Steerpike

Steerpike

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

Friday

Steerpike

John Travolta proves to be a thorn in Sadiq Khan’s side

From our UK edition

As Sadiq Khan continues to face flak over his links to unsavoury characters, even a night at home in front of the television could now prove problematic. In this week's episode of the BBC's American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson, John Travolta acts out a scene about a man who Khan would no doubt like to forget about. Playing OJ Simpson's lawyer Robert Shapiro,  John Travolta recreates a scene in which Shapiro expresses concerns about Simpson's use of Louis Farrakhan's security team during the trial -- describing them as 'strident black extremists': 'These are the same people who think that some Jews are the devil and that my people have no claim to Israel.

Steerpike

Julian Fellowes on ‘class hatred’ and Corbyn’s Labour

From our UK edition

Although Julian Fellowes recently promised to take a backseat in the EU debate after growing tired of celebrities telling people what to do, he is still able to grace us with his thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn's Labour. In an interview with BA High Life, the Conservative peer -- and Downton Abbey writer -- discusses the current state of the Labour party. The Conservative peer says he is upset by the 'real seething jealousy' at the heart of politics today: 'It strikes me that as long as people are reasonably responsible in trying to do their best in terms of their own lives, there’s no reason for this permanent encouragement to class hatred.’ As for Corbyn on a personal level? Fellowes says that the Labour leader makes him feel nostalgic for his youth...

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn suggests the Queen is a secret Gooner

From our UK edition

Although Jeremy Corbyn's aides refused to confirm whether he would give a tribute to the Queen on her 90th birthday, the Labour leader did manage to put his republican tendencies to one side today in order to mark the happy occasion. After wishing Her Majesty a happy birthday, he went on to give his football team Arsenal a plug. Corbyn said that many locals believe that Her Majesty is actually a secret Gooner -- pointing to the fact that the Queen’s coronation drive went through Islington, key Arsenal territory 'Now we know the Queen is absolutely above politics. She may be above football too. But many locals harbour this quiet secret view that she actually, privately, is a Gooner.' Perhaps there is hope for relations between Corbyn and the Queen after all.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Watch: Ed Vaizey grilled by Andrew Neil over George Osborne’s dodgy EU dossier

From our UK edition

It fell on Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, to defend George Osborne's dodgy EU dossier on the BBC's Daily Politics. As you might expect, he didn't do a very good job of it. Could he explain why the Chancellor used his new, misleading metric of "GDP per household" instead of the proper (and lower) figure of household income? No, he couldn't. Could he explain why, if the Chancellor thinks this new GDP-per-household metric is so important, he divided 2030 income by the 2016 number of households (27m) rather than the expected number then (31m)? No. Could he name another Treasury budget, or pre-Budget report, where this GDP per household had ever been used before? No.

Steerpike

Watch: Vote Leave’s Dom Cummings is grilled by Andrew Tyrie – ‘this sounds like Aladdin’s cave to me’

From our UK edition

Popcorn at the ready! Today Vote Leave's Dominic Cummings has been hauled before the Treasury committee to answer questions on 'the economic and financial costs and benefits of UK's EU membership'. To begin this, Cummings -- who has been described by former colleagues as a Tory Che Guevara -- was grilled by the committee's chair Andrew Tyrie. The tone was set from the start: DC: “I’ve got another meeting at four, so I’ll have to be out of here before that.” AT: “I don’t think you’ve got the hang of these proceedings. We ask the questions and you stay and answer them.” DC: “I’m just telling you when I’ll be leaving.” AT: “In that case you’ll be recalled.” DC: “Fine by me.

Steerpike

Introducing the new NUS president – who wouldn’t condemn Isis

From our UK edition

Students have been getting a bad rep of late. Whether it's safe space advocates proposing motions to ban free speech societies or equality officers tweeting 'kill all white men', the mood on campus has changed dramatically in the past five years. So, will this change with the election of a new National Union of Students president? It's not looking all that likely following today's news that Malia Bouattia has been elected as NUS president -- to the delight of Cage, the Islamic-focussed advocacy organisation. https://twitter.

Steerpike

Watch: David Cameron wades into Labour’s McDonald’s row – ‘I’m lovin’ it’

From our UK edition

This week Jeremy Corbyn has faced an MPs' revolt over the Labour party's decision to ban McDonald's from having a stall at its party conference. A number of MPs have accused the Labour leader of snobbery, while Corbyn's spokesman has had to admit that he does not know what the vegetarian Labour leader could even eat at the popular fast food chain. Happily one person is at least enjoying the ongoing row. David Cameron brought up Labour's misfortune at PMQs. He explained that he had at first thought the party were banning John McDonnell from Labour conference, before realising it was something much worse.

