Podcast
Instant political analysis from the Spectator‘s top team of writers, including Katy Balls, James Heale, Isabel Hardman, Cindy Yu, Kate Andrews and many others.
Instant political analysis from the Spectator‘s top team of writers, including Katy Balls, James Heale, Isabel Hardman, Cindy Yu, Kate Andrews and many others.
Coffee House Shots
This weekend we had another twist in the story involving Labour donor Lord Alli, who was caught up in a ‘cash for access’ scandal a couple of weeks back. It now seems he has forked out the thick end of 20k on clothes and glasses for Keir Starmer and his wife. Foreign sec David Lammy
Play 12 mins
Coffee House Shots
Last week, there was a surprise visitor to the Treasury: Gordon Brown. The former prime minister and chancellor secretly returned to his old digs for the first time since he left office 14 years ago. According to onlookers, Brown visited his old office as he caught up with the new chancellor – and his friend
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer and David Lammy are in the Washington for a planned foreign policy summit with Joe Biden. They will principally be talking about a new deal regarding the use of UK long range missiles in Russia, a move which Putin has warned would constitute an escalation of the war and the formalisation of NATO’s
Play 10 mins
Coffee House Shots
The Prime Minister has described the NHS as in ‘critical condition’ in a speech this morning after the release of Lord Darzi’s damning independent report. Lord Darzi had only nine weeks to conduct his investigation into –and assessment of – the National Health Service. But this truncated timeline does not appear to have led to
Play 15 mins
Coffee House Shots
Last night saw the first Trump vs Harris debate and the consensus seems to be that Harris came out on top. She managed to avoid sticky issues about her political past and goaded Trump into some rambling and – at times – outrageous remarks. What did we learn? Also today, we have had new figures
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
It’s been a busy day in Westminster today. Labour avoided a large scale rebellion on the winter fuel allowance and Mel Stride was eliminated from the Tory leadership race – not to mention the sale of a certain weekly politics magazine. Oscar Edmondson discusses with Katy Balls and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
Tomorrow MPs will vote on Rachel Reeves’ decision to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners who aren’t eligible for pension benefits. We spoke on this podcast on Friday about the pressure that Labour is under from all sides on this, but the temperature has increased over the weekend with the trade unions getting involved. What’s
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
Join Fraser Nelson, Katy Balls and Kate Andrews, along with special guest Jonathan Ashworth, for a live edition of Coffee House Shots recorded earlier this week. They dissect the first few weeks of the new Labour government and look ahead to the policies autumn, and the budget, might bring. Having surprisingly lost his seat at the election,
Play 47 mins
Coffee House Shots
Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls join James Heale to look ahead to a crucial week for Labour. On Tuesday, Parliament will hold a binding vote on the changes to winter fuel allowance – how are Labour expected to deal with this? Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, and husband of the current home secretary Yvette Cooper,
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
The first round of the Conservative leadership race has seen Dame Priti Patel eliminated with the fewest votes. Robert Jenrick came out on top but, with a second vote taking place on Tuesday, where could Patel’s supporters go? Who could get eliminated next? Will ‘Melmentum’ build? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
Seven years after the tragedy, the inquiry into the Grenfell fire has published its report. What did we learn from it and who bears responsibility? And, with thousands of buildings still believed to contain flammable cladding, what should happen next? With such important lessons to be learnt, why do British inquiries take so long? Also
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
The fallout continues from the UK’s decision to suspend some arms sale licenses to Israel. Defence Secretary John Healey insists the UK remains a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel, yet the decision has been criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ‘shameful’. What has the domestic reaction been to the government’s decision, and who is
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
It’s back to school day for kids up and down the country, and also back to school for our politicians who have returned from summer recess. To celebrate, Keir Starmer has announced that one-word Ofsted classifications will be scrapped with immediate effect. Is this the right move? Also on the podcast, we have had the
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
The Tory leadership contest is still rumbling on, and we’re lucky enough to still have weeks to go! In this Saturday episode, we assess which of the candidates would create the biggest problem for Keir Starmer. Who would be most frustrating at the dispatch box, and whose politics would be the most difficult for him?
