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

Guardian editorship: Staff ballot revealed

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

Steerpike

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

Steerpike

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

From our UK edition

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’?

From our UK edition

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’

From our UK edition

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

Steerpike

Greens finally admit a thousand members have not paid up

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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

Steerpike

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

From our UK edition

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

From our UK edition

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.

Steerpike

Will Tristram Hunt’s business-savvy wife be voting Labour?

From our UK edition

It was his contempt for nuns that got shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt into trouble on last week’s Question Time, but there was another notable line worth revisiting. A tetchy Hunt hit back at an audience member who accused him of failing to understand the needs of small business owners, struggling to pay their bills: ‘My wife runs a small business, so I know about the challenges facing small business in my family, so don’t give a lecture on that.’ Now that Hunt has brought his wife into the debate, Mr S wondered how tough life has been for Mrs Hunt, the small business owner. Juliet Thornback is a designer of upmarket homeware.

Steerpike

David Baddiel criticises Bafta for ‘working class’ Bob Hoskins snub

From our UK edition

It was the night of Eton versus Harrow at the Baftas as Eddie Redmayne faced off competition from Benedict Cumberbatch to take home the Best Actor gong. Now, Bafta are under fire for leaving out the late Bob Hoskins in their tribute montage to actors who have passed away. David Baddiel, the comedian, took to Twitter to claim that the omission of the Who Framed Roger Rabbit actor was a sign of the demise of the working class actor. The omission of Bob Hoskins in the BAFTA remembrance montage seems symbolic of the erasure in modern times of the working-class actor. — David Baddiel (@Baddiel) February 9, 2015 One working class actor did at least triumph on the night, with Jack O'Connell winning the Rising Star Award.

Sunday

Steerpike

Eton vs Harrow: Eddie Redmayne comes out on top at the Baftas

From our UK edition

Much has been made of Eddie Redmayne's education at Eton after Chris Bryant claimed that British culture should not be dominated by public schoolboys like The Theory of Everything actor. Mr Steerpike hopes that the Labour MP gave tonight's Baftas a miss for his own sake, as alumni from Britain's two most prestigious private schools battled it out in the Best Actor category. Redmayne was pitted against Benedict Cumberbatch, who attended Harrow. Alas Cumberbatch's efforts as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game were not enough to clinch him victory. It was the 33-year-old Old Etonian who came up trumps, taking home the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Hawking was on hand to support Redmayne at the bash.

Saturday

Steerpike

Sisterhood responds to Tristram Hunt’s nun comments

From our UK edition

Tristram Hunt caused upset on Question Time when he appeared to question the abilities of nuns as teachers during a debate with Cristina Odone. He has since tried some damage limitation in the form of a tweet saying he was attempting 'to make a generalised point about the use of unqualified teachers in schools'. Now one of the more technologically savvy Benedictine nuns Sister Catherine Wybourne has taken to Twitter to speak of her pity for the shadow education secretary. Poor Tristram Hunt. Think how much brighter he might be if he'd been taught by nuns. ;) — Sr CatherineWybourne (@Digitalnun) February 6, 2015 The Labour MP was educated at the University College School in London, which charges approximately £17,000 per annum.

Friday

Steerpike

Jude Law tutors Douglas Booth on the perils of being too good looking

From our UK edition

With the Baftas taking place on Sunday, spare a thought for those thespians known for their good looks and not their acting ability. According to Douglas Booth, it's a real problem. Things have got so bad for the dashing Riot Club actor that he recently sought out advice from Jude Law on how to stop his handsome appearance getting in the way of his career. 'Jude said, "Don't worry, they will be obsessed with it for a minute then they will forget about it",' Booth says in an interview with the Evening Standard. 'Not that I'm comparing myself to them but Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp - all of these people were beautiful young men who were just thought of in that way and objectified in that way and ultimately they worked their way out of it,' he ponders.