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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When it rains for Rishi Sunak, it pours. Just hours after the Prime Minister was forced to apologise for leaving D-day commemorations early to film a pre-recorded ITV interview, Sunak was faced with more challenges on the election trail. During a campaign visit, a frustrated member of the public — who is also a local
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Oh dear. While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struggles to fend off criticism about leaving Thursday’s D-day commemorations early, another party leader is causing controversy elsewhere. A video of George Galloway of the Workers Party of Britain is doing the rounds in London WhatsApp groups. In a heated campaign speech, Galloway blasted Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour
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With only four weeks to go until the general election, party campaigns are rapidly ramping up. Politicians and staffers are desperately searching for more creative (and crazy) ways of getting voters’ attention — and north of the border the Nats have mobilised the musical wing of their party. Taylor Swift is in town for the
From our UK edition
Oh dear. The story of the day may well become the story of the election campaign as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struggles to explain why he missed part of Thursday’s D-day commemorations in Normandy to film a pre-recorded ITV interview. On Friday morning, Suank apologised on Twitter for snubbing aspects of the 80th anniversary events
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As the general election date creeps ever closer, the Green party has found itself in hot water. It transpires that the eco-zealots are currently investigating almost 20 candidates over ‘antisemitic’ insults and conspiracy theories — and party officials have a dossier of dirt on the parliamentary hopefuls. Oh dear… In the latest election scandal, it
From our UK edition
Politics took a back seat on Thursday as the great and good of the British establishment marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer took a break from election campaigning to head to Normandy, where they joined the King and other world leaders in commemorating the occasion. But when
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As election day looms closer, parliamentary candidates continue to wreak havoc on party campaigns. This time Labour is in the spotlight over the issue of national security, defence and, specifically, its position on Trident — one of the issues on which the public rate the Tories over Starmer’s army. Sir Keir Starmer promised his party
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It’s been a long hard slog for Keir Starmer and his team as they work to prove that he leads a Changed Labour party (honest). But in a bid to prove his patriotism, has one Starmtrooper now taken it too far? Mr S has previously been impressed with Keir Cozens, the well-connected candidate for Great
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Back to Scotland, where some rather strange events are unfolding. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives Douglas Ross — who most recently was the MP for Moray, alongside being MSP for the Highlands and Islands — this morning brought media from across the country together for an emergency announcement. After months of pledging to step
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Oh dear. As election campaigns ramp up, the Tories have found themselves in another spot of trouble. It transpires today that the Conservatives accepted another £5 million donation from donor Frank Hester — the Yorkshire businessman who back in March was condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his ‘wrong’ and ‘racist’ remarks about Labour
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Oh dear. As the Conservative £2,000 tax claim continues to implode, poor Bim Afolami has been sent out on the airwaves to prop up his party. Only Sky News aren’t taking his defence quite as well as he might have hoped. ‘How much has tax gone up under the Conservatives over the last parliament term,
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Well, well, well. The gloves are off in the election campaign after Rishi Sunak accused his Labour opponent Keir Starmer of plotting a £2,000 tax grab. Both Conservative and Labour politicians have launched into heated post-match analysis following that claim which was made in Tuesday night’s ITV leaders’ debate — and they’ve taken their spin
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Another day, another drama. Labour has been thrown back into the spotlight after deselected candidate Faiza Shaheen today announced her resignation from Sir Keir’s party in a rather scathing — and detailed — Twitter post. Shaheen was originally the selected for the Chingford and Woodford Green seat — but just last week, the left-wing candidate
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Reform’s new leader Nigel Farage has been busy wooing crowds in Clacton as he launched his election campaign in the Essex seaside constituency this lunchtime. But the visit didn’t go off without a hitch for poor Nige, whose trip was rather rudely ruined by a bystander who threw a drink at the politician as he
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Back to the blundering BBC, whose latest mishap involves one of the broadcaster’s cricket pundits. Qasim Sheikh, formerly a Scotland international cricketer and a new addition to the Beeb’s sports commentator team, has been accused of antisemitism after sharing some rather controversial social media posts — including an image of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with
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Another day, another Conservative campaign gaffe. This time it involves Education Secretary Gillian Keegan who has enthusiastically thrown her support behind the Tory candidate for Winchester, Flick Drummond. And so excited was Keegan about Drummond’s prospects she turned up to the launch event, um, several hours early. Talk about getting ahead of yourself… Drummond’s launch
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Oh dear. It’s been another bad day for the Tories. Shortly after Nigel Farage announced his return as leader of Reform, the first YouGov MRP poll of 50,000 voters dropped, showing Sunak’s party down to just 140 seats. But for one Conservative, things were about to get even worse. As Sky’s Sam Coates discussed the
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Can anything go right on Rishi Sunak’s magical mystery tour? Nothing seems to be going right for the Prime Minister as he campaigns around the country, seeking to overturn Labour’s 20-point lead in the polls. Whether it’s attendees rolling their eyes on camera or an ill-advised trip to Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, the PM often seems
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Labour is out this morning insisting they can be trusted with national security – honest! Keir Starmer’s latest wheeze is a ‘nuclear deterrent triple lock’ aimed at giving a ‘total commitment to securing the UK’s future nuclear deterrent.’ Such a ground-breaking policy includes such prior commitments as, er, upgrading the current fleet, maintaining a continuous
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The SNP will soon have more election campaign launch events than predicted Westminster seats if it continues at the rate it is going. The party’s latest launch — the third this year — was held in the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon, where party activists and political candidates gathered to hear
