Katy Balls

The government's education tsar Kevan Collins resigned this afternoon, saying that the £1.4 billion pledged by the government for schools is only a tenth of what is needed. Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about who will take the flack. On the podcast, James says Collins's resignation is 'embarrassing for the government'. The former education tsar was, he adds: 'someone who managed to bridge the various high divides in the world of schooling in England.'  The team also talks about Keir Starmer's interview with Piers Morgan, which aired last night. The Labour leader refused to admit taking drugs at university, expressed regret at his mother not seeing him become an MP, and tried to show the public more of his personality.

Now officially in June, the significance of the 21st seems even greater for the country, but with the Indian variant still on the rise how safe is the date? Katy Balls says that for the government: 'The plan is to offer all over fifties two doses before June 21st.'And a glorious weekend of weather for the Prime Minister's secret nuptials, but what does this wedding mean for the warring factions that circle No. 10?

This week Edwin Poots was formally endorsed as the DUP's new leader, in a meeting which Arlene Foster, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (Poots's rival in the leadership campaign) and other senior DUP politicians walked out of before Poots gave a speech. What does the future hold for the divided political party that held so much sway in Westminster during the Brexit process? Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and the Irish Times's Denis Staunton. On the podcast, Denis suggests three ways forward for disgruntled DUP politicians like Foster and Donaldson. One, they could try to topple Poots. Two, they could go back to the Ulster Unionist Party (from which they defected in 2004). Or three, they could form their own party.

From accusing Matt Hancock of criminal incompetence, to lifting the lid on the true nature of his relationship with Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings's evidence was nothing short of explosive. Katy Balls talks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth about the highlights and what we learnt. There were few who escaped Cummings's censure. But in some ways, the sheer scale of alleged incompetence means that no one accusation will stick in the way that they might have done had they been made individually.

Islamophobia 'remains a problem' in the Conservative party, a report has found. Professor Swaran Singh, who analysed more than a thousand complaints of misconduct for his investigation, said that some Tories needed a 'completely new mindset'. Boris Johnson himself gave evidence to the inquiry, and when asked about his column saying a group of black people had 'watermelon smiles' said: 'Would I use some of the offending language from my past writings today? Now that I am prime minister, I would not.'On the podcast, James Forsyth says: 'There's an interesting question now about whether Boris Johnson goes further. Normally he is very reluctant to get drawn into specific newspaper articles.' And one year on from Dominic Cummings's extraordinary press conference in the No.

When Dominic Cummings appears in front of a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, the former aide is expected to attack Whitehall's institutional structure, a lack of government transparency in the pandemic, and the Prime Minister himself.In a still growing Twitter thread, the former aide has laid out his critique of how the government handled Covid-19. He says herd immunity was 'literally the official plan' in March, and that a detailed response was 'bodged amid total & utter chaos.'But how much damage can he do the PM? The Conservatives are just coming out of a successful local election campaign, the country is on course for social restrictions to end on 21 June, and the latest YouGov poll shows just 14 per cent of Brits trust Cummings.

Boris Johnson is increasingly confident that Britain will drop the majority of Covid restrictions on 21 June. But with the Indian variant forcing case rates in Bolton to more than ten times the national average, and in Blackburn to more than six, why is he optimistic? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth.

Despite some misgivings in Cabinet, free marketeers seem to have won the argument on the Australia trade deal, one of the first major deals to be struck after Brexit. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about the latest discussions in government.

Nicola Sturgeon unveiled her new Cabinet today, reshuffling familiar faces with a clutch of new ministerial appointments. Will it be a line-up that causes sleepless nights for No 10? Joining Isabel Hardman to assess Team Sturgeon's new look are Katy Balls and James Forsyth.