Steerpike | The Spectator columnists & writers

Labour conference 2022 in pictures

As day four of Labour conference begins here in Brighton, Mr S has been touring the conference centre and World Transformed festival to see how Keir Starmer's party is preparing for government. A quick tour reveals that there's far less cranks now attending the official shindig, with far less Hawaiian shirts, Corbyn merchandise and Socialist Worker newspapers than last year's Brighton bash.Still, whether it's Beijing Barry Gardiner on the decks at Dawn Butler's Jamaica night, Wes Streeting on the mike at the Mirror's karaoke night or Mark Drakeford snapping pics on a Massey Ferguson, all sorts of exotic creatures have been spotted among the clubs, pubs, fringes and forums of Brighton. Below is Steerpike's guide for all those unlucky enough not to have got a ticket.

Rupa Huq suspended after race row overshadows Starmer’s speech

Oh dear. Things couldn’t have been going better for Labour leader Keir Starmer. The left has been routed, the Tories are divided, the pound is plunging and the markets are panicking. But in true Labour style, his MPs are always on hand to pull defeat from the jaws of victory. Speaking at a British Future event, Labour MP Rupa Huq – who has now had the whip suspended – made a rather unpleasant swipe at new Tory Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.Huq, one of the hard-of-thinking drones in the Starmer Army, checked whether the Chatham House rule applied before telling attendees that Kwarteng was only ‘superficially’ black: ‘Superficially he is a black man… if you hear him on the Today Programme, you wouldn’t know he is black.

Harri in a hurry to get his next gig

Labour’s assisted suicide pitch

It’s day two of Labour conference and there’s no end of attractions for bleary eyed delegates. Rachel Reeves, Ed Miliband, David Lammy: all the party’s intellectual heavyweights are up before the faithful. But away from all the centrist paeans and ritual Tory bashing, Mr S couldn’t help but observe the roaring popularity of one of the fringe stalls in the conference hall. ‘My Death, My Decision’ are campaigning to legalise assisted suicide in the UK, urging delegates to pressure MPs to change the law on euthanasia. A novel approach to win the grey vote? Intrigued – and all too aware of the obvious puns – Mr S sidled up to hear the elevator pitch. In the interests of fairness it seems, assisted suicide ought to be legalised as currently only the rich can afford to fly to Switzerland to access euthanasia.

Lisa Nandy takes aim at BT

Starmer’s monarchist crib sheet

Labour are very keen these days to be seen as the natural party of government. And it’s in that spirit that Sir Keir and his aides have hit upon a brilliant wheeze: singing the national anthem on the first morning of their annual Party conference. It’s intended to mark the death of Her Majesty and show that the Starmer Army is A Serious Party once more.Unfortunately for the onetime republican, not all his fellow socialist are happy to play at being merry monarchists. Delegates arriving in the Liverpool conference hall are greeted by leaflets from the Labour for a Republic campaign, who are none too happy at pledging fealty to Charles III. And it seems that Labour HQ are worried that not all attendees share their leader’s patriotic fervour.

Mick Lynch savages Keir Starmer

Minister pays for his pound prediction

Oh dear. Liz Truss’s team were hoping for a welcome reaction from the markets as Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled a whopping £45 billion in tax cuts from the dispatch box this morning. The Chancellor is placing a bet on growth with this mini-Budget, and hopes that this will take the edge off increases in government borrowing. Mr S wonders though whether the Treasury’s keenness to find silver linings may have ended up backfiring. As the pound rallied against the dollar this morning while Kwarteng announced his tax cuts, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp declared that it was ‘Great to see sterling strengthening on the back of the new UK Growth Plan’. Great to see sterling strengthening on the back of the new UK Growth Plan https://t.

