Best of the Spectator

Donald Trump has urged Iranians to ‘take over’ their government after the United States and Israel struck targets across the country. A multitude of Iranian military and government targets were hit by missiles in what is turning out to be a joint operation far more comprehensive than the 12-day air campaign last June. Freddy Gray and Jacob Heilbrunn join to discuss why now, how this attack is fraught with risk for Trump's presidency, and how Trump's administration was hijacked by the neoconservatives.

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This is the second part of Michael Gove’s conversation with Munira Mirza. After reflecting in part one on multiculturalism and the fractures in modern Britain, this second instalment turns to the question of leadership, and the lessons both Boris and Starmer should learn.
Munira reflects on Boris Johnson’s premiership, describing him as ‘a better man than many of his detractors would admit’ but acknowledging his foibles and lack of decisiveness at critical moments. Was he a good Prime Minister?
They go on to debate whether the wiring of the British state – from the Human Rights Act to the Equality Act – has made effective government harder, and whether Reform are right to call for repeal of both of these pieces of legislation.
Finally, Munira delivers a stark assessment of Britain’s political class, questioning whether the calibre of MPs is good enough, criticising the culture of risk-aversion in Westminster, and making the case for ‘radical candour’ in politics.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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Britain’s banks have a hold over Rachel Reeves, declares Michael Simmons in the Spectator’s cover piece this week. Almost two decades on from the 2008 financial crash, the UK has failed to reform the system and – as ordinary people face a cost-of-living crisis – Labour is in hock to big business. Is the Chancellor too close to the City?

For this week’s Edition, host Lara Prendergast is joined by economics editor Michael Simmons, columnist Lionel Shriver, and columnist from the Daily Mail Robert Hardman.

As well as Labour’s relationship with the banking industry, they discuss: the hit BBC show Industry; how the Royals have frozen out (former Prince) Andrew – and whether removing him from the line of succession is ‘performative’ or not; Lionel’s new book on immigration A Better Life; why young Brits increasingly want to be more Australian; and finally, what’s so good about a moustache?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Catch up with Industry S4 now on BBC iPlayer. Watch the season finale on Monday 2nd March on BBC One.

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Sam Leith's guest this week is Francis Spufford, whose fabulous new novel Nonesuch is a fantasy adventure set during the Blitz containing magical Nazis, nerdy TV techs and honest-to-goodness angels. He tells Sam about fantasy world-building and historical research, the pleasures and pitfalls of writing a female protagonist, why C S Lewis is as influential as Tolkien — and supersizing Dr Manhattan.

You can read Philip Hensher's review of Nonesuch here.

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This week, Michael is joined by Munira Mirza. Raised in Oldham and educated at Oxford, Munira worked at Policy Exchange before serving as Deputy Mayor of London under Boris Johnson and later as Director of the No.10 Policy Unit, where she helped shape the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto. She now leads Civic Future and the think tank Fix Britain.
In the first of this two-part interview, Munira reflects on Labour’s vulnerability in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election, and the ‘serious threat’ it faces if the Muslim votes flees to the Greens. She discusses the politicisation of religious identity, the influence of Islamism in Britain, and what she sees as a failure of public authorities to confront hard truths.
They also discuss the news this week that Valdo Calocane – the man who killed three people in Nottingham in 2023 – was released from hospital in 2020 because health professionals were concerned about the disproportionate number of black men who were being detained in the mental health system. Munira argues that fear of being accused of institutional racism has distorted decision-making, a scandal of potentially greater magnitude than the grooming gangs and with serious consequences for public safety.
Finally, she revisits Brexit and the 2019 realignment, defending the decision to leave the EU and arguing that levelling up was an attempt to fix a broken economic model built on high immigration and weak productivity.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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