John Connolly is News Editor of The Spectator
From our UK edition
14 min listen
It's Keir Starmer's first Prime Minister's Questions as Leader of the Opposition, but it also happened to be the first virtual session, where MPs dialled down the line via Zoom. So how did it go?
From our UK edition
14 min listen
Over 140,000 businesses have applied for the government's employee furlough scheme on its first day of launch. This is a far higher uptake than those in government expected, Kate Andrews says on the podcast, so for how long can the government afford to keep it going?
From our UK edition
13 min listen
Keir Starmer has written to the government to demand that they publish detailed criteria on what would be enough to lift this lockdown. It's his first offensive as the leader of the Opposition in the current crisis, but it's not a move that has been welcomed by all on the left. So how shrewd is his gamble?
From our UK edition
13 min listen
Dominic Raab confirmed in today's press conference that the lockdown is not being lifted just yet. On the podcast, Katy and James explain why.
From our UK edition
Less than three weeks after Andy Burnham was elected mayor of Greater Manchester three years ago, the city was hit by the terrorist attack that claimed 22 lives at an Ariana Grande concert. Now Burnham is facing a very different sort of crisis as corona-virus sweeps through the north-west. Manchester is about two weeks behind London in the epidemic curve. We had first met in his office to talk about the city and its politics. But that was at the start of last month — my questions, and his answers, were quickly overtaken by events. When we speak again, this time over Skype, much has changed.
From our UK edition
The use of facemasks in the fight against coronavirus has become a contentious topic in recent weeks, as different countries have debated how much difference they make when worn by the general public. After flirting with the idea of recommending the widespread use of masks, the WHO this week stuck with its guidance, which says that only healthcare workers, people who are sick and showing symptoms, and people caring for the potentially infected should wear masks. The UK has taken a more hard-line approach. Since the beginning of the outbreak, it has said that even sick people showing symptoms shouldn’t wear masks at home, as they are most effective when used by healthcare workers and in hospitals. The government says its stance is backed by the science.
From our UK edition
20 min listen
As expected, Keir Starmer has won the Labour leadership contest. But it's not an easy time to become the new leader of the Opposition. What are his first challenges?
From our UK edition
12 min listen
From our UK edition
12 min listen
From our UK edition
Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP, has been cleared of all charges of sexual assault. The former first minister had been charged with 13 offences against nine women, including indecent assault, sexual assault and intent to rape. A further charge of sexual assault against a tenth woman was dropped by the prosecution earlier in the trial. Salmond has denied all the charges. Today, at the High Court in Edinburgh, a jury found Salmond not guilty of 12 of those offences, and declared that the 13th offence was ‘not proven’. The 'not proven' verdict is unique to the Scottish courts, and leaves the accused innocent in the eyes of the law.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
The government today announced that schools will be closed come this Friday. Boris Johnson wasn't able to answer when they will resume, but James Forsyth says in today's Coffee House Shots podcast that this is only the beginning of stricter social measures, some of which could become compulsory in the not distant future. Rumours abound today that London is days away from a city-wide lockdown, and on the podcast, James points out that Boris Johnson could be considering this even though it is against his liberal political instincts. Anyone watching Prime Minister's Questions today will be in no doubt that we are living in extraordinary times. The normally packed chamber was sparse, as only MPs who had questions were allowed in.
From our UK edition
It’s hard to think of a place more deserving of a post-Brexit boom than Grimsby. In the 1950s it had the largest trawler fleet in the world, brought in hundreds of tonnes of cod a day, and you could cross its harbour by walking over ships in the dock. But the Cod Wars were lost and the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy began to bite. Now Grimsby is one of the most deprived areas in the country, and its long road down to the docks is littered with shuttered shops. Simply put, it’s exactly the kind of place the Tories are hoping to ‘level up’ and win over before the next election. In 2016, along with Hull and much of the rest of the Humber, it voted to leave the EU and it elected its first Tory MP in 75 years in December.
From our UK edition
11 min listen
From our UK edition
9 min listen
From our UK edition
11 min listen
From our UK edition
At the beginning of the year Lisa Nandy became the first Labour leadership candidate to subject herself to a grilling by Andrew Neil. It took almost two months, but this evening the two other candidates left in the race, Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey, finally appeared on the show as well. And while both survived the encounter, neither particularly impressed. Keir Starmer appeared to have trouble defining his political relationship with Jeremy Corbyn. The Holborn and St Pancras MP admitted that Corbyn was a major issue on the doorstep at the last election, but then unconvincingly denied there were any rifts between him and the Labour leader over the party’s Brexit policy last year.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
From our UK edition
When the general election was called by Boris Johnson over a month ago, one truly unpredictable factor in the race was the Brexit party. Would Nigel Farage's movement end up splitting the Leave vote across the country, thereby denying the Tories a majority? Or would the party mainly damage Labour's chances, and manage to scoop up scores of seats in dyed-in-the-wool red areas where a Tory candidate would never have a chance? In the end, neither extreme scenario came to pass. Nigel Farage's decision to stand down candidates in seats the Tories were defending against Labour meant any splits in the Leave vote were limited. Meanwhile, the Conservatives managed to secure a 'stonking' majority of 80, by ploughing through the 'Red Wall' of Labour heartlands in the North and the Midlands.
