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
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It’s the second day of the big Tory leadership interviews at party conference and Robert Jenrick is on the main stage. Making his case for why he should be elected leader of the Conservative party, the former minister slammed the state of the Home Office as being ‘in ashes’, promised he would ‘re-enact’ a version
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It’s day three of the Conservative party conference, and so far the blue-on-blue has been kept to a minimum — not least thanks to the ‘yellow card’ threat, Mr S is sure. But one Tory grandee and former MP isn’t holding back on his thoughts on the future of his party following a disastrous election
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As the Tory leadership hustings continue, there’s a bit of good news for outgoing boss Rishi Sunak. It now transpires that more people prefer Sunak’s government to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot, according to polling by More in Common. In yet another blow for Starmer, the survey found the new government was less popular than
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While the Conservative party conference is in full swing in Birmingham, back in Whitehall there have been some major developments. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has now formally handed in his resignation letter, with the senior civil servant circulating his departure letter to his underlings today. His announcement that he will stand down at the end
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The first of the big Tory leadership interviews kicked off today with Tom Tugendhat in the hotseat. The former security minister put forward his case to a packed out arena in Birmingham — calling for CCHQ reform, apologising for recent years of Tory ‘infighting and chaos’ and insisting he has what it takes to rebuild
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To Birmingham, where the Conservative party conference is in full swing. As well as the formal leadership hustings taking place this week, the four rivals vying for the top job are busy behind the scenes trying to convince their colleagues – and membership – to back them. Robert Jenrick staged his latest rally bright and
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All is not well in the Labour party. Not only is Sir Keir still dealing with the freebie fiasco, Starmer also lost a longtime MP last week after she quit the party. Rosie Duffield left Labour with a bang, penning a scathing letter that blasted the ‘sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice’ existing among the lefty
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There’s an oddly upbeat mood here at Tory party conference in Birmingham. You might have thought that with just 121 MPs left, the Conservatives would be fairly despondent about their future. But it seems that the bromide of the leadership election has helped assuage such feelings. After all, who can be miserable when there are
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Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party’s conference was mired in his freebie fiasco scandal after revelations about clothing donations and trips abroad surfaced. But while the Labour lot had a tricky time fending the story off at their conference, they appear determined not to let the Tory meet pass without a similar hitch. Now it transpires
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While one Tory leadership contest rumbles on, another has come to a close. Russell Findlay was made the new leader of the Scottish Conservative party on Friday – and he’s enjoying his victory lap at Tory conference this weekend. At a fringe event today, the former crime journalist was keen to hammer home that his
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Welcome to Tory conference 2024. For the next four days, the final quartet of contenders will battle it out, Hunger Games-style, to try and prove to their colleagues that they really stand a chance with the members. To do this, each of the four contenders is projecting an image of competence, confidence and momentum. So
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Amid a wave of BBC cutbacks, the Corporation has made much of its new ‘Verify’ service. Bosses have trumpeted its fact-checkers – staff, supposedly, with ‘forensic investigative skills’ – as a solution to the slew of misinformation in the age of social media. So it was somewhat sub-optimal then that the BBC was forced to fact
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Poor old Angela Rayner. It seems she is not too happy about reports that she is being ‘frozen out’ of decision-making in the new government, amid claims that she is the victim of a media ‘briefing war.’ Various reports have appeared suggesting that she has lost control of Labour’s employee rights’ package to the Business
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It didn’t take long for the eco-zealots to strike again. Just minutes after Just Stop Oil activists Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were jailed for throwing Heinz tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, a trio of JSO protestors have again targeted the artist’s work at the National Gallery. How very tiresome… The climate protest group
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When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Labour isn’t yet in the clear over the freebie fiasco that dampened the party’s conference this week and now another uncomfortable revelation has emerged. It transpires that Labour has chosen a new climate envoy with links to a hedge fund that donated millions to the party.
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The first of two Conservative leadership contests has concluded and today it has been announced that the new leader of the Scottish party is Russell Findlay. The former crime journalist was widely seen as the party establishment favourite after former leader Douglas Ross announced he would be resigning from the post in June. Now Findlay
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Well, well, well. When the monarchs of Montecito decided to cut ties with the UK and live stateside, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan seriously ruffled feathers in the royal family. But it now transpires that, before Harry’s big move, the Prince faced a rather curious intervention – from none other than the prime minister
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After months of diary-juggling, Keir Starmer finally got his meeting with the man who could be the next US President. The political equivalent of the Rumble in the Jungle happened last night when Starmer sat down for a two-hour dinner with Donald Trump, following the Prime Minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly. Details of
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All is not well in the Labour party at present. If Sir Keir Starmer didn’t have enough on his plate, what with concerns about cronyism and the ongoing freebie scandal, one of his own backbenchers seems rather publicly out to get him too. Diane Abbott has been particularly active on social media lately, using her
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Another day, another drama. Now it transpires that a Labour MP took a million-pound loan from Lord Alli – to buy a flat for her sister. Mitcham and Morden’s MP Siobhain McDonagh was helped in her bid to buy accommodation for her terminally ill sibling and formerly Labour’s first female general secretary, Baroness McDonagh, by