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Noa Hoffman

Noa Hoffman

Noa Hoffman is The Spectator's new political correspondent.

Today

Noa Hoffman

Why Burnham’s West Bank sanctions are savvy politics

Andy Burnham’s move to impose sanctions on West Bank settlements is politically savvy – but not because it will achieve his purported aim of advancing a two-state solution. For one thing, the impact in Israel will be minimal. Ed Miliband was clear that the new sanctions regime will target those ‘providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements’, while trade within the Green Line will continue. Yet the principal providers of such services to the settlements are Israeli banks, major companies and the Israeli government itself. Short of Miliband sanctioning them, the policy is unlikely to achieve much. The economies of the West Bank and Green Line Israel are completely intertwined.

Saturday

Noa Hoffman

Spectator Out Loud: Noa Hoffman, Robert Hardman, Patrick Galbraith & Matthew Reisz

33 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Noa Hoffman explains why Keir Starmer’s empty seat could become a Green Party battleground; Robert Hardman tells us how the death of Norway’s King Harald could reshape the royal family; Patrick Galbraith says it has been a disastrous year for British farming; and Matthew Reisz explores the unique relationship between artist Paula Rego and her model, Anthony Rudolf. Produced and presented by Abigail Brierley.

Spectator Out Loud: Noa Hoffman, Patrick Galbraith, Robert Hardman & Matthew Reisz

Friday

Noa Hoffman

Reformers don’t care about the Channel 4 investigation

As Reform battled a political and media crisis beyond the confines of its conference, members inside the NEC secure zone appeared unfazed. If anything, they were infuriated by Channel 4’s undercover investigation into the party’s donation practices. The Spectator spoke to members and activists from across the country. Asked for their reaction to the documentary, the overwhelming response was that the undercover investigation amounted to little more than an establishment stitch-up. For the Reform faithful, the stakes facing the country are simply too high to abandon the only party they believe can put Britain back on track – whatever the undercover footage revealed. https://twitter.

Noa Hoffman

LIVE | Reform in crisis after Channel 4 sting

12 min listen

There are grey clouds over day two of Reform UK’s conference after a Channel 4 investigation caused heads to roll. The party announced this morning that Dan Jukes, Nigel Farage’s right-hand man, and James Orr, Reform’s head of strategy, have stood down and left the conference. ‘They have left the building and they won’t be coming back,’ chairman Lee Anderson said. Footage broadcast by Channel 4 on Thursday night showed Jukes suggesting a way to get around electoral law in order to secure a foreign donation. A reporter posed as a UK-based son of an American benefactor, who was to give money to Reform via his 'son' after being wooed by both Orr and Jukes.

Thursday

Noa Hoffman

The Tories and Reform take the economic fight to Labour

Britain’s major right-wing parties today took the fight to Labour – and each other – over the economy. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick flexed their fiscal muscles as they vowed to take Andy Burnham to task over excessive spending and an ‘addiction’ to welfare. On the first day of Reform’s conference, the party’s Treasury spokesperson told business leaders that, as Chancellor, he would reduce spending by £80 billion a year by the end of the next parliament. He also announced that he had written to major holders of UK government debt, including banks and pension funds, inviting them to attend a ‘roadshow’ and ‘private round tables’ in London and New York, where he will set out his approach to borrowing.

Wednesday

Noa Hoffman

The Greens are coming for north London

When Sir Keir Starmer announced that he was standing down as an MP on Tuesday, jubilation erupted among Green activists. Zack Polanski’s party has already proved it can take on Labour’s campaign machine in ethnically diverse parts of Manchester; Starmer’s resignation now presents the perfect opportunity to do the same in London. At the time of the 2021 census, the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras was 21 per cent Muslim and 45 per cent non-white. At the 2024 general election, Starmer received almost 50 per cent of the vote, while the Green party and the independent pro-Gaza candidate Andrew Feinstein secured a combined 29 per cent.

