Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Monday

16 February 2015

Don’t be a tit Harriet – it’s for charity

Mr S witnessed an awkward moment for Harriet Harman before the microphones were switched on for Friday night's episode of Any Questions. During the off-air warm-up at BBC's Broadcasting House, Labour's deputy leader took umbrage with the fact that her water bottle had a pink lid, jumping to the conclusion that it was a dig about her much-maligned pink van. When it was delicately pointed out by a fellow panelist that the water brand in question was supporting a breast cancer fundraising appeal, she quickly made a big show of putting on her glasses and making sympathetic noises. It's not all about you, Harriet.

Steerpike

Kindred spirits? Nigel Farage wants Jean-Claude Juncker as his drinking buddy

Nigel Farage wrote in the Spectator of his struggle to complete Dry January, while Jean-Claude Juncker is reported to be partial to a glass of cognac to kick start the day. So it came as little surprise to Mr Steerpike that the leader of Ukip named the President of the European Commission as his preferred drinking partner. Asked by Jim Mellon of Master Investor who out of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, Jean-Claude Juncker, Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush, he would most like to go for a pint with, Farage opted for Juncker. 'Oh Juncker every time, top man . I don’t agree with him politically, but I tell you something, he’s got a terrific sense of humour, he’s a real human being – very few people in politics are.

Steerpike

Tory MP accepts donation from banker who used same tax avoidance scheme as Jimmy Carr

With the Tories currently getting flak for holding a ball for the party's super rich donors in the same week queries were raised about their tax habits, Ken Clarke appeared on the Sunday Politics to deny any suggestions of wrongdoing. He did, however, say that a 'more defensible system' should be put in place with a 'donation cap' and state funding so parties do not become overly reliant on rich individuals. Until that happens it's business as usual for the Conservatives. According to the latest register of interests, Nicola Blackwood, the Conservative MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, accepted a £10,000 donation from George Robinson.

Saturday

14 February 2015

Steerpike

Tom Hollander’s disastrous dinner date with Joan Collins

When Tom Hollander met Joan Collin on the set of The Clandestine Marriage the pair hit it off. In fact, they got on so well that Hollander attended the Dynasty star's Christmas party alongside Conrad Black and William Hague, before receiving an invitation to stay with her in St Tropez. However, as Hollander writes in this week's edition of The Spectator, their friendship took a turn for the worse when the Rev actor called Collins to confirm a date. Collins was out at the time of the call so she rang Hollander back and left a voicemail for him. 'The next day I got a long voice message on my mobile. ‘Hi darling, it’s Joan here.

Steerpike

Tory Black & White Ball tempts Nancy Dell’Olio into politics

One of the more glamorous attendees of this week's Tory Black and White ball was Nancy Dell'Olio. The former girlfriend of Sven Goran Eriksson attended the Conservative fundraiser as the guest of Ivan Massow, the London mayoral hopeful. When Mr S caught up with Dell'Olio after the ball, it seemed the presence of political leaders was starting to rub off on her. 'It was good to be there, I enjoyed David's speech,' the Italian lawyer told Steerpike at the Fernando Botero Private View at the Opera Gallery, before talk turned to her own career. 'I'll tell you what, I could apply to change my passport, one of my passions is politics. My friend could become mayor, I could be something like an international cultural ambassador because London is the centre of the world.

Friday

13 February 2015

Steerpike

Guardian editorship: Staff ballot revealed

The names for the Guardian's staff ballot are in, and judging by the shortlist the publication could be close to following in the footsteps of the Economist by appointing its first female editor. Of the four candidates on the list, three of the candidates are members of the fairer sex. The four names selected for the ballot are: Emily Bell, former director of digital content for Guardian News and Media Katharine Viner, deputy editor of the Guardian Janine Gibson, editor in chief of the Guardian website Wolfgang Blau, director of digital strategy at the Guardian Rather surprisingly executive editor Jonathan Freedland, who had been a bookies' favourite, is not on the list. Neither is the publication's political editor Patrick Wintour.

Steerpike

Conservatives invite Dubai prisoner David Haigh to attend Tory campaign day

Conservative HQ might want to think a bit more carefully in the future when it comes to the guest list for their events. Mr S only makes the suggestion after they asked a businessman who is currently in jail in Dubai to attend an event happening this Saturday. A tweet from the Conservative's Team 2015 account saw them reach out to David Haigh asking him to RSVP to the campaign day in Elmet and Rothwell for Alec Shelbrooke MP. It will be hard for Haigh to attend tomorrow. At present he is in a cell in Dubai after he was accused of a £3m fraud. The former managing director of Leeds United was arrested last year when he attended a meeting in Dubai at a subsidiary of Gulf Finance House, where he had previously worked.

