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.

Is Jordan Peterson’s book all it’s cracked up to be?

16 August 2023 8:27 pm

Jordan Peterson has never been shy about dispensing advice. But has the court of the Canadian philosopher king now overreached…

Captain Tom’s daughter does it again

16 August 2023 2:31 pm

It’s an ITV drama just waiting to be filmed. The saga surrounding the family of the late Captain Sir Tom…

Costs of leaky parliament double in ten years

16 August 2023 1:37 am

Cast your minds back to the new millennium: Tony Blair was in power, Robbie Williams top of the chart. It…

Boris brings back cabinet tradition

15 August 2023 8:32 pm

When it comes to the Johnson government, ministers weren’t always judged to have done things by the book. But Mr…

Dominic Cummings slams Sunak and calls for new party

12 August 2023 2:39 am

There was a time when Boris backers accused Rishi Sunak of being in cahoots with Dominic Cummings, as part of…

All migrants removed from the Bibby Stockholm barge

12 August 2023 12:08 am

This week the government has been focusing its energies on small boats crossing the channel, with several new immigration announcements.…

Angus MacNeil expelled from the SNP after bust up with chief whip

11 August 2023 10:15 pm

Uh oh. Following a rowdy bust up with the SNP’s chief whip Brendan O’Hara, the party establishment has now chosen…

Listen: English doctors won’t accept a Scottish pay rise

11 August 2023 8:36 pm

Dear oh dear. Those pesky junior doctors strike again — literally. The fifth round of industrial action started this morning…

Diane Abbott deletes foul-mouthed migrant tweet

10 August 2023 2:58 am

Is Diane Abbott OK? A day after the independent MP hit out at Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson for…

Tory deputy chair: Tories have failed on migration

10 August 2023 2:41 am

Oh dear. It’s ‘Stop the Boats’ week in 10 Downing Street as the government tries to set the news agenda…

Why is Scotland’s government spending money on play doh and laser tag?

9 August 2023 9:13 pm

Another day, another ridiculous revelation emerges about the Scottish government. This time, it’s civil servants who are in hot water…

Number of civil servants on £100k almost doubles

9 August 2023 7:36 pm

It looks like trimming the fat isn’t going too well at the civil service, despite the government’s middling efforts. Between…

SNP splashes taxpayers’ cash on ‘How to run a government’ book

9 August 2023 3:38 am

As if there aren’t enough questions about the SNP’s spending habits, it turns out the Nats have been using £55,000…

Sadiq Khan takes a pop at Lee Anderson over asylum seeker comments

9 August 2023 3:01 am

Has Lee Anderson finally gone too far? Still reeling after finding out his son turned vegetarian at university (‘shocking, absolutely shocking’), the…

Sir Humphrey covers up, again

8 August 2023 8:56 pm

Good old Sir Humphrey. Tories, Labour, Lib Dems – whoever is in power, he always seems to win. In recent…

Nicola Sturgeon’s splurges on airport VIP services

8 August 2023 6:49 pm

Despite it being the SNP’s main political goal, Scotland came no closer to becoming an independent state during Nicola Sturgeon’s…

Watch: Matt Hancock’s cringeworthy Barbie singalong

8 August 2023 2:09 am

Can Matt Hancock sink any lower? Considering that only last year he lost the whip for abandoning his constituents to…

Could Corbyn derail Sadiq’s mayoral campaign?

7 August 2023 9:51 pm

Since the election date for next year’s London mayoral election was announced, Sadiq Khan has been putting on a show…

Inside the tussle over the Truss gongs

7 August 2023 9:21 pm

Another month, another resignation honours list. It was a row over Boris Johnson’s peerages that led to Rishi Sunak facing…

Five of the worst Gary Neville moments

6 August 2023 4:00 pm

Having previously been known simply as ‘that footy pundit off the telly’, over the past year Gary Neville seems to…

Rishi Sunak, the ‘Swiftie’

5 August 2023 10:20 pm

Taylor Swift mania has hit Los Angeles this weekend as the best-selling songstress takes her sold out Eras tour to…

Why won’t Keir Mather apologise to Germaine Greer?

5 August 2023 4:10 pm

Labour’s newest and youngest MP, Keir Mather, is fresh out of Oxford – and on a path to the very…

Eddie Izzard tries again to become a Labour MP

4 August 2023 11:13 pm

As the earth orbits the sun and leopards avoid changing their spots, so Eddie Izzard is again attempting to become…

Watch: Tory minister prepares for a Labour election win

4 August 2023 10:13 pm

Oh dear. It seems Health Minister Maria Caulfield failed to get the memo on government lines to take this morning,…

Where did it go wrong for the Scottish Greens?

3 August 2023 11:55 pm

Dear oh dear. Things haven’t been going well for for the Green party lately and now they’ve just got a…