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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Nigel Farage has been on a well-deserved high after Reform pulled off a spectacular coup at the local elections. But could that all be about to come crashing down? As if today didn’t already have its fair share of twists and turns, the Commons sleaze watchdog decided to announce a probe into the Reform leader.
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Pity Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting. The embattled Prime Minister must get through a King’s Speech against the backdrop of the Labour Party utterly despising him. And the Health Secretary must sit through the King’s Speech while preparing for a risky regicide that could kill off his own career. Tough dynamics to navigate. The
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More than 50 backbenchers have now called for Sir Keir Starmer to resign, despite his rousing rallying cry for unity this morning. But the big question now is which, if any, of Labour’s big beasts will make a move against their dear leader. While cabinet contenders bide time, Mr S is told that ministers on
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‘Andy Burnham for thee, but not for me’ — so suggests one of the Manchester Mayor’s top Labour cheerleaders today. Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, took to BBC Breakfast to make the case for her king in the North amid growing Westminster speculation about a left-wing leadership challenge. The backbencher explained that ‘the country
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Labour MP Catherine West today accelerated her campaign to move out of the ‘random backbencher’ club and towards becoming a household name. The Aussie-born left-winger sent shockwaves through Westminster over the weekend after seemingly out of nowhere threatening to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour crown. While she stopped short of doing exactly that
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While all eyes today rest squarely on Sir Keir Starmer and the will-he-won’t-he question of surviving a leadership coup, Mr S cannot help but enjoy a glance over the shoulder at dear Zack Polanski. The Green leader has once again – sigh – been caught out over another glaring falsehood on his CV. Polanski’s past,
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Oh dear. It seems that nothing is going Keir Starmer’s way. Our poor PM is losing Labour MPs at a rate of knots, with nearly 40 now demanding his hand. With Wes Streeting’s allies briefing furiously, it increasingly looks like the Labour leader’s days are numbered. And this evening Angela Rayner has decided to get
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The SNP look just about set to keep hold of Holyrood with an overall majority – but not without some major casualties. Spare a thought for Angus Robertson, who has been ousted from his Edinburgh Central seat by another nat – only this time from the Scottish Greens. The former government minister and party deputy
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Louise Haigh today became the first Labour grandee to (publicly) suggest Sir Keir Starmer should head for the door. The backbench powerbroker presented the prime minister with an ultimatum, urging him to make a sharp turn left or set out a timetable for exiting so someone else – read: Andy Burnham – can. The leader
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No one enjoys a first encounter with an ex after a break-up. But surely few less so than Robert Jenrick and his one-time Tory leadership cheerleader, Victoria Atkins. The unlucky pair were parked side-by-side on the Beeb for a painfully awkward local elections post-mortem. In an Oscar-worthy admission, Atkins revealed that Jenrick hasn’t spoken to
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Allahu Akbar, one and all. It’s been a big night for Green and independent candidates standing in the Gaza – sorry, British – local elections. While Reform has much to celebrate in gaining ground across the country, so too, it seems, do the people of Palestine, who now find themselves represented in town hall decision-making
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It’s been a stonking set of local elections for Reform, with a turquoise wave sweeping through country showing no signs of slowing down. The party has penetrated the backyards of wannabe prime ministers Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham and has swept to victory in the former Tory stronghold of Havering. Already Reform is up 250
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Good old Zack Polanski spent the night before the local elections pontificating once again on – you guessed it – Palestine. The searing insight Britain’s own former breast-enhancing hypnotist offered this time was that Israel does not have a right to exist. This, the philosophising Green leader proclaimed, is because no country should enjoy such
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Sir Keir Starmer’s desperation to get down with the kids hit new lows in the run up to the local elections. The Prime Minister’s team genuinely think that the best way to bring the ‘real Keir’ to the youngsters is bypassing the lens of the evil right-wing media and heading straight to… TikTok! Given its
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Happy polling day one and all. While the political parties knock up doors, the Financial Times has brought some merriment to Westminster by revealing plans for the forthcoming Kings’s birthday honours’ list. There are the usual City grandees including the bosses of Barclays, Citigroup and the London Stock Exchange Group (up the workers eh?) But Steerpike’s
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Andy Burnham has once again sent Labour’s Blairite backbenches into a storm. The wannabe Prime Minister has a knack for infuriating his party’s ‘right’ and today is no exception. His latest wheeze? Signing up to a ‘progressive rally’ in East London, where he’ll be parked alongside such political luminaries as former Green leader Caroline Lucas
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With a day to go before voters head to the polls, Zack Polanski is determined to go out with a bang. Having already issued a quasi-apology to the police after criticising their handling of the Golders Green knife incident, the great Green boob whisperer decided the morning before local elections day would be the perfect
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Zack Polanski is no stranger to reinventing himself. He’s been an actor, a hypnotherapist capable of enlarging breasts, a nightclub promoter, a mental health counsellor and even… a Lib Dem. Now the Times has uncovered another entry on the already well-stuffed Polanski CV. According to the Green leader, he once served dutifully as a spokesman for the
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With two days to go before voters take to the ballot box, leadership manoeuvring, that perennial Westminster pastime, has slipped into a higher gear. Allies of Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have been making the rounds among ever more febrile backbenchers. And their respective teams are at work to ensure plans are in
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A key component of Kemi Badenoch’s pitch to the country is that ‘you will always know where you stand with me’. Yesterday, out on the local elections campaign trail, the Tory leader jumped at the opportunity to prove it. You may not agree with me, but you will always know where you stand with me.