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.

Andy Burnham demands grooming gangs inquiry

10 January 2025 2:38 am

Following the defeat of the Tory amendment in parliament last night, No. 10 might have hoped that calls for a…

BBC presenter loses job after releasing anti-Starmer song

10 January 2025 2:17 am

Back to the Beeb, which continues to get better at being the focus of news headlines rather than, er, producing…

Watch: Scottish Tory leader mocks FM over Musk comments

10 January 2025 12:11 am

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been the talk of London town this week and north of the border things are…

Watch: Steve Reed heckled by farmers

9 January 2025 11:01 pm

Who was the least popular man in Oxford this morning? Environment Secretary Steve Reed was certainly up there. The Labour…

SNP government could boycott Twitter, FM warns

9 January 2025 10:42 pm

Elon Musk has kept the British media busy in recent days, after persistently posting criticism of UK politicians over the…

Theresa May’s Brexit negotiator handed top Foreign Office job

9 January 2025 4:00 am

A number of new Whitehall appointments have been made since the election, but there have been a couple of returning…

Tory attack ad gives Labour taste of its own medicine

9 January 2025 2:21 am

What goes around, comes around. In producing their latest attack ad, it seems Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative crowd has taken inspiration…

Mandelson won’t represent UK at Trump inauguration

8 January 2025 10:13 pm

It’s the big question all Westminster is asking right now. Who has got a golden ticket to Donald Trump’s inauguration?…

Musk attacks Keir ‘Starmtrooper’ again over grooming inquiry stance

8 January 2025 9:53 pm

There’s no rest for the wicked. Twitter chief Elon Musk has barely come up for air over the last week…

Trump praises Musk as ‘smart guy’ when quizzed on Labour attacks

8 January 2025 5:08 am

It’s been an eventful week for UK-US relations. Twitter CEO Elon Musk has spent much of it berating the Labour…

Royal Society of Literature in meltdown over diversity drive

8 January 2025 1:58 am

All is not well in the Royal Society of Literature. It now transpires that the bosses of the prestigious 200-year-old…

Meta hires Trump ally in olive branch move

7 January 2025 11:03 pm

It’s all change at Meta HQ. As Mr S reported last week, former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg – who…

Farage: Reform will hold grooming inquiry if Labour don’t

7 January 2025 8:26 pm

The focus on Britain’s grooming gang scandal is very much here to stay. Calls for the government to hold a…

Labour apologise for graphic song use in latest TikTok

7 January 2025 3:44 am

It’s not been a great start to the year for Sir Keir Starmer’s army. As if poor poll ratings and…

Quarter of Labour voters suffer buyer’s remorse

7 January 2025 1:43 am

Dear oh dear. There’s more bad news for the Labour lot as new polling by More in Common for LBC…

Labour’s hypocrisy over Jess Phillips attacks

7 January 2025 1:17 am

After Elon Musk continued to lambast the Labour lot over the weekend, Sir Keir Starmer this morning used a press…

Starmer’s corruption minister refers herself to standards adviser

6 January 2025 11:06 pm

Back to the curious case of Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate who also works as the…

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…