Cold water swimming
From our US edition
I rather enjoy the shocked faces of passersby who catch sight of us swimmers at the Serpentine Pond in Hyde Park
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
Monday
Thursday
Did Tory whips blackmail Red Wall MPs?
9 min listen
As the Prime Minister has a stay of execution after the pork pie plot came to nothing, today allegations are flying that Tory whips have been using unsavoury methods to threaten wavering MPs into line. Christian Wakeford, the newly defected Labour MP to Bury South, says that whips threatened to withdraw funding from a local
Wednesday
Is Boris safe for now?
14 min listen
Last night rumours were flying around Westminster that letters of no confidence from Tory MPs were pouring in and Boris might be leaving sooner rather than later. But with the surprising crossing of the aisle by MP for Bury South, Christian Wakeford, it appears that old party tribalism may have stayed some hands. ‘While a
The curious timing of Boris Johnson’s Covid announcement
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist who mutters regularly about ‘sheeple’ to find the timing of Boris Johnson’s latest Covid update rather suspicious. This afternoon, he followed his dramatic Prime Minister’s Questions session with an announcement about the end of restrictions which had been introduced to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
PMQs: Johnson comes out fighting
Today’s PMQs was as dramatic as you might expect. It began with the spectacle of Bury South MP Christian Wakeford being cheered as he crossed the floor to the Labour benches. Sir Keir Starmer was in a joyful mood, as you might also expect. What was striking was how energised Boris Johnson was in his
Red Wall Tory MP Christian Wakeford defects to Labour
In the past few minutes Boris Johnson’s Red Wall has started to crumble in a more dramatic way than he thought possible. Christian Wakeford, the Conservative MP for Bury South, is defecting to the Labour party, having previously submitted a vote a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister. Wakeford
Monday
Will Operation Red Meat work?
10 min listen
Tory MPs have just returned from their constituencies after a weekend of persuading voters to support their party in the May local elections. It’s not just the public that is angry, the local associations are equally outraged at the scandals that have marred the first month of 2022. Those around Boris Johnson are planning ‘Operation Red Meat’ which
Wednesday
Have Tory MPs finally had enough?
11 min listen
Boris Johnson has finally commented on the accusations of a Downing Street garden party held in the first lockdown. Yet his defence – ‘I believed implicitly that this was a work event’ – has satisfied nobody. On the episode, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman give their verdict. ‘When I started my career I spent a
PMQs: Johnson won’t resign. He’ll have to be removed
Boris Johnson has just made his leadership crisis worse at PMQs. As expected, he started the session with an apology to the public, saying ‘I know the rage they feel with me and with the government I lead’. This sounded promising, but things quickly went downhill, and that was before the questions had even started.
Monday
How soon will Plan B restrictions lift?
13 min listen
With some early signs that the Omicron threat is waning, talk has begun around Westminster as to when we can get rid of the remaining Covid restrictions. To help Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman make sense of the latest figures, they are joined by Editor, Fraser Nelson with an update from The Spectator‘s
Friday
Labour MP Jack Dromey dies, aged 73
Jack Dromey, who has died today aged 73, was a Labour MP, a trade unionist and a campaigner. He was extremely well-liked across the House of Commons: something that those who didn’t know him will have noticed immediately in the shocked tributes that have been pouring in from Westminster figures. He was a good MP,
Thursday
Who let the Mogg out?
10 min listen
In yesterday’s Cabinet debate, Jacob Rees-Mogg called on Boris Johnson to abandon the planned hike in national insurance, amid warnings of a looming cost of living crisis. This is not the first time the leader of the Commons has criticised the government following his opposition to tougher Covid restrictions. Might this be a sign that
The antivirals taskforce that could keep Covid patients out of hospital
If the Omicron death count falls short of the 6,000 a day envisaged by the gloomier Sage scenarios, it could be for many reasons. It might be because the variant is milder or because the vaccines offer strong protection — but there’s something else that seldom gets much notice. Britain has placed the world’s biggest
Wednesday
Did Rayner get the better of Boris?
11 min listen
The first PMQs of 2022 was a little different. It was Angela Rayner’s turn to step up to the dispatch box whilst Keir Starmer is isolating having tested positive for Covid. Rayner went after Boris Johnson on inflation and the cost of living crisis looming in Britain, criticising the government for refusing to cut VAT
Tuesday
Boris Johnson rejects lockdown (again)
Boris Johnson latest Covid press conference was slightly confusing. The Prime Minister spent nearly an hour saying nothing particularly new. He warned that there was ‘considerable pressure’ on the NHS at the moment and unveiled daily priority lateral flow testing for 100,000 essential workers so that key services, including healthcare, don’t seize up due to
New year new Keir?
11 min listen
Keir Starmer arrived in Birmingham today to deliver his agenda-setting speech, outlining Labour’s vision for the future. The opposition leader had to tread the delicate path between offering a substantial, policy-based agenda whilst holding his cards close to his chest. ‘One of the challenges of opposition in the midterm is, they come up with new
Monday
Boris Johnson’s friendship problem
Boris Johnson is hoping that his MPs have calmed down over the Christmas break and that this term will be slightly less turbulent than the autumn. There is not, though, much evidence that this will be the case. Worries about the cost of living, ongoing Covid problems and the unwinding of various Tory party rows
Friday
Are Labour’s sleaze attacks working?
The one crumb of comfort the Tories are trying to take from the North Shropshire result is that Labour didn’t win the seat. Keir Starmer’s party came third with just under 10 per cent of the vote, a fall of 12 per cent from the 2019 result. Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden has been touring
How did the Tories lose North Shropshire?
11 min listen
The Conservative majority of 23,000 was wiped out overnight in North Shropshire, with Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan winning the by-election by nearly 6,000 votes. Tory MPs are already making their frustrations known, with Roger Gale saying Boris Johnson has ‘one more strike and he’s out’, and John Redwood saying it’s ‘Time to listen to Conservatives.’
Thursday
Christmas Special
90 min listen
Welcome to the special Christmas episode of The Edition! In this episode, we look at five major topics that dominated the news this year and the pages of The Spectator. First up a review of the year in politics with our resident Coffee House Shots’ team James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. We discuss