Watch: Kay Burley’s ‘gotcha’ backfires

After a brief hiatus during the course of the country’s morning period, it appears that the British broadcasters are back to doing what they know best: namely, trying to catch out politicians. Mr S wonders though if some of them may need a bit better material. This week the new Secretary of State for Digital, Michelle Donelan appeared on the broadcast round where she was grilled by Sky’s Kay Burley. In the interview, clearly thinking she was onto a winner, Burley quizzed Donelan about her brief 36-hour period as education secretary before she resigned over the Chris Pincher scandal, which entitled her to a severance payout of just under £17,000. In the interview Burley asked whether Donelan had given the money to charity as she had originally promised.

Zarah Sultana’s nationalisation plans derailed

Will the Channel 4 sale go ahead?

There'll be corks popping in Horseferry Road tonight. Following the Queen's funeral yesterday, normal politics has now resumed with gusto. Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan was duly wheeled out on Sky this morning, where she revealed that the government is now 'reexamining the business case' over the privatisation of Channel 4. It comes after extensive lobbying from the arts industry, with hundreds of producers, directors and stars urging ministers to call off the sale. Donelan's appointment to the post follows the departure of Nadine Dorries, an ardent advocate of flogging off the right-on broadcaster, arguing it will struggle to survive in the era of Netflix. Now it seems that the change of minister has brought with it a change of policy too.

Was Sleepy Joe late for the Queen’s funeral?

Watch: Aussie broadcasters fail to recognise Liz Truss

Poor Liz Truss. While Boris Johnson is recognised the world over thanks to his famous ruffled hair, Britain's new Prime Minister isn't quite as well known overseas. As the great and the good arrived at Westminster Abbey for Her Majesty the Queen's funeral service earlier today, Truss was shown with her husband entering the church. Unfortunately, two Aussie commentators, broadcasting on the country's Channel Nine, had no idea who Truss was. 'Who's this? Maybe minor royals,' said presenter Peter Overton. 'We can't spot everyone unfortunately', said his colleague Tracy Grimshaw. 'They look like they could be local dignitaries,' she added. Australian presenters Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw unable to identify UK PM Liz Truss.

Truss’s chief of staff quizzed by FBI

It’s been an eventful few weeks for Liz Truss. Our new Prime Minister has faced a baptism of fire not seen since by an incoming premier since Churchill and the fall of France in 1940. War, inflation, a-cost-of-living crisis and the death of the Queen: so much for a honeymoon. Still, Her Majesty’s passing has meant a brief hiatus from normal politics, which is expected to resume with gusto on Tuesday. And one issue which we can expect Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to probe with relish is Truss’s newly appointed Chief of Staff, Mark Fullbrook.For according to today’s Sunday Times, Fullbrook has been, er, questioned by the FBI in connection to an ongoing investigation about an alleged criminal plot to bribe an American politician and influence a US election.

Mark Field muses on Liz Truss’s fortunes

Since becoming the Tory leadership favourite early last month, Liz Truss is used to all sorts of people coming out of the woodwork. Old friends, former allies and even the odd foe have been very keen to share their opinions on Truss, the onetime Lib Dem radical turned Brexit-backing cabinet mainstay. But one person who we haven't heard much from is Mark Field, her fellow former Conservative MP, with whom Truss had a headline-grabbing affair in the mid-2000s.But now the Camden New Journal have set tongues wagging with a cheeky little piece in this week's edition about what Field has been up to since leaving parliament in late 2019. The Journal – the organ of the north London intelligentsia – is the local paper in Sir Keir Starmer's patch and is known for its particularly lengthy letters section, where angry Corbynites snipe at one another.

Truss dismantles the eco ‘axis of evil’

Watch: rehearsals held for the Queen’s funeral

Preparations in Whitehall continue at pace ahead of Her Majesty's funeral on Monday. And for a handful of hardy souls queuing overnight, they had the privilege of witnessing the rehearsals ahead of the great event. One organiser told Steerpike's man on the spot that the run-through was meant to be conducted without a public audience but the lengthy queues to Westminster Hall meant such a crowd was unavoidable. Only a handful saw the practice ceremony, which involved all the Queen's ceremonial bodyguards and equerries who will be surrounding her on Monday. They included the Guards of Honour and the Household Cavalry, with their arms reversed to pay respect. Let's hope they all give the Queen the fitting send-off next week that she deserves.

