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
Jeremy Corbyn may no longer be Labour leader but he’s still parroting the Kremlin’s lines. It seems like just yesterday the former Leader of the Opposition was accused of siding with Moscow over the Skripal poisonings, having suggested that Novichok samples from the Salisbury attack should be handed over to Russia. Undeterred by the opprobrium he
Cheer up Boris: at least there’s one MP having a worse time than you. It’s not been a great February so far for Craig Whittaker. The Tory MP for Calder Valley was just about the only member of the government to lose his job as a Whip last week in Boris Johnson’s mini-reshuffle. The Prime Minister has so many
Parliament is notoriously strapped for cash, so why are thousands of pounds being spent on unreturned IT equipment? Mr S has done some digging and Commons bosses have now written off a decent sum on outstanding kit loaned to MPs who either stood down or lost their seat at the 2019 general election. Items which cost the
It looks like the New York Times is at it again. In recent years, America’s least-reliable news source has developed a strange view of Britain — or at least since the Brexit vote in 2016. In the NYT’s world, the UK is a desolate place, where locals huddle round bin fires on the streets of London,
Undeterred by the SNP’s agonies, the Scottish Greens have now decided to jump into the row about post-Scexit pensions. The indy-backing party, which props up Nicola Sturgeon’s government at Holyrood, has come out claiming that nervy Scots need not worry about their pensions being paid if the country voters for secession, according to one of its
If James Dornan did not exist, Mr Steerpike would surely invent him, for the SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart is so fantastically absurd that he supplies endless (and endlessly entertaining) copy. Dornan is in the news again, this time for pronouncing that the BBC’s Sarah Smith imagined the abuse and misogyny she experienced while covering
Another day and another wait to see what, if anything, will happen in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin still has thousands of soldiers on the Russian border, there’s accusation of cyber-attacks on Kiev’s banks and defence ministry while Moscow media has been ridiculing the West over yesterday’s ‘day of no invasion.’ So, as Westminster works itself into a frenzy, Mr
Rishi Sunak boasts about a post-Covid ‘jobs miracle’ but when it comes to performing wonders in the labour market, they’ve got nothing on the SNP. Jeane Freeman, former health secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s devolved government, has been unveiled as the new Ambassador for Community Engagement, Public Health and Innovation at Glasgow University’s medical school. The
So that’s that then. After years of claims and counter-claims, Prince Andrew has settled with Virginia Giuffre for an eight-figure sum thought to be in the region of £12 million. This, for a woman he said he had never met. Hmm. The humiliation for the disgraced royal isn’t over yet though: self-promoting Corbynista Rachel Maskell,
Valentine’s day might have passed but the spirit of Kamasutra is still alive in one party at least. The many positions of the SNP’s finest on post-Scexit pensions has greatly amused Mr S in recent weeks, with Ian Blackford in particular appearing to be something of a tartan Tantric. First, the Westminster leader claimed that ‘absolutely
Happy register of interests’ day! Commons sleazebusters marked Valentines’ day yesterday by quietly releasing an updated list of MPs and what they’ve been declaring. There’s plenty of fun stuff there: Carlton plotter Will Wragg got a handy £5,000 donation from his gentleman’s club of choice while both Lib Dem leader Ed Davey and Labour MP Grahame
War, what is it good for? So asked The Temptations about Vietnam. But now a maverick independent peer appears to be answering that question quite seriously. As Westminster works itself into a frenzy over possible conflict with Russia, Lord Truscott – a non-affiliated member of the Upper House – has used the subject to ask the British government for
It was Valentine’s day yesterday in Westminster and while Steerpike did a round-up of MPs’ messages to their partners, there was one romantic dispatch he appears to have missed. Step forward Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, better known as the other half of Johnny, the veterans-obsessed Tory MP for Plymouth Moor View. Felicity’s Twitter game has been raising
Stormont, the home of Northern Ireland’s assembly, has never exactly been a place associated with social liberalism. So Steerpike was surprised to find that the Ulster parliament – where the Bible-bashing Ian Paisley held court for so long – has spent thousands of pounds on controversial LGBT+ charity Stonewall. Freedom of Information requests by Mr S found
Love is in the air – and no it’s not just Matt and Gina. Various MPs have taken to marking Valentine’s day today with images on social media of their loved ones. Health secretary Sajid Javid was early out of the blocks with a rather sweet image of himself with wife Laura, with whom he
Lobbying was a persistent theme of 2021 as first David Cameron and then Owen Paterson found themselves embroiled in various scandals over their paid activities. So it was with some trepidation that Mr S examined the first register of All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) of 2022. These informal cross-party organisations have been involved in all sorts
Jeremy Corbyn’s fans were never the sharpest tools in the box. But even by Corbynista standards, the egg-heads over at Skwawkbox do a disservice to the Magic Grandpa with their constant half-baked witterings. Since Labour was crushed at the 2019 election, Mr S hasn’t had to care much about what the left-wing websites says about anything, given
Oh dear. Britain’s onetime favourite ‘liberal’ is at it again. Mr S has chartered the sad decline of Vince Cable in recent months from household name to Beijing’s useful idiot. The onetime Lib Dem leader is one of the few mainstream politicians to claim China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang does not amount to genocide, as part
For some time now the New York Times has been a pioneer in the field of dodgy reporting on Britain. From declaring that Brits live on porridge and boiled mutton to suggesting that we love to cavort in swamps, the US paper of record has managed to paint an increasingly strange picture of life in
Cressida Dick may be gone but will her replacement be even worse? The under-fire Metropolitan police commissioner quit the job on Thursday after five years in the role, meaning that three of the last four Met bosses have now been forced out in disgrace. Dick’s departure has prompted an immediate search for her successor. Unfortunately, one