Conservative party

Wednesday

James Heale

Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall?

13 min listen

Yet another three MRP polls landed today – and none of them look pretty for the Conservative party. This comes as Boris Johnson rules out helping on the campaign trail as reports say that the party has given up on the Red Wall. On the episode, James Heale talks to Katy Balls and conservative commentator Paul Goodman about why the Tories will continue to struggle to close the poll gap given the roles played by the Liberal Democrats and Reform. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson

Is Boris back to save the day?

12 min listen

If you’re a Twitter user, you might have seen more of Boris Johnson than usual. He’s been making videos to endorse selected candidates from his holiday in Sardinia. Might he make a bigger return to the election campaign? Is he the man that could save the Tories from Farage – and does he want to?  James Heale speaks to Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson. 

Monday

Fraser Nelson

Does Nigel Farage have the cure for Britain?

10 min listen

Nigel Farage has unveiled Reform UK’s manifesto. Except, it’s not a manifesto, because he says the word is synonymous in voters’ minds with ‘lies’. It promises a freeze on non-essential immigration, a patriotic curriculum, leaving the European Court on Human Rights, and cutting taxes by £88 billion.  Is this contract more of a wish list? How much damage can Nigel Farage do to the Conservatives? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale. 

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson

Why are Tories talking about a Labour Super Majority?

12 min listen

Grant Shapps has been speaking to media this morning and warning that a Labour landslide would be ‘very bad news’ for the country. Is the acknowledgement that Labour could seriously damage the Tories a slip of the tongue, or a new strategy for the Tories? Elsewhere, the interview that Rishi Sunak left D Day commemorations for is airing tonight. In a controversial moment, when asked what he had to go without as a child, he says Sky TV…  Megan McElroy speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls. Join the Coffee House Shots team for a live recording on Thursday 11 July. Get tickets at spectator.co.uk/live.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Sunak’s manifesto is not credible

Rishi Sunak’s manifesto launch was necessarily defensive: the Prime Minister is trying to stem the losses in this election campaign rather than present an exciting vision of a new Britain. It was striking how much Sunak talked about Labour in his speech at Silverstone. Almost every Tory policy he referred to was immediately contrasted with what Labour would or wouldn’t do. His best line was that ‘if you don’t know what Labour will do, don’t vote for them. If you’re concerned about what Starmer isn’t telling you, don’t vote for them’. Even if the Tories did make bold promises, there is a credibility gap The best Sunak can hope for

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Sunak’s cautious manifesto a mistake?

13 min listen

Conservatives hoping to turn their fortunes around with the publication of the party’s manifesto have been disappointed. The document contained little by way of surprises or rabbits, and despite Sunak’s pledge that the Conservatives are the party of tax cutting, the new costings show that the tax burden will continue to rise. Katy Balls talks to James Heale and Kate Andrews. Join the Coffee House Shots team for a live recording on Thursday 11 July. Get tickets at spectator.co.uk/live. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Saturday

Friday

James Heale

Will Labour’s manifesto contain a surprise?

14 min listen

Overnight, details of Labour’s manifesto were leaked. There are several new policies, but how surprising are they, and how will they land with voters?  Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak has denied he planned to skip D Day events altogether since our episode this morning. Can the row get any worse? James Heale speaks to Isabel Hardman and John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair. 

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Nickie Aiken Edition

37 min listen

Nickie Aiken has been an elected public servant for 18 years. An MP since 2019, she has served as a deputy chairman and a vice-chair of the Conservative Party. She was also a councillor in Westminster for 16 years including as leader of the council and previously worked in public relations.  On the episode, Katy Balls talks to Nickie about how she got into politics, why the tea room is the most useful part of Parliament, and the scourge of pedicabs in London. Not seeking re-election at this general election, Nickie also reflects on the politics of the past few years and on what the future might hold for the

Thursday

Lara Prendergast

The Farage factor

45 min listen

This week: The Farage factor. Our cover piece looks at the biggest news from this week of the general election campaign, Nigel Farage’s decision to stand again for Parliament. Farage appealed to voters in the seaside town of Clacton to send him to Westminster to be a ‘nuisance’. Indeed, how much of a nuisance will he be to Rishi Sunak in this campaign? Will this boost Reform’s ratings across Britain? And could it be eighth time lucky for Nigel? The Spectator‘s political editor Katy Balls joins the podcast to discuss, alongside former Clacton and UKIP MP, Douglas Carswell (2:32). Then: Gavin Mortimer reports from France ahead of the European and local

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Has there been a CCHQ candidates stitch up?

