James Heale

James Heale

James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.

Friday

James Heale

Labour’s ‘£20 billion black hole’ strategy

17 min listen

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give a statement to Parliament on Monday outlining the state of public finances, including a '£20 billion black hole'. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about the strategy behind this: will this speech lay the ground work for the Autumn budget? How new are these economic issues? And, with the Conservatives embarking on a long leadership election, will Labour have a free rein for their plans?  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

James Heale

Tory leadership race latest: who’s declared?

20 min listen

As more Conservative MPs declare their intentions to run for the Tory leadership, James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Conservative peer Paul Goodman about the runners and riders. What can they learn from previous leadership elections? Who will play well with the members and the public at large? And what will the dividing lines be between the candidates?  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

James Heale

Tom Tugendhat enters the Tory leadership race

Tom Tugendhat last night became the second Tory candidate to declare in the Conservative leadership contest. Just like his former Home Office colleague James Cleverly, he chose to make his pitch in an op-ed for the Telegraph, declaring that he would be prepared to leave the European Court on Human Rights. It came just a few hours after nominations opened for the leadership race, with further candidates expected to declare over the coming days. Tugendhat, 51, first entered parliament in 2015 and has always, perhaps unfairly, been caricatured by some as a figure of the Tory left. A Remainer, patron of the Tory Reform Group and longtime critic of Boris Johnson, his previous bid for leader in 2022 ended after he attracted 31 MPs in the third round of voting.

Tuesday

James Heale

Seven Labour MPs lose the whip

In the end, the great two-child benefit cap revolt proved to be somewhat underwhelming. The measure was always likely to fail given Labour's mammoth majority of 172, with the government winning the vote by 363 votes to 103. Only seven of Keir Starmer's MPs defied the entreaties of the Labour whips to vote in favour of the SNP's amendment to the King's Speech to scrap the policy. Their names are a handy 'who's who' guide to the Labour left awkward squad: Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Rebecca Long Bailey, Zarah Sultana and ring-leader John McDonnell. All seven have tonight had the whip suspended for six months, before it is then reviewed.

James Heale

Are we in for a ‘dirty’ Tory leadership contest?

16 min listen

At last there is white smoke in the negotiations over the rules for the Tory leadership contest. On Monday, the 1922 committee met and agreed a timetable for the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader. The plan is for a new leader to be unveiled 2 November with eligible candidates to throw their name into the ring before the summer recess. It's going to be a long process, but will they be able to keep it civil? Will this be a beauty contest or a Tory Wacky Races?  Fraser Nelson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Monday

James Heale

Labour’s Kamala Harris problem

11 min listen

Last night we had the news that President Biden will not contest the election, announcing in a separate statement that he will support his vice president Kamala Harris for the nomination. As endorsements pour in from other notable democrats and donors it looks like it might be nailed-on for her. But what would a Kamala Harris candidacy mean for Labour unity?  Meanwhile, the row over the two child benefit cap continues to swirl. What should we expect this week?  Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Friday

James Heale

Trump returns with a sedate RNC speech

Milwaukee, Wisconsin The Republican National Committee could not have hoped for a better convention. For three days, the party has exhibited a near-faultless display of unity. It is the first convention in 20 years where polls suggest the Republicans are on course to win the White House, producing an air of expectation and excitement. Activists are enthused and candidates are bullish, all the while Democrats tear themselves apart over Joe Biden's fading re-elections hopes. Less than a week after the assassination attempt which almost took his life, the stage could not have been set for Donald Trump to make his first speech to the Republican faithful.

Thursday

James Heale

Is Donald Trump now unstoppable?

37 min listen

This week: bulletproof Trump. The failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump means that his supporters, more than ever, view him as America’s Chosen One. Joe Biden’s candidacy has been falling apart since his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate last month. Trump is now ahead in the polls in all the battleground states. The whispers in Washington are that the Democrats are already giving up on stopping a second Trump term – and eyeing up the presidential election of 2028 instead. Freddy Gray, deputy editor at The Spectator, and Amber Duke, Washington editor at Spectator World, join the podcast to discuss. (02:45) Next: meeting the mega MAGA fans.

James Heale

Meet the MAGA megafans

Milwaukee, Wisconsin If you want to see how Donald Trump has changed his party, look at what attendees wore to this week’s convention in Milwaukee. Gone are the days when Republicans plumped for preppy blazers and demure khakis; now the fashion is for ostentatious displays of red, white and blue. Even the red ‘MAGA’ baseball caps of 2016 have been eclipsed, replaced by this year’s must-have accessory of the cowboy hat – a classic symbol of rugged individualism. It’s a sartorial revolution, as well as a political one. ‘Everyone loves having their photo taken,’ says one press photographer.

Monday

James Heale

Trump picks JD Vance as running mate

After all the speculation, it’s now official: JD Vance will be Donald Trump’s running mate in November. The subject has been the obsession of delegates here in Milwaukee on day one of the Republican National Convention. In typical Apprentice style, Trump has allowed speculation to build for weeks, as the media picked over various candidates, before picking his favourite as it reached a climax.  As one of two Senators from Ohio, Vance will be entrusted to carry the swing state’s crucial 17 electoral college votes in four months’ time. He will have been picked for his potential appeal to working-class voters in the critical battleground states of the wider Midwest.

