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
During her time as a Labour councillor, Karen Danczuk has managed to have bust-ups with women in both the Conservative party and her own. As well as Danczuk’s ongoing spat with Louise Mensch over her revealing selfies, she claimed last month that Harriet Harman had told her to join Girls Aloud – something Harman has denied. With Danczuk now stepping down from
Earlier this month the Labour party were accused of not including pictures of Ed Miliband on campaign literature out of fear that the mere image of their party leader could scare off voters. Now Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy appears to have gone one step further and simply not mentioned Labour at all. Ruth Davidson, the leader of the
Ed Miliband used last night’s election interview with Jeremy Paxman as an opportunity to blast the Murdoch press. The Labour leader told viewers that he had stood up to Rupert Murdoch, and would continue to do so in spite of whatever bad publicity is thrown at him as a result. However, this appeared to come as news to Murdoch.
Tonight Kay Burley will moderate a ‘town hall’ style Q&A with David Cameron and Ed Miliband as part of the election debate package. When Mr S bumped into Burley’s Sky colleague Adam Boulton at this morning’s Helen Darroze Regency Power Breakfast at The Connaught, there was no sign of sour grapes about him not being assigned the gig: ‘Sky took
Benedict Cumberbatch once complained that ‘posh-bashing’ had got so bad in Britain that he was contemplating a move to America. Cumberbatch, who attended Harrow, moaned that people showed prejudice towards his background despite the fact that he is not actually that posh. ‘I wasn’t really born with a silver spoon in my mouth, or as part of the landed gentry,’
The Liberal Democrats have unveiled their funky new campaign poster this morning, only to unceremoniously dump it on a yellow line on an empty street in Westminster: Mr S is slightly concerned for the career prospects of whichever party bod designed the poster, as it appears they need to learn how to cross the road. In
Tonight Ed Miliband and David Cameron will be interviewed by Jeremy Paxman in two separate interviews, after Cameron declined to do a head-to-head interview with the Labour leader. Now, Mr S hears that the prospect of a Paxman grilling has been keeping Miliband up at night. Word reaches Steerpike that Miliband has hired the help of American public relations guru Michael
Ed Miliband had a disastrous PMQs today after the Labour leader claimed the Tories would raise VAT, only to have David Cameron deny that he would increase the tax. Besides leaving Miliband lost for words, Cameron’s pledge has also left a massive hole in Labour’s election campaign. It was only yesterday that Ed Balls unveiled a snazzy new poster,
Cracks within the Liberal Democrats began to surface this week after Vince Cable publicly denounced Tim Farron as a future party leader. Now things have got even stranger. An excruciating mash-up video featuring Nick Clegg, and set to the tune of Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, has been released. Mr S was surprised to see that the source
Last week Mr S reported how Jeremy Clarkson took to the stage at a charity event and called the BBC a bunch of ‘f—ing b—–ds’. He may well be uttering those words again today after Lord Hall released a statement saying that the BBC will not be requiring the Top Gear host’s services any more
Never one to miss a dig, hats off to the PM at the final PMQs of this parliament for managing to shoehorn a gag about Ed Miliband into a spurious point about the Battle of Bosworth. Responding to a question regarding Richard III from self-noted historian Chris Skidmore, Cameron couldn’t help himself: ‘Of course, this
Next week will see the dissolution of Parliament and the official start of the election campaign. With some MPs destined never to return to the House of Commons, offices are shut down and the keys to the country are handed over to the civil service for six or so weeks. So from 00:01 on Monday
After Boris Johnson got his dates muddled while discussing his biography of Winston Churchill on LBC yesterday, it has come to Mr S’s attention that a selective memory could run in the family. Speaking at an Oldie literary lunch earlier this month, Boris’s father Stanley Johnson revealed to Steerpike that there is an embarrassing mistake in his second autobiography Stanley, I
Boris was waxing lyrical about Winston Churchill during his weekly LBC phone-in earlier when it all went a little wrong. Discussing the ‘many different phases Churchill’ went through ‘in his life’, Boris recalled that ‘in 1908 I think you’ll remember, he was in favour of cutting defence spending when he was going around with Lloyd
It’s been a bad month for dogs, first there were reports of the fatal poisoning of a prize-winning Crufts dog, and now there will be no canine lead in the new series of Downton Abbey. Downton fans were left outraged last year after the Grantham family’s beloved Labrador Isis was killed off during the fifth
What Dave said in his kitchen during an interview with the BBC has blown this week’s news agenda wide open, yet Mr S couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact the PM was in the kitchen at all. After Miliband’s ‘kitchenette’ spin gaffe last week, it was no coincidence that Dave and Sam invited James Lansdale
Some voters may be rather puzzled by David Cameron’s comments that Prime Ministerial terms ‘are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many’. The most popular Shredded Wheat today is the bitesize variety (above). But Mr S is informed that the original, monster-sized Shredded Wheat was a staple of the breakfast halls of
Who needs the Comedy Channel when you have Newsnight? The best part last night was watching Michael Gove who has been dispatched to try to make sense of David Cameron’s tragicomic pre-resignation. You can’t, of course, there is no logic that justifies starting a leadership race on the week you’re supposed to launch a general election campaign. Gove
David Cameron is facing calls from Labour to discipline a local council candidate after they dressed as Oscar Pistorius for a costume party. Gregg Peers – who is standing for the Conservatives in a Cumbria County Council by-election – posted photos of himself in the fancy dress on his Facebook page. Labour’s Liz Kendall has said the
Miliband finally got some good media coverage this weekend. Alas, it was David rather than Ed who was on the receiving end. The Labour leader’s brother was branded ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ in a glowing profile in the Sunday Times. According to well sourced ‘friends’, the former Foreign Secretary turned Labour leadership loser has conquered America and is