Steerpike

Pippa Middleton writes an Alpine Notebook for the new Spectator, out tomorrow. She has this to say at the end: 'Back home in London after my Alpine challenges, I can now pursue less demanding hobbies in my spare time, such as ping-pong. I’m informed that Boris Johnson, former editor of this magazine, wants to be "whiff-whaff" world king even more than he wants to be Prime Minister. I’m also told the Johnsons are almost as competitive as the Middletons. So I’d like to lay down a challenge to the Mayor. My only stipulation is that I can use my favourite Dunlop Blackstorm Nemesis bat, which I used when I played in the Milton Keynes U13 National Championships, don’t you know. Bring it on, Boris.' So how about it, Boris?

The end of an era for Westminster lunchers. Shepherd's, the favourite haunt of Cabinet Ministers, political editors and TV types since 1993, has closed. The sister restaurant of Langan’s Brasserie — the joint venture between notorious alcoholic Peter Langan and Michael Caine —  Shepherd's shut its doors unexpectedly yesterday, leaving staff stumped as to why. Famed for its house pie, even devout vegetarian Adam Boulton has lamented this as a ‘sad day’ for the ‘best restaurant near Parliament’. The increasing Americanisation of lunch in London is clearly taking its toll.

It’s the battle of the Westminster hotels. First the lavish opening of the new InterContinental at St James, going directly for the political crowd, and now the Corinthia are doing things a little more subtly. Thursday night saw the opening night of their Above and Beyond show, a performance that takes over every part of the hotel, with nineteen actors performing to an individual as they tour the building. Steerpike hears that a very confused Ryan Giggs was left wondering what was going on as he tried to enjoy a sauna and was invaded by the show moving through the spa rooms. Last night’s audience members Richard Curtis and and author Kathy Lette loved it though.

Labour MP Jim Sheridan covered himself in glory this morning by asking why the ‘parasitical press’ is ‘even allowed to come into’ parliament. Westminster watchers will remember the eloquent and thoughtful Mr Sheridan’s contribution to the expenses crisis when he described the soon to be disgraced Speaker, Michael Martin, as a man of the ‘highest integrity’. Now, a reader has regaled me with a tale that makes you wonder how Mr Sheridan reached the giddy heights of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee: ‘At a day at the races some years ago my girlfriend was making small talk with him and he must have been the Labour Convenor for Scottish MPs at the time, so she just said 'must be like herding cats'.

Last year Steerpike broke the news that fourteen rebel backbenchers had written to Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, as part of the formal process to trigger a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister. The number of names required is forty-six. This morning our editor, Fraser Nelson, reveals that senior rebels now believe that they are ‘half a dozen names away from a coup’. That’s only a minibus of Tories for Cameron to slight in some way or offend; and you wouldn’t bet against that considering Dave’s reputation for brusqueness.

Po-faced Labour MP Grahame Morris has been crying into his bitter this morning at young Tories up at York University who hold an annual ‘Hagueathon’ in honour of the fourteen pints the Foreign Secretary necked when he was a student. The game is very simple: right-wing students try to drink fourteen ales, with varying degrees of success. ‘I suspect William Hague’s capacity for 14 pints of Yorkshire bitter was a figment of his imagination,’ moans Morris to the Mirror. ‘In the current climate when the Government is supposed to be doing something about the alcohol crisis, this sets a bad example.’ Steerpike hears that Barrel Scrapper Morris has missed a trick.