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

Starmer could face biggest rebellion yet over benefits cuts

Sir Keir Starmer's jubilation over sealing the UK-US trade deal with President Donald Trump may be short-lived as problems loom closer to home. It now transpires that the Labour Prime Minister could be facing his biggest rebellion yet – as up to a quarter of the parliamentary Labour party flag their frustrations about proposed cuts to disability benefits. Dear oh dear… As reported by the Times, more than 80 Labour MPs have signed a letter – to be sent to the chief whip at the start of next week – setting out their concerns about welfare cuts, while many more have relayed their worries to government ministers.

Steerpike

Greens to reject gender ruling in next leadership contest

To the Green party, whose membership will be called on to vote for their next leader this summer. Currently the party operates a curious policy whereby its next leaders or deputies, if job-sharing, must be of different genders – with Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer currently occupying the top job, having been elected in 2021. In the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling – which backed the biological definition of a woman – Mr S was rather curious about how exactly the judgment would impact the eco-activists. The short answer is, er, it won't. The environmentalists are determined to ignore the judgment from the highest court in the land, it seems. The environmentalists are determined to ignore the judgment from the highest court in the land, it seems.

Thursday

Steerpike

Civil servants turn to AI ministers to test policy plans

Well, well, well. It transpires that civil servants working across Whitehall are turning to artificial intelligence to figure out how different policy proposals will be received by their real government ministers. Mandarins from the Department for Education, the Home Office and even the Cabinet Office have been clocked signing up to software that enables them to chat with and test new ideas on AI 'clones' of senior politicians – before they take them to their human equivalents. How very interesting… Civil servants working across Whitehall are turning to artificial intelligence to figure out how different policy proposals will be received by their real government ministers. The new tech, created by Nostrada.

Steerpike

No. 10 sends lobby journalists to Coventry

Another day, another Downing Street blunder. Now it transpires that No. 10 sent a group of lobby journalists halfway across the country for a meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer – only to belatedly clock they'd been directed to the wrong place. A pack of political journalists have found themselves stranded in the West Midlands after a Downing Street directive gave them the address to, er, the wrong car factory. Or perhaps No. 10 hoped that by sending the press to Coventry, they'd silence their criticism a bit… No. 10 sent a group of lobby journalists halfway across the country for a meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer – only to belatedly clock they'd been directed to the wrong place.

Steerpike

Will Jacob Rees-Mogg return to frontline politics?

On Wednesday evening an esteemed group of Spectator subscribers gathered in London for the latest Coffee House Shots live event, where editor Michael Gove interviewed Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf and former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. The discussion focused on last week's local elections, what they mean for both Labour and the Conservatives, and how Reform plans to build on its support.

Steerpike

Carla Denyer quits as Green party co-leader

The eco-activists are back in the news this morning after Carla Denyer announced she will not stand again as co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales. The parliamentarian has claimed she will instead focus her energies on her MP role after leading the environmentalists for the last four years alongside co-leader Adrian Ramsay.

Steerpike

Could Reform become the official opposition in Scotland?

To Scotland, where some rather curious polling has been published – suggesting that after next year’s Holyrood election, Reform UK could become the largest opposition party north of the border. The Survation survey for True North projects the current party of government, the SNP, will become Scotland’s largest party – taking a third of the constituency and regional list vote and winning 58 seats – with Nigel Farage’s lot leapfrogging both the Tories and Scottish Labour to end up in second place, taking a fifth of the vote to end up with 21 seats. It’s quite the turnaround! Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour lot may be punished at next year’s poll for Sir Keir Starmer's unpopular policies, with the reds predicted to take less than a fifth of the vote and win just 18 seats.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Senior Tory MPs and peers call for recognition of Palestine

Well, well, well. The conflict in the Middle East has caused splits among the Labour lot and now it seems serious divides are forming in the Conservative party over the issue. As reported by the Guardian, it transpires that more than a dozen senior Tory MPs and peers have broken ranks and written to Sir Keir Starmer calling for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state. The seven MPs and six House of Lords grandees have signed a letter that insists 'recognising Palestine would affirm our nation’s commitment to upholding the principles of justice, self-determination and equal rights'.

Steerpike

Watch: Haigh accuses No. 10 of briefing against women

All is not well in the Labour party. After a rather bruising set of local elections for Sir Keir Starmer, now the PM's advisers are under scrutiny after ex-transport minister Louise Haigh accused No. 10 of briefing against women. Speaking to the Beeb's Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight, Haigh admitted she was 'really fed up' of reading negative briefings about her female colleagues in the papers, adding: 'The kind of briefing that undermines them on a daily basis is not is not supporting the Prime Minister, and it's not supporting the Labour government.' Oo er.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Reform MP gets sworn in

It's been a whirlwind few days for Sarah Pochin who has become Reform's newest MP after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes. It was only on Friday morning that Pochin discovered she had clinched the victory in the Labour safe seat – and today, Runcorn's new representative has been sworn in as a Member of Parliament in the Commons. In an excruciatingly close contest, Pochin overturned a 15,000 Labour majority to beat Sir Keir Starmer's candidate to the Cheshire seat. The count took a dramatic turn after 'doubtful' votes led to a recount that saw Nigel Farage's party swoop to victory early on Friday morning. Pochin replaces ex-Labour man Mike Amesbury as the constituency MP, after he was caught on CCTV punching a local.

Steerpike

Watch: Sturgeon refuses to apologise to women over gender ruling

Well, well, well. Nicola Sturgeon has finally broken her silence over the Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. Speaking to journalists in Holyrood today, Sturgeon insisted that while she accepts the ruling from the highest court in the land, she remains concerned about the impact on the lives of transgender people. And when she was asked whether she would now apologise to women's rights campaigners – who she has previously criticised while pushing through her gender reforms – Scotland's former first minister declined.

