Podcast
Daily political analysis from The Spectator’s top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Tim Shipman, Isabel Hardman, James Heale, Lucy Dunn and many others.
Daily political analysis from The Spectator’s top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Tim Shipman, Isabel Hardman, James Heale, Lucy Dunn and many others.
Coffee House Shots
This week, Keir Starmer has been in Samoa for a summit with delegations of the 56 nations which make up the Commonwealth. Between having to answer questions on Donald Trump and the budget, he has also been pressed on the issue of slavery reparations, with the leaders of some Caribbean countries insisting it is ‘only
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Who exactly are ‘working people’? The Labour party’s use of this phrase during the election raised questions over who they will really be levying taxes upon. With less than a week to go until the Budget, Labour in government is now again struggling to give a clear definition of what they mean. James Heale talks
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
After Nigel Farage’s overture to Tory councillors to ‘defect’, one already has. Farage has also been on manoeuvres, piling on the criticism against Labour for its volunteers campaigning for the Democrats in the US. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Freddy Gray about the latest. Tickets are still available to join Freddy Gray and
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
Donald Trump has made the extraordinary move to file an official complaint against the British Labour party for their volunteers campaigning for the Democrats. On this episode, James Heale talks to Katy Balls and the Financial Times’s Stephen Bush about what’s behind the Labour tradition of sending volunteers to other democracies, and why a second
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Another 1100 prisoners have been released today through the early-release scheme. How has this measure landed? With the news that former Conservative minister David Gauke will lead a review of prison sentencing, new Spectator editor Michael Gove joins Natasha Feroze and Katy Balls to discuss Labour’s long term strategy. Can Labour learn lessons from America? Produced by
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Coffee House Shots
This morning, Health Secretary Wes Streeting launched the ‘biggest consultation in NHS history’ in a bid to get public input into how to save the UK’s flailing health service. The British public and clinicians are being asked to share their experiences and ideas to help ‘fix our NHS’. After years of discussion and reviews, how
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Coffee House Shots
Labour’s first Budget in 14 years will be delivered at the end of the month. The Prime Minister and Chancellor have already been warning that the public isn’t going to like what’s in it. But how will the Budget affect people? Will Labour break its manifesto commitment not to tax working people? And is it really true
Play 23 mins
Coffee House Shots
The House of Lords contains 26 Church of England archbishops and bishops who possess an automatic right to sit and vote in the House, as established by ancient usage and by statute. But for how much longer? Labour have big plans for the Lords and have been pushing ahead with their crackdown on hereditary peers.
Play 18 mins
Coffee House Shots
Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch, the final two candidates for the Tory leadership, went up against each other on a special GB News show last night. Kemi came out swinging in defence of her ‘culture warrior’ tag, but many wanted some more meat on the bones when it comes to her stance on policy. Meanwhile, Jenrick clearly
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
A scoop from Bloomberg has revealed that a number of Cabinet ministers have written formally to the Prime Minister to complain about the budgetary decisions they are being asked to make in their respective departments. Rachel Reeves seems to have an impossible task ahead of the Budget – but was this a trap of Labour’s
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Coffee House Shots
Starmer and Sunak debated Labour’s position on China at today’s PMQs, with Starmer denying going soft on the Asian superpower. Did Sunak draw inspiration from Katy Balls’s cover article in last week’s Spectator? Katy and Isabel Hardman speak to Oscar Edmondson about the party dynamics behind the debate; how much pressure is each party under from
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
The Budget is not due for a fortnight, yet with every day that passes its contents seem to become clearer. This morning Keir Starmer gave an interview to the BBC where he twice refused to rule out a rise in employer’s national insurance contributions in the Budget. Instead, he repeatedly stressed that Labour’s manifesto promise
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Coffee House Shots
This morning is the government’s big investment summit. They pledged to have the summit within their first 100 days in an attempt to hit the ground running and show the UK as a sensible place to do business. The timing – two weeks before the budget – is interesting, and so is the U-turn from
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
Today marks Labour’s 100th day in office. But they are unlikely to be popping champagne corks in Downing Street – even if Lord Alli offered to pay for the Dom Pérignon. This has been a disheartening time for the government and those who wished it well. The promise of dramatic change has been overshadowed by
Play 25 mins
Coffee House Shots
It’s another busy few days for the Prime Minister as he chairs the inaugural meeting of the Council of Nations and Regions today, marks 100 days in office, and hosts an investment summit on Monday. With the absence of Sue Gray looming large, James Heale unpicks the politics behind these milestones with Katy Balls and
