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.

Pro-life buffer zone residents could face £10,000 fines

10 October 2024 11:46 pm

Welcome to the land of the unfree – otherwise known as Scotland. John Swinney’s SNP government have laid out its…

Labour under fire over Taylor Swift policing fiasco

10 October 2024 9:54 pm

Dear oh dear. It transpires that the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper received a free concert ticket to Taylor Swift’s shows…

Sir Keir’s curious Falklands claim

10 October 2024 3:52 am

While Sir Keir Starmer and outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak went tête-à-tête in today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr S is…

Bookies back Badenoch in final two crunch

10 October 2024 1:41 am

The countdown for the two Tory leadership finalists is on – and in just over an hour the Conservative party…

Watch: Sunak’s ‘fire and rehire’ Sue Gray jibe

9 October 2024 11:35 pm

It’s the first Prime Minister’s Questions since conference season and Labour’s recent woes have given the leader of the opposition…

Cleverly slams Home Secretary over Taylor Swift’s special escort

9 October 2024 10:28 pm

Well, well well. The Labour lot are under the spotlight once again. It transpires, after the Sun newspaper’s splash this…

Farage predicts Tory leadership finalists

9 October 2024 9:46 pm

Today’s the day that the nation finds out who the final two Conservative leadership candidates will be – after a…

Boris: I could have saved Britain from ‘insane Marxist Labour party’

9 October 2024 6:50 pm

Last night former prime minister Boris Johnson hosted his official book launch for new memoir ‘Unleashed’. The ex-Tory leader welcomed…

Sarwar faces mini-rebellion over winter fuel payment cuts

9 October 2024 4:54 am

To Holyrood, where Scotland’s politicians have overwhelmingly voted to oppose the Labour government’s winter fuel payment cuts. 99 MSPs voted…

Channel 4 books Stormy Daniels for US election night coverage

8 October 2024 11:47 pm

Well, well, well. Channel 4 has announced that it has booked none other than Donald Trump-nemesis Stormy Daniels as a…

Yousaf under fire for blasting officials in Covid WhatsApps

8 October 2024 10:35 pm

All has not been well in the Scottish government for some time – and the latest revelation that former first…

Labour lead slashed to one point

8 October 2024 8:13 pm

When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Polling by More in Common via Politico has revealed that Labour’s…

Boris slams ‘greedy’ Starmer over freebie fiasco

8 October 2024 7:53 pm

Sue Gray may have moved on, but Sir Keir Starmer’s freebie headache isn’t going anywhere. Now former prime minister Boris…

Sue Gray’s allies turn on Starmer

8 October 2024 5:00 pm

Another day, another Sue Gray-related drama. Even though the ex-civil servant has resigned from the role of Sir Keir Starmer’s…

Ex-Green leader declares war on strawberries

8 October 2024 12:19 am

Who remembers Natalie Bennett, the Aussie-accented eco-warrior whose car crash interviews briefly enlivened the 2015 election campaign? The onetime Green…

Watch: Labour Red Prince flounders in GB News grilling

7 October 2024 10:34 pm

It’s been a golden start in politics for Hamish Falconer. The son of former Lord Chancellor Charlie, the ex-Westminster boy…

Sue Gray’s top five lowlights

7 October 2024 6:00 pm

Change is the flavour of the month and nobody knows that better than Sir Keir Starmer’s top team, which on…

Pundits left red-faced over ‘serious politics’ claims

7 October 2024 3:10 am

Another one bites the dust. Now Sue Gray has resigned from her top job as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of…

SNP police probe investigating fake company claim

7 October 2024 1:20 am

Back to Scotland, where the police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances continues to rumble on. Now it transpires…

Kemi Badenoch wins a surprise endorsement

6 October 2024 6:50 pm

It’s just four days to go until the next round of voting for Tory leader. So, with the various candidates…

Scottish Tories fume over leadership rivals snubbing Scotland

5 October 2024 4:08 am

Back to the Tory leadership contest which is gathering pace post-conference season. In a matter of days, MPs will cast…

Could Starmer sign away the Falklands too?

5 October 2024 12:16 am

When Sir Keir Starmer announced on Thursday that the UK will cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, he…

Fifteen top takes from Boris Johnson’s memoir

4 October 2024 10:35 pm

Boris Johnson’s new memoir Unleashed is to be published next week, and with the highly-anticipated account promising to be the…

Cleverly and Jenrick slam CCHQ machine

4 October 2024 7:06 pm

Who would want to work in Conservative Campaign Headquarters? The election this year was certainly not Tory high command’s finest…

Labour in fresh ‘cash for croissants’ storm

4 October 2024 5:16 pm

It’s a day ending a ‘y’ – so there’s another Labour scandal brewing. After the ‘passes for glasses’ row about…