Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Thursday

14 May 2015

Lib Dem leader hopeful Norman Lamb wins a celebrity backer

Although Labour's celebrity endorsements from Martin Freeman, Robert Webb and Russell Brand did little to help the party in the election, Norman Lamb will be hoping his new backer will help him win the Liberal Democrats leadership contest. Dappy, the N-Dubz singer, has come out as backing Lamb to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats: https://twitter.com/TheDappy/status/598849481942179840 Although Lamb, who helped fund Tinchy Stryder's music career when the rapper was starting out, appears to have the musician vote, his rival Tim Farron is cleaning up when it comes to his fellow Lib Dems. Farron has pointedly retweeted a tweet pointing out that Lib Dem supporters of Nick Clegg are backing him: https://twitter.

Wednesday

13 May 2015

Steerpike

Tory MP teaches SNP MPs Westminster etiquette

On Monday when 56 SNP MPs descended on Westminster, the youngest of the new intake Mhairi Black gushed that everyone had been so nice. Two days in, and cross-party relations have begun to cool. Carol Monaghan, the MP for Glasgow North West, claims that Simon Burns, the Tory MP for Chelmsford, scolded her as well as her fellow SNP politicians for their bad etiquette: https://twitter.com/Carol4GlaNW/status/598423992509321216 However, Burns has clarified the situation to Mr S: 'I was giving a talk about how to debate in chamber. If you agree you say 'hear, hear' and I mentioned that in recent years an unfortunate habit of clapping has occurred and that is deplorable.

Steerpike

Kristina Kyriacou rescues Prince Charles

Although the palace has played down concerns regarding the publication of Prince Charles's 'black spider' memos to Government departments, given that they have spent nearly a decade fighting against their publication it can be presumed that the prince is not happy about the situation. Not that the Prince of Wales wishes to let his feelings be known. When he was stopped by Channel 4's Michael Crick, who attempted to ask him about the letters, Charles's press adviser Kristina Kyriacou, who has previously worked for Cheryl Cole, was on hand to bat Crick away: Mr S will keep you updated if Prince Charles does decide to comment later today.

Steerpike

Time for the pundits to keep their word

There were some dangerous pledges made in the heat of the election battle from both politicians and pundits. Paddy Ashdown promised to eat his hat should the exit poll prediction bear out. It did, and he has not consumed his hat, though he did go halfway and consume a hat-shaped cake. A similarly rash exit poll reaction was had by radio's Iain Dale back in 2010, though he has not yet come good on his promise to streak. Unlike, it seems, the Telegraph's Dan Hodges who promised to run naked down Whitehall singing 'Land of Hope of Glory' if Ukip polled over 6 per cent of the vote: https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/280038576283062273 They did, and Hodges is standing by his pledge. 'A Hodges is like a Lannister, he always pays his debts.

Steerpike

Tom Baldwin says BBC showed more bias against Labour than the Tories

Ed Miliband's spin doctor Tom Baldwin has been rather quiet since Labour's disastrous election night results. Now the former Times journalist has explained his radio silence in an article for the Guardian. He says he has been avoiding the news after the Tories had 'a win they did not fully expect or really deserve'. However, the appointment of John Whittingdale as culture secretary has caused him to resurface: 'But one story has finally made me stumble out of bed. The Tory newspapers have welcomed the appointment of John Whittingdale, an old Thatcherite, as culture secretary with gleeful headlines about the government “going to war” with the BBC.

Steerpike

Jeremy Clarkson and James May take to the road after TV talks

After Jeremy Clarkson was sacked from Top Gear, his fellow presenters James May and Richard Hammond resigned in protest. Since then, the trio have been spotted together over the past few weeks having 'secret talks' about their futures, with the pair reportedly visiting the home of ITV director Peter Fincham. Now Mr S hears that with talks for a new show under way, Clarkson and May are once again doing what they do best: driving around in fast cars. Steerpike's mole spied the pair roaring around Covent Garden in a rather fancy sports car on Tuesday evening: 'Clarkson and May were speeding around Covent Garden with Clarkson in the drivers' seat.

