Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Thursday

May 30, 2024

Watch: Sunak slammed for Partygate during campaign trip

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It was only a matter of time before the issue of Partygate came up on the campaign trail and today the Prime Minister was forced to face up to it. On his trip to Buckinghamshire, the first question asked of Rishi Sunak centred on the pandemic, the government-enforced lockdown and the rule-breaking in No. 10. Hardly the best start... Pointing to the PM's use of the word 'trust', a frustrated voter spoke out: It's good that you mentioned trust. My mum died in 2020, the height of the pandemic, my brothers couldn't be with us in hospital, I couldn't be there. You probably remember, that was the month where all the parties were going on in Downing Street. I think the month after you attended a gathering where you got a fixed penalty notice.

Steerpike

Rayner backs Abbott staying on as Labour MP

From our UK edition

Another day, another confusing twist in Labour's stance on Diane Abbott. The ongoing saga has created significant disquiet over the last 48 hours, with Labour's confusing messaging on the whole thing proving a rather effective distraction from Sir Keir Starmer's party policies. It's hardly the best way to kick off your election campaign... First we heard that Labour would bar the long-standing MP from representing the party at the next election. Then, just hours after the story broke, Abbott was reinstated with the Labour whip, which some speculated was to allow her to retire with dignity.

Steerpike

SNP’s ‘urgent plea’ to house campaigning Westminster staffers

From our UK edition

Oh dear. No one party appears to be enjoying an especially slick campaign at present, but north of the border the SNP seems particularly down on its luck. As Mr S noted on Monday, the Nats are not exactly swimming in cash at the moment — the party is struggling to bring donations in while the police probe into its finances remains ongoing — and separatist candidate have been forced to plead with the public for help with their campaign Crowdfunders. Now the Nats are faced with a fresh problem: where to house the party's central Westminster team, who are loyally trekking north to help with election efforts. Well, if the London-based campaigners had high hopes for hotel bookings, they can forget it.

Steerpike

Paul Waugh to fight Rochdale seat for Labour

From our UK edition

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again. That appears to be Paul Waugh’s guiding mantra anyway, after the former chief political commentator for the i newspaper put himself forward for the Rochdale candidacy for a second time this year. He has now been successful and will stand as Labour’s candidate for the seat in the looming general election. All’s well that ends well, eh? Waugh announced at the start of the year that he was stepping down from his top newspaper job to try to be selected for Rochdale after the death of veteran MP Tony Lloyd on 17 January — but the hack was unsuccessful after Labour's Rochdale members picked Azhar Ali to represent the party at the by-election. However this quickly turned out to be a rather suboptimal choice.

Steerpike

Vaughan Gething to face no confidence vote

From our UK edition

It wasn't so very long ago that Sir Keir was hailing the Welsh Labour party as a 'blueprint' for what he would do in office. But with Vaughan Gething's government crumbling by the hour, it is no surprise that Starmer has stopped praising his sister party in such gushing terms. The flailing First Minister of Wales is now facing a no confidence vote after just 70 days in post, following a string of scandals in the Senedd. He makes Humza Yousaf look like a model of stability... Gething's woes started before he even took up office. During his leadership campaign accepted a controversial £200,000 in donations from a businessman twice convicted of environmental offences.

Wednesday

May 29, 2024

Steerpike

Now Labour blocks Lloyd Russell-Moyle from standing

From our UK edition

It is a bad time to be a member of the Socialist Campaign Group. Hours after Mr S revealed that Labour activists in Poplar are urging the party to intervene against Apsana Begum, tonight Lloyd Russell-Moyle has confirmed that he will be blocked from standing again in Brighton Kemptown. The left-winger, a former frontbencher under Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer, told activists tonight that ‘yesterday, out of the blue, I received an administrative suspension letter.’ According to Russell-Moyle, an unknown person has made ‘what I believe to be a vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my behaviour eight years ago. This is a false allegation that I dispute totally.

Steerpike

Is Apsana Begum next to go from Labour?

From our UK edition

It's a busy day in Labour land, following the mishandling of the Diane Abbott disaster. But now Mr S hears of a fresh row brewing in another of Labour's London safe seats. In 2019, the Corbynite candidate Apsana Begum was chosen to replace the moderate Jim Fitzpatrick for the Poplar and Limehouse constituency. Her first two years as an MP were dominated by her trial for housing fraud, of which she was cleared in court in July 2021. She subsequently fell out with her constituency party to such an extent that in July 2022, the local branches and their affiliates voted for a full 'recall' process to determine who would contest the seat for Labour.

Steerpike

Iain Dale quits LBC to run as Tory candidate

From our UK edition

It's the end of an era for over 70 Tory MPs who will quit their seats at the next election – but one media veteran is making a rather interesting move in the opposite direction. Iain Dale, who has worked at LBC since 2010 and has presented a number of shows including Cross Question and All Talk, told listeners on Tuesday night that the show would be his last as he wants to stand for the Tory candidacy in Tunbridge Wells. After an extremely successful broadcast career, it's quite the decision... The seat is currently held by Greg Clark MP, who announced last week that he will be joining the Tory exodus and standing down at the election.

Steerpike

Has Starmer told the truth about Diane Abbott?

