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
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Is Damian McBride auditioning for a job as the saviour of the Labour Party spin operation? His re-energised blogging would certainly indicate as much. In the last few weeks the Brownite bad boy has left his job with Catholic aid charity Cafod, and returned to writing full time. He’s also managed to make a compelling
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It’s fair to say that Jeremy Paxman did not see eye-to-eye with Ian Katz, the modish former Guardian hack who edits Newsnight these days. Paxman told the crowds at the Chalke Valley History Festival, ‘Look, Newsnight is made by 13-year-olds.’ He could not have been more withering about ‘Katz’s Cubs’ — the new generation of green (and
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Journalists do, occasionally, say something nice about politicians. It does not happen very often; but, when it does, it’s usually heartfelt. Adam Boulton hosted a party at the Savoy last night to celebrate his 25 years at Sky News. Boulton heaped praise on those politicians with whom he has worked while covering the life and
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Mr Justice Saunders, who presided over the phone hacking trial, is not impressed with David Cameron and Ed Miliband. He has branded the various political interventions of yesterday afternoon as ‘unsatisfactory so far as justice and the rule of law are concerned.’ Stern words from the bench. One wonders what the government’s lawyers make of them. Indeed,
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There is a nice little spat brewing between Tim Montgomerie and the Institute of Directors, after the former Times comment editor and founder of ConservativeHome ‘unloaded both barrels on Britain’s business trade bodies.’ According to Public Affairs News: ‘He argued that the CBI and IoD were losing the air war with consumer pressure groups, partly
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The Queen has visited the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. Frankly, she did not look that enamoured with the Iron Throne. Much to the disappointment of the gathered media, she did not sit down. In fact, she seemed indifferent to the hype…
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‘As someone who started work behind a fry station in McDonald’s, I know that any job is better than no job,’ says former Labour minister turned Miliband demotee, Liam Byrne in a speech today. ‘But I also know that a good job is better than a bad one and right now we’re simply not producing
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David Cameron has this afternoon had a ‘full and frank’ discussion with European Council president Herman Van Rompuy about the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker for president of the European Commission. What does ‘full and frank’ mean? According to this picture, it involved the PM demanding a vote on the appointment from behind his hand. Not
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Applications to become Chairman of the BBC Trust close on Friday. Plenty of noise was made early on the race about the need for a totally committed successor, after Chris Patten stood accused of not giving the £110,000 a year job his full attention. The official job specification published by the Cabinet Office stated: ‘The
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It’s a row that won’t go away, after Mr S revealed yesterday that the PM had labelled Dominic Cummings a ‘career psychopath’, Michael Gove’s former special adviser has hit back, blogging: “At the PolEx party (18/6), Cameron said that I am a ‘career psychopath’. A) No10′s first reaction was to decide not to react to my
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Former CIA director and US Army General David Petraeus is in town hosted by the Henry Jackson Society. But that’s classified. For some reason Petraeus is being very shy in front of journalists (well, most journalists). The event in the House of Commons this afternoon is being held under the Chatham House Rule. All media,
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There must be an election in the offing because the PM was out and about last night looking for a manifesto. He addressed Policy Exchange’s (PX) annual summer bash in Westminster College Gardens. It was a gag a minute. He cracked rotten jokes about pig semen, and claimed that he was one of the founders of
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Farewell then, Jeremy Paxman. The veteran broadcaster bows out of Newsnight tonight. Mr S has compiled his favourite Paxo moments: The infamous Michael Howard interview is foremost in the extensive genre of politicians not answering the question: Chloe Smith, who was a high-flying Tory Minister at the time, never recovered from this encounter with Paxo in 2012: It’s
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Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has a long way to go if he is serious about his awkward watching sport photographs. Proud of our boys who secured our first point–hopefully the first of many more to come. #WorldCup2014 #TeamMelli pic.twitter.com/9pzyT1Dr3f — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) June 16, 2014 Last night’s effort was a good start, but he
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Helen Goodman, the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland in Durham, was born in Nottinghamshire and brought up in Derbyshire, so you would have thought that she might take extra care to brush up on her local knowledge of Durham to avoid accusations of ‘carpet-bagging’. The Northern Echo gleefully reports: ‘The village of Ingleton is so
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Mr Steerpike can exclusively reveal that former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans is to run for a senior position on the 1922 Committee executive. The recently vindicated Tory MP remains popular on the backbenches, and has been keeping a deliberately high profile since being cleared on nine counts of sexual abuse. The all-powerful committee is the repository
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There are two types of Australian male: the ‘julios’, a modern import who likes soft drinks and hair product, and the ‘nerds’, the traditional breed who like beer and Sheilas. Tony Abbott is a nerd. On his recent visit to America, Abbott could not have done less to counter national stereotypes. The customised surfboard he
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Ed Miliband’s change of mind over The Sun took Mr Steerpike by surprise, brandishing the newspaper that so many of his colleagues have spent today condemning. This has, of course, inspired various spoofs on Twitter. But Mr S can assure readers that the image below is 120 per cent genuine – and bears a message
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In celebration of their special ’This Is Our England’ World Cup paper (which has 22 million free copies being distributed for free), The Sun has managed to persuade senior politicians to pose with today’s edition. Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Nick Clegg all managed to look normal. But Ed Miliband on the other hand… This
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The Chancellor’s economic brain, Rupert Harrison, looked distinctly restless last night, sipping champagne in John Maynard Keynes’s drawing room. Osborne’s chief-of-staff, the architect the evil Tory austerity, did not seem entirely comfortable as he stood beneath an imposing mounted copy of The General Theory. This awkward tableau came about thanks to the launch of a book about the
