James Forsyth

James Forsyth

James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.

Friday

James Forsyth

The Tory leadership race is wide open

From our UK edition

Westminster is strangely quiet today. Most MPs are back in their constituencies. But the place will feel very different next week when there’ll probably be two rounds of voting in a Tory leadership contest. The speed of the contest – the 1922 executive is likely to propose having the parliamentary rounds wrapped up by 21 July – will mean that momentum is all important. Whoever is seen to outperform in round one will get a big boost. Another key factor will be transferability, how able are candidates to pick up support from others as the contest goes on. No one is going to be close to 120 votes, what you need to guarantee making it through to the members’ round, on the first ballot. The field remains very open.

Thursday

James Forsyth

The race to succeed Boris is wide open

From our UK edition

With Boris Johnson going, talk now turns to the next Conservative leadership race. Tory leadership contests are always more like the Grand National than the Derby: crowded, unpredictable and with the favourite often not making it. But even by these standards, the coming contest looks remarkably open. There will be no shortage of candidates. Suella Braverman, the attorney general, has already announced that she will be running. Steve Baker has said he’s keen. Damian Green has said Tom Tugendhat will run. Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and Penny Mordaunt are all expected to stand.

James Forsyth

After Boris

From our UK edition

30 min listen

In this week’s episode:After Boris, who's next?On the day the Prime Minister resigns, Katy Balls and James Forsyth discuss the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s premiership. Who might be the next Tory leader? (0.51).Also this week:Who are the wealthy Russian émigrés ready to fight in the war?Sean Thomas talks with Moscow-based journalist, Gabriel Gavin about the Russian émigrés who hate the war, but know they have to win it (19.56).And finally: Are 20mph speed limits causing more trouble than Brexit?Ysenda Maxtone Graham makes this case in the magazine this week. She's joined by Cllr Johnny Thalassites from the Kensington and Chelsea borough. (22.26)Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Natasha Feroze.

James Forsyth

Boris should leave No. 10 immediately

From our UK edition

Boris Johnson should stand down with immediate effect. Yes, he has managed to fill various cabinet posts. But he will find it more difficult to fill the junior ranks of government. It would clearly be better for the smooth running of government for all the ministers who quit yesterday to return. But that won’t happen with Johnson still there, even if he has resigned as Tory leader. So, the simplest thing to do is for Dominic Raab to become interim PM and say he won’t stand in the leadership contest. He could then steer the ship of state until the start of September by which time the Tories will have elected a new leader. There is also the trust question.

James Forsyth

Boris is gone: the leadership contest now begins

From our UK edition

In the end, the Prime Minister was damaged irreparably before he resigned on Thursday. The confidence vote wounded him. Then two by-election defeats revealed that people were voting tactically against the Tories. A party that tolerated Boris Johnson because he was a vote-winner now concluded he was an electoral liability: rebellions followed and then (finally) his resignation. But the Conservatives are stuck confronting a basic question: what next? The Tories are caught in a trap. One influential Tory MP who voted for Johnson in the no-confidence ballot told me, with a mixture of exhaustion and despair: ‘Please God, make it stop.’ That sums up the mood. The Tories had been hoping for some kind of divine intervention because they do not know what else to do.

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Tory MPs are looking on in horror

From our UK edition

Tonight it is clear that the only way Tory MPs can remove Boris Johnson is through the new 1922 executive changing the rules on Monday and a new confidence ballot on Tuesday. Johnson has ignored the pleas from several of his Cabinet to take a dignified exit. He is instead, in the words of one secretary state, ‘on the warpath’. He has sacked Michael Gove for having had the temerity to tell him that he should go, as he could no longer command the support of the parliamentary party. Johnson is clearly determined to carry on fighting Johnson is clearly determined to carry on fighting. There’s talk of an economic intervention in the coming days to cancel the corporation tax rise and unfreeze income tax thresholds.

James Forsyth

Boris refuses to resign – what next?

From our UK edition

8 min listen

Despite mass resignations and calls from newly appointed ministers to resign, Boris has dug his heels in and refused to leave. What will be his next moves? And are the rumours of a snap general election really on the cards?Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth.

James Forsyth

Is the end nigh for Boris?

From our UK edition

14 min listen

As several cabinet ministers have resigned, is it hours, days, weeks or months before Boris Johnson is kicked out?James Forsyth joins Katy Balls from the roof of Parliament.

James Forsyth

Is the end nigh for Boris?

From our UK edition

Boris Johnson is now facing a situation where if he doesn’t resign he will face more cabinet resignations. Johnson is currently in front of the liaison committee, but when he returns to his office he will have a delegation of cabinet ministers waiting to see him who will him he is done and that he must resign. When I asked one ‘Is it over?’, they simply replied 'yes'. If Johnson won’t go, he will face more cabinet resignations than he can fill. Leaving junior ministerial posts unfilled is bad, but it is simply not credible to not be filling cabinet posts. Remarkably one of the ministers who will tell Johnson to go is Nadhim Zahawi who was made Chancellor less than 24 hours to go.

James Forsyth

How Boris Johnson could be deposed

From our UK edition

Late last night, Boris Johnson appeared to have stabilised the situation, albeit temporarily. He had managed to appoint a new Chancellor and Health Secretary and no other cabinet ministers had followed Sunak and Javid out the door. But this morning, his situation has rapidly deteriorated. Resignations from the junior ranks started up again, previously loyal MPs declared time was up, and Nadhim Zahawi’s media round was an illustration of how unsustainable the situation now is. The most immediate threat to Johnson is the ’22 committee changing the rules to allow another no confidence ballot. Opinion is moving rapidly in this direction. Rob Halfon, an executive member, who was just a week ago saying it would be Maoist to change the rules, now favours doing so.

