Who are the ‘five families’ of Tory rebels?
13 min listen
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.
James Heale
James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.
Wednesday
Who will replace Mark Drakeford as first minister?
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
Tuesday
Sunak wins the Rwanda vote – but the battle is far from over
7 min listen
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
What if Rishi Sunak loses his crunch Rwanda vote?
13 min listen
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.
Sunday
Tory tribes gear up for Rwanda clash
The next 48 hours could be among the most important of Rishi Sunak’s premiership. His flagship Rwanda Safety Bill will get its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with MPs expected to vote on it in the evening. But before that there will be a day of tense meetings in rooms across
Saturday
Do the Tories have a death wish?
13 min listen
Nick Robinson asked Suella Braverman on the Today programme this week whether the Tories had a death wish. She said no. But why is the party, when it’s doing so badly in the polls, fighting among itself? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls ands Craig Oliver, former director of communications in No. 10.
James Heale, Michael Simmons and Mary Wakefield
18 min listen
This week: James Heale reads his politics column on Sunak’s migration minefield (00:55), Michael Simmons says that Scotland’s ‘progressive’ teaching methods have badly backfired (05:53), and Mary Wakefield asks: why can’t I pray in Westminster Abbey? (11:40) Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.
Friday
Is Rishi’s Rwanda Bill doomed?
10 min listen
Rishi Sunak is stuck in a migration quagmire and will be spending the weekend drumming up support from MPs ahead of the vote on his amended Rwanda bill on Tuesday. He will be hoping for a Christmas miracle in the form of support from both One Nation MPs and those on the right of the
Thursday
Sunak defends Rwanda plans under fire
After the resignation of Robert Jenrick last night, Rishi Sunak sought to get on the front foot this morning with a press conference in No. 10. The Prime Minister cut a somewhat frustrated figure as he defended his new Rwanda legislation, insisting that it ‘blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent
Jenrick’s departure prompts mini-reshuffle
The post of Immigration Minister in 2023 has the potential to be as much of a poisoned chalice as the role of Brexit Secretary in 2018. Robert Jenrick’s departure last night created a difficult problem for No. 10. Anyone succeeding him would need to be unshakeable on immigration: a ‘sound as a pound’ right-winger, in
What Jenrick’s resignation means for Sunak’s premiership
17 min listen
Kate Andrews speaks to James Heale and Katy Balls about Robert Jenrick’s resignation last night and whether this is another sign of Tory party implosion.
Wednesday
Sunak unveils his ‘emergency legislation’ on Rwanda
Three weeks after the Prime Minister’s ‘emergency legislation’ to make the Rwandan scheme viable, tonight it is finally here. The seven-page Bill was published shortly before Rishi Sunak’s address to the 1922 Committee and James Cleverly’s statement to the House of Commons. The Bill’s solution to the Supreme Court verdict last month is to disapply
Boris faces the music at the Covid inquiry
12 min listen
It was a big day in the Covid inquiry as Boris Johnson gave evidence for the first time. Just as Johnson launched into an apology during his opening statement, protestors off-camera made their presence known. There were also revelations concerning the attention he paid to Sage minutes and Cobra meetings and the former prime minister
Badenoch overhauls gender recognition list
Ahead of Suella Braverman’s big statement this afternoon, it was the turn of another Brexiteer to face the Commons. Kemi Badenoch appeared before the House in her capacity as Minister for Women and Equalities, to update MPs on people who have changed gender under different regimes abroad. Under plans announced today, foreign citizens will be
Sunak is stuck in a migration minefield
At last week’s Spectator Parliamentarian Awards, Suella Braverman was awarded ‘Disruptor of the Year’. In her speech, which seemed to preview her Commons statement on Wednesday, the former home secretary joked that the prize ought, instead, to go to the man responsible ‘for disrupting my plans to cut the [immigration] numbers and deliver our manifesto
Tuesday
Are the Tories too little too late on migration?
14 min listen
As James Cleverly meets leaders in Rwanda to sign a new asylum treaty, the government has laid out a series of plans to bring down legal migration. Some Tories on the right would like the measures to go further, but are these policies too little too late? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Spectator writer, Patrick
Cleverly to sign fresh Rwanda deal
Fresh from his big statement in the Commons, James Cleverly has landed this morning in Kigali. The Home Secretary’s focus yesterday was on legal migration and bringing down the net total down by 300,000; today it’s on illegal migration and fixing the Rwanda scheme. Three weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful on the
Monday
Cleverly promises to cut migration by 300,000
‘Migration to this country is far too high and it needs to come down’, began James Cleverly at the despatch box this afternoon. It has been a difficult three weeks since his appointment as Home Secretary, with the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Rwanda scheme and then the publication of record migration numbers. It was
Was Starmer right to praise Thatcher?
11 min listen
This weekend Keir Starmer’s team took the opportunity to discuss Margaret Thatcher in an op-ed for the Sunday Telegraph. Whilst Starmer also praised other former prime ministers – such as Tony Blair and Clement Attlee – his admission that ‘Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism’, has
Starmer risks a backlash with his Thatcher praise
Two Telegraph stories in successive days illustrate Labour’s dilemma. Today the paper gives a favourable write-up to the party’s Australian-style scheme for AI to analyse hospital scans. It comes after the Sunday edition yesterday splashed Keir Starmer’s praise for Margaret Thatcher – a tactic they have previously deployed in the same paper to great success.