Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.
Back in April, the idea of Jeremy Corbyn holding ‘transition talks’ with Sir Jeremy Heywood — the Cabinet Secretary — was enough to provoke mild amusement. But in a sign of how much things have changed with just seven days to go until polling day, Labour’s plans for government are now top of the agenda. With
Tonight there will be sighs of relief in CCHQ after Theresa May put in a solid – if imperfect – performance in the Sky / Channel 4 ‘Battle for Number 10’ programme. After a difficult week which saw the Tory lead drop to five points, the Prime Minister navigated her way through a range of tricky topics from her
The news that the Tory lead has dropped to just five points, according to a Times/YouGov poll yesterday, has been dismissed in some quarters as an exception to the polls, rather than the rule. However, even if you don’t buy that the Tory lead over Labour is now at its lowest since Theresa May came to power, it
In her second statement of the day, Theresa May has announced that the national terror threat level has been raised from “severe” to the highest level,”critical”. She added that she has also deployed the military to help armed police by triggering Operation Temperer, a protocol that sends troops to help police with security at airports, rail networks, harbours etc. This is
On the surface, today’s front pages don’t make enjoyable reading for the Prime Minister. The Sunday Times leads on a YouGov poll which says the Conservative lead has been slashed to single figures for the first time since last year, while the Mail on Sunday splashes on a Survation poll — claiming the Tory lead has
At today’s Tory manifesto launch, Theresa May put some clear blue water between herself and the Cameroons as she ditched many of the 2015 manifesto pledges. But there is one area of continuity. May managed to continue George Osborne’s longstanding tradition of putting off balancing the books. On the subject of the UK deficit, the manifesto acknowledges
Today Theresa May unveiled the 2017 Conservative and Unionist Party manifesto at an event in West Yorkshire. Parking her tanks on Labour’s lawn, the Prime Minister tried to appeal to working class voters as she revealed her vision for ‘a stronger Britain and a prosperous future’. Here’s what can be gleaned from the slimline document:
Tim Farron is in Bethnal Green tonight launching the Liberal Democrats 2017 manifesto. As the party try to keep hopes for a ‘Lib Dem fightback’ alive, the policies on offer appear to be aimed at winning the youth vote. They include introducing an NHS tax, raising £1bn in tax from proposals to legalise cannabis, help
Although Theresa May insists that she is not complacent about the election result, the Conservatives do feel confident enough to hold press conferences even when they have nothing much to say. Today the lobby trooped 20 minutes east on the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf to hear Theresa May and Philip Hammond repeat yesterday’s Conservative attack lines
Today Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour’s 2017 manifesto in Bradford. Given that the draft version of the document leaked last week, a lot of the contents haven’t come as a surprise. However, there are still a few significant things to note from the 124-page document: Labour have not factored in the cost of nationalisation into their
Well, this is going well. In less than two hours Labour will launch its 2017 manifesto and John McDonnell has already got things off to a bad start with a questionable appearance on the Today programme. Aside from praising the decision by Labour’s new election aide Andrew Murray to trade the Communist party for the
Usually in a general election campaign, MPs in marginal seats invite high profile party figures to their constituencies in a bid to generate interest from the local media and win over swing voters. This is certainly what’s happening when it comes to the Tory campaign — from Theresa May downwards, Conservative ministers have been busy touring
Today’s front pages are emblazoned with details of the policies in Labour’s manifesto. Usually, this level of policy coverage would be good news for a party in the midst of a general election campaign. However, the manifesto isn’t due for a week. Instead, someone has leaked the draft version. It certainly makes for an intriguing read.
The day of a party’s election campaign launch ought to generate some pretty straightforward policy coverage. Instead, Labour yesterday managed to cause confusion once again as Jeremy Corbyn tried to set out Labour’s position on Europe. In a speech in Manchester, the Labour leader asserted that the question of whether the UK would leave the
Last night, Jeremy Corbyn confirmed many Labour moderates’ worst fears when he declared that he would not quit as leader — even if the party loses come June. Now it’s not uncommon for politicians to say this on the election campaign trail and then act differently in the light of defeat — Gordon Brown did exactly this. But
The results from the local elections are in — and we’re beginning work out what it means for the parties with regards to next month’s general election. While the Conservatives have much cause for (cautious) celebration, Ukip looks on the brink of extinction, Labour has had a dismal showing – and the Liberal Democrats are having a ‘neutral‘
Today voters go to the polls to vote in the local elections — with the results beginning to emerge in the early hours of Friday morning. The event has been somewhat overshadowed by Theresa May’s decision to go for an early general election. However, the results will give us some indication of what to expect
Over the weekend, Theresa May fell prey to a rather brutal Brussels briefing when details of the Prime Minister’s ‘disastrous’ Brexit dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker found their way into a German newspaper. With the Prime Minister accused of ‘living in another galaxy’ and lacking a clue when it comes to the Brexit negotiations, one could be
Over the weekend, Theresa May was accused by Labour of hiding from the public in a remote forest hut on a trip to Aberdeenshire. Today, the Prime Minister faced similar negative jibes on a visit to Cornwall. This time, the local paper complained that its reporters were ‘shut in a room and banned from filming’. So, on the
The result of the general election in England might be regarded as inevitable, with even Labour MPs telling constituents it’s safe to vote for them because Jeremy Corbyn is not going to become prime minister. But in Scotland, there’s a fierce contest going on between the SNP and the Tories, and this is where the
