Are the Tories toast? with Michael Gove, Tim Shipman and Isabel Hardman
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The strange death of Tory England has been predicted before. But never has the ‘natural party of government’ faced a greater challenge to survive. The Conservatives are facing attacks on all fronts from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK. Kemi Badenoch’s six-month anniversary as leader was marked by the loss of nearly 700 councillors, with a stern test awaiting next year in Scotland and in Wales. She promises change with her long-awaited policy commissions, ahead of a make-or-break party conference in October, but can she turn it around? Is there a road back to power for the 121 surviving Tory MPs? And what exactly is Robert Jenrick and the rest of the shadow cabinet up to?
Join editor Michael Gove, new political editor Tim Shipman, assistant editor Isabel Hardman and the pollster Luke Tryl as they discuss where the Tories go from here.
This event is in partnership with Charles Stanley Wealth Managers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Fancy a fever tree in a glass with ice and rum. |
| 0:06.2 | You thought I was going to say gin, didn't you? |
| 0:08.9 | But I'm talking about fever tree ginger beer, |
| 0:12.0 | made from three gingers for that perfect blend of freshness, sweetness and spiciness. |
| 0:18.3 | Delicious with rum, or on its own. |
| 0:22.0 | Fever Tree ginger beer, mix with the best. |
| 0:26.7 | Mmm, that spices things up. |
| 0:32.1 | Welcome to Coffee House Shots Live, Arbotties Toast. |
| 0:40.0 | Thank you everyone for joining us at this Spectator event. |
| 0:52.5 | I'm Isabel Harbman, the assistant editor at The Spectator. |
| 0:56.3 | I'm joined this evening by our editor, Michael Gove. Our new political editor, Tim Shipman, |
| 1:08.1 | and the pollster Luke Trill from R. Tim Shipman. |
| 1:15.9 | And the pollster Luke Trill from More in Common. |
| 1:24.1 | The subject of our discussion this evening is are the Tories toast? |
| 1:25.6 | Now, we all like our toast. |
| 1:28.6 | It's slightly different degrees of burntness. So I thought I'd go around the panel first and ask how toasted are the Tories? And then I'm going to ask the |
| 1:35.4 | audience at the start and at the end, whether you think the Tories are toast or not toast. So, Michael. |
| 1:43.2 | I don't think the Tories are toast. I won't say that the Tories |
| 1:47.1 | are the best things since sliced bread, but I do think that the willingness of so many to assume |
| 1:53.6 | that the new kid on the block, the new force on the right reform has eclipsed the Conservatives, |
| 2:00.1 | I think is making a number of fundamental mistakes, |
| 2:02.9 | fundamental mistakes about not just our history, but also the issues that will be really important at the next election. |
... |
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