14 min listen

Conservative grassroots are up in arms over the installment of Tory party chairman, Richard Holden, as the candidate for Basildon and Billericay, a safe seat. The local association was given a shortlist of one by CCHQ. Katy Balls talks to James Heale and commentator and Conservative peer, Paul Goodman. Produced by Cindy Yu.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week: Farage returns, Abbott reselected and Trump guilty 

Home Nigel Farage took over leadership of the Reform party from Richard Tice and is standing for parliament in Clacton. This came as news on Monday to Tice, and to Reform’s candidate for Clacton, Tony Mack. Outside the Wetherspoons pub where he launched his campaign, Farage had a McDonald’s banana milkshake thrown over him. Farage proposed net-zero immigration. The Conservatives then said they would ask the independent Migration Advisory Committee for a recommended level for an annual cap on visas, and put that to a parliamentary vote. Invasive Asian hornets, which can eat 50 bees a day, were found to have survived a British winter and might stay permanently. Rishi

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Who won the first leaders’ debate?

17 min listen

Last night, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer went head-to-head in the first TV debate of the campaign. They clashed on a variety of topics, including housing, the NHS, and immigration. But who came out on top? Katy Balls speaks to Kate Andrews and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Megan McElroy.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

On Sunak’s maths, Tories will lift taxes by £3,000 per household

My colleague Ross Clark has shown how the Tories cooked up that £2,000 figure. They worked out the total cost of what they think Labour will do, using standard HM Treasury costings. Then, they divided that by the number of in-work households (18.4 million). This is a subset of the 21.4 million total UK households, so no pensioners or workless households. By choosing a smaller denominator, you concentrate the increase and conjure up a scarier figure. Then they quadruple-counted. So they took each year’s estimate for tax rise and then added them together over four years and – presto! – you end up with £2,000. But let’s apply a similar method to

Tuesday

James Heale

What would it take for Sunak to have a breakthrough?

13 min listen

Some Conservatives have put their hopes on tonight’s TV debate as a breakthrough moment for the lacklustre and disorganised Tory campaign, but will it really be a gamechanger? James Heale talks to Isabel Hardman about why she’s sceptical, and to the pollster Chris Hopkins at Savanta about why the Tories just aren’t closing that poll gap. Produced by Megan McElroy and Cindy Yu.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The problem with Sunak’s migrant cap

It is perhaps no accident that Rishi Sunak has rushed out his proposal for a cap on migrant workers and their dependants the day after Nigel Farage announced that he was taking over as leader of Reform UK. But you wonder how many votes there really are in a migration cap when Farage is already out there promising to reduce net migration to zero – a new interpretation of net zero, if you like. If you don’t like migration at all, Reform UK would seem to be your obvious choice. If, on the other hand, you are offended by illegal migration while accepting the argument that employers need the right

Monday

James Heale

Could Farage crush the Tories?

13 min listen

This afternoon a wildcard was thrown into the election – the return of Nigel Farage. He will be standing for the Reform party at Clacton, the one parliamentary seat that Ukip had held. What will this mean for the Conservatives? James Heale talks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls. Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Saturday

Ross Clark

Who will survive to lead the Tories?

In spite of his conviction for falsifying business records, Donald Trump is still expected by many to make a remarkable political comeback in November’s US election. Could we see an equally remarkable comeback this side of the Atlantic, too, with Liz Truss returning to the stand for the leadership of the Conservative party? It’s possible to see a scenario where Truss is one of the few hopefuls remaining Today’s Electoral Calculus poll predicting that the Conservatives could be reduced to just 66 seats on 4 July raises the question: who would still be around to lead the party after the almost certain resignation of Rishi Sunak? Electoral Calculus’s model is

Thursday

Katy Balls

Wannabes: are any of them ready?

36 min listen

On this week’s Edition: Wannabes – are any of them ready? Our cover piece takes a look at the state of the parties a week into the UK general election campaign. The election announcement took everyone by surprise, including Tory MPs, so what’s been the fallout since? To provide the latest analysis, The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls joins the podcast (2:00). Then: Angus Colwell reports on how the election is playing out on social media, and the increasing role of the political ‘spinfluencer’. These accounts have millions of likes, but how influential could they be during the election? Alongside Angus, Harry Boeken, aka @thechampagne_socialist on TikTok, joins us to share their

Tuesday

James Kanagasooriam

The Dunkirk Strategy

13 min listen

The Conservatives have unveiled a new pensions policy: the ‘Triple Lock Plus’. What does it mean and what’s the thinking behind it? Will it help shore up the Tories’ core vote?   Katy Balls and Focaldata’s James Kanagasooriam join Natasha Feroze to discuss.  Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons.