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.

Now more Scottish Tory leadership candidates drop out

22 August 2024 10:27 pm

Back to Scotland, where the ongoing leadership contest for the next leader is heating up. Nominations for candidates close today,…

SNP membership numbers plummet further

22 August 2024 8:48 pm

Oh dear. It’s not a good time to be an SNP politician, what with the recent electoral wipeout, the party’s…

Tories demand Treasury impartiality probe

22 August 2024 12:36 am

Whitehall has received a lot of attention of late, what with interesting civil service appointments prompting claims of cronyism. And now…

BBC blasted over Sir Brian’s ‘partisan’ badger doc

21 August 2024 10:48 pm

The Beeb is developing a habit of being the news rather than making it – and the upcoming release of…

Labour cronyism claims continue

21 August 2024 8:59 pm

Another day, another drama. The spotlight is back on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot as accusations of cronyism continue to…

Left-wing media’s double standards on show at DNC

21 August 2024 1:55 am

To the Windy City, where the Democratic National Convention is in full swing. In the early hours of this morning,…

Librarians attending ‘whiteness studies’ to avoid ‘racist’ venues

20 August 2024 10:55 pm

Just when you think the equality and diversity police can’t get any madder, they do. Now it transpires that libraries…

Trump was ‘very rude’, thought Queen

20 August 2024 7:29 pm

Good heavens. As the 2024 US presidential campaigns pick up pace, some rather damning revelations have emerged about the impression…

Boris’s memoir to drop during Tory leadership battle

20 August 2024 1:18 am

Boris Johnson is back. The ex-prime minister is preparing to grace the nation with his musings as the launch date…

Majority of Brits believe UK is heading in wrong direction

19 August 2024 11:49 pm

Sir Keir Starmer hasn’t exactly had the easiest start to his premiership – what with the recent riots, the country’s…

Now Sue Gray’s son is in the firing line

18 August 2024 10:26 pm

It seems that bad headlines run in Sue Gray’s family. After a week of newspaper reports suggesting that Keir Starmer’s…

Prison officer probes soar amid bonking craze

17 August 2024 2:05 am

Prison is supposedly a place for wrongdoers to repent and reform – but it seems that even the staff inside…

Scottish Tory leadership candidates call for race to halt

17 August 2024 12:02 am

All is not well in the Scottish Tory party. Now four of the six candidates have released a statement calling…

SNP in civil war over Israel deputy ambassador meet

16 August 2024 11:21 pm

It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ so the nationalists are fighting amongst themselves again. This time it’s over a…

Tom Tugendhat’s war on TikTok

16 August 2024 8:55 pm

As the Tory leadership race heats up, all six candidates are trying to draw dividing lines to stand out to…

Labour poach Mirror political editor

15 August 2024 10:25 pm

Will the last lobby hack please turn out the lights? After Torcuil Crichton and Paul Waugh made the jump from…

Former Irish PM defends Olympic boxer at centre of gender row

15 August 2024 9:41 pm

Well, well, well. Now Ireland’s former Taoiseach has swooped in to defend the Olympian at the centre of a gender…

Scottish Tory tore into ally’s campaign in WhatsApp statuses

15 August 2024 6:29 pm

They say honesty is the best policy, but there are times when a little discretion is more advisable. It’s something…

Labour ‘cronyism’ row escalates as Tories demand answers

15 August 2024 6:26 am

Back to the curious case of Ian Corfield. Revelations emerged this morning that the civil service watchdog was not informed…

Liz Truss hits back at ‘far-left’ lettuce stunt

15 August 2024 2:31 am

Another day, another drama. This time it’s in Suffolk, where former prime minister Liz Truss appeared on Tuesday night at…

Sadiq Khan doubles number of City Hall fat cats

14 August 2024 10:07 pm

While the new Labour government continues to wax lyrical about the dire state of the country’s finances, it seems not…

RSPB told off over ‘party political’ anti-Tory post

14 August 2024 8:47 pm

To the matter of ‘inappropriate’ party political tweets – from a rather unlikely culprit. The Royal Society for the Protection…

Treasury under scrutiny after Labour donor bags top civil service job

14 August 2024 7:42 pm

Back to the Labour government, which is under scrutiny as more questions about party donor Ian Corfield’s new job arise.…

Pro-indy politicians at loggerheads over Israel’s deputy ambassador visit

14 August 2024 8:45 am

Back to Scotland, where there appears to be trouble in Holyrood’s progressive paradise. The Scottish government’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson…

Nadine Dorries’s warning to Starmer about ‘slick’ Sue Gray

14 August 2024 12:57 am

It’s not been the best start to the week for Sue Gray. Reports that there are divisions among Sir Keir…