Conservative party

Friday

Paul Wood

Paul Wood, Matthew Parris, Ian Buruma, Hermione Eyre and Francis Young

34 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Paul Wood reads his letter from the Vatican (1:17); Matthew Parris warns Conservatives from embracing causes that could lose them as much support as they would gain (7:31); reviewing Richard Overy’s Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima and the Surrender of Japan, Ian Buruma argues that the atomic bombs were not only immoral, but ineffective (15:35); Hermione Eyre examines the life and work of the surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun (23:03); and, Francis Young provides his notes on Shrove Tuesday (29:12).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

Katy Balls and James Heale

Nigel’s gang: Reform’s plan for power

A year ago, Reform party aides found themselves in a cramped office in Victoria, London, bickering about chairs. ‘There weren’t enough seats to go around,’ recalls a staffer. These days there are no such issues. Leading in the polls and with five MPs in tow, Nigel Farage’s party has moved to Westminster’s Millbank Tower. This 1960s block peering over the Thames is where Tony Blair’s landslide victories were fought for and won; the new tenants are intent on dismantling most of his legacy as they plot a path to 10 Downing Street. Look at any opinion survey and Reform is hard to dismiss. Having won 14 per cent of the

Wednesday

Cindy Yu

Why is Kemi struggling at PMQs?

12 min listen

For the second week in a row, the leader of the opposition seemed to struggle at Prime Minister’s Questions, ending up accusing Keir Starmer of being ‘patronising’ after having a couple of her questions rebuffed. Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Saturday

James Heale

How the Whips’ office really works

35 min listen

Simon Hart joins James Heale to talk about his new book Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip. Having stepped down at the 2024 election, Simon has become the first former Chief Whip to publish his diaries. What are his reflections on the Conservatives’ time in office? Simon explains why his decision to resign under Boris Johnson was so difficult, why the Rwanda vote under Rishi Sunak was their finest hour, and why the Whips’ office is really the government’s HR department. Just how Ungovernable was the Tory Party? Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

Lara Prendergast

Britain’s bureaucratic bloat, debating surrogacy & is smoking ‘sexy’?

40 min listen

This week: The Spectator launches SPAFF The civil service does one thing right, writes The Spectator’s data editor Michael Simmons: spaffing money away. The advent of Elon Musk’s DOGE in the US has inspired The Spectator to launch our own war on wasteful spending – the Spectator Project Against Frivolous Funding, or SPAFF. Examples of waste range from the comic to the tragic. The Department for Work and Pensions, Michael writes, ‘bought one Universal Credit claimant a £1,500 e-bike after he persuaded his MP it would help him find self-employment’. There’s money for a group trying to ‘decolonise’ pole dancing; for a ‘socially engaged’ practitioner to make a film about someone else getting

Tuesday

Oscar Edmondson

Have Kemi Badenoch’s first 100 days been a success?

18 min listen

Kemi Badenoch has been Conservative Party leader for 100 days. Her party is fighting for survival, and she faces an uphill task greater than many of her predecessors: Reform UK surging in the polls, a depleted talent pool of just 121 MPs, and the hangover of 14 years of Conservative rule leaving her hamstrung on issues such as immigration and the economy. Has she managed to transform the party? What will the next 100 days look like? Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Paul Goodman. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Thursday

Katy Balls

Could a Tory/Reform pact be looming?

In 1603, James VI managed to do what few thought possible. The self-styled first King of Great Britain succeeded in bringing the ‘auld enemies’ of Scotland and England under one monarch. That union of the crowns is a topic of chatter and inspiration for the British right these days. Admirers of Nigel Farage now talk about the ‘James I model’. The idea is simple: could the two warring tribes of the Conservatives and Reform be brought together under one leader? The next general election may be nearly four years away, but it’s telling that such conversations are already taking place. With every new opinion poll, Conservative MPs grow a little

