Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Monday

2 May 2016

Why does Nicholas ‘fatty’ Soames want to muzzle the press over gastric band surgery?

A few weeks ago, the Sunday Times had an amusing story by the estimable Tim Shipman about Nicholas Soames MP having lost weight - thanks (it was rumoured) to a new gastric band. All very jolly, but it seems to have sent Soames into a fury. He’s no fan of press freedom (he was one of the MPs who was urging Cameron to adopt state regulation) and complained to IPSO, the new regulator, about an invasion of his privacy. Weirdly, it upheld his complaint (in a ruling that repeated the very information he wanted repressed). Worse, the offending article appears to have been purged from the Sunday Times website. This is a worrying development, whose significance goes far beyond Soames' dieting tips.

Steerpike

President Xi slips up over House of Cards

During President Xi's visit to America last year, China's leader attempted to win over his American audience with a joke about House of Cards. Referring to the American show which sees Frank Underwood use dirty tricks to get to the top, he said his crackdown on corruption was not aimed at purging political rivals -- that this is no 'House of Cards'. Unfortunately he had no such gags prepared for his UK state visit in October. In fact, if anything his House of Cards knowledge -- or lack there of -- proved problematic.

Sunday

1 May 2016

Steerpike

Rhodes Must Fall activists blast crowdfunder set up to compensate waitress: ‘the white conservatives are rallying’

On Friday, Mr S reported that Oxford's Rhodes Must Fall co-founder Ntokozo Qwabe had revelled in making a 'white waitress' cry at a restaurant in Cape Town. The incident occurred after Qwabe's friend wrote a note to the waitress explaining they would only tip her when she 'returned the land'. Qwabe -- who studies law at Oxford -- has since refused to apologise, instead hitting out at the response by the 'hysterical white media'. Happily others are feeling more compassionate. After news of the incident broke, Sihle Ngobese sought out the waitress and gave her a tip in protest of Qwabe's behaviour: https://twitter.

Saturday

30 April 2016

Steerpike

Has no one told Zac Goldsmith how to hold a pint glass?

Yes, Labour is in the worst kind of turmoil - but don't expect Zac Goldsmith to be able to turn it to his advantage. His overall problem is rather neatly exemplified by the above picture: will Londoners vote for a bloke who can't even hold a pint glass, let alone drink its contents? Fair enough, Zac may not be a beer man - Gordon Brown only ever drank wine or champagne - but in which case why do a photocall in a pub? With Boris Johnson? Yet more proof that, while Zac hired Lynton Crosby's firm, the Wizard from Oz hasn't been nearly involved enough.

Friday

29 April 2016

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn’s botched bid to escape from camera crew

If there’s one thing Jeremy Corbyn does not like, it’s being hassled by journalists. The Labour leader was filmed yesterday refusing to answer questions about Ken Livingstone’s remarks before he managed to give the camera crew the slip. He's also been filmed walking through Westminster keeping quiet whilst journalists try and persuade him to answer questions. And earlier this month, Corbyn did not take kindly to a reporter from LBC doorstepping him following the row over David Cameron's tax affairs. On all of those previous occasions, he's managed to make a quick exit. But his attempts to do the same earlier today were thwarted – by a locked door. The grouchy Labour leader tried to give a Sky News reporter short shrift, saying only ‘Goodbye’.

Steerpike

Oxford’s Rhodes Must Fall co-founder in restaurant altercation: ‘we will tip you when you return the land!’

Last year Ntokozo Qwabe made the news as the co-founder of the Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford movement. The Oxford law student accused the university of normalising the 'existence of systemic racism' and called on them to remove a 'racist' statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College. However, the South African student was later accused of hypocrisy when it was revealed that he had accepted a scholarship in the name of Rhodes. With the statue still in place, it appears that Qwabe has traded taking issue with colonialist statues for upsetting 'white' waitresses. In a recent Facebook post, Qwabe says he cant't 'stop smiling' because something 'so black' and 'wonderful' just happened.

Steerpike

Corbyn’s disgraced aide gets behind Sadiq Khan’s campaign

Throughout his London mayoral bid, Sadiq Khan has been at pains to distance himself from Jeremy Corbyn. Although Khan was one of the 35 MPs to help get Corbyn onto the ballot paper, he has since gone on to declare that if elected mayor, he will not be 'Corbyn's representative in London'. His comments have led his mayoral rival George Galloway to accuse Khan of 'stabbing Jeremy Corbyn in the back'. Happily, Corbyn's team still seem happy to support Khan's mayoral bid despite. With less than a week to polling day, Khan's official campaign Twitter account has shared a photo of their bustling phone bank in action: https://twitter.com/TeamKhan2016/status/725409506591670274 While the photos show Labour's Stephen Pound helping out, it's another volunteer that caught Mr S's eye.

