Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.
From our UK edition
24 min listen
This week: (01:08) Katy Balls on the tricky relationship between Labour and the Unions, (07:11) Olenka Hamilton on why Poland is having a row with Brussels over migrants and asylum seekers and (15:29) Damian Thompson asks whether the Vatican is turning its back on tradition and beautiful art.
From our UK edition
Despite winning a majority in the region of 80 in the 2019 general election, the Tories’ working majority currently stands at 60. After next week’s triple by-election it could be reduced even further. On Thursday voters will go to the polls in three seats currently held by the Conservatives: Selby and Ainsty (20,137), Somerton and Frome (19,213) and Uxbridge and South Ruislip (7,210). The working assumption among many of the MPs and activists who have gone to campaign is they they have a good chance of losing all three. As things stand, Somerton and Frome – sparked by the resignation of David Warburton – is seen by the Tories as the hardest to hold onto, with the Liberal Democrats expected to win the seat comfortably.
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Cleo Watson is a former No.10 advisor to Boris Johnson and now author or the recently published book Whips, a novel set in SW1 filled with sex, politics and scandals. On the podcast, Cleo talks about her life growing up in a big family; her career into politics which began in America on Obama's campaign and led to her advising the likes of Theresa May and Boris Johnson; and her recent departure from politics which gave her the chance to finish the book.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
It looks like the summer could be about to get a whole lot easier after the government announced that millions of public sector workers will get a pay rise between 5 and 7 per cent. In a press conference this afternoon, Rishi said this was the governments 'final offer' and the result of consultation independent pay review bodies. So far, the four teachers unions have announced that they will put the offer to their members, but will the junior doctors follow suit? How are the government planning to pay for this? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Tory whips will be smiling today after a mammoth three and a half hour voting session on amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill last night. All the amendments put down by the House of Lords were defeated by the government across 18 divisions. Are Rishi's hopes of stopping the boats still alive? Where do Labour stand on the bill? James Heale speaks to Stephen Bush and Katy Balls. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
The Labour party is preparing for power and the unions are deciding what role they might play. Friend or foe? Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has already incited their ire by refusing to commit to accepting independent pay-review body recommendations. Unite, the second-largest trade union, this week debated cutting ties with Labour and starting its opposition early. There is growing anxiety from the left that Starmer is abandoning party traditions in the pursuit of power The motion was, in the end, rejected. ‘The Labour party has decided we want to win,’ insisted one party figure. The union hit back. It insisted that Starmer has been ‘put on notice’ and that the union’s support (including a still-powerful get-out-the-vote operation) was not to be taken for granted.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
It has been a mixed start to the week for Labour. Rachel Reeves has been criticised for 'following the same tram lines' as the Tories on spending. Meanwhile, Starmer has been boosted by the decision taken by Unite – one of the UK’s biggest unions – to retain close ties with the Labour Party. Do they have a raft of transformative policies that will deliver change? Is the relationship between Labour and the unions as rosy as the Unite vote suggests? Also today, the Nato summit in Vilnius is underway and the mood seems optimistic after Erdogan agreed to support Sweden's membership bid. What can we expect from the summit? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
Rishi Sunak heads to Lithuania today for the Nato leaders' summit (which means he will be missing another Prime Minister's Questions). The trip comes after Sunak met one-on-one with president Biden at 10 Downing Street – a visit which is being heralded in government as a success after the pair avoided amplifying a lingering disagreement over the US government's transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine. While Sunak was critical of the use of the weapons ahead of the visit (a legal obligation of the UK government as a result of its membership of the Convention on Cluster Munitions) he chose not to bring it up and reprimand Biden on the visit. This allowed the US president to wax lyrical about the relationship being 'rock solid'.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Joe Biden was in London today to meet with Rishi Sunak. The pair had discussions in No. 10, and Biden described US-UK relations as ‘rock solid’. But the pair have recently had disagreements about who the next Nato secretary general should be, and about whether the West should send cluster munitions to Ukraine – so is the relationship really so rosy? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Freddy Gray. Produced by Max Jeffery.
From our UK edition
It’s one year today since Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister, following mass resignations in the ministerial ranks. At the time Johnson hinted he would return, but 12 months later he is no longer an MP. Meanwhile the Tories have fallen further back in the polls. The last YouGov poll taken before Johnson resigned had Labour on an 11-point lead. The latest YouGov poll finds that this has extended to a 25-point lead, with Rishi Sunak struggling to reverse the party's fortunes. So, where did it all go wrong? As expected, those who back Johnson look at those poll differences and argue it is evidence that the Tory party collectively lost its mind last summer and has been paying the price ever since.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
It is one year since Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister. That day, Labour held an 11 point lead in the polls but new YouGov polling today indicates that gap has widened to 25 points. Is there any hope the Tories can turn it around? What if Boris had stayed? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.