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin has revealed that the PM has removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from No 10. The portrait was originally commissioned by Gordon Brown. Why has he bothered to get rid of it? Elsewhere, the government has more plans for health, and select committees have some surprising new candidates. Megan McElroy
Play 14 mins
Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer has confirmed that the government is looking at plans to revive Sunak’s smoking ban legislation. They may go even further – reports suggest they will seek to extend the current indoor ban for hospitality venues, to outdoor places such as pub gardens. What’s the rationale behind this, and where could it lead? How
Play 19 mins
Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer has been in Germany today visiting Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before heading to Paris to meet President Macron. This is part of his plan to ‘reset’ relations with Europe – but how close does he want to get to the EU? And, given Brexit wounds are still raw, what’s achievable? James Heale is joined
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Winter is coming. That’s the message from Keir Starmer’s set-piece speech this morning from the No. 10 rose garden. After a tricky few weeks for the new Prime Minister on cronyism claims and anxiety about cuts to the winter fuel allowance, Starmer and his team attempted seize the agenda with a speech looking ahead to
Play 15 mins
Coffee House Shots
As the Democratic National Convention draws to a close in Chicago this week, Patrick Gibbons is joined by James Heale and Gerry Baker, editor at large of the Wall Street Journal to try to make sense of what a Harris presidency could mean for the UK. Is she continuity Biden? Do we really know what
Play 16 mins
Coffee House Shots
Ofgem, the energy regulator, has announced that the price cap will rise by 10% in October. Is this bad news for Labour, or will they be successful in framing it as part of their economic inheritance from the Conservatives? And could this strengthen opposition to the proposed change to winter fuel allowance? Patrick Gibbons speaks
Play 17 mins
Coffee House Shots
Today’s GCSE results show an exams system that has largely returned to pre-Covid norms. It has also given the government a chance to talk about skills and apprenticeships – something that Bridget Phillipson’s predecessor as education secretary was also keen on. Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Amanda Spielman, former chair of Ofqual and
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
The government seems to have appointed another party-political advisor to the civil service – this time Labour Together’s Jess Sargeant to the role of deputy director at the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group. Is the Labour party just as prone to a bit of cronyism as they accuse the Tories of having been? Cindy
Play 13 mins
Coffee House Shots
Keir Starmer has been meeting the new First Minister Eluned Morgan as part of a two day trip to Wales. While the trip included a visit to a wind farm, Starmer quickly faced questions about the fate of steel workers in Port Talbot. What does this challenge tell us about Starmer’s Industrial Strategy and his
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Coffee House Shots
The fallout from the riots continues as the numbers being processed by the justice system have led to emergency measures being triggered by the government. What does this mean and, given the prison system was at breaking point even before the riots, what happens next? Also on the podcast, the six Tory leadership contenders have
Play 15 mins
Coffee House Shots
Labour is planning to reform the civil service into five ‘missions’ that will lead the agenda, moving away from the purely departmental way of arranging priorities at the moment. Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Jill Rutter from the Institute for Government and UK In a Changing Europe (and a former civil servant) about
Play 21 mins
Coffee House Shots
Less than 48 hours after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh hailed a new deal with train drivers… the rail union Aslef announced further strike action. So what happened to Labour’s ‘relationship reset’ with the unions? And with recent pay deals, what incentive is there for workers to compromise with the government? Fraser Nelson and Isabel Hardman
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
The broader story this morning paints a positive picture for the UK economy. While growth in June took a pause, growth in Q2 for this year is estimated to be 0.6 per cent, roughly in line with what markets were predicting, as forecasts for UK growth have been repeatedly revised upwards since the start of
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
We’ve got some news today on the inflation rate, which rose to 2.2 per cent in July, slightly up from the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent, where the rate sat in May and June. It’s the first rate uptick this year – and though widely expected, it will be used to explain
Play 11 mins
Coffee House Shots
After successful showings at NATO and Blenheim Palace Keir Starmer is facing his first foreign policy tests, with big developments in Ukraine and in the Middle East. On the one hand, Ukrainian troops are continuing push into the Kursk region of Russia and on the other it looked last night that Iran had ramped up
Play 18 mins
Coffee House Shots
Over the weekend we have had some news on Labour’s housing policy. The Times have splashed on the news that in order to meet their pledge to build 1.5 million houses by 2030, councils will be given the power to buy up green belt land. Will this actually get Britain building? Elsewhere, the Tory leadership race continues
Play 13 mins