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 seems these days that the BBC is doing a better job of creating the news than presenting it. Today’s row is about one of the broadcaster’s stars entering into a spat with Reform’s Nigel Farage — and losing rather spectacularly… The I’m a Celeb finalist was out today helping promote Richard Tice’s party in Dover as he
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Once we had New Labour: now we have Changed Labour. As part of Sir Keir Starmer’s bid to prove that his party is different (honest!) since the far-off Corbyn days of, er, April 2020, Labour has been out today banging the drum for business. The Opposition is terribly proud of itself for stitching together a
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It’s a gaffe a day in British politics, as poorly-planned campaign visits are fast turning party leaders into laughing stocks. The latest victim is none other than Sir Ed Davey, who is currently on a UK tour to spread the word that the Liberal Democrats are putting the issue of sewage dumping at the top
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Another day, another gaffe. Only this time it’s the Labour party in the firing line, not so long after the launch of its brand new TikTok account. It has been live for all of four days and Starmer’s army has been busy getting to work on their latest form of social media self-promotion — posting
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It’s a big day for Reform UK as Nigel Farage hosts his first campaign event down in Dover. But prior to his speech this morning, the former Brexit MEP decided to kick things off by throwing the gauntlet down to Rishi Sunak. In his Daily Telegraph column today, Farage challenges the beleaguered premier to have
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It never rains but it pours for poor Rishi Sunak. After a difficult start for his election campaign, the Prime Minister tried to steal a march on his Labour opponents by proposing the reintroduction of a form of national service. One person he would presumably now like to conscript is Lucy Allan, the longtime Telford
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It’s all a barrel of gaffes at CCHQ these days. The latest slip-up comes in the form of a leaked memo in which party staff criticised Conservative MPs for failing to ‘get behind’ the election campaign — accusing some of focusing too much on ministerial business, others of being more concerned with holiday plans and
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Uh oh. As election campaigns kick off, a number of nationalist politicians have had a rather rocky start. The SNP has already gone into election season on the back foot as polls consistently predict the party is likely to lose around half its Westminster MPs in the next election. To make matters worse the SNP
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It is now 812 days since John Bercow membership of the Labour party was suspended on an ‘administrative basis’ pending an investigation into his bullying. Back in March 2022, the former Speaker was banned from ever holding a parliamentary pass after an independent panel upheld the findings of Kathryn Stone, who found him guilty on 21
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Well, Rishi Sunak’s new flagship policy of reintroducing national service has certainly gone off with a bang this morning. The policy, announced last night, would see 18-year-olds given the option of applying for a military post, or spending one weekend every month for a year working for the fire services, police, the NHS, or local
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As the exodus of Conservative MPs continues, Mr S is rather curious about what alternative careers retiring Tories have in their sights. The number of Conservative politicians stepping down at the general election is 78 and counting — and on Friday night, a resignation announcement from a high-profile Tory veteran stunned the nation. Michael Gove,
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Richard Tice was out yesterday at Reform’s big election launch, proudly declaring that his party is ready for the upcoming election. ‘We are going to win seats’ he promised, as he revealed that Reform will be standing candidates in all 630 seats in England, Wales and Scotland. One of those areas is Gravesham in Kent,
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Oh dear. It’s not yet 48 hours since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election and already tensions are running high. Now it transpires that Labour backbencher and vocal women’s rights campaigner Rosie Duffield was not invited to her own party’s election launch in Kent despite being an, er, Kent MP. Making a rather
From our UK edition
It’s day two of the election campaign and things aren’t looking up for Rishi Sunak. After the downpour on the Wednesday and the Euros blunder on the Thursday, today the Prime Minister produced his third viral moment of the campaign on a visit to Belfast. As the latest polls revealed that his party is still
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So. Farewell then to the Covid parliament. It’s been a remarkable five years in British politics, what with the pandemic, Brexit, the change of monarch and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But with the Commons due to dissolve next Thursday, one of the great features which Mr S will miss the most is the
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Amidst the election drama it would be easy to forget about one rather eccentric politician. Today Jeremy Corbyn has announced today that he will stand as an independent candidate for the seat of Islington North — after significant speculation about whether he would be welcomed back into the Labour fold. After holding the seat for
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It’s a day that ends in ‘y’, which means more chaos for the beleaguered SNP. Now it transpires that Scotland’s Crown Office has finally received Peter Murrell’s charge sheet – after he was charged with embezzlement from the SNP over a month ago. The husband of former SNP leader and first minister of Scotland Nicola
From our UK edition
It’s the beginning of a general election campaign, which can only mean one thing: politicians pretending to care about football to connect with the punters. Rishi Sunak kicked things off, with his first campaign stop at a brewery in Wales this afternoon – a brave choice of venue for a politician many voters think really couldn’t
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Uh oh. In non-election news north of the border, the Scottish government’s former health secretary Michael Matheson has been handed both a suspension and salary ban after his rather humiliating £11,000 iPad scandal was exposed. As Mr S has written previously, Matheson has been in the doghouse for months after it was revealed he lied about
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Amidst all the election drama and hurried campaign launches, it would be easy to forget the public inquiries taking place at present. But fear not, Mr S has gathered together the most notable parts of today’s Covid Inquiry, where Cabinet Secretary Dr Simon Case is making a rather delayed appearance after he was unable to
