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PODCAST

Coffee House Shots

Daily political analysis from The Spectator"s top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Tim Shipman, Isabel Hardman, James Heale and many others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All Episodes

15:02

St George’s Day: who is the most patriotic leader?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/23

Happy St George’s Day! To celebrate, we thought we would discuss who is the most patriotic political leader — and why some struggle to communicate their love of country.Keir Starmer declared in an interview with the Mirror this morning that Labour is ‘the patriotic party’. This follows a more concerted effort from those within the party to become more comfortable with the flag. But is Keir Starmer actually a patriot? How will the ‘battle of the Union Jack’ play out at the local elections? And does

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11:27

Does Starmer know what a woman is?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/22

Parliament is back after the Easter holiday and the Supreme Court ruling over 'what is a woman' continues to dominate talk in Westminster. The Prime Minister has changed his tune on trans, declaring he does not think that trans women are women. This has caused some disquiet in the party, with a number of senior MPs breaking rank over the weekend. Was Starmer right to row in behind the ruling?Also on the podcast, as we edge closer to the local elections, they look increasingly important for the two

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16:46

How the Liberal Democrats conquered Middle England

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/21

The Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller, elected as the new MP for Bicester and Woodstock last year, joins James Heale to talk about the ambitions of the party that became the largest third party in Parliament in 100 years at the 2024 general election. They want to overtake the Conservatives to be the second party in local government – could they one day overtake the Tories to become the official opposition? A former civil servant, Oxford University policy manager and

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21:05

10 years of politics as Balls bows out

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/19

Katy Balls joins Coffee House Shots for the last time as the Spectator’s political editor. Having joined the magazine ten years ago – or six prime ministers in Downing St years – what are her reflections on British politics? Katy’s lobby lunch partner from the Financial Times Stephen Bush joins Katy and Patrick Gibbons to try and make sense of a turbulent political decade, work out where the greatest risk is to the current Labour government, and attempt to make some predictions for the next ten

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10:57

Labour Together? Party morale & the threat of Reform

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/18

Former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth and Patrick Maguire from The Times join Katy Balls for her penultimate Coffee House Shots podcast as The Spectator's political editor. Since losing his seat at last year's general election, Ashworth has been CEO of Labour Together – but not for much longer as he exclusively reveals on the podcast.Less than two weeks to go from the local elections, and only a few months away from marking one year in power, what is morale like in the Labour Party? While Patrick

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14:41

How Wes Streeting will make or break Starmer

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/17

Michael Gove and Katy Balls join James Heale to discuss their interview with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting included in this week’s special Easter edition of The Spectator. Michael identifies three key reasons why Streeting’s fate is key to the success of the government: immigration, the cost-of-living crisis and faith in the NHS. Seen as the ‘golden child’ of Number 10, Streeting has as many supporters in the Labour party as he has detractors – but his Blairite-coded image could help him take

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14:09

How will the parties judge success at the local...

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/16

With just over two weeks to go until the May elections, the latest national polling suggests an almost three-way split between Reform, Labour and the Conservatives. But will this translate to the locals? And, given these particular seats were last contested in 2021 amidst the 'Boris wave', how will the parties judge success? The Spectator's deputy political editor James Heale and More in Common's Luke Tryl join Lucy Dunn to discuss. Will the story of the night be Tory losses and Reform gains? Or

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12:34

Has a US-UK trade deal inched closer?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/15

As Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs keep shifting, leaving countries scrambling to react, there has been some good news for Keir Starmer and the Labour government. Speaking to UnHerd, the US vice-president J.D. Vance spoke up the UK’s chances of securing a trade deal. While this would be a win for Starmer, questions remain over the substance – from agriculture to food, what would be included? And can we really believe it will happen?The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls and deputy US

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10:06

Scunthorpe's steel and Birmingham's bins: a tale of...

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/14

Panic has subsided over the British Steel crisis as Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, while visiting the site in Scunthorpe, confirmed that the raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running have been secured. While questions remain over the long-term future of the site, the Government are quite confident in their handling of the crisis so far – something not unhelpful with just over two weeks to go from the local elections. Less helpful is the news that over in Birmingham workers have

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11:11

'Nationalisation in all but name': the blame game...

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/13

Parliament was recalled from Easter recess for a rare Saturday sitting of Parliament yesterday, to debate the future of British Steel. Legislation was passed to allow the government to take control of the Chinese-owned company – Conservative MP David Davis called this 'nationalisation in all but name'. Though, with broad support across the House including from Reform leader Nigel Farage, the debate centred less around the cure and more around the cause. Katy Balls and James Heale join Patrick

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16:56

Tariff turmoil: the end of globalisation or a blip in...