Steerpike

Ben Goldsmith gets behind his brother’s campaign: ‘back Zac or crack!’

From our UK edition

To Aqua Nueva on Regent Street where the Spanish bar was transformed into a Mediterranean getaway for one night only to celebrate the Ibiza Preservation Fund... or Zac Goldsmith's mayoral campaign, depending on who you spoke to. While guests including Bryan Adams and George Lamb gathered at the champagne-fuelled bash to show their support for the conservation trust -- which aims to help preserve Ibiza and Formentera’s countryside and marine areas -- its co-founder Ben Goldsmith couldn't resist going off piste. In his speech on the fund, Goldsmith tried to tell the crowd about his brother's mayoral campaign.

Steerpike

What ‘stinking cesspit of corporate corruption’? Steve Hilton refuses to say he backs Brexit

From our UK edition

In More Human, Steve Hilton describes the EU as 'a stinking cesspit of corporate corruption gussied up in the garb of idealistic internationalism'. So given his strong words on the issue, in theory it would seem that David Cameron's former director of strategy -- who is also one of the Prime Minister's closest friends -- has all the makings of a Brexiteer. However, speaking on Today to launch his new website Crowdpac -- which aims to show which candidates match your priorities -- Hilton appeared to get cold feet on the issue. When Sarah Montague asked him if he was backing Out, Hilton attempted to avoid the question several times: SH: Well Sarah, I'm not going to get into that today. Other than to say it's many peoples' experience on both sides of the argument.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Brexit wars: Leave.EU goad Michael Gove

From our UK edition

After Vote Leave were awarded the official designation to campaign for Brexit in the EU referendum, there was much disappointment from Grassroots Out and Leave.EU. So much so that the campaigns' main funder Arron Banks toyed with the idea of launching a judicial review. However, in the end the Brexit backer decided to be the bigger man and support Vote Leave for the sake of national interests: 'It is time to turn our collective guns on the real opponents in this campaign: those who are repeatedly trying to scare the British public into thinking that Britain is too small and insignificant to be an independent nation engaged with the whole world, not just one corner of it. We will be pursuing this campaign with vigour – and we’ll have some fun with it along the way.

Steerpike

Watch: Paul Mason is reunited with a fellow ‘revolutionary Marxist’

From our UK edition

Earlier this year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer used Treasury Questions to take a swipe at Paul Mason. Osborne described the former Channel 4 economics editor as a 'revolutionary Marxist'. Mason responded by denying the claim in a blog post, even though he is a former member of the Trotskyist Workers’ Power group. Happily Mason had a chance to take a trip down memory lane on today's Daily Politics. Producers dug up an old video of Mason from his revolutionary Marxist days. They then brought on his former hard-left comrade Peter Taaffe, the general secretary of the Socialist party. Mason explained why he is now a reformed revolutionary: PM: I'm not one now. That's what, Thatcher had destroyed the miners, we had extra judicial force used against working class people.

Steerpike

Did Zac Goldsmith pick up some tips on tackling extremism from Yvette Cooper?

From our UK edition

During last night's BBC mayoral debate, Zac Goldsmith was asked whether he had run a racist campaign against Sadiq Khan -- following negative press surrounding the Labour candidate's links to extremists. After Khan found himself under fire for sharing platforms with characters like Suliman Gani, as well as for his work for Louis Farrakhan -- the man who claimed Hitler was a ‘very great man’ -- Labour's Yvette Cooper complained that the Tories' mayoral campaign amounts to racism: 'It’s time to call it out for what it really is before it gets worse. What started as a subtle dog-whistle is becoming a full-blown racist scream.

Monday

Steerpike

Leave.EU hit back at Osborne over Brexit comments: ‘if this is our economic team, we are in deep s–t’

From our UK edition

George Osborne's claim that the Treasury thinks Brexit would make you £4,300 worse off has gone down like a cup of cold sick with the Leave camp. While many Brexiteers have hit back in less than polite terms, it's Leave.EU who win the award for 'most blunt response'. In light of the claims, Arron Bank's Brexit group have added a new picture to their Facebook group. The banner reads: 'If this is our key economic team we are in deep s--t'. It seems that now Leave.EU are out of the race in terms of winning the official designation, they are able to speak freely.