Thursday

12 February 2015

Steerpike

PinkVanGate: Harriet Harman denies telling Karen Danczuk to join Girls Aloud

Yesterday Harriet Harman claimed that Labour's pink ‘Woman to Woman’ van is not patronising after a public backlash saw the feminine choice of colour ridiculed online. Now the deputy leader faces further backlash, after Karen Danczuk accused Harman of patronising her when they first met. The Labour councillor and wife of Simon Danczuk claims that Harman told her she was too pretty to be in politics and instead suggested she join the pop band Girls Aloud. When I first met Harriet Harman she said I was far too pretty to be interested in politics & should be in Girls Aloud. KD — Cllr Karen Danczuk (@KarenDanczuk) February 11, 2015 Harman has now come out to deny that she ever said such a thing.

Steerpike

Grant Shapps: Haggis is not terrorism

Haggis was on the menu at the Tories' Black and White Ball on Monday, and now it's on the political agenda too. In an otherwise dry speech on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at the Institute of Directors this morning, Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps threw his weight behind Mr Steerpike's campaign to have the US import ban on haggis overturned: 'It is quite literally a criminal offence, for a British farmer to sell certain products to the largest economy on Earth, even if American diners want to enjoy these dishes. President Obama - whose family tree is said to go all the way back to a 12th-century king of Scotland - has never in his life been able to buy an authentic Scottish haggis for his family, not even on Burns night.

Steerpike

Confirmed: Inside the Commons will reveal ‘rift’ between John Bercow and Robert Rogers

Speculation has been rife that John Bercow's decision to let cameras into the commons for a BBC documentary will backfire on him. Reports have claimed that the Speaker of the Commons is to be depicted in a negative light in the series, Inside the Commons. Given this, Bercow has so far got off remarkably lightly in the first two episodes. However, Mr S hears that this should all change by next week, with the documentary maker Michael Cockerell confirming that Bercow's 'rift' with Sir Robert Rogers will be explored in depth. 'You will have to watch the series, but you wouldn't expect me as a journalist not to deal with a fascinating story that happened on our watch.

Steerpike

Middle-aged non-smoker for hire: Sebastian Faulks looks for work

Sebastian Faulks has just finished work on his latest book, Where My Heart Used to Beat. Rather than go on holiday now the deadline has been met, the Birdsong author is on the look out for a nine to five job. Writing in this week's edition of The Spectator, Faulks says he is open to pretty much anything so long as the job comes with a decent level of office gossip, the opportunity to lunch and the chance of promotion. 'I have now spent almost a quarter of a century alone in a garret staring at a blank wall and I think it has driven me a bit mad. I’ve done my stint. I need to have a job again now. I want colleagues, gossip, promotions, lunches and a PAYE packet in a grey windowed envelope, with tax and National Insurance deductions already made.

Steerpike

Lord Cashman inherits his late partner Paul Cottingham’s estate

After Paul Cottingham passed away last year following a battle with cancer, Ed Miliband led the tributes for the long-term partner of Lord Cashman. Miliband, who described the pair as the 'Posh and Becks of the Labour Party', said that he felt deeply privileged to have known Cottingham, who was a human rights activist. Now Mr S can disclose that Cottingham left an estate worth £75,000, according to figures released by the probate office in London. As there was no will, Cottingham's civil partner Lord Cashmam will inherit his estate under the rules of intestacy.

Wednesday

11 February 2015

Steerpike

Samantha Cameron’s sister in Twitter rant over Labour’s pink ‘tampon’ van

While Samantha Cameron very rarely airs her political views in public, the same cannot be said for her sister. Emily Sheffield has taken to Twitter to vent about Labour's new pink van for women. Sheffield, who is the deputy editor of Vogue, claims that the van looks like its selling tampons rather than policies. The pink Labour van looks like it's trying to sell me tampons not policies. And that's the nicest thing I can say about it. — Emily Sheffield (@emilysheffield) February 11, 2015 The rest is an angry rant! — Emily Sheffield (@emilysheffield) February 11, 2015 Labour unveiled the ‘Woman to Woman’ van yesterday, which will tour the UK targeting women who did not vote in 2010.

Steerpike

What did Ed Miliband’s new big donor mean about a ‘holocaust’?

