James Heale

James Heale

James Heale is The Spectator’s political correspondent.

Louise Haigh’s resignation raises questions for Keir Starmer

11 min listen

In the small hours of this morning Louise Haigh resigned as Transport Secretary following the revelation that she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence in 2014. Haigh admitted fraud by false representation at a magistrates’ court after she incorrectly told the police that a work mobile had been stolen in 2013. She was then

Transport Secretary admits to fraud conviction

In recent years, Labour has made great political hay out of allegations of rule-breaking. The party was never slow to criticise Boris Johnson’s government for breaches of lockdown, with Sir Keir keen to depict himself as ‘Mr Rules.’ So it is sub-optimal, to say the least, that a senior minister has tonight admitted pleading guilty

James Heale

Starmer attacks ‘open border’ Tories

Anyone else want to do a Westminster press conference? Keir Starmer made it a hat-trick this afternoon when he gave his reply to the new immigration figures, following Kemi Badenoch’s comments yesterday and Nigel Farage’s response this morning. The Prime Minister’s team gave it the full No. 10 treatment: the flags, the lectern, Starmer looking

James Heale

Reform hits 100,000 members

There was a business-like manner in Nigel Farage’s response to the news that net migration was more than 900,000 in 2023. Speaking this morning at a Mayfair press conference, Farage was almost flat in his reply on the ‘horrendous’ figures. He insisted that the Tories would ‘never be forgiven’ for presiding over a nine-fold increase

James Heale

David Cameron u-turns on assisted dying

David Cameron has today become the first former prime minister to come out in support of assisted dying, having previously signalled his opposition to it in 2015. In a piece for the Times, he says that: ‘My main concern and reason for not supporting proposals before now has always been the worry that vulnerable people

James Heale

Why Reform has Wales in its sights

A spectre is haunting Wales. Fresh from Reform’s election victories in Westminster, Nigel Farage is turning his attention westwards, to Cardiff Bay. He wants Reform to replace the Tories there as the main challenge to Labour in May 2026, creating a major platform for his party ahead of the 2029 general election. The man plotting

Kemi’s first policy proclamation

12 min listen

Kemi Badenoch has signalled that she could change her position on the ECHR. At a conference today, she said “we will review every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework – including the ECHR and the Human Rights Act.” What could this mean for the Conservatives going forward? Katy Balls discusses with Michael Gove

James Heale

Badenoch admits Tory migration failures

Of all the issues which did it for the Conservatives in July 2024, no issue deterred life-long Tories more than the failure to control migration. So it was appropriate then that this subject formed the basis of Kemi Badenoch’s first major policy speech since her election as leader. Ahead of tomorrow’s release of migration statistics,

James Heale

William Hague is the new Chancellor of Oxford

Congratulations to William Hague, who has today triumphed in the race to succeed Chris Patten and become the 168th Chancellor of Oxford. Hague, who topped the ballot at every stage, won the final run-off against Elish Angiolini by a margin of 1,600 votes. Former cabinet ministers Peter Mandelson and Dominic Grieve were both eliminated in the

Can Keir Starmer get Britain back to work?

10 min listen

The government have announced their latest effort to get Britons back into work. A series of benefit changes intend to tackle the fact that Britain is the only major economy where the employment rate has fallen over the past five years, largely because more people are out of work due to long-term ill health. Why

James Heale

Can Starmer’s jobs push get Britain back to work?

The UK isn’t working. That’s the official view of the government as Keir Starmer launches his latest effort to get Britons back into work. A series of benefit changes intend to tackle the fact that Britain is the only major economy where the employment rate has fallen over the past five years, largely because more

Is Keir Starmer really going to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu?

11 min listen

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant as well as – separately – for Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. They are all wanted for alleged war crimes, but specifically regarding Netanyahu and Gallant the ICC say that, ‘each bear criminal responsibility for … the war

Starmer’s Streeting problem

18 min listen

A vote on assisted dying was supposed to be one of the easiest reforms for Keir Starmer’s government. To many, including the Prime Minister himself, a law allowing terminally ill patients to choose to die would be a self-evidently progressive and historically significant change. But he has faced unexpected pushback from his Health Secretary, the

James Heale

John Prescott: a titan of the Labour movement

John Prescott, Britain’s longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, has died at the age of 86. For 40 years he variously enlivened, enraged and entertained the Commons as the Honourable Member for Hull East. But his demeanour and public image belied a canny political judgement that took him from Merchant Navy seaman to holding some of

Is Rachel Reeves running out of luck?

11 min listen

An unexpected rise in inflation today takes the rate to higher than the Bank of England’s target, and adds to Rachel Reeves’s worries. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and The Spectator’s data editor Michael Simmons about the latest figures, and they also discuss the shadow minister Alex Burghart’s performance at Prime Minister’s Questions. Produced

Farmers won’t be quick to forgive Labour

12 min listen

Thousands of farmers descended on Westminster today to protest the inheritance tax changes proposed in Labour’s Budget. Amidst a sea of tweed and wellington boots, speeches and support came from the likes of Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey, Nigel Farage and Jeremy Clarkson. To what extent is this just a fringe issue that the government will

James Heale

Farmers won’t be quick to forgive Labour

Thousands of farmers descended on Westminster today to protest the government’s plans to raise inheritance tax. Hundreds of men, women and children in flat caps, tweed jackets and Wellington boots poured into Whitehall at lunchtime for a rally outside Downing Street. A series of speeches by the likes of Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey culminated

Labour’s Trump-Xi balancing act

14 min listen

Keir Starmer today will become the first British leader to meet China’s Xi Jinping since 2018. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil, and under the looming shadow of a second Trump presidency. Can Starmer strike the right balance? James Heale talks to Cindy Yu and Katy Balls.

James Heale

Badenoch brings the newbies into her team

It is just over a fortnight since the Tory leadership result and Kemi Badenoch is now putting the final touches to her first front bench team. With only 121 Tory MPs to choose from, she has worked to avoid a Truss-style scenario by promoting both loyalists and colleagues who backed other candidates. Thus, Mel Stride,