Steerpike

Reform councillor attacks Farage as she quits party

Reform UK enjoyed success in last week's local elections, but it hasn't all been plain sailing for Nigel Farage's party. It transpires that one of his new councillors Donna Edmunds has quit the party just days after winning her Shropshire seat – following her suspension from the group for posting on Twitter that she had plans to defect from Reform after the local elections. Good heavens! Edmunds, who was elected in Hodnet in Shropshire, had taken to Twitter on Sunday to announce she had been suspended from Farage's party 'pending an investigation' – after she had made previous posts about waiting for ex-Reform man Rupert Lowe to set up a rival party 'and then I will defect'. While she has now quit the group, Edmunds didn't go quietly.

Steerpike

Mike Amesbury urges Labour MPs to rebel

You'd have thought ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury would have tired of making headlines by now, but the former politician can't seem to keep his head below the parapet. Now the former Runcorn and Helsby parliamentarian – who prompted last week's by-election after he punched a constituent – has called on Labour backbenchers to rebel against the leadership's 'big political mistakes'. And Amesbury knows all about mistakes, eh? Amesbury lamented that while he was 'really disappointed' at Labour's loss in his former seat On the BBC's Today programme, the ex-Labour man spoke to presenters about the future of Labour.

Saturday

Steerpike

Labour minister: rape gangs are a ‘dog whistle’ 

Uh oh. Commons Leader Lucy Powell has found herself in hot water after making some rather careless remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions yesterday. The Labour politician sparked outrage over her reaction to a point by Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home who has since aligned himself with Reform – who brought up a recent Channel 4 documentary on grooming gangs.  Cutting across him, Powell replied: ‘Oh we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we?’ ‘No,’ Montgomerie responded. ‘There was a real issue…’. Not that Powell appeared willing to listen, interrupting again: ‘Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?’ Oo er. Talk about flippant!

Friday

Steerpike

Watch: Prince Harry says he wants to ‘reconcile’ with the King

Prince Harry has said he 'would love a reconciliation' with the Royals after losing a legal challenge over his security in Britain. The Duke of Sussex told the BBC that King Charles 'won't speak to me because of this security stuff', but insisted he would love to get back on speaking terms with his family: 'It would be nice to reconcile,' he said. 'There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious,' said Prince Harry 'There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious,' said Prince Harry. Asked whether his wife Meghan and children would come to Britain, Harry said: 'I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point. And the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything.

Steerpike

Suspended Labour candidate wins in Lancashire

Some real characters being elected today. Remember Azhar Ali? He was dropped as Labour’s candidate in the Rochdale by-election last year after he was recorded claiming that Israel ‘allowed’ the 7 October massacre, and making dark insinuations about ‘Jewish quarters’ of the media... Well, Mr Ali (these days an independent) has just been re-elected by the clement people of Lancashire in the ward of Nelson East. He was voted in, too, with a very healthy majority of 874. Result! And then there’s Maheen Kamran. She’s an 18-year-old aspiring medical student who has just been elected by the good men and women of Burnley Central East with a majority of 268 votes. Who is she?

Steerpike

Darren Grimes wins Durham council seat for Reform

To Durham, the mining heartland of the UK and a traditional working class county. Yet despite its rich history with the reds, being the first of England's county councils to be controlled by Labour – with the party retaining that control for over a century – Nigel Farage's Reform party is making gains. Now it transpires that ex-GB News presenter Darren Grimes has won a council seat in Durham – receiving a staggering 49.7 per cent of the vote. Talk about a decisive victory! Grimes won the Annfield Plain ward in County Durham this afternoon as Farage's party continues to pick up council seats across the country. Reform's campaign claimed that 'Durham was broken' and sought to take advantage of growing disillusionment with Sir Keir Starmer's Labour lot.

Steerpike

Watch: Starmer admits Runcorn loss ‘disappointing’

It's been an eventful day – and there are still many more local election results to go. After a long night in Runcorn, and a full recount, Nigel Farage's Reform party clinched the win in what had been a Labour safe seat by just six votes – securing a fifth parliamentarian and their first female MP. While the Reform lot could hardly contain their glee, the Labour team struggled to disguise their dejection. Now Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made his first statement on the result, admitting to reporters that 'the results are disappointing' for the reds. Talk about an understatement… Going on the PM insisted: I could stand here and say to you 'opposition parties always do well in elections like this. It was very close in Runcorn. Etcetera, etcetera.

Steerpike

Watch: Reform mayor Andrea Jenkyns storms out of Sky interview

Andrea Jenkyns may have won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election with over 100,000 votes, but it hasn't all been plain sailing for the Reform candidate this morning. An interview with Sky News turned sour when Jenkyns was probed about previous comments she'd made about a rival's South African accent after the other mayoral candidate claimed Jenkyns had been parachuted into the electoral race. Slamming her interviewer as 'divisive', the new Greater Lincolnshire mayor then refused to entertain any further questions and stormed off from the camera. The post-election sleep deprivation is kicking in… The interview with Sky News turned sour Her interviewer quizzed her: 'You accused one candidate, she said you were parachuted in and you made a comment about her South African accent.

Steerpike

Farage: ‘Not true’ I have a woman problem

Well, well, well. It's been a good start to the day so far for Nigel Farage's Reform party, with the group in the lead on council seat wins, securing victory in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty and, to top it all off, coming first place in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Now the party has returned its Westminster parliamentarian count to five (after ex-Reform man Rupert Lowe was suspended earlier this year) and hopes to continue making gains across the country throughout the day. Talk about shaking things up, eh? Reform's Runcorn victory sees the party gain its first female Member of Parliament while ex-Tory politician Andrea Jenkyns swept to victory to become its first women mayor.