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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It was just 18 months ago that Keir Starmer took office, pledging to ‘stop the endless Conservative chaos’. How times change. Far from a politics that ‘treads more lightly on your lives’, it seems that every week now there is a fresh U-turn as the government totters like a punch-drunk boxer, stumbling from one crisis to
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When David Lammy announced that the Chagos Islands were to be handed over to Mauritius, it was greeted as the moment when the sun finally set on the British Empire. But a group of hardy peers are determined to rage, rage against the dying of the light, by doing their damnedest to hold up the
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During Covid, it used to be asked what Boris Johnson the journalist would make of Boris Johnson the Prime Minister. The same must be asked of Keir Starmer: what would the onetime civil liberties lawyer make of the incumbent premier? Having halved the number of afternoon lobby briefings in a bid to control the narrative,
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Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello, what’s all this then? It is a new year but the same old lines from Sir Mark Rowley, the permanently under-fire chief of the Metropolitan Police. Britain’s top bobby has been copping a fair bit of flack recently, amid never-ending questions about the behaviour of London’s bobbies and criticism of the capital’s
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The Dark Lord is back. Peter Mandelson has resurfaced, four months after being sacked as US ambassador for his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In his first interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, the Labour peer said he never saw girls at Epstein’s properties, and declined to apologise to the late paedophile’s victims for
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A new year and new headaches for the Labour whips’ office. Karl Turner, the long-serving MP for Hull East, has not taken too well to David Lammy’s plans to curb jury trials. He has been going out and about on the media airwaves, threatening all kinds of terrible trouble if the government don’t drop their
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Three cheers for the House of Lords. Labour might be trying to pack Britain’s second chamber with as many placemen as possible – but the noble peers are not going to take it lying down. For tonight, members of the Upper House inflicted yet another defeat on the government, this time over the deal to
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It’s all kicking off in the Commons tonight. The smash-and-grab assault on Caracas continues to dominate conversations in Westminster, with left-wingers furious at the Starmer government’s silence. And tonight, one of the Socialist Campaign Group’s most stalwart members, has decided to voice his irritation loudly and proudly. In response to the Foreign Secretary’s statement on
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Oh dear. It seems that all is not well in the party of good comrades. The Americans’ stunning snatch-and-grab operation in Venezuela has divided opinion among Labour MPs. Jeremy Corbyn may no longer be running the show – but it seems some still mourn the ending of Maduro’s regime. Among them was Richard Burgon, Jezza’s
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So. Farewell then 2025. The Chinese Zodiac calendar called this ‘The Year of the Snake’ – and my goodness Westminster has had more than its fair share these past 12 months. Such is the level of one-way traffic from the Tories to Reform that even the Labour party press office struggles to keep count of
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It is the season of goodwill to all men. So, in the spirit of brotherly love, Reform staff have today made a kindly Christmas gesture to their Tory rivals. Two removal vans rocked up at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) with an offer to help Kemi Badenoch’s staff move out ahead of their expected departure from
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Once, the Liaison Committee was a must-watch in the House of Commons. But the Starmer super-majority means that the thrice-yearly gathering is much more of a snoozefest than it used to be. Two thirds of the 31 members are card-carrying Labour MPs, elected when the PM was at the (short-lived) height of his power in
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Good old Dale Vince is at it again. The eccentric eco-millionaire seems to be plagued by a bout of foot-in-mouth-disease – as evidenced by his response to the tragedy at Bondi Beach, in which at least 15 people were killed. The green energy tycoon – who gave Keir Starmer’s party more than £5m last year – said after
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Another day, another bad poll for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party. With less than six months until the Scottish parliament election, pollsters are ramping up their research north of the border. The latest Holyrood voting intention poll to have dropped is from Ipsos Scotland, carried out between 27 November and 3 December, which shows the
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Labour MP Stella Creasy is hiring for a senior campaigns manger, and the job specifications are quite something. The Walthamstow parliamentarian is looking for someone who can help her ‘make change happen’ (where have we heard that before?), is opposed to ‘rage bait TikToks’ and understands why politicians have their ‘flaws and frustrations’. Handy knowledge
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December is a time for spirits aplenty. But has the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come visited early this year? Over in Cardiff Bay, it seems that a deal has been struck to pass a budget in the Welsh parliament. After a humiliating thumping in the Caerphilly by-election, the incumbent Labour government currently lacks a
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Christmas is nearly upon us – but there is no sign that Kemi Badenoch is ready to enjoy a rest. The Leader of the Opposition this morning held her second London press conference in as many days. The reason? A big pitch on welfare – just, er, a fortnight after her last such speech. But party spinners insisted that
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To Huw Edwards, who has resurfaced on social media to post a professionally shot black-and-white portrait in what some assume is a bid to rehabilitate himself. But it will take the former BBC star more than a new headshot to convince people he has changed: the family of a teenager groomed by Edwards has blasted
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You’re either in front of Mr S or you are behind. It was just six weeks ago that Steerpike reported that staff within Tory HQ were expecting to soon leave their longtime base on Matthew Parker Street. With the party’s lease up next summer, a new headquarters is needed. And today, the Conservatives have told
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To Falkirk, where Nigel Farage has flown ahead of the Holyrood elections – to announce another big name member of Reform UK. Now Lord Offord has jumped ship to Reform – and he intends to stand for election in Scotland next year. The businessman was given a peerage in 2021 by Boris Johnson and even
