James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.
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With every new poll predicting a Reform win at the next general election, the party continues its preparation for government. James Heale joins Oscar Edmondson and Tim Shipman to talk about his article in the magazine looking at what – or who – is shaping Reform’s intellectual revolution. Cambridge intellectual James Orr, close friend to
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‘The Ultras’ are the subject of The Spectator’s cover story this week – this is the new Islamo-socialist alliance that has appeared on the left of British politics. Several independent MPs, elected amidst outrage over the war in Gaza, have gone on to back the new party created by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and
If New Labour was Margaret Thatcher’s greatest achievement, then Reform UK is perhaps Tony Blair’s. Distaste for the three-time election winner is a thread which connects much of the party’s leadership. Nigel Farage clashed with him at the European parliament in 2005. His deputy, Richard Tice, did the same as a Question Time audience member
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We’ve just had PMQs, which have become much more interesting now that Kemi Badenoch has got her act together. She led on the Grooming Gangs Inquiry after a fourth survivor quit the inquiry over fears that it’s being watered down. She went as far as to say that the government is in a ‘briefing war
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Rachel Reeves is hosting an investment summit in Birmingham, trying to turn the narrative away from Britain’s economic ‘doom loop’ ahead of next month’s budget. But the harbinger of bad economic news Michael Simmons – who joins James Heale and Patrick Gibbons on the podcast – points to the news today of soaring government borrowing
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There have been lots of movements in foreign affairs over the weekend, including a potential collapse of the Gaza peace deal, a Trump–Putin bilateral and new revelations about the China spy case. But closer to home, all eyes are on Kent Council, Reform’s flagship administrative project run by Linden Kemkaran (formerly of this parish). Over
Prince Andrew’s humiliation is near-complete. He has tonight agreed to immediately stop using his Duke of York title after ‘discussion with The King,’ his family and ‘with His Majesty’s agreement.’ In a statement, Andrew said that ‘I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.’ It comes
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It’s been a rough week for the government: the row over the collapsed Chinese spy trial has rolled on, all while the Chancellor has been trying to lay the groundwork ahead of next month’s budget. Then, overnight, another issue has emerged as fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football team have been banned from attending
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Tim Shipman’s bombshell cover piece for the magazine this week explains how the collapsed spy trial blew up in the government’s face. As well as raising ‘serious questions’ about Keir Starmer’s judgment and Jonathan Powell’s role, ‘the affair reveals a Whitehall tendency to cover up the gory details of foreign spying in the UK’. According to
Who is responsible for Labour’s recent woes? For some Conservatives, the answer is obvious – Sheridan Westlake. He is that rarest of beasts: an effective Tory operator who has served every leader since John Major. Flaxen-haired with an impish grin, he is spoken of by colleagues as part myth, part political mastermind. Yet ask him
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Keir Starmer did not go into Prime Minister’s Questions with the intention of resolving the row over the collapse of the Chinese spying case: he merely wanted to avoid the pressure building too much. He announced in a long statement at the start of the session that the government would be publishing its three witness
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Tim Shipman and Charles Parton, China adviser at the Council on Geostrategy, join James Heale to discuss the ongoing fallout over the collapse of the Westminster spy case. Security minister Dan Jarvis answered an urgent question on the matter late on Monday in Parliament, stringently denying that the government played an active role in collapsing
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It’s a ‘great and beautiful day’, as Donald Trump wrote in the guestbook at the Knesset, where he will address the Israeli parliament after the final hostages were handed back to Israel. It is, of course, a historic piece of diplomacy, and the conversation in Westminster has turned to the extent to which the UK
The Prime Minister is in Egypt today at a peace summit aimed at ending the Gaza war. The question of whether he deserves any credit for the ceasefire is a contentious one. Some within Labour will claim that British recognition of a Palestinian state proved to Israel that it was alienating its allies. British officials
Reform UK’s momentum is influencing other parties too. The Greens voted overwhelmingly to elect Zack Polanski last month, partly on the basis that he would replicate Nigel Farage’s media success. Labour are basing much of their current strategy on a cordon sanitaire approach, hyping up the threat of any Farage-led government. The Liberal Democrats are
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This morning Kemi Badenoch wrapped up Tory conference with a speech that will – for now at least – calm Conservative jitters. The Tory leader’s hour-long address in Manchester was intended as a rejoinder to critics of her leadership and she certainly achieved that aim. Having been accused of lacking spirit, imagination and vigour, Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch wrapped up Conservative conference with a well-received speech that was bursting with policy ideas. The Tory leader’s hour-long address in Manchester was intended as a rejoinder to critics of her leadership. Having been accused of lacking spirit, imagination and vigour, Badenoch today demonstrated all three. The main headline grabbing announcement was her plan
It is day three of Conservative Party conference and the punchiest speech of the event has just been made. Robert Jenrick, the heat-seeking missile of the Tory front bench, has just delivered another howitzer aimed squarely at Britain’s judiciary. Brandishing a judge’s wig, he addressed the conference faithful with the vim and vigour that have
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Tim Shipman, James Heale and Lucy Dunn record live at Conservative party conference in Manchester. What’s the mood at conference – and has Kemi done enough to neutralise her detractors? Tim says he expects there to be no immediate leadership challenge but the Conservatives need to get real about the ‘attention economy’ they’re faced with.
The Conservative party conference kicks off today in Manchester. Dominating the headlines is the long-awaited announcement that the next Tory government would pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In a break with recent conferences, leader Kemi Badenoch will be making two speeches. The first this afternoon will set out what
