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

Thursday

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: More election yellow lines for Labour

From our UK edition

Forget the red lines in this election, it's the yellow lines that Labour are having a daily struggle with. Yesterday it was there campaign bus, today it's Ed Miliband's motorcade. The vehicle was snapped flouting the law in Victoria this morning: [caption id="attachment_9069422" align="alignnone" width="510"] Photo: Chris Pollard[/caption] A gas guzzling Range Rover for his security detail? Whatever happened to the Energy and Climate Change Secretary who made a commitment, back in 2009, to cut our emissions by a third by 2020?

Steerpike

Labour accuse Lynton Crosby of ‘going nuclear’ to distract from non-dom row

From our UK edition

Despite their leader playing the pious 'not angry, but disappointed' shtick at his press conference this morning, it's not all po-faces over in Labour land after the Tories' latest attack on Ed Miliband. 'Lynton Crosby has literally had to go nuclear to distract from non-doms,' chuckles a chirpy Labour source. Tory sources back this up, saying it was Crosby's personal idea to re-open the 'stab in the back' narrative. Strikingly, Philip Hammond refused to repeat this language on the television today. 'But it's a perfectly reasonable attack line,' says a disgruntled Labour source. 'In the Labour leadership campaign, Ed was attacked for stabbing his brother in the back.

Steerpike

Did Owen Jones once describe an ‘anti-Semitic trope’ as ‘eloquent’ during a book talk?

From our UK edition

Today Owen Jones has criticised Michael Fallon for using the term 'stabbed in the back' to describe what he thinks Ed Miliband would do to Britain over Trident. The Guardian columnist has gone so far as to say that the phrase is 'anti-Semitic'. Michael Fallon’s “stabbed in the back” metaphor is deeply sinister. It is a classic anti-Semitic trope — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) April 9, 2015 However, Mr S understands that Jones may not have always been so averse to the term. In 2011, Jones gave a Bookmarks Bookshop talk about his book  Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class as part of the annual Trades Union Congress.

Steerpike

Louise Mensch’s love for David Cameron reaches new lows

From our UK edition

Louise Mensch has never been one to hide her love for her former boss David Cameron. However, their relationship took a hit earlier this year when the Prime Minister's decision to pay tribute to the late King Abdullah resulted in Mensch blasting Cameron on Twitter. Happily, the pair have since made up and Mensch is supporting Cameron in the election. In fact her support is so strong that as well as donating thousands of pounds to Tory candidates to help them campaign, Mensch is also trying to collect some David Cameron stash. Mr S sees that Mensch - who was once heralded as a  'Cameron Cutie' - has entered a competition on Twitter in a bid to win a set of David Cameron car stickers.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Election fatigue strikes again

From our UK edition

After Mr S revealed the angry note one disgruntled voter in Bedford put on their door after being bombarded with Labour campaign leaflets, election fatigue has now spread to children too. It's not just Labour having a negative effect on the public; David Cameron appeared to have sent a child to sleep on a trip to the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Westhoughton. If you know of anyone else who has fallen victim to this condition, please notify Steerpike immediately.

Steerpike

Ed Balls is dodging the airwaves

From our UK edition

Ed Balls has gone to ground after his BBC interview surfaced from January undermining Labour's big policy announcement on non-doms. So far his disappointing deputies Chris Leslie and Shabana Mahmood have been deployed to clean up his mess on the airwaves. With a limited degree of success. Mr S can reveal that this is no accident. According to telly sources, the shadow chancellor is currently refusing media bids from Sky News, Channel 4 News and Newsnight. Surely he won't be able to hide behind Leslie and Mahmood all day?

Steerpike

Labour ignore the yellow peril

From our UK edition

Labour have not had much luck in this campaign when it comes to buses. Leaving aside the brouhaha over the sexist 'pink van', the travelling Miliband entourage and press pack were lucky not to get towed in Warwick today. The official Labour campaign bus spent the entirety of Ed Miliband's speech on a double yellow.

Steerpike

Labour’s non-dom millionaire donor stays silent over Ed’s proposals

From our UK edition

Today Ed Miliband has announced with all guns blazing that the Labour party will abolish non-dom status if they are elected in May. The party has labelled the current non-dom tax rules as 'ridiculous'. However, according to an interview Ed Balls gave earlier this year, cutting it would 'cost Britain money'. Even if this is the case Labour doesn't appear too rattled, seeing this as a moral point rather than just a financial one. Still, Mr S couldn't help but recall the £5.1 million Labour accepted from the non-dom donor Lakshmi Mittal. The steel tycoon multi-millionaire is a British citizen with non-dom status as his company ArcelorMittal is largely based in Luxembourg.

Steerpike

Ed Balls on tape admitting his non-dom policy will ‘cost Britain money’

From our UK edition

Oh dear - it looks like Labour’s new non-dom policy is unravelling already. Everyone knows that Ed Balls did not abolish non-dom status while in government because he knew that people would scarper. So it would lead to less revenue, less money from the rich – and, ergo, a greater share of the burden to be paid by the poor. So it sounds progressive, but is actually regressive. Balls now denies ever holding such a belief.

Steerpike

Is Ed Balls running scared from debating George Osborne?

From our UK edition

When Ed Balls appeared alongside George Osborne on the Andrew Marr Show earlier this year, the Shadow Chancellor told viewers how much he wanted to have a TV debate with the Chancellor. Balls was so keen that he made Osborne shake on a debate live on air. ‘In fact I'd like to go further,’ he cried. ‘George and I do not need the broadcasters to sort things out. George is not a coward.’ Indeed Osborne is not a coward, but could it be that Balls is a chicken? Mr S only asks as word reaches him that plans for a Chancellors' debate this week have been shelved after Balls demanded the involvement of Ukip. Broadcasters had initially agreed on a three-way debate, which would include Osborne, Balls and the Liberal Democrats' Danny Alexander.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Salman Rushdie sets the record straight on the classics

From our UK edition

Salman Rushdie became embroiled in a literary row over the weekend after he rated a number of books on the website Goodreads thinking these would be private when in fact the information was viewable to the public. The Satanic Verses author's list soon began to circulate online with many viewers aghast to read his mediocre three star rating of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird alongside the singular star given to Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim. Other critically acclaimed books that ranked low include Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart and Max Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson. F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby did at least manage to make the grade with a full five star rating.

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Puppy love for Yvette Cooper and Will Straw

From our UK edition

Could this photo beat Nick Clegg’s hedgehog photo call to be the strangest animal election campaign snap? Here Yvette Cooper and Labour’s candidate for Rossendale and Darwen Will Straw are posing on a pavement with a slightly flattened-looking dog under their hands. Handily, in the background, a girl carries a spare dog past, just in case the first one does manage to escape. Thx to @YvetteCooperMP for joining us in Whitworth to talk about risks of Tory police cuts & meet our local mascot pic.twitter.

Steerpike

Journalists jeered for asking Tony Blair questions at Labour press conference

From our UK edition

Labour have continued their bizarre war on the media with aplomb. As Mr S has reported in the past, pesky journalists that have the audacity to ask awkward questions are given the full hairdryer treatment from the audience at Labour’s set piece events. Today’s speech by Tony Blair was no different: This Tony Blair event very nostalgic. A member of the audience even called me "Tory scum" for asking a question. — James Landale (@BBCJLandale) April 7, 2015 Modern trait of crowd booing journalists who ask the most relevant questions. Expect more of it to come. #Blair — Chris Gibson (@ChrisGibsonNews) April 7, 2015 All stirred up by the party’s chief press-slayer Tom Watson: Tony Blair speech on Europe.

Steerpike

Revealed: Desperate Clegg takes £50,000 in last-minute donations in fight to keep his seat

From our UK edition

According to a recent Ashcroft poll, Nick Clegg is on course to lose his seat in the general election. If he is ousted from Sheffield Hallam, the Deputy Prime Minister will follow in the footsteps of the Liberal leaders Archibald Sinclair and Herbert Samuel, who both lost their seats while leading the party. Clegg is of course keen to make sure history doesn't repeat itself. So keen in fact, that Steerpike can now reveal the desperate lengths the Liberal Democrats leader has gone to in his fight to keep Labour from taking his seat. According to the latest register of interests, Clegg has taken a total of £50,000 in donations since mid-March.

Saturday

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Election fatigue sets in

From our UK edition

With just five weeks to go till polling day, one happy voter in Bedford has had enough. Mr S suspects that it's for the best if Patrick Hall, the Labour candidate for Bedford and Kempston, doesn't pay a personal visit to this address.

Thursday

Steerpike

Max Hastings reveals the contents of a Prince Charles letter about homeopathy

From our UK edition

Last month the Supreme Court ruled that Prince Charles's 'black spider memos' to government ministers should be made public. The decision comes following a ten year legal battle between Buckingham Palace and the Guardian, after Clarence House argued that the contents of the letters were private. With the release now impending, Max Hastings has offered a taste of what could be to come in this week's issue of the Spectator.

Steerpike

Revealed: The reason behind Alex Salmond’s pink champagne order

From our UK edition

After Alex Salmond was outed as ordering pink champagne in not one but two interviews last week, naysayers were quick to ridicule the former Scottish First Minister for his lavish choice of tipple. However, Mr S has it on the highest authority that Salmond was guzzling in the name of the people. The rosé tipple, Mr S is told, is not Salmond's regular order. Instead, he was simply raising a toast to his football team Heart of Midlothian.

Steerpike

Nigel Farage causes problems for Alison Jackson ahead of leaders’ debate

From our UK edition

Tonight's leaders' debate will see the seven party leaders battle to be heard on ITV. The set up has given organisers a headache as they work out how to arrange it without the debate descending into chaos. For Alison Jackson who is going to shoot a lookalike version in its aftermath, she has another issue to contend with. The English artist, who is known for her lookalike photographs of celebrities, is in the process of assembling a team of political doppelgangers. While David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been located, there are still a few more to be found, including Nicola Sturgeon. However, the man causing her the biggest problem is Nigel Farage. 'I am still looking for a Farage.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Camilla Rutherford backs Ed Miliband’s 007 campaign

From our UK edition

Yesterday Ed Miliband declared that it was high time the James Bond films moved with the times and cast a woman as the next 007. Although the comments were met with outrage from some of the more traditional Bond fans, the Labour leader can take heart that Camilla Rutherford has picked up his rallying cry. Speaking at Spectator Life's third birthday party, the Gosford Park actress urged the producers to cast a female lead. 'It's definitely time we had a Jane Bond instead of a James Bond. I think a woman would be great in the role. The only thing is that with a man it can be quite a suave move to go from drinking a martini at the bar to being in a car chase whereas Jane Bond would probably need time to get out of her dress first.