Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

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Powell takes a pop at McSweeney

To central London, where the Spectator’s Parliamentarian Awards are taking place. There were plenty of jibes at Labour from host James Cleverly and a number of Reform digs from politicians of all stripes – but Mr S noticed a rather scathing dig from new Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell at the party leadership. The gloves

Steerpike

Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year 2025, in pictures

In 2025, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has had a tough time. From U-turns to freebie fiascos to by-election losses the party of government has been having a pretty rough ride. New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, however, won the audience with a pithy speech that was almost just rivalled by Ed Miliband. You can’t say

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Lammy loses Chevening residence

Sir Keir Starmer’s September reshuffle proved a blessing for some people and a curse for others. Take Shabana Mahmood, for example, whose promotion from Lord Chancellor to Home Secretary has seen her profile grow almost exponentially. Then there are others, like the beleaguered David Lammy, who lost the Foreign Secretary title in his move to

Stephen Daisley

Why doesn’t Kate Forbes want the SNP to talk about currency?

What’s the Gaelic for ‘Streisand effect’? I would guess buaidh Streisand but someone should ask Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes, who is experiencing first-hand what the ‘The Way We Were’ singer learnt the hard way two decades ago: attempts at censorship only bring attention to the material you wish to keep secret. The

What is the point of kicking Andrew out of Royal Lodge?

When the Chancellor declares that it is important Prince Andrew ‘pays his way’, in reference to his living arrangements at Royal Lodge, it is difficult not to wince. For the saving at stake is, by any serious reckoning, paltry – about £367,000 a year in additional income to the Exchequer, by my calculations. Not nothing,

Labour’s attack on Brexit won’t work

In life, as in film, you need a baddie. Whether it’s Dr No, Nurse Ratched or Voldemort, without someone to root against you have no story. In government, the bad guy (domestically at least) tends to be your predecessors. The Conservatives spent the best part of 14 years blaming the Labour party, with a pitstop

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Migrant sex offender paid £500 to leave UK quietly

The case of Hadush Kebatu has plagued the Labour government for months. In summer, it emerged the Ethiopian asylum seeker was facing charges of sexual assaulting a 14-year-old girl. This sparked the Epping protests outside Essex’s Bell Hotel which amplified nationwide outrage about asylum seeker hotels. Kebatu was found guilty – but last week it

Have you heard Keir Starmer’s grating new catchphrase?

‘That’s the difference a Labour government makes!’ The Prime Minister has taken to ending the self-congratulatory rants he deploys in lieu of answers in the House of Commons with this irritating catchphrase. As if the colony of gremlins currently running the country are to be advertised to us like 1950s household goods. One can imagine

Isabel Hardman

Why Starmer is back to attacking the Tories at PMQs

Once again, the key takeaway from today’s Prime Minister’s Questions is what Keir Starmer didn’t say, rather than what he did. Kemi Badenoch wanted to use the session to tee up the Budget, or more specifically to tee up the tax rises that Labour is going to have to announce in that fiscal event. And

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Watch: Starmer blasts Reform as ‘Putin-friendly’

It was a punchy Prime Minister’s Questions session today, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch landing some punches on the PM over the economy. Sir Keir Starmer refused to say whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves would break Labour’s manifesto commitment to not raise income tax, national insurance contributions or VAT, and would not be drawn on whether

Police Scotland have treated Susan Smith terribly

Susan Smith is a contemporary feminist heroine, a staunch defender of women’s rights against the increasingly unhinged demands of trans activists. As a founding member of the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS), Smith was at the forefront of the fight against SNP plans to introduce self-ID. And, boy, was she effective. Along with her

Brendan O’Neill

The Uxbridge killing is the final straw

His name was Wayne Broadhurst. He was 49 years old. He reportedly worked as a refuse collector. He was by all accounts well liked in his local town. And yesterday his life was ended in the most savage manner imaginable. He was stabbed to death as he walked his dog on a brisk, bright Tuesday

Ross Clark

Why was Hadush Kebatu paid £500 to leave Britain?

We don’t yet know what Rachel Reeves is planning to do with the welfare bill in her Budget. Will she propose more cuts to personal independence payments, or remove the two-child benefits limit? And what will she do about the new benefit which the Home Office has just invented? It is called – or at

Major and Heseltine’s attacks on Reform are hard to take seriously

That strange sound coming from their primeval swamp is the noise of two Tory dinosaurs trumpeting their disdain and disapproval of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. As if in coordinated stereo, former prime minister John Major, 82, and his erstwhile rival for the party leadership, Michael Heseltine, 92, have both sounded off with dire warnings to their

Should mocking Brigitte Macron be a crime?

