Steerpike

Steerpike

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

Is Rishi Sunak off already?

It’s less than a week since he formally handed over the reins of power – but Rishi Sunak is wasting no time. On Wednesday, just five days after he formally resigned the leadership of the Conservative party, Sunak and his wife Akshata registered their latest venture on Companies House. The newly-incorporated ‘Office of Akshata Murty

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Did 100 Labour activists scare off 400k Democrat voters?

Was it Labour wot lost it? It was less than a month ago, as Kamala Harris appeared to be riding high, that dozens of bright-eyed British Starmtroopers began descending on America. In a now-infamous LinkedIn post, Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, urged others to join them in North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. ‘I

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Mike Amesbury due in court as Reform eyes seat

It’s never too long before Labour’s woes are back in the news. Now suspended MP Mike Amesbury has been summonsed to court to face an assault charge – after some rather shocking CCTV footage emerged a fortnight ago. The video appears to show the then-Labour politician speaking to a man at the side of a

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Will these celebs really leave the US over Trump?

Despite receiving the backing of a whole host of A-listers, including Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris still managed to lose the 2024 US election. Donald Trump will soon return to the White House – but he may not be the only one preparing a big move. Over the course of the campaign,

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Downing Street’s Diwali debacle

Twelve months ago, it was Rishi Sunak who was lighting a candle outside No. 10. So with a new regime installed in office, Mr S wondered how Keir Starmer would go about marking the Hindu festival. Sadly it seems that Starmer’s reverse Midas touch has struck again. For Steerpike hears that last week’s big bash

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Labour minister refuses to deny Trump has ‘Nazi sympathies’

The US election has been and gone and Donald Trump emerged victorious, with the former president set to re-enter the White House. The government sent Pat McFadden onto the airwaves today to field questions about the new president-elect – but the Labour MP became rather curiously tongue-tied on the matter of Trump’s politics… Quizzed by

Full list: the Cabinet members who blasted Trump

Donald Trump has won the US election, and will become the 47th president of the United States. But while the Republicans celebrate, the Labour lot may not be quite as happy. Starmer’s army has a history of being less than cordial about the president-elect, as new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch noted today at PMQs. Did

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Six Brits who had a bad election night

So Donald Trump is heading for the White House once again. It’s a result that has stunned much of the British commentariat, many of whom fawned over Kamala Harris when she was unveiled as Joe Biden’s successor. Yet, just like in 2016, Harris could not live up to her cheerleaders’ hype. With both Keir Starmer

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New York Times ‘Needle’ leans Trump

Over the past half hour, the famous New York Times ‘Needle’ has moved out of the ‘toss-up’ range, and into the ‘Trump range’. As of 2.47 a.m. UK time, the Grey Lady gives Donald Trump a 69 per cent chance of returning to the White House. The model estimates Trump will get 286 Electoral College

Who do Spectator readers think will win the US election?

With polls open across the United States a new President is about to be elected. But who is it going to be? Steerpike has already taken a look at the betting markets who have Trump down as the winner. But do Spectator readers agree? For the past fortnight Mr S has been asking new subscribers

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Five of Labour’s worst Trump attacks

The countdown is on, with just days left until the result of the US presidential election is announced. With pollsters across the world undecided about the likely outcome, Sir Keir’s Starmer’s government is trying to hedge its bets. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has insisted on the airwaves today that ‘there will be a really good

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Farage: Reform membership has surged since Badenoch win

At long last, the Tory leadership race concluded at the weekend after Kemi Badenoch was crowned victor on Saturday. But while the Conservatives finally have some semblance of stability with their newly-appointed leader and shadow cabinet, it’s not all good news for the blues. Nigel Farage has now claimed that since Badenoch’s weekend win, his

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Gamblers are putting their money on a Trump triumph

It’s polling day across the pond and Steerpike is keen to have a flutter. Opinion polling in the US election suggests the safe money is on Kamala Harris, but his fellow gamblers seem to be telling a different story. Data analysed by Mr S’s friends in the Speccies’ data dungeon shows money is pouring in

Scots revealed to be biggest Trump fans in western Europe

In a rather surprising development, it transpires that Scottish people are Donald Trump’s biggest fans in Europe. A Norstat poll for the Times has revealed that support for the US presidential candidate is higher north of the border than in the rest of the UK – and indeed western Europe. Who’d have thought it, eh?

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Labour’s tuition fee U-turn

Dear oh dear. It now transpires that Starmer’s army will increase university fees in line with inflation from September next year, as announced by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in the Commons today. It’s the first hike to tuition fees in eight years after university payments have remained frozen at £9,250 a year since 2017 –

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Guardian removes Israeli whisky reference

Well, well, well. It seems that the Guardian, the self-proclaimed bastion of ‘clarity and imagination’, has been acting rather censoriously of late. It transpires that, in a column navigating the world’s great whiskies by wine critic Henry Jeffreys, a reference to an Israeli single malt whisky was first removed from the print copy – before