Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
11 min listen
Humza Yousaf faces the biggest crisis of his leadership to date – with his fate in the hands of former SNP leadership rival Ash Regan. Will Humza step down before he is pushed? Or is there a narrow gap through which the First Minister can fight on? Lucy Dunn speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.
15 min listen
After two and a half years in government together, Humza Yousaf has terminated the SNP’s governing pact with the Scottish Greens. The decision was rubber stamped at a hastily arranged meeting of the Scottish cabinet on Thursday morning. It preempts a vote by rank-and-file Green members on whether to walk away from Yousaf’s government after he ditched a key climate target. In response, The Scottish Conservatives have tabled a vote of no confidence vote. And the Yousaf might very well lose it, now the Greens are out of the government. What will this mean for the first minister? Katy Balls speaks to Lucy Dunn, Iain Macwhirter and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
12 min listen
This morning Rishi Sunak delivered a press conference making the case that the Rwanda Bill should become law today – and the government is ready for when it does. James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson about what could be an all-night parliamentary showdown on the Rwanda vote, and whether an early summer election is on the cards. Produced by Natasha Feroze.
31 min listen
This week: the usual targets First: Trump is on trial again – and America is bored rather than scandalised. This is his 91st criminal charge and his supporters see this as politicised prosecution. As an American, Kate Andrews has seen how the law can be used as a political weapon – so why, she asks, is Britain importing the same system? In less than 18 months, the police have been sent to investigate Rishi Sunak for his seat-belt, Nicola Sturgeon for campaign funds, and Angela Rayner over her electoral registry: each time, the complainant is political and the process is the punishment. Kate joins the podcast alongside The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson to discuss. (01:34) Then: Confessions of a defecting Starmtrooper.
The Spectator runs the UK’s only double-blind internship scheme. We don’t ask for a CV, we don’t use your name. We don’t care where (or whether) you went to university, we anonymise your application. We give each applicant a city name, mark out of 100 and give offers to the best ones. You’ll come in for a week of your choosing. It’s a useful window into journalism and gives us the chance to meet new talent. When jobs come up, as they do in various fields, we look to hire past interns. About a third of our editorial staff came through this way: online (Gus, John and Max), broadcast (Cindy and Oscar), management (Lukas), data (Michael), Ukraine (Svitlana – we made a job for her), social (Margaret) and tech (Fabian, a former chef). Full list below.
14 min listen
It's 18 months since Liz Truss left Downing Street and her new memoir, Ten Years to Save the West, is out. She gave her first interview to Fraser Nelson on Spectator TV, covering why she wants to abolish the Supreme Court, Donald Trump, her husband's warning that her leadership bid would end in tears, and so much more. We also cover Iran's missile attack on Israel, and what might come next. James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Megan McElroy.
Some 300 missiles and drones were dispatched by Iran towards Israel last night, the largest such assault in history. The IDF say 99 per cent of them were shot down by the air forces of Israel, the UK, US and Jordan. So rather than weaken Israel, Iran’s attack has ended up convening showcasing an extraordinary military alliance – with Arabs, Israelis, Americans and British acting as one to neutralise the assault. Not a single one of the 200 drones or cruise missiles made it into Israel. Only some faster-moving ballistic missiles hit their target and even they inflicted only light damage to the Nevatim air base.
When Israel assassinated a top commander in Iran’s Quds Force in Damascus a fortnight ago, it knew that Tehran would have to respond with a direct attack. So news this evening – that Iran has sent a swarm of kamikaze drones that will take nine hours to reach Israel – is in line with those expectations. Israel had already called up reserve units for its air defence: tonight’s dispatch of about 50 Shahed drones (used regularly in Ukraine) was the minimum of what was expected. Israel says it will try to take them out as they fly over Iraq (they have already been filmed en route). The question is whether Iran will later reinforce with missiles. A cruise missile will take two hours and a ballistic one about 12 minutes according to Israel’s N12 news.
13 min listen
The row over Angela Rayner's tax affairs has deepened today. This morning, Greater Manchester police have announced that – following a reassessment of the case – they will open a formal investigation into Angela Rayner. What does this mean for Keir Starmer? And why would it be so difficult for him to sack her? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
9 min listen
On Thursday night, Conservative MP William Wragg admitted that he handed over the phone numbers of MPs, aides and a journalist to a man he met on a dating app. William Wragg will retain the whip after apologising for his actions. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is eager to talk about the National Insurance cut that comes into place tomorrow – has this given him political credibility? Cindy Yu speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale.
On Monday, the UK welfare state will expand to cover 15 hours of free childcare for working parents with two-year-olds. In September, this will be extended to infants of nine months or more. Next year, cover doubles to 30 hours. The total cost: £5.3 billion a year. It's the 'largest ever expansion of childcare in England’s history,' says Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary. This Easter weekend we see the bizarre spectacle of Tories attacking Labour from the left What is conservative about this? Nothing, of course. It pushes up costs and taxes. But the idea, at the time, was to to do this before Labour proposed it. To shoot Labour’s fox. The problem is that fox is running around because even Labour think this is too much, and is perhaps undeliverable.
