Best of the Spectator · Oct 4, 2026 · 20:19
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
James Heale is joined by Tim Shipman and Liam Halligan, Telegraph columnist and the new director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), to look ahead to Conservative party conference, which kicks off today. Kemi Badenoch’s latest attempt to draw clear dividing lines with Andy Burnham was through a tougher welfare offer aimed at the under-25s – as exclusively revealed by Tim in the Spectator this week. Will this, alongside tougher fiscal restraint and general plain speaking, appeal to the wider public?
Plus: how do the Conservatives outflank Reform while seeking to appeal to those in the centre-ground who may have turned to Labour at the next election? The panel also discuss the state of public finances, the role of think-tanks such as the CPS and what to watch for in Birmingham – from party donors and business representatives, to the mood of younger activists.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes: Best of the Spectator