James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
11 min listen
In the Prime Minister’s first press conference since coming back to work, it was all about the ‘R’ number. On the podcast, Cindy, James, and Katy discuss just what this number means for our way out of the lockdown.
37 min listen
James Forsyth writes in this week’s cover piece that the government ‘is going to go South Korean on the virus’. In other words, test, track, and trace. But as James points out, this raises the obvious question of why we weren’t doing this already. On the podcast, Cindy Yu talks to James and the Economist‘s Adrian
The government now has a plan for how it intends to get out of this crisis. It is, as I say in the magazine this week, to drive the coronavirus transmission rate down as low as possible and then stay on top of it through a ‘track, trace and test’ approach. In other words, the
Ever since Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital on 5 April, the government has been in a holding pattern. No big decision could be taken without the Prime Minister, but he was in no position to make one. He is now back at work, though, and has a plan for what to do next. Put
One of the key committees advising the government is SAGE — the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies. At the weekend, there was a rumpus after the Guardian reported that Dominic Cummings had been present for some of its meetings; though given the enormity of what was being discussed there would have been problems if no one
16 min listen
As Keir Starmer settles into his second week as Labour leader, he claims to be scrutinising the government in a constructive way. At today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, we saw a little bit of what that looks like.
Earlier this month Boris Johnson was in hospital fighting for his life, this morning he was there for the arrival of new life: his partner Carrie Symonds gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning. David Cameron took paternity leave when his daughter Florence was born in 2010 and Tony Blair took a ‘paternity
14 min listen
Social care has always been a difficult issue for incumbent governments in recent years. The coronavirus pandemic brings this to the fore. As ONS figures show that more than 5,000 deaths have happened in UK care homes in April, Cindy, James, and Katy discuss what this means for future social care policy on the podcast.
15 min listen
The Prime Minister has kicked off his return to Downing Street with a speech to the nation, setting out the next steps in the battle against coronavirus.
One consequence of this crisis is that nearly everyone in the Tory party has become a China hawk. Tomorrow sees the launch of a new China Research Group of Tory MPs. The CRG will examine Beijing’s industrial policy, its approach to technology and its foreign policy. But perhaps the most striking thing about the group
15 min listen
The Telegraph reports this morning that Boris Johnson is planning to be back at work by Monday next week. He couldn’t come back sooner – with the Prime Minister laid up, the Cabinet has split over the question of easing the lockdown (as James Forsyth writes this week). So can Boris unite his team behind
40 min listen
This week, the Spectator commemorates its 10,000th edition. On the podcast, Cindy Yu speaks to David Butterfield and Fraser Nelson about the magazine’s two centuries of history, finding out about how the publication started, discussing whether it is still the same now as it was originally intended, and hearing about what David calls its ‘industrial
15 min listen
The Scottish government’s document ‘Looking Beyond Lockdown’ tries to do what it says on the tin. But it comes at an inconvenient time for the government in Downing Street, just as it is facing accusations that it hasn’t been clear enough with the public about what is needed to end the lockdown. On the podcast,
The government’s response to criticism of its approach to this pandemic is that it has been ‘guided by the science’ throughout. When Keir Starmer accused the government of being slow to introduce a lockdown at PMQs yesterday, Dominic Raab shot back to ask whether Starmer was really saying that he knew better than the chief
When Chequers was donated to the nation, the accompanying Act of Parliament was explicit about the intended effect. ‘The better the health of our rulers, the more sanely will they rule,’ it said. Prime ministers need time to think, as well as recuperate, and as Boris Johnson continues his convalescence there, he will be in
14 min listen
It’s Keir Starmer’s first Prime Minister’s Questions as Leader of the Opposition, but it also happened to be the first virtual session, where MPs dialled down the line via Zoom. So how did it go?
Coronavirus has created two different cabinets: an inner cabinet involved in the key discussions about how to handle the pandemic and an outer cabinet. Last week’s meeting reinforced this point, when some in the outer cabinet were acutely aware that the real decision had been taken by the inner cabinet before the whole cabinet Zoomed
Today’s PMQs was more political than I had expected. But that is a good thing, challenge and accountability are the great strengths of the Westminster system and lead to better government. Keir Starmer is never going to be an exciting parliamentary performer, but his questions were detailed and he followed up on Dominic Raab’s answer.
14 min listen
Is Matt Hancock the government’s ‘fall guy’? As Katy Balls details on Coffee House, the Health Secretary’s 100,000 target has rubbed up some in government in the wrong way, with the Daily Telegraph’s front page today reporting that an insider close to No 10 has dubbed it ‘irrational’ and ‘arbitrary’. So what’s going on behind
Parliament will return today, albeit in a very odd way. There will be some MPs in the chamber and others Zooming in. It will not be parliament as we are used to. This hybrid model will mean that debate will be stilted, but it is better than nothing. It is also essential that parliament sits