Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.
What are the UK’s red lines in the upcoming trade talks with the EU? Although Boris Johnson has said publicly that he will pursue a Canada-style trade deal and move to an Australia-style deal should that fail, there’s concern on the British side that Brussels is yet to take Johnson at his word when he
What are the UK’s red lines in the upcoming trade talks with the EU? Although Boris Johnson has said publicly that he will pursue a Canada-style trade deal and move to an Australia-style deal should that fail, there’s concern on the British side that Brussels is yet to take Johnson at his word when he
Boris Johnson ends the week with a new Chancellor in tow after Rishi Sunak replaced Sajid Javid in the role. Prior to the reshuffle, Sunak had expected to remain Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Although the Tory rising star had been tipped at one point to be given his own department to run, he had
The Labour leadership contest has become a three horse race. Emily Thornberry has been eliminated after failing to win enough Constituency Labour Party nominations to pass through to the final round. The shadow foreign secretary did come close to reaching the required number – she was two short at 31 nominations to the 33 required
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Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle has been blown off course this lunchtime after Sajid Javid quit as Chancellor. Javid resigned after being presented with an ultimatum by the Prime Minister. After a fortnight of negative No.10/No.11 briefings, Javid was told he could stay in his post on the condition he agreed to a SpAd restructuring. This
Labour’s leadership contest has been attracting less and less media interest as it goes on. Despite this, Jeremy Corbyn’s successor won’t be announced until April so there’s still over a month of the contest to go. Part of the reason for the lack of excitement is a growing sense that it isn’t really a contest
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Tory activists are in uproar this morning over varying reports of tax raising measures Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid are considering for next month’s Budget. Plans currently being mooted include cuts to pension tax relief and the introduction of a recurring property tax that could replace stamp duty. Critics have been quick to say that
On Thursday, Boris Johnson will reshuffle his cabinet for the first time since winning a majority of 80. Soon after the election result, there was talk of a Valentine’s Day massacre in which multiple ministers would lose their jobs. However, in recent weeks there have been suggestions that it won’t be as drastic a reorganisation
When diplomatic cables leaked to the Mail on Sunday last year revealing that the UK’s man in Washington Sir Kim Darroch had described the Trump administration as ‘inept’ and ‘incompetent’, the ambassador was forced to resign. Since then there has been much speculation over who would succeed him and work to rebuild UK/US diplomatic relations.
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Ayesha Hazarika is a journalist and comedian, and a former Labour advisor to Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband. On the podcast, she talks about growing up in Glasgow, vetting Ed Miliband for Prime Minister’s Questions, and the stand-up jokes that bombed the most.
It’s budget day in the Scottish parliament and the Scottish finance secretary has just resigned. Derek Mackay has quit his role as finance secretary hours before he was due to deliver his budget following a story published in the Scottish Sun alleging he sent inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy on social media. The paper
Since Boris Johnson returned to No. 10 with a majority of 80, there’s been a growing sense that the Prime Minister and his team plan to use their newfound political capital to challenge the status quo. High on the list of institutions and conventions that they believe require a shake-up is the BBC. Today Culture
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When Boris Johnson oversees his first post-election reshuffle in the coming days, just one of his ministers has been publicly promised that they will stay put: Sajid Javid. Yet this seeming endorsement does not mean the pair have an entirely harmonious relationship. That announcement, made during the general election campaign, was done partly because there
The government has this afternoon unveiled its response to the Streatham terrorist incident on Sunday – which saw a man recently released for terror offences stab civilians in south London. Speaking in the Chamber, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said that the government will table emergency legislation to end automatic early release for convicted terrorists. Under
