Is it just one crisis after another?
10 min listen
Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about the challenges facing the incoming Prime Minister, not least the dire forecast from the Bank of England predicting recession for 2023.
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
Saturday
Monday
Is Liz Truss too comfortable?
After England scored their first goal last night, the team visibly relaxed and had a spell of playing happily until Germany equalised. Liz Truss was in the crowd and saw that sudden surge in confidence up close. Tonight we saw the same from the frontrunner. She enjoyed the latest hustings in Exeter, making jokes about
Has Keir Starmer lost control over strikes?
12 min listen
This morning, Lisa Nandy defied party orders by joining a picket line in Wigan to support striking BT and Openreach staff. This comes after last week, Keir Starmer sacked Sam Tarry MP, who went on an unauthorised media round at an RMT picket line. Similarly, Labour’s biggest union, Unite, threatened to pull all funding from
Sunak is running out of time
This could be the biggest week of the Tory leadership campaign: postal ballots will start arriving on members’ doormats in the coming days and the chances are that most will fill them in and send them back pretty sharpish. Both candidates to be Prime Minister are consequently extremely busy: Rishi Sunak has been making tax
Thursday
Sunak still has it all to do
Tonight’s membership hustings in the Tory leadership contest showed both candidates – but particularly Liz Truss – relaxing and even enjoying themselves a fair bit. But they also underlined what the two of them feel they have to say in order to get a hearing with their selectorate. Both had to commit to more grammar
Tuesday
Sunak has his work cut out if he is to win over Tory voters
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak barely have time to catch their breath after last night’s scrappy debate: today they’re back on set for a TalkTV hustings. Sunak had hoped to use yesterday’s BBC head-to-head to close the 24-point lead that Truss has with Conservative members, but his tactics have left many wondering if he’s damaged
Monday
Truss vs Sunak: verdict on their first head to head
18 min listen
Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls give their analysis and snap reaction to Monday evening’s first head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. Was Rishi Sunak too aggressive? Or did Liz Truss’s economic pledges get skewered? And ultimately, will this have changed any Conservative party member’s mind? Produced by Cindy Yu.
All the Keir and no idea: what’s Starmer up to now?
Keir Starmer has given another one of his speeches that seems aimed at his own party rather than the general electorate. This one is about what Labour would do to encourage economic growth (or in his words, ‘growth, growth, and growth’). But it has garnered the most attention for a row about what the party
Can the Tories come back together?
11 min listen
The Tory leadership contest is entering its third week, and becoming more bitter. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, today mocked Rishi Sunak for wearing a bespoke suit and Prada shoes while his rival Liz Truss would be travelling to the north of England wearing £4.50 earrings from Claire’s Accessories. ‘FFS Nadine! Muted.’ replied Tory MP
Sunday
Why does Thatcher loom over the Tory leadership race?
13 min listen
Isabel Hardman speaks to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Matthew Parris about the influence Margaret Thatcher exerts over the Conservative leadership race.
Saturday
Can Rishi Sunak heal the NHS?
Rishi Sunak’s big pitch this weekend is to grip the NHS waiting list crisis. It makes political sense, given the terrifying size of these lists now, with some trusts declaring their waits ‘unmanageable’. By the time of the next election, the crisis in the NHS is going to seem monstrous. Ethical concerns tend to end
Friday
What do the polls tell us about Sunak vs Truss?
16 min listen
Over the next few weeks, Conservative party members will cast their votes on who they want to be the next Prime Minister. YouGov has released another poll suggesting that members have placed Liz Truss 24 points ahead of Rishi Sunak. ‘This shows the difference between the parliamentary party from the membership at large‘ – Isabel
Thursday
Last ones standing: the leadership finalists on taxes, net zero and freedom of speech
After the last televised leadership debate was cancelled when Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak pulled out, we asked the remaining three candidates if they would come on SpectatorTV to face questions before Tory MPs’ final vote. (Since going to press the contenders will have been whittled down to two.) This is an edited transcript of
Wednesday
Liz Truss vs Rishi Sunak: will the next phase be less rancorous?
11 min listen
Conservative MPs have chosen the final two candidates to be presented to the Tory membership in the final round of this leadership contest. Over the rest of the summer, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will be travelling around the country to attend dozens of hustings with Tory members. Will this phase be less rancorous? Or
Boris Johnson’s final PMQs was a let down
Boris Johnson’s farewell Prime Minister’s Questions was rather like his premiership: full of the unexpected, rather chaotic and a bit of a let down. Westminster has already visibly moved on from Johnson, even though he remains in office until early September, and so Keir Starmer devoted his questions to asking Johnson about the candidates to
The Online Safety Bill won’t survive the Tory contest
At yesterday’s Spectator hustings for the final three Tory leadership candidates, each one of them ended up committing to overhauling the controversial Online Safety Bill. The Spectator and many Conservative MPs have expressed serious concerns about the impact of this legislation, drawn up with the best of intentions, on free speech. Each acknowledged that there
Tuesday
Spectator Hustings: Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss
63 min listen
One of Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will be Britain’s next prime minister. What are the contenders’ answers to the big questions facing Britain? Isabel Hardman spoke to Mordaunt (00:36), Sunak (21:17) and Truss (42:15).
Kemi out – are Tory MPs lending votes?
11 min listen
There has been another elimination in the Tory leadership race. Break-out star Kemi Badenoch is out, with three remaining candidates left until tomorrow’s vote. Who will be the final two in the race? And are there signs of Tory MPs lending votes to manipulate the results?James Forsyth is joined by Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.
Sunday
Who won the second leadership debate?
13 min listen
Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and Katy Balls pick through tonight’s ITV debate with the five candidates for Prime Minister.
Friday
Tory leadership debate: who won?
16 min listen
In the first televised Tory leadership debate, the five remaining candidates set out their stalls on trust in politics, tax cuts and the NHS ahead of the next round of voting on Monday. How did each candidate fare tonight? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.