Ten people have gone on trial in Paris accused of harassing France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, online. The defendants, eight men and two women aged between 41 and 60, are charged with ‘moral harassment by electronic means’ and mocking a false claim that she was born a man by the name of Jean-Michel Trogneux. Prosecutors say

Education officials are clueless about education

To understand why education reform – and school improvement – is so hard it helps to get inside the mind of the officials who are supposed to be driving higher standards. This week Jonathan Slater, a former Department for Education permanent secretary, published a report for UCL Policy Lab that perfectly illustrates many senior officials’

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Hermer takes aim at Kemi over China spy case

Back to the collapsed China spy case. Attorney General Lord Hermer is this morning giving evidence to the joint committee on the national security strategy about the matter. He has been quizzed on the context of the case, how it could have been handled differently and the legislation involved. But while Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour

Svitlana Morenets

Zarah Sultana’s pompous, luxury beliefs about Ukraine

Zarah Sultana loves to pose as a champion of the working class, seeing the world through the lens of class struggle. Even, it seems, the war in Ukraine. In her latest interview, she calls Nato ‘an imperialist war machine’ and advocates for putting all our effort into ending the war, rather than making weapons, thereby

Jake Wallis Simons

What is Hamas doing at a five-star hotel in Cairo?

Imagine the horror of discovering that you have been rubbing shoulders with terrorists. No, I’m not talking about those gullible souls who join the Gaza marches in London, but about the British airline crew who had an unfortunate brush with Hamas at a five-star Marriott hotel in Cairo. Full marks to the Daily Mail, whose veteran

Philip Patrick

Is Japan’s new PM the Thatcher to Trump’s Reagan?

‘My wonderful ally and friend’ is how Japan’s brand new, and first female, prime minister Sanae Takaichi described President Trump in her recent tweet. As has been commented in Japan, this is a bit strong given that the two have spent a total of one day together (Trump is visiting as part of a tour

Hamas is testing Israel’s patience

In the wake of yet another rupture in the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the region finds itself suspended in an unstable equilibrium – tense, volatile, but for now, deliberately held back from tipping into open war. On Tuesday, Hamas terrorists launched a coordinated double attack against Israeli troops operating inside the designated ‘yellow

Will the Gaza ceasefire hold?

In the latest blow to the beleaguered Gaza ceasefire, Israeli aircraft this week struck targets in Gaza City after Hamas carried out an attack using rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire on IDF soldiers in the Rafah area. One Israeli reserve soldier was killed in the Hamas attack. The exchanges of fire took place amid continued Hamas

How Javier Milei won

In this episode, US arts editor Luke Lyman is joined by Kate Andrews, formerly of The Spectator, to discuss President Javier Milei’s landslide victory in the Argentinian elections this week. The polls were wrong – how did the self proclaimed anarcho-capitalist survive? Plus, Luke and Kate discuss Kamala Harris’s suggestion that she could run again in 2028.

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Tories throw kitchen sink at two-way Reform race

To Barnet, where a council by-election will take place on Thursday. Former councillor Joshua Conway lost his Hendon ward seat after a change of jobs made him ineligible to serve on the council. Six candidates are in the running for the council seat – but the contest is shaping up to be a two-horse race

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Kruger: Pirate ship Reform has an ill-disciplined crew

Another day, another Reform press conference. Today the central London meet-up saw former Conservative MP-turned-defector Danny Kruger take to the podium to set out his plans to prepare the party for government. As James Heale wrote for Coffee House, Kruger wants to reduce civil servant numbers, end leases on a selection of Whitehall premises and

James Heale

Migration, the customs union & a £40bn black hole?

14 min listen

There are reports that the OBR will downgrade Britain’s productivity growth forecasts, increasing the size of the black hole facing the Chancellor at the end of the month. This continues the spate of bad news for the Chancellor on the economy – but can we trust the figures? James Heale and Michael Simmons join Patrick

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Andy Burnham attacks Starmer (again)

Andy Burnham is back. After his humiliation at Labour conference, the Mayor of Greater Manchester has returned, hawking his conscience around once more. At last night’s London launch of his new book, Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain, co-written with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, Burnham attacked Starmer again. He criticised the ‘narrow

Is Keir Starmer right to sell Typhoon jets to Turkey?

Sir Keir Starmer is proving to be an unlucky prime minister. This week began with a demonstration of his haplessness. The Prime Minister travelled to Ankara to announce an £8 billion deal to supply the Turkish air force with 20 new Eurofighter Typhoons, beginning in 2030. Yet the political headlines in Britain were full of

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Labour polls at record low

When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours. Today’s YouGov poll for the Times shows Nigel Farage’s Reform UK with a ten point lead on the current party of government, with Labour tied with the Tories. More than that, the survey of 2,400 adults found that half of all those who supported Sir Keir