Friday

James Heale

John Prescott’s legacy, plus Labour & the Tories grapple with migration

15 min listen

Labour heavyweight John Prescott’s funeral took place yesterday with former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown leading the tributes. What is Prescott’s legacy? And does the current Labour Party have politicians that emulate his appeal? Lucy Dunn speaks to James Heale and former Blair adviser John McTernan about how Prescott was the glue that held Labour together during the Blair-Brown years. Also on the podcast, they discuss the borders and migration bill which Labour published this week. The bill sees the government adopt many measures that they voted against when in opposition. Does this show that Labour have what it takes to tackle immigration? Meanwhile the Conservatives still haven’t

Thursday

Cindy Yu

Can Reform turn more Tory donors?

15 min listen

Tuesday night’s Reform fundraiser was designed to spook the Conservative party, says Conservative peer and journalist Paul Goodman on today’s episode. He talks to Cindy Yu and James Heale about whether Kemi Badenoch can keep her cool under Reform’s domination of the airwaves. Produced by Cindy Yu.

The Spectator

Letters: What we lose when we lose our factories

Chains of command Sir: Matthew Lynn is correct to emphasise the economic dangers of deindustrialisation (‘Not made in Britain’, 25 January). But there are cultural dangers too. It’s now 40 years since Correlli Barnett and I made a television programme called Assembled in Britain, drawing attention to the alarming retreat of manufacturing. No recent government has respected, still less encouraged, manufacturing industry. The result is today’s mess. What can you say about a civilisation that cannot produce the goods it needs, other than that civilisation loses integrity and pride? In 1944 Matthew King wrote a small classic called The Unwritten Laws of Engineering, pointing out that manufacturing civilisations were daily able

Thursday

Matthew Lynn

Industry tragedy, Trump vs the Pope & the depressing reality of sex parties

42 min listen

This week: the death of British industry In the cover piece for the magazine, Matthew Lynn argues that Britain is in danger of entering a ‘zero-industrial society’. The country that gave the world the Industrial Revolution has presided over a steep decline in British manufacturing. He argues there are serious consequences: foreign ownership, poorer societies, a lack of innovation, and even national security concerns. Why has this happened? Who is to blame? And could Labour turn it around? Matthew joined the podcast, alongside the head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak. (1:05) Next: the Pope takes on President Trump The Pope has nominated Cardinal Robert McElroy to be

Tuesday

Steerpike

Reform overtake Tories on Spectator poll tracker

The new year is off to a bad start for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories. The latest update to The Spectator data hub’s poll tracker shows that – on average – Reform have just overtaken the Conservatives to become the second-placed party in British politics. As Steerpike reported this morning, YouGov’s first Westminster voting intention poll since the July election revealed that, while support for Starmer’s army has dropped nine points since polling day, Nigel Farage’s Reform has seen support rise by ten points. Combine that with the Tories dropping two points, and The Spectator poll tracker – which looks at the average of all political polling – puts Reform in second

Thursday

Katy Balls

‘There’s been a vibe shift’: welcome to the new political disorder

Donald Trump isn’t back in the White House yet, but already his victory is being felt across the world. Greenland is pondering the prospect of an invasion after the President-elect refused to rule it out during a Mar-a-Lago press conference. In Canada, the last western leader from the days before Trump has just exited the stage. Justin Trudeau, the one-time liberal hero, quit earlier this week in the face of tanking ratings. Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader, is out at Meta and the billionaires of Silicon Valley are bracing themselves for what comes next. Mark Zuckerberg has announced sweeping changes (including an end to fact-checkers) in response to

Monday

James Kanagasooriam and Patrick Flynn

Right move: will Britain benefit from the global conservative turn?

The world appears to be turning on its axis – and moving hard to the right. The New World is tilting hardest. In Argentina, Javier Milei is taking a chainsaw to bureaucracy. In the US, Donald Trump is poised to deport migrants, deregulate the economy and drill, baby, drill. Canada’s tendresse for the maple-syrupy liberal Justin Trudeau has chilled into a bitter determination to oust him in favour of the anti-woke, pro-growth ‘true conservative’ Pierre Poilievre.  And where the New World has led, the Old is following. Giorgia Meloni is now Europe’s most consequential leader – upholder of some pretty traditional values with a strikingly hard policy on migration. Germany goes to the polls next

Friday

Oscar Edmondson

Have we been too quick to judge Kemi Badenoch?

