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

Wednesday

Steerpike

Anna Soubry’s choice of words raises eyebrows

After Inside the Commons drew to a close last night, a new row involving the House of Commons documentary developed. Reports have emerged claiming that in unused footage an MP was recorded calling Ed Miliband a 'sanctimonious c-nt'. Anna Soubry has taken the hard line approach of denying she said any such thing, threatening legal action on anyone who wishes to accuse her. The Tory MP says any footage claiming to show this will prove that she said the word 'rubbish' as opposed to a profanity. While Mr S would never doubt an MP's word, Steerpike couldn't help but think back to the time the defence minister caused offence with her choice of language on The Andrew Marr Show.

Steerpike

Boris boards plane with mysterious blonde

Boris Johnson was on best behaviour during a recent trade trip to the USA. But the minute his top aides left his side, out came the Mayor’s famous charm. While waiting for a flight back to London in the private lounge of JFK airport, Mr S's spy reports that Boris wined and dined a rather beautiful businesswoman. Mrs Johnson can't have been too far from Boris’s mind though, as he and his mysterious blonde friend later nipped over to duty free to pick out some Valentine's gifts, presumably for his missus back home. The two were still deep in conversation as they boarded the plane together. Both turned left, away from prying eyes. Alas, Mr S's spy turned right.

Steerpike

Paul Foot Award 2014: Private Eye wades in on HSBC scandal

Mr S was a guest at last night's Paul Foot Award, the investigative journalism prize co-hosted by the Guardian and Private Eye. While Alan Rusbridger was unable to attend the Piccadilly bash, his co-sponsor Ian Hislop made sure the departing Guardian editor-in-chief's presence was felt. 'Alan's not here. He is retiring as you know, he's very retiring, he never mentions the Pulitzer prize,' he said to roars of laughter from the audience. Next in Hislop's firing line was Hugh Grant, with the Private Eye editor taking aim at the Love Actually actor for his recent claim in the Guardian that it was Hacked Off who saved the press from police spying.

Steerpike

House of Cards creator reveals rift with BBC over ‘insensitive’ Margaret Thatcher plot

The third series of the American adaptation of House of Cards, which stars Kevin Spacey, will see the programme go in a different direction to the political trilogy on which it is based. Despite this, the House of Cards author Lord Dobbs is confident that he will be happier with the end product than he was with the BBC adaptation, which aired in the nineties. Speaking to the Radio Times, Dobbs says that he fell out with the production team during the final series over their treatment of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Dobbs was so appalled by the BBC's changes to his political thriller that he asked for his name to be removed from the end credits. 'It bore so little resemblance to my book; in fact I don't think my book had anything to do with it.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Kirstie Allsopp comes to Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s defence

Sir Malcolm Rifkind's decision to stand down as the MP for Kensington at the next election after a 'cash for access' sting hasn't pleased everyone. In fact the good people of Kensington seem rather dismayed by the move. While Rifkind's claim that his salary of £60,000 is not enough to live on received ridicule from many lefties, those who reside in the affluent borough can at least see his point of view. Kirstie Allsopp, the television presenter, has voiced her sadness that her local MP is to quit. Oh bugger it, I might as well say it - Malcolm Rifkind is my local MP & I doubt very much they'll manage to replace him with someone better.

Monday

Steerpike

Ed Miliband attempts to build bridges with the arts world, but where will the money come from?

After Labour confirmed that they would not reverse Tory art cuts, the luvvies turned on Ed. During a spending plans onslaught from the Tories earlier in the year, the party spin machine proudly boasted: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won't. — Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 5, 2015 Leading to a thorough pasting from all sorts of media darlings: This is not something to brag about. RT @labourpress: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won't. — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 6, 2015 @labourpress And you're proud of that? Jesus. — Simon Blackwell (@simonblackwell) January 6, 2015 .@labourpress why are you proud of this?

Steerpike

Lord Brocket: Eddie Redmayne gives hope to Old Etonians

Chris Bryant found time to congratulate Eddie Redmayne on his best actor Oscar today despite previously claiming that British culture should not be dominated by privately educated actors of Redmayne's ilk. While the shadow culture minister's support for the Old Etonian may be lukewarm at best, The Theory of Everything actor can at least count on the constant support of his fellow alumni. Lord Charlie Brocket has come out to congratulate Redmayne on his win. The peer, who was jailed for an insurance scam in the 1990s, claims that Redmayne's success will hopefully lead the way for more Old Etonian actors.

Steerpike

Only a matter of free time: Labour candidate blasts ‘invisible’ MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Sir Malcolm Rifkind claimed to an undercover reporter during a Telegraph sting operation that they would be surprised by how 'much free time' he has, despite being the MP for Kensington. One person who would not appear to be surprised by Rifkind's admission is his Labour rival Dr Rod Abouharb. Rifkind flaunting his free time, more evidence of him being the invisible MP for Kensington. Isn't being an MP http://t.co/MO2iavJRYR — Dr Rod Abouharb (@kensingtonrod) February 23, 2015 Speaking ten days before the allegations broke, the Labour candidate claimed that only 17 people out of 100 surveyed in the Kensington constituency could successfully pick out their MP from a line-up of eight.

Steerpike

Guardian editors-in-waiting make their cases: ‘Wolfgang Blau is not a woman’

The statements are in. The four Guardian employees to make it to the staff ballot in their bid to become the publication's next editor have released their manifestos, and there are some startling declarations. First Mr S sees that the only male horse in the race, Wolfgang Blau, has taken the bold step of acknowledging that he is not, in fact, a woman. 'I want to acknowledge the obvious: I am not a woman and I have not grown up in the United Kingdom.

Friday

Steerpike

Virginia Ironside has no time for E L James’s ‘appalling’ prose

Fifty Shades of Grey has so far taken a record amount at the box office for an 18-certificate film. Virginia Ironside, however, will not be contributing to the film's profits. The author writes in this week's issue of the Spectator that she has no desire to see the film adaption of E L James's novel, after being left unimpressed by the novelist's 'appalling writing'. 'All this fuss about Fifty Shades of Grey! I wonder how many people have actually read all three books? Sado-masochism is only half the story. When you’ve waded through the entire oeuvre, if such appalling writing can be dignified with that term, you discover that the whole story is one of redemption.

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: George takes Boris out for breakfast

Boris and George have been painting London town red this morning. First, the Tory duo took over the Tate Modern at the crack of dawn to show off a very large, and presumably expensive, banner for a speech on a 'long term economic plan for London'. During this they announced that the London Overground will run 24 hours a day — eventually. This morning @Tate Modern the Chancellor @George_Osborne and I launched #LongTermEconomicPlan for London pic.twitter.com/cOZnwIf6xu — Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) February 20, 2015 Then en-route to a building site in Edgware, the Chancellor generously opened up his purse to buy the Mayor a sumptuous breakfast at a greasy spoon.

Thursday

Steerpike

Clash of the Titans: Rod Liddle calls Piers Morgan a halfwit

Piers Morgan's claim in the Daily Mail that the Prime Minister of Israel’s reaction to the  terror attacks in Denmark 'is a disgrace' has caught the attention of Mr S's colleague Rod Liddle. Liddle writes in defence of Benjamin Netanyahu in this week's Spectator, arguing that Netanyahu's offer of Israeli sanctuary to Jews should not be ridiculed. He also finds time to level a few insults at Morgan, whose face apparently 'resembles a puckered anus'. 'The bien-pensant attacks on Netanyahu were epitomised by the idiotic Piers Morgan, writing in the Daily Mail. I suppose one should not be surprised about what emanates from a man with a face which so closely resembles a puckered anus. Remember 9/11, Morgan wrote: many Jews were killed on that day.

Steerpike

Club wars: Robin Birley gives Ukip £55,000 while Annabel’s gives Tories £20,000

Mr S has just been flicking through the latest figures released today by the Electoral Commission, and was intrigued to see that in the last quarter Robin Birley, the half-brother of Tory MP Zac Goldsmith and New Statesman associate editor Jemima Goldsmith, has donated £55,000 to Ukip. This latest lump takes the millionaire's donations to Farage's self-styled 'People's Army' up to £120,000. In the lead up to the election, the club wars of London have taken a political twist. With Birley and his 5 Hertford Street venue now firmly in the Ukip camp, Mr S was amused to see deadly Mayfair rival Annabel's giving £20,000 to the Tories. The club's proprietor Richard Caring recently donated a night at the venue as a lot for the Tory Black & White Ball.

