Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Wednesday

20 January 2016

Donald Trump on Parliament ban debate: ‘I hear I had a very big success’

On Monday MPs gathered in Westminster Hall to debate whether or not Donald Trump should be allowed to visit Britain, after over 500,000 Brits signed a petition calling for Trump to be banned from the UK. Ahead of the debate, the SNP's Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh argued that Trump ought to be banned as otherwise 'what we’re saying is, if you’re a prospective presidential candidate, it’s alright to say what you want'. So what did the man of the moment make of the debate which saw MPs call him a, others took the opportunity to call the Presidential hopeful a 'fool' and 'buffoon'? It turns out that despite being insulted by several politicians, Trump hears it was a 'very big success'.

Steerpike

Revealed: Labour spent £184,000 on Miliband’s debate coach

Today the Electoral Commission have released the campaign expenditure returns of the six political parties that spent £250,000 or more on campaigning in the General Election. While the Conservative's £15,587,956 campaign bill could be argued to be money well spent given their majority win, Labour have a bit more explaining to do it when it comes to £12,087,340 they splashed on their failed campaign. So, where exactly did the money go? Almost £600 went on chicken suits, while a grand total of £223,573 went to Miliband's hot shot US Advisor David Axelrod's company AKP&D Message and Media. However, the bill that is of most interest to Mr S relates to Michael Sheehan.

Steerpike

Peter Mandelson’s bad day at the football

With Jeremy Corbyn's approval rating currently at minus 39 according to yesterday's YouGov poll, one could argue that there is little reason for cheer within Team Corbyn. However, the Labour leader can at least take heart that he has managed to prove more popular than one Labour heavyweight when it comes to football. While Corbyn is a regular at Arsenal games -- often attending with his sons -- other Labour politicians have experienced difficulties fitting in at matches. Writing about New Labour's toxic legacy and the 'unelectable' Corbyn in today's Guardian, Alastair Campbell recalls a trip to the football he took with Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson: 'During the Blair years, football and politics became increasingly aligned.

Tuesday

19 January 2016

Steerpike

In-campaign reveal their secret weapon: iPlayer, abroad

Although David Cameron is said to be planning to scare the nation into staying in the EU, others in the in-camp think they can win voters over with the good. Britain Stronger in Europe have today sent out an optimistic press release revealing a key reason Britons ought to choose to remain in the EU: they can now watch BBC iPlayer abroad! 'Brits are to gain access to UK streaming services while travelling in Europe following a decision by MEPs today,' the email reads.

Steerpike

Guardian’s Nick Watt lined up for Newsnight role

The Guardian set tongues wagging across Westminster in December when its editor Katharine Viner appointed two women to share the role of political editor. Although the paper's chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt had been seen as the favourite to succeed Patrick Wintour, Sky News's Anushka Asthana and Observer economics editor Heather Stewart were offered the role as a job-share, after applying together. Happily Watt appeared to be gracious in defeat. While he tweeted that he was 'disappointed' to miss out on the role, he said he was looking forward to working with the 'formidable duo'. https://twitter.com/nicholaswatt/status/675286446832504832 Alas word reaches Steerpike that Watt may not have much time working for Asthana and Stewart after all.

Monday

18 January 2016

Steerpike

Has Sadiq Khan taken another pop at Jeremy Corbyn?

Since Sadiq Khan was elected as Labour's mayoral candidate, he has made an effort to distance himself from Jeremy Corbyn. Although Khan was one of the Labour MPs to help Corbyn get onto the ballot, after Khan won the nomination he turned on the Labour leader -- suggesting that Corbyn's refusal to sing the National Anthem showed he could be unfit to be Prime Minister. Now it seems that Khan just can't help himself even when he is trying to attack the Tories. His team have released an attack ad on Zac Goldsmith -- the Tory candidate for mayor -- in the form of a mocked-up CV. The 'CV' lists the reasons Goldsmith is not suitable to be the mayor of London, citing the fact his family connections led to his first 'proper job' at The Ecologist magazine.

Steerpike

Labour’s war with the BBC wages on: ‘Marr’s Corbyn interview was a disgrace’

Jeremy Corbyn's interview on The Andrew Marr Show yesterday saw the Labour leader wax lyrical on the virtues of Trident submarines without warheads, discuss the prospect of peace talks with ISIS, and ponder a deal with Argentina over the Falklands. While he also discussed housing and the junior doctor strike, his more divisive comments have today been followed up in the papers, with The Sun running an 'Off His War Head' splash. Although Labour brains seem unhappy with the way the interview went, little blame is being placed with their dear leader. Instead, party members appear to be blaming their enemy of the month -- the BBC. John Prescott has taken to Twitter to describe the interview as a 'disgrace'.

