Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
The government’s Covid-O group will be making a decision on the UK’s border restrictions imminently. On the podcast, Isabel Hardman talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about what is being considered and why now.
From our UK edition
With Boris Johnson reported to want to ease the lockdown slowly in the hope that doing so will prevent the need for another, he faces a growing backlash among the Tory MPs who make up the Covid Recovery Group. But what about voters? So far, polling has suggested that the public are generally supportive of social distancing
From our UK edition
25 min listen
In his upcoming book, the historian Robert Tombs writes that Brexit may not be the historically significant event we think it is. On the podcast, Katy Balls speaks to him and James Forsyth about just how history will remember Brexit, and what are the future events that can still change our memory of it.
From our UK edition
Boris Johnson used today’s press conference to issue sobering news: warning that the new Covid strain may be more deadly. The better news? The vaccines that have been approved are likely to be as effective against the new strain as the original. There were also figures to suggest things are slowly improving: the R number
From our UK edition
Those in the lookout for good Covid news will found precious little of it in Boris Johnson’s latest Covid press conference. Although the Prime Minister had cause for optimism in the form of the vaccine rollout – over 5.4 million people have now received their first dose of the vaccine, one in ten adults, – the overall message was
From our UK edition
11 min listen
The Guardian reported today that the Department of Health is considering offering a £500 isolation fee to encourage more people with symptoms to get tested. But the Treasury hit back fast saying that they had not seen these proposals and that the idea was ‘bonkers’. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson about
From our UK edition
37 min listen
Claire Williams OBE is the former Deputy Team Principal of Williams, family-run the Formula One racing team set up by her father, Frank Williams. On the podcast, she talks about what it was like to be seen as ‘Frank’s daughter’, the struggles of trying to turn around an ailing F1 team and how none of
From our UK edition
12 min listen
No 10 refused to rule out the possibility today, and the Health Secretary has also refused to be drawn on whether or not the vaccinating the most vulnerable would provide the roadmap out of lockdown. Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the possibility that England’s lockdown will last into the summer.
From our UK edition
Is Boris Johnson woke? That’s a question the Prime Minister’s spokesperson struggled to answer today in a lobby briefing. Instead of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, they responded by saying Johnson was committed to levelling up all communities. The reason for the question in the first place relates to an interview shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy gave to the Guardian in
From our UK edition
17 min listen
Timed with the inauguration of Joe Biden, Theresa May has written an op-ed in the Daily Mail criticising her successor for his ‘abandon of our global moral leadership’. Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson about what this former prime minister will do from the backbenches.
From our UK edition
The government’s border policy has become an increasing cause of bemusement among MPs and the country at large. The UK did not close its borders during the first lockdown when countries such as New Zealand did. When they did eventually bring in tighter border restrictions, it was just at the point Conservative MPs thought they
From our UK edition
For all the recent talk from ministers that the UK government has plenty in common with the new Biden administration, there hasn’t been much of an opportunity yet for Boris Johnson to build ties. After Joe Biden’s inauguration today that will change. Until Biden and his team are sworn in, there can be no direct contact between
From our UK edition
14 min listen
Today the Commons debates the ‘genocide amendment’ to the Trade Bill, which would allow judges to restrict the government’s ability to sign trade deals with countries deemed guilty of genocide. It’s a clear swipe at China and its treatment of the Uyghur minority, and on the podcast, Katy Balls discusses with James Forsyth and Isabel
From our UK edition
As ministers voice their hope that the country can start to lift restrictions from early March, questions are being asked as to when restrictions can go altogether and normal life resume. Members of the Tory Covid Recovery Group have argued that most restrictions should go as soon as the vulnerable are protected. While officials remain tight-lipped on
From our UK edition
12 min listen
The Commons will today see a debate over extending the universal credit uplift. While Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, wants the weekly increase to remain, Rishi Sunak wants to replace it with a one-off £500 payment. Isabel Hardman talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the Tory split.
From our UK edition
Today’s papers are splashed with good news on the pace of the vaccine rollout, with over-70s now being invited for a jab. However, the issue currently causing angst in the Tory party is universal credit. Last week, Labour attacked the government over free school meals, today they will put the government under pressure over the universal credit
From our UK edition
12 min listen
The new chairman of the BBC has been announced. It’s not Charles Moore, or Paul Dacre, but a low-profile former banker called Richard Sharp. On the podcast, Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about what Sharp’s appointment reflects about the government’s war on the BBC.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
A leaked Scottish government document suggested that all over-50s could be vaccinated by the end of March, and that UK has capacity to deliver 3.8 million jabs next week. Has the government been underselling its efforts? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the backbench Covid Recovery Group, has warned that Boris Johnson’s leadership will be ‘on the table’ unless he gives a path out of lockdown. But is the PM really under threat? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forysth and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
As government ministers avoid putting a date on an easing of restrictions, let alone an end to them, scientific advisers have stepped in to fill the silence. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam has suggested the lockdown could remain in place well into spring while Professor Neil Ferguson – who briefly stood down from his role last