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
From our UK edition
Priti Patel, poster girl for the next generation of the Tory right, will be a key face on the airwaves come election time. When the PM offered her a job last week, she confirmed No. 10’s hope that she is a modern voice. After Cameron told her: ‘I’d like you to go to the Treasury, Priti’, she replied: 'Cool, I’m totally, totally up for it.' So much for ‘Yes, Prime Minister’.
From our UK edition
New Education Secretary Nicky Morgan wasted no time in stamping her mark on her department - sacking all three of Michael Gove's special advisers on Friday morning. Friends tell Mr S that Henry Cook, Beth Armstrong and Jamie Martin were 'keen to stay on in order to enable a smooth transition', but it was not to be. While a reshuffle often results in ministers' aides getting the bullet too, the way in which Morgan has conducted her clear out has raised eyebrows in Westminster. Morgan tasked senior civil servant Chris Wormald to do the dirty deed, expecting to be at the Chequers cabinet meeting on Friday morning. However, with the meeting cancelled because of the crisis in the Ukraine, Morgan returned to London.
From our UK edition
Tony Blair, international superstar, has jetted into London to deliver the inaugural Philip Gould Memorial Lecture at Progress, a think tank. The speech would have enraged the likes of Len McCluskey, in the unlikely event that he listened to it. Blair trotted out all the pleasing soundbites of the past. The ‘third way’ was, he said, ‘a hard-headed examination of the world as it really is.’ Progressive politics was ‘not a cast of policy but a cast of mind. It’s not a programme but a philosophy. It’s not time limited but perpetual.’ The audience drank of these comfy platitudes and were nourished. Mr S, meanwhile, wondered what Ed Miliband, who has flown to America in pursuit of a photo-op with Barack Obama, made of it all.
From our UK edition
With the BBC set to make a formal announcement about Jeremy Paxman's replacement at Newsnight imminently, tweets from BBC staff revealing the news were hurriedly deleted. Not quite all of them, though. Evan Davis to join #newsnight following the departure of Jeremy Paxman. — Lucy Walker (@lucybellewalker) July 21, 2014 It's Evan Davis, apparently. Hardly a controversial choice for the increasingly lefty show, under the stewardship of former Guardian man Ian Katz. Incidentally, hipster Katz has taken to signing off his emails 'iKatz'. Enough said. Update: Talking of email signatures, journalist Neil Midgley tweets Mr S to say 'apparently James Harding uses 'Allbest, James'. Which one BBC wag said 'makes me want him to Shutfuckup'.
From our UK edition
Mr S was sipping his breakfast tea when he saw this plea from deposed Cabinet minister Owen Paterson: I’m looking for someone to run my new office, but I seem to have lost Dominic Cummings's phone number. Can anyone help? — Owen Paterson MP (@Owen_PatersonMP) July 21, 2014 Cameroons need not apply.
From our UK edition
The other darling of the CLA Game Fair — alongside former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson — was Charlie Brooks (aka Mr Rebekah Wade), who appears to be back on the country scene in a big way. ‘I’m a big fan of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’, the former litigant tells me. ‘I’ve always been a convert to be honest, which tells you what I make of politicians these days’. Curiously, it turns out Farage’s pub landlord was a juror in the Brooks’ recent trial, a fact that only came to light when the Ukip leader met Brooks for the first time on Friday. ‘You talked all sorts of nonsense, but you seem to have got away with it,’ joked one well wisher to Brooks over lunch.
From our UK edition
Sacked Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was the darling of the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace today. A steady trickle of well wishers queued, as if at a wake, to shake the right-winger’s hand. Even Nigel Farage publicly endorsed O-Patz, and was almost upstaged by the grey man. Country folk are sharpening their pitchforks in support of their displaced defender. ‘He’s the only one of them that actually got it’ lamented one attendee. ‘Bring back the badger slotter’, added another. Paterson is, in rural eyes, a tough act for his replacement Liz Truss to follow, and she has her work cut out to earn the respect of countrysiders. ‘I have to say I immediately mistrust this Miss Truss,’ one fair-goer said.
From our UK edition
Talk radio station LBC are coy about the prospect of a Michael Gove phone-in show, mooted by Mr S yesterday. When asked if such a show is on the cards, a spokesman said: 'We enjoy Michael Gove appearing on LBC, as we do the many other politicians who also enjoy getting the opportunity to talk to LBC’s listeners.' That’s diplomatic. But, when it comes to election season LBC will be bound by Ofcom rules on impartiality to balance out coverage. We already have Call Clegg and Phone Farage. Someone call for the Minister for Broadcasting...
From our UK edition
There's something wonderfully ironic about a Labour party that boasts about decency in politics yet has a frontbencher who tweets things like this: Bravo to Helen Goodman, Labour's Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Minister, who would be furiously demanding an apology from the Conservatives for a similar tweet.
From our UK edition
Well, Michael Gove's wife, Sarah Vine, has made her views clear: tweeting that the reshuffle was 'a shabby day's work which Cameron will live to regret'. Crikey. Talk about ‘stand by your man’: A shabby day's work which Cameron will live to regret http://t.co/M9SN100PE1 via @MailOnline — Sarah Vine (@SarahVine) July 16, 2014 Should Vine be turning her ire on Lynton Crosby? It was Crosby, so the story goes, who forced Gove out after concluding that his polling numbers were irredeemable. The move has created the greatest conundrum of the generally pretty perplexing reshuffle. If the new Chief Whip polls so terribly, why has he been asked to prosecute the election air war?
