James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Boris Johnson has come out fighting, but that doesn't mean he's in the clear. Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the Prime Minister's efforts to keep himself inside No. 10.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Today the Metropolitan Police requested that Sue Gray's report makes 'minimal reference' to the events in her inquiry, whilst there is an ongoing police investigation. 'I think it puts the government in a difficult position. If you publish the report with minimal reference to the alleged parties being investigated by the police you’ll be accused of a whitewash report' - Katy Balls.As a consequence of the police investigation, there are also rumours that staffers in Whitehall might be fined over parties in the coming weeks. What will be the outcome of this? Will the culprits, who are likely to be junior staffers at No.10 dispute the fines?All to be discussed as Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
16 min listen
Whilst everyone waits for the Sue Gray report, all eyes turn to the next scandal: Pen Farthing's animal rescue operation out of Afghanistan. It has been revealed that Boris Johnson's parliamentary private secretary, Trudy Harrison contacted a jet hire company in an attempt to secure a plane to evacuate the pets. The PM has responded to these allegations saying they are 'total rhubarb' - but what does that mean?'You don’t seem to get the impression that Downing Street feels as if they are under pressure about this' - Katy BallsAlso on the podcast, is Boris Johnson planning a shake-up of his staff at No.10? And if so, who might go? Martin Reynolds? Dan Rosenfield?All to be discussed as Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
‘I can’t put into words how awful this is’ remarks one Tory MP. The party is split not on the kind of policy issue that people can debate but on the question of one man: the Prime Minister. Neither side is finding this struggle rewarding. The Johnson loyalists feel that they spend all day trying to bail water out of the boat, only to be hit by another wave as yet another story breaks. Those who want Johnson gone fear that the police investigation may slow every-thing down and that the current mantra, ‘Wait for the Sue Gray report’, will simply morph into ‘Wait for the Met report’. In No. 10, there is still a mood of defiance.
From our UK edition
14 min listen
The view on the Tory benches at the moment seems to be consistently ‘wait for Gray’ before they decide whether or not they will send a letter of no confidence. The 54 letters required is now more likely since the announcement of the police probe into Downing Street parties, but it is still by no means a certainty.Boris Johnson gathered a surprising amount of support at PMQs today. Helped in part. by opposition MPs calling on him to resign:'Richard Burgon, a former member of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet making a grand statement of how the PM should resign is naturally going to bring the Tory MPs together on Boris Johnson’s side' - Katy Balls. Also on the podcast, Pen Farthing and his Afghan animal rescue operation has just resurfaced.
From our UK edition
Jacob Rees-Mogg is now arguing that the UK system has become so presidential that a new prime minister would feel obliged to call an election. The message to Tory MPs is clear: depose Boris Johnson and you’ll be going to the country in months — and do you really want to do that given the polls? Rees-Mogg’s argument is being used by the shadow whipping operation too. It has, from what I have been hearing, had some effects on new intake MPs. But among older intakes, there is a bit of a backlash to it. There is a view that the argument takes them for fools. Yes, Labour and the other opposition parties would call for an election but why would someone with a majority of almost 80 go for a snap election?
From our UK edition
The Metropolitan Police’s decision to investigate lockdown parties undoubtedly makes things more serious for Downing Street. It is now harder to argue, as some supporters of Boris Johnson had begun to do privately, that these matters are fundamentally too trivial to account for a Prime Minister departing if the police have been called in to investigate. The Met’s investigation also looks like it will delay publication of Sue Gray's report. A large group of Tory MPs were waiting for the Gray report before deciding whether or not to send in a letter, though many had in reality already decided what they were going to do. What will they do now Gray is delayed?
From our UK edition
16 min listen
The latest in the scandal of Downing Street parties points to the Prime Minister’s own birthday, where a gathering took place in the Cabinet Office. Whilst this has been played off by a Downing Street spokesperson as being on ‘the edges of a work event’. Cressida Dick announced this morning that events at No.10 during lockdown have now been deemed serious enough to deserve a police investigation. How long does this now go on for? It could make the May election results terrible for the Tories, prompting more MPs to write a letter of no confidence.'Someone close to Boris Johnson said to me that this idea to 'delay to Gray' is wrong.
From our UK edition
16 min listen
Over the weekend the MP Nusrat Ghani accused the government of sacking her because allegedly her Muslim faith was an issue, and they thought she didn't defend the Conservative party's charges of Islamophobia more. In the week of the release of the infamous Sue Gray report into Partygate how are the Tories dealing with these two scandals? 'The whip's office is caught between Sandhurst and a HR department.' - James ForsythCindy Yu is joined by James Forsyth and Katy Balls to unpack the weekend's revelations.And if you are interested in learning more about Nasrat Ghani's Journey to become an MP do listen to Katy's interview with her from last year's Women with Balls podcast here: https://spectator.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
After Christian Wakeford's defection to Labour, Boris Johnson looks to be in the clear – for now. The Prime Minister's backbenchers, though, are still frustrated by the aggressive tactics used by his whips to ensure their support. Is blackmail normal in the Commons, and are their complaints a result of Parliament's generational divide? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth.'If you had turned up in Westminster in the 1970s, you would find whips pushing people up against the wall. I don't think that goes on today.
