Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
300 episodes
Daily political analysis from The Spectator's top team of writers, including Michael Gove, Tim Shipman, Isabel Hardman, James Heale and many others.
More about the show
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Episodes page 2 of 6
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Reform's £72m donation – how will they spend it?
Reform UK received a record-breaking £72 million in donations over the weekend from two crypto billionaires – meaning the party has received almost twice as much in 24 hours as all political parties combined have…
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Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 13/09/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows. Reform have newfound riches. What does this mean for the future of political donations in the UK? Become a Spectator subscriber today to…
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Holy Smoke: Catholic Burnham barred – should the law change?
Andy Burnham has announced his intention to change a law which bars him from advising the King on appointments to the Church of England. The Victorian-era law explicitly bars Catholics like Burnham, as well as Jews –…
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Laura Trott: 'Labour are kowtowing to the unions'
England's 15-year-olds came eighth in the world for science, ninth for reading and tenth for maths in Tuesday's Pisa results, though it took the education secretary, Lucy Powell, hours to send the congratulatory…
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Assisted dying dead – for now
James Heale joins Patrick Gibbons to react to the news that MPs have voted against Assisted Dying. The vote was close – 286 vs 270 – but not a knife-edge, and several MPs changed their minds compared with previous…
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Assisted dying is back: what does Burnham think?
The topic of assisted dying returns to Parliament today, with a vote scheduled in the Commons this afternoon. Labour MP Lauren Evans has used her private member's bill to reintroduce it, after Kim Leaderbeater's…
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The most powerful woman in Britain
After plans emerged for the Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, to consolidate power across the civil service this week, Oscar Edmondson is joined by James Heale and Tim Shipman, to discuss this week's political…
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Burnham’s BIG blunder
It's only Burnham's second PMQs and he's already dropped a clanger. He may have handed the Conservatives their next election slogan after declaring that ‘national security cannot come at the expense of social…
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Why Ed Miliband is taking on Israel
Ed Miliband has made his first major intervention as Foreign Secretary, with Britain set to announce a trade ban on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The move comes amid increasingly strained relations between…
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‘Andy Burnham did the Tories a huge favour’ | Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Rifkind joins Tim Shipman and James Heale to discuss the future of the conservatism and tells The Spectator why Kemi Badenoch is the person to bring the Conservative Party back from the brink. He explains…
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Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 06/09/2026
Isabel Hardman presents highlights from Sunday morning's political shows. Nigel Farage is on the defence again, after two senior Reform officials are forced to step down. James Orr and Dan Jukes were filmed arranging…
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LIVE | Reform conference round-up – everything you need to know
Noa Hoffman, James Heale and Tim Shipman host a special live recording of Coffee House Shots from Reform conference. They discuss whether a damaging 48 hours for the party have breached the walls of Birmingham’s NEC,…
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Reform in crisis after Channel 4 sting
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…
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Chris Philp: mass immigration is making Britain ‘ungovernable’
Chris Philp joins James Heale to discuss what the Conservatives got wrong on immigration – and how they plan to fix it. The shadow Home Secretary argues that mass immigration risks making Britain ‘ungovernable’, says…
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Burnham's 'new politics' is much the same as the old
After his first PMQs Andy Burnham came away relatively unscathed, although his dream of a 'new politics' may be rapidly falling apart. To dissect what went on in the chamber, James Heale is joined by Tim Shipman and…
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Politics returns: Tories reshuffle & Starmer slopes off
Politics is back – and it’s a bumper day in Westminster. Kemi Badenoch got ahead of the field yesterday by reshuffling her top team a day earlier than expected, and the changes are much more comprehensive than first…
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Reality Check: who's left to tax?
To listen to more from the Reality Check podcast, go to spectator.com/reality-check With two months to go until Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first Budget, speculation about tax rises is already beginning. But how…
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How to write about Farage
Reform has spent the summer taking lumps out of itself, with the battles leaking into public view, and it's position in the polls slipping to around 25 percent. Just in time for conference season, James Heale is joined…
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Is Burnham ready for the world stage?
Andy Burnham's first overseas trip as Prime Minister took him to Ukraine this week, offering the first real glimpse of what his foreign policy might look like. But with a budget and a party conference ahead, how much…
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Al Carns: we are failing Northern Ireland veterans – and why I quit government
Former veterans minister Al Carns joins James Heale to discuss the government’s handling of Northern Ireland legacy cases – and why the issue helped drive him to resign. Writing in The Spectator this week, Al attacks…
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Shadow cabinet reshuffle: what to expect | with Lord Goodman
With Parliament returning next week, the Conservatives are in a much stronger position than they were this time last year. That said, questions remain – not least when it comes to Kemi Badenoch’s top team. A reshuffle…
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Is Reform right to prioritise ‘British-born’ citizens?
Lee Anderson and Richard Tice fronted another Reform presser yesterday, this time on their plans for council housing, should they be elected to government. Included in the announcement was the desire to prioritise…
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Burnham gifts missile blueprints to Zelenskyy
After spending his Saturday afternoon watching Everton win at home, Andy Burnham showed up in Kyiv this morning to hand a gift to President Zelenskyy in the form of missile blueprints. To dissect the PM's trip to the…
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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…
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Does anyone in Burnham’s government understand economics?