From our UK edition
Some big egos are set to join David Cameron's rubber-stamping Cabinet meetings, which will make life interesting. There is a physical problem, too. Mr S makes it 11 ministers awarded the right to attend (in addition to the 22 full Cabinet ministers) — and the reshuffle is not even complete yet. Sue Cameron reported during last year's minor ministerial tinkering: 'A 4ft-long section has been made to fit perfectly on to the coffin-shaped Cabinet table, originally commissioned by Harold Macmillan more than half a century ago. It makes the table look “more coffin-like than ever”, according to one minister.' Mr S hears that even with the extension, it was still a tight physical squeeze. Will they have to get a bigger table; or perhaps they could install a dress circle?
From our UK edition
The Speaker’s House hosted the launch of 'Women in Parliament', a cross-party initiative to get more women into parliament, today. Fittingly, there was barely a man in sight — besides wee John Bercow, obviously. 'Women in Parliament' is led from by Mary MacLeod — former PPS to ex-Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who is also closely involved in the project. The group has received a lukewarm reaction from Downing Street. The ambition to get more women onto the Tory benches is welcomed by No 10; but the timing of the launch has clashed with the upcoming female-focussed reshuffle. Tongues wagged at this afternoon’s event when the waiter described the menu.
From our UK edition
The BBC has departments devoted to pronouncing dialect and names; but they must have been in management meetings this morning, leaving news presenter Joanna Gosling to struggle with the name Tulisa Contostavlos: 'We'll just leave it at Tulisa,' said the tongue-tied presenter. The Spectator sympathises with Ms Gosling: try pronouncing Taki's name.
From our UK edition
Taking sides in the Middle East causes rows over many a Sunday lunch table; but one imagines that things are even tenser when you’re a member of one of the most prominent Jewish families in history and you’ve converted to Islam. This is the world in which Jemima Khan lives. Ben Goldsmith expressed a few critical words on Twitter about Israel's enemies for using civilians as human shields. And Jemima was off: @BJGoldsmith Ben, your tweets on this subject are really ignorant and offensive — Jemima Khan (@Jemima_Khan) July 12, 2014 Ben responded, not entirely unreasonably, to a third party’s suggestion that he needed to be bombed. And his sister went for the jugular: @BJGoldsmith @unique_ppl These are tame compared to some of the missives I've had from you and Zac...
From our UK edition
Mr S likes a flutter. His eyes were drawn to the latest speculation about Boris’s return to the Commons. Ladbrokes are offering 3-1 that the Blond Bombshell will be selected in Uxbridge, which is to be vacated by John Randall at the next election. Uxbridge is hardly K&C (Mrs S is agin it); but, it is a safe Tory seat in the capital: Ladbrokes have it 1/50 on for the Tories. Perfect for Boris, you might think… Here are the latest odds on Boris, courtesy of Ladbrokes: Where will Boris stand in 2015?
From our UK edition
Ed Miliband's negotiations with the White House to meet his hero Barack Obama aren't going well, Nick Robinson reported on the Today programme this morning: ‘Ed Miliband's team are desperate not to ruin their man's chances of a visit to the White House by talking them up... The Labour leader's aides point out that he has already met Barack Obama, though not at the White House. Some even say that Michael Howard never got to go when he was leader of the opposition – before remembering, perhaps, that that's not the best parallel to draw. Don't be fooled though, in Washington DC they're in no doubt this is a meeting the man who aspires to be our next Prime Minister wants and wants badly.
From our UK edition
‘Hypocrisy of the stars who shielded cash from taxman’, cries a headline in today’s Daily Mail. But are we sure that it's really hypocrisy? Among those ‘outed’ as hypocrites is the actor Michael Caine. But Mr Steerpike seems to recall that the cockney lad has been a vocal campaigner against our tax system, which seem to be one of his pet peeves. In fact, in the late 1970s Caine moved to the States to avoid them. A country that charges 82 per cent tax on its highest earners isn't a democracy - rather ‘a communist country without a dictator’, he has been quoted as saying. Another tax ‘hypocrite’ is TV’s Anne Robinson, according to the Mail.
From our UK edition
Earlier this year, a 'government source’ floated the idea that Sebastian Coe could well be appointed the next chairman of the BBC Trust. It’s no secret that George Osborne and Seb Coe go back a long way - they both used to work together in William Hague’s private office. And while Osborne has never officially stated that he would support the appointment of his friend, both he and Cameron are reportedly keen on the idea. That appointment is a ‘virtual shoo-in’, writes the BBC's Robert Peston, who is currently in India with Osborne and Hague. According to a senior government source, 'Lord Coe is widely and snootily under-rated "as that bloke who won some gold medals”’. Mr S wonders who this senior government source could be….
From our UK edition
In 1975 Margaret Thatcher said in her 'Free Society' speech to the Conservative Party Conference: ‘Some Socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a state computer. We believe they should be individuals. We are all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is like anyone else, however much the Socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal but to us every human being is equally important.’ Mr S could not help but recall these fine words after an email arrived from the Labour Party asking him to enter chunks of personal data into its website, such as his postcode and date of birth, in order to find out his ‘number’. Since Labour created the NHS 66 years ago, croons the propaganda, it’s delivered 44m babies.
From our UK edition
‘I’m like any parent,’ says Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister, privy councillor and universally derided leader of the Liberal Democrats). Speaking to the Radio Times, as any old parent might do, Average Dad Nick pleaded with his offspring: 'The first, most visceral instinct you have as a parent is you want to protect your children, and politics is a very rough business you know. It’s absolutely not for the faint-hearted or the thin-skinned, so I wouldn’t likely recommend to my children to go into politics.' Pity. Mr S was getting rather misty eyed at the prospect of young Miguel or Antonio seeking high office in order to restore the family name. Who will avenge self-pitying Clegg now?
