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

Tuesday

Steerpike

Liz Kendall’s WASPI women U-turn

From our UK edition

Another day, another drama. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has finally confirmed that the WASPI women will not receive pension compensation. The decision comes after women born in the 1950s began campaigning to be reimbursed for a previous rise in the state pension age, with activists claiming millions had not been adequately informed of the changes. Kendall has today said that the 'great majority of women knew the state pension was increasing', adding that a pay out costing up to £10.5 billion would not be 'fair or proportionate' – although she did accept that there had been a delay in sending letters communicating the changes. But Kendall's firm stance on the matter now may come as a surprise to those who knew the Labour politician in 2019.

Steerpike

Humza Yousaf to step down as MSP

From our UK edition

Well, well, well. It now transpires that hapless Humza Yousaf will step down as an MSP at the next Holyrood election, with the former first minister of Scotland making the announcement this morning. It comes after Yousaf spent a year in the top job before being ousted in April this year when he rather abruptly cut off his eco-activist coalition partners. Dear oh dear… Posting his letter to John Swinney on Twitter, Yousaf wrote that being Scotland's first minister had been 'the greatest honour' of his life, going on about his time in the Scottish government: In government, I was proud to have significantly increased our budget for active travel, laid the groundwork for taking Scotrail back into public ownership and overseen the completion of the Queensferry crossing.

Monday

Steerpike

Starmer receives worst rating yet as Labour leader

From our UK edition

Another day, another bit of bad news for Sir Keir Starmer. A new Ipsos poll carried out between 27 November and 4 December has revealed that dissatisfaction with the Labour leader has reached a staggering 61 per cent – his worst rating as leader of the lefty lot. Good heavens… It’s not just Sir Keir struggling with unpopularity – overall unhappiness with the Labour government remains rather high too, with a whopping 70 per cent of Brits registering their dissatisfaction with the party in charge.

Steerpike

SNP ministers blasted over taxpayer-funded limo trips

From our UK edition

To Scotland, where more SNP ministers are under scrutiny over their use of official limousines with First Minister John Swinney facing calls to investigate the matter. It's not a good look for the Nats who, alongside ministerial slip-ups, have the ongoing police probe into the party's funds and finances to contend with. Dear oh dear… It transpires that rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon took her husband to a Six Nations rugby game between Scotland and France last February as guests of Salmon Scotland. She classed the trip as official government business but due to her failure to take an official with her, there was no formal record of what was discussed and the tickets were not declared as gifts.

Friday

Steerpike

The Spectator’s Christmas reception, in pictures

From our UK edition

The festive season is well and truly upon us and The Spectator celebrated with a Christmas reception that took place this week. From Labour cabinet ministers to Reform's Nigel Farage, the great and the good of Westminster descended upon Old Queen Street. After a pretty eventful year in politics, parliamentarians, pundits and professionals were able to let off some steam and enjoy the festivities.

Steerpike

Graham Linehan: I’m leaving Britain

From our UK edition

To the world of comedy, where it transpires that renowned gender critical activist Graham Linehan is looking for pastures new. The Irish comedian – who worked on Father Ted and The IT Crowd – took to X/Twitter this week to announce he is leaving Britain to move to America after claiming 'freedom of speech is in bad shape at the moment' in the UK. In a video released on Elon Musk's social media site, Linehan discussed his attempts to dismantle gender ideology and how he received 'no support' from his colleagues in the industry in the process. 'As a result,' he admitted, 'I haven't worked in five years.' But it's not all doom and gloom.

Steerpike

Labour cabinet splits over Assad

From our UK edition

Another day, another Labour drama. It now transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s army is in turmoil over a previous Labour party's response to Bashar al-Assad’s regime – with one current Cabinet Secretary taking a pop at another. Talk about trouble in paradise, eh? Appearing on BBC Question Time, Health Secretary Wes Streeting remarked that 'if the West had acted faster, Assad would have been gone'. He went on: With hindsight, I think we can say, looking back on the events of 2013, that the hesitation of this country and the United States created a vacuum that Russia moved into and kept Assad in power for much longer. How curious – particularly given some of Streeting's colleagues were, er, on the opposition frontbenches at that time.

