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

Thursday

Steerpike

Clifton Suspension Bridge quits Musk’s Twitter

First they came for the Guardian, and then they came for the Clifton Suspension Bridge. In a move that will surely come as a blow to tech billionaire Elon Musk's global social media platform, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Museum has announced that it too will boycott the online messaging site over a 'rise in appropriate content'. Announcing the move on, er, Twitter, the organisation lamented: X (formerly known as Twitter) has been a wonderful place to engage with our audience over the past 15 years. But the changes made to the platform in recent times have caused us to reconsider our use of it. With the rise in inappropriate content and decrease in meaningful engagement with our followers, we have chosen to no longer post to this account. Golly.

Steerpike

Will Justin Welby lose his Lords seat?

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby this week announced he will resign from the top job after the pressure piled on from Church of England bishops. The move follows the publication of the Makin Review’s report on the Church’s handling of ‘serial child abuser’ John Smyth – which suggested Welby did not deal with complaints well enough at the time. But the Archbishop's resignation isn't quite enough for everyone. Now politicians and pundits alike are calling for Welby to lose his seat in the House of Lords. Richard Tice has blasted the Archbishop over the matter, with the Reform MP slamming Welby's position on GB News. 'I think his position is untenable,' Tice remarked. 'I suspect people have left for less.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Foreign Office flogs off £1bn of buildings

It was Norman Tebbit who joked that the Ministry of Agriculture looked after farmers while 'the job of the Foreign Office is to look after foreigners.' So Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the men and women who run FCDO have ensured HM's government are making a pretty penny or two. Let's hope it's not a case of 'selling the family silver', to borrow Harold Macmillan's words... A Freedom of Information request by The Spectator says that the FCDO has sold off more than £1.1 billion of embassy buildings since 2010. Among them include the surroundings of the Bangkok estate, the Yervan embassy, the partial sale of Guatemala's office and Tokyo's famed compound.

Steerpike

Farage rated most favourable of Britain’s politicians

As Sir Keir Starmer's fortunes go from bad to worse, things only seem to be improving for Nigel Farage. While Reform eye up a possible by-election in Runcorn and Helsby with hopes of getting a sixth MP into parliament, the party will have been given a boost today after new YouGov polling has revealed Farage has received the highest 'favourable' score in a poll of Britain's most senior politicians. How very interesting. In the latest survey, carried out between 8-10 November, 30 per cent of Brits logged a positive opinion of Nige – the highest 'favourable' score of any senior politician on the list.

Steerpike

The Guardian announces it’s leaving Twitter – on Twitter

The absurdity of the Guardian never fails to amuse. Now the lefty newspaper has decided it is too good for one of the world's most used social media platforms and today announced it will no longer use Twitter – by posting on, er, Twitter. You couldn't make it up… Sharing a link to an article explaining 'why the Guardian is no longer posting on X' on the site itself, the Grauniad editorial states rather pompously that: We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere. This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including the far-right conspiracy theories and racism.

Steerpike

MSPs in winter fuel payment hypocrisy

Back to Scotland, where parliamentarians are under scrutiny over questionable expenses claims – this time on heating their second homes. It transpires that between 2023-24 Scottish politicians claimed a whopping £36,000 in energy bills for their rented homes in Edinburgh, with the Nats and Labour lot making up £26,000 of the total cost. Alright for some! John Swinney's separatists were the biggest beneficiaries, as pointed out by the Scottish Daily Express, with almost half of the Holyrood group expensing energy costs. The Nats claimed over £25,000 from the public purse, while over £1,000 of taxpayer funds are covering Labour MSP Colin Smyth's utility bill.

Steerpike

Watch: Lib Dem MP flounders on assisted dying

The Terminally Ill Adults has at last been published and MPs can finally pour over the detail. But one supporter of assisted dying who might want to brush up on her answers is Christine Jardine, the Honourable Member for Edinburgh West. Jardine – who is co-sponsoring Kim Leadbeater's bill in the Commons – appeared on Newsnight last night to try to make the case for the legislation. Yet the Lib Dem MP came unstuck when host Victoria Derbyshire asked about coercion of patients. How, Derbyshire asked, would anyone know if someone had been coerced? Jardine babbled about 'medical knowledge' before her host – correctly – pointed out that 'doctors are not trained in coercive control.

Tuesday

Steerpike

How many parliamentary police are failing fitness tests?

They're the redoubtable men and women who keep our legislature safe. But is the thin blue line around the Commons looking a little bigger these days? Mr S has done some digging and found a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the Metropolitan Police on fitness tests undertaken by the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit – the elite squad assigned to protect MPs. The Met sent The Spectator figures which show that the number of officers failing their JRFT – job related fitness test – doubled between 2019 and 2022. According to the Police Single Operating Platform, 771 employees took tests in 2018, of which five failed – a rate of 0.6 per cent. By 2022 the annual number of officers taking the tests had increased to 810, with twice as many failures (10) or 1.

Steerpike

Who will be the next Archbishop of Canterbury?

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has this afternoon announced he will resign from the role after days of pressure from Church of England bishops. The move follows the publication of the Makin Review’s report on the Church’s handling of ‘serial child abuser’ John Smyth – which suggested Welby did not deal with complaints rigorously enough at the time.  In a statement today, the Archbishop wrote of his ‘long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England’, adding:‘I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.

Steerpike

Sue Gray rejects Starmer’s non-job

Goodbye Sue Gray. A mere 32 days after taking a ‘short break’ from No. 10, Keir Starmer’s ex-chief of staff has today confirmed she will not continue working for the Prime Minister. Quelle surprise. Gray, who was axed after less than 100 days in the role, was offered the consolation prize of being Starmer’s ‘envoy for the regions and nations’. Yet now, after a mere five weeks mulling over this tempting offer, she has let it be known that she has declined.  The Financial Times today quotes a ‘friend’ of the ex-Partygate enforcer who says ‘She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.’ They added that ‘Sue has taken a decision not to take the role.

Steerpike

Watch: Ex-Blair aide takes a pop at Britain’s farmers

Farmers across the country have been in uproar since Rachel Reeves's Budget. Just weeks ago the Chancellor announced that agricultural land and property worth over £1 million would be subject to an inheritance tax – sparking widespread outrage among family farmers fearing for the future of their businesses. Yet while Sir Keir Starmer and his Rural Affairs Secretary Steve Reed have been busy trying to placate landowners across the country, former Tony Blair adviser John McTernan opted for a somewhat, um, alternative approach on GB News. Questioned on the impact the tax could have on Britain's farmers, McTernan pushed back against earlier comments made by former PM Boris Johnson, insisting: Small farmers won't actually be affected by this change.

Steerpike

Tories overtake Labour in first poll since Badenoch victory

When it rains, it pours for Sir Keir Starmer's Labour lot. The polls have gone downhill since Starmer's army got into power, and the latest More In Common survey is no exception. In the newest survey of Westminster voting intention, it now transpires that the Tories have a two-point lead over Starmer's lefty bunch – whose time in office seems to be going from bad to worse. In good news for new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, approximately a third of Brits say they would back her party in a general election – the highest rating the Tories have seen since February – while just over a quarter would throw their weight behind Sir Keir's crowd.

Steerpike

SNP Westminster leader faces backlash over Holyrood bid

Another day, another SNP drama. This morning the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn announced he will stand as a candidate in the 2026 Holyrood election in an op-ed written for the Press & Journal. 'I’m chucking my bonnet in the ring,' Flynn wrote jubilantly, adding that if successful in the race to secure an MSP seat, he would remain an MP until the next general election. 'I will not shirk from these responsibilities as an MP and, if elected to Holyrood, I do not intend to leave them behind until the next general election.' Talk about having your cake and eating it, eh? It seems not everyone is thrilled by Flynn's proposal, however – least of all some of own party members.

Steerpike

Coutinho blasts Miliband’s energy claims as ‘total nonsense’

While Sir Keir Starmer faces the world's media today at Cop29 in Baku, his Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is on the airwaves fielding questions from the UK press. As the cost-of-living crisis persists, Miliband has been keen to assure listeners that, under Starmer's army, his clean power by 2030 plan will not drive up household energy bills – but it seems the lefty Labour MP hasn't managed to quite convince everyone of the veracity of his claim… Quizzed on ITV's Good Morning Britain about how much energy bills will first increase before coming down under Labour, Miliband insisted: 'It is not about bills going up as a result of our plans.