Saturday

Noa Hoffman

Reviewing Andy’s report card – with Baroness Debbonaire

One month on from Andy Burnham entering Downing Street and a lot has changed at the top of government. Starmer's old guard have been reshuffled or replaced, and Burnham's government have announced dozens of new projects, but the big challenges that he faces are largely the same. Noa Hoffman is joined by Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, the former shadow culture secretary, to review Andy's report card. Produced by Henry Lloyd.

Reviewing Andy's report card – with Baroness Debbonaire

Thursday

Noa Hoffman

Ministers have finally admitted the unsayable about illegal immigration

In the build-up to the 2024 Tory leadership election, Kemi Badenoch declared that ‘not all cultures are equal’. Her argument – that we can be a thriving multi-ethnic nation while expecting everyone to adhere to British cultural values – was met with fury. For some of Badenoch’s critics, the mere suggestion that certain foreign value systems are inferior to those of a western liberal democracy was beyond the pale. All the usual buzzwords were deployed: racist, fascist, far-right. Labour MP Dawn Butler shared a social media post deriding the Tory leader as ‘white supremacy in blackface’. Now, the Home Office has inadvertently vindicated the very argument for which Badenoch was admonished by her left-wing critics.

Wednesday

Noa Hoffman

Has the Green civil war finally begun?

There was never an expectation that Zack Polanski's alliance between the progressive left, the ecological environmentalists, and the conservative muslim factions of the Green Party would last forever, but today it seems that the war of dissolution may have finally begun. Noa Hoffman is joined by Andrew Gilligan to discuss what has been going down inside the Greens under Polanski, and how a boiling division in Bolton may well spill over into the rest of England and Wales.

Tuesday

Noa Hoffman

Reform suspends Tim Montgomerie after Spectator interview

After saying that Zia Yusuf needed to 'become a team player' in an interview on Coffee House yesterday, Reform UK responded, and decided that they would rather Tim Montgomerie were not in their squad at all. After the story broke this morning that Montgomerie had his membership of the party suspended, Noa Hoffman is joined by Tim Shipman and James Heale to react to the latest developments on the right of British politics.

Noa Hoffman

The Green plot for a free speech crackdown

As night follows day, left-wing politicians are seizing on the tragic death of Jason Arday to demand sweeping curbs on free speech. The Green party, in particular, has wasted no time in pursuing new draconian restrictions on both the press and social media. The Spectator can reveal that an emergency motion, backed by 89 members, has been submitted ahead of their Autumn party conference under the title ‘Justice for Jason Arday: Stopping Racist Smear Campaigns and Reforming Media Power’.

Monday

Noa Hoffman

Can Reform really end benefits Britain?

Benefits claimants will be required to carry out 20 hours of community service a week under a Reform government, Robert Jenrick announced today. The party’s Treasury spokesman said those who are fit to work must help clean up high streets and parks and carry out minor repairs to libraries and town halls, or face penalties. The measure is the latest addition to Reform’s welfare blitz, which would strip all foreign nationals, including EU citizens, of access to benefits such as universal credit, housing benefit and pension credit. The party believes its cuts would save taxpayers £21 billion by the fifth year.

Saturday

Noa Hoffman

One year of Polanski: more continuity than change?

30 min listen

Almost one year on from his election as leader of the Green Party, has Zack Polanski broadened its appeal? Communications strategist and Green Party insider Russell Warfield joins Noa Hoffman to discuss his new book The Green Socialist: Zack Polanski & the Battle for Britain’s Future. In it, Warfield makes the argument that Polanski marks more of a continuum for the modern British Green Party – a natural next step for a party seeking to broaden its appeal, rather than the more radical change candidate he has been portrayed as across parts of the media.

One year of Polanski: more continuity than change?

Friday

Noa Hoffman

Farage beats the bin!

