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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Emmanuel Macron is facing something of a crisis at home: his prime minister has resigned and his party is trailing that of his fierce rival Marine Le Pen by up to ten points in the run-up to crunch European elections. But Macron’s troubles don’t stop there: his ‘friend’ Donald Trump has been busy on the
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Labour might be ahead in the polls but it’s not all plain sailing. With an election looming later this year, members of the shadow cabinet have been reticent about setting forth their policy platforms for fear that the Tories either trash or nick their ideas. And a perfect demonstration of the perils of a flagship
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The role of the Liberal Democrat leader is normally a simple one: sit on the sidelines, demand resignations and attack the Tories for being so beastly. But the incumbent Sir Ed Davey is now in a bit of jam over the ongoing Post Office scandal. For prior to reinventing himself as the scourge of Conservatives
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There’s nothing so ex as an ex-Prime Minister. But while the likes of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and David Cameron are busy off respectively writing columns, making speeches and, er, running the Foreign Office, Theresa May has been content to quietly reside on the backbenches. As MP for Maidenhead, she has spent much of the
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A trifecta of by-elections are looming for the Tories, with campaigns expected to shortly be underway in Kingswood and Blackpool South. But before that there’s the Wellingborough contest, held to replace Peter Bone. The outgoing MP continues to protest his innocence but his pleas have thus far been to no avail. His constituents in Northamptonshire
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A new year brings with it fresh headaches for Rishi Sunak. Chris Skidmore, a former energy minister, has announced he will stand down as an MP in protest at plans to issue more oil and gas licences. Parliament is expected to vote on Monday on the government’s flagship bill to guarantee annual licensing rounds in
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Oh dear. It seems that those strategic geniuses in the SNP have done it again. This week saw the ban on XL bully dogs come into force in England and Wales, following a string of violent attacks by the pugnacious breed. But up in the people’s paradise of Humza Yousaf’s Scotland, ministers there decided that
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Sir Keir Starmer was up this morning in Bristol, giving a big speech on the importance of transparency. The Tories, he gravely intoned, had wrecked Britain, with their relentless sleaze and cronyism. So it must have been, er, sub-optimal then for the Labour leader to have his big speech blown off course when Jim Pickard
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President Gay, we hardly knew thee. Six months ago, the political scientist was appointed the head of Harvard University to much fanfare: hailed as a trailblazer, Gay was the first black woman to hold such a role. Now, after weeks of damning headlines, she has a new claim to fame: she is the shortest-serving president
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Ding, ding, ding! It seems that James Cleverly took Downing Street’s instructions to get in some much-needed R&R over the holidays very seriously indeed. The Home Secretary was raring to go on this morning’s broadcast round, getting into several spats with the host of Radio 4’s Today programme, Mishal Husain. Cleverly was on air to
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Sadiq Khan was hoping to project a message of ‘unity to the world’ with this year’s New Year’s Eve fireworks in London, which of course included the customary genuflections to the NHS, Windrush and inclusivity. But for all the highfalutin spiel about London’s place in the world, the mayor seemed rather less comfortable talking about
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When Boris Johnson lost power, he didn’t just blame Dominic Cummings. He thought he was victim of a wider plot to replace him with Rishi Sunak who, he suspected, was in cahoots with his former adviser. ‘I heard that Cummings has said he started to plot to get rid of me in January 2020,’ he
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The Cabinet Office is sometimes described as the ‘thinking brain of government’. So it’s a pity then that so little thought is applied to making it an open one. With a Freedom of Information (FOI) team that is infamous for their excuses, the ministry is frequently ranked as one of Whitehall’s worst-performing departments for transparency.
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It’s gongs galore today as Liz Truss’s resignation honours’ list is published alongside the traditional new years’ one. And while the former is attracting more comment than the latter, Mr S couldn’t help but note the inclusion of one Tory favourite. The Prime Minister is a well-known lover of a Jilly Cooper bonkbuster – so
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These days parliament seems less like an episode of House of Cards and more like a Spooks reboot. Whether it’s Chinese spies or cyber-attacks, the good men and women who work in the Palace of Westminster have rarely felt more conscious of their safety – and that’s not to mention the collapsing roof and crumbling
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Ah, the true meaning of Christmas: an excellent chance for some photo opportunities. And while the Tory tech bros of No. 10 have been goofing around for their Home Alone remake, Labour kept it simple. Sir Keir posted a picture of himself and his wife enjoying, in his words, a ‘traditional Christmas drink with neighbours
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A new year brings the same old headaches for hapless Humza Yousaf. There’s plenty of problems awaiting the in-tray of Scotland’s flailing First Minister from drug deaths and school standards to Michael Matheson’s iPad data. But perhaps no policy area sums up his party’s failures in office than the ongoing farce over CalMac ferries. The
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A month after ‘Stockton-gate‘, the Home Secretary is in the headlines again over reports of another verbal indiscretion. James Cleverly has tonight apologised for comments made at a Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug. Speaking to female reporters at the No. 10 lobby drinks on Monday, Cleverly said
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So. Farewell then 2023. Twelve months of strikes, strife and struggle – though (mercifully) fewer occupants in No. 10. In Britain, the year ends as it began, with Rishi Sunak struggling in the polls. There is, however, a new King on the throne after the Coronation back in May. Abroad, the Ukraine war continued to
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It may be the the last First Minister’s Questions before Christmas, but no one in Scottish Parliament is in the festive spirit. After the SNP announced a winter budget that would make even Scrooge seem upbeat, it’s no surprise that hapless Humza got a grilling today. Douglas Ross appeared to be enjoying himself, with the
