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.

Ex-SNP sex pest slammed after landing top charity role

6 January 2025 10:40 pm

To Scotland, where outrage is spreading after news that a former sex pest politician has landed a top charity job.…

Starmer hits back at Musk

6 January 2025 9:48 pm

Elon Musk has had a busy weekend, blasting the UK government over Britain’s grooming gang scandal and even turning on…

Runners and riders: next Reform leader

6 January 2025 3:15 am

Well, that didn’t last long. Just 19 days after Nigel Farage and Elon Musk were snapped beaming together at Mar-a-Lago,…

Elon Musk turns on Farage

6 January 2025 1:31 am

Oh dear. Is there trouble in paradise? For a few weeks now, Nigel Farage has been basking in a transatlantic…

Starmer’s corruption minister in spotlight over freebie property

6 January 2025 12:12 am

Parliament returns on Monday – and not a moment too soon. For one of the barmy Starmer army has found…

Five times Labour said VAT raid would help state school kids

5 January 2025 11:29 pm

The advent of the new year brings with it a fresh sting: the introduction of 20 per cent VAT on…

Farage rejects Musk’s calls to ‘free Tommy Robinson’

4 January 2025 11:09 am

It’s been quite the 24 hours in British politics. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has spent much of it…

Ministers considering Islamophobia definition

4 January 2025 6:32 am

There have been better weeks for community relations in Britain. So what better time for Mr S to report the…

Ex-Tory MP defects to Reform

4 January 2025 4:37 am

Another one bites the dust. Now it transpires that the former Conservative MP for Dudley North, Marco Longhi, has defected…

Duffield: Anybody would be a better leader than Starmer

4 January 2025 1:26 am

Another day, another Labour drama. Now it’s Independent MP Rosie Duffield making waves after giving a rather revealing interview to…

Farage to blast Badenoch’s ‘crazy conspiracy theories’ about Reform

4 January 2025 12:37 am

You might have forgotten about Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch’s Twixmas Twitter spat, but the Reform UK leader certainly hasn’t.…

Meghan makes her Netflix return

3 January 2025 10:17 pm

To the Montecito monarchs who, no matter how much they protest about the press, just can’t seem to stay away…

Nick Clegg gets unfriended by Facebook

3 January 2025 6:31 am

Happy new year Nick Clegg. The onetime Deputy Prime Minister has spent much of the past decade collecting oodles of…

Speaker’s Office doubles under Hoyle

3 January 2025 3:51 am

When John Bercow finally left the Speakership at the end of 2019, MPs breathed a sigh of relief. At last,…

Labour loses 20 councillors in Starmer protest

3 January 2025 2:46 am

All is not well in Labourland. Now it transpires that 20 councillors have quit Sir Keir Starmer’s party in a…

Small boat crossings up by a quarter on previous year

2 January 2025 11:46 pm

Labour’s crackdown on people smugglers comes as New Year’s Day Home Office figures show the number of small boats crossing…

Treasury under fire over private school VAT ads

2 January 2025 10:26 pm

New year, same problems. Already Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government is in the firing line again – this time facing…

Elon Musk calls for Jess Phillips to be jailed

2 January 2025 6:36 pm

Once Jess Phillips was the queen of Twitter, harrying and hounding the Tories at every chance. But these days it’s…

Which political party leader had the best year?

1 January 2025 12:31 am

It’s been an eventful year in British politics, with a snap general election and multiple leadership contests keeping political journalists…

Sadiq Khan gets a knighthood

31 December 2024 9:30 am

Farewell to 2024, the year in which no incumbent was safe. Whether it was the Democrats in the White House…

Has 2024 been the BBC’s worst year yet?

30 December 2024 1:10 am

It’s certainly been an eventful year for Britain, what with the snap election, a change in government and yet another…

Brits have bleak outlook for 2025

29 December 2024 1:53 am

Dear oh dear. The Labour lot have not fared well in opinion polling this year and More in Common’s New…

Gangster released early by Labour mocks Sir Keir in Christmas song

27 December 2024 4:18 am

Not even the Christmas season can keep attention off Labour’s controversial policies for long. The furore around this year’s early…

Kemi accuses Farage of fiddling membership figures

27 December 2024 3:42 am

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a family feud. Reform has spent this Boxing Day trumpeting its membership figures, which, it…

Gaffe-prone Labour spend £17,000 on media training

25 December 2024 3:31 am

Well, well, well. It now transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party has spent thousands of pounds on media training…