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

Labour dragged into betting probe

From our UK edition

Uh oh. On the same day that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his party would be dropping the two Tory candidates caught up in the election betting scandal, now Labour is facing problems of its own. It transpires that Sir Keir Starmer's party has suspended Central Suffolk and North Ipswich candidate Kevin Craig after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation into the Labour man. Craig was placed under investigation by the gambling regulators after he allegedly gambled against himself winning the race for his constituency. Talk about hedging your bets... The Gambling Commission is already looking into the gambling history of former Sunak aide and candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr Craig Williams – as well as Bristol North West candidate Laura Saunders.

Steerpike

Badenoch blasts David Tennant over trans debate

From our UK edition

With only nine days left until the general election, tensions are flying high and parties are under more scrutiny than ever. Labour's muddled messaging on the gender debate has ignited heated discussions on the treatment of gender-critical feminists by Sir Keir Starmer's party – namely one of his own colleagues Rosie Duffield – and has prompted the likes of renowned author and women's rights activist JK Rowling to speak out. Now Conservative politician Kemi Badenoch, who is also the women and equalities minister, has hit out at Labour – and former Doctor Who actor David Tennant.

Steerpike

Which cars are stolen most often in London?

From our UK edition

As the election campaigns continue to pick up pace ahead of the national poll in nine days’ time, Mr S has been digging into some of the problems facing voters across the country. One issue stood out: crime. Sir Keir’s party has insisted it will cut down on antisocial behaviour and has this morning pledged to ‘take back our streets’. Steerpike would also point Starmer’s lefty lot focus in the direction of car theft – as it’s a growing epidemic in Britain’s capital city… The number of stolen cars logged in London has increased at a rather alarming rate since 2021, according to figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request from the Metropolitan Police.

Steerpike

JK Rowling slams Rayner and Reeves over trans debate

From our UK edition

Following JK Rowling’s rather scathing attack on Sir Keir’s Labour party on Sunday, some in Starmer’s army have been grovelling for the author’s support since. But Rowling isn’t prepared to let them off the hook that easily… After Rowling slammed Starmer’s lot for the party’s ‘dismissive and often offensive’ approach to concerns of gender-critical feminists, Rachel Reeves got in touch. The Shadow Chancellor offered up an olive branch to Rowling, telling the renowned writer that she would meet with her to provide ‘assurances’ over the protection of women-only spaces.

Steerpike

Reform candidate slammed for pro-Putin remarks

From our UK edition

Another day, another election mishap. This time it’s Reform UK under fire after one of the party’s candidates was found to have made pro-Putin comments during a hustings. Julian Malins KC, Reform’s Salisbury candidate, was booed at a recent election event after declaring that Putin ‘seemed very good’. Oo er. Asked by an audience member at the event whether a Reform government would support Ukraine, Malins told the people of Salisbury that: We support diplomacy. We support every possible effort to reach a compromise and a settlement over the issues in Ukraine. That is what the adults in the room do. Stop the killing and negotiate a proper settlement.  I have actually met Putin and had a 10-minute chat with him and he seemed very good.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Sunak fumes over betting scandal

From our UK edition

'Betgate' might be giving us some laughs but there's one person who clearly isn't cracking jokes. A notably vexed Rishi Sunak gave an interview to STV this afternoon on a visit to campaign with the Scottish Conservative party. He told the broadcaster that he was 'angry' about allegations that Tory candidates put bets on the date of the election and that the Conservatives are now running its own probe alongside the Gambling Commission. Anyone want to place a wager on who the culprits are? It was left to broadcaster Colin Mackay to suggest to Sunak that he should remove Craig Williams and Laura Sanders as Tory candidates before the election day.

Steerpike

Voting Reform will strengthen the Nats, Sunak warns Scots

From our UK edition

Back to Scotland, where Rishi Sunak is attending the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto launch in Edinburgh. Leaving the ongoing betting scandal in London, the Prime Minister walked into another controversy – about the football. Before Sunak launched into his speech he made a point of agreeing with Scottish Tory leader and linesman Douglas Ross that Scotland should have been awarded a penalty in last night's Euros match. It's certainly one way to get the Scots on side... The issue of oil and gas a key dividing line for the Scottish Tories, Sunak highlighted how the positions of other parties on new licences could cost jobs. Slamming Sir Keir's Labour lot, the PM claimed that Starmer's army would 'rather virtue signal to eco-zealots than protect jobs here at home'.

Steerpike

Badenoch blasts Alastair Campbell over Brexit

From our UK edition

Uh oh. In the latest election drama, Tory candidate for North West Essex and business secretary Kemi Badenoch has taken aim at Labour's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell. The lefty spinner has a well-documented history of Brexit-bashing and Badenoch, it seems, has had enough. Urging readers of the Daily Mail to ignore Brexit sceptics and vote for the Conservatives 'to stop us going back to square one', the minister writes in the newspaper today that voting Labour means 'enabling a strengthened Starmer to unpick Brexit'. Slamming Tony Blair's former spokesman, Badenoch tore into Campbell's claims about what leaving the EU means for Britain.

Steerpike

Green leader’s heat pump hypocrisy

From our UK edition

Oh dear. In the latest election campaign blip, it’s the Green Party in the spotlight. It has now transpired that despite the Greens long urging voters to swap out gas guzzling boilers for heat pumps, the co-leader of Green Party herself has, er, a gas boiler. Rules for thee but not for me… Carla Denyer’s party has long harped on about its goal to reach net zero by 2040 — yet its eco-zealot-in-chief admitted to ITV's The Leader Interviews that ‘at the moment I have a gas boiler’. Blaming the election for forcing her to ‘pause’ her plans to replace the contraption, Denyer told the broadcaster during the interview that: ‘I’m literally in the process of getting quotes for replacing it with an air source heat pump.

Steerpike

Jeremy Clarkson turns his guns on the Starmer army

From our UK edition

With ten days to go until polling day, all signs point to a Conservative wipeout. In such tough times, celebrity support counts for all the more. And while few stars are lining up to snap selfies with Rishi Sunak, at least one is willing to take the fight to Labour. Step forward Jeremy Clarkson, perhaps the nation's most famous petrolhead, now reborn as the face of the farming community. The former Top Gear presenter has distinguished himself this campaign with several pointed interventions at the expense of the Starmer army. First there was his response to Labour's manifesto. After Sunak released a Twitter/X video last week decrying how it had just '87 words' to 'say about British farming', Clarkson replied to his 8 million followers 'with him on that'.

Sunday

Steerpike

Now Swinney is dragged into SNP expenses row

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It seems that 'honest John' Swinney is embroiled in another fine mess, this time about taxpayer-funded election expenses at Holyrood. Strict rules state that MSPs are entitled to claim up to £5,500 per year for stationery, but it must be used only for parliamentary duties. Yet now one of the Scottish First Minister's staffers has been caught joking about the 'stamp fairy' helping with campaigning. Probably not the best quip to make when Operation Branchform is still ongoing... According to the Scottish parliament's rules, stamps and other items bought with the allowance must explicitly not be deployed for any 'party political purposes'.

Steerpike

Boris savages Farage over Zelensky spat

From our UK edition

What is Nigel Farage up to? The Reform leader has doubled down over the weekend on his claim that the west helped provoke Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Following his comments to the BBC on Friday, he then wrote a piece in the Telegraph on Saturday arguing that 'What I have been saying for the past ten years is that the west has played into Putin’s hands, giving him the excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway.' It prompted a torrent of cross-party criticism, with both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer calling his remarks 'disgraceful.' Such was the storm unleashed by Farage that even Kyiv's leaders now seem to be getting involved. The Mail on Sunday splashed on claims that a source in President Zelensky's office has accused Farage of being infected by the 'virus of Putinism'.

Steerpike

Fourth Tory embroiled in betting probe

From our UK edition

Is there anyone in CCHQ currently not under investigation? The Sunday Times today reports that Nick Mason, the chief data officer of the Conservative Party, is now being probed by the Gambling Commission over allegations he placed 'dozens of bets' in the run up to the election being announced. With just 11 days to go until polling day, he has been forced to take a leave of absence – hardly the best look in the middle of the election campaign... Mason becomes the fourth Tory to be probed by the commission.

Saturday

Steerpike

Six Corbynites switching to other parties

From our UK edition

There's been a lot of focus on splits on the right during the election campaign – but what about splits on the left? With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Mr S has been keeping tabs on those Corbynites who are deserting their former party for greener pastures. Quite literally, as many of them have jumped ship to the Green party – or are urging voters to consider non-Labour, independent candidates instead. So who are the lefties that have turned on Labour? Owen Jones Owen Jones, former Guardian columnist, led the exodus after announcing in March that he was abandoning Starmer's Labour lot for 'We Deserve Better' – a group that backs 'socialist candidates' and has in some cases recommended voting against members of Starmer's shadow cabinet.

Steerpike

JK Rowling’s blistering attack on Sir Keir

From our UK edition

It's not just the Conservatives who are facing difficulties this election season. Sir Keir Starmer's Labour party has found itself in hot water with one rather influential women's rights campaigner. Renowned author of the bestselling Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has now come out against Starmer's army, blasting Sir Keir for 'abandoning women' concerned with the trans debate. Writing for the Times, Rowling slams the Labour leader for his 'dismissive and often offensive' approach to worries raised by gender-critical feminists, adding that despite once being a paid-up member, she would now struggle to vote for the party.

Friday

Steerpike

Bet probe Tory was previously married to his wife’s opponent

From our UK edition

Dear oh dear. With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Rishi Sunak's campaign has been hit with more bad news. Over the last 24 hours, it has emerged that now two Tory candidates – Laura Saunders in addition to Craig Williams – are under investigation by the Gambling Commission after placing bets on the general election date. It gets murkier: Saunders is married to the Conservative party's campaign director Tony Lee – who has been forced to go on leave after also coming under investigation for election gambling. And now Mr S can reveal another mind-boggling piece of the puzzle: Lee's ex-wife, Mary Page, is the Green candidate in Bristol North West – standing against his current wife, Saunders. Whew. That's taking rivalry to the next level...

Steerpike

Duffield slams Starmer’s gender response

From our UK edition

Starmer Chameleon strikes again. Sir Keir hadn’t taken to the stage long in the BBC’s Question Time special last night before the issue of his tendency to U-turn cropped up. Turning to the trans debate and Starmer’s rather, um, checkered history on the matter, one audience member asked the Labour leader: ‘Three years ago you criticised your MP Rosie Duffield for saying only women have a cervix. What do you believe now and how do we know you will stick to your views?’ For readers that are struggling to remember quite how many times Sir Keir has dithered on the gender debate, Mr S can fill you in.

Steerpike

Sunak’s election tour: where has the PM campaigned so far?

From our UK edition

Over the first four weeks of the general election campaign, Sunak has so far personally made his way around 37 constituencies across the UK. With less than two weeks to go until the national poll, the Prime Minister has only ventured out of England on three occasions, and made just four trips to non-Conservative held seats. It suggests that he is is running a rather defensive campaign amid complaints that he has 'abandoned' the red wall. So where has Sunak gone so far? Though he has visited every region in the UK, the PM has preferred to stay in the South of England, making six visits to the South East and and eight to the South West. Of the Conservative-held seats which the PM has visited, the average has majority of just over 17,000.

Thursday

Steerpike

Labour candidates chafe at battleground obsession

From our UK edition

Just how much worse can the Tory campaign get? With a fortnight to go until polling day, the party's field director is now being investigated by the Gambling Commission. It's a somewhat sub-optimal development for a campaign dogged by tortuous metaphors, D-Day disasters and torrential rain too. In such circumstances then, it is no surprise that the party is now reportedly fighting an ultra-defensive campaign to shore up its vote in its southern safe seats. Yet with Sunak now spending much of his time touring seats with majorities of 15,000 or more, there is some confusion and irritation within Labour at the party high command's focus on so-called 'battleground' seats. Analysis by LabourList suggests that there are more than 250 of these across the country.

Steerpike

Tory duo probed in election betting claims

From our UK edition

Dear oh dear. Now it transpires that a second Tory election candidate is facing scrutiny over an alleged bet related to the timing of the national poll. Laura Saunders, the party's candidate for Bristol North West and a former CCHQ staffer, is being investigated by the Gambling Commission – the second Conservative candidate to face questions on bets in so many weeks. Mr S understands that it is not currently known when the alleged bet was placed – or for how much money. Saunders has worked in the Tory party since 2015 and was most recently involved in the International Division of CCHQ, which works with a range of political parties across the world.