20 min listen

Kemi Badenoch is just over a month into her tenure as leader of the opposition, and already she has been criticised for her performances at PMQs and for failing to offer much in the way of policy proposals. It has been a consistent gripe of many of Badenoch’s detractors that she is a culture warrior or a one-trick pony. However, we might get a better idea of what the Conservatives will look like in the new year once her series of policy commissions get under way. So, how will she position her party? And, as countries around the world turn rightward, can she wrestle herself into conversations with Trump and

Saturday

Katy Balls

Christmas I: Katy Balls, Craig Brown, Kate Weinberg, Craig Raine, Lisa Haseldine and Melissa Kite

37 min listen

On this week’s Christmas Out Loud – part one: Katy Balls runs through the Westminster wishlists for 2025 (1:26); Craig Brown reads his satirist’s notebook (7:06); Kate Weinberg explains the healing power of a father’s bedtime reading (13:47); Craig Raine reviews a new four volume edition of the prose of T.S. Eliot (19:10); Lisa Haseldine provides her notes on hymnals (28:15); and Melissa Kite explains why she shouldn’t be allowed to go to church (31:19).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

William Moore

Christmas Special 2024 with Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Mary Wakefield

71 min listen

Welcome to a special festive episode of The Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s Christmas triple issue. Up first: our review of the year – and what a year it has been. At the start of 2024, the outcome of the US election looked very different, the UK had a different Prime Minister, and The Spectator had a different editor! Luckily, The Spectator’s regular columnists are on hand to declare what they got right – and wrong – throughout the year, and whether they’re optimistic for 2025. Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris, Mary Wakefield and Lionel Shriver take us through everything from Trump to trans (03:24). Next: ‘Good riddance

Thursday

Lara Prendergast

How twee triumphed, Graham Brady on Tory turmoil & celebrating pigs in blankets

37 min listen

This week: are we drowning in a sea of twee? Gareth Roberts writes the cover article this week, arguing against what he sees as the hideous triviality of our times. ‘The British have lost their aversion to glutinous sentimentality,’ he declares. How did we get here, and who are the worst offenders? Gareth argues that the triumph of twee has left us unable to face serious things with seriousness. Could there be sinister consequences if we don’t take this more seriously? Gareth joined the podcast to make his case, alongside Josh Cohen, psychoanalyst and author of All The Rage (00:49). Then: was Graham Brady the ‘kingmaker’ or the ‘kingslayer’ of

Tuesday

Alex Burghart

Was Graham Brady really the awesome power-broker he imagines?

The great parliamentary sketchwriter Quentin Letts, the Henry Lucy of our day, has described Sir Graham Brady (now Lord Brady) thus: ‘Were he a yacht, his galley would gleam, the decks would be scrubbed daily and there would be a large brass bell to summon matelots to morning parade. Commodore Brady runs a tight ship.’ After 27 years in the Commons, 14 of them as Chair of the 1922 Committee, the commodore has swapped his deck garb for ermine and written a kiss-and-tell about his political encounters with five Tory prime ministers. The 1922 Committee – the fabled men in grey suits who represent the parliamentary party’s backbenchers – is

Saturday

Freddy Gray

Is Labour’s football regulator an own goal?

30 min listen

The Football Governance Bill is currently being considered in the House of Lords. It’s designed to establish an independent football regulator. No team in the football pyramid will be allowed to play professionally without the regulator’s permission. Does the Premier League really require these sorts of regulations? Will such a rigid system, and unprecedented powers, change the game for the better? Paul Goodman, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, wrote about the bill in The Spectator. He discusses alongside Rod Liddle, Spectator columnist, and Freddy Gray.