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

Friday

Steerpike

Starmer’s army in private plane hypocrisy

Well, well, well. Off the back of his thumping majority, Sir Keir Starmer has been making good use of the perks of being premier. Given Labour’s long history of bashing Rishi Sunak for flying private, one might have thought that the fleet of government jets at their disposal would be stowed away in a hanger. That's not quite the case... The Starmer army attitude towards private planes has changed quite significantly over the past year. At Labour's party conference in October, Rachel Reeves criticised Sunak for his ‘private jet habit’, pledging to enforce tighter rules on ministerial use of private jets under a Labour government.

Steerpike

SNP government didn’t prepare well for pandemic, report says

Uh oh. The Covid inquiry has been ticking along in the background for the last two years, and finally its first report has been published. A shock to no one, it transpires that neither the UK nor Scottish governments come out of it particularly well. It appears both were rather unprepared for a pandemic – and the damning review suggests they proceeded to respond to the ‘wrong’ one. How very interesting… The findings reveal that former Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon’s government ‘did not act with sufficient urgency’ – and when it did, it seems it responded ineffectually. The report noted that the officials tasked with planning for a pandemic did not meet for seven months in the year before to the outbreak.

Thursday

Steerpike

Will the Scottish Tories form a new party?

To Scotland, where the Scottish Conservatives are facing problems of their own. North of the border, a leadership contest is looming after outgoing leader Douglas Ross announced his resignation mid-campaign. Since then there have been animated discussions about who his successor will be. And while contenders for the UK party are already making their mark, their Scottish counterparts look set for a fiery leadership race too. Current justice spokesperson Russell Findlay MSP is seen by many as the obvious choice, and his colleague Rachael Hamilton has warmly endorsed him – but others in the party have expressed support for potential rival candidate Murdo Fraser.

Steerpike

Watch: David Lammy refuses to apologise for calling Trump a ‘sociopath’

David Lammy is in the firing line over comments he made in the past about Donald Trump. The Foreign Secretary was quizzed this morning on BBC Breakfast about his past attacks on the presidential candidate – particularly when Lammy called Trump a 'neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath'. What a charmer... Instead of showing contrition, the Foreign Secretary opted to go on the defensive – telling presenter Naga Munchetty: 'You're going to struggle to find any politician who has not had things to say about Donald Trump in his first term.' He went on: You would have struggled with our last foreign secretary David Cameron, who described him as a xenophobe and a misogynist. You would struggle with the vice-presidential candidate that he selected, who has also had things to say.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Truss attacks civil service over King’s Speech document

Today's King's Speech was filled to the brim with bills – the most jam-packed since 2005. While Sir Keir can't be accused of submitting a lightweight list of announcements, some of his political opponents have been quick to criticise. One of these is former prime minister Liz Truss, who is particularly displeased about how much her own name came up in Labour's legislative agenda. Within half an hour of the announcement, Truss took to Twitter with a scathing post about Starmer's plans. Slamming the Prime Minister for having 'no idea about the change Britain needs', the former Conservative leader blasted today's speech for expanding 'the power of the unelected state' and increasing 'red tape'. Oo er. https://twitter.

Steerpike

Green leader opposes green pylon plan

Good heavens. Now it seems that Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay has forgotten his own party's raison d'être. Today the MP for Waveney Valley has confirmed he will oppose new electricity pylons in his East Anglian constituency – pylons that would be used to transport, er, green energy from offshore wind farms to the grid. How interesting... Ramsay first hinted that he was planning to oppose the 100-mile corridor of pylons at the start of the month in a conversation with the Beeb – and today his justification for his decision is that the route is unpopular locally and he’s a ‘constituency MP’ first. It's certainly not the first time that the Green co-leader has stepped in the way of progress.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Marjorie Taylor Greene turns on Times Radio

What is it with Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Brits? First, she advised the-then Foreign Secretary David Cameron to 'kiss my ass.' Then, she told ex-BBC star Emily Maitlis to 'go f**k off'. And now she has pinned the blame for the Trump assassination attempt on, er, British broadcasters at Times Radio. Clearly the spirit of 1776 is alive and well with this one... In an interview with Times Radio reporter Jo Crawford at the Republican National Convention, Greene bristled at criticism of Trump's pick for vice-president, JD Vance. After Crawford asked about Vance previously likening Trump to Hitler, Greene snapped and suggested that the reason 'I have some of the most highest amount of death threats [is] because of people like you.