Friday

15 January 2016

Steerpike

Damian McBride dobs in ‘two-faced’ Cameron over GMTV slip up

When David Cameron was photographed scoffing Pringles on an Easy Jet flight over the summer, he became the subject of much mockery online. However, there was one woman who fiercely leapt to his defence, arguing that he deserved better than a budget snack on a budget airline. 'David Cameron deserves official jet,' Fiona Phillips declared in the Mirror. 'He's our Prime Minister for goodness sake.' Alas, Phillips may soon be rethinking her approach when it comes to the Prime Minister. It appears that any fondness the former GMTV presenter holds towards Cameron -- who she has met a number of times -- is not reciprocated.

Thursday

14 January 2016

Steerpike

John Mann goes to war with the Islington Corbynistas

It's not been a good week for the Corbynistas of North London. First Lord Watts took aim at them for their taste in pastries during his maiden speech in the upper house. The Labour peer said that the party leadership should take less notice of 'the London-centric hard left political class who sit around in their £1 million mansions eating their croissants at breakfast and seeking to lay the foundations for a socialist revolution'. Now John Mann wants them to put their money where their mouth is. The Labour MP has written a blog post on his website today calling for Labour to charge party members with properties worth over £1m a 'Labour wealth tax of £1,000 a year'.

Steerpike

Coming soon: Red Ken’s guide on the future of the Labour party

A number of Labour MPs have become increasingly riled with Jeremy Corbyn this week over the much-delayed Beckett report on Labour's General Election loss. Despite calls from Dan Jarvis and Caroline Flint for Margaret Beckett's investigation into the reasons Labour lost the election to be published, Corbyn has so far refused even though he has been sitting on the report since November. While many Labour brains have put this down to Corbyn not wanting to face some of the reasons Labour lost the election, there may soon be a more Corbyn-friendly analysis on offer. Step forward Ken Livingstone. Red Ken is to publish a handy new book which will lay out his advice for the party.

Wednesday

13 January 2016

Steerpike

Dawn Butler struggles with the new kinder politics

Dawn Butler was one of the Labour MPs who helped to get Jeremy Corbyn onto the ballot paper in the Labour leadership race. While Butler ultimately wanted Andy Burnham to be leader, she has been supportive of Corbyn since his election. Alas Butler now appears to be struggling when it comes to getting to grips with the new kinder, gentler politics. Today the Labour MP tweeted that a friend of hers had compared Cameron's appearance to 'a kid whose just done a poo'. To which Butler replied: 'yes it does feel like he's sh--ting all over the working class doesn't it.' Of course this is the same Butler who lost her seat in the 2010 election following allegations over her expenses.

Steerpike

Sally Bercow gives ‘The Speaker’s Wife’ a miss

Although Quentin Letts has made it clear that his new novel The Speaker's Wife is fictional, the satirical tome has set tongues-wagging in Westminster. Chris Bryant wrote in his Guardian review that 'the person who is most recognisable from today’s Westminster' is the novel’s clerk of the house -- Sir Roger Richards -- 'whose real-life counterpart Sir Robert Rogers resigned last year'. So what do other Westminster residents make of the book? Mr S couldn't help but raise the topic when he bumped into the current Speaker's Wife Sally Bercow at last night's night's Champagne Life private view at the Saatchi Gallery.

Steerpike

Revealed: why Diane Abbott’s ‘thrilling’ and ‘insightful’ comments go unnoticed

Although it may have seemed as though the majority of MPs had enough on their plates over Christmas with floods, revenge reshuffles and the war on terror, it turns out that they also had time to edit a magazine. This week's edition of the women's weekly Stylist is 'made by politicians'. The issue includes a recipe for cinnamon buns from environment secretary Liz Truss, as well as David Cameron giving a rundown of his 'work life'. As for Labour, there is Jeremy Corbyn on his ideal bicycle -- the £475 Raleigh Criterium, no less -- and Gloria De Piero on the pros of buying Chardonnay from Aldi. Perhaps Mr S's favourite section, however, is the 'beauty section' which is edited by none other than Diane Abbott.

