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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Election results are coming in thick and fast – and the bad news is piling up for Rishi Sunak. Labour beat the Tories in the Blackpool by-election and Sunak’s party lost 130 seats in councils around England. Although Sunak allies like transport secretary Mark Harper insist that it’s too early to make judgement calls, the
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Purging the left has been one of Keir Starmer’s main goals since his election as leader four years ago. His team has taken the whip off Jeremy Corbyn, junked much of the party’s 2019 manifesto and moved to block left-wingers on Labour’s National Executive Committee as part of their bid to show that the party
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It’s only the beginning of a long weekend of election results, but so far so bad for Rishi Sunak’s Tory party. Even the veteran Tory commentator Tim Montgomerie has had enough, telling the BBC that the ‘results are so bad’ that Sunak ‘should go’. Meanwhile polling guru John Curtice predicts this weekend’s results will be
From our UK edition
Oh dear. As local election results start to trickle in, it’s not looking good for the Conservatives, with Rishi Sunak’s party losing councillors in Leave-voting areas like Hartlepool and Thurrock. And from the early morning media appearances, it sounds like some of the Starmer army are really rather enjoying revelling in today’s Tory misfortune… Appearing
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With millions of voters heading to the polls today, how many will forget to bring along suitable photo ID? One of the more noteworthy, it seems, is, er, Boris Johnson who was reportedly turned away from a polling station earlier today after failing to bring acceptable identification. According to Sky News, which broke the story:
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There’s a certain type of Tory who goes a bit gooey-eyed whenever David Cameron speaks. Since his Lordship’s return to the frontline of British politics last November, many a moderate can be heard gushing about the former leader’s mastery of communications. ‘At last’, they cry ‘The grown-ups are back in the room!’ The sentiment among
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Back to Scotland, where the SNP remains in a state of disarray. After hapless Humza Yousaf rather badly mishandled the ditching of the Greens from government, he was forced to announce his resignation when he realised he would lose a confidence vote in his leadership. And now, after a period of 72 hours in which
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Happy local elections day, one and all. As voters head to the polls across the country, the talk in Westminster is how bad the result is going to be for Rishi Sunak. His party is tipped to lose around 500 councillors, with mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen among the potential casualties. Faced with the
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News just in: Scotland’s Crown Office has still not received a report from Police Scotland about the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell — almost a fortnight after he was rearrested and charged with embezzlement. Talk about taking things slowly… The husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was taken into police custody for the
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Back to Scotland, where it’s set to be another turbulent day. The SNP continues its slow-motion implosion while leadership frontrunners Kate Forbes and John Swinney ponder about standing for the top job. To add insult to injury, Scottish Labour’s motion of no confidence in the Scottish government will be voted on this afternoon. As the
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If you thought the last you’d hear of George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain would be the Rochdale by-election, you were sadly mistaken. ‘Gorgeous George’s’ group is back in the limelight after former England cricketer, Monty Panesar, announced that he would be the party’s candidate in Ealing Southall at the upcoming general election — even
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In what seems like a watershed moment for the government’s Rwanda plan, the first migrant has been sent to the country from the UK. Only, um, it’s not actually the primary Rwanda deportation scheme that’s supposed to stop the small boats. No, this man voluntarily relocated to the central African country after being offered up
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To the Commons, where Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer this afternoon gave a ministerial statement on the future of the Telegraph Media Group. It follows this morning’s news that the Abu Dhabi-backed company RedBird IMI will put the Daily Telegraph and Spectator titles back up for sale, after parliament moved to block foreign state ownership of UK newspapers and magazines. Frazer gave
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Starmer Chameleon does it again. The publication of the Cass review brought about a period of reckoning for politicians previously willing to live in fantasyland — and now it’s Sir Keir who has been forced to swallow his words. After years of flip-flopping on the trans issue, the Labour leader this morning admitted that he
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It’s a gaffe a day with the SNP. Even with hapless Humza stepping down, the Nats are still slipping up. This time the deputy first minister Shona Robison is in the limelight, after Yousaf’s second-in-command made an on-air blunder just hours after the First Minister announced he would be quitting his job. In the world’s
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A First Minister on the ropes, facing questions about his judgement? No, it’s not hapless Hamza Yousaf this time. Instead, the latest legislator in the firing line is none other than Vaughan Gething, the recently-selected head of the Welsh government at Cardiff Bay. Gething has been in the job for less than six weeks but
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It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ which means hapless Humza Yousaf is once again having a tough time of it. After ditching the Green coalition and therefore his pro-independence majority in Holyrood, Yousaf left himself vulnerable to no confidence motions – and opposition parties haven’t let the opportunity pass them by. As Yousaf faces
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Much has been made of Liz Truss’s book since its publication a fortnight ago. Jeering critics were quick to mock but Mr S was among the first to note that Amazon actually sold out of copies within 72 hours, such was the demand from punters. And today’s Sunday Times confirms that there is a still
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So. Farewell then Dan Poulter. The Central Suffolk MP has today switched from the Conservatives to join the Starmer army, firing off a double-barrelled blast at his former party’s handling of the NHS. The Tories, Poulter says, are now little more than a ‘nationalist party’ who have abandoned ‘compassion’ as part of an increasingly ‘rightward
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Scotland’s beleaguered First Minister Humza Yousaf is reportedly considering his position this morning, despite insisting on Friday that he would not resign from the post and intended ‘to win the vote of no confidence’. Hapless Yousaf made his bed on Wednesday morning by U-turning on the Bute House Agreement and ditching his coalition partners –