Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.
10 min listen
A poll of the SNP membership puts Kate Forbes as the frontrunner. Despite becoming embroiled in a row over her religious views, Forbes enjoys the support of 28 per cent of members, compared to Humza Yousaf’s 20 per cent. Could she win the contest? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.
Rishi Sunak hoped to end the week with a new agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Instead, the Prime Minister delayed his plans to announce a fresh agreement in the face of concerns from the DUP – and members of the European Research Group. As I say in this week’s politics column in the magazine,
10 min listen
Keir Starmer has set out Labour’s five missions for government in a speech today, but was there anything Labour about them? Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman about where this speech leaves the Labour party’s chances to win the next election. Also on the podcast: the government’s plan to cut the asylum
Since Britain voted to leave the European Union, every prime minister has had to grapple with the conundrum of the Irish border. How can Brexit be delivered, while protecting Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and avoiding a land border with the EU? The hope is that the DUP will refrain from coming out
14 min listen
Scotland’s finance secretary, Kate Forbes has formally declared her campaign to be leader of the SNP. Currently the bookies’ favourite – what direction would she take the party in? Also on the podcast, will there be more news on the Northern Ireland protocol this week?
Westminster is back to the Brexit wars this week. Once again, a Conservative leader is trying to finalise a deal with Brussels while facing warnings from their own side that it could prove a compromise too far. On Friday, there was much fanfare that a new deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol could be imminent.
Rishi Sunak is once again facing an unhelpful intervention from one of his predecessors. As the Prime Minister attempts to finalise a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol – spending the past few days meeting both with the DUP and the president of the European Commission – Boris Johnson has issued a warning. A source
13 min listen
After the news this week that Nicola Sturgeon will step aside as leader of the Scottish National Party, can the cause of Scottish independence survive without her? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and James Johnson, former Downing Street pollster and co-founder of JL Partners.
26 min listen
For this special episode of Women With Balls, the government’s Attorney General, Victoria Prentis joins Katy along with Vika, a young Ukrainian woman who came over to the UK under the Homes For Ukraine scheme after the war began. On the podcast, Victoria talks about how life has changed since Vika joined the family and
A deal on the Northern Ireland protocol could be imminent – if the various factions agree. Rishi Sunak is this evening flying to Northern Ireland in a bid to sell the new deal on the protocol to the Democratic Unionist party. The Prime Minister is expected to hold talks in Belfast before meeting with the
15 min listen
With Labour nearly 30 points ahead in the polls, Keir Starmer is consolidating his position at the top. He said yesterday that Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate in the next election, and he could be looking to reshuffle his shadow cabinet soon. How much power does Starmer have? Could he completely cut
40 min listen
This week: What next after Sturgeon? In her cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls considers what Sturgeon’s exit means for the future of Scotland – and the Union. She is joined by Iain Macwhirter, author of Disunited Kingdom, to discuss whether Scottish independence can survive after Sturgeon (01:09). Also this week: Elif Shafak
This evening the SNP’s executive committee will meet to decide the rules of the leadership contest following Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to resign both as party leader and First Minister of Scotland. In a sign of how the news has come as a surprise to many even in her own party, there is no heir apparent.
18 min listen
James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Conservative Home editor Paul Goodman about the union. Both in terms of Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden decision to resign this morning and the possibility of an imminent agreement on the Northern Ireland protocol.
When news broke of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation, the first reaction among Tory ministers was delight. For years, she had been one of their most formidable opponents and potent threats: perhaps the only politician capable of leading a Scottish independence campaign to victory. Without her, what would happen to the SNP? But then the elation faded.
12 min listen
Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation as First Minister of Scotland. James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman about her decision to leave and Sturgeon’s nine years as leader.
12 min listen
Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for defence has launched a security review in the wake of Chinese spy balloons entering Western airspace. This accelerated a row over defence spending ahead of the Spring Budget. How far is the government willing to go under pressure over the Ukraine war and now an intensified Chinese threat?
Is there a plot to unravel Brexit? Tory Eurosceptics are asking this question after the Observer published details over the weekend of a ‘secret summit’ to address the ‘failings’ of Brexit. The paper reports that the two-day event in Ditchley Park was a cross-party affair. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy – who previously backed a
11 min listen
Whilst the government is in recess, a group of cross-party politicians joined a private meeting to discuss ‘How we can make Brexit work better with our European neighbours?’ Are the critics right that this is an attempt to unravel Brexit? Also on the podcast, Labour dropped their GPC files [government procurement cards] early this morning
10 min listen
The chatter in Westminster has been dominated by comments the new deputy chairman of the Conservative Party gave to James Heale, The Spectator’s diary editor, in an interview published today. When asked if he was in support of the death penalty, Lee Anderson said: ‘Yes. Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. You know that,
