Podcast
Instant political analysis from The Spectator’s top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Isabel Hardman, James Heale, Lucy Dunn and many others.
Instant political analysis from The Spectator’s top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Isabel Hardman, James Heale, Lucy Dunn and many others.
Coffee House Shots
Today marks three years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From early fears of a swift Russian victory to the Kharkiv offensive and the slow war of attrition that has played out since, each stage of this war has been hard to predict. None more so than this stage, with the USA
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Coffee House Shots
Simon Hart joins James Heale to talk about his new book Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip. Having stepped down at the 2024 election, Simon has become the first former Chief Whip to publish his diaries. What are his reflections on the Conservatives’ time in office? Simon explains why his decision to resign under
Play 35 mins
Coffee House Shots
‘What does a party get after nearly two decades in office, collapsing public services, an internal civil war and a £2 million police investigation? Re-election again – perhaps with an even bigger majority’, writes James Heale in The Spectator this week. He’s talking about the SNP, whose change in fortunes has less to do with their leader
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Coffee House Shots
Donald Trump’s latest comments on Ukraine and its leader have united the British political spectrum in condemnation – almost. Nigel Farage has tread a careful path given his friendship with the U.S. President, but also the fact that the majority of the British public disagree with Trump’s critical attitude towards Ukraine. Can he keep this
Play 9 mins
Coffee House Shots
Foreign affairs are inescapable this week, with the readout from the meeting yesterday between Russian and American diplomats in Saudi Arabia. We understand that Trump told Putin that Ukraine will be part of the next round of peace talks. However, Trump’s shock-and-awe foreign policy continues to deliver significantly more shock than awe, especially after he
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
The future of Ukraine is being decided in a meeting between US and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia today. So far, we understand that America will insist that Ukraine is recognised as a sovereign nation, but NATO membership remains off the table. Meanwhile, European leaders have been cut out of the conversations. In response, they
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Coffee House Shots
There is lots to make sense of today in a huge week for European and world politics, with the fallout of the Munich Conference and today’s emergency summit in Paris. European powers are trying to navigate peace in Ukraine in the face of a belligerently isolationist Trump administration. The UK is caught between preserving its
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Coffee House Shots
It is 50 years since Margaret Thatcher was elected Conservative leader, and at this week’s shadow cabinet meeting, Lord Forsyth was invited as a guest speaker to mark the occasion. He noted the similarities between 1975 and 2025. Back then, the party was broke, reeling from defeat and facing the fallout from a reorganisation of
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Coffee House Shots
Leaders from around the world are gathering at the Munich Security Conference, with the UK represented by Foreign Secretary David Lammy. All attention has turned to Ukraine, given statements this week by President Trump that he had spoken to Putin (and later Zelensky) about ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump’s statements, for example that NATO membership
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Coffee House Shots
On this special episode of Coffee House Shots, economics editor Kate Andrews is joined by shadow home secretary Chris Philp to discuss the Tories’ newly announced plan to tackle immigration. On legal migration, their proposal includes plans to end worklessness in order to stop the reliance on low-paid migrant workers. And on illegal migration, the line is ‘zero
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Coffee House Shots
It’s a double celebration for Rachel Reeves today. Not only is it her birthday, but the UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics’ latest report. December, when the economy expanded by 0.4 per cent (the market consensus had been 0.1 per
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Coffee House Shots
Today was the final PMQs before recess, and Kemi Badenoch had been hoping to leave on a high before the break. She started promisingly, opening with the case of a family from Gaza being granted asylum in the UK under the scheme designed for Ukrainians. Starmer replied to say he disagreed with the decision of
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Coffee House Shots
Kemi Badenoch has been Conservative Party leader for 100 days. Her party is fighting for survival, and she faces an uphill task greater than many of her predecessors: Reform UK surging in the polls, a depleted talent pool of just 121 MPs, and the hangover of 14 years of Conservative rule leaving her hamstrung on
Play 18 mins
Coffee House Shots
From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – Keir Starmer employed a voice coach: former actress Leonie Mellinger. Mellinger has been at the centre of a fresh
Play 31 mins
Coffee House Shots
While both Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch are quick to talk down speculation of a pact between the Tories and Reform, listeners may be surprised to hear that around Westminster such conversations are already taking place. With every new poll, Conservative MPs grow a little more anxious that by the time they go to the
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Coffee House Shots