Tuesday

12 May 2015

Steerpike

Tory discomfort at equalities appointment

To appoint one Equalities Minister who voted against gay marriage looked sloppy, to do it twice looks frankly strange. Yet that is what the Prime Minister has just done. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan voted against same sex marriage in July 2013, though she claims she has subsequently changed her mind. Caroline Dinenage, the Gosport MP, who has just replaced Morgan in the Equalities brief, also voted against it. As one Tory MP ponders: 'When almost half the Parliamentary party voted for same sex marriage why can he not find an equalities minister who did?

Steerpike

New SNP MPs take drinking advice from Alex Salmond

Ahead of the arrival of 56 SNP MPs in Westminster yesterday, Alex Salmond offered his new colleagues some advice in a recent interview. He said: 'Make your voice heard, represent your constituents, and stay out the Strangers Bar'. So far, so good. In fact, Salmond will no doubt be glad to hear that his fellow MPs have taken his advice and stayed out of the Strangers bar. Instead, they have opted to make Parliament's sports and social bar their new base. Word reaches Steerpike that a few members of staff had their noses put out of joint last night when the lesser frequented bar was unexpectedly busy. 'It was packed full of the SNP gang - on a Monday,' Mr S's mole sighs.

Monday

11 May 2015

Steerpike

‘Awkward Squad’ fall in behind Dave, for now

David Cameron has never been hugely popular with the right-wing fringe of the Conservative Party, yet they tolerated him as long as they thought he was going to win. And win he did. At Monday's jubilant 1922 Committee meeting, Tory MPs were shocked to see Bill Cash - a key figure of the so called 'awkward squad' - arise to heap praise of Cameron. 'He stood up and gave an incredibly passionate defence of the Prime Minister and said it was time for the party to unite over Europe,' whispers one shocked loyalist MP to Mr S. 'I've never heard him give such a human speech' they continued. 'It's the only time he's ever mentioned Europe and it's been helpful.' One wonders how long this rare outbreak of party unity can really last as the EU referendum looms.

Steerpike

Danny Alexander leaves no handover note for Greg Hands

When Liam Byrne departed from the role of chief secretary to the Treasury in 2010, he left a note for his successor which read that 'there is no money'. The note went on to haunt the Labour party throughout their unsuccessful election campaign, with Byrne recently describing it as 'the letter I will regret for ever'. Happily, Danny Alexander hasn't followed suit. Greg Hands, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has taken to Twitter to report that there is no handover note from Alexander: https://twitter.com/GregHands/status/597800988196605952 Given that the beleaguered Liberal Democrats currently have enough obstacles facing them, it's probably for the best.

Steerpike

Winner of the Guardian’s election sweepstake finds victory isn’t sweet

Mr S previously reported that there were plans to donate the Guardian's election sweepstake to a foodbank. The decision was made after the organisers assumed that none of their employees could have possibly correctly guessed that there would be a Conservative majority. Now, word reaches Steerpike that the matter didn't stop there. In fact, one employee at Guardian HQ was so bold as to reply saying that they had in fact come close to guessing the result, with an estimate of 324 Conservative seats and 227 Labour seats (the final result being 331 to the Tories and 232 to Labour). Not everyone at the publication was willing to accept this person's victory and instead it was suggested that they ought to 'read the room'.

Steerpike

Britain’s youngest MP is given a warm Westminster welcome

Warning: The SNP revolution has begun in Westminster. This afternoon Nicola Sturgeon arrived at parliament with her 56 newly elected SNP MPs in tow. However, despite talk of discord between the Scots and English, Mr S is assured that so far relations are remarkably civil. Mhairi Black, the 20-year-old student who ousted Labour's Douglas Alexander from his seat to become the youngest MP for centuries, told the BBC's Tim Reid that the English can't be too scared of the SNP as everyone has been very polite so far: https://twitter.com/TimReidBBC/status/597757323684229120 Oh the innocence of youth.

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Bottles of Bolly arrive at Downing Street

While cases of Moët & Chandon champagne have been photographed making their way to Downing Street in previous years, the new government appears to have developed finer tastes. Sean Clare, a BBC producer, reports that a delivery of Bollinger champagne - the favoured tipple in of Patsy in the BBC's Absolutely Fabulous - has arrived at Number Ten Downing Street: https://twitter.com/Sean__Clare/status/597706072812584960 A bottle of standard Bollinger retails for around £45 compared to Moët & Chandon which is a bargain at £32.50. However, given that the Bullingdon club has the nickname 'Bollinger Club', Mr S suspects it's only right that former member David Cameron sticks with this brand of bubbly.