Fact check: did Charles make Andrew a Counsellor of State?

What better way to mark the death of the monarch than via some good old royal disinformation? Twitter users have been in a strop today about Prince Andrew, the black sheep of the Windsor mob. Apparently, his brother, King Charles, has taken it up on himself to appoint the Duke of York as a 'Counsellor of State', to whom the monarch can delegate royal functions.That certainly was the view of the the Twitter handlers at ‘PoliticsJOE’when they claimed that Prince Andrew will ‘carry out Royal duties’ as a Counsellor of State; implying that he wasn’t one already, and that this appointment had been signed off by the new King. Naturally, the usual rent-a-mob seized on this claim with gusto, with Guardian columnist Owen Jones leading the charge.

Matt Hancock’s latest comeback wheeze

New York Times in civil war over WFH

It's a grim old time in Westminster at the moment. The Queen is dead, prices are up, inflation is rampant and a winter of discontent beckons. But, from the Big Apple itself, a ray of light at last. For the New York Times, the world's worst newspaper best known for Brit-bashing Anglophobia, is embroiled in something close to civil war. The casus belli of this? A directive from on high that the paper's hard-of-thinking hacks return to the office part-time, now that Covid has banished to the history books. Unfortunately, not all at the 'Gray Lady' seem too pleased with this development. The paper's local rival reports that more than 1,300 journalists have signed a pledge not to return to the office, even though bosses expect staff in only three days a week.

Former Treasury minister savages Tom Scholar

Royal rumpus as hacks lose office access

Preparations for Her Majesty's Lying-in-State in Westminster Hall are continuing and all is not well in the Houses of Parliament. After yesterday's news that MPs' staff are unhappy at their exclusion from those given priority access to pay their last respects, now Mr S can tell his readers that at least two other fresh rows are brewing.The first is about whether former Members of Parliament who are not sitting members of the House of Lords will be allowed priority access to avoid predicted queues of up to 30 hours to file past the coffin. Unfortunately, the special phone number which former Members have been given to arrange such visits to Westminster Hall is not working, according to one ex-MP who phoned Mr S to convey his disappointment.

The Brit-bashing fetish of American broadcasters

Parly staffers demand to see the Queen

As Her Majesty the Queen embarks on her final journey south, many in Westminster are preparing to attend the Lying-in-State for the monarch. This will take place in Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, at the heart of British government. The Queen will lie in state here for four full days before her funeral on Monday 19 September, allowing members of the public to file past and pay their respects.The last member of the Royal Family to lie in state in the hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when more than 200,000 people queued to view her coffin, all of whom had to wait hours in line to pay their last respects. Details of the Queen's own Lying-in-State have been planned for years as part of the so-called 'Operation Marquee' but it is safely assured that the number of well-wishers will easily exceed the number that paid their respects to her late mother, 20 years ago.

Watch: Charles is proclaimed King

King Charles III has been proclaimed monarch of the United Kingdom. At a ceremony at St James’s Palace – attended by 250 dignitaries, including privy councillors and high commissioners of Commonwealth states – the Accession Council formally proclaimed the new sovereign. This is the first time the ancient ceremony, which has not been held for 70 years, has been televised in history. The ceremony did not make Charles King, which he became instantly on the Queen’s death, but confirmed his accession. All of the living former Prime Ministers were in attendance at the ceremony, with David Cameron, Theresa May, John Major, Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair standing on the front row of the ceremony. Other cabinet ministers, members of the opposition and senior politicians attended.

King Charles addresses the nation

This evening King Charles III addressed the nation for the first time as sovereign. He reflected on his mother's life-long service and pledged to do the same, saying: 'As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.' The King praised his predecessor, remarking how 'in her life of service we saw that abiding love of tradition, together with that fearless embrace of progress, which make us great as Nations. The affection, admiration and respect she inspired became the hallmark of her reign.' His speech also contained several interesting points of protocol: he signalled that he would no longer make political interventions and spoke warmly of 'Harry and Meghan' in a potential olive-branch.