Thursday

Steerpike

Scotland’s Labour voters support two-child cap, poll finds

From our UK edition

To Scotland, where a new poll has revealed results the Nats may be rather unhappy to see. It now transpires that more Labour voters north of the border support the UK government's two-child benefit cap than oppose it – just days after the SNP said they would scrap the policy in Scotland. How very interesting… A Norstat poll for The Sunday Times revealed that 34 per cent of Labour voters in Scotland oppose John Swinney's move to abolish the two-child cap, while only 31 per cent support its reversal. Despite the Scottish Greens blasting the Conservative policy as 'morally bankrupt', the party's voters were the biggest proponents of the policy with only a quarter of the eco-activists keen to see it repealed.

Steerpike

Scotland caves to UK puberty blocker ban

From our UK edition

Well, well, well. It now transpires that the Scottish government will follow Westminster's lead on the UK puberty blocker ban – after Health Secretary Wes Streeting told parliament that he would be extending the policy following the findings from Baroness Cass's review. How very interesting… On Wednesday, the Health Secretary told MPs that the way the medications had been used was a 'scandal', adding he would continue on the medication block introduced by the Tories in May, noting: I know it won’t feel like it based on the decisions I’m taking today, but I really do care about this and so does this government. I am determined to improve the quality of care and access to healthcare for all trans people.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Full list: the MPs scrutinising the Assisted Dying Bill

From our UK edition

At the end of November, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults Bill passed its second reading with a majority of 55 in favour. Now, the MPs who have been selected to sit on the bill committee have been revealed. Find the full list – including each parliamentarian's party and how they voted on the issue – below.

Steerpike

Could Reform and the Tories form an electoral pact?

From our UK edition

As if 2024 hadn't been packed full of elections, eyes are already moving to next year's local polls – and it seems some quite interesting conversations are taking place. According to Bloomberg, it transpires that Tory and Reform party branches in parts of the country have held discussions about working together in next year's council elections to push out Sir Keir Starmer's Labour lot. And so the plotting recommences… According to reports, talks have included the idea that Conservative associations could stand down candidates in certain areas where Reform might be better placed to defeat Labour – while Nigel Farage's lot would return the favour where the Tories stand a better chance.

Steerpike

Watch: Farming chief weeps at Labour’s tax raid

From our UK edition

The public outrage at Labour's family farm tax isn't going away any time soon. Today farmers from across the country have driven their tractors to Westminster in yet another protest at Rachel Reeves's inheritance tax on agricultural assets, as countrymen fear for the future of family-owned farms. Sir Keir Starmer's Labour lot insist the majority of farms will be unaffected but their pleas for calm have landed on deaf ears as the Starmtroopers continue to lose rural supporters over the matter. As frustrated farmers gathered outside of parliament today, the issue was also being discussed inside the walls of Westminster.

Steerpike

Is Humza Yousaf picking a fight with GB News?

From our UK edition

Back to Scotland, where it appears hapless Humza Yousaf is still trying to stay relevant by going after, er, GB News. The failed former first minister of Scotland is said to be considering his options against the channel after a new report into GB News suggested Yousaf would have a 'very strong case' if he reported the broadcaster to media watchdog Ofcom over its treatment of the ex-FM. Good heavens… The document, released by the Muslim Council of Britain's Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), has slammed the channel over an 'excessive' focus on Muslims bordering on an 'obsession [that] regularly demonises their beliefs' – noting that almost 50 per cent of mentions on GB News related to Islam and the Muslim community.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Independent MP opposes first cousin marriage ban

From our UK edition

To the Commons, where this afternoon a rather odd intervention took place. The Westminster rumour mill was in overdrive today as word spread that a Member of Parliament was planning to speak against a bill calling for a ban on marriages between first cousins. Not long after speculation began, it was confirmed that a new parliamentarian did indeed want to make his opposition known: one Iqbal Mohamed, Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley and a member of Jeremy Corbyn's pro-Gaza group. Good heavens… Speaking to fellow parliamentarians today, Mohamed first accepted: 'There are documented health risks with first cousin marriage and I agree this is an issue.

