Katy Balls

Katy Balls

Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.

Thursday

Katy Balls

Why Sunak’s critics won’t stop plotting

Simon Clarke's call this week for Rishi Sunak to go didn't exactly inspire others to follow. Instead, it's had a unifying effect on the Tory party. 'He's given us all a common cause to rally behind: uniting against him,' says a former cabinet minister. After the publication of Clarke's Daily Telegraph op-ed declaring that 'it is now beyond doubt that whilst the Prime Minister is far from solely responsible for our present predicament, his uninspiring leadership is the main obstacle to our recovery', Clarke has received criticism from all sides. The Tory WhatsApp groups are filled with MPs venting that 'it simply burns the party to direct it all at the Prime Minister' and accusing Clarke of being 'insular'.

Katy Balls

Why Labour’s tax attacks on the Tories are working

This week tens of millions of workers will receive their pay slips for the month of January and with them a tax cut. National Insurance is going down, so take-home pay is rising. Polls show that voters think Labour is more likely to cut tax than the Tories, a surprise weapon for Starmer The NI tax cut is meant to signal a ‘gear shift’ – as the Prime Minister told this magazine last month – when it comes to taxation. Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have hinted that more cuts may follow in the spring Budget. Will voters be grateful? In the past, the governing party has benefitted from pre-election tax cuts. Ahead of the Tories’ surprise victory in 1992, Norman Lamont introduced a 20p income tax rate.

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Does Simon Clarke’s intervention matter?

12 min listen

Tory MP Simon Clarke called for Rishi Sunak to resign last night. In a piece in the Telegraph, he wrote that the Prime Minister was ‘uninspiring’ and ‘does not get what Britain needs.’ Will other Conservative MPs also demand Sunak resign, or will they unify around their leader? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Former minister calls for Sunak to go – or face ‘election massacre’

Here we go. Ever since 11 Tory MPs voted against the Safety of Rwanda Bill last week, talk has resurfaced that the party has a death wish. The problem is that different MPs define that as different things. While a mass of Conservative MPs say the rebellion over Sunak’s plan to stop the boats amounts to self-destructive behaviour, the rebels argue that sticking with Rishi Sunak as leader when the party’s polling is so bad that it amounts to self-harm. Tonight one such rebel has gone public with these thoughts. Step forward Simon Clarke. Clarke – who served in Liz Truss’s cabinet – has written an column for Wednesday’s Telegraph entitled ‘Replace Sunak or face decade of decline under Starmer’.

Katy Balls

Are the Houthi strikes working?

12 min listen

The UK launched a new set of strikes on eight Houthi targets last night. Typoon jets dropped £30,000 Paveway bombs on an underground storage site and surveillance and missile capabilities controlled by the Yemeni rebel group. But are the strikes working? The Houthis have continued to attack ships in the Red Sea, and a row has also started about whether government properly briefed Keir Starmer and Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.

Monday

Katy Balls

Sunak’s Rwanda plan suffers first Lords defeat

Just last week Rishi Sunak held a special Downing Street press conference to warn peers not to ignore ‘the will of the people’ and block his Rwanda plan. Fast forward a few days and Sunak’s warning appears to have fallen on deaf ears, with the Prime Minister suffering his first Lords defeat on the topic before the Safety of Rwanda Bill has even begun its journey through the Lords. This evening peers voted to delay the ratification of the international treaty between the UK and Rwanda, the legally binding agreement signed with Rwanda last month. By 214 votes to 171, peers backed the motion that demands the government delays any deportation flights to Rwanda until agreed safeguards have been put in place and shown to be working.

Katy Balls

How far will Hunt cut taxes?

14 min listen

Jeremy Hunt said he would look to cut taxes in the March budget. In the Mail on Sunday, he said he would look to emulate the late Nigel Lawson, who as Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor slashed rates. But Hunt has been promising tax cuts, and hardly delivering, for a while. Will this time be any different? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.

Saturday

Katy Balls

How is Cameron’s comeback coming along?

13 min listen

As problems in the Middle East and war on the continent dominate the headlines, David Cameron has been front and centre in his new role as foreign secretary. Is his experience coming in handy? Is he Rishi's 'prime minister abroad'?  Katy Balls speaks to Craig Oliver, director of communications at No. 10 during the Cameron era, and Sophia Gaston, head of foreign policy at Policy Exchange.  Produced by Max Jeffery and Oscar Edmondson.

Friday

Katy Balls

The Theo Clarke Edition

28 min listen

Theo Clarke is Conservative MP for Stafford. She is the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Kenya and sits on the International Development Select Committee. Before being elected she set up and sold her business and then went on to be Chief Executive of an international development charity backed by Bill Gates. Theo got involved in politics after the election expenses scandal and stood in Bristol East in 2015 and 2017. She currently Chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma and recently launched a national inquiry into this issue.

Thursday

Katy Balls

Is the ERG a spent force?

12 min listen

After much back and forth, the Rwanda Bill passed last night with only 11 votes against while other critics, such as Lee Anderson who resigned his party role, abstained. Rishi Sunak can celebrate a small victory as it appears that the Brexit 'Spartans' of yesteryear are something of a spent force today. Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Katy Balls

Sunak goes on the offensive over Rwanda

Who is to blame if no flights with asylum seekers leave the UK for Rwanda ahead of the election? In a Downing Street press conference this morning, Rishi Sunak tried to suggest the answer would be the House of Lords or Labour rather than his government. In a bid to capitalise on the 'Safety of Rwanda' bill passing at third reading in the Commons last night, Sunak urged peers not to 'frustrate the will of the people' when the legislation now passes to the Lords: 'There is now only one question. Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected house in the unelected house or will they get on board and do the right thing?