10 min listen
Labour kicked off their local elections campaign today with a joint op-ed from Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner in the Times promising to empower localities and put an end to the regional divide. This is all encompassed in their Take Back Control Act … where have we heard that before? Rather than a seamless launch, the Labour leader has been met with difficult questions over Angela Rayner's tax affairs and the suggestion that the shadow education secretary could scrap the £4 billion expansion of free childcare. Oscar Edmondson speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
In the end, it was watertight. The House of Lords has just voted through a new law banning foreign governments from owning British newspapers and magazines. Any ‘material influence’ has been banned, so neither the United Arab Emirates or any ‘foreign power’ will be allowed so much as a 0.1 per cent stake in The Spectator, Daily Telegraph or any similar publication. The Emiratis had agreed to buy both titles through RedBird IMI, a vehicle majority-funded by vice-president Sheikh Mansour. Tina Stowell, the Tory baroness who led the campaign, has now stopped this deal in its tracks. She drew from the government an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill which has just passed its third reading and will soon become law.
Last week, a rebellion in the Lords drew a government pledge to ban foreign governments and their proxies from owning British newspapers and magazines. It was a historic moment for the defence of press freedom in the era of acquisitive, well-connected autocracies. It will have global significance. But the devil was always going to lie in the detail, and that will come in the third reading of the Digital Markets Bill due Tuesday. The risk is that ministers may row back and allow the Emiratis to become part-owners of this magazine and the Telegraph by keeping a low stake of 5 per cent or even 1 per cent. This would still grant them the ownership status that they seek, albeit on a far-diminished basis. If so, would it matter? I think so, for the following reasons.
14 min listen
Over the weekend, speculation about a plot to oust Rishi Sunak and replace him with Penny Mordaunt circulated the papers. It came after one of the worst weeks of the Prime Minister’s premiership and the looming May elections. This morning, key Cabinet ministers including Kemi Badenoch and Ben Wallace have come out in support of 'sticking to the plan’. Can Rishi Sunak keep the party calm ahead of a gruelling month? And what's the strategy behind opting for an autumn election? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.
Something happened today which, if it were any other country, would be seen to be remarkable: Vaughan Gething, the new First Minister of Wales, became the first black leader of any country in Europe. But having a non-white leader is not remarkable in British politics. The governments of London Scotland, Wales and the UK governments are now led by what no one calls ‘politicians of colour’. In the past few years we have seen a Buddhist Home Secretary (Suella Braverman), a black Foreign Secretary (James Cleverly) and a British Asian (Sajid Javid) rival Churchill for the number of Cabinet jobs held. They are all admired or criticised for a whole bunch of reasons but their skin colour is seldom a point for discussion.
No foreign power will ever be allowed to buy a UK newspaper or magazine: that’s the upshot of this week’s debate in parliament. The new law, due in a few weeks, is also expected to rule out minority stakes. So what next for us – and the Telegraph? It has been said that the Emiratis may have been our best bet because no one else wants to invest in newspapers and magazines. The opposite is true. It’s a point that needs to be more widely understood, so I’d like to say something about the auction we came so close to completing last December.
9 min listen
Rishi Sunak has finally confirmed what most MPs already knew: there won’t be a May general election. Speaking to ITV News West Country on Thursday night, the Prime Minister was asked if there would be a general election at the same time as the local elections on 2 May. He replied: ‘There won’t be a general election on that day but when there is a general election, what matters is the choice.’ So, when will it be? Also on the podcast, after James Heappey became the latest MP to announce he will step down at the next election, can the Tories stop the exodus? Natasha Feroze speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.
Newcomers to England who start a family are often slow to realise that one of the biggest factors in the Game of Life here starts with the 11-plus exam. If your children are at a school where anyone is sitting such exams, you may find – as I did – that your children want to have a go. You then realise, as Alan Bennett put it in The History Boys, that ‘the boys and girls against whom your child is to compete have been groomed like thoroughbreds for this one particular race’. And after the exam comes the interview. Another race. As a parent, this process is hateful. The idea of someone passing judgment on so young a child is awful Scots have nothing like it and I’m not sure many other countries do. The 11-plus is perhaps the world’s toughest test for children of that age.
In a landmark ruling for press freedom in Britain, the government has today moved to outlaw ownership of national newspapers and magazines by foreign powers. The text of the proposed new law has not been published but it would appear to rule out any Emirati ownership – in whole or in part – of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. The move came after backbenchers in the Lords and Commons gathered in such numbers that, had the government not acted, Parliament would have done. It's a case study of democracy at work. Tina Stowell, a backbench Tory peer, organised an amendment in the House of Lords to be voted on today - galvanising the debate.