Steerpike

Whitto feels the heat at Westminster Correspondents’ dinner

Last night lobby hacks gathered with their favourite SpAds in tow for the Westminster correspondents' dinner. This year's guest of honour was George Osborne, who proceeded to win over the crowd with a jibe-filled speech. Osborne -- who has previously accused the BBC of harbouring 'imperial ambitions' -- did manage to find time to include a serious message alongside his many parliamentary put-downs. He urged Auntie to work alongside local news rather than against. However, it was his jibes against both his colleagues and himself that received the biggest laughs from the well-hydrated audience. Referring to his esteemed guests, Osborne said that never had there been so many big egos in one room since John Bercow dined out alone.

Thursday

28 April 2016

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Happy #EdBallsDay

Although Ken Livingstone has done his best to steal Ed Balls's thunder today, it's important to take a moment and remember what April 28 is really all about. Today marks the 5th anniversary of Ed Balls day -- the day the former shadow chancellor accidentally tweeted his own name. Five years on and a lot has changed for Balls -- and Labour. Happily, now he is no longer an MP -- let alone a shadow Cabinet member -- Balls seems to have a lot more time on his hands, which would explain why he has made himself a cake to mark the occasion.

Steerpike

Rupa Huq performs a u-turn over her disastrous Naz Shah interview

This morning Rupa Huq managed to anger listeners when she used a slot on the Today programme to compare Naz Shah's anti-semitic social media posts to tweeting a photo of Boris Johnson on a zip-wire. With both the presenter and audience left bewildered by her disastrous defence of Shah's posts, it appears that Huq has now had second thoughts. Opting to give an interview to the Russia Today show Sam Delaney’s News Thing -- rather than return to the BBC -- Huq claims she was simply unprepared for the interview.

Steerpike

Diane Abbott gets cold feet about Ken Livingstone

Ken Livingstone has been the talk of the Commons today after he took to the airwaves to defend Naz Shah over her anti-Semitic posts. Since then he has been suspended after several Labour MPs urged their leader to take action. So, what's Diane Abbott been doing to help the cause? While the MP for Hackney North stayed quiet on the row this morning, she has busied herself by deleting past supportive tweets about Red Ken from the internet. Abbott appears to not want members of the public to know that she was once on friendly terms with Livingstone.

Steerpike

Watch: John Mann takes on Ken Livingstone over anti-Semitism – ‘you are a Nazi apologist’

As the Labour party continues to implode over the party's handling of Naz Shah's anti-Semitic social media posts, a number of MPs have turned on Ken Livingstone in light of his comments today on anti-Semitism. However, John Mann has gone one step futher. The Labour MP confronted Livingstone over his claim that Hitler supported Zionism, just before Livingstone appeared on the Daily Politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JByaUjb5UCc 'You're a Nazi apologist, rewriting history, rewriting history, rewriting history. Go back and check what Hitler did, go back and check. There's a book called Mein Kampf, you've obviously never heard of it.

Steerpike

Watch: Ken Livingstone’s career-ending Daily Politics interview – ‘a real anti-Semite doesn’t just hate the Jews in Israel’

After Ken Livingstone claimed that Hitler supported Zionism and that anti-Semitism is not racism in a BBC radio interview, Labour MPs including Jess Phillips and Sadiq Khan have called for Ken Livingstone to be expelled from the party. With Corbyn -- slow as ever -- to respond to their calls, Livingstone appeared on the Daily Politics presumably in the hope of conducting some damage limitation. Alas this didn't go to plan, and instead Red Ken made his situation even worse as he went on to say that he had seen 'nothing to suggest' Naz Shah is anti-Semitic -- despite the Labour MP admitting yesterday that her posts were guilty of anti-Semitism.

Steerpike

Tommy Corbyn pays a visit to ‘Corbyn the musical’

This week there have been two rival Corbyn dramas being played out across London. In Westminster, the Labour leader struggles to get a grip on the anti-Semitism crisis taking over his party, while over in Waterloo Corbyn faces a nuclear dilemma. While both seem fantastical, unfortunately only one is make believe. Corbyn the Musical: the Motorcycle Diaries — written by Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman — imagines Corbyn facing a nuclear crisis, and also offers a take on what may have gone on when Corbyn and Diane Abbott are said to have gone on a motorcycle holiday in the 1970s. Despite much media interest, Corbyn is yet to attend the show. However, Mr S can disclose that one member of the Corbyn family has managed to see the funny side.

