Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from London and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk.

Refugee Council’s closed door policy

24 September 2024 2:51 am

When the Tories were in power, one of the harshest critics of the government’s Rwanda scheme to deport asylum seekers…

Watch: Reeves’s hypocrisy over freebie row

24 September 2024 1:56 am

Back to Labour’s freebie row, which has spilled over into conference week. Sir Keir Starmer’s top team is desperate to…

Wes Streeting’s surprising praise for Reform

23 September 2024 11:47 pm

After the general election this year, Nigel Farage argued that he was now the leader of the opposition, after his…

Starmer’s biographer slams ‘office politics’ of freebie fiasco

23 September 2024 11:01 pm

It’s day two of Labour conference and Sir Keir Starmer’s freebie fiasco still hasn’t gone away. Over a week since…

Watch: Reeves’ heckled by Gaza activist

23 September 2024 10:19 pm

It’s Rachel Reeves’ big day at conference today. After 80 days of doom and gloom, the Starmer army have concluded…

Starmer sends Glittergate warning

23 September 2024 8:32 pm

To Liverpool, where Sir Keir Starmer is enjoying his first Labour conference in government, against the backdrop of rather stormy…

Labour minister: we could be in power for 25 years

23 September 2024 3:51 am

Party conferences are never short of hyperbole. Whether it’s on the conference floor or the late night bar, impromptu speeches…

Sue Gray’s Labour conference no-show

23 September 2024 3:16 am

As well as being paid more than the Prime Minister, it seems Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff is getting…

Mick Lynch mocks Labour’s outfit freebies

23 September 2024 2:03 am

Poor Keir Starmer. One of the first things he did after becoming prime minister was to stuff the unions’ mouths…

Richard Burgon fails to draw a crowd at Labour conference

22 September 2024 10:24 pm

Oh for the days of ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’. It only seems like yesterday that the likes of John McDonnell and…

Starmer approval rating hits record low

22 September 2024 6:51 pm

Sir Keir Starmer is having a tough time of it, what with his ongoing freebie fiasco, the cronyism row and…

Now Rayner’s register of interests is under scrutiny

22 September 2024 6:38 am

This weekend Labour hosts its party conference in power for the first time in 15 years. The great and the…

Abbott: Starmer is in the ‘pocket of millionaires’

21 September 2024 9:02 pm

As if Sir Keir Starmer didn’t have enough on his plate what with his freebie scandal, Sue Gray inquiry and…

Farage plots his next US trip

21 September 2024 4:30 am

It’s his sworn ambition to become Prime Minister of the UK by 2029. But is Nigel Farage perhaps spending a…

PM must keep Tory switchers on side, warns report

21 September 2024 3:27 am

Reform’s party conference is in full swing in Birmingham, as the leadership continue to hammer home their pivotal role in…

Lee Anderson takes a pop at Sadiq Khan – again

21 September 2024 2:31 am

Ding ding ding! The gloves are coming off today in Birmingham, where Reform UK is hosting its day-long party conference.…

MPs slam Starmer over freebie fiasco

21 September 2024 1:51 am

Sir Keir’s frockgate scandal is only gathering pace, it appears, after a rather calamitous week for the Prime Minister. Donations…

Watch: Starmer’s top team ‘over-controlling’, says Jess Phillips

20 September 2024 9:26 pm

Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping his first Labour conference as Prime Minister this weekend goes better than the last…

‘Ignorant’ Lammy urged to retract Azerbaijan remarks

20 September 2024 3:35 am

It’s a gaffe a day with David Lammy. Now the Foreign Secretary has come under fire after he hailed Azerbaijan…

Abbott: I’ve never had a nice chat with Starmer

20 September 2024 3:09 am

Diane Abbott is on the warpath, and her target is Sir Keir Starmer. Earlier this week, the Labour MP hit…

Watch: James O’Brien attacks Nigel Farage in scathing rant

20 September 2024 1:45 am

Good heavens. Does no one teach journalistic etiquette these days? This afternoon James O’Brien caused a stir on social media…

Revealed: Starmer’s top five freebies

19 September 2024 11:56 pm

The Prime Minister has been generating scores of headlines lately – for all the wrong reasons. It has transpired this…

End Tory leadership race early, says Tugendhat

19 September 2024 9:07 pm

While Labour’s dirty laundry over ‘frockgate‘ is being aired in public, it would be easy to forget there are still…

Labour minister: Freebies are ‘part of the job’

19 September 2024 7:36 pm

Dear oh dear. Things are only getting worse for Sir Keir, as it now transpires that the Prime Minister accepted…

Sue Gray paid more than the Prime Minister

18 September 2024 11:48 pm

To Westminster, where more trouble is afoot. It now transpires the Prime Minister is paid less than, er, his own…