Coffee House Shots

Reform UK is no longer a one-man band. Nigel Farage has unveiled Reform's four spokesmen for the “great offices of state” at a press conference in Westminster. Recent Tory defector Robert Jenrick has been given the Chancellor brief, Zia Yusuf is in charge of home affairs, Suella Braverman is responsible for education and Richard Tice will look after business and energy. The format resembled a game...

Following a weekend at the Munich Security Conference, there have been reports that the Prime Minister is set to sign off on a huge increase in defence spending. While this comes at a time of increasing threats to Britain, it isn't just the UK's position that's under threat but Keir Starmer himself – who continues to face questions about his leadership. Defence secretary John Healey has been talke...

Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows. European allies say Russia is responsible for Alexei Navalny's death. And the government's Palestine Action ban is ruled unlawful by the High Court. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/pod...

James Macintyre joins James Heale to discuss his new biography of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown:  Power With Purpose . While the book has been years in the making, little did James know that it would end up published at the same time that its themes and subjects could never be more relevant. James tells our deputy political editor about the relationship between Brown and Blair,...

Keir Starmer has headed to Germany for the Munich Security Conference to meet allies and discuss defence, NATO and the war in Ukraine. He is expected to meet Chancellor Merz and President Macron later, before delivering a speech in the morning. But – after his worst week as Prime Minister – can Starmer use this moment to reset his image as one of a statesman on the world stage, or could his proble...

When a PM is in crisis, what do they do? Sack the head of the civil service. Having lost both his Chief of Staff and Director of Communications at the beginning of the week, Keir Starmer resolved to make it a hat-trick by dispensing with the services of his short-serving Cabinet Secretary. The favourite to replace him is Antonia Romeo – currently doing great work at the Home Office, but comes with...

PMQs today and – as predicted – Keir Starmer came out worst in a pretty unpleasant session. Kemi Badenoch pinned the Prime Minister on the continued Mandelson fallout and now the scandal over Matthew Doyle, the former No. 10 comms chief who – just four weeks after his ennoblement – Labour have already been forced to kick out of their party in the House of Lords, after it emerged he had campaigned...

After a dramatic day in Westminster, the threat to Starmer appears to have receded – at least in the short term. But with the Gorton and Denton by-election less than three weeks away, (more) trouble could be on the horizon. Luke Tryl – from pollsters More in Common – and James Heale join Patrick Gibbons to discuss. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access thi...

Morgan McSweeney resigned yesterday as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff and – while it was not a surprise, given his role in appointing Peter Mandelson – the news that the Prime Minister has now lost his closest aide and political fire blanket is a huge shock. The repercussions are numerous: Starmer loses the man widely regarded to have won him his large majority and someone who was popular in No. 10...

Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows. Morgan McSweeney has resigned as Keir Starmer's chief of staff, just hours after Pat McFadden said he could see 'no point' in making such a change. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podc...

On this special edition of Coffee House Shots , Tim Shipman is joined by Jonathan Hinder – a rising star of the back benches and a blue Labour acolyte – for a candid discussion about the state of the Labour party and the security of its leader. They discuss the Peter Mandelson scandal and the impact it has had on backbench support for the Prime Minister, as well as the implications it may have reg...

The sun is setting on Keir Starmer’s worst week in No. 10 – but potentially Kemi’s best. We go into the weekend with MPs publicly calling for his most senior aide, Morgan McSweeney, to step down because of his role in the botched vetting of Peter Mandelson, and with huge questions remaining about how much the Prime Minister knew about Mandelson’s association with Epstein. All of this means that th...

James Heale, Tim Shipman and Oscar Edmondson discuss the continuing fallout over the Mandelson scandal. The mood amongst Labour MPs is pretty dire – following a bruising PMQs and a government climbdown over the release of Mandelson's vetting files – but is it bad enough for Labour MPs to challenge Starmer? And could his chief of staff – and close Mandelson ally – Morgan McSweeney be in the firing...

Another impressive PMQs from Kemi Badenoch – but she had plenty of ammunition to deploy after the Peter Mandelson scandal took a bleaker turn this week. The Prime Minister clearly wanted to make a strong statement in his first answer to Kemi Badenoch, saying that ‘Mandelson betrayed our country, our parliament and my party’. He added: ‘He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationshi...

Coffee House Shots is on the road today. James Heale and Megan McElroy have travelled up to the frozen north to speak to the candidates who are lobbying locals in the lead-up to the Gorton and Denton by-election. This is the seat vacated by Labour’s Andrew Gwynne, and made famous by Keir Starmer refusing to let Manchester mayor Andy Burnham contest it and complete his return to Westminster. Reform...

It is one of the staple headlines of British politics: Peter Mandelson has resigned. The so-called Prince of Darkness was sacked as US ambassador last September, yet that has done little to stem the flow of stories about the alleged nature of his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. This weekend saw the publication of a further three million emails, triggering another avalan...

Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows. More Epstein files bring Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson back into the spotlight, and Keir Starmer’s returns from his trip to China. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podc...

As Keir Starmer's visit to China draws to a close, Sam Olsen – who runs the States of Play substack – and Times columnist Cindy Yu join Patrick Gibbons to discuss how the UK should manage its relationship with China. Starmer's visit has drawn criticism from various China hawks – and from President Trump – but is there a way for the UK to balance legitimate security concerns with the need to trade...

In his column this week, Tim Shipman has finally hit upon an answer to the age-old question: what is Starmerism? After a concerted effort from his team to tie the Prime Minister down to a definitive ‘-ism’, he has delivered a threefold structure: firstly, the contestable claim that Labour has achieved macroeconomic stability by clinging grimly to the Chancellor’s fiscal rules, which will mean inte...

Is centrism back? This week a group of former Tory heavyweights – including Ruth Davidson, Andy Street, Amber Rudd and David Gauke – have launched a new group aimed at reclaiming the centre ground and dispelling the myth that politics in 2026 is a straight shooting match between increasingly diffuse left/right poles. They say that there are seven million voters in the centre who feel ‘politically...

It is our solemn duty to inform listeners that David Lammy won deputy PMQs at a canter today. To be frank, it was a low-rent affair. Andrew Griffith was the Tory sent out to question David Lammy while Keir Starmer is in China, and the shadow business secretary didn’t do a particularly good job. Perhaps he had assumed that Lammy would have another disastrous session, like he did when a prisoner was...

Keir Starmer lands in China tonight as he becomes the first British Prime Minister to visit since Theresa May in 2018. Sam Hogg from the Oxford China Policy Lab and James Heale join Patrick Gibbons to assess the UK-China relationship right now, what Labour is hoping to get from the visit and whether there are risks for Starmer as well as rewards. Is the tight rope Starmer is walking between the UK...

It’s psychodrama all round on Coffee House Shots today. Between Andy Burnham – who over the weekend was denied the opportunity to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election – and Suella Braverman – who has just announced that she’s defecting to Reform (shock horror) – it seems like the main parties are competing to see who can appear the most split. After high-profile Labour MPs gave their support...

Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning’s political shows. Labour block Andy Burnham from standing as an MP, Ed Davey says we're in a Cold War, and a new centre-right movement is launched. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts . Contact us:...

Post-holiday depression, failed New Year’s resolutions and battered bank balances: January’s Blue Monday has long been branded as the most miserable day of the year. Headlines warn of ongoing war, political turmoil and economic gloom – but could they be mistaken? Join  The Spectator  and special guests as they defy the doomsters to deliver an optimist’s guide to 2026. Almost three-quarte...