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.

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…

Flashback: Streeting predicts he will be PM

13 November 2025 12:47 am

Well that was jolly fun. Kemi Badenoch gave Keir Starmer an almighty pasting at PMQs, predictably lacerating him over the…

Badenoch to set out Tory Budget alternative

12 November 2025 10:00 pm

It is a funny old time for the Tories right now. The government has rather sportingly decided to commit seppuku…

Lib Dems: We’re serious (really)

12 November 2025 9:39 pm

Pity the Liberal Democrats. You win 72 seats at an election – and all anyone wants to talk about is…

Watch: Streeting hits out at No. 10

12 November 2025 8:49 pm

It’s nice, isn’t it. The quiet. Just sixteen months after their landslide triumph, the Labour party is now in full-on…

Tim Davie: BBC is the ‘best of society’

12 November 2025 5:00 am

So. Farewell then Tim Davie. The BBC Director General undertook the first leg of his long goodbye tour today, speaking…

Bank of England’s two-minute blunder

12 November 2025 4:15 am

Timing is not always the Bank of England’s strong suit. Britain’s central bank has increasingly faced accusations of being found…

Reeves to spurn Budget tipple (again)

11 November 2025 7:17 am

There are just two weeks to go until Rachel Reeves’ second Budget. Twelve months after telling the CBI that she…

Reeves hints she will break income tax pledge

11 November 2025 3:08 am

There are just sixteen days to go until the Budget – and the pitch is being well and truly rolled.…

Exclusive: Reform launches its student wing

10 November 2025 7:21 pm

You know you’re not a proper political party, until you’ve had the obligatory youth wing scandal. Pubescent politicos have long…

Tim Davie quits BBC over Trump edit

10 November 2025 5:27 am

Oh dear. It seems that the BBC is once again setting the news agenda – via tales of its own…

Polanski: I want Putin to renounce nukes

10 November 2025 2:29 am

Happy Remembrance Sunday one and all. With the Green party soaring in the polls, who better to have on the…

JCB hand £200k to Reform and Tories

8 November 2025 10:14 pm

The battle on the right is well underway, with competition between Reform and the Tories for attention, ideas and personnel.…

Top Tory team suffer bad night

7 November 2025 6:42 pm

After a decent conference speech, there was some hope among the Tories that Kemi Badenoch had finally turned the corner.…

Watch: Lammy humiliated by prisoner release

6 November 2025 12:12 am

They say that pride comes before a fall – and so it proved today at PMQs. In the wake of…

David Lammy’s missing PMQs poppy

5 November 2025 11:47 pm

Oh dear. It seems that the hapless hero of Haringey has done it again. David Lammy is filling in for…