Millionaire hippy Dale Vince OBE has written Ed Miliband a cheque for a quarter of a million to counter the struggling Labour leader's business credentials. Worth some £107 million, Vince, who founded Ecotricity, claims 'there’s no way to my mind that the Labour Party is anti-business'. And that's not the only daft thing he has said. Asked by Daisy Green Magazine about whether he was a vegan for environmental or compassionate reasons, Vince replied: 'It's for both those reasons and also it's on health grounds (meat and dairy are bad for us) - and it's because the idea of treating animals in the way we do, subjecting them and their families to this incredibly violent and cruel 'holocaust' year in and out - is just so barbaric and immoral.

Steerpike

Wolf Hall upsets horticulturists with its ‘historical plant inaccuracies’

First, Wolf Hall upset a number of members of the Catholic faith with its depiction of St Thomas More. The Bishop of Shrewsbury went so far as to claim that it inaccurately depicted More as a villain. Now, the show has managed to anger ardent gardeners too. In today's letters page in The Telegraph, a reader writes in to point out a discrepancy in one of the plants used on set. 'Those worrying about historical inaccuracies in Wolf Hall need to get out more: there's plenty to entertain them outside. The best example was in last week's episode, when Anne Boleyn went gliding past a mature specimen of Wisteria sinensis, a plant that only arrived from China in 1816.' Nothing gets past Telegraph readers pic.twitter.

Tuesday

10 February 2015

Steerpike

Greens finally admit a thousand members have not paid up

The Green Party have finally admitted that their numbers are a bit squiffy. No, not their bonkers universal minimum income plans, rather their artificially inflated membership data. Mr S has been digging around these figures since the Green leader Natalie Bennett boasted their membership had hit 52,000, yet he was assured - on the record - that everything was above board. Now Bennett has admitted in an interview that over a thousand members of 'The Green Surge' have not actually paid up. Speaking to Fubar Radio's Tom Latchem, the antipodean revolutionary said: 'The way membership works is that people can pay for 12 months and then you’re allowed, if you’ve not paid, a six-month grace period after that – that’s usually about two per cent of members.

Steerpike

Why Peter Stringfellow didn’t look ‘cool’ at Black & White Ball

As part of David Cameron's efforts not to appear as the leader of the party of the posh, the Prime Minister is rarely seen in black tie. Last night's Black & White Ball was no exception, with guests told to dress in 'winter cool' for the lavish Grosvenor House bash. Mr S isn't sure what 'winter cool' looks like but judging from the number of scantily clad women in attendance it doesn't involve very much material. While Cameron opted for a lounge suit, one man who definitely stood out in his smart attire was Peter Stringfellow. During an interview on the Daily Politics, the 74-year-old strip club owner defended his decision to wear black tie to the ball.

Steerpike

Conservatives website glitch ‘reveals’ non-target Tory seats

With the Tory's Black & White Tie Ball to prepare for yesterday, it's understandable that the brains at Conservative HQ may not have been 100 per cent focussed. This could explain why an error on the website appeared to reveal the party's non-target seats for the election. Images of the varying candidates on the Conservative website showed in the url if they were listed as a 'non target candidate'. Memo to Conservatives: including "Non%20target%20candidates" in URLs is a bit of a giveaway https://t.co/QGy7v7aphm pic.twitter.com/M6WCraLDVn — Phil Rodgers (@PhilRodgers) February 9, 2015 Included in the list of non-target seats were South Thanet, Boston and Skegness, and Rochester and Strood.

Monday

9 February 2015

Steerpike

Tory Black & White Ball auctions a night in Annabel’s – for £110,000

It’s the Black & White Ball tonight, a lavish Conservative fundraiser at which David Cameron tries to milk as much cash as he can from squillionaires – while trying, somehow, to avoid being seen as the leader of the party of the rich. It’s a hard line to walk, which is why there is a strict ban on journalists. But Mr S has sneaked in anyway - and what a sight! At up to £1,500 a ticket, it's not a gig many hacks can afford. The net worth at the Grosvenor House Hotel tonight must run into the billions, yet no champagne! However, Mr S hears a whisper that not all guests were aware of the bubbly ban with one table asking a waiter where their fizz was.

Steerpike

Bob Hoskins’s daughter speaks out about Bafta snub

After the late Bob Hoskins was left out of a tribute montage at the Baftas, many people took to Twitter to vent their anger. The comedian David Baddiel went so far as to suggest the academy were showing bias against working class actors as a result of the omission. Now Hoskins' daughter Rosa has spoken out, saying that her father would not have cared about the snub. The actress says that he 'knew his worth' so would not require validation from the academy. Thanks to everyone who's expressed dismay that Dad wasn't mentioned in the #Bafta obituaries. But he wouldn't have cared. #bobhoskins — HauteHoskins (@HauteHoskins) February 9, 2015 #bobhoskins needed no external validation, he knew his worth and was confident about his contribution to the industry.