From our UK edition
14 min listen
A year on from allegations that Chris Pincher groped two young men at the Carlton Club (allegations that ultimately triggered the downfall of Boris Johnson), Parliament's standards watchdog has now found that Pincher brought the House into disrepute and recommended an eight-week suspension. On the podcast, Isabel Hardman says that this makes a by-election in his constituency of Tamworth a question of when, not if. But even worse for the Conservative party, their newly-selected candidate in that constituency is the current MP of another constituency. Cindy Yu talks to Isabel and Katy Balls about the mess that CCHQ finds itself in now. Produced by Cindy Yu.
From our UK edition
14 min listen
The NHS marks its 75th anniversary today, and in Westminster, both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer attended a service at Westminster Abbey in honour of the organisation. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about why there was a church service for the NHS and whether Rishi Sunak's time would have been better spent at Prime Minister's Questions. Produced by Cindy Yu.
From our UK edition
Where’s Rishi Sunak? That’s the latest attack line from Labour politicians after the Prime Minister missed this week’s Prime Minister's Questions to attend a service for the NHS at Westminster Abbey. He will also miss next week’s affair to attend a Nato summit. In Sunak’s place, his deputy Oliver Dowden stood at the despatch box where he faced Keir Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner. She quickly brought up Sunak’s absence, suggesting it showed that the Tories had given up. Dowden – who has several years’ experience writing jokes for Tory leaders for PMQs – snapped back that ‘some leaders trust their deputies’.
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Jonathan Ashworth has started carrying a card in his shirt pocket. It’s the licence his father was given when he got a job in the 1970s at the Playboy casino in Manchester. ‘It’s silly, really. But it’s just a reminder that my dad was able to start a job as a croupier from a very poor working-class background in Salford and that completely changed his life,’ the shadow work and pensions secretary says when we meet in his Commons office. It was at the casino that his father met Ashworth’s mother – a Playboy bunny girl working as a waitress. ‘Every week, the Playboy bunny girls had to queue up and had to be weighed by the head of the bunny girls. Isn’t that awful?’ Scales aside, Ashworth, 44, says his childhood taught him early on of the importance of employment.
From our UK edition
As the average mortgage rate for a five-year fixed deal rises to 6 per cent, Rishi Sunak can find little relief in his personal approval ratings. ConservativeHome has published its monthly cabinet league table in which the Prime Minister's support among Tory members has hit its lowest level since he entered 10 Downing Street. Sunak at least has plenty of company in the red – he is one of a record nine cabinet ministers to find themselves with sub-zero approval ratings. These ministers include his deputy Oliver Dowden, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove and Therese Coffey. Sunak is now on -2.7, compared to a positive rating of 21.6 in June, but is still doing better than some of his predecessors. Boris Johnson previously hit -33.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Rishi Sunak’s personal approval rating among Tory members has turned negative for the first time in his premiership. Why is the Prime Minister becoming more unpopular in his party? Should he be worried about internal dissent? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews. Produced by Max Jeffery.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
A group of 25 Tory MPs, calling themselves the New Conservatives, have launched a plan that they say will cut net migration from 606,000, last year’s figure, to 226,000, the figure in 2019. Temporary visa schemes for care workers should be shut, the ‘skilled work’ salary threshold raised, and the number of refugees accepted into the UK capped. Who is in the group, and what do they want? James Heale speaks to Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls. Produced by Max Jeffery.
From our UK edition
Rishi Sunak is facing calls from the latest Tory caucus – 'the New Conservatives' – to take a series of steps to clamp down on legal migration. The group, made up of MPs from the 2017 and 2019 intake, formed last month and largely features MPs with so-called Red Wall seats. Members include Tory rising star Miriam Cates as well as Lee Anderson (this has raised eyebrows as Anderson is deputy party chairman, which would usually prevent an MP joining a backbench pressure group). For their first policy push, the New Conservatives have released a 12-point plan which they claim would allow the government to cut net migration to Britain from 606,000 to 240,000 by the end of 2024.
From our UK edition
11 min listen
Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister, and says he quit because Rishi Sunak is 'simply uninterested' in the environment. It comes a day after Goldsmith was named by the Privileges Committee as one of 10 Tories who organised a campaign to undermine the Partygate inquiry. How much will Goldsmith’s resignation hurt the government? James Heale speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls. Produced by Max Jeffery.
