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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Although Jeremy Corbyn is facing growing criticism over his role as a speaker at Friday’s Stop The War Christmas fundraiser, so far the Labour leader is showing no signs of backing down. Despite pleas from the likes of Michael Dugher, Tristram Hunt, Caroline Flint and Emma Reynolds for Corbyn to cancel, he looks set to
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Last night guests gathered at St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street for the Spectator’s annual Christmas concert. The St Bride’s Choir provided the carols in the church — which is regarded by many as the official spiritual home for journalists — as hacks including Andrew Neil, Fraser Nelson, Jeremy Clarke and Mary Wakefield gave readings. While attendees dug deep
From our UK edition
Jeremy Corbyn is currently facing calls to cancel his attendance at Friday’s Stop the War Christmas fundraiser dinner. However, should he stay on course and attend, the Labour leader can at least bank on getting a far friendlier reception from his comrades there than he did at his own party’s Christmas bash. Labour staff gathered in
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Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party, his main cheerleader Diane Abbott has never been far from his side. In fact, Abbott has even taken it upon herself to often fight Corbyn’s corner. This has involved warning unruly MPs about the size of his mandate, as well as having a heated argument
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Although Diane Abbott’s Christmas card efforts have been well-documented this year — with the Labour MP even finding time to write them during hostile meetings of the PLP, Nigel Evans is surely a contender for the ‘most striking Christmas card’ award. Evans has today sent out his own batch of cards which feature the man
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While Mhairi Black has made no secret of her dislike for the Tories, she has at least found words of praise for one Conservative MP. Speaking earlier this year, the SNP MP spoke of her admiration for Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘I could sit and listen to him all day, I disagree with him 99.9 per cent of
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Lucy Allan has come under fire this month after she was accused of faking a death threat from a constituent. The Conservative MP posted a message from a user by the name of Rusty on her Facebook which asked her to rethink her stance on Syria airstrikes. While the message was hardly polite, the worst part
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After stepping down as an MP ahead of the general election, Gordon Brown has taken up a role on the advisory panel of Pimco, a global investment management firm. He joins a panel of ‘world-renowned experts’ who include Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the European Central Bank, and Ben Bernanke, the former US Federal Reserve chairman. Pimco have released a
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Yesterday the Young Britons Foundation called off their annual Activist Training Conference — following the suicide of Elliot Johnson in September, and the subsequent revelations of Tory activist bullying. Although six Cabinet ministers had cancelled their attendance at the event, and Elliot’s father Ray had written to David Cameron calling the YBF ‘a cult, indoctrinating young activists’, the organisation’s chief-executive Don Blaney
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Over the weekend a man attacked passengers at Leytonstone tube station, claiming he was acting in protest at the government’s decision to carry out airstrikes on Syria. One small ray of light to emerge from the incident — which left three injured — was a video of the aftermath in which a man shouts at the offender: ‘you ain’t
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While the abuse Labour MPs — including Stella Creasy and Ann Coffey — have received since they voted for airstrikes has been much-reported, what about the Labour politicians who voted against airstrikes on Syria? According to John McDonnell, these MPs are subject to online abuse too. The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer appeared to try
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Oh dear. Someone at ITV is having a very bad day indeed. The broadcaster has come under fire over a video package they aired as part of a segment celebrating Lenny Henry’s knighthood. One of the clips in the video montage did not actually feature Henry. Instead the clip showed Ainsley Harriott, the celebrity chef, performing on
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After Hilary Benn gave a passionate speech in favour of airstrikes, many on the left praised him for his words even if they did not agree with the sentiment. Alas Alex Salmond took a different approach and instead claimed Benn had shamed his late father Tony Benn who would be ‘birling in his grave’ after his son’s
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Although David Cameron recently made a promise to make broadband available to everyone in Britain, not everyone in his cabinet appears to be so on-message. Speaking at yesterday’s UK Israel Tech Hub event at Wayra Telefonica Accelerator’s HQ, Sajid Javid disclosed the preferred method of punishment that operates in his own household: ‘I’ll start by
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Alan Yentob has dramatically quit his £183,300 per year creative director role at the BBC. Today’s decision comes after Yentob became the subject of intense scrutiny in recent months regarding the BBC’s coverage of the Kids Company scandal. In a statement, Yentob – who was the chairman of Kids Company – explains his decision to leave, citing the Kids
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This morning the 66 Labour MPs who voted in favour of airstrikes on Syria — ignoring the pleas of their leader Jeremy Corbyn — have woken up to deselection threats from the hard-left as they stand accused of being warmongers. On top of this, there is another burden they must bear: they have driven Stan Collymore out of the Labour party.
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After photos emerged of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi’s body being washed up on a Turkish beach, the British public hit out at the government for failing to do enough to help with the current refugee crisis. Although the government has so far spent £900 million helping refugees who have fled Syria, many were outraged that more
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Staff at the BBC have been evacuated from the Broadcasting House Piazza after a suspicious vehicle was sighted nearby. Newsnight‘s James Clayton reports that the decision to evacuate the area was made after a suspicious vehicle parked up on Regent Street, which is near the corporation’s Broadcasting House headquarters in Portland Place. Workers in other neighbouring offices
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Of all the places across the United Kingdom where David Cameron can expect a lukewarm welcome, north of the border must be one of the least likely. So Mr S was happy to hear that Cameron is at least now proving popular at one Scottish joint. Just as the Prime Minister may think Piggate is well
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Covering the upcoming Syria vote is proving to be a challenge for hacks at the Guardian. Steerpike understands that the paper is having a difficult time deciding its editorial line on the issue which is currently undermining Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Meanwhile, the little fact that Corbyn’s head of comms Seumas Milne — the Guardian columnist and