Steerpike

Listen: Rupa Huq’s disastrous attempt to defend Naz Shah’s anti-Semitic posts – ‘I retweeted a picture of Boris Johnson on a zip-wire’

Oh dear. Whichever bright spark over at Labour HQ decided it would be a good idea to send Rupa Huq on Today to defend Naz Shah will now be regretting it. The Labour MP for Ealing Central appeared to take the Ken Livingstone approach in the interview, opting to play down Shah's sharing of anti-Semitic posts -- which led to her suspension. Huq started things off by focussing on the perils of social media -- rather than the issue of anti-Semitism. Apparently it's really easy to share a post on Facebook, even an anti-Semitic one: 'She shared a post on Facebook, it's easy to click those buttons - like, share - and I guess we have to be very careful what it is we are clicking on -- all of us. This was a time when she wasn't a public figure, it's a time when she wasn't a public figure.

Wednesday

27 April 2016

Steerpike

Listen: Ken Livingstone comes to Naz Shah’s defence – ‘what she said wasn’t anti-Semitic’

Just when you thought things couldn't look much worse for Labour's Naz Shah, Ken Livingstone arrives on the scene. After Shah apologised several times today for sharing anti-Semitic posts on social media, she has finally been suspended. However, not everyone appears to see what the big deal is. Popping up on LBC, Red Ken offered Iain Dale his take on the situation. The former London mayor said that he would not describe Shah's comments on social media as anti-Semitic: KL: What she said was over the top and offensive, it wasn't anti-Semitic. ID: Well it was anti-Semitic, everyone seems to agree that it was anti-Semitic -- even Jeremy Corbyn seems to admit that KL: Well, I don't think it is. It's a bit of criticism of Israel and Israel supporters.

Steerpike

Labour accused of editing Naz Shah’s apology to remove references to anti-Semitism

It's finally happened. Over 24 hours after news first broke of Naz Shah sharing anti-Semitic posts online, the Labour MP has been suspended. While Labour say this is by 'mutual agreement', the move comes after several apologies from Shah -- and quite a long silence from Corbyn. However, the use of the term 'mutual agreement' is of particular intrigue in light of revelations from Buzzfeed. The website reports that Shah had her personal apology diluted after her team sent it to party officials to be approved. In Shah's original draft, she is said to have written: 'I helped promote anti-Semitic tropes. This was totally wrong'. However, this along with another mention of anti-Semitism was reportedly dropped from the final version approved by Labour.

Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Tyrie grills Arron Banks over his Vote Leave feud – ‘it does seem to be an extraordinary fratricidal war’

Last week Vote Leave's Dom Cummings was hauled before the Treasury Select Committee to be grilled on the Brexit campaign by a po-faced Andrew Tyrie. What followed was a lively exchange between Cummings and the committee chair as Tyrie tried to pin Cummings down on figures used in Vote Leave's campaign literature. Today Cummings's comrade Matthew Elliott was supposed to sit before the committee but the Vote Leave chief exec was once again unable to make it. Instead Arron Banks -- of the rival group Leave.EU -- is answering questions from the committee on the Brexit campaign. With little love lost between Banks's Leave.

Steerpike

Watch: Cameron takes a swipe at Farage over his ‘poncey foreign-sounding’ name pronunciation

With little love lost between the Prime Minister and Nigel Farage, today the Ukip leader found himself on the receiving end of David Cameron's ire during PMQs. When asking Cameron whether the public should listen to Brexit figures like Nigel Farage, Ben Bradshaw pronounced Farage's name as 'Farridge'. This delighted Cameron, who proceeded to blast Farage for using the 'poncey foreign-sounding' pronunciation. BB: With the United Kingdom facing our most momentous decision in a generation in eight weeks time, does the Prime Minister think it makes more sense for all of us to listen to all of our closest friends and allies around the world, or to a combination of French fascists, Nigel Farage and Vladimir Putin.

Steerpike

Ed Miliband moves on from bacon sandwich gaffe

Forget the big election debates, the defining moment of Ed Miliband's Labour leadership was his attempt at eating a bacon sandwich. In 2014 ahead of the local and European elections, Miliband appeared pained and confused as he attempted to eat a bacon sandwich in Covent Garden. The pictures that followed went everywhere as he became the subject of much ridicule. So, Mr S was pleased to learn that Miliband has found a working man's food that he appears to be able to eat in a normal manner. The MP for Doncaster North made a late night visit to the Yorkshire Pie House in his constituency last week. The restaurant reports that Miliband likes nothing more on a Friday than to 'rock' the pie house with his 'buddies': As for his pie of choice? He's a 'chicken and ham kinda guy'.