Coffee House Shots: Steve Baker on how to organise a successful rebellion
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The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
As Labour rebels appear to have forced concessions from Keir Starmer over welfare this week, former Conservative MP Steve Baker joins James Heale to reflect on his own time as a rebel, and to provide some advice to Labour MPs. Steve, an MP for 14 years and a minister under Theresa May, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, tells James about the different rebellions he was a part of (from Brexit to Covid), explains how to organise a successful one and reveals how he has lost close friends when he has made the decision to compromise.
He also blames Labour’s problems on their ‘bombs not benefits’ approach, explains why the current welfare rebellion demonstrates that ‘the facts of life are Conservative’ and argues that it has been a mistake for the Conservatives not the support Labour’s original approach to reducing the winter fuel allowance.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy.
Transcript
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| 0:45.0 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm James Hill and I'm joined today by Steve Baker, |
| 0:48.9 | the former Conservative MP and Serial Rebel. And Steve, thanks for joining us today. We're talking |
| 0:53.9 | really in this week about |
| 0:55.3 | the great labour welfare rebellion. And you, of course, made rebellion something of a habit during your 14 years. |
| 1:01.8 | Tell us about your first rebellion as a Conservative MP at the beginning of that coalition government. |
| 1:05.6 | Well, I like to think that my rebellion habit was on a limited range of issues and that I was understood |
| 1:09.9 | to just have strong views on |
| 1:11.1 | those issues. It wasn't like scattergun. My first rebellion was following the paleo-sceptics and they |
| 1:16.9 | wouldn't mind me calling them that, the long-term Eurosceptics in some hopeless EU-related rebellion. |
| 1:22.2 | And it was very strange because I was very, very nervous. And I got a call to go and see |
| 1:26.8 | Patrick McLaughlin, the chief whip. |
| 1:28.7 | So I go in there as a brand new MP, and I'm sitting there, and I'm obviously terrified. |
| 1:32.5 | And he's sitting there, and of course, he's a big man, and he's got his bullwhip up on the wall behind him. |
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