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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Shock, horror! Something surprising happened today at the Covid Inquiry. Thus far, much of what we have heard has been predictable or even mundane. Simon Case made a fool of himself? Stop the presses. The civil service thought No. 10 was a shambles? Halt the front page. Nobody liked Matt Hancock? Quick, get the editor.
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Oh dear. It seems after repeatedly trying (and failing) to defeat Arron Banks in court, Carole Cadwalladr has now lost for the final time. For the Supreme Court today refused the Observer journalist’s application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s costs ruling in the libel case of Banks v Cadwalladr. Leaving her with
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From the Lords to the Commons: the state opening of parliament is truly a bicameral affair. Fresh from diadem-spotting in the Upper House, Mr S headed down to the other place after lunch, to hear the Loyal Address. This is the parliamentary procedure used to formally open the debate on the King’s Speech, with the
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Talk about the fickle nature of politics. Two months ago, Kemi Badenoch was crowned as the Tory members’ favourite, according to the Conservative Home league table of party activists. But now her crown has been stolen by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, who nabs the top spot for the first time with an impressive +71.8
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It’s the King’s Speech tomorrow and all of Westminster can barely contain itself. A new monarch might be on the throne, but the usual pre-briefing game hasn’t changed, with press stories aplenty as to the draft laws that are likely to be included. One bill that is set to be announced tomorrow is legislation to
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Nadine Dorries continues to make waves in Westminster. One episode she references in her book concerns shocking claims that the Tory party ‘covered up’ incidents of sexual misconduct by one of its own MPs. Today’s Mail on Sunday reports that Sir Jake Berry, who served as chairman between September and October 2022, wrote to the
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Some compulsory weekend viewing from GB News. The channel invited veteran broadcaster Michael Crick onto Neil Oliver’s show yesterday to discuss media censorship. So it was to some embarrassment then that as Crick began listing the various right-wing politicians employed there that Oliver was, er, forced to go to a break and cut the discussion
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A new row is dominating Holyrood’s corridors of power. What is it this time? War, famine, the never-ending ferries crisis? No, far more important: desk allocation in the Scottish parliament. Yes, it seems that the prospect of, er, being next door to Ash Regan has thrown the Scottish Greens into something of a tizzy. Following
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It’s the book that all Westminster is talking about. At long last, Nadine Dorries’ account of the plot to bring down Boris Johnson has started its serialisation in the Daily Mail. The former Culture Secretary has never been shy of making headlines and day one is a belter. Dorries claims that a ‘shadowy Tory No.10 fixer’
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Another day and another Labour U-turn. The current crisis in Gaza has split the Starmer Army as they walk the thin line between supporting Israel and not alienating their core vote. The current total of Labour MPs who are calling for ceasefire – in breach of party policy – now stands at 65, a third
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Not all is rotten in the state of Scotland. For at least former member of Nicola Sturgeon’s ancien régime appears to have actually believed her talk of ‘openness’ and ‘transparency’. Step forward Kate Forbes, the former Finance Secretary now banished to the backbenches. Amid the ongoing palaver about the Scottish government’s missing WhatsApps, the one-time SNP leadership
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It’s spooky season in Holyrood. Halloween might now be over but it seems that there are still scares in the air. Following the shock claims of an alleged Chinese spy working at the heart of Westminster, it seems that the parliamentary authorities up in Edinburgh are now taking no chances either. An invitation to a
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The mystery of the missing WhatsApps continues. Deputy First Minister Shona Robison took to the floor at Holyrood today to issue an update about the Scottish Government’s interactions with the UK Covid Inquiry. Amid ongoing concern about whether ministers deleted public records, Robison’s contributions don’t offer a whole lot of clarity… Addressing the Scottish parliament
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Today it was the turn of the Vote Leave gang to appear before the Covid Inquiry. And while Lee Cain, Boris Johnson’s onetime director of comms, gave a fairly sober appearance this morning, the arrival of Dominic Cummings produced the expectant headlines. Much of Cummings’ evidence today had first been revealed two-and-a-half years ago during
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All is not well in nationalist circles. Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing has now lashed out at the ‘petulant’ response of Humza Yousaf and the SNP leadership to Ash Regan’s defection to Alba. Steerpike can’t blame him — with hapless Humza’s muddled indy strategy confusing, er, just about everyone, they’re all back to fighting like
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Since slinking off into ignominious retirement two years ago, Westminster has been blessedly free of the pronouncements of Len McCluskey. Amid ongoing questions about a controversial hotel project, the former Unite boss has seemed largely content to reinvent himself as a scribe of sorts, teaming up with longtime comrade Jeremy Corbyn to release, er, a
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The mystery of the missing WhatsApps gets murkier. The Scottish Sunday Mail revealed yesterday that Nicola Sturgeon ‘manually’ deleted WhatsApp messages from during the pandemic; her successor Humza Yousaf was one of the government figures who was reported as claiming that the relevant message data no longer exists. The First Minister denies this, however. ‘I’ve
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Hang up the bunting and grab a suitcase of wine – it’s Covid Inquiry prime time. This week, the longest running farce in London is gearing up to take evidence from a succession of familiar faces including the likes of Vote Leave duo Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain. But before all that, it was the
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Another one bites the dust. In the latest blow to afflict the hapless Humza Yousaf, his onetime leadership rival Ash Regan has spectacularly defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba party at their annual conference. The Spectator pondered back in February whether Ash Regan was Alex Salmond in disguise. And now she appears to be his heir
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Is this the Scottish Green conference — or just an anti-Tory one? In his opening speech, co-leader Patrick Harvie laboured the point that he, er, just doesn’t like Prime Minister Rishi Sunak very much. Making some colourful accusations, Harvie didn’t hold back… Starting with his favourite fixation, the Scottish government minister seethed: ‘Heat pumps have