James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.
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Rishi Sunak has all but confirmed that this year’s general election will take place in autumn. How will the Prime Minister, and Keir Starmer, run their campaigns? James Heale speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katie Perrior, former director of communications for Theresa May, and now a director at iNHouse Communications.
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This week: Svitlana Morenets explains why Ukrainians can’t trust Putin’s hollow promises (00:57), James Heale reads his politics column on Rishi’s January blues (05:42), and Theo Hobson describes the joys of middle-aged football (10:54). Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.
16 min listen
The Liberal Democrats began their 2024 campaigning this week by unveiling a huge poster branding them as ‘Ed Davey’s Tory Removal Service’, but they will have to be more than just the ‘none of the above party’ if they hope to make a difference come the election. What do the Lib Dems stand for? And
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Keir Starmer delivered his new year’s speech, promising ‘Project Hope’ ahead of the general election. Critics claimed the speech was rhetoric heavy, low on policy. Having attacked the Prime Minister for dithering over the May general election, Rishi Sunak later announced it was his ‘working assumption’ to hold the general election in autumn 2024. Was
There was a distinctly familiar feel to Keir Starmer’s speech today. Preaching change in front of heavy machinery, it was a near-identical setting to the speech he gave this same week last January. For a New Year’s speech, it was devoid of new policy but there were plenty of old favourites: the Great British Energy
Rishi Sunak has this afternoon given his strongest hint yet that the next general election will be held in the autumn rather than the spring. Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to a youth centre in Mansfield, the Prime Minister said: ‘My working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of
Reform UK is the great enigma of right-wing British politics. Despite lacking a memorable name, leader, policy platform or record of electoral success, the party is polling just shy of 10 per cent – two points off the Liberal Democrats. The party held an eagerly awaited press conference this morning at which Richard Tice set
Rishi Sunak will start the year as he means to go on: spending more time in key marginal seats, telling ‘ordinary’ voters how he is helping them by cutting tax, taming inflation and curbing welfare. The accuracy of his claims is open to question (both tax and welfare numbers are still rising) but the idea
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Rishi Sunak claimed that the Conservatives have cleared the 92,000 asylum claims, despite figures showing the backlog still stands at tens of thousands of applicants, with several thousand missing. Natasha Feroze speaks to James Heale and Fraser Nelson about the figures, and whether blags like these are a gift to the Reform party.
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How well did Rishi Sunak do on his five pledges? Are we any clearer on what Keir Starmer stands for? Is the SNP done for in Scotland? On this episode, Cindy Yu, Katy Balls, James Heale and Coffee House Shots regular Stephen Bush look back on the past year in British politics. Produced by Cindy
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Rishi Sunak appeared in front of the Liaison Committee this afternoon. In an interview with The Spectator last week, the PM said that he was enjoying the job. So why did he seem so agitated at the grilling today? Max Jeffery speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Heale.
The government’s guidance for schools on transgender pupils was finally published this morning – prompting an immediate backlash which demonstrated why it had been delayed so many times. For years, with increasing numbers of pupils questioning their gender, ministers have grappled with the thorny issue of whether children ought to be allowed to ‘socially transition’.
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Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps have signalled a shift in the British position towards the Israel-Gaza conflict, suggesting that British support for Israel’s actions may be time-limited. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Stephen Bush. Produced by Cindy Yu.
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The big economic news of the week was that the Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5
The High Court has this morning awarded Prince Harry £140,600 in damages after ruling that he was the victim of mobile phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). Mr Justice Fancourt said that the Duke of Sussex’s personal phone was targeted to a ‘modest extent’ by the Mirror papers between 2003 and 2009. However there
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The big political news today is the Standards Committee recommendation against Scott Benton, meaning a likely by-election in Blackpool South. He was the MP caught on camera by the Times in April, allegedly boasting about lobbying ministers for cash to a gambling firm. When will Rishi catch a break? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Paul
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The Tories are reeling from a week of painful infighting over Rwanda. Who are the ‘five families’ of Conservative dissenters? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.
Mark Drakeford has announced this morning that he will stand down as Welsh Labour leader, triggering a leadership contest for a new first minister. The veteran politician pledged at the most recent Welsh elections in 2021 that he would step down mid-parliament. He has chosen to do so today on the fifth anniversary since he
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The government has won this evening’s vote on the ‘safety of Rwanda’ bill comfortably at 313 votes to 269 against. This means Rishi Sunak has managed to pass his bill at second reading after a day of negotiations with the various Tory tribes. Not a single Tory MP voted against the bill but 38 conservative
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Rishi Sunak faces the first major test of his premiership today over the second reading of the Rwanda bill. How could the day play out? And what will happen if the Prime Minister loses the vote? Natasha Feroze speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.