Coffee house shots

Jeremy Corbyn will be on the Labour leadership ballot. After a contentious meeting that lasted for almost six hours, the party’s National Executive Committee have ruled by 18-14 that as the incumbent his name will appear automatically on the ballot paper and so there is no need for him to gather nominations from MPs and MEPs. This is a massive victory for Corbyn and his wing of the party. He is now favourite to win this leadership election and if he does, the 172 Labour MPs who voted no confidence in him will either have to shut up or split off and form their own party. Crucially, if they leave

Over the course of the past weekend, Andrea Leadsom has come under fire for her comments on having children. Such media scrutiny has proved too much for Leadsom as she announced her withdrawal from the Tory leadership campaign. With this leaving Theresa May as the only candidate for Prime Minister and Conservative party leader, what will happen next? Joining Isabel Hardman for Coffee House shots today is Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth. On the podcast, James Forsyth describes how Andrea Leadsom lost her confidence in the contest: ‘Most of the people who’d voted for Michael Gove were moving over to the Theresa May camp, so she really would have been

Graham Brady has announced the results of the first round of the Tory leadership contest as follows: Stephen Crabb 34, Liam Fox 16, Michael Gove 48, Andrea Leadsom 66, Theresa May 165. So as expected, Theresa May is out on top by a considerable margin, but what is striking is how close Michael Gove has come to Andrea Leadsom, given the rather visceral reaction in the Tory party to the way he treated Boris Johnson last week. Perhaps some of Leadsom’s support drifted away after last night’s hustings which even her supporters acknowledge did not go particularly well. There may now be pressure on Stephen Crabb to drop out after a not-particularly-good

Nigel Farage has joined the growing list of politicians to resign after stepping aside as Ukip leader this morning. It was a surprise move, which Farage said was brought about by him feeling that he had ‘done his bit’ following the Brexit vote last month. In a speech, the Ukip leader said that he wanted his life back. So what next for the party he leaves behind? On the podcast, Isabel Hardman tells Fraser Nelson: ‘Given Farage resigned and then un-resigned after the General Election and then spent the next few months really taking out his political rivals, it was starting to look as though he was gearing up for

‘My friends, you have waited for the punchline of this speech’ said Boris Johnson after 11 minutes of what sounded very much like a leadership speech. ‘That having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in parliament I have concluded that person cannot be me.’ Theresa May has been slightly ahead of Boris in the surveys of Tory members and voters so far. Now she is the front runner. But it is worth remembering that Gove always receives a rapt reception at party conference and many Conservatives went into mourning when he was moved from the education brief. Gove has also been the key driver in government of the

Politics is still moving at breakneck speed – David Cameron is in Brussels and meanwhile, in Brussels, the fight to succeed him is intensifying. The bookies suggest Theresa May is pulling ahead of Boris in the race to become the next Prime Minister. But others including Jeremy Hunt, Stephen Crabb and Sajid Javid are also throwing their hats into the ring. So who will come out on top? On today’s Coffee House Shots podcast, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson: ‘I think what I would say is there is serious doubt about Boris but no great enthusiasm for Theresa May among MPs. Those, I think, will be the final two. Even

As the spate of resignations from the Labour shadow cabinet continues this morning and the rival candidates in the race to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister step up their campaigns, politics shows no signs of slowing down today. Boris Johnson and Theresa May are the front runners in the upcoming Conservative leadership contest – but who will emerge on top? And amidst Tory turmoil, the crisis at the top of the Labour party continues this morning. On today’s edition of our Coffee House shots podcast, James Forsyth tells Isabel Hardman that: ‘One of the rules for politics at the moment is that however bad things are for the Conservatives

The final results are in: Britain has voted to leave the European Union. Scroll down for our full coverage from throughout the night. And join us on our daytime live blog  where the Prime Minister has announced his decision to step down. Results: Leave 52%, Remain 48% with 382/382. Turnout 72.2% Remain: 16,141,241;  Leave: 17,410,742 Britain has voted to leave the European Union. The pound has plunged heavily, as the markets react to Brexit. Wales has voted Leave, with 18 of its 22 authorities having declared. Scotland has voted Remain by a margin of 62 per cent to 38 per cent, with all 32 council areas voting to stay in the EU. Turnout in the referendum

