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.

Labour’s pint promise is small beer

31 October 2024 1:54 am

There were few silver linings in today’s Budget announcement – but one measure the Labour lot are rather keen to…

Reeves snubs Thatcher Chancellor pic for ‘Red Ellen’

30 October 2024 7:58 pm

To the subject of office decor, with Rachel Reeves now in the spotlight for matters other than her Budget. It…

Have Labour’s budget leaks breached the ministerial code?

30 October 2024 12:09 am

Well, well, well. Budget announcements are meant to be made in the House of Commons chamber – yet despite all…

Badenoch: My superpower would be reading minds

29 October 2024 11:30 pm

The Tory leadership contest has entered its final week and both finalists are ramping up their media appearances in a…

Full list: Brits who don’t count as working people

29 October 2024 9:37 pm

It’s the great game obsessing all Westminster: who exactly constitutes a ‘working person’? During the election, Labour regularly said that…

Listen: Streeting accuses private schools of ‘pleading poverty’

29 October 2024 8:12 pm

There are now less than 24 hours until Budget day, and this morning Wes Streeting was sent onto the airwaves…

Sir Keir suffers worst approval rating plunge of any new PM

29 October 2024 7:22 pm

While the Labour lot try and prepare the nation for Wednesday’s Budget announcement, the Prime Minister has had yet more…

Watch: Speaker torches Reeves on Budget leaks

29 October 2024 3:01 am

Sir Keir Starmer is known to detest leaks – but what about when it is the Prime Minister leaking himself?…

Tommy Robinson jailed for 18 months

29 October 2024 12:30 am

The prisons are bursting but it seems there is room for at least one more convict. Tommy Robinson has today…

Will Labour return the Elgin Marbles?

28 October 2024 11:47 pm

They’ve handed over the Chagos Islands and are up for talking reparations. So what else of Britain’s heritage is Labour…

Labour MP suspended after CCTV punch

28 October 2024 5:55 am

After a miserable few days involving a diplomatic row about reparations at the Commonwealth summit in Samoa, Keir Starmer will…

Tory candidates trade blows on final weekend

28 October 2024 2:55 am

The Tory leadership contest looks set to end next week without a single ‘yellow card’ being awarded. But the two…

Women’s Equality party to abolish itself

27 October 2024 7:47 pm

So. Farewell then the Women’s Equality party. Founded to much fanfare by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer in 2015, the…

Police probe alleged Labour MP assault

27 October 2024 2:04 am

It’s a big week for Labour ahead of the Budget on Wednesday. So it is somewhat sub-optimal then that a…

Will the Tories suspend Alan Duncan?

26 October 2024 1:14 am

Oh dear. Sir Alan Duncan is at it again. Back in April the former Tory minister was investigated by the…

Farage blasts ambassador picks for Trump 2.0

25 October 2024 9:20 pm

It’s the question all of Westminster is asking. If Donald Trump wins, who will be our next man in Washington?…

Osborne takes a pop at Jenrick’s ECHR plan

25 October 2024 3:09 am

With just over a week until the victor of the Tory leadership race is announced, the contest is ramping up…

Sir Keir rated worse than predecessors at same point as PM

25 October 2024 2:48 am

When it rains for Sir Keir, it pours. It now transpires that the Labour leader has achieved a worse rating…

MoJ protestors blast ‘ridiculous’ Labour prison scheme

25 October 2024 1:47 am

To Westminster, where outside the Ministry of Justice more than 300 protestors have held a silent vigil this afternoon. Activists…

Tory councillor defects to Reform after Farage plea

25 October 2024 12:29 am

Well, well, well. Less than 24 hours after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote to Conservative councillors in a bid…

Farage: ‘Ludicrous’ for Labour to damage Trump relationship

24 October 2024 9:41 pm

Sir Keir Starmer’s lot have hardly had an easy start in government, what with the cronyism rows, freebie fiasco and…

Diana biographer: Meghan has ‘worst judgement in world’

24 October 2024 1:51 am

They say all publicity is good publicity – unless you’re Meghan and Harry, that is. Despite their valiant efforts (including…

Lord Alli found in breach of parliamentary rules

23 October 2024 11:41 pm

Lord Alli never manages to stay out of the spotlight for long. Now the millionaire Labour donor has been found…

Northern Ireland Civil Service’s bizarre language guide

23 October 2024 11:12 pm

What isn’t deemed offensive these days? The latest version of Northern Ireland’s civil service ‘inclusive language guide’ has been published…

Labour-linked censorship group plans to ‘kill Musk’s Twitter’

23 October 2024 9:56 pm

Donald Trump’s campaign has submitted an official complaint accusing Labour of breaking US electoral law over the secondment of volunteers, just days…