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.

Murdoch stumps up for Boris’s Montana meeting

18 November 2022 1:25 am

Boris Johnson hasn’t always enjoyed the best relationship with Rupert Murdoch’s titles, having once been sacked as a Times trainee…

Watch: Xi rips into Trudeau

17 November 2022 3:59 am

Justin Trudeau might be the self-anointed king of elite liberal opinion but it appears his methods find little favour with…

Is Rishi backsliding on China already?

15 November 2022 9:11 pm

It used to be said that political parties were Eurosceptic in opposition, but Europhile in government. The same perhaps could now…

Watch: Matt Hancock grilled about affair

11 November 2022 9:21 pm

Westminster tuned in last night for another episode of I’m a Celebrity. There’s no winner yet but one obvious loser,…

Matt Hancock starts his jungle jamboree

11 November 2022 2:19 am

‘Mr Hancock, I presume?’ was the reaction our former Health Secretary presumably hoped to elicit upon entering the jungle last…

Boris’s babes to join the Lords

8 November 2022 9:37 pm

They were the dynamic, priapic premiers who guided their country through a pandemic – and the comparisons between Boris Johnson…

Matt Hancock’s taxpayer-serviced Aga

8 November 2022 3:41 am

For the first time since Covid, it’s the question all of Westminster is asking: where is Matt Hancock? Within the…

All change at CCHQ

5 November 2022 3:42 am

The winds of change are blowing through the corridors of 4 Matthew Parker Street. Having turfed team Truss out of…

Poll: voters hope Matt Hancock loses in the jungle

4 November 2022 11:56 pm

The new series of I’m a Celebrity airs on Sunday and the producers have done a decent job of making…

Gove gets the gang back together

1 November 2022 3:06 am

It’s not just Suella Braverman and Dominic Raab who have got their old jobs back. Following the Truss interregnum, normal…

Truss in Russian phone-hacking scare

30 October 2022 7:38 am

Oh dear. Liz Truss probably didn’t think her week could get any worse, five days after resigning the premiership and…

Rishi raids ITV (again)

30 October 2022 12:27 am

The revolving door in No/ 10 seems to turn even faster these days, given the news that Downing Street will…

Farage gets his fortune (and freedom)

29 October 2022 12:39 am

He’s had his money worries in the past, but life seems to be pretty sweet for Nigel Farage right now.…

Trevor Noah's bizarre Sunak skit backfires

27 October 2022 8:32 pm

Fire up the engine, the clickbait machine has gone into overdrive. Mr S doesn’t spend much of his time watching…

Watch: Sunak savages Starmer

26 October 2022 11:00 pm

What a first day. Just 24 hours after walking up Downing Street to enter that famous black door, Rishi Sunak…

Six of the worst reactions to Sunak as PM

26 October 2022 10:30 pm

The chorus of execration that met the appointment of Rishi Sunak as PM has been music to Steerpike’s ears. There are…

Watch: Biden butchers Sunak's name

25 October 2022 8:39 pm

Joe Biden, the man whose diet seems to consist of ice cream and gaffes, has done it again. Having managed…

Watch: Xi’s predecessor marched out of CCP meeting

22 October 2022 11:15 pm

Is this the start of a new Xi Jinping purge? Earlier today, the former Chinese president Hu Jintao was manhandled…

Runners and riders for next Tory PM

21 October 2022 2:33 am

Well, that’s that. The disastrous premiership of Liz Truss will come to an end next week after 52 days in…

Now the Aussies mock Truss too

18 October 2022 10:23 pm

How are the mighty fallen. Once, Liz Truss was the toast of Canberra, the champion of AUKUS and a Free…

Cancelled Kanye West buys cancelled free speech platform Parler

18 October 2022 4:20 am

Hear Ye Hear Ye! The news today has broken that Kanye West – who calls himself Ye – has bought Parler, the…

Mordaunt: Truss isn't 'hiding' under a desk

18 October 2022 2:15 am

Oh dear. Liz Truss ducked the opportunity to come to the House to explain Jeremy Hunt’s U-turn earlier today. So…

Watch: Tory Muppets show

18 October 2022 12:59 am

Spiraling markets and grim-faced MPs don’t always make for the best of television viewing. Indeed, given the ongoing case in…

Watch: first Tory MP calls for Truss to go

17 October 2022 12:00 am

In office, Liz Truss promised to be the ‘disruptor in chief’. Unfortunately, most of that disruption has proved to be…

Does Joe Biden know what ‘super-wealthy’ Americans pay in tax?

16 October 2022 7:30 pm

Joe Biden, ice cream in hand as so often, yesterday pronounced on Liz Truss’s tax reform disaster. ‘I wasn’t the…