Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.
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Prime Minister Liz Truss has sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt. By removing her closest ideological ally. Can she save herself? Kate Andrews speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Produced by Natasha Feroze.
A day is a long time in politics. Just this morning, a No. 10 source told the BBC the Prime Minister believed Kwasi Kwarteng was doing ‘an excellent job’ as chancellor and the pair were ‘in lockstep.’ Only just a few hours on, Liz Truss has sacked her close ally and friend in a bid
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After a day of speculation, the rumours that Liz Truss was about to U-turn on more areas of the mini-budget proved untrue. Conservative MPs had a tense evening in the 1922 Committee meeting last night – are there any good options left for the Prime Minister? Isabel Hardman speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth.
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Fiona Hill is a seasoned political advisor, consultant and strategist. Born in Glasgow, she began her career as the first-ever female football reporter in Scotland. Then after moving into politics, she later became the first female chief of staff in No.10 under Theresa May. In her first interview since leaving Downing Street five years ago,
Not so long ago, Fiona Hill was the most powerful woman in Whitehall. She ran Downing Street with an iron grip for the first year of Theresa May’s premiership alongside her co-chief of staff Nick Timothy. Ministers bowed to their authority, civil servants feared them, Tory MPs complained of a power grab by a duo
Liz Truss’s appearance before MPs at the 1922 committee was meant to be part of a wider charm offensive as she tries to get MPs back on side after a tricky start. With Labour enjoying a large poll lead and market turmoil dominating the news, Truss needs to keep her party behind her. Yet that
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Did Liz Truss misspeak or did she mean it when she said that she wouldn’t go ahead with spending cuts, as promised in her leadership campaign? On the episode, Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about what the Prime Minister could have meant, given the need to balance the books to pay
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Parliament is back today and Kwasi Kwarteng is facing questions from the opposition as well as from those within his party. How much pressure is he under? Also on the podcast, looking ahead to another fiscal event at the end of the month, are we heading for a series of departmental spending cuts? What would
Could a snap election be around the corner? That’s the message Keir Starmer relayed to party staff in a conference call this morning. He told those assembled that the economic turmoil following the Chancellor’s not-so-mini Budget means the government ‘could fall at any time’. As a result, his party needs to be election ready: ‘We
When Kwasi Kwarteng sacked Tom Scholar as permanent secretary at the Treasury, it was taken as the clearest indication yet that he was determined to shake up the so-called Treasury orthodoxy. Unlike previous Tory governments, Liz Truss and her Chancellor would take on the economic consensus. Only one month in and they appear to be
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This morning the Chancellor has announced that the government will bring forward both its medium term fiscal event and the accompanying Office for Budget Responsibility forecast. Will Kwarteng exercise some spending restraint to calm the Bank of England? Also on the podcast, after Truss appointed Sunak ally Greg Hands as Minister of State for Trade
As MPs prepare to return to Westminster after the conference recess, the hope in 10 Downing Street is that the House of Commons will give way to calmer scenes than those at the tumultuous Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Given the number of Tory MPs lining up to rebel on various issues that may prove
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Max Jeffery, Katy Balls and James Forsyth discuss Liz Truss’s premiership and walk through the various options being cooked up to replace her.
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Liz Truss attended the European Political Community summit in Prague, where her frosty relations with Macron came to a head. Rather than ‘frenemies’, there were signs of thawing relations between the two. After years of diplomatic tensions over Brexit, immigration and energy, can the two leaders kiss and make up? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel
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Nadine Dorries, a loyalist to Boris Johnson, has a front-page piece in the Times today, accusing the new Liz Truss government of lurching too far towards the right. As someone who previously backed Liz for leader, is there a growing sense that people wish Boris never left? Also on the podcast, the National Grid has suggested
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Justine Roberts is the CEO and founder of Mumsnet. A website that makes parents’ lives easier by pooling knowledge, advice and support on everything from baby names, and household tips, to who they’re voting for in the next election. On the podcast, Justine talks about being a young girl from Surrey, mad about Liverpool football
What was supposed to be a recovery moment for the Conservatives instead looks like a collective nervous breakdown. The Prime Minister has been forced to U-turn on her flagship tax plan. Her cabinet is in open rebellion. Tory party conference resembled a civil war. The latest polling suggests the party is heading for electoral extinction.
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Liz Truss has today delivered her speech to the Conservative Party Conference where she set out the vision for her government. It was arguably the best moment of a difficult week for the party. Has she succeeded in calming Tory nerves? Who are the ‘anti-growth coalition’ that she is taking on? Isabel Hardman speaks to
What does Liz Truss need to say in her first leader’s speech at Conservative party conference? Faced with a restive party, economic turmoil and a feuding cabinet, MPs are already asking questions about how long she will last as Prime Minister. Rather than prove a celebratory moment, Truss’s first party conference as leader has been
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Liz Truss is coming under pressure over another of her policies. Should she increase benefits payments in line with inflation, or in line with earnings, as she would prefer? Will the PM change her mind again? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth. Produced by Max Jeffery.