Steerpike

Boris reunites with Trump at Republican jamboree

The great and the not-so-good of the international conservative movement have descended on Wisconsin this week. Liz Truss and Nigel Farage are among the Brits jetting in to toast President Trump's formal nomination at the Republican National Convention. But what of the man they once called 'Britain's Trump?' Boris Johnson yesterday made a rather low-key appearance at the conference, appearing at vaping panel that was remarkable only for its poor turn-out. But Johnson, it seems, has been busy behind the scenes. It turns out that the former prime minister has actually met with Trump, away from the glare of the cameras, to discuss a subject close to his heart – ongoing western aid to Ukraine. Johnson shared a picture of the two men giving a thumbs up and grinning.

Steerpike

Watch: Labour MP retakes oath after republican protest

Well, well, well, constitutional monarchy looks set to continue after all – despite the best efforts of Labour's Clive Lewis. The MP for Norwich South was forced to swear in to parliament for a second time after his first attempt didn't quite, er, cut the mustard... Last Wednesday, Lewis drew attention to himself when he omitted to swear allegiance to King Charles and his ‘heirs and successors’, instead remarking: 'I take this oath under protest, and in the hope that one day my fellow citizens will democratically decide to live in a republic.' That's not quite how it works, Clive...

Steerpike

Tory finances worsen as donations dry up

In a further blow for outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak figures have revealed that donations to the Conservative party this year were not quite as generous as they have been in the past. It transpires that Sunak's Tories received less than 10 per cent of the donations Boris Johnson managed to wrangle in 2019. And to add insult to injury, the Times reports that the cash-strapped Conservatives are even considering using conference to hold leadership hustings to save funds. Oo er. In 2019, Boris's Brexit-focused campaign attracted a whopping £19.3 million – over 10 times more than Sunak achieved this year. The outgoing Tory leader brought in just £1.

Steerpike

‘I’m voting for the felon’: Republican National Convention in pictures

To Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the great and the good of the Republican elite have arrived to crown Donald Trump as their presidential candidate once again. After the 2020 convention was hit by Covid, this year's political jamboree is a full-blown Trump-fest. Hot topics of conversation include his pick of JD Vance for his VP nominee and the platform on which the party will be standing later this year. Wearing their best concoctions of red, white and blue, thousands of Republican delegates have been striding around the Fiserv Forum to hear speeches, purchase merchandise and catch up with comrades, ahead of November's presidential rematch between 'the Donald' and the man he calls 'Sleepy' Joe Biden.

Steerpike

Welsh Labour leader resigns

Another day, another drama. This time it's in Wales, where Labour leader Vaughan Gething has this morning resigned from his role as First Minister. In a statement the outgoing FM admits he had hope that over the summer period 'rebuilding and renewal could take place under my leadership... I realise now that this is not possible.' Gething's resignation comes after a turbulent morning under fire after four ministers resigned this morning in a mass mutiny. In the space of a few minutes, the Welsh First Minister today lost his economy secretary, culture secretary, housing secretary and counsel general. Talk about an exodus...

Steerpike

Watch: Trump’s VP says UK will be first Islamist nuclear power

Donald Trump has chosen JD Vance as his US vice-presidential running mate – but the author of Hillbilly Elegy has some, erm, interesting views on the UK. At a conference last week, Vance said that the UK could become 'the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon' after Labour's landslide election victory. He told an audience at the National Conservatism event: 'I have to beat up on the UK - just one additional thing. I was talking with a friend recently. And we were talking about, you know, one of the big dangers in the world, of course, is nuclear proliferation, though, of course, the Biden administration doesn't care about it.

