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.

Lord Falconer’s selective constitutional memory

29 June 2025 1:04 am

Good old Charlie Falconer. For more than 15 years now, the noble Lord has been trying, desperately, to ram assisted…

Tories fume at council by-election results

28 June 2025 8:23 am

It seems that all is not well with the once-mighty Tory ground game. After a thumping set of election defeats…

Four lowlights from Starmer’s Observer interview

27 June 2025 9:54 pm

Next Friday marks a year since Labour came to power. To celebrate the occasion, Sir Keir Starmer has done a…

Half of Labour members want Reeves sacked

27 June 2025 7:18 pm

It never rains but it pours. Rachel Reeves really isn’t having a good time at the Treasury. First, there was…

Watch: Tory MP attacks Kemi in parliament

27 June 2025 12:35 am

Oh dear. While Labour rips itself apart on welfare, it seems that one Tory MP is determined to get the…

Wonks team up to ‘Fix Britain’

26 June 2025 6:15 am

It is a year ago next week that Labour won the general election. ‘The adults are back in the room!’…

Former Scottish Tory MP jumps ship to Reform

25 June 2025 10:26 pm

Oh dear. It’s not been a good year for the Scottish Conservatives, who have seen multiple councillors defect to Reform…

Jenrick: Lib Dems aren’t welcome in the Tory party

25 June 2025 10:11 pm

Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has insisted that the Conservatives must not beat around the bush about what they stand…

Watch: Trump’s expletive-laden warning to Israel

24 June 2025 10:37 pm

US President Donald Trump is taking no prisoners today. Just hours after Trump announced a ceasefire had come into place…

NHS trust embroiled in trans row releases ‘divisive’ Pride calendar

24 June 2025 10:17 pm

While Britain’s NHS remains on its knees, with A&E waiting times still unacceptably long and bed-blocked preventing sick patients from…

Parliament (finally) bows to Supreme Court gender ruling

24 June 2025 9:48 pm

Well, well, well. At long last, the Westminster parliament has issued an update on where it stands over the Supreme…

Home Office probes Palestine Action over suspected Iran link

24 June 2025 9:01 pm

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday afternoon that the UK government had decided to proscribe activist group Palestine Action…

Kim Leadbeater’s office blunders again

24 June 2025 12:13 am

Oh dear. It seems that the office of the Hon. Member for Spen Valley has put their foot in it…

Home Secretary will proscribe Palestine Action

23 June 2025 11:18 pm

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced in the Commons this afternoon that the UK government will proscribe Palestine Action. The…

Watch: JK Rowling’s favourite BBC presenter

23 June 2025 10:29 pm

To the Beeb, which is once again making the news rather than breaking it. BBC presenter Martine Croxall caught the…

Defence minister refuses to answer Iran question three times

23 June 2025 7:44 pm

It seems the Labour lot has got themselves in quite a tizzy over events in the Middle East – and…

RAF Brize Norton chief’s views on patriotism revealed

21 June 2025 11:27 pm

On Thursday night, a group of Palestine Action protestors managed to enter RAF Brize Norton, spraying paint into a pair…

Poll: majority of Brits think small boats unstoppable

21 June 2025 3:02 am

Summer is here! And you know what gorgeous weather means: more small boats crossing the Channel. Get ready for the…

Poll: public want care home opt out for assisted dying

20 June 2025 4:25 am

It’s a big day in parliament tomorrow. Both sides of the assisted dying debate are gearing up for a crunch…

Watch: SNP housing secretary slips up on social housing

20 June 2025 3:59 am

SNP MSP Mairi McAllan appears to be rated rather highly by First Minister John Swinney, who created an entirely new…

JK Rowling blasts the National as ‘anti-women’

20 June 2025 1:58 am

Scotland’s self-identifying ‘newspaper’ is at it again – and this time it has provoked the wrath of renowned writer JK…

NSPCC refuses to apologise to Braverman over grooming gangs letter

19 June 2025 10:52 pm

Baroness Casey’s landmark review into Britain’s grooming gangs contained some truly horrific revelations. The damning audit found that disproportionate numbers…

Revealed: Birmingham’s pest control costs soar as bin strikes continue

18 June 2025 10:42 pm

Today marks the 100th day of the Birmingham bin strikes. The City of a Thousand Trades has been subjected to…

Foreign nationals convicted of a quarter of sex assaults on women

18 June 2025 8:49 pm

Britain’s grooming gangs scandal has dominated the news this week, after the publication of Baroness Casey’s review on Monday. Now…

Ex-Tory MP pleads guilty to harassment

18 June 2025 12:55 am

To Cardiff, where a former Conservative politician has pleaded guilty to harassing their ex-wife. Katie Wallis, formerly Jamie Wallis who…