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Katy Balls

Katy Balls

The Spectator

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Confessions of a defecting Starmtrooper

Next month, Keir Starmer is expected to lead his party to victory in the local elections. The Tories are forecast to lose about half of their...

yesterday 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Kemi comes out against Sunak’s smoking ban

When Rishi Sunak first unveiled his plans for a smoke-free generation, Downing Street was clear it would be a free vote. Such are the divisions in the...

previous day 4

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Is Andy Street heading for defeat?

Next month’s local elections will be the last significant encounter with voters before a general election, likely later this year. So far, the talk...

previous day 2

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / New poll points to trouble for Andy Street

Next month’s local elections will be the last significant encounter with voters before a general election, likely later this year. So far, the talk...

previous day 5

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Kemi comes out against Sunak’s smoking ban

When Rishi Sunak first unveiled his plans for a smoke-free generation, Downing Street was clear it would be a free vote. Such are the divisions in the...

tuesday 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

David Cameron urges Israel to show restraint

All eyes are on the Middle East this week following Iran’s decision on Saturday night to launch around 300 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at...

15.04.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Buckle up. Liz Truss is back - and her influence is growing

Buckle up. Next week brings with it the release of Liz Truss’s new book Ten Years to Save the West, and with it a round of publicity interviews...

13.04.2024 20

iNews

Katy Balls

The Angela Rayner council house row deepens

The row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs is becoming more serious. This morning, Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation into the...

12.04.2024 5

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / Is Cameron upstaging Sunak?

The logic behind Rishi Sunak’s decision to make David Cameron foreign secretary was that he would be a ‘big beast’ on the world stage and...

11.04.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Keir Starmer needs Angela Rayner now more than ever

A senior government minister under fire. A drip-drip feed of revelations. A prime minister under pressure to act. Only bad options if they do. This...

10.04.2024 4

iNews

Katy Balls

There are Tory splits over Gaza, but the party is only really going in one direction – towards Israel

When David Cameron touched down in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for a meeting with the former president this week, his mind was on...

10.04.2024 20

The Guardian

Katy Balls

Can David Cameron charm the Americans?

David Cameron is stateside today as the Foreign Secretary tries to muster up support for the US to send aid to Ukraine. While Cameron plans to discuss...

09.04.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

How much trouble is Angela Rayner in?

Another week, another development in the row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs. The deputy Labour leader is facing questions over whether she broke...

09.04.2024 6

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Patel emerges as a front-runner to take the Tory helm

When Simon Clarke called for Rishi Sunak to go at the beginning of the year, it failed to take off. The most helpful intervention was Dame Priti...

06.04.2024 10

iNews

Katy Balls

What a super-majority means for Labour

When the last Tory government fell, the famous question after election night was: ‘Were you up for Portillo?’ Were you awake in the small hours...

04.04.2024 50

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Mutinous Tories fear Sunak and Hunt have missed a trick on defence

The resignation of defence minister James Heappey from the Government this week along with education minister Rob Halfon offered little in the way of...

30.03.2024 7

iNews

Katy Balls

Inside Sue Gray’s Labour party

At 8.30 a.m. each morning, Keir Starmer holds a meeting with his inner circle to go over the business of the day. Once, these meetings were mainly...

28.03.2024 6

The Spectator

Katy Balls

The Tories and Labour are gearing up to fight dirty in the election

It was a scene that would not be out of place in a dystopian movie: “London, a city steeped in history but tonight its ancient streets bear witness...

27.03.2024 1

iNews

Katy Balls

No. 10’s mini-reshuffle

26.03.2024 6

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak’s Reform nightmare is coming true

In recent years, Tory MPs have become accustomed to bad polling. There has been no shortage of surveys and focus groups to suggest the Conservative...

23.03.2024 5

iNews

Katy Balls

Princess of Wales asks for privacy after cancer diagnosis

After weeks of speculation over the Princess of Wales’s health since she underwent abdominal surgery in January, Kate Middleton has this evening...

22.03.2024 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Racism row / Police investigate Tory donor’s Diane Abbott comments

The Tory racism row looks set to run on for some time. West Yorkshire Police today launched an investigation into alleged racist comments made by top...

22.03.2024 8

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / Who’s behind the Mordaunt plot?

There’s an old Russian joke about the difference between an optimist and a pessimist in Moscow. The pessimist believes that things cannot get any...

21.03.2024 7

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Reform close in on Tories in new poll

On Wednesday night, Rishi Sunak urged his party to ‘dig deep and fight’ in the face of difficult polling. The Prime Minister will be hoping this...

21.03.2024 8

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / Inside Sunak’s showdown with Tory MPs

After a bruising few weeks for Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister this evening appeared before the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers to make his case....

