Coffee House Shots
Kanalaren Xehetasunak
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.
Atal Berriak
3240 atal
Why won't Starmer answer the question!?
PMQs is back and – predictably – Lord Robertson’s intervention on the state of the armed forces dominated proceedings. The Prime Minister gave six res...
Are the Treasury & the MOD at war?
George Robertson (pictured), a former defence secretary and former NATO secretary-general, has accused the government of 'corrosive complacency' towar...
Keir Starmer thinks he's Henry VIII
Two big stories to chew over on today’s podcast, starting with Viktor Orban’s landslide defeat in Hungary. The left have been celebrating this as a vi...
Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 12/04/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows.
No end in sight to the conflict in the Middle East, as negotiations in...
Will Labour lose Wales?
With one month to go until the local and regional elections, Megan McElroy and James Heale have hit the road with Luke Tryl and Louis O'Geran of More...
Left turn: who should Reform target?
Gawain Towler, Reform UK board member and their former director of communications, sits down with James Heale to talk about Reform's appeal ahead of t...
The 'Anglo-Gaullism' debate | Ben Judah
In the magazine this week, Ben Judah – former adviser in the Foreign Office – makes the case for ‘Anglo-Gaullism’. He says that Britain should learn t...
Antonia Romeo takes on the civil service
The new cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, has published a list of objectives setting out her vision for what the civil service will look like under he...
Iran deadline: is it too late for Trump to back down?
We are hours away from Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz. The President has ‘chickened out’ many times before and offere...
Hero voters: who should Labour target? with Chris Curtis MP & Deborah Mattinson
Labour won the 2024 general election in part by focusing on ‘hero voters’ – so called because they may have voted Labour in the past but felt the part...
Why is Starmer so unpopular? with Lewis Goodall
Opinion polls consistently show Keir Starmer as one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in history. His critics point to inertia and a lack of visio...
Conservative radicalism: who should the Tories target? with Jack Rankin MP
Can the Conservatives win back voters' support through a new kind of 'conservative radicalism'?
Jack Rankin, Conservative MP for Windsor, joins...
EU déjà vu: the emergency brake is back!
Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform and Tim Shipman join James Heale to reflect on the rumours about Britain's latest set of negotiation...
Will Trump pull the US out of NATO?
Donald Trump has said he is 'strongly considering' pulling the US out of NATO, in comments made to the Telegraph – and it doesn't appear to be an Apri...
Why is Britain so exposed to rising energy prices?
The IMF has warned Britain is particularly vulnerable to another spike in energy prices, and is more exposed than many of its European neighbours. Why...
Where does Labour's centre of gravity lie?
Patrick Maguire, chief political writer at The Times, sits down with Tim Shipman for a reflection on Labour's odd year so far. From potential leadersh...
Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 29/03/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows.
The Iran conflict has reached its second month. Figures from across th...
LIVE: Should we defund or defend the BBC? | Michael Gove & Jon Sopel v Charles Moore & Allison Pearson
Should we defund – or defend – the BBC?
Live from London, the Spectator hosted a debate on the future of this iconic British institution, comper...
Energy crisis: are we in 1973 territory?
The panic has set in around the cabinet table about this energy crisis, and fears of history repeating itself. Tim Shipman writes in the magazine abou...
The curious case of Morgan McSweeney's missing phone
Questions are being asked about Morgan McSweeney's missing phone, which he reported stolen to police last year. What might seem like a minor case of p...
To drill or not to drill, that is the question
In the final Prime Minister's Questions before Easter recess, Kemi Badenoch pushed Keir Starmer to commit to new oil & gas drilling licences. The Cons...
Should we brace for another financial shock?
Britain’s response to the conflict in Iran is dominating Westminster – but is Keir Starmer really keeping the country out of war? After a tense Liaiso...
It’s Ed Miliband’s world – and we’re living in it
Three big stories are on the agenda this morning: the war in Iran has dominated over the weekend, with Trump now failing to conceal his feelings towar...
On the road with Nigel Farage
This week James Heale and Tim Shipman share a byline to tell the story of Reform since the 2024 election, and where they are going. Nigel Farage revea...
LIVE: is it time for a Tory-Reform pact?
As Reform chips away at the Tory vote, the Conservatives face a stark choice – join forces with Nigel Farage or fight alone. James Heale, The Spectato...
Britain’s decline – and how to reverse it | with John Bew
In this special edition of Coffee House Shots, our political editor Tim Shipman is joined by historian, biographer and foreign policy adviser to four...
Is Angela Rayner staging a coup?
Angela Rayner has entered the chat. Last night she gave a speech to Labour members which many are reading as the soft launch of her leadership bid. Sh...
Net Zero vs AI: can Reeves convince Miliband?
The Chancellor will deliver the annual Mais lecture today and is expected to focus on closer alignment with the EU, AI and improving Britain's economi...
Is Labour sleepwalking back to the EU?
Two big topics on the agenda today as Keir Starmer has his pitch – again – on the cost of living. He told us towards the start of the year that every...
Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 15/03/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows.
As the queue of stationary oil tankers builds up around the Strait of...
Is the government right to restrict jury trials?
The government's plan to restrict jury trials passed its first parliamentary hurdle this week. It is one measure, amongst many, in a Bill designed to...
The Mandelson scandal exposes Starmer’s greatest flaw | with Gabriel Pogrund
Today we are delighted to be joined by the Sunday Times’ Gabriel Pogrund, whose book – Get In, which details Starmer’s rise to power – is out now in p...
How will the Iran war end? | with Shashank Joshi
In this special edition of Coffee House Shots, Tim Shipman is joined by defence editor at the Economist, Shashank Joshi. Two weeks in to the conflict...
Starmer should be honest about why he picked Mandelson
This afternoon we have had the first tranche of documents released by the government relating to the process by which Peter Mandelson was chosen to be...
Is the special relationship over?
The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said today will be the most intense day yet of American strikes on Iran. Over the weekend, Donald Trump clai...
Is Keir Starmer good in a crisis?
Tim Shipman is joined by Isabel Hardman to discuss the domestic fallout from the conflict in Iran – from oil prices surging past $100 a barrel to rene...
Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 08/03/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows.
Is the UK already too implicated in an illegal war? Or does Keir Starm...
Why we quit the Foreign Office | Ben Judah & Ameer Kotecha
Does Britain still have a coherent foreign policy? James Heale and Tim Shipman are joined by Ben Judah, former special adviser to David Lammy, and Ame...
Green surge: could Labour lose London?
Deputy political editor James Heale and deputy editor of The House magazine Sienna Rodgers join Patrick Gibbons to discuss the challenge the Greens po...
Iran: has Starmer alienated Britain's allies?
As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, the British government continues to face questions about its response. Was the UK too slow to act, and i...