Steerpike

Kemi Badenoch’s Tories have overtaken Labour for the first time in three years on The Spectator Data Hub’s poll tracker. This morning’s update gives the Conservatives a one-point lead over Keir Starmer’s Labour after a steady upward trend since July’s election. Steerpike wonders how much is down to Rishi Sunak's surprisingly successful stint as leader of the opposition, Badenoch's first few weeks in the job or Starmer's ever sinking satisfaction ratings. The leftie leader now finds himself with more than half the country seeing him 'unfavourably' and with a net satisfaction rating of -29. Meanwhile, Mr S's gambling friends note that both Badenoch and Starmer only have 50/50 odds at the bookies' of leading their parties into the next election.

It's fuel poverty awareness day today. So what better time to reflect on Labour decision to pull payments for pensioners, just weeks after taking office? Ahead of the release of pension credit statistics tomorrow, Mr S has been doing some digging into the Chancellor's past. And it seems that 'Rachel Thieves' – as her critics like to jibe – has not always been such an enemy of universal hand-outs for the elderly.... A recently-unearthed leaflet from the University of Bristol archives reveals that Rachel Reeves made winter fuel payments central to her very first election campaign. Reeves stood for Bromley and Chislehurst in 2005 and made 'More Help for Pensioners' one of her key priorities to voters in the Tory safe seat.

Since Steerpike first reported on the petition for another general election, another two million signatures have been added. (Not that Mr S is taking the credit.) While the petition is most popular in Tory and Reform-held seats – especially in Essex, where almost one in ten of the electorate have signed in some constituencies – MPs in Labour marginals should be taking note too. In Tamworth, Ribble Valley, Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Derbyshire Dales and North West Leicestershire, Labour MPs with majorities of fewer than 1,500 votes have at least 5,500 constituents who have signed the petition. Derbyshire Dales’s new boy John Whitby perhaps has the most to fear as his majority of just 350 votes over the Conservatives is dwarfed by the 5,800 who want to see an election.

For more than a decade, viral petitions demanding an immediate election were the preserve of Remainiacs and much of the Twitter left. So with Labour now in government, it is to no surprise then that it is now much of the right which is demanding another vote. A parliamentary petition to ‘call a general election’ has gone viral overnight, thanks to supportive posts by Elon Musk (who else?) among others. Numbers currently stand at more than 650,000 signatories: six times higher than the threshold of 100,000 required for a parliamentary debate. Wonder what the government response will be eh? Such petitions rarely, if ever, succeed in their goal and those hoping to see Keir Starmer swept out of office will probably have to wait another four and a half years at least.

It's been another bad week for the government, with rows over farmers, ships and businesses too. So what better time for Keir Starmer to manfully undertake his media duties, sitting out this morning for a grilling with local BBC news stations? This annual ordeal can prove somewhat merciless – as Liz Truss famously found to her cost in 2022. Faced with six of the best, how did the current PM compare? First up was BBC Merseyside, where Starmer answered a question about energy bills by talking about, er, anti-social behaviour orders. The host immediately interrupted to point out that 'we've drifted off the topic.' Next, it was a trip to the East of England where the PM was forced on the back foot from the start. 'I've got absolutely nothing against Lincolnshire!

At last, an outbreak of common sense from Essex Police. After a mounting backlash – with Boris Johnson, Elon Musk and Nigel Farage expressing their dismay – the boys in blue have decided to drop their investigation into Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson. The Crown Prosecution Service advised that no charges should be brought against Pearson after reviewing the case, with Essex Police concluding that no further action would thus be taken. At last... The announcement today comes ten days after two police officers called at Pearson's home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was under investigation and invited her to a voluntary interview. She was told, however, that the officers were not allowed to disclose the specific focus of the inquiry.

Dear oh dear. The left-wing Twitter scourge hasn't gone quite as well as users may have hoped. Following Donald Trump's victory at the start of the month and the resultant appointment of Twitter CEO Elon Musk as co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, a number of 'right on' tweeters decided to jump ship to new social media platform Bluesky. Yet it hasn't gone quite as smoothly as they'd hoped… Prominent Twitter commentators including Owen Jones, James O'Brien and Jess Phillips MP have all declared their intention to start using the alternative Bluesky platform in favour of Musk's machine. It's not been quite as easy a transition for some as it has for others, however.

Thousands of farmers descended on Westminster this morning to protest the Labour government's new inheritance tax plans. As protesters brandished placards and called for the Chancellor to row back on her proposals, some rather famous faces were seen in the crowds – with former Top Gear presenter and now Clarkson's Farm host Jeremy Clarkson amongst those spotted. The BBC was quick to grab the TV icon for an interview on the issue – but the broadcaster may have got a little more than it bargained for… Refusing to play ball with the Beeb, Clarkson was fast to blast Victoria Derbyshire over her line of questioning.

Ding ding ding! All is not well in the SNP as the Nats are back to fighting among themselves over the issue of double jobs. Last week Westminster leader Stephen Flynn announced that he will stand in the 2026 Holyrood election – and, if successful, he will also continue on in his existing MP role. But the move has sparked outrage among previous and current nationalist politicians alike, with anonymous briefings and social media attacks throwing the party into yet another civil war. Oh dear… Flynn's plan to stand for the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat has not been universally welcomed – not least given the incumbent SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll is also hoping to stand again.

After eight years of poorly serving the capital, there was relief from London taxpayers last month when Amy Lamé announced she was standing down as Sadiq Khan's 'Night Czar'. On her watch, dozens of clubs, pubs and bars closed down, all the while she continued to enjoy inflation-busting pay rises. It was Mr S who broke the news last year that Khan had handed her a 40 per cent wage increase, with her final salary being eventually more than £132,000 a year. So much for performance relayed pay eh? Lamé is no longer claiming a taxpayer salary – but she still continues to embarrass herself. This afternoon it was announced that the popular London nightclub Heaven has been closed on public safety grounds. Why, you ask?