever capacity that will be, the message doesn’t appear to have got through to Varoufakis. After a week in which the former Syriza MP and Greek finance minister has been made fun of by senior Tories over the arrangement, Varoufakis seems to
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This week Jeremy Corbyn provided the Tories with much comedy fodder after he announced that Syriza’s Yanis Varoufakis would be advising Labour. It was then revealed that Varoufakis’s old chum Paul Mason — who is stepping down from his role as Channel 4’s economics editor — will also be helping the party — contributing a lecture to Labour’s New Economics
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Emily Thornberry’s decision to appoint disgraced spinner Damian McBride as her media adviser has upset a number of her constituents. However, the shadow Defence Secretary will be hoping that the expertise McBride can offer will outweigh any negative publicity. So, after Thornberry angered Labour MPs at a meeting of the PLP over Trident and then was left
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After Super Tuesday, Donald Trump is the clear favourite to be the Republican candidate in the US presidential election. As naysayers go into panic mode over the possibility of President Trump, an unlikely ally has come to Trump’s aid. Step forward Piers Morgan. The former Mirror editor waxed lyrical about the presidential hopeful on the
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Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party has been rather quiet when it comes to fighting for Britain to remain in the EU. Happily, Chris Bryant got the chance to put the pro-EU argument forward at last night’s Great Brexit debate, organised by the University of London Brexit Society. Sitting on a panel alongside SNP MP Stephen Gethins,
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Punch and Judy politics is clearly the mood of the moment in the House of Commons. Last week, David Cameron offered Corbyn some motherly advice on his dress sense, while a Tory MP heckled Jeremy Corbyn by yelling ‘who are you?’ during an EU debate. This morning, it was Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s turn to be
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Jeremy Corbyn left Labour MPs angry last night after he ducked out of answering questions at a meeting of the PLP in order to appear on ITV’s The Agenda. So, with members of his own party turning against him once again, the Labour leader decided it was an opportune time to revisit another old feud —
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Although the Tories currently find their party divided over Europe, they can at least take heart that the opposition face greater internal conflict. In fact, rather than attack Matthew Hancock in the Commons today over the Cabinet’s Brexit issues, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson opted to make a joke about his own party’s misery: ‘Mr Speaker sadly I am not in the strongest
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After months of playing nice, Marco Rubio has finally turned on his Republican candidate rival Donald Trump. After criticising Trump for his approach to business during the CNN debate, Rubio has now gone one step further and gone after his manhood. Speaking to his supporters at a rally, the Florida senator appeared to take aim at the size
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Given that one of the major findings of the Beckett report into Labour’s general election loss was that the party were not trusted with the economy, it’s safe to say that John McDonnell has his work cut out when it comes to winning back voters on this issue. So, the latest individual to be appointed as
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During the Scottish independence referendum, the SNP claimed that Scotland’s oil revenues for 2016-17 would be somewhere in the region of £7.9 billion. However, since then the oil price has plummeted meaning the revenues will likely be just a fraction of their estimate. So, now would be an opportune time for the SNP to show that despite
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With the Sunday papers filled with stories suggesting David Cameron’s party is in turmoil over the EU, Sky’s Dermot Murnaghan decided to raise the issue with Anna Soubry during an appearance on his show. Alas he got more than he bargained for when the Minister for Small Business — who is known not to mince her words — proceeded to