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.

Farage sides with Lowe over Lucy Connolly

28 May 2025 12:52 am

Nigel Farage has not seen eye-to-eye with his former colleague Rupert Lowe about much lately, but the outrage sparked by…

Watch: Macron’s wife caught shoving him in face

27 May 2025 4:44 am

Oh dear. It seems there’s trouble in one couple’s Parisian paradise after French president Emmanuel Macron was caught on camera…

Poll: trust in Starmer on migration falls again

27 May 2025 12:17 am

Oh dear. It seems that all Keir Starmer’s talk of an ‘island of strangers’ really wasn’t worth it. For a…

Labour MP backs Lowe’s calls to free Lucy Connolly

23 May 2025 11:38 pm

The case of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Tory councillor who was jailed over an offensive tweet, has sparked…

Netanyahu accuses Starmer of siding with Hamas

23 May 2025 9:12 pm

To Netanyahu, who has taken aim at Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the deaths of a young Jewish couple in…

Reform gains another Scottish Tory councillor

23 May 2025 12:01 am

To Aberdeenshire in Scotland, where a fourth Scottish Tory councillor has defected to Reform UK. It transpires that Dominic Lonchay…

Kneecap member charged with terror offence

22 May 2025 6:35 pm

To Kneecap, the Irish republican band under fire over controversial concert footage – which appeared to show one of the…

Watch: Trump confronts South African president

22 May 2025 6:42 am

Just what is it with Oval Office encounters? Three months after his spat with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump is at…

Corbyn changes mind on Lowe’s Lucy Connolly motion

21 May 2025 11:32 pm

Rupert Lowe may have left Nigel Farage’s Reform party, but he’s certainly keeping himself busy. Now the MP has tabled…

Starmer U-turns on winter fuel cuts

21 May 2025 10:22 pm

To Prime Minister’s Questions, where Sir Keir Starmer has announced that the Labour lot will in fact reverse parts of…

Third man charged over Starmer fires

21 May 2025 6:31 pm

Back to the case of the fires linked to Sir Keir Starmer. Now a third man has been charged over…

Farage skips ‘Brexit reset’ debate for French holiday

21 May 2025 5:03 am

To the Commons, where just after midday Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a statement on his brand new UK-EU deal.…

Clegg: Starmer’s EU deal is a ‘damp squib’

20 May 2025 10:37 pm

In a blast from the past, the UK’s onetime deputy prime minister Nick Clegg popped up again in London today…

Romanian man charged over Starmer fires

20 May 2025 6:58 pm

Last week, fires at two properties and a vehicle linked to Sir Keir Starmer were being probed by police –…

Is Reform changing its tune on voting reform?

20 May 2025 5:30 pm

With more than 650 councillors and a new MP to boot, Nigel Farage’s teal army is clearly on the up. But while Reform UK is…

How much has Liz Truss made since leaving No. 10?

20 May 2025 3:08 am

Two and a half years have passed since Liz Truss entered – and swiftly exited – Downing Street. The former prime minister…

Boris: Keir is ‘manacled gimp of Brussels’

20 May 2025 1:31 am

Ding ding ding! Sir Keir Starmer may have lauded it a ‘landmark’ deal but his agreement with the EU has…

One in two Labour voters back Supreme Court ruling

19 May 2025 10:01 pm

While members of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party have long struggled with the concept of biological sex, his voter base…

How convinced is the Trade Secretary about the UK-EU deal?

19 May 2025 8:41 pm

Today’s the day of Sir Keir Starmer’s big UK-EU summit and just hours ago it was confirmed that the UK…

Gary Lineker quits the BBC amid antisemitism storm

19 May 2025 8:18 am

Good riddance, Gary Lineker. The ex-England striker has now quit the Beeb in a huff, having presented his final Match…

Elton John: Labour are ‘absolute losers’

18 May 2025 8:58 pm

From Runcorn to Durham, Labour is losing their core vote everywhere. Now, even the luvvies are turning on them. It…

Second man arrested over Starmer fires

18 May 2025 7:01 pm

Counterterrorism forces have arrested a second man in connection with arson attacks on two homes and a vehicle associated with…

Will Labour’s uniform cap hit pupil performance?

17 May 2025 10:27 pm

It is the perennial question of British politics: who is next in the ministerial sack race? For a while, it…

Reform UK plots new wave of student societies

17 May 2025 8:47 pm

They say that the children are our future. So what better way for a party to demonstrate its potential than…

Emily Maitlis doesn’t understand grooming gangs

17 May 2025 1:55 am

‘You are focusing on Pakistani grooming gangs, because, probably, you’re racist.’ That’s what Emily Maitlis told ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe…