Tim Shipman is political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
Keir Starmer has now been Prime Minister for one year and 300 days, which puts him 43rd in the list of Britain’s longest-serving prime ministers. Whether he survives the seven weeks (otherwise known as ‘a single Truss’) he needs at the helm to overtake the Earl of Aberdeen will be shaped, in part, by the
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Does Keir Starmer have confidence in Rachel Reeves? Kemi Badenoch pressed the Prime Minister on his Chancellor’s future at PMQs – and he declined to answer, twice. Westminster (and Twitter) is now awash with reshuffle rumours. No 10 has since issued a denial, but the damage may already be done, raising a familiar question: is
When Morgan McSweeney concluded his evidence on Tuesday to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about the Mandelson affair, a senior Labour figure remarked: ‘What really did we learn from all this? That Keir made a bad decision, wants someone else to blame and didn’t really know what was going on in his own government. Fancy
From our UK edition
18 min listen
It’s a blockbuster day in parliament today. To kick things off, we had Philip Barton pleading ignorance; to close the proceedings tonight we have a vote on a possible Privileges Committee probe. But in between we have Morgan McSweeney, the longtime bete noire of the Labour party left, giving testimony on the appointment of Peter
From our UK edition
King Charles is about to travel to Washington to visit President Trump. The brief? Fix the strained relationship. No pressure! Can royal diplomacy steady relations? Will the trip be awkward given Trump’s recent words on Starmer, Chagos, The Falklands, and Canada? Does the King have what it takes to navigate such a diplomatic minefield? Elsewhere,
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Politics has calmed down again after a week of rare frenzy, even by the standards of the past decade. Next week promises a few more dramas before MPs head into recess for the local elections, which once more look like they could be the most consequential for a generation. Sir Philip Barton, Olly Robbins’s predecessor
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The long-debated assisted dying bill is expected to fail in the House of Lords today – described by the bill’s leading advocate Lord Falconer as failing ‘not on its merits’ but ‘due to procedural wrangling’. Natasha Feroze speaks to Tim Shipman and James Heale about whether that is a fair description of the bill. Plus
From our UK edition
19 min listen
Somewhere in the documents surrounding Peter Mandelson’s ambassadorial appointment, the Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman reveals, is a text Keir Starmer sent the night before the announcement. ‘You’ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances,’ he told the Prince of Darkness. ‘And after many years of our discussions, we get to work together side by side. I
From our UK edition
Somewhere in the vast array of documents the Cabinet Office has gathered on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador in Washington, there is a text message which Keir Starmer sent the night before he made the announcement. ‘You’ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances,’ he told Mandelson. ‘And after many years of our
From our UK edition
15 min listen
‘The most gripping testimony’ since Dominic Cummings which could prove ‘extraordinary and quietly devastating’ for Keir Starmer. That’s the verdict of the Spectator‘s political editor Tim Shipman following sacked Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins’s testimony today before the Foreign Affairs Committee. Tim and former FCDO mandarin Ameer Kotecha join James Heale to explain why
From our UK edition
The government keeps telling us that they are desperate for economic growth and keen to attract overseas investment in UK plc. But a case at the High Court last week casts some doubt over that. It all goes back to a case brought by Richard Desmond, the owner of the Express newspapers (and retired pornographer),
From our UK edition
20 min listen
Westminster is braced ahead of two key interventions in the Mandelson scandal. This afternoon, the prime minister will give a statement in which we understand he will convey his ‘anger’ at being kept in the dark about Peter Mandelson’s (failed) vetting process. Then tomorrow morning, we are expecting to hear Olly Robbins’s side of the
I have just been contacted by a source who knows much more about what happened with Peter Mandelson’s vetting. It supports the case that I made in my summary of the case last night and Sam Coates made in his thread yesterday that the crucial decision was Keir Starmer’s political decision to appoint him. In
From our UK edition
The sacking of Sir Oliver Robbins over the vetting of Peter Mandelson is a complicated affair, so I’ll try to break down what we know, what we don’t know and what conclusions we can draw. WHAT HAPPENED What we know: – Keir Starmer has said he accepts responsibility for the ‘mistake’ of appointing Peter Mandelson
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20 min listen
The Peter Mandelson scandal just got more scandalous. Last night the story broke that Mandeslon actually failed his enhanced vetting before being made US Ambassador. Number 10 are pleading ignorance. Their defence sits on the suggestion that the Foreign Office’s most senior official unilaterally decided to ignore the findings and – what’s more – that
From our UK edition
22 min listen
It is a hard time to be a Labour MP. The polls are flagging, the economy is stagnating and the Middle East remains in crisis. But facing electoral armageddon in three weeks’ time, one brave backbencher has taken it up on herself to raise her party’s spirits. Samantha Niblett, the Honourable Member for South Derbyshire,
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13 min listen
PMQs is back and – predictably – Lord Robertson’s intervention on the state of the armed forces dominated proceedings. The Prime Minister gave six responses to questions about defence spending, none of which addressed the criticism properly. While it was not a painful session for Starmer, it did show how little he has to say
When John Healey was asked, on stage at the London Defence Conference, whether the armed forces were ‘ready’ for war, the Defence Secretary replied: ‘Yes.’ One of those present says: ‘That was greeted with near incredulity in the room.’ Another attendee compared Healey’s plight to someone ‘playing French cricket’, with critics from all sides hurling
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13 min listen
Two big stories to chew over on today’s podcast, starting with Viktor Orban’s landslide defeat in Hungary. The left have been celebrating this as a victory over populism, but have they misunderstood Peter Magyar’s politics? He’s hardly the Hungarian Ed Davey – as figures such as Zack Polanski would have you believe – and shares
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30 min listen
Labour won the 2024 general election in part by focusing on ‘hero voters’ – so called because they may have voted Labour in the past but felt the party had abandoned them. Now they risk losing them again – so how does Labour maintain their support? Chris Curtis, Labour MP for Milton Keynes North and