This week saw the publication of Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund’s new book Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer. It’s the second in their tell-all series of books on the Labour Party’s ups and downs and has caused quite a stir in Westminster. From the revelations about Keir Starmer’s voice coach causing a
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Coffee House Shots
The Bank of England has cut interest rates for the third time since the inflation crisis, taking the base rate to 4.5 per cent. The Monetary Policy Committee voted by seven to two to further reduce rates by 0.25 percentage points – a move that was widely expected by markets, but had been put into
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Coffee House Shots
Trump has blown the Overton window wide open. In a press conference yesterday alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president outlined his intention to ‘take over the Gaza Strip’, displacing 1.8 million Palestinians in the process. His plan – if you can call it that – is to build ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’. Many
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Coffee House Shots
It’s happened. Reform are now ahead of Labour, according to a voting intention poll by YouGov. Reform leads the landmark poll with 25 points, with Labour languishing all the way down in second place on 24 points. Meanwhile, the Conservatives place third on 21 per cent, the Liberal Democrats are on 14 per cent and
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Coffee House Shots
Trump’s tariff spree continues… After making good on his election promise to opt for another round of tariffs – a 25 per cent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10 per cent levy on Chinese goods – Trump has now turned his attention to Europe. In an interview with the BBC, the president
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Coffee House Shots
‘An absolute moron’ – those were the words used by Chris LaCivita, a senior campaign advisor to Trump, to describe Peter Mandelson. Lord Mandelson is Keir Starmer’s choice for the next ambassador to the US, but Trump may yet refuse his letters of credentials. How wise is this appointment at the dawn of an uncertain
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Coffee House Shots
Labour heavyweight John Prescott’s funeral took place yesterday with former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown leading the tributes. What is Prescott’s legacy? And does the current Labour Party have politicians that emulate his appeal? Lucy Dunn speaks to James Heale and former Blair adviser John McTernan about how Prescott was the glue that
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Coffee House Shots
Tuesday night’s Reform fundraiser was designed to spook the Conservative party, says Conservative peer and journalist Paul Goodman on today’s episode. He talks to Cindy Yu and James Heale about whether Kemi Badenoch can keep her cool under Reform’s domination of the airwaves. Produced by Cindy Yu.
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Coffee House Shots
Today was the day for Rachel Reeves, as she delivered her big growth speech in Oxfordshire. This was not this government’s first attempt to pivot towards a more business-friendly, growth-generating narrative, but it was its best effort. The headline announcement is, of course, a third runway at Heathrow, throwing her support behind the ‘badly needed’
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Coffee House Shots
Richard Hermer was one of the surprise announcements from Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet, and one of the most controversial since. Starmer’s old pal came with some notable baggage: his former clients include Sri Lankan refugees to the Chagos Islands and ex-Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, as well as British-Bangladeshi Isis bride Shamima Begum. In government,
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Coffee House Shots
Starmer and Trump have finally spoken, with a 45 minute phone call taking place between the two leaders. The pair reportedly discussed the ceasefire in Gaza, and trade and the economy, with Starmer attempting to find common ground by talking up his plans for deregulation. Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about
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Coffee House Shots
For the past fortnight, Canada’s Parliament has been empty. After Justin Trudeau resigned as Liberal leader, all the polls are pointing to the likelihood that Canada will become another example of the West’s shift to the right. This is partly due to the incumbency problem (and the ongoing internal struggles in the Liberal Party), but
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Coffee House Shots
Reform MP Rupert Lowe has called for the death penalty to be re-established in the wake of the sentencing of the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana. With the Assisted Dying Bill still making its way through Parliament, it has been decades since the topic of death has been so hotly debated by MPs. Katy Balls speaks
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Coffee House Shots
After last week’s bond market jitters, the Chancellor pledged to go ‘further and faster’ to improve the UK’s anaemic economic growth. It looks as though Rachel Reeves’ hunt for growth could come at the expense of Labour’s green agenda. Reeves is poised to make a series of announcements over the next month, starting with a
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Coffee House Shots
It’s Davos day two, and Rachel Reeves has touched down in Switzerland to continue her hunt for growth. On the agenda today was a fireside chat with the Business Secretary on ‘The Year Ahead for the UK’, and she will also be attending a series of meetings with business leaders. The party line is that
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