Monday

Steerpike

Gary Lineker to leave Match of the Day

After years of tweaking the tail of BBC bosses, it seems that Gary Lineker has finally had enough. The left-wing centre forward is reportedly stepping down from Match of the Day at the end of this season after 25 years in post. The 63-year-old is currently the Beeb's highest-paid star, earning more than £1.3m a year. So at least the accountants will be cheering eh Gazza? The former Leicester City star is likely to be spending more time with his millions, thanks to his wildly successful 'Goalhanger' series of podcasts. He will now be freed from the Corporation's impartiality rules meaning, at long last, we can finally know what Gary Lineker thinks about everything from Channel crossings to the West Bank. Phew! Must have been hard keeping all those thoughts bottled up for so long...

Steerpike

May backs Hague for Oxford Chancellor bid

In a year of elections, none are bigger than that for Oxford Chancellor. Just five candidates remain in the race to head England's oldest university, with William Hague and Dominic Grieve of the Tories taking on Labour peers Jan Royall and Peter Mandelson plus Dame Elish Angiolini. Voting in the second – and final – round kicks off next Monday, with Oxford's notable failure to publish the first round of results sparking rumours about whether or not Lord Mandelson topped that ballot. So in their bid to ensure their man comes top of the all-important second round, the Hague camp has lined up some big names to boost his case. Star power comes in the form of his former cabinet colleague, Theresa May.

Steerpike

SNP health secretary under fire over football

What is it with separatist health secretaries claiming from the public purse for the footie? First there was the £11,000 iPad scandal, which caused a headache for hapless Humza Yousaf and pushed former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson out of his government job. Now his successor Neil Gray is in the spotlight after the Sunday Mail revealed that the nationalist minister had been using ministerial cars to take him to sports matches. Alright for some! It transpired that Aberdeen FC-fan Gray had been chauffeured to three cup games at the national stadium, as well as a Pittodrie league match.

Steerpike

JK Rowling blasts Alastair Campbell over women’s rights remarks

Has The Rest is Politics podcast peaked? Its hosts have certainly had a rather rocky ride of late – with ex-Tory MP Rory Stewart widely mocked last week over his bullish assertion that ‘Kamala Harris will win comfortably because Biden’s admin has been solid’ before the Democrat candidate went on to lose to Donald Trump. Now Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell is in the spotlight over women's rights concerns and his, er, ignorance of the whole matter.

Steerpike

Labour minister obfuscates over defence spend target

While Sir Keir Starmer is in France this Armistice Day to place wreaths at the Arc de Triomphe, the Prime Minister’s defence secretary is doing the UK morning round. John Healey was across the airwaves this morning discussing president-elect Donald Trump, the war in Ukraine and the small boats fiasco. But on the issue of defence spending, Healey became rather tongue-tied… Quizzed by LBC’s Nick Ferrari on whether Starmer’s army will meet its target of increasing military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP this parliament, the defence secretary repeatedly refused to directly answer the question. Instead Healey insisted that there will be a ‘path in the Spring’ to meeting the target – before trying to shift the focus away from the financial target altogether.

Sunday

Steerpike

Could Streeting’s smoking ban breach Brexit terms?

Labour ministers are very keen to be good Europeans. But could the cause of closer continental ties come at the price of Wes Streeting's smoking ban? Tobacco firms are perplexed as to how proposals to ban tobacco products for younger Brits will work in Northern Ireland. Under the terms of the UK's revised Withdrawal Agreement, EU law continues to apply in certain respects here. Among the provisions of EU law is the snappily-named TPD2 – the EU's second Tobacco Products Directive. This was implemented in the UK in 2016 and continues to apply now to Northern Ireland. Under the UK's post-Brexit deal, Article 4 obliges the government to give the same effect to provisions of EU law which are made applicable by the Withdrawal Agreement as they have in EU member states.