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Sunak and Javid resign. Now what?

From our UK edition

11 min listen

Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid have resigned from government. In letters to the Prime Minister this evening, Sunak said the government 'cannot continue like this', while Javid told the PM that 'the situation will not change under your leadership.' Will more ministers now resign? And is this the end of Boris Johnson's premiership?Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

James Forsyth

Who will join Sunak and Javid in quitting the cabinet?

From our UK edition

The Chancellor and the Health Secretary have both resigned and at least one more cabinet minister is considering their position. This is the cabinet moving against Boris Johnson. It reflects the growing sense in cabinet that, as Sunak puts it, ‘we cannot continue like this’. This puts Boris Johnson in the gravest danger of his premiership. It is hard to see how he can continue when he is losing the confidence of so many of his cabinet who feel that the current situation is untenable for the country, the government and the Conservative party. It is remarkable for two such senior cabinet ministers to resign at the same time. It reflects their deep frustration with how the government is being run, and the consequences of that.

James Forsyth

Have Tory MPs reached breaking point?

From our UK edition

10 min listen

Boris Johnson was briefed 'in person' on a formal Whitehall complaint into Chris Pincher, a former Foreign Office official said today, despite No. 10 saying yesterday that the Prime Minister was unaware of specific allegations against the MP. With the government having to explain itself once again, how much more will Tory MPs take?Max Jeffery speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Subscribe to Isabel Hardman's Evening Blend newsletter at spectator.

James Forsyth

Have Tory MPs reached breaking point?

From our UK edition

Another day, another scandal. The Simon McDonald letter, which John Connolly writes about here, has escalated the Pincher story. It challenges the entire No. 10 account of what Boris Johnson knew about previous Pincher allegations and when. The reaction of Tory MPs to this latest development is a combination of exhaustion and despair. One influential Tory MP who voted for Johnson in the no confidence ballot said to me this morning: ‘Please God, make it stop’. There is deep frustration that once again sleaze is dominating the news and that, again, No. 10 is having to keep correcting and changing its story. This MP laments that Boris Johnson’s ‘back catalogue means he can’t have a reset’.

Monday

James Forsyth

What did Boris know about Chris Pincher?

From our UK edition

12 min listen

Boris Johnson knew of media reports about Chris Pincher's conduct when he invited him to join the government, it emerged today. How serious a crisis is this for the government? And as the Prime Minister today returned from three international summits, was he able to put his domestic problems behind him in the Commons? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.

James Forsyth

Tory MPs are in despair over the Chris Pincher scandal

From our UK edition

Tory MPs are exhausted. Speak to them and they just want all these scandals to go away. One normally cheerful backbencher told me they ‘have never been so depressed about politics’ and that most of their colleagues feel the same way. The Chris Pincher scandal is particularly grim. Regardless of whether No. 10 knew about any specific allegation or not, you can’t get round the fact that Pincher resigned in 2017 over unwanted advances and was then reappointed. (Interestingly, it was Theresa May who first brought him back. It is another demonstration that in Westminster when someone is very good at a job that is vital for the leader there is a tendency to overlook all sorts of things).

Saturday

James Forsyth

Will Nicola Sturgeon get her way?

From our UK edition

11 min listen

Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson about Nicola Sturgeon’s latest plans to hold a referendum on Scottish independence on 19th October 2023, and whether they will even get off the ground.

Friday

James Forsyth

Has Tory sleaze hit a new low?

From our UK edition

15 min listen

Last night Chris Pincher resigned from his role in the government - after 'drinking far too much' and 'embarrassing himself'. Witnesses reportedly saw the deputy chief whip 'groping' men at the Carlton Club in London. Also on the podcast, today is the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. Can the government keep its promise to protect Hong Kong?Cindy Yu is joined by Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth. Produced by Natasha Feroze.

James Forsyth

Why the Chris Pincher scandal will keep running

From our UK edition

The Chris Pincher situation is much worse for the government than the Neil Parish one was. Parish was a backbencher, Pincher was – until his resignation – the deputy chief whip and had played a key role in the shadow whipping operation which shored up Boris Johnson at the start of the year. Given the nature of the allegations against Pincher, it is hard to imagine that he will not have to give up the Conservative whip. Already, senior Tory MPs are publicly calling for him to lose the whip while this matter is investigated. No. 10 is making a mistake by sticking to its line that Pincher’s resignation is a sufficient response to the matter.

Thursday

James Forsyth

Is the privileges committee a kangaroo court?

From our UK edition

11 min listen

After an eight-day world tour, Boris Johnson is back on British soil to face Tory MPs for the first time since the two by-election defeats. Meanwhile, the privileges committee begins with Harriet Harman as its chair. Critics have suggested this inquiry into whether the Prime Minister misled parliament over partygate risks becoming a 'kangaroo court'. Will this allow Downing Street to disregard the outcome of the inquiry?Also on the podcast, food tariffs might be cut in order to curb the cost of living crisis. But what difference will this make?'You'll have to eat an awful lot of olives for this to make a difference' - James Forsyth.Cindy Yu is joined by James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Produced by Natasha Feroze.