Steerpike

Anti-austerity protester makes sign out of box for £600 television

Seemingly missing the democratic process that returned a Tory government with a majority and an increased share of the vote, the hard left took to the streets of Westminster over the weekend to protest against austerity. However, has 'austerity' really hurt all of the protesters who took part? Look closely at the box one used to make their 'no cuts' sign: A 50 inch Sony LED TV that retails at over £600. The face of modern Britain's dispossessed. Meanwhile rumours abound that Ed Miliband has already found a new job following his resignation as Labour leader: https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/597120242523967488 However, this is at best a short-lived career change as Miliband has since been spied on his way to Ibiza.

Saturday

9 May 2015

Steerpike

Laurie Penny defends war memorial vandalism at anti-Tory march

After David Cameron won a surprise Conservative majority in the general election, angry anti-austerity protesters gathered near Parliament Square today to let their outrage be known. During the demonstration, a war memorial, honouring the women of the Second World War, was vandalised with 'F--- tory scum' graffiti. While the crime was greeted with outrage by both the left and right, Laurie Penny, the Guardian feminist, appears to have defended the vandalism on Twitter, saying she doesn't 'have a problem with this': https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/597115014059810817 https://twitter.

Friday

8 May 2015

Steerpike

BBC mistake SNP MP for Nicola Sturgeon’s husband

Given that staff at the BBC have been providing rolling election coverage, it's understandable that they may be rather tired. Even so, Mr S was surprised to see that BBC veteran Huw Edwards described an SNP MP and Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland's power couple. Speaking over footage of Sturgeon walking alongside Patrick Grady, the recently appointed SNP MP for Glasgow North, Edwards mistook Grady for Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell.

Steerpike

It was the Standard what won it, apparently

In 1992 the Sun claimed it was them 'wot won it', fast forward to the next time the Tories achieved a majority and an editor of a different paper is claiming 'victory': FROM: Sarah Sands TO: ES ALL (editorial) SENT: Fri 08/05/2015 10:16 SUBJECT: Congratulations Well done everyone on our superbly professional election coverage. It is the sweetest victory for the Evening Standard. A million copies today. Mr S's spies report 'dismay' in the Standard newsroom today after their paper endorsed the Tories - against junior staff wishes - and only went and bloody called it correctly. However, a cynic would note that the London results were the only sliver of hope for Labour. Unamused hacks, but a clearly a proud editor and presumably a happy proprietor.

Steerpike

Al Murray faces £500 fine for failing to win five per cent of vote

Nigel Farage has failed to win in South Thanet. However, he can take some comfort that he came second in the hotly contested seat. Alas the same cannot be said for Al Murray and his FUKP party. The Pub Landlord only managed to muster 318 votes. That means that Murray will need to pay back his £500 election deposit. However, given that Murray has used the election publicity to give his tour a boost and bring out a political book, it may not be too difficult to find the funds.

Steerpike

Liberal Democrats face soaring fines for failing to win enough votes

Oh dear. Not only have the Liberal Democrats only won eight seats so far compared to the 56 taken in 2010, many candidates face losing their deposit. If a candidate fails to win five per cent of the vote in their desired constituency then they are subject to a £500 fine. Unfortunately the Liberal Democrats have had many candidates do exactly that. So much so that the Twitter account LibDem Deposits has been set up just to keep a tally of their fines: https://twitter.com/LibDemDeposits/status/596489186162679808 It started off modestly: https://twitter.com/LibDemDeposits/status/596440922369499137 Then spiralled: https://twitter.

Thursday

7 May 2015

Steerpike

Let them eat (Sturgeon) cake

An interesting election day parcel has arrived at the Spectator office: it contains a box of 'party leader cupcakes' from Sky News. ‘We recommend eating David, Ed, Nick, Nigel, Nicola, Natalie and Leanne whilst they are still delicious and fresh,’ says the accompanying letter. Funny thing, though, somebody at the channel — we suspect a furtive Scot Nat — has packed our box full of Nicola Sturgeons (see picture). Not a David, Ed, Nick, Nigel, or Natalie in sight. Oh well, we are still grateful. Two of the cakes are now protecting Nicola’s modesty on this week’s Spectator cover image. Thank you Sky!