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
House of Lords reform? Most politicos are debating whether to elect senators or maintain the status-quo. Not so the Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Conservatives, who held an evening discussion about whether the Lords should return to the hereditary principle. Mr Steerpike hears that it was a popular motion. Leading the charge was James Bethell, head
From our UK edition
It’s Euro-mania in SW1. Always reliable for hard hitting analysis, Tory foghorn Louise Mensch summed up what she saw as her party’s position on the EU: ‘We want a Diet Coke version. A skinny latte. An EasyJet ticket. An IKEA flat-pack. Pain, vin, Boursin. You know. Just the basics.’ And who said a referendum would
From our UK edition
‘The Stone Roses are more important than Picasso’ claims the over-hyped and over-paid fishmonger Damien Hirst. The Manchester indie legends, led by Ian Brown, have reformed and are set to play three packed homecoming gigs this weekend. People will probably still be talking about this in twenty five years, just as they will be about
From our UK edition
Forget the hacks and starlets, the politicians and media moguls, the defining image of the Leveson Inquiry will always be phone-hacking lawyer Mark Lewis’ terrible orange overcoat. The Zara number got inquiry wags and watchers talking and now I hear the coat is about to take a starring role of its very own. Lewis, who
From our UK edition
On the eve of the smoking ban five years ago, hundreds of liberty lovers came together to rebel and enjoy one last night of freedom. A reunion was held on the eve of the anniversary this week of the ban by smokers lobby group Forest. In the Scottish jazz heaven of Boisdale Canary Wharf, the
From our UK edition
One time Tory leader contender (now cabinet dead man walking) Jeremy Hunt faced the suits last night at his first outing in media circles since being dragged through the gutter over his relationship with News Corp. Pencilled in to speak at the All Party Media Group’s summer drinks at Channel Four, the Culture Secretary
From our UK edition
As the dust settles after Saturday’s fracas between David Starkey and Laurie Penny, a source familiar with the situation explains to Mr Steerpike the history between these two scribes: ‘David and Ms Penny were supposed to be debating at a fundraising event for the Thomas Paine Society about a week ago. Penny was in
From our UK edition
The self-styled enfant terrible of the new radical left, Ms Laurie Penny, has taken her one-woman revolution to the heart of the establishment. Yesterday, she caused quite the ruckus at the Sunday Times Education Festival, hosted at Wellington College on a panel with David Starkey. As well as being banned from the speakers dinner at
From our UK edition
With Martin Amis’ Lionel Asbo: State of England — the horrific account of a hard-living career criminal turned celebrity lottery winner — climbing the bestseller charts, Li and his creator shouldn’t be confused. At least, that is according to Amis, who recently told the Spectator that he was never a rebel. Richard Bradford, author of
From our UK edition
In 2011, the Southbank Centre hosted the Festival of Britain to mark its fiftieth anniversary. Not wanting to be outdone this year, they are staging the Festival of the World. Last night, Westminster’s arty crowd crossed the bridge to toast this ambitiously titled project. The evening was worth the walk, with flowing Pol and also
From our UK edition
Professional funny chap Armando Iannucci is laughing it off his recent internet showdown with Alistair Campbell. Sky lobbyist extraordinaire Lucy Aitken has been doing wonders to repair the reputation of Murdoch spinners. Last night, she treated an assembled crowd of hacks and flacks to a boozy preview of Iannucci’s ‘Veep’ — the American ‘Thick of
From our UK edition
Another grey weekend and another royal display of jubilation. The annual round of Establishment back-patting for the queen’s birthday is well underway. Arise Sir Kenneth Branagh! Presumably knighted for services to playing knights. Arise also Sir Stilgoe, Dame Jowell and Sir Baldry. Congratulations too to Alexander Chancellor, of this parish, for his CBE for services
From our UK edition
While summer party season is warming up, is the work drying up for Cherie Blair? At last night’s Renaissance Photography Prize at the Mall Gallery, Mrs Blair took full advantage of being introduced as Cherie Booth QC. ‘As a barrister there are important people for me here – solicitors!’ She went on to name check
From our UK edition
Yesterday saw the annual Commons vs. Lords Tug of War, in aid of Macmillan and sponsored by BAE. Battle was joined at Westminster College Gardens, behind the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Teams of marines, fireman, hacks and staffers battled it out before the final show down between the elected and the unelected. Disappointingly for the
From our UK edition
Steerpike’s transatlantic cousins at the New York Post’s Page Six are stirring up the rumours (again) that Vogue editor Anna Wintour is set to become Obama’s Ambassador to the Court of St James. Coincidentally, the fashion supremo has been pulling her weight for Obama’s fundraising. Though vaguely denying the appointment, she is not exactly doing
From our UK edition
Comrades! There is a traitor in our midst. Word reaches Mr Steerpike that the phones are red hot in Labour circles as party hacks consider expelling a vocal enemy of the leadership. Dan Hodges — Labour insider turned Telegraph writer — has been a vociferous critic of Ed Miliband. He also hated Ken Livingstone
From our UK edition
I hear that legendary British producer Jeremy Thomas (of The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast and Crash fame) is working on a script about the tumultuous affair between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Before fans of France’s great intellectual exports become overly excited, it seems that Thomas wants to concentrate on the pair’s Nazi sympathies
From our UK edition
Martin Amis is not appearing at Hay until next week, but his new novel was already getting the intelligentsia chattering this weekend. ‘Lionel Asbo: State of Britain’, a grim tale of a violent lottery winning criminal, is under strict embargo until it’s release on Thursday and the Telegraph has paid an undisclosed fortune for the
From our UK edition
Apparently, ‘it wouldn’t be the same’ for the 25th anniversary of the Hay-on-Wye literary festival without the sideways rain and mist. The weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of the thousands of Guardianistas who have converged on the tiny welsh village this weekend. Neither could the facts that the Telegraph is the festival’s sponsor, and that
From our UK edition
I have learnt that Toby Young, also of this parish, has been briefing his fellow Sun on Sunday columnist Jordan, aka Katie Price. Young is one of Michael Gove’s biggest free school champions and I hear that keeping readers abreast of developments with his own West London Free School has paid off — Jordan is
