‘I was much more disposable than I believed’: an interview with Boris Johnson
The former prime minister sounds like a man with unfinished business in politics
Katy Balls
Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.
Thursday
Best of 2024 with Dominic Sandbrook, Mary Beard and Harriet Harman
75 min listen
This week is a special episode of the podcast where we are looking back on some of our favourite pieces from the magazine over the past year and revisiting some of the conversations we had around them. First up: the Starmer supremacy Let’s start with undoubtedly the biggest news of the year: Starmer’s supermajority and
Monday
How much trouble is Rachel Reeves in?
Christmas may be two days away but there is little reason for cheer in 11 Downing Street. The Chancellor faces another wave of bad economic news this morning. Revised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show there was no growth in the last quarter, between July and September. The update comes as the
Saturday
Year in Review 2024 with Michael Gove, Quentin Letts and Katy Balls
28 min listen
It’s been a historic year in British politics. At the start of 2024, the UK had a different Prime Minister, the Tories had a different leader, and The Spectator had a different editor! Michael Gove, Katy Balls, and Quentin Letts join Cindy Yu to review the biggest political stories of 2024. On the podcast, the panel discuss
Friday
Is Mandelson the right pick for US Ambassador?
14 min listen
Last night we got the news that Peter Mandelson is expected to be named the next UK ambassador to Washington. Despite months of speculation, Labour held firm on making a decision until the results of the US election, and with Trump entering the White House in the new year they have gone with an experienced
The Maureen Lipman Edition
36 min listen
Dame Maureen Lipman has been a fixture of stage and screen for over five decades. She has been a member of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company; she is well known for her roles in acclaimed films like Educating Rita and The Pianist; and most recently she has had an award-winning
Thursday
UK interest rates held, plus could Musk fund Reform?
10 min listen
The Bank of England has voted to hold interest rates at 4.75%. The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews joins Katy Balls and Freddy Gray to discuss the decision and what this means for the economy. Also on the podcast they discuss how a potential donation from Elon Musk to Reform UK has rattled politicians across
Wednesday
Rising inflation will make Rachel Reeves’s job harder
12 min listen
New figures have shown that, for the year to November, inflation rose by 2.6%. While unsurprising, how much will this impact the Chancellor’s plans going into the new year? Katy Balls speaks to Kate Andrews and Isabel Hardman about the impact on Labour, especially given their October budget. Also on the podcast: do the WASPI
Is the Chagos deal dead in the water?
Is the Chagos Islands deal dead? Ever since Keir Starmer and his foreign secretary David Lammy announced plans to hand the remote archipelago to Mauritius, the UK government has been accused of risking national security. The proposed agreement would end 200 years of British rule and impact the US air base on the island of
Tuesday
Chinese spy named, plus Farage meets Musk
11 min listen
After days of speculation online, the alleged Chinese spy has been named as Yang Tegbo. This latest example of Chinese espionage has opened up a number of debates in Westminster, firstly around Labour’s push to ‘reset’ its relationship with China, as well as the conversation around the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme – a number of
Farage's Musk meeting is uncomfortable for the Tories and Labour
It’s happened. To the likely dismay of both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage has met with Elon Musk to discuss his party’s electoral prospects. The Reform party leader along with the party’s new treasurer Nick Candy spoke to the tech billionaire and close Donald Trump ally at Mar-A-Lago, in Florida, on Monday. Announcing
Farage's Musk meeting is uncomfortable for the Tories and Labour
Who will the meeting annoy the most: Keir Starmer or Kemi Badenoch?
Monday
Could the local elections be cancelled?
14 min listen
Labour will reveal plans today to re-design local government, with district councils set to be abolished, and more elected mayors introduced across England. The plans could be the biggest reforms of their type since the 1970s, but with the May 2025 local elections set to be Labour’s first big electoral test since the general election,
Saturday
Christmas I: Katy Balls, Craig Brown, Kate Weinberg, Craig Raine, Lisa Haseldine and Melissa Kite
37 min listen
On this week’s Christmas Out Loud – part one: Katy Balls runs through the Westminster wishlists for 2025 (1:26); Craig Brown reads his satirist’s notebook (7:06); Kate Weinberg explains the healing power of a father’s bedtime reading (13:47); Craig Raine reviews a new four volume edition of the prose of T.S. Eliot (19:10); Lisa Haseldine provides
Friday
Is Rachel Reeves turning into George Osborne?
18 min listen
Labour is supposed to be going for growth, so Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will be disappointed with the news today that the economy unexpectedly shrank in October, and for the second month in a row. Rachel Reeves’s mood seems to have visibly changed in the last month or so, is she having her George
Economy shrinks in blow for Rachel Reeves
Another day, another piece of bad news for the chancellor. The economy shrank in October for the second month in a row. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a 0.1 per cent drop despite speculation that the economy would return to growth following a fall in September. The ONS said pubs, restaurants
Thursday
Labour vs the NIMBYs, plus are sandwiches ‘for wimps’?
16 min listen
Today Downing Street has continued its reset – that is definitely not a reset – by providing more details on Labour’s plan to cut the planning red tape and deliver a housing revolution. Their target is to build one and a half million new homes over the next five years by building on green belt
Why 2025 could redefine politics
Santa will have a tricky time this year fulfilling all the Christmas wish lists in Westminster. Keir Starmer is desperately hoping for a change in the political weather and Kemi Badenoch would like an in with Donald Trump. Ed Davey dreams that Labour’s electoral troubles will get so bad that proportional representation starts to look
Wednesday
Have Labour got a grip of the prisons crisis?
12 min listen
Labour are planning to publish a 10-year plan to get on the front foot when it comes to the prisons crisis. Shifting from the previous government’s preference to run the system hot to a policy of early release and carving out more places, the headline figure is that there will be 14,000 more prison places
Tuesday
Spending review: a return to austerity?
13 min listen
Preparations are stepping up for the government’s spending review, due in June. The Chancellor has taken a more personable approach to communicating with ministers, writing to them to outline how they plan to implement the Budget – with a crackdown on government waste and prioritising key public services. So, expect money for clean energy, the
