Katy Balls

Katy Balls

Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.

Did Gove just torpedo Truss?

14 min listen

Michael Gove this morning said that Liz Truss’s plans to scrap the top 45 per cent tax rate are a ‘display of the wrong values’. It comes as Jake Berry, the Tory party chairman, confirmed that MPs who vote against the budget would lose the Conservative whip. Has Gove just ruined Truss’s conference? James Heale

Katy Balls

Gove torpedoes Truss’s conference

Liz Truss’s supporters had hoped this year’s Conservative party conference would mark a moment of triumph for the new leader. Instead it opened with her arch-nemesis lobbing a hand grenade in her direction. Step forward, Michael Gove. Appearing on a panel on Laura Kuenssberg’s show this morning, Gove voiced his concerns with Truss’s economic plan

Katy Balls

Liz Truss insists she’s not for turning

Liz Truss goes into her first Conservative party conference with the latest Opinium polling giving Labour a 19-point-lead and her own approval ratings down at -37 – worse than Boris Johnson’s in his final days in office. Yet despite this, the new Prime Minister used her first big sit down interview since the fallout from

Liz Truss’s mea culpa moment

11 min listen

Despite rejecting the Office for Budget Responsibility’s offer of a forecast to accompany last week’s so-called fiscal event, this morning it appears that the government have u-turned. What can we expect from the OBR’s statement ahead of the November budget? Also on the podcast, after last night’s YouGov poll put Labour ahead by 33 points,

Labour surge to 33-point lead over Tories

Today Kwasi Kwarteng attempted to calm concerns in his party over the fallout from the not-so-mini Budget – telling MPs: ‘We are one team and need to remain focused’.  That message is likely to face some resistance after the latest polling. Tonight the Times has published a new YouGov poll which gives Labour a 33-point lead. Yes,

Katy Balls

Could Truss axe Kwarteng?

23 min listen

Liz Truss broke her silence this morning and embarked on a pre-Tory conference media round of regional stations across the UK. In a brutal set of interviews, the Prime Minister faced questions on tax cutting the rich at the expense of the poor, fracking and bankers’ bonuses. With conference just three days away, what will be

‘We’re so close’: there’s a cautious optimism at Labour conference

When Liz Truss scheduled her mini-Budget for the Friday before Labour conference, there was concern in Keir Starmer’s office. After months of meticulous planning, Starmer’s team feared the new Tory government would use their event to upstage his and distract from the party’s annual gathering in Liverpool. They were right to think that Kwasi Kwarteng’s

Katy Balls

Tory nerves are growing over Truss’s tax cuts

Tory nerves are growing over Liz Truss’s economic plans. As the fallout from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s not-so-mini-budget continues to dominate the news, the Prime Minister has doubled down. In a pool clip this afternoon, Treasury minister Andrew Griffith has rejected calls for the government to row back on Friday’s fiscal event – insisting Truss’s plans

Is Starmer ready for No.10?

10 min listen

Keir Stamer took centre stage for his speech at the Labour party conference today. Unlike last year, there were several standing ovations and loud cheers from the audience. Was his speech one to remember in Labour’s history? And has he secured his position as the man to lead Labour back into government? James Heale speaks

Katy Balls

The message behind Starmer’s Labour conference speech

As market volatility in response to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s Budget on Friday continues to dominate the news, Keir Starmer will try to use his conference leader’s speech to pitch his party as the safe choice on the economy. When Starmer takes to the conference hall stage this afternoon, he will say it is

Is Labour on the cusp of victory?

13 min listen

It’s day two of Labour Conference and the party appear upbeat and confident of their chances at the next election. But are they being too reactionary in their narrative? What do they have to offer other than not being the Conservative party?From Liverpool, James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Katy Balls

How worrying is the falling pound?

19 min listen

Following Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini’ budget, the pound has fallen to a record low against the dollar, fueling speculation that the Bank of England will hike interest rates. How worrying are these figures? ‘I think the pound falling is a bit of a distraction from the real problem’ – James Forsyth Katy Balls speaks to Kate

Andy Burnham: ‘Where is the fight?’

Keir Starmer is having a pretty good Labour conference so far. His decision to kick off the annual meet with a rendition of ‘God Save the King’ went off without hitch. There are few tricky motions or crunch votes heading to the conference floor. A new ComRes poll says the party is on course to

Katy Balls

Starmer sets himself apart from Truss

One of the reasons members of Liz Truss’s team remain upbeat despite the onslaught of criticism towards government’s tax-cutting budget is that they think it pushes Labour into uncomfortable territory. Will Keir Starmer respond to a Tory programme of mass tax cuts with tax rises? This morning, he offered a partial answer. Starmer repeatedly accused

Kwarteng’s audacious budget

17 min listen

Kwasi Kwarteng has today announced what has been dubbed as his mini-Budget, but looking at the scale of the package it is far from small. The Coffee House Shots team take us through what has been revealed. Who are the winners and who are the losers? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and

Katy Balls

The Louise Perry Edition

30 min listen

Louise Perry is a journalist, campaigner and author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. It offers a new guide to sex in the 21st century – rather than herald sex positivity as a good thing for women, she argues it has had negative consequences. Her work has been published in multiple news outlets including

NI rise scrapped: how much further will Kwasi go?

16 min listen

With hours to go till the Chancellor’s fiscal statement, we’ve heard today that the National Insurance hike will be scrapped, as promised during Liz Truss’s leadership campaign. This comes as the Bank of England increases the base rate to 2.25 per cent. How much further will Kwasi Kwarteng go, and just how willing is the

What’s behind Putin’s mobilisation?

15 min listen

Vladimir Putin warned the West that, if pushed, Russia would use a nuclear weapon. How seriously should we take his threat? And reports emerged overnight that Liz Truss will cut stamp duty to increase demand for housing. But will that help more people get onto the housing ladder? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and

Truss gets ready to be unpopular

Liz Truss is ready to be unpopular. Or at least that is what the new Prime Minister is keen to suggest. On a media round from New York – where she is attending her first international summit since entering No. 10 – she told the BBC’s Chris Mason: If that means taking difficult decisions which are going