Michael Gove

From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – Keir Starmer employed a voice coach: former actress Leonie Mellinger. Mellinger has been at the centre of a fresh COVID-19 row, as the Prime Minister considered her to be so important that she qualified as a ‘key worker’ in 2020, visiting Labour headquarters in a mask on Christmas Eve 2020 to advise Starmer. It is not an unusual practice to employ a voice coach to improve a politician’s public speaking, and on the podcast Michael Gove is joined by his own former coach Graham Davies, to recover the lost art of political rhetoric.

This week saw the publication of Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund’s new book Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer. It’s the second in their tell-all series of books on the Labour Party’s ups and downs and has caused quite a stir in Westminster. From the revelations about Keir Starmer’s voice coach causing a fresh lockdown row to Michael Gove’s secret dinner with Morgan McSweeney, there is a high-density of scoops and disclosures. Can Labour blame the failures of their first 100 days on Sue Gray? And is there such a thing as ‘Starmerism’? Patrick and Gabriel sat down with Katy Balls and Michael Gove to discuss. Produced by Megan McElroy and Oscar Edmondson.

Today was the day for Rachel Reeves, as she delivered her big growth speech in Oxfordshire. This was not this government’s first attempt to pivot towards a more business-friendly, growth-generating narrative, but it was its best effort. The headline announcement is, of course, a third runway at Heathrow, throwing her support behind the ‘badly needed’ expansion. However, a lot of what was announced will sound familiar to recently departed Tories, who laid the groundwork for Labour’s plans to properly connect the South East (or the ‘Oxford–Cambridge Arc’, as it has been repackaged). Will Rachel Reeves get her growth? Katy Balls speaks to Michael Gove and Kate Andrews. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

After last week’s bond market jitters, the Chancellor pledged to go ‘further and faster’ to improve the UK’s anaemic economic growth. It looks as though Rachel Reeves’ hunt for growth could come at the expense of Labour’s green agenda. Reeves is poised to make a series of announcements over the next month, starting with a softened stance on non-doms and approval for Heathrow’s third runway – as well as expansions at Gatwick and Luton airports. The move indicates a shift in priorities, with economic growth taking precedence over climate targets. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is believed to be privately opposed to the airport expansion scheme. What happened to the ‘green Chancellor’?

With rumours swirling around Westminster and after Keir Starmer’s less than convincing defence of his Chancellor earlier in the week, Rachel Reeves has found some brief respite. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that inflation dipped to 2.5 per cent in the 12 months to December, down from 2.6 per cent the month before. It’s welcome news for a Chancellor who is under pressure, so is she safe? Elsewhere, there is a fresh row emerging concerning Gerry Adams. The government is proposing to repeal legislation, enacted in 2023, that prevents Gerry Adams and 400 others from claiming ‘compensation’ for having been detained in the 1970s for suspected involvement in terrorism.

Former Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she is separating from her husband Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP. The announcement comes as the police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances remains ongoing, with Sturgeon and ex-SNP treasurer Colin Beattie under investigation while Murrell was charged with embezzlement in April 2024.  Katy Balls is joined by The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove, and data editor Michael Simmons, to discuss the separation, why the investigation is still ongoing four years later, and what chances Scottish Labour or Reform have against the SNP in 2025.

At PMQs today, the battle lines were drawn ahead of today’s vote on Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which aims to protect children within the education system. Its contents have galvanised opposition parties, who are using the legislation to force a fresh inquiry into grooming gangs. Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott has also been on the airwaves today, attacking some of the reforms detailed in the plan, specifically on academies and free schools. The government is set to take away many of their freedoms to set curriculum and pay, freedoms given to them by our now editor – then education secretary – Michael Gove. So, do academies have a future in the education system? What’s Labour’s motivation here?

This week: the fight for the future of the right From Milei in Argentina to Trump in the US, Meloni in Italy to the rise of the AfD in Germany, the world appears to be turning to the right, say James Kanagasooriam and Patrick Flynn. One country, however, seems to be the exception to this rule: our own. Britain under Keir Starmer appears to be putting on a revival of the old classic Socialism in One Country. However, beyond Westminster, the data show that Britain is not moving to the left in line with its government. While the Conservatives and Reform are locked in a near-constant struggle for supremacy, polling shows that the public are moving to the right.