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 suspends David Walliams

11 November 2026 2:07 am

David Walliams has had his Labour membership suspended, the party confirmed today. It comes after the Little Britain actor was…

David Walliams accused of preying on teenage girls

11 November 2026 1:07 am

David Walliams has been accused of preying on teenage girls, in two cases first initiating contact when they were 15…

Powell defends Brand and Miliband’s chinwag

10 November 2026 9:27 pm

Desperate Lucy Powell this morning scrambled to explain why she helped arrange an interview between Ed Miliband and Russell Brand…

Another busy day in the Channel

10 November 2026 1:55 am

A whopping 900 illegal migrants crossed the Channel in just three days. Updated Home Office figures show Shabana Mahmood is…

How could the Scottish government forget Remembrance Sunday?

10 November 2026 12:11 am

There was something missing from the Scottish government’s official X account on Remembrance Sunday: Remembrance Sunday. The account, which has…

Reform shake up their press team

9 November 2026 11:58 pm

It is not just Donald Trump’s White House which is getting a shake-up. After the Channel 4 sting in September…

Watch: Marine Le Pen rails against multiculturalism

9 November 2026 10:45 pm

Marine Le Pen tore into Western ‘multiculturalism’ in a fiery interview with US programme 60 Minutes last night. Speaking to…

British Library’s Remembrance blunder

9 November 2026 10:25 pm

‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’ It is a noble sentiment,…

Russell Brand’s New Statesman apostles

7 November 2026 3:38 am

Before his rape conviction, Russell Brand was widely feted by the left-wing press. He was even made guest editor of…

Liverpool Council’s taxpayer-funded ‘racial trauma’ staff counselling

5 November 2026 8:29 pm

Labour-run Liverpool City Council is drawing up plans for a taxpayer-funded counselling service for staff who feel affected by ‘microaggressions’…

Labour’s Poundland nationalisation gaffe

5 November 2026 1:42 am

Another day, another Labour plot to nationalise a business. This time, the not-so lucky company in question is… beleaguered Poundland.…

Labour MPs declare war over sex

4 November 2026 1:05 am

Oh dear. It is a day ending in ‘y’ – so of course another Labour backbencher is going to the…

Badenoch demands Labour stop apologising for slavery

3 November 2026 10:33 pm

Kemi Badenoch today threw down the gauntlet to Labour over its pathetic pandering on slavery reparations. Speaking aboard HMS Wellington…

Britons barely got a say in ILR shake-up

3 November 2026 4:30 am

Only 18 per cent of respondents to the Home Office’s migration consultation were British citizens, new transparency documents reveal. Among…

Labour kickstarts Green council divorce proceedings

3 November 2026 1:42 am

Labour has today formally begun divorce proceedings with Green council groups that failed to disavow the antisemitic ‘Zionism is Racism’…

Watch: Zia Yusuf reminds Alastair Campbell about Iraq

30 October 2026 6:41 pm

Alastair Campbell is on a book tour promoting his new work Persevilience, which Mr S has not read but hears…

Did Liz Truss use AI for her new book?

28 October 2026 5:22 am

As a keen student of economics, Mr Steerpike has been hungrily devouring Liz Truss’s new book, Bank Job: A short…

Class war in the civil service

24 October 2026 1:54 am

‘The Civil Service must be a magnet for the best and brightest,’ writes cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo on the civil…

Home Office spend thousands on ‘don’t rape women’ guide

23 October 2026 12:53 am

Oh dear. It seems that the Home Office has got it wrong again. Back in August, there was an outcry…

Labour backbenchers throw tantrum over Jackdaw

21 October 2026 10:25 pm

It has been mere hours since Andy Burnham gave the go-ahead to Jackdaw, and Labour backbenchers are already throwing a…

Watch: Tory peers demand answers on Powell’s Palestine loving wife

21 October 2026 3:57 am

The Jonathan Powell–Palestine Action debacle continued to cause the government painstaking awkwardness today – this time in the House of…

Tories take aim at polygamous marriages in welfare crackdown

20 October 2026 8:30 pm

The Tories are taking the fight to polygamous and incestuous marriage today, with a Bill to end welfare recognition of…

Chris Bryant throws a work-shy strop over NEETs question

19 October 2026 8:07 pm

Cabinet minister Chris Bryant threw a petulant strop on the airwaves this morning after the BBC dared to ask him…

A terror headache for Jonathan Powell

17 October 2026 4:23 am

Oh dear. There is plenty to worry about when it comes to Britain’s national security: depleted armed forces, inadequate defence…

Watch: Feral Pro-Palestine student activists storm lecture on hostages

16 October 2026 11:35 pm

Feral pro-Palestine student activists stormed a lecture at City University yesterday over its focus on British-Israeli hostages. Human rights barrister…