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.

Watch: Lammy flounders in Rayner defence

7 April 2024 8:30 pm

When you’re in a hole, who gonna call? David Lammy! Yes, the Shadow Foreign Secretary was out on the airwaves…

Scotland’s police at ‘breaking point’ over hate law

7 April 2024 12:53 am

Oh dear. As the furore around Scotland’s Hate Crime Act extends into its sixth day, there are now fears about…

Listen: David Cameron refuses to answer Gaza questions

5 April 2024 5:47 am

After the tragic news of the deaths of three British aid workers, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, both…

Poll predicts Labour could become Scotland’s largest party

4 April 2024 4:30 am

As Scotland’s embattled First Minister continues to face backlash over his Hate Crime Act, his party has been hit with…

Four groups keeping quiet on the SNP’s Hate Crime Act

4 April 2024 2:53 am

It’s three days since Scotland’s Hate Crime Act took effect and there is no sign of public outrage dissipating anytime…

Rishi Sunak slams Scotland’s Hate Crime Act

2 April 2024 11:35 pm

Scotland’s Hate Crime Act has got off to a rather rocky start, to put it mildly. On Monday, when the…

Will Angela Rayner take her own advice?

28 March 2024 8:56 pm

It seems Angela Rayner is in hot water again. The Labour deputy leader might have thought she had escaped unscathed…

Galloway suggests Obama involvement in Moscow attack

28 March 2024 12:39 am

The fall-out continues from Friday’s attack on Moscow concert hall attack in which 139 people were reported dead. Russian officials…

Tories split on CCHQ attack ads

27 March 2024 10:12 pm

It’s five weeks to go until the local elections and Tory high command are stepping up their attacks. On Monday,…

Watch: Stephen Colbert grovels for Kate joke

26 March 2024 11:24 pm

Oh dear. In his never-ending quest to prove that he’s almost as funny as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert has tripped…

Steve Bray is silenced, finally

26 March 2024 3:14 am

It must be a hard job being the Metropolitan Police. Too hardline and you risk howls of protest from the…

Jon Sopel joins the Garrick Club

24 March 2024 11:03 pm

Tough times for the Garrick Club, after the embarrassing leak of its membership list to the Guardian. Following the newspaper’s…

Revealed: Reform leader issues letter of complaint to ‘out of touch’ Mail group

23 March 2024 1:25 am

Richard Tice is on a mission to crack down on ‘defamatory and libellous’ slurs against his party as the election…

Fake Labour minister polls better than real frontbenchers

22 March 2024 10:30 pm

While the polls continue to predict a Labour victory at the next election, it’s not all rosy for Sir Keir…

Watch: Douglas Murray schools Al Jazeera journalist on Israel-Gaza conflict

22 March 2024 7:34 pm

When you’re interviewing an expert, it never hurts to come prepared. But when Al Jazeera journalist Jane Dutton quizzed Douglas…

Watch: Justin Welby takes a pop at CofE ‘whiteness officer’ job

22 March 2024 4:12 am

Just when you think the woke wars can’t get more ridiculous, they do. It transpires that the Diocese of Birmingham…

Watch: Donald Trump’s bid to woo Latino voters

21 March 2024 10:43 pm

President Joe Biden has been touring Nevada and Arizona in an attempt to win back disgruntled Hispanic voters. ‘This guy…

Simon Case quits the Garrick Club

21 March 2024 3:20 am

Should we expect a flash sale on Garrick Club memberships? The cabinet secretary Simon Case is the second high-profile figure…

Watch: Lee Anderson’s ‘institutional racism’ takedown

21 March 2024 2:29 am

It’s hardly been a week since Lee Anderson defected to the flanks of Reform UK and already the red wall…

David Lammy’s Thatcher u-turn

20 March 2024 11:50 pm

As Labour prepares for power, the party’s leading lights are busy u-turning: not least on their views on Margaret Thatcher.…

Simon Case’s five worst WhatsApp moments

20 March 2024 3:12 am

At long last, Simon Case has received his hearing date for the UK Covid Inquiry. The most senior civil servant…

BBC apologises for calling Reform ‘far-right’

19 March 2024 10:24 pm

Another day, another BBC blunder. This time the broadcaster admits that it was wrong to describe Richard Tice’s Reform UK…

Night czar is ‘good value for money’ insists Sadiq Khan

18 March 2024 11:39 pm

Back to one of Sadiq Khan’s worst mistakes in office: Amy Lamé. The underwhelming ‘night czar’ is in the news…

Porn project received thousands of pounds of Scottish taxpayers’ cash

16 March 2024 1:48 am

Good heavens. Just when you think events north of the border can’t get any more ridiculous, they do. Now it…

Meghan launches new lifestyle brand

15 March 2024 8:57 pm

Never able to keep herself from the spotlight for long, Meghan is back on Instagram. After her Archetypes podcast series…