Play 19 mins
Coffee House Shots
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published its yearly Green Budget, weeks ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first fiscal event. It’s grim reading, for both the government and the public. For Labour to make good on its promise to avoid ‘austerity’, taxes are going to need to go up significantly: by £25 billion, the IFS’s reports,
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Westminster is reeling from the shock result that James Cleverly has been knocked out of the Conservative Party leadership race, only a day after coming first in the previous round. Kemi Badenoch topped the poll, with Robert Jenrick second and only one vote behind her; Cleverly lost two votes. What on earth happened? To try
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Coffee House Shots
The Conservative party has narrowed down the leadership candidates to the final three, with James Cleverly taking a surprise lead over both of his more right wing rivals. With Cleverly all but confirmed to get into the members’ round, which of Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick will join him? Cindy Yu talks to James Heale
Play 12 mins
Coffee House Shots
Who’s in charge in Downing Street? Until recently, the answer to that question would tend to reveal whether you were a Sue Gray or Morgan McSweeney supporter. Keir Starmer’s two most senior aides were viewed to be in a power struggle over the direction of the government. But with Gray’s resignation this weekend, it is McSweeney who is running
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Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer has not yet reached the 100 day mark but already he has lost his Chief of Staff. This afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed that Sue Gray is leaving her No. 10 role. Instead, she will be taking on an ‘advisory’ role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for nations and regions. In a statement
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Coffee House Shots
In this special Saturday shots we hear from a panel discussion on Brexit, originally recorded at Conservative Party conference. Four years on there are successes to point to, namely eliminating the cost of membership, new trade deals and the speed of the vaccine rollout. Yet the prevailing sense is that the full potential of Brexit
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Coffee House Shots
What Keir Starmer wants to be talking about today is his landmark £22 billion investment into carbon capture. Flanked by Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves, his speech was an unusually personal one where he spoke about the impacts of deindustrialisation. But how new is this policy? And what does this huge investment mean for the
Play 17 mins
Coffee House Shots
Loyal listeners will know that as well as our concise daily political analysis, Coffee House Shots often delves deeper into the issues of the day. We don’t shy away from fierce debates on controversial issues. The most legendary of these debates have been between our former editor Fraser Nelson and economics editor Kate Andrews. As
Play 30 mins
Coffee House Shots
The final day of the party conference saw all four candidates take to the stage in a bid to have a David Cameron moment. Back in 2005, Cameron managed to gain momentum at the party conference with an assured speech (no notes) and get one over on his main rival – the then frontrunner –
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Coffee House Shots
The mood at Conservative conference has been surprisingly jubilant considering the turmoil that the party finds itself in. Labour’s misfortunes may have contributed to this, but there seems to be a genuine optimism around the four candidates vying for the leadership of the party. What’s the latest? Have Kemi Badenoch’s comments on maternity pay impacted
Play 39 mins
Coffee House Shots
Jeremy Hunt is one of the few Tories at Conservative Party Conference willing to take the fight to Labour. In the second day, he sat down for an on-stage interview where the former Chancellor spoke about the winter fuel allowance, freebies, but also made some polite suggestions about where the Conservative party shouldn’t go, and
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Coffee House Shots
The final four leadership candidates have arrived at Conservative Party Conference to make their final pitches. However, day one and Kemi Badenoch has found herself in an online row over comments made about maternity pay. Katy Balls, Kate Andrews and Fraser Nelson take a look at what was really said, and whether there is a
Play 15 mins
Coffee House Shots
Decarbonising power by 2030 is one of the flagship policies for Keir Starmer’s government. Whether this is achievable and how we go about the green transition will impact ten of thousands of jobs and everybody’s energy bills. So just how do they plan on reaching this ambitious target? Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB,
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Coffee House Shots
The political equivalent of the Rumble in the Jungle happened last night when Starmer sat down for a two-hour dinner with Donald Trump, following the Prime Minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly. Details of what Trump and Starmer talked about are scant: the official read-out merely says they discussed the ‘longstanding friendship’ between Britain and America. Is this
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Events have moved on fast since Labour conference with the mounting prospect of ‘all out war’ in the Middle East. This comes after reports that Israel are preparing a ground invasion of Lebanon to push back Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. What levers are at the disposal of the international community to de-escalate this very volatile
Play 12 mins