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.

OBR chief offers to quit over Budget chaos

27 November 2025 10:46 pm

As if the Labour lot hadn’t leaked enough ahead of Rachel Reeves’s big Budget announcement, a slip-up at the OBR…

Watch: Kemi Badenoch eviscerates Rachel Reeves

27 November 2025 1:55 am

Kemi Badenoch had a head-start in preparing her response to Rachel Reeves’s Budget after this morning’s OBR leak. It was…

Watch: Labour MP’s bizarre Putin warning

26 November 2025 1:45 am

To the Commons, where this afternoon parliamentarians have spent some time discussing the G20 and Ukraine. The Prime Minister updated…

Lammy to scrap jury trials in backlog crackdown

26 November 2025 1:07 am

Under a shake-up of the legal system, it transpires that juries are to be scrapped in all cases except murder,…

Starmer apologises over banned TikTok dance

25 November 2025 11:11 pm

Of all the things the public might think Prime Minister Keir Starmer should apologise for, a TikTok dance is probably…

Two peers suspended over lobbying

25 November 2025 10:33 pm

To the House of Lords, where it transpires that two peers are to be suspended after they were deemed to…

Trump team warned over London’s Chinese super-embassy

25 November 2025 3:31 am

So much for a simple Chinese takeaway. In his never-ending search for growth, Sir Keir Starmer has finally alighted on…

Coutinho: Net zero is perverse

25 November 2025 3:21 am

Today saw The Spectator’s Energy Summit in full swing, with a variety of panels, debates and discussions about issues from…

Zack Polanski’s fantasy economics

25 November 2025 2:38 am

Oh dear. Green leader Zack Polanski may have enticed thousands more voters to join his party with his eco-populist rhetoric,…

Tory chair links Reform badge to the Nazis

25 November 2025 2:26 am

Ding ding ding! The gloves are coming off as tensions rise between the Conservatives and Reform UK. Tory party chairman…

Second MP quits Your Party

22 November 2025 3:54 am

Another one bites the dust. Iqbal Mohamed has become the second Independent MP to quit the left-wing Your Party amid…

Ex-Reform Wales leader given jail time over bribery

22 November 2025 12:54 am

News just in: the former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been handed a prison sentence of 10 and…

Will Starmer approve the Chinese super-embassy?

21 November 2025 9:59 pm

Well, well, well. Just days after MI5 alerted MPs and peers to Chinese espionage threats, it appears that Prime Minister…

Covid report: governments acted ‘too little, too late’

21 November 2025 3:49 am

Back to the Covid inquiry, where chair Baroness Heather Hallett, has presented the findings of its report. The conclusions don’t…

Ex-Labour MP joins Greens

21 November 2025 3:03 am

Zack Polanski’s Green party has experienced a membership boom in recent months, after the new leader was elected at the…

Home Secretary slams ‘car crash’ leadership bid briefings

21 November 2025 12:28 am

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has dominated the headlines this week after she announced her plans to crackdown on asylum seekers…

Burnham dodges questions on Westminster return

20 November 2025 9:08 pm

Well, well, well. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is back in the spotlight. Earlier this week, Norwich South MP Clive…

More Your Party splits as Sultana snubs Corbyn

20 November 2025 5:14 am

Oh dear. As if there hadn’t been enough hiccups in the launch of new left wing group Your Party, it…

Watch: Labour minister’s bizarre Chagos comments

19 November 2025 10:44 pm

Well, well, well. Baroness Chapman of Darlington – the international development minister – turned up to the House of Lords…

Badenoch guns for the Guardian

19 November 2025 5:45 am

It was all guns blazing from Kemi Badenoch today. The Tory leader has clashed before with the Guardian – most…

Full list: Labour politicians attacking asylum plans

18 November 2025 2:55 am

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will this afternoon announce big reforms to the UK’s asylum policy – including fast-tracking illegal migrant…

Poll: Scots are fed up with both governments

18 November 2025 12:30 am

Another day, another bad poll for Labour. YouGov research has revealed that a whopping 75 per cent of Scots disapprove…

Siddiq’s aunt handed death sentence

17 November 2025 9:18 pm

To Bangladesh, where the country’s ousted former prime minister – and aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq – has been…

Watch: David Davis attacks veteran prosecutions

14 November 2025 10:57 pm

It has been another bad week for the government. Growth down to 0.1 per cent, a briefing war engulfing No.…

Watch: Zarah Sultana squirms on BBC

14 November 2025 10:00 pm

‘Ohhhhh Jeremy Corbyn!’ Where would Mr S be without him eh? The grift that keeps on giving has been in…