Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
13 min listen
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
15 min listen
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
11 min listen
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
11 min listen
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
Even by its own standards, Twitter has been an asylum of late with a lynch mob going after our associate editor Douglas Murray. An interview he gave months ago has been selectively edited and republished to misrepresent him and, in effect, make out that he was encouraging riots. This is how Twitter works. People respond,
13 min listen
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
A millionaire I know has a tradition every year: he buys a bottle of vintage wine with his Winter Fuel Payment and invites friends to drink it. His point is that it’s ludicrous that people like him are given handouts by the government – and today, finally, Rachel Reeves is doing something about it by
How much can Rachel Reeves be trusted? A Chancellor’s credibility counts for a lot with the markets, who are asked to lend HM Government tens of billions a year. Reeves claims to be serious, straight and candid in a way her Tory predecessors were not. But now she seems to be channeling Liz Truss and
Seven Labour MPs had the whip suspended after voting against the two-child benefit cap, but this is a small taste of what awaits Labour. In her first major, Liz Kendall has set herself a target of hitting an 80 per cent employment rate – bolder than anything the Tories ever shot for. It is higher
16 min listen
At last there is white smoke in the negotiations over the rules for the Tory leadership contest. On Monday, the 1922 committee met and agreed a timetable for the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader. The plan is for a new leader to be unveiled 2 November with eligible candidates to throw
11 min listen
Last night we had the news that President Biden will not contest the election, announcing in a separate statement that he will support his vice president Kamala Harris for the nomination. As endorsements pour in from other notable democrats and donors it looks like it might be nailed-on for her. But what would a Kamala
14 min listen
The Conservatives need to choose a new leader, but first they need to agree on the process… Easier said than done. Lucy Dunn talks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls about the latest on the upcoming leadership race: what will the race look like, who are the the runners and riders, and how do they
History was made in Pennsylvania last night as much by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump as by Evan Vucci of the Associated Press. Vucci’s image shows a presidential candidate, blood from a bullet wound on his face, his fist raised defiantly, with the US flag behind him in the sky. Anyone in my line
59 min listen
Join Fraser Nelson, Katy Balls and Kate Andrews, along with special guest Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, for a live edition of Coffee House Shots recorded earlier this week. A week on from Sir Jacob losing his seat, he declares ‘I can speak freely now’. So, why does he think the Conservatives lost the election? The team
16 min listen
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has acknowledged that ‘our prisons are on the point of collapse’. She has announced that, from September, most prisoners serving sentences of less than four years will be released 40 per cent of the way through their sentences instead of the halfway point, which is currently the case. The policy will
The swearing-in ceremonies in parliament this week have been rare in that more of them are filmed, posted on social media – and together, give us a flavour of the diversity in the islands, unified by the crown. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Protestants and Catholics swear loyalty to the King on a holy book of their
13 min listen
It’s been a big 24 hours in Tory-world as the party tries to pick itself up after last week’s defeat. We have had the first shadow cabinet meeting and the 1922 committee chairman election. Where do they go from here? And who could lead them? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced
For years, Wes Streeting has spoken about the need for NHS reform but it was never clear if he had an agenda, or this was just verbal positioning. The NHS has more staff (1.4 million) than many countries have people. Plans to reform it need to be laid out carefully, taking years to design and
The most interesting and unexpected appointment in Keir Starmer’s government is that of James Timpson, the CEO of Timpson, who is now becoming prisons minister. He’s respected across the political spectrum for his work not just in his family-owned key-cutting chain but for his work finding jobs for ex-prisoners. He started off hiring them after
Rishi Sunak’s resignation speech was classy, generous and a model of the British system at its best. He started by taking personal responsibility for the election disaster, saying (as expected) that he’d resign as party leader as well as prime minister. His next move was not back into No. 10 but into the car and