Steerpike

Drugs Live drama: Channel 4 vs Home Office

So far Channel 4's Drugs Live series has examined the effects of ecstasy while next month's installment will look into cannabis use. However, for those wondering which illicit substance will be next, the programme's host Dr Christian Jessen is unsure about the show's future. Speaking to Mr Steerpike at The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel premiere in Leicester Square, Jessen confessed that getting permission from the Home Office for each programme is proving a hard task. 'We're slightly limited by whether we can get the Home Office to give us permission because obviously these drugs are illegal so doing experiments on them requires all these complicated licenses. They're really difficult.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Dippygate: Natural History Museum’s diplodocus sacrificed on the commercial altar

There was outcry last month when it was announced that 'Dippy the Diplodocus' is to be removed from the Natural History Museum's vast Hintze Hall, where he has been greeting visitors for the last 35 years. Instead a giant skeleton of blue whale will be suspended from the ceiling, in what they spin as an 'important and necessary change'. Officially, 'the blue whale symbolises' the museum's 'desire for people to be completely engaged in current issues about humans’ impact on the natural world and our chance to build a sustainable future.' Or so a spokesman of the museum says. However, a source tells of a more cynical explanation for the departure.

Steerpike

Al Murray tries to muster some funds for his FUKP campaign

The Conservatives held a Black and White Tie Ball earlier this month to raise funds for their election campaign, while Ukip are reported to have recently taken a princely sum from Richard Desmond. As for Al Murray, and his Freedom United Kingdom Party, the comedian has resorted to more humble methods to muster precious campaign funds. The Pub Landlord, who is vying for the same seat as Nigel Farage, is selling FUKP stickers and badges online to raise party funds. You can now show your support for #FUKP with party t-shirts, mugs, stickers and badges. Visit http://t.co/b9AYpj8HRe pic.twitter.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Jon Snow on skunk: ‘I felt utterly bereft’

Jon Snow previously investigated the effects of taking ecstasy in a Channel 4 documentary. Now, in the interests of investigative journalism, the newsreader has been filmed taking skunk for a follow-up programme. Although Snow could not remember being filmed at the time, he has now written a blog detailing the identity crisis that occurred after he inhaled the strong strain of cannabis. 'I knew within five minutes, or so, of taking the first two balloons, that I had taken skunk. What was happening to me outstripped anything I have ever experienced. I have been passed the odd spliff of cannabis in the distant past perhaps a dozen times. But this of course in a social context, in which you probably only get two or three puffs of the thing.

Steerpike

Cathy Newman cancels charity appearance following mosque incident

After Cathy Newman falsely tweeted that she had been 'ushered' out of a mosque on an open day, she made a public apology and said that she was planning to to take a break from Twitter. This break appears to also stretch to parliamentary pancake races. The Channel 4 presenter's absence was notable at today's Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race. Newman had previously been billed as the host for the charity race, which raises awareness of the need to support disabled people. We are delighted annonuce @cathynewman as Official Starter for the 2015 Rehab Parlimentary Pancake Race #Flip4Rehab http://t.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Ed Miliband mucks up his lines

Ed Miliband appears to have found some safe ground for his party this week, attacking the Tories whenever he can over tax avoidance claims. If he plans to continue on this note, Mr S suggests that he picks his words with more care in the future. Speaking at the Welsh Labour conference on Saturday about his plan to launch an HMRC review, Miliband went off message rather badly. The Labour leader promised to ‘stand up for all those who stand in the way of the success of working families'. That couldn't be what he means, could it?

Steerpike

Alex Salmond: Time for American citizens to enjoy haggis

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has backed Steerpike’s campaign to overturn the US haggis import ban, gleefully admitting it ‘looks like we might be getting somewhere.’ Welcoming last week’s developments, that saw Tory chairman Grant Shapps promise to make haggis a key part of the UK negotiations around the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Salmond told Mr S on Friday: ‘Now that Tories have finally come round to the idea of haggis, perhaps they will come round to the notion of self-determination.’ Throwing his support behind the campaign, he cried: ‘It’s time for American citizens to claim their inalienable right to eat haggis.