20.03.2024 8

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Leo Varadkar resigns following referendum defeat

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is to step down as Ireland’s prime minister and as the leader of his party, Fine Gael. In an announcement this lunchtime...

20.03.2024 6

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Sunak tries to put a stop to the plots

Rishi Sunak goes into the week hoping it will be better than the one that came before. Last week, the Prime Minister suffered one of his worst weeks...

18.03.2024 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Will Penny Mordaunt be the next prime minister?

Could Penny Mordaunt lead the Tories into the election? This is the talk this weekend after several papers splashed on a push by Conservative MPs on...

16.03.2024 5

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak rules out general election in May

Rishi Sunak has finally confirmed what most MPs already knew: there won’t be a May general election. Speaking to ITV News West Country on Thursday...

15.03.2024 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / Tory MPs worry Michael Gove’s extremism crackdown could backfire

Michael Gove’s extremism crackdown has been the talk of the Tory party for weeks now, with three former Conservative home secretaries warning ahead...

14.03.2024 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Will the Red Wall revolt split the right?

On Monday night Tories gathered on the Terrace Pavilion at parliament for the 1922 Committee’s spring reception, to which every backbencher was...

14.03.2024 5

The Spectator

Katy Balls

With Tory moral so low, Rishi Sunak needs a Rwanda flight more than ever

The Tory party is on high alert this week. Rishi Sunak’s critics are talking up the idea that letters of no confidence are slowly going in. He has...

13.03.2024 2

iNews

Katy Balls

Lee Anderson’s Reform defection spells trouble for Rishi Sunak

Tory MP Lee Anderson has defected to Reform UK. Speaking at an impromptu press conference this morning, the former deputy Tory party chairman – who...

11.03.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

The Tories and Labour have the same plan: don't talk about 2025

Rishi Sunak is keen to tell anyone who will listen that Labour has no plan, while. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s go-to chat these days is to brand the...

09.03.2024 10

iNews

Katy Balls

What May’s departure reveals about the Tory party

The tributes are pouring in for Theresa May after the former prime minister announced that she will be stepping down at the next election. In a...

08.03.2024 4

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / Jeremy Hunt’s cautious Budget

Ahead of the Budget, Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt met MPs for drinks in the Prime Minister’s parliamentary office to try to temper expectations. The...

07.03.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

The Budget proved it: No 10 has little appetite for a general election in May

This week, it’s hard to turn on the television without coming across a Labour politician talking about a May election. Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s...

06.03.2024 4

iNews

Katy Balls

New poll points to Tory wipeout

Another day, another damning poll for the Tory party. This time it’s a survey by Ipsos for the Evening Standard that finds the Conservatives have...

04.03.2024 10

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Sunak and Hunt face a Budget dilemma

Budget day is approaching and what was once seen as a window of opportunity is now being talked up as a moment of dread. Jeremy Hunt has gone from...

04.03.2024 4

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak’s No 10 speech gave a glimpse into the long election campaign ahead

When the news first spread on Friday that Rishi Sunak was planning a speech outside 10 Downing Street, the Westminster rumour mill went into...

04.03.2024 30

The Guardian

Katy Balls

Sunak pledges extremism crackdown

Rishi Sunak has just appeared on the steps of Downing Street to give a speech on the need to take action after ‘a shocking increase in extremist...

01.03.2024 2

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Labour nightmare as George Galloway wins in Rochdale by-election

George Galloway is back. The former Labour MP has triumphed in the Rochdale by-election, taking the seat from Starmer’s party with a majority of...

01.03.2024 9

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Politics / The Trumpification of the Tory party

Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump’s former director of communications, has a phrase that sums up his old boss’s effect on political debate: ‘the...

29.02.2024 4

The Spectator

Katy Balls

GB News is changing the Tory party in three serious ways

When GB News first launched in the summer of June 2021, it quickly divided opinion. Before a single show had aired, there were warnings from figures...

28.02.2024 4

iNews

Katy Balls

Jeremy Hunt is about to disappoint his party

In a week’s time, Jeremy Hunt will stand up at the despatch box and unveil the Spring Budget. This event has long been seen by Tory MPs as a key...

28.02.2024 3

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Sunak’s Lee Anderson problem isn’t going away

It’s day five of the Lee Anderson debacle and the row shows no signs of abating. Rishi Sunak is having to defend from both sides his decision to...

27.02.2024 6

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Lee Anderson doubles down in Islamist row

Rishi Sunak withdrew the whip from Lee Anderson on Saturday over his claim that Sadiq Khan had ‘given our capital away’ to Islamists, who he...

26.02.2024 2

The Spectator

Katy Balls

What Lee Anderson’s suspension means for the Tories

Lee Anderson has been suspended from the Conservative party following comments he made about Sadiq Khan. The former deputy party chairman used an...

24.02.2024 30

The Spectator

Katy Balls

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