There are now only hours until the polls open in the EU referendum. But the campaigning has continued today right up until the wire as both ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ do their best to win every vote in what looks set to be a close contest. David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson have been across the airwaves as they attempt to convince the public which way they should vote. It’s not only political figures from the UK who have had their say, though: Jean Claude Juncker has insisted Britain would not be getting a new reform package after tomorrow’s vote. Was it wise for him to speak out?

Boris Johnson, for Leave, and his successor as London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for Remain, were among six panellists who took part in the two-hour BBC debate at Wembley Arena. And here’s the coverage from the evening as it played out…

George Osborne has angered Tory MPs today by suggesting a vote to leave the European Union could trigger a series of tax rises. 57 Conservative MPs have signed a letter saying that they would not support such a motion in Parliament in a move which left Osborne flailing during a tetchy interview on the Today programme this morning. So why did the Chancellor run the risk of winding up those on the Tory backbenches? And will it do anything to scare people into backing ‘Remain’? On today’s Coffee House Shots podcast, Isabel Hardman joins Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth, who says: ‘I think the aim of this was to shift

Brexit has continued to build momentum in the EU referendum race with successive polls putting ‘Leave’ ahead. So with nine days to go, is there anything ‘Remain’ can do to fight back? On this special daily edition of our Spectator Coffee House shots podcast, Fraser Nelson joins Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth to discuss today’s events as the countdown to June 23rd gets ever closer. James Forsyth says the polls in recent days ‘are triggering levels of panic that are even greater than the levels of panic in the final days of the Scottish referendum’. And Fraser Nelson says it’s difficult to see what ‘Remain’ can do to regain the

There are now only ten days to go until the EU referendum and in a bid to regain momentum, Labour figures from the past and present are this week putting the case forward for staying in the EU. Today, it was Gordon Brown’s turn to try and convince wavering Labour supporters why Britain is better off in the EU. He told his party’s followers that they had the ‘most to gain’ if Britain voted in. But can his message cut through? Or is it just a sign of desperation from the ‘Remain’ campaign to rely on someone like Brown? In a Spectator Coffee House podcast special, Isabel Hardman and James

Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman review the ITV debate: Welcome to Coffee House’s coverage of ITV’s EU referendum debate. Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom and Gisela Stewart made the case for Brexit, and Nicola Sturgeon, Angela Eagle and Amber Rudd argued for Britain to stay in the EU. Here’s our commentary from the debate, as well as all the audio and video highlights. Here’s Isabel Hardman’s summary of the various speeches: OUT: Boris Johnson: 7/10 – stayed calm under non stop personal onslaught. Still didn’t offer much of a detailed sense of what Brexit would look like. Gisela Stuart: 5/10 – struggled particularly on women’s rights and lacked oomph but helped

PODCAST: Listen to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss George Osborne’s performance: In a feisty interview with Andrew Neil, George Osborne has just declared that Turkey is not going to become a member of the EU. Osborne said that ‘Turkey has gone backwards’ since 2010 when David Cameron voiced his enthusiastic support for it joining the EU. He then went on to say, ‘Is it going to be a member of the European Union? No, it is not’. I suspect that Osborne’s intervention won’t end the Turkish issue in this referendum campaign. It is, after all, still official government policy that Turkey should join the EU at some point. But

Welcome to Coffee House’s coverage of ITV’s EU referendum debate. David Cameron and Nigel Farage faced public questions on the EU referendum. Here’s our commentary, as well as audio and video highlights, from the discussion.  PODCAST: Listen to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman give their verdict on Cameron vs Farage: DAVID CAMERON:   James Forsyth David Cameron looked pretty happy at the end of that. He got his choice of opponent in this debate and did everything he could to take advantage of that, mentioning Farage at every opportunity. Cameron also benefited from going second, another thing which he got his way on, as he could rebut Farage’s points without any