From our UK edition

Sir Keir Starmer has made personal integrity front and centre of his election campaign. When asked about his multiple broken pledges two days ago, the Labour leader declared that 'I think it's more important to stand in front of the electorate and say, "I'm sorry, I can't now afford what I said before"... I'm not going to tell you you can have everything and then break a promise'... I think that is basic honesty with the electorate.' But has Starmer given that 'basic honesty' when it comes to the matter of one of his own party's MPs? On Friday, Sir Keir was asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari about his party's ongoing investigation into Diane Abbott, following her suspension in April 2023 over her letter to the Observer. Ferrari said: NF: 'Some Labour supporters have been speaking to me.

Tuesday

May 28, 2024

Steerpike

Diane Abbott banned from standing for Labour

From our UK edition

The drama in Westminster never seems to end – and tonight is certainly no exception to that rule. In one of the biggest developments of the week, it transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party will not allow veteran MP Diane Abbott to represent the party at the upcoming general election. However, Abbott has reportedly been given the Labour whip back as a middle way. The Hackney North & Stoke Newington MP was the first black woman elected to parliament, serving continually since 1987 and achieving a majority of over 33,000 in 2019 – but Labour’s decision this evening is likely to bring her 37-year political career to end. The BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire reported this morning that the internal party investigation into Abbott had wrapped up a whole, er, six months ago.

Steerpike

Poll slashes Labour lead to just 12 points

From our UK edition

They think it’s all over – but is that actually the case? After a difficult start to the campaign for the Conservatives, many of their own MPs had privately written off their chances at this election. However a new poll out tonight could force the skeptics to think again, with Labour’s lead down to just 12 points. The survey for JL Partners revealed that the Starmer army still retain some 40 per cent of the vote but suggested Sunak and the Tories are coming up on the rails with 28 per cent. The fieldwork for this poll was done on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 May, shortly after the Prime Minister’s announcement of a general election. The last poll done before this by JLP was on 5 May and had Labour enjoying a comfortable 15-point lead, with 41 points compared to 26 for Sunak.

Steerpike

BBC presenter grovels after Farage jibe

From our UK edition

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 made his first big speech of the election campaign. At a gathering of party supporters and journalists, Farage spoke of immigration problems seen in Europe. Quoting remarks made by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Reform founder pointed to ‘the wave of — and I’m using his words not mine — “aggressive, young males” that are coming into Poland’ adding: ‘He has said that this is now a matter of national security’.

Steerpike

Reeves reprises her Wikipedia tribute act

From our UK edition

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 letter of support for its economic policies, signed, no less, by some of the country’s leading business experts. What a coup! But Mr S could not help but wonder about some of the names signing the letter that Rachel Reeves touted today in her big speech in Derby. For one thing, there were no FTSE 100 company chief executives putting their pen to paper – perhaps out of fear of Angela Rayner's trade union package.

Steerpike

Watch: Ed Davey struggles to stay afloat during campaign tour

From our UK edition

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 of their manifesto. This morning, Davey joined local MP Tim Farron on a constituency visit to Windermere in the Lake District to campaign on water cleanliness. For that reason alone — never mind the fact that the Lib Dem leader is not exactly an, um, experienced paddleboarder — it's certainly rather brave of Sir Ed to take to the lake. But the trip hasn't gotten off to the best of starts.

Steerpike

Labour takes down Tory attack TikTok video

From our UK edition

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 30 videos, gathering 75,900 followers and amassing 1.5 million likes. But it's not all been plain sailing for the Sir Keir's lefty lot. Labour's comms team seems to have gotten a little ahead of itself in its rush to take the platform by storm and there are concerns the party may have, er, broken some rather important rules in the process.

Steerpike

Will Sunak debate Farage on small boats?

From our UK edition

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 a one-to-one debate on Channel crossings. The honorary president of Reform says that if Sunak refuses to debate him on this 'national security emergency', it will prove that he 'can’t stop the boats'. According to Farage: The Channel crossings must be designated a national security emergency. For two years, we have been promised a Rwanda plan and a solution. Despite a bill of £140 million, not one person has been forced to go.

Monday

May 27, 2024

Steerpike

Tory MP suspended for backing Reform successor

From our UK edition

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 trouble-maker. Having been elected in 2015, Allan announced last June that she intended to stand down as an MP. Unfortunately for Sunak she has decided to mark her leaving this week with a final two-fingered salute at the Tory leader. In a statement posted on Twitter/X today, she announced that she was supporting the local Reform candidate in her Shropshire seat and shared his campaign details online. 'I am supporting Alan Adams to be Telford’s next MP' she wrote.

Steerpike

CCHQ memo blasts ‘noncommittal’ Tory MPs

From our UK edition

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 adding that a number of seats were rather low on funds. Oh dear... The controversial email in question delivered to Tory politicians was mistakenly sent with two attachments: one with a constituency breakdown with constructive comments, and another with rather frank remarks about what CCHQ staff thought of the Conservatives' campaign efforts.

Steerpike

SNP candidates struggle to Crowdfund campaign money

From our UK edition

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 is also having trouble attracting investment while the police probe into party finances hangs hangs over it. The latest accounts show the Nats saw an £800,000 financial loss as membership numbers fell and donations dried up. Now it transpires that Scottish National party candidates have had to resort to launching Crowdfund pages to try and pull together funds for their campaigns. But it turns out that begging voters for money isn't always a surefire way to garner support.

Steerpike

Labour refuse to say if Bercow’s ban is lifted

From our UK edition

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 counts of 35 complaints over five years. The panel's 89-page review of their probe revealed that Bercow threw phones at staff, displayed 'undermining behaviour', and 'lied extensively to try and avoid the damning reality of the truth'. Since then, there have been various reports that Labour's investigation remains ongoing, despite Stone's comprehensive findings.