James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.
Things are moving very fast in Westminster this evening. More than 60 Labour MPs are publicly calling on the Prime Minister to announce a date for his departure. The stream of these calls has ebbed and flowed in recent days – but the profile of the MPs has strikingly changed. On Friday night, it was
Things are moving very fast in Westminster this evening. More than 60 Labour MPs are publicly calling on the Prime Minister to announce a date for his departure. The stream of these calls has ebbed and flowed in recent days – but the profile of the MPs has strikingly changed. On Friday night, it was
23 min listen
Keir Starmer has given what was billed as a make-or-break having spent the weekend under fire from his own party. He tried to strike a more urgent tone, promising bigger arguments, closer ties with Europe (which is basically already happening) and action on British Steel (subject to consultation). But with Labour still haemorrhaging votes on
By inclination, tradition and design, the Labour Party is much less prone to toppling leaders than their Conservative counterparts. There is no equivalent to the 1922, Sir Graham Brady’s grin and the usual excited talk of ‘letters going in’. Perhaps an equivalent shorthand must now been coined for the process which is going on in
In the aftermath of Thursday’s shellacking, a steady stream of Labour MPs have been coming out and calling on Keir Starmer to quit. Their tone has varied: some are much more coded than others. On Cofffee House, we have a rolling list that now stands at more than 30. A key tell is those arguing
11 min listen
As the full picture of the local elections emerges, Labour faces a dilemma: stick with Keir Starmer, or put forward an alternative. Calls for Starmer to resign have intensified, and we are braced for MPs to stick their heads above the parapet this weekend. The message from the Prime Minister is that he ‘will not
After a century of hegemony, Welsh Labour is set for an historic wipe out tonight. Results for the 96-man Senedd are still coming in but all signs point to the natural party of Welsh government being consigned to a distant third place. Both Plaid Cymru and Reform have been effective in recent weeks in squeezing
10 min listen
This is your evening local elections update delivered by James Heale, Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman – all in just 10 minutes. As results come in across the country, they take each party in turn. Have the Greens done as well as we all thought they would? Is this proof that Reform have not reached
Results are pouring in from across the country, in what Nigel Farage is calling ‘the British midterms’. Swathes of council seats across England have turned teal, from Newcastle-under-Lyme to Essex. Both the Liberal Democrats and Greens have made modest gains, with few rays of light outside the capital for the Conservatives. Yet the main action
There are numerous election stories playing out today. But one that unites both Labour and the Conservatives is the disappearance of their supposed heartlands. Across the north of England, long-held Labour seats are going teal – a trend we can expect to see repeated in the south of Wales later today. The Tories, meanwhile, have
33 min listen
It’s results day, and Nigel Farage is the local elections winner – again. A wave of teal has swept the country, stealing Labour seats from Hartlepool to Havering. This election was sold by insurgent parties as a referendum on Keir Starmer and the story of Labour’s election so far is that they’re haemorrhaging votes on
‘Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones.’ Disraeli’s words from 1845 are relevant today when considering the tale of election night 2026. For London has voted very differently to the rest of
It was a little before 3 a.m that Nigel Farage sauntered in to the spin room at Millbank Tower, where an overnight election party was being hosted for journalists. Reform’s leader reeled off a list of positive areas before declaring: ‘This for me was our Becher’s Brook. If we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well,
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It’s polling day! Tim and James take the opportunity to go through their favourite political books ever, fiction and non-fiction. They discuss the books that have shaped their understanding of politics and make the case for the top spot. Is your favourite on the list? Have you read their number one? And which rankings would
After a wildly successful first eight months, Zack Polanski is facing a chronic case of boom and bust. The Green leader has endured a fairly torrid end to an otherwise successful local elections campaign, amid a string of stories about his online posts, previous claims and array of candidates standing in Thursday’s local elections. In
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As voters prepare to go to the polls in a set of local elections that could redraw the political map, we examine the ‘outsiders’ on today’s episode – starting with the Greens. After Zack Polanski’s grilling on the Today programme, are the Greens facing the same scrutiny that once engulfed Labour under Jeremy Corbyn? Also
It is 11:26 a.m. and Kemi Badenoch is on her second drink of the day. The Tory leader is out visiting a craft brewery in Suffolk. ‘I’m not a beer drinker’, she admits, while sampling its signature line – ‘so if I like it, it must be good’. The gin is to more to her taste,
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The local elections are nearly upon us. Political editor Tim Shipman and deputy political editor James Heale bring you the one-stop shop podcast with everything you need to know ahead of the day. What could happen to Keir Starmer, what will a really bad day look like for Labour, and is the political map about
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Hereditary peers have left their red leather benches for the final time. The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act became law earlier this year, which removes all hereditary peers’ right to speak and vote in Parliament by virtue of their family ties. Critics have described their role as indefensible, but others accuse Labour of political
In Scotland, a changing of the guard is near. But while Hearts are set to break the duopoly of Celtic and Rangers this season, there is no sign of the SNP yielding its iron grip on power. This, though, is a triumph less of technical brilliance than a series of own goals by Labour’s team