From our UK edition
The Partygate drama is temporarily paused as Tory MPs wait for Sue Gray to deliver her report. But even once it is out, what happens to Boris Johnson and the Conservative party is far from clear. One Tory MP with a foot in both the rebel and loyalist camps predicts 'trench warfare for several weeks' as the plotters try to get the 54 letters they need for a no confidence vote in the Prime Minister. As the rules currently stand, if Boris Johnson wins a confidence vote, he is safe for 12 months Not all Tory MPs are convinced that submitting a letter is the right approach though. As I say in the Times today, one of the arguments being made against calling for the PM to go is that it might lead to the worst possible outcome for the party.
From our UK edition
39 min listen
In this week’s episode: Will the Red Wall crush Boris Johnson? In this week’s Spectator, our political editor James Forsyth and our deputy political editor Katy Balls report on the plot to oust the Prime Minister by Red Wall MPs, and No.10’s battle to save Boris. They join the podcast to give their up to date diagnosis. (00:43)Also this week: How to save the BBC?This week Nadine Dorries announced that she is planning a licence fee freeze. In the Spectator this week Paul Wood, a veteran journalist of the BBC writes about his love-hate relationship with the broadcaster. He joins the podcast now along with Domonic Minghella, writer, producer and former showrunner of the BBC’s Robin Hood. (14:45) And finally: Is it moral to do good with bad money?
From our UK edition
9 min listen
As the Prime Minister has a stay of execution after the pork pie plot came to nothing, today allegations are flying that Tory whips have been using unsavoury methods to threaten wavering MPs into line. Christian Wakeford, the newly defected Labour MP to Bury South, says that whips threatened to withdraw funding from a local school; while William Wragg claims that MPs have been blackmailed with information about their private lives. But how much of this is true, and how much, as some in SW1 are saying today, is this just a part of being a whip?
From our UK edition
Two years ago, Boris Johnson had British politics at his feet. He had won the largest Tory majority since Thatcher, broken the Brexit deadlock and forged a new electoral coalition. Yet Johnson now finds himself on the verge of a vote of no confidence by his own MPs, and this turnaround hasn’t been triggered by some great ideological divide: this isn’t like old Tory arguments over imperial preference, the poll tax or Europe but by Johnson’s own behaviour and the way No. 10 is run. Downing Street had hoped that Sue Gray’s report would come out later this week, and they presumed it would give them the opportunity to launch a fightback.
From our UK edition
14 min listen
Last night rumours were flying around Westminster that letters of no confidence from Tory MPs were pouring in and Boris might be leaving sooner rather than later. But with the surprising crossing of the aisle by MP for Bury South, Christian Wakeford, it appears that old party tribalism may have stayed some hands. 'While a coup against a leader is one thing defecting is quite another.' - James ForsythKaty Balls talks with James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about all of today's political drama, from Keir Starmer's 'very good' jokes to David Davis's public call for Johnson to 'in the name of God go!' Subscribe to The Spectator's Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day's political news and a summary of the best pieces from our website. Go to spectator.
From our UK edition
An MP crossing the floor just before PMQs is the stuff of prime ministerial nightmares. But, oddly, Christian Wakeford’s defection might, in the very short term, have helped Boris Johnson. MPs hate defectors and so Tory MPs will unite in condemnation of Wakeford. His decision also makes it easier for Johnson’s allies to raise questions about the judgement of those pushing for a rapid vote of no confidence in the party leader. Tory MPs who are on the fence about the Prime Minister’s future think Wakeford's defection has probably made it more likely that the number of letters required for a no confidence vote won't be reached until after the Gray report is out. (Johnson indicated in PMQs that it would be out next week). https://www.youtube.com/watch?
From our UK edition
11 min listen
To keep Partygate alive, Dominic Cummings has released fresh accusations on his blog about Boris Johnson, who he claims knew about the parties taking place. The former chief advisor to the Prime Minister is prepared to swear under oath on this. As divisions in the Tory party are starting to show, a no confidence motion could be expected in days. 'There is a cat and mouse game where those loyal to the leader are trying smoke out potential rebels' - James ForsythAll eyes are on Keir Starmer for PMQs tomorrow.Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Tory MPs have just returned from their constituencies after a weekend of persuading voters to support their party in the May local elections. It’s not just the public that is angry, the local associations are equally outraged at the scandals that have marred the first month of 2022. Those around Boris Johnson are planning 'Operation Red Meat' which is a policy tactic to save the Prime Minister's premiership. Nadine Dorries has announced her plans to cut the budget of the BBC. It has also been announced that the military is stepping in to try to stop migrants crossing the English Channel. But is it a little too late? ‘They’ve been telling us they are going to sort this [migrant crisis] out but for two years the problem has got worse' - James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
20 min listen
Five Tory MPs have publicly said that Boris Johnson should resign. After a torrid week in Downing Street, which finished with the Prime Minister having to apologise to the Queen for a party being held on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral, could we soon see a leadership contest? Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss the likely runners and riders. 'I will eat this microphone if Steve Baker or Kemi Badenoch stand.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
It's been revealed that two more parties took place in No. 10 during the pandemic. This time, on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral. While the Prime Minister was not at this event, is No. 10's party culture coming straight from the top? Max Jeffery is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth.