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/12

Globalisation's obituary has been written many times before but, with the turmoil caused over the past few weeks with Donald Trump's various announcements on tariffs, could this mark the beginning of the end for the economic order as we know it? Tej Parikh from the Financial Times and Kate Andrews, The Spectator's deputy US editor, join economics editor Michael Simmons to make the case for why globalisation will outlive Trump. Though, as the US becomes one of the most protectionist countries in the

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10:32

The economy is growing!

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/11

Finally, some good news for your Friday: the economy is growing! Just when everyone seems to be revising down expectations of growth, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that GDP grew by 0.5 per cent in February. It also revised January’s figures upwards to give growth for the last quarter of 0.6 per cent, and annual growth of 1.4 per cent. It looks – for now – that the Reeves recession has been put on hold and that Labour's growth agenda could be working. That said, Labour cannot

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14:46

'The art of the deal'?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/10

Two days ago, talk of a 90-day pause on Donald Trump’s ‘reciprocal tariffs’ was branded ‘fake news’ by the White House. But yesterday, the President confirmed a 90-day pause on the higher tariff rates on all countries apart from China. There is some confusion about whether this was The Donald's plan from the start – although the safe assumption is that it wasn't, and that someone senior in the White House sat him down and explained the market chaos he has caused. Is this 'the art of the

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13:16

What could a US-UK trade deal look like?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/09

Trump’s levies have kicked in today: including an astonishing 102 per cent tariff on China – after it missed the deadline to withdraw its retaliatory tariffs – and 20 per cent on the European Union. The combination of these explosive tariffs has sent markets sliding once again. This follows a slight recovery in the markets yesterday after suggestions by some in the Trump administration that they may be willing to negotiate the tariffs down.In the UK, the economic uncertainty has ‘turbocharged’

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14:49

What happened at the Liaison Committee?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/08

Parliament is about to go into recess for the Easter holiday and so – as is customary – Keir Starmer sat in front of the Liaison Committee this afternoon, where he was grilled on topics including tariffs, defence and welfare.This comes on the day when there has been a momentary reprieve in the markets, which experienced a modest bounce – most likely as a result of suggestions from Trump that he is willing to negotiate with China. Markets seem to have priced in that these tariffs could be

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15:32

Is Trump the new Truss?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/07

The fallout from Trump’s tariffs continues. Last week, Donald Trump ended the free-trade era that has underpinned growth for decades (and potentially also heralded the end of globalisation). Markets around the world have taken a nosedive, prompting fears of a global recession. The only (brief) reprieve was when stock markets rallied because of a misunderstanding regarding comments made by Trump’s economic adviser. Once these had been clarified, the Nasdaq dipped once again. Republicans are starting

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14:04

Marine Le Pen: justice or lawfare?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/05

Marine Le Pen, president of Rassemblement National (National Rally) was found guilty this week of embezzling EU funds to boost her party’s finances. The guilty verdict was widely expected, however her sentence was far harsher than even her strongest critics expected – part of which saw her banned from standing for office for five years, with immediate effect. Le Pen had been the favourite to win the next French presidential election in 2027.Pursuing Donald Trump through the courts was widely seen

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12:51

Five years on, who is Keir Starmer?

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/04

Today marks five years since Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour party. In that time, he has gradually purged Labour of its leftist wing and wrestled the party back to the centre, winning a historic majority in 2024. But, five years on, the question remains: what does Keir Starmer stand for? He came in as the acceptable face of Corbynism but looks more and more like a Conservative with each passing domestic policy announcement (take your pick: winter fuel, waging war with the size of the

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12:11

Trump's tariffs explained

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/03

It's the day after America 'reclaimed it's destiny', or so Donald Trump says. The President announced a raft of 'reciprocal' new tariffs from the White House rose garden, including a 10% levy on the UK which – before it comes into effect on 5th April – the government hope to negotiate down. Other countries have come off much worse. China, for example, will experience a 34 per cent ‘discounted reciprocal tariffs’, compared to the 67 per cent Trump claims China puts on US goods. The European Union

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14:15

Should Starmer impose retaliatory tariffs? Plus local...

Coffee House Shots ·

2025/04/02

It’s World Tariff Day – or Liberation Day, depending on what you prefer to call it – but we won’t know for certain what levies Donald Trump will impose on the world until around 9 p.m. this evening. Sources are speculating that Trump still isn’t 100 per cent sure himself. But as the UK awaits its fate, what is the polling saying: should Starmer stand up to Trump?Also on the podcast, it’s just under a month until the local elections, and we have seen big launch events from Reform UK and the Liberal

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3,257 results

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