Steerpike

Team Corbyn left red-faced over Berlin hostel Twitter ‘hack’

Over the weekend a number of strange tweets were emitted from Jeremy Corbyn's Twitter account. The Labour leader appeared to be taking his call to attack the Tories -- and not other members of Labour -- to new heights when he tweeted 'Davey Cameron is a pie' along with 'Here we... here we... here we f---ing go!!!'. While the tweets were swiftly deleted and put down to the account being hacked, new information has now come to light surrounding the incident. The Times Red Box reports that the 'hack' occurred in a hostel in Germany. One of Corbyn's staff was enjoying a break in Berlin when the orders came to tweet from Jeremy Corbyn's account. To do this, they logged onto a hostel computer.

Tuesday

12 January 2016

Steerpike

Government aide halts junior doctors interview: ‘where is Jeremy Hunt?’

As junior doctors exercise their right to strike today over government plans to change their contracts, Jeremy Hunt has been keeping a surprisingly low profile. In fact the Health Secretary has declined interview requests, instead sending his senior clinical advisor Norman Williams to field questions from the media. Alas, there are some questions that are not appropriate to ask Williams. One such question is 'where is Jeremy Hunt?'. Sky's Darren McCaffrey found this out the hard way after he asked Williams why Hunt was refusing to take media requests. At which point an aide dived in to stop the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWcSEw7LHrU 'Hang on a minute, we're not doing any of this nonsense.' Alas for Hunt and his team, the camera was already on record.

Steerpike

The Guardian puts ‘shed’ project on ice

When Alan Rusbridger stepped down as Guardian editor-in-chief last year, he boasted of the 'good shape' he was leaving the paper in. Alas, for all his efforts it appears that some of Rusbridger's pet projects are now falling by the wayside. Back in 2014, the paper announced to much fanfare that they were taking the paper in a new direction. Forget multi-platform digital journalism, they were going boldly where no paper had gone before -- live: 'This is our vision: around the world, the Guardian will host and create the forums and opportunities that bring people together; to explore, debate and shape the vital intimate and global issues of our age.

Steerpike

Derren Brown tells Daily Mail hacks to commit suicide

Last year Benedict Cumberbatch came under fire for giving an impromptu expletive-filled rant on the government's handling of the refugee crisis following a performance of Hamlet at the Barbican. While critics suggested that the theatre was not the right venue for the rant, at least Cumberbatch's airing happened after the show had finished. Alas the same cannot be said for Derren Brown. Steerpike understands that the illusionist has a regular slot in his Miracle show where he shares his views on journalists who work for the Daily Mail. Disgruntled audience members -- who have attended on different nights -- were surprised to hear Brown say that Daily Mail hacks should commit suicide.

Monday

11 January 2016

Steerpike

Listen: newsreader announces death of Cameron instead of Bowie

As the nation goes into mourning over the death of David Bowie today, one radio presenter appeared to be having trouble even taking the news in this morning. In fact when the newsreader Fiona Winchester's read the news for Heart FM in Scotland during a morning bulletin, she seemed to have a world exclusive on her hands. https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/newsreader-accidentally-announces-death-of-david-cameron-instead-of-david-bowie 'David Cameron has died,' the Scottish presenter declared. However, the penny soon began to drop that she had not actually meant to say the Prime Minister's name.

Steerpike

Finally, some good news for the Miliband household

Last year proved to be a testing year for the Miliband clan as Ed Miliband fought to be the next Prime Minister. While his wife Justine Thornton -- an environmental barrister -- found out firsthand how vicious the campaign can get when Sarah Vine compared her to 'Mr Spock' in a column for the Daily Mail, her husband went on to suffer the ultimate blow with a catastrophic defeat at the polls. Now there is happy news for the family: Justine has been appointed Queen's Counsel. She is one of three barristers at 39 Essex Chambers to be awarded the honour: https://twitter.com/JustineT/status/686523551176851457 With Ed now a contented backbencher, Mr S has no doubts that the former Labour leader will do his best to support his high-flying wife in her new appointment.

Steerpike

Jan Moir predicts a ch-ch-change to David Bowie’s peace of mind

This morning the nation has gone into Twitter mourning after news broke that David Bowie had passed away following a battle with cancer. As hacks and fans rush out messages of sincere condolences, Jan Moir may well be regretting the timing of a feature she has had published in today's Mail. In the article -- entitled 'the bitterness of Mrs Bowie' -- Moir speaks to Bowie's first wife Angie. In the piece, Angie hits back at Bowie in 'viciously indiscreet style' -- leaving the ever-insightful Jan Moir to note: 'Dear old Angie has been quiet for years, but her painfully discreet ex-husband can expect some big ch-ch-changes to his peace of mind henceforth.' Well, at least Moir was right about something.