Monday

Steerpike

The National U-turns over Anglo-bashing splash

Oh dear. The National is renowned for neither grace nor charm and Saturday's front page was no exception. Scotland's only pro-independence newspaper sparked outrage this weekend after it splashed a rather, er, creative cartoon across its cover a day ahead of the Euros final. When the Jocks failed to progress through the tournament – instead claiming the record for the most consecutive eliminations from the group stage – the august journal that is the National turned its attention to anglo-baiting instead. Quelle surprise... The day before England played Spain in the finals, the Nat-obsessed journal decided to depict a rather large red-faced, bare-chested, tattooed England fan as a football being launched into the air by Spanish midfielder Rodri. 'Time for revenge!

Steerpike

Badenoch best to beat ‘Reform dragon’, claims ex-MP

As Rishi Sunak prepares to step down, the race for a new Tory leader is underway. Although no one has officially announced they'll run, there are already a number of names in the mix. Kemi Badenoch is a top contender, according to Conservative Home, which suggested that over a quarter of party members back the former business secretary – double the support of her closest competitors Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat, each on 13 per cent. And now Badenoch has received a public endorsement from her one-time parliamentary private secretary Alexander Stafford. The ex-MP for Rother Valley, who supported Boris Johnson throughout the Partygate scandal and campaigned for Liz Truss in 2022, has taken to the fine pages of the Telegraph to back his former boss.

Steerpike

Failed Nats receive ‘golden goodbyes’ worth thousands

Back to Scotland, the land of failing upwards. Very recently, Humza Yousaf held the top political job in the country for just over a year – despite the SNP's former cabinet minister having a record of underdelivering while he held the posts of transport, justice and health secretary. Now the First Minister is John Swinney, a failed nationalist leader who was previously forced to step down after his party performed poorly in elections. Not much has changed there, eh? Yet it transpires that these are just two examples of many who have received thousands of pounds in resettlement grants over their political careers despite not achieving, um, all that much.

Steerpike

Labour splits emerge over puberty blockers

Sir Keir's Labour government may have only been in power for a week, but already it is experiencing party splits. The Sunday Telegraph reported this weekend that allies of Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner fear she is being ‘frozen out’ of the top team — and now new Health Secretary Wes Streeting is facing dissent over his puberty blocker plans. Streeting announced last week that, following the findings of the Cass review into gender services, there would be a permanent ban placed on puberty-halting drugs used on children with gender dysphoria. The use of these meds had already been temporarily paused by the NHS after the publication of Dr Hilary’s rather damning report this year, which put forward a number of recommendations for UK gender clinics.

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: Biden calls Zelensky ‘Putin’

Oh dear. It's a day ending in 'y' which means Joe Biden has caused another diplomatic incident. As the gaffe-prone president battles to convince Democrats to stick with him for another four years, the aging octogenarian slipped up again when speaking today at the Nato 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC. This year's jamboree is partly dedicated to the defence of Ukraine, with world leaders lining up to praise the country's struggle against Moscow's aggression. So it was especially unfortunate then that, when introducing President Zelensky, Joe Biden accidentally referred to him as, er, President Putin. Yes, that's right – when welcoming Ukraine's head of state, the leader of the free world introduced him instead as Kyiv's arch-enemy, to audible gasps from attendees in the room.

Steerpike

Reform members warned of Farage scam

Uh oh. It’s a busy time for elected politicians trying to work their way around Westminster and no party knows that better than Reform UK. For the first time the group now has parliamentarians elected under its own banner, after sweeping up 14 per cent of the vote share last week.  But it’s not all been plain sailing so far. Nigel Farage received groans in the Commons after he used his first speech to attack former Speaker John Bercow, and the appointment of Richard Tice as deputy leader left the unelected Ben Habib rather outraged earlier today. And now Steerpike can reveal the party is desperately trying to stop its members from being scammed on messaging app Telegram.

Steerpike

Spoilsport councils warn football fans to keep quiet

As if London mayor Sadiq Khan and his night tzar Amy Lamé weren't already taking it upon themselves to be the capital’s fun police, now councils have decided to lecture football fans about peace and quiet during the Euros. As the England team approaches the final, Mr S can reveal that two London councils have been accused of being 'spoilsports' by the TaxPayers' Alliance. Letters sent by the council to pubs see local politicians issuing 'reminders of responsibilities' during the football tournament, with notices warning venues to 'avoid irresponsible marketing or any drinks promotions'. Good heavens...