Steerpike

Liz Truss tells Starmer how to beat ‘the blob’

From our UK edition

Poor old Keir Starmer. He has scarcely been in power for four months and yet is already wailing about 'many people in Whitehall' being 'comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline'. So as he, Morgan McSweeney and various other Keirleaders all prepare to take on Sir Humphrey, who better to get advice from then a predecessor who tried to fight that battle once before? For the Wall Street Journal has today released a theatrical offering that will either be an early Christmas thriller – or a belated Halloween horror story, depending on your taste. The 35-minute documentary is called 'The Prime Minister vs The Blob' and is intended to be a 'timely warning about the dangers of power being exercised by unelected and unaccountable individuals and bodies.

Steerpike

Ex-Tory donor becomes Reform’s chief fundraiser

From our UK edition

As the government's fortunes continue to worsen, Reform UK only seems to be on the up. It now transpires that former Conservative donor and luxury property developer Nick Candy has defected from the party to join Nigel Farage's start-up – to become Reform's new chief fundraiser. Another Tory bites the dust… Speaking to the Sun, the millionaire donor insisted: 'I will raise Reform more money than any political party in the UK has every raised. Nigel is going to be PM.' He went on: I have resigned my membership of the Conservative party after many years of active support and substantial donations to the party. I am sorry to say there have been too many broken promises and a complete breach of trust with the wealth creators in our country.

Steerpike

David Lammy’s geography gaffe

From our UK edition

It’s a gaffe a day with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot – and this time David Lammy is in the spotlight. Addressing parliament on Monday over the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the Foreign Secretary seemed to be a little confused on the detail – specifically the, er, geography of the Middle East. At least it's not relevant to his job or anything, eh? During a debate on Syria on Monday afternoon, Lammy insisted to fellow parliamentarians that Libya was ‘next door’ to Syria, noting: Having just come back from the region, I am sure that she will have heard Gulf allies raise the issue of Captagon and illegal drugs that also propped up Assad’s regime and flooded into Gulf countries. We continue to monitor that.

Monday

Steerpike

Mandarins shell out £130k for Starmer army’s offices

From our UK edition

With a change of government, you might have thought 4 July would see a lot of new brooms in Whitehall. Yet, for some mandarins, the dissolution of the last parliament seems to have been the cue to get all the paint brushes and toolkits out. Since the end of May, more than £130,000 was spent by eleven departments across Whitehall as officials rushed to refurbish their new ministers' offices. A series of written questions by new boy Ashley Fox show that two high-spending departments seemed to welcome Labour's arrival with particular gusto. The Department of Energy Security greeted Ed Miliband's return by blowing more than £42,000 – excluding VAT – on a refurbishment including nearly £30,000 worth of new furniture and fittings.

Steerpike

Revealed: the 53 peers silent for five years

From our UK edition

The wind of change is sweeping through the Upper House. What with Labour's plans to expel the last hereditaries and Gavin Williamson's effort to boot the bishops too, soon the House of Lords will be devoid of any colour. How will the sketch writers cope eh? Today brings more bad news for traditionalist lovers of the lords and ladies in ermine. For Politico reports that there are growing calls to exclude members of the House of Lords who rarely attend or take part in debates. The convenor of the crossbenchers Lord Kinnoull has suggested that expelling those who attend 10 percent or less of sitting days could cut the size of the Lords by 100 peers.

Steerpike

Suella Braverman’s husband joins Reform

From our UK edition

Well, well, well. In a rather curious turn of events, it now transpires that Rael Braverman – husband of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman – has started campaigning for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. How very interesting… Farage took to Twitter to announce that Braverman had not only been canvassing for the party on the streets of Hertfordshire on Sunday, but had actually become a member of the right wing group, noting:  He has received a great reception after joining the fastest growing movement in British politics. Good heavens. It’s certainly a good time to be in Farage’s group after a FindOutNow voting intention survey put Reform in second place, ahead of Sir Keir’s lefty lot and just two percentage points behind Kemi Badenoch’s boys in blue.