James Heale

How Westminster reacted to the Trump assassination attempt

12 min listen

It’s two days after the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump and we thought we would use this podcast to discuss some of the reaction from Westminster and look at how this latest example of political violence will impact our own politics here in the UK. Oscar Edmondson speaks to Kate Andrews and James Heale, who joins us from Milwaukee where he is reporting on the Republican National Convention.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Sunday

James Heale

Milwaukee reluctantly prepares for Trumpmania

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee will host America’s conservative elite for the next five days – including Donald Trump, who has just survived an assassination attempt. This true-blue city has been chosen to host the Republican National Convention, primarily because of it’s the largest city in swing state Wisconsin. Around 50,000 delegates, politicians, apparatchiks and journalists are arriving here for the formal coronation of Trump – much to the chagrin of many locals. The city voted 79 per cent for Biden in 2020, with Trump subsequently seeking to overturn thousands of votes.

James Heale

James Heale, Svitlana Morenets, Philip Hensher, Francis Beckett and Rupert Christiansen

38 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale analyses the state of the Conservative leadership race (1:09); Svitlana Morenets reports from the site of the Kyiv children’s hospital bombed this week (5:56); Philip Hensher examines the ‘Cool Queer Life’ of Thom Gunn (12:13); Francis Beckett reviews ‘The Assault on the State’ arguing in favour of bureaucracy (21:20); and, Rupert Christiansen reveals why he has fallen out of love with Wagner (27:05).  Presented by Patrick Gibbons.

James Heale

Two killed in Trump assassination attempt

Donald Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents on Saturday afternoon after shots rang out at his rally in Pennsylvania. A male attacker was shot and killed by a federal agent after the assassination attempt. The attacker killed one spectator at the rally, and two others are critically injured, according to the secret service. Trump has now left a local hospital and says he was ‘shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear’. ‘I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin’, the former president posted on his Truth Social account. ‘Much bleeding took place, so I realised then what was happening.

Thursday

James Heale

Has Nato been a success for Starmer?

18 min listen

Keir Starmer is on his first big diplomatic trip to Washington, attending the Nato summit. He has called on member countries to increase defence spending, had a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, and enjoyed a dinner with Joe Biden - all in his first week of the job. How is the trip going, are there any tensions arising, and has it been a success for the new PM?  Oscar Edmondson discusses with James Heale and Sophia Gaston, head of foreign policy at Policy Exchange.

James Heale

Farage reshuffles Reform’s top team

It's been a busy week for Nigel Farage. After six days of being bombarded with parties, press requests and parliamentary rigmarole, he was this morning sworn in as the Honourable Member for Clacton. Such is the level of attention foisted on the Reform UK leader that even House of Commons staff have reportedly now been told to stop requesting selfies with him. With so much focus on Farage, the inevitable question is: what comes next? This morning, we got our answer. Reform UK has rejigged its top team, in the wake of the election of five MPs last Friday. Farage, unsurprisingly, retains his spot as leader, with Lee Anderson now billed as the party's 'chief whip.

James Heale

Sunak apologises to Tory MPs for election mess

Before the joy of last night's football, came the sorrow of Rishi Sunak's address to Tory MPs. The Conservative leader addressed the 1922 committee for the first time since calling the election which reduced his colleagues' numbers by almost two-thirds. Instead of the usual oak-panelled confines of the committee's favoured committee room 14, the night's meeting was held in Portcullis House. Accompanied by interim party chairman Richard Fuller, the ex-premier appeared to pause and take a deep breath before heading in. Stony faces, muted cheers and the ritual banging of tables met him there, as Sunak prepared to take responsibility for his party's worse election result in history.

James Heale

Who will lead the Tories next?

Rishi Sunak performed a mea culpa when his shadow cabinet convened on Monday, taking full responsibility for the election loss. There were, he said, lots of lessons to be learned. He tried rallying his team, reminding them it was time to knuckle down and prepare for the King’s Speech. When those around the table began agreeing, with some saluting Sunak’s performance during the campaign, Kemi Badenoch decided she couldn’t take it any longer. Isn’t it necessary, she asked, to say that the snap election had been a calamity, the Tory campaign had been even worse – and that it was about time to examine why?

Wednesday

James Heale

Who will lead the Tories in opposition?

13 min listen

It's been a big 24 hours in Tory-world as the party tries to pick itself up after last week's defeat. We have had the first shadow cabinet meeting and the 1922 committee chairman election. Where do they go from here? And who could lead them?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Tuesday

James Heale

Can Wes Streeting end the NHS strikes?

14 min listen

Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared the NHS 'broken' over the weekend. With a creaking in-tray of issues, he opened up negotiations with the BMA today to try and solve one: the pay dispute with junior doctors. With ambitious reforms planned, and a workforce with low morale, how successful will Labour be?  Isabel Hardman and James Heale join Cindy Yu to discuss.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Cindy Yu.