15 min listen

Shock horror: Nigel Farage has won the by-election in Clacton. Although you may be shocked by the scale of the victory. The Reform leader received 22,239 votes – 1,000 more than his total at the 2024 general election. His main rival, Count Binface – the ‘uniparty candidate’ as Farage says – secured a respectable 9,455 votes, a 26.7 per cent share. Turnout stood at 44.37 per cent, the constituency’s lowest since 2010, but still pretty good for a by-election and such an unusual one at that. But the big questions remains: did Farage get what he wanted out of this by-election? Or is this the farcical end to an undignified episode in British politics? Oscar Edmondson, Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman discuss. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Farage beats the bin!
Noa Hoffman

Farage’s Clacton victory won’t save him from more scrutiny

Nigel Farage has been re-elected in Clacton, comfortably winning the self-inflicted by-election that Britain’s major parties chose to boycott. The Reform leader received 22,239 votes – 1,000 more than his total at the 2024 general election. His main rival, Count Binface, secured a respectable 9,455 votes – a 26.7 per cent share. Turnout stood at 44.37 per cent, the constituency’s lowest since 2010. However, given the result was always fairly obvious the figure is impressive. It indicates voters did not view the by-election as a farce or gimmick, as much as the major parties tried to push the idea. Farage did not attend this morning’s count amid concerns over an alleged ‘credible threat’ against him.

Wednesday

Noa Hoffman

Andy’s migration muddle & can he fix the High Street?

13 min listen

Andy Burnham's summer bonanza continues as he announces plans to empower local councils and hopefully improve Britain's High Streets. The government wants to make it easier for councils to refuse certain types of businesses – but is the plethora of vape shops, betting shops and barbers a cause of Britain's High Street decline, or just a symptom? If there are no businesses to replace those, will the public prefer empty shops to those they see as less desirable? Noa Hoffman and Michael Simmons join Tim Shipman to discuss. Plus: the Prime Minister attempts to grip the migration crisis, as small boats numbers rise across the summer – but can he get his facts straight? Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

Andy's migration muddle – & can he fix the High Street?
Noa Hoffman

Andy Burnham is already in a migration muddle

In the run-up to his coup against Sir Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham was sold to wavering Labour MPs as the ultimate ‘man of the people’. It was Burnham, his supporters argued, who ‘gets it’ in a way that the out-of-touch London lawyer Sir Keir simply did not. Only Burnham understood the frustrations, fears and hopes of the swathes of voters turning to Nigel Farage for answers. Only he could win back traditional Labour supporters in former heartlands from Reform. Yet Burnham this week demonstrated just how strikingly the reality has failed to live up to the sell.

Tuesday

Noa Hoffman

Clacton by-election: what you need to know

14 min listen

Nigel Farage is heading back to the polls in Clacton after resigning to trigger a by-election over questions surrounding his £5 million gift. With the main parties refusing to stand, Farage looks set for a comfortable victory – but will his popularity in Clacton translate to the rest of the country? And have voters simply stopped caring about the controversy? Meanwhile, Andy Burnham is facing the first major tests of his premiership. As questions mount over how he will pay for his ambitious domestic agenda, Burnham has intervened again over plans to release prisoners early, insisting that the killers of PC Andrew Harper should remain behind bars. Is his willingness to respond to public pressure a sign of how he intends to govern?

Clacton by-election: what you need to know

Monday

Noa Hoffman

Nigel Farage: Restore must kick out its racists

Nigel Farage today doubled down on his pledge not to strike a deal with Restore unless Rupert Lowe rids his party of racist extremists. The pair have been locked in a very public back-and-forth over the conditions necessary for them to work together to block the left at the next election. Lowe, who initiated the negotiations, has demanded support for the deportation of millions of migrants and insisted that former Conservatives should be denied cabinet positions in any future government. Farage has, of course, rebuffed the latter demand. But at a press conference today, he also made clear that there would be no agreement with Restore while it continued to tolerate a cast of extremist characters.

What does Lowe actually want from Farage?
Noa Hoffman

What does Lowe actually want from Farage?

17 min listen

Nigel Farage is trying to seize the summer agenda with a new crackdown on crime and immigration. Reform wants to send foreign national prisoners to countries such as El Salvador, deploy the Navy in the Channel and leave the ECHR – but how much of the plan could actually work? Meanwhile, hopes of a reconciliation between Reform and Rupert Lowe’s Restore appear to be fading. Farage has ruled out a deal while Lowe remains surrounded by figures he regards as being on the extreme right. Could the continuing split ultimately play into Andy Burnham’s hands? Tim Shipman speaks to Noa Hoffman. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.