James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Boris Johnson has come out fighting, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the Prime Minister’s efforts to keep himself inside No. 10.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Today the Metropolitan Police requested that Sue Gray’s report makes ‘minimal reference’ to the events in her inquiry, whilst there is an ongoing police investigation. ‘I think it puts the government in a difficult position. If you publish the report with minimal reference to the alleged parties being investigated by the police you’ll be accused
From our UK edition
16 min listen
Whilst everyone waits for the Sue Gray report, all eyes turn to the next scandal: Pen Farthing’s animal rescue operation out of Afghanistan. It has been revealed that Boris Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, Trudy Harrison contacted a jet hire company in an attempt to secure a plane to evacuate the pets. The PM has responded
From our UK edition
‘I can’t put into words how awful this is’ remarks one Tory MP. The party is split not on the kind of policy issue that people can debate but on the question of one man: the Prime Minister. Neither side is finding this struggle rewarding. The Johnson loyalists feel that they spend all day trying
From our UK edition
14 min listen
The view on the Tory benches at the moment seems to be consistently ‘wait for Gray’ before they decide whether or not they will send a letter of no confidence. The 54 letters required is now more likely since the announcement of the police probe into Downing Street parties, but it is still by no
From our UK edition
Jacob Rees-Mogg is now arguing that the UK system has become so presidential that a new prime minister would feel obliged to call an election. The message to Tory MPs is clear: depose Boris Johnson and you’ll be going to the country in months — and do you really want to do that given the
From our UK edition
The Metropolitan Police’s decision to investigate lockdown parties undoubtedly makes things more serious for Downing Street. It is now harder to argue, as some supporters of Boris Johnson had begun to do privately, that these matters are fundamentally too trivial to account for a Prime Minister departing if the police have been called in to
From our UK edition
16 min listen
The latest in the scandal of Downing Street parties points to the Prime Minister’s own birthday, where a gathering took place in the Cabinet Office. Whilst this has been played off by a Downing Street spokesperson as being on ‘the edges of a work event’. Cressida Dick announced this morning that events at No.10 during
From our UK edition
16 min listen
Over the weekend the MP Nusrat Ghani accused the government of sacking her because allegedly her Muslim faith was an issue, and they thought she didn’t defend the Conservative party’s charges of Islamophobia more. In the week of the release of the infamous Sue Gray report into Partygate how are the Tories dealing with these
From our UK edition
13 min listen
After Christian Wakeford’s defection to Labour, Boris Johnson looks to be in the clear – for now. The Prime Minister’s backbenchers, though, are still frustrated by the aggressive tactics used by his whips to ensure their support. Is blackmail normal in the Commons, and are their complaints a result of Parliament’s generational divide? Cindy Yu
From our UK edition
The Partygate drama is temporarily paused as Tory MPs wait for Sue Gray to deliver her report. But even once it is out, what happens to Boris Johnson and the Conservative party is far from clear. One Tory MP with a foot in both the rebel and loyalist camps predicts ‘trench warfare for several weeks’
From our UK edition
39 min listen
In this week’s episode: Will the Red Wall crush Boris Johnson? In this week’s Spectator, our political editor James Forsyth and our deputy political editor Katy Balls report on the plot to oust the Prime Minister by Red Wall MPs, and No.10’s battle to save Boris. They join the podcast to give their up to
From our UK edition
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
From our UK edition
Two years ago, Boris Johnson had British politics at his feet. He had won the largest Tory majority since Thatcher, broken the Brexit deadlock and forged a new electoral coalition. Yet Johnson now finds himself on the verge of a vote of no confidence by his own MPs, and this turnaround hasn’t been triggered by
From our UK edition
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
From our UK edition
An MP crossing the floor just before PMQs is the stuff of prime ministerial nightmares. But, oddly, Christian Wakeford’s defection might, in the very short term, have helped Boris Johnson. MPs hate defectors and so Tory MPs will unite in condemnation of Wakeford. His decision also makes it easier for Johnson’s allies to raise questions
From our UK edition
11 min listen
To keep Partygate alive, Dominic Cummings has released fresh accusations on his blog about Boris Johnson, who he claims knew about the parties taking place. The former chief advisor to the Prime Minister is prepared to swear under oath on this. As divisions in the Tory party are starting to show, a no confidence motion
From our UK edition
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
From our UK edition
20 min listen
Five Tory MPs have publicly said that Boris Johnson should resign. After a torrid week in Downing Street, which finished with the Prime Minister having to apologise to the Queen for a party being held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, could we soon see a leadership contest? Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson
From our UK edition
13 min listen
It’s been revealed that two more parties took place in No. 10 during the pandemic. This time, on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. While the Prime Minister was not at this event, is No. 10’s party culture coming straight from the top? Max Jeffery is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth.