Steerpike

Tories’ ‘ludicrous’ phone bank email falls flat with voters

From our UK edition

As CCHQ try to gather momentum behind Zac Goldsmith's mayoral campaign, they are hoping that they can count on Tory supporters to do their bit. On top of leafleting, voters are being invited to take part in phone bank sessions at the Connect call centre. In the event that this alone would not be enough to entice would-be volunteers, they have a 'voter communications intern' sending out messages to increase attendance at the sessions. Alas word reaches Steerpike that the tone of the emails coming from 'voter communications' is going down like a lead balloon with a number of well-heeled supporters. A recent email from the intern about a recent caller connect session has been doing the rounds.

Steerpike

Watch: Tristram Hunt feels the heat over the EU on Sunday Politics

From our UK edition

With the outcome of the EU referendum predicted to be on a 'knife edge', there are growing concerns that David Cameron may have misplayed his hand. So, in order for the Remain camp to reclaim a lead in the polls, they need some solid media performances from names the public can trust. Alas, they may soon come to regret Tristram Hunt's appearance on yesterday's Sunday Politics. During a tense exchange with Andrew Neil, Hunt struggled to rebut Neil's questions on immigration, going on to accuse the BBC presenter of offering up his own version of 'project fear'. TH: In the long run, I think there is a really interesting question about the degree of free movement of people across the European Union, but my point is that Britain should be a part of that conversation.

Friday

Steerpike

Belgian expat trolls Vote Leave campaign

From our UK edition

It's been a good week for Vote Leave after they were given the official designation to campaign for Brexit in the EU referendum. Despite this, they still have a few problems they need to overcome. One of these comes in the form of Rick Astley, the eighties singer. A Belgian expat by the name of Mario Van Poppel has decided to try and cause some problems for the Leave camp's digital operations. Van Poppel -- who is based in London -- has purchased several Vote Leave domains. While the official Vote Leave website can be found at www.voteleavetakecontrol.org, a visit to voteleave.com, voteleave.co.uk, voteleave.net or voteleave.org now leads to a video of Rick Astley singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. https://twitter.

Steerpike

Julian Fellowes on the celebrities who ought to ‘put a sock in it’

From our UK edition

Ahead of the upcoming EU referendum, Julian Fellowes used an appearance on Question Time to put forward the case for Brexit, before giving an interview on the topic to the Mail on Sunday. Now, however, the Tory peer has decided to take a backseat after growing tired of famous people telling the public what to do. Giving a talk at The Berkeley as part of London Book and Screen Week, the Downton Abbey writer says that when celebrities tell people what to think, he thinks they ought to 'put a sock in it': 'I'm very much in favour of Brexit, I think it's a great opportunity and I think if we miss it our children and grandchildren will wonder why.

Steerpike

Friday caption contest: the three Europhiles

From our UK edition

Although Jeremy Corbyn has been slow to get involved with the EU campaign, David Cameron is still keen to show the public the Remain side has cross-party support. So, what better way to prove this than a photo opp with Labour's Neil Kinnock and Liberal Democrat Paddy Ashdown. Mr S welcomes your caption suggestions for the photo of the three Europhiles. The winner will be revealed on Monday. Update: ... and the winner is Alun Morris for coming up with the caption: 'celebrity threesome fight losing battle to prevent the public knowing the truth'.

Steerpike

Paul Mason accused of being a Tory

From our UK edition

Now that Jeremy Corbyn is head of the Labour party, his army of Corbynistas are waiting in the wings, ready to brand anyone who shows the slightest sign of disloyalty a 'red Tory'. Some of the 'Tories' so far outed by the hard left include Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper, John McTernan, Stella Creasy, Harriet Harman, Tony Blair and Lord Adonis. However, even Mr S was surprised to learn of the latest non-believer to be added to the list. Despite being mocked recently for being a 'revolutionary Marxist' by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Paul Mason has now been accused of being a secret Tory.

Thursday

Steerpike

George Galloway’s battle bus fails to rally the troops

From our UK edition

George Galloway has stepped up his London mayoral campaign today by taking his battle bus down Whitehall. In an attempt to rally the troops, the Respect candidate shouted through his megaphone: 'David Cameron, you couldn't make it up!' Alas on Mr S's watch, Galloway-mania failed to kick-in. While he managed to frighten the horses -- of the Household Cavalry no less -- when it came to supporters, he only seemed able to fill one of the 72 seats on the double-decker bus with a supporter. Vive la révolution!