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

Reform records highest support yet in Scotland

As if Brits haven’t had enough elections and leadership competitions lately, north of the border political parties are gearing up for the 2026 Scottish parliament poll. While the embattled SNP has had a rocky few months, now Scottish Labour is under fire thanks to Sir Keir Starmer’s unpopular policies. But there is one party that

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Watch: Labour MP’s cringeworthy Newsnight interview

The Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced a range of cuts to benefits payments in the Commons on Tuesday in a bid to save money and get people back to work. On the evening broadcast round that followed, Labour MP and pensions minister Torsten Bell was quizzed on Newsnight about what exactly the reforms

Does Labour believe Israel is breaching international law?

It’s a gaffe a day with David Lammy – but now his latest intervention has ruffled more feathers than usual. On Monday, the Foreign Secretary was firm in his view that, after Israel’s recent suspension of food, fuel and medical deliveries to Gaza, ‘this is a breach of international law’. Leaving no room for error,

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NYT outrage as Hezbollah-supporting professor deported

To Donald Trump’s America, where outrage spread across the nation’s left-wing papers at the weekend after it emerged that a Brown University professor had been deported from the country. Dr Rasha Alawieh had, the New York Times reported, a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her removal – and yet that didn’t stop

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Labour announce credit card crackdown in war on waste

After The Spectator’s Spaff probe brought the rather alarming extent of government waste to light, the Labour lot have hastened their crackdown on frivolous spending. The latest target? Credit cards. Thousands of government credit cards will be cancelled in a bid to crack down on wasteful spending, the Cabinet Office has said. Whitehall departments and

Even Italians are horrified by the NHS

Anyone who has the misfortune of stepping foot into a hospital recently will know how bad things are with the NHS, where the only good thing about the long waits is that they stave off the subsequent terrible treatment. Still, it is helpful sometimes to see how other countries view our health service – which has

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The Royal College of GPs’ curious assisted dying U-turn

A curious decision by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP). The UK governing council of the group – which represents GPs across Great Britain and Northern Ireland – opted on Friday to change its long-standing policy on assisted dying. It has now shifted to a position of neither supporting nor opposing assisted dying, prompting Kim

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Shakespeare Trust: celebrating Bard ‘benefits white supremacy’

In a society obsessed with political correctness and progressiveness, nothing is sacred – not, it seems, even William Shakespeare. It transpires that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which owns a number of buildings in the bard’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, is working on plans to ensure the writer’s place of origin will be ‘decolonised’. The move, as

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Did Prince Harry lie on his immigration files?

Once again, the spotlight is back on the monarch of Montecito. A US judge has now ruled that Prince Harry’s visa documents must be made public by Tuesday – in a bid to find out whether the Duke of Sussex lied on his immigration files about drug use. In the end, truth will out… The

Did Blair persuade Carney to run for PM?

To Canada, where Mark Carney is settling into his first week in the top job. The former Bank of England governor won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election and has been quick to turn his attention to the growing animosity between his nation and its neighbour over Donald Trump’s tariffs. But what prompted the new

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Reeves reignites freebies row over Sabrina Carpenter show

It’s shaping up to be a difficult year for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is struggling to get many within her own party – and Cabinet – onside with proposed spending cuts. But fear not, Reeves has managed to find some downtime amid the drama. It transpires that she nabbed free tickets to US singer Sabrina

Treasury: employer tax hikes could reduce employment

It has not been Rachel Reeves’s year. From accusations of CV embellishment to noisy backlash over the farmer’s tax, the Chancellor has been fighting on all fronts as she battles her way towards the Spring spending review. And now, in yet another blow for Reeves, it transpires that her plans to increase the amount of

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Lammy’s soft power council splurge

Is Keir Starmer a Tory? That’s the question much of Westminster is asking after his recent talk of welfare cuts, planning reform and raiding the aid budget to pay for defence. But while the Labour leader seems happy to talk the talk, some of his ministers are less keen to walk the walk. For while

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Sturgeon still under investigation as probe costs top £2m

Nicola Sturgeon may be leaving Holyrood next year, but the spectre of Operation Branchform isn’t going away any time soon. It transpires that Scotland’s former first minister is still under investigation by the police over the probe into the SNP’s finances and funding – with the four-year investigation running up costs of over £2 million.

Watch: Reynolds grovels over solicitor claim

Well, well, well. After Guido Fawkes revealed that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had previously – and inaccurately – referred to himself as a solicitor, the Labour man has now been forced to rather publicly correct the record. While the Stalybridge and Hyde MP did receive solicitor training at Addleshaw Goddard for ten months, he left

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Seven in ten Reform voters don’t recognise Rupert Lowe

It was only a few weeks ago that Reform UK was flying high in the polls. Now a fallout between the party leadership and MP Rupert Lowe has left their voters shaken – with Lowe currently suspended from the group over allegations of bullying made against his office and under investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Labour MP U-turns on benefit cuts letter

There’s drama in Labourland today as one backbencher appears to have had second thoughts about her stance on benefits payments – after the Get Britain Working group’s open letter went out with her name on it. The letter, which has called upon Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to introduce a ‘new social contract’ to

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Parliament splashes £4 million on traffic marshals

If you, dear reader, have visited parliament in recent years, you might have had the misfortune to be confronted by one of the new-fangled orange traffic marshals popping up around the estate. Given the crumbling state of the Commons, Mr S is constantly querying whether this army of apparatchiks is really necessary – given that

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Sturgeon to step down at Holyrood election

Farewell Nicola Sturgeon. The former first minister took to the professional platform that is Instagram today to announce that she will be stepping down as an MSP at the next election. After much speculation, the SNP’s ex-Dear Leader has confirmed that she does not plan to stand for Holyrood in 2026 – after spending more