There’s more gloomy economic news for Andy Burnham as unemployment disappoints, inflation rises and the public finances take another hit. With welfare spending and debt interest climbing, how much room does the…
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Zia vs Shippers – and Sue Gray breaks her silence
It continues – thankfully – to be an interesting summer: there’s devolution news, Reform taking lumps out of each other and Sue Gray has broken her silence. But first, Andy Burnham is shifting the machinery of…
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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…
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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…
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EXCLUSIVE | 'Zia needs to be a team player' – Tim Montgomerie
Reform UK's Zia Yusuf spent last week putting a few noses out of joint, not least by calling the former Conservative defence secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, a traitor, a tweet Nigel Farage took the unusual step of…
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One year of Polanski: more continuity than change?
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…
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Farage beats the bin! – Clacton results unpacked
Shock horror: Nigel Farage has won the by-election in Calcton. 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.…
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‘This is not a war!’ – why politicians are turning on the media | with Gabriel Pogrund
Politicians are increasingly turning on the journalists who scrutinise them. After investigations into Nigel Farage’s finances, Reform figures have accused reporters of waging a political ‘war’ – while Arron Banks has…
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Andy's migration muddle & can he fix the High Street?
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…
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Clacton by-election: what you need to know
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…
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What does Lowe actually want from Farage?
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…
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'The Tories remain the existential threat to Labour' – interview with Jonathan Ashworth
Jonathan Ashworth is a former Labour MP and shadow cabinet minister. On today's podcast James Heale and Jonathan discuss Andy's first few weeks as Prime Minister, how he's changed since the Blair-Brown era, whether…
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Can Burnham make the tough calls on pensions & social care?
Andy Burnham has made it clear that social care is at the top of his agenda, as are pensions. Michael Simmons is joined by James Heale and Spectator contributor James Kirkup to discuss so called 'death tax', cross…
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Kemi and the Crewkerne debacle
Kemi Badenoch found herself in warmer water this week after backing a former neo-Nazi to stand as a local council candidate, before he subsequently pulled out – he has now been appointed as an anti-extremism advisor to…
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Why Burnham's borrowing bonanza won't work
The Treasury has plans to kick start the economy with a £9bn borrowing bonanza – something Michael Simmons wrote about in The Spectator in June. Could this reveal something about Burnaham and Healey's plans for the…
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Burnham buckles on early prisoner release
The government has revised its early prisoner release scheme – now 1000 fewer prisoners with convictions related to rape or child sexual abuse will be let out early. Controversially, PC Harper's killers will be…
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Reform's plan to stop the small boats – the Royal Navy
After some weeks on the periphery of British politics, Nigel Farage and Reform UK are back in the spotlight with the debut of 'Operation Fortess' – their plan to deploy the Navy to stop the small boat crossings in the…
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Britain's First Catholic PM? — with Patrick Maguire
Is Andy Burnham the country's first catholic Prime Minister, and how might it influence his leadership? Despite his faith drawing him to Labour, he doesn’t attend mass and rarely emphasises his religion publicly. To…
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Chris Philp: French police 'under orders not to intervene'
After appearing to have been fired on by the French coastguard, and having objects thrown at him by an alleged people smuggler, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, sat down with Noa Hoffman to talk about his recent…
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Why Burnham's policy bonanza may be coming to an end
Continuing his tour across the country, Andy Burnham has been in Barrow-in-Furness backing Starmer's investment plan into nuclear submarines. This ties together with a commitment to reindustrialise Britain and promise…
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Andy's care plan
It's Wednesday, which means there's another announcement from Downing Street. Yes, another one. Today, Andy Burnham is talking social care, and this time, he wants to build a 'cross-party consensus' to fix the broken…
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Will Burnham find a NEET solution?
It's a day dedicated to the NEETs (again) with the Prime Minister announcing his plans to prevent swathes of future NEETs coming to the fore. With proposals to widen the participation and provenance of his Manchester…
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Andy's intervention on defence
A week on from the start of Andy Burnham's premiership, and Westminster is bracing for another innings of announcements from the government. Among them, after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy today, the PM will be…
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Nick Clegg: my biggest coalition regrets
Tim Shipman is joined by Sir Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, as part of The Spectator's new event series, Tim Shipman Meets the Party Leaders. Tim challenges Sir Nick…
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How Reform and the Tories plan to fight Andy Burnham
In the magazine this week, James Heale writes that Kemi Badenoch was in an upbeat mood when she addressed her troops last week. ‘This time last year,’ she told the 1922 Committee, ‘people said Jenrick was taking over…
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Andy’s promises – who’s paying?
It is day three of Andy Burnham’s premiership, and we have had a tranche of policy announcements and funding commitments. A VAT cut for energy bills, £2 bus fares, and today a business rate cut for pubs and hospitality…
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