Katy Balls

Regicide is in the air for the Tories

An election year, a tired government accused of being in power too long, and a bickering party. This was the backdrop to the coup against Gordon Brown in 2010 when Geoff Hoon – the defence secretary under Tony Blair – and his fellow ex-minister Patricia Hewitt called for a secret ballot. The coup was a miserable failure and became an example of how not to do it. Hoon conceded in less than 24 hours that they had failed and it was ‘over’. What went wrong? At the time it was attributed to a combination of bad timing, half-hearted plotters and the failure of the most credible candidate (David Miliband) to come forward.

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Why Lee Anderson’s exit is a problem

10 min listen

Last night Rishi Sunak faced the largest rebellion of his premiership over amendments to the Rwanda bill. There were also three resignations – deputy chairs Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith as well as PPS to Kemi Badenoch, Jane Stevenson. How much damage could do to his already divided party? Today, MPs will debate for a second time on the government's flagship immigration policy. It is likely the bill will pass through Parliament but that won't mean the Prime Minister is out of the woods yet. How could today play out? Natasha Feroze speaks to James Heale and Katy Balls. The Spectator is hiring! We are looking for a new producer to join our broadcast team working across our suite of podcasts – including this one – as well as our YouTube channel Spectator TV.

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Lee Anderson’s resignation spells trouble for Rishi Sunak

The fallout from the return of the Safety of Rwanda Bill has begun – before a single vote has been cast. Lee Anderson has handed in his resignation as deputy chairman of the Conservative party, alongside his fellow deputy Brendan Clarke-Smith. The two red wall MPs, who won their seats in the 2019 election, had signalled their intention last night to back amendments by Robert Jenrick and Bill Cash to toughen up the Bill. However, up until half an hour before the vote, the government had not made clear whether such an act would make their position untenable. Eventually this was confirmed and both decided to walk rather than be sacked.

Katy Balls

Isaac Levido’s warning to the Tory party

11 min listen

With the Tories reeling from yesterday's poll in the Telegraph, it is interesting that the party’s official election strategist Isaac Levido was already scheduled to address Tory MPs last night. Levido ran the 2019 election campaign and holds clout with Conservative MPs. What did he have to say? Is the Tory strategy evolving? Also on the podcast, Rallings & Thrasher have put out polling today which demonstrates how difficult it will be for Labour to achieve a majority considering the new boundaries. They will need a national swing of 12.7 per cent – higher than in 1997 and 1945. Are voters enthusiastic enough about Labour to provide such a huge swing? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Oscar Edmondson. The Spectator is hiring!

Monday

Katy Balls

Isaac Levido’s warning to the Tory party

Tory MPs start the week fretting about their seats after the Telegraph published an MRP poll suggesting Keir Starmer would win a majority of 120 if an election were held tomorrow. So, it was a case of interesting timing that the party’s official election strategist Isaac Levido was already scheduled to address Tory MPs on Monday night. Levido ran the 2019 election campaign and holds clout with Conservative MPs (when Liz Truss cut ties with the strategist during her premiership, it led to panic in parts of the party).

Katy Balls

Is there a plot to oust Sunak?

15 min listen

Polling published in the Telegraph has ruffled more than a few feathers in Westminster today. The YouGov survey shows that the Tories are on course to lose half of their MPs – including eleven members of the cabinet – at the next election. Are the Tories heading for another 1997 moment? What should we read into the timing of the poll? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home. Produced by Oscar Edmondson. The Spectator is hiring! We are looking for a new producer to join our broadcast team working across our suite of podcasts – including this one – as well as our YouTube channel Spectator TV. Follow the link to read the full job listing: https://spectator.

Katy Balls

It’s crunch week for Rishi Sunak

It's a crunch week for Rishi Sunak as MPs prepare to cast their verdict on his Safety of Rwanda bill. The bill, which aims to get the government's 'stop the boats' policy off the ground by unilaterally declaring Rwanda a safe country, returns to the Commons on Tuesday for its committee stage. There could then be a third reading vote as early as Wednesday night. Unfortunately for Sunak, as many as 60 Tory rebels on the right are getting behind amendments to toughen up the bill and reduce the opportunity for would-be migrants to appeal. This could ultimately lead to a resignation, with Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson considering voting with the rebels.

Saturday

Katy Balls

Why few voters like Sunak

14 min listen

New polling from JL Partners shows how Rishi Sunak has changed, in the eyes of the public. They found that while Sunak was initially seen as a direct ‘breath of fresh air’, he is now frequently described as ‘out of touch’, ‘spineless’ and ‘false’. To discuss what went wrong for the PM, James Heale and Katy Balls are joined by James Johnson, the co-founder of JL Partners.

Friday

Katy Balls

Britain and US launch airstrikes against Houthis

15 min listen

Last night the US and the UK launched airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen whose continued attacks are disrupting trade in the Red Sea. The decision to sanction military action has been broadly welcomed in Westminster, but some have urged the PM to hold a retrospective vote on airstrikes amid fears that the UK risks being sucked into a tinder-box region. Will these airstrikes increase tensions in the Middle East? What impact will they have on the economy?   Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is in Kyiv where he has announced a landmark new package of support for Ukraine totalling £2.5 billion.  Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Simon Mayall, former British Army officer and Middle East advisor at the MoD.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Max Jeffery.