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: Starmer grilled on family farm tax

16 December 2025 2:16 am

Once, the Liaison Committee was a must-watch in the House of Commons. But the Starmer super-majority means that the thrice-yearly…

Will Labour cut ties with Dale Vince?

16 December 2025 12:57 am

Good old Dale Vince is at it again. The eccentric eco-millionaire seems to be plagued by a bout of foot-in-mouth-disease –…

Reform support in Scotland rises again

11 December 2025 12:12 am

Another day, another bad poll for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party. With less than six months until the Scottish parliament…

Stella Creasy’s bizarre job advert

10 December 2025 4:16 am

Labour MP Stella Creasy is hiring for a senior campaigns manger, and the job specifications are quite something. The Walthamstow…

Plaid and Welsh Labour strike Senedd deal

10 December 2025 1:32 am

December is a time for spirits aplenty. But has the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come visited early this year?…

Badenoch takes aim at Britain’s youth

10 December 2025 1:07 am

Christmas is nearly upon us – but there is no sign that Kemi Badenoch is ready to enjoy a rest. The Leader of…

Is Huw Edwards plotting a comeback?

9 December 2025 9:03 pm

To Huw Edwards, who has resurfaced on social media to post a professionally shot black-and-white portrait in what some assume…

Tories to move headquarters

7 December 2025 7:25 pm

You’re either in front of Mr S or you are behind. It was just six weeks ago that Steerpike reported…

Scottish Tory peer joins Reform

7 December 2025 1:42 am

To Falkirk, where Nigel Farage has flown ahead of the Holyrood elections – to announce another big name member of…

Watch: Zack Polanski’s bizarre migration remarks

6 December 2025 4:13 am

To BBC Question Time, where the leader of the Green party made a rather interesting intervention on migration last night.…

Farage: Corbyn and Sultana should ask me for tips

6 December 2025 12:29 am

To Reform’s Nigel Farage, who managed to dominate headlines today after he took a pop at the Beeb on Thursday…

Liz Truss launches ‘The Liz Truss show’

5 December 2025 2:16 am

Ping! An email lands in Mr Steerpike’s inbox. An exciting new project launches tomorrow. Liz Truss is starting her own…

Reform blasts Labour for delaying mayoral elections

4 December 2025 11:38 pm

Well, well, well. Labour’s decision to cancel four mayoral elections by two years is not going down well, to put…

Reform double Tory donations in new release

4 December 2025 7:57 pm

‘Anything you can do, I can do better.’ Throughout 2025, both Reform and the Conservatives have slugged it out, trading…

Jenrick rules out Tory-Reform pact ahead of 2029

3 December 2025 10:56 pm

To the parties of opposition, about whom some rather interesting stories have emerged. The Financial Times has reported today that…

Did Reeves mislead voters over her chess prowess?

3 December 2025 10:29 pm

When it rains for Rachel Reeves, it pours. This time it isn’t revelations about the now-Chancellor’s apparently plagiarised book or…

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could face MP grilling

3 December 2025 2:26 am

Oh dear. It seems that the horror never ends for the Andrew formally known as Prince. Mountbatten-Windsor – as he…

Watch: Jenrick rips into ‘Lammy dodger’

3 December 2025 12:58 am

It is David Lammy’s big announcement on juries today – so that means another outing for the Tory Trident, Robert…

OBR probe reveals leak had happened before

2 December 2025 2:40 am

Well, well, well. The official review of the leaked Budget documents that circulated last Wednesday ahead of Rachel Reeves’s fiscal…

Tulip Siddiq handed two-year sentence in Bangladesh

2 December 2025 12:27 am

All is not well in Labour party at present. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spent the morning defending his Chancellor…

Jonathan Gullis defects to Reform

1 December 2025 9:21 pm

Another one bites the dust. Now it transpires that the onetime deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Jonathan Gullis, has…

Cabinet ministers turn on Reeves

1 December 2025 8:05 am

Oh dear. It seems that Rachel Reeves’ Sunday media round has done nothing to answer questions about whether she misled…

Fact check: are the NYT’s experts right about UK immigration?

28 November 2025 10:47 pm

Yesterday’s release of immigration figures by the ONS didn’t make for particularly pleasant reading. While net migration had fallen to…

Starmer faces Labour rebellion over employment U-turn

28 November 2025 9:46 pm

Another day, another drama. On Thursday afternoon, it emerged that Sir Keir Starmer’s government were rolling back their commitment to…

Reeves’s tax raid rocks Gibraltar

27 November 2025 11:27 pm

The Chancellor’s Budget may have gone down well with Labour backbenchers, but its ‘smorgasbord’ approach has managed to rather annoy…