Madeline Grant is The Spectator’s assistant editor and parliamentary sketch writer.
From our UK edition
Sir Keir got probably the biggest cheer he’s had all year at Prime Minister’s Questions today. Unfortunately for him, it came from the Tory benches. After all the Mandelson revelations, it now transpires that Sir Keir gave a peerage to his former director of communications (a chocolate teapot job if ever there was one), Matthew
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In February 1974, a frustrated Ted Heath, unable to achieve anything in government against constant opposition by the mighty trade unions, called an election. One basic question was front and centre of the campaign: ‘Who governs Britain?’ Soon the answer came back: ‘Not you, mate.’ In fact, it would take Margaret Thatcher’s victory to clip
From our UK edition
45 min listen
This week: Michael and Maddie examine the crisis engulfing the Labour party and ask whether Keir Starmer is facing a Boris-style collapse of authority. They explore what could be to come in the continued fallout from the Peter Mandelson affair, the rebellion over the release of government files, and what Starmer’s pattern of scapegoating aides
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Ever wondered what Custer’s last stand would have been like if the dashing but judgement-phobic cavalry general had in fact been an adenoidal human rights lawyer? Wonder no more! The long-drawn-out fall of Sir Keir took another twist today as he tried to marshal his troops in a last desperate defence of his position. The
From our UK edition
25 min listen
To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.com/quiteright. In this week’s Q&A, Michael and Maddie unpack the controversy over whether Rishi Sunak is English or British – and why a debate about national identity has become so politically charged. Is Englishness a civic identity, an ethnic one, or something more elusive? And
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It was always going to be a good one wasn’t it? There was almost a sense of guilt watching today’s PMQs. My fellow sketch writers and I felt like the people who slow down to get a good view of a particularly horrific pile-up on a dual carriageway. Confirmation of this came when the Prime
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After my grandmother died a few years ago, we couldn’t bring ourselves to get rid of most of her possessions. What had started as a storage room at my parents’ house quickly morphed into a living, breathing pile. It gradually invaded the spare bedroom and was making encroachments into my mother’s study. Answering the call
From our UK edition
46 min listen
This week: Michael and Maddie examine the fallout from the Epstein files and ask how a story of questionable judgment became a far more serious test of trust at the top of British politics. As new revelations emerge about Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, has a tawdry association escalated into a question of the
From our UK edition
It’s Groundhog Day, the theme of the film where Bill Murray is destined to repeat the same day over and over again. It was also a terrible day for Labour – of course that doesn’t narrow things down either – you could be reading this at any point over the next three years and it’ll
From our UK edition
28 min listen
To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.com/quiteright. In this week’s Q&A: Michael and Maddie tackle Labour’s uneasy majority and ask why a government with a 174-seat majority already looks so skittish. Are backbench rebellions a sign of weakness – or a rational response from MPs who expect to be out in
From our UK edition
David Lammy’s last appearance at PMQs resembled a multi clown-car pile-up: both tragic and hilarious. Indeed, it was such a disaster that one wondered whether Lammy would ever be allowed near PMQs again. However, Sir Keir’s obvious contempt for being in the country even a second longer than he has to had got the better of
From our UK edition
45 min listen
This week: Michael and Maddie ask whether Keir Starmer’s grip on the Labour party is beginning to slip. After the party machine moved to block Andy Burnham from returning to Westminster, is Starmer governing from a position of strength – or fear? Does the decision expose a deeper crisis of authority at the top of
From our UK edition
A doe-eyed Andy Burnham has appeared looking sad across media outlets, hurt that he has been politically outmanoeuvred by Sir Keir Starmer. Burnham has positioned himself both as the wronged victim of Starmer’s Stalinist instincts and the only hope for a foundering party to find its popularity again. A cross between Bonnie Prince Charlie and
From our UK edition
34 min listen
On this week’s Q&A: Michael and Maddie ask the question dividing the British right: is Britain really broken? As ‘Broken Britain’ rhetoric surges on the right, they debate whether it clarifies the country’s problems or corrodes national confidence. Should we trust those who stand to benefit from a declinist narrative? And is Nigel Farage too
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One of the least successful operas in history received a revival at Westminster this week. ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’ – the woman without a shadow – tells of betrayal, moral weakness and a mad emperor, all taking place around a group of southern islands, and was not a hit for Richard Strauss. Its revival at
From our UK edition
It seems counter-intuitive to say that the House of Lords is more representative than the House of Commons. Yet in the extended reading of the assisted suicide bill, it is clear the Upper House is surprisingly reflective of the reality of the nation. Nominally, the bill is being piloted by Lord Falconer, the formerly cuddly
From our UK edition
45 min listen
This week: Michael and Maddie ask whether the so-called special relationship between Britain and the United States has finally reached breaking point. As Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland and his reversal on the Chagos Islands unsettle allies, has the British right begun to turn decisively against him? Was the special relationship ever more than a
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This government has many faults, but one really cannot fault them on their comic timing. On the very day when the Americans withdrew support for the Chagos ‘deal’, partly on the grounds that it showed weakness in the face of China, the government also gave approval to a massive new Chinese embassy complete with access
From our UK edition
30 min listen
This week: Michael and Maddie examine the rise of the Green party and ask whether it represents a passing protest vote or a genuine realignment on the British left. As Labour’s support continues to leak away and figures once loyal to Jeremy Corbyn drift towards the Greens, are Keir Starmer’s U-turns finally catching up with
From our UK edition
Westminster has its faults, but if you’re looking for a good old-fashioned day of mistakes, backbiting, and last-minute drama, there really is nowhere like it. Today it was there in spades: Titus Andronicus by the cast of Rainbow. The Jenrick sacking had everything – apparent incompetence by a junior aide, wild conspiratorial accusations and a
