Hello, I'm Natasha Faroze and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Every week, a few of our favourite writers read their pieces from the latest issue. This week, we'll hear from Katie Balls, who writes about Boris's plan to divide and conquer.

James Heel writes on the New War of Political Broadcasting, and Melissa Kite on the Politics of Halsmuck.

First up is Katie Balls.

Boris Johnson has never quite been able to decide whether he wants to be a great unifier or a great divider.

Does he want to govern like he did at City Hall, the generous-hearted, loving mayor of London as he once described himself,

or is his best chance to re-election and return to the Brexit-style wars that landed him Downing Street?

These days there are plenty of signs that the government is in fight mode.

The Prime Minister is risking a trade war of Brussels with threats to unilaterally route the

Northern Ireland Protocol, going to battle of civil servants over homeworking and planning to deport

asylum seekers to Rwanda. Johnson can see the pros to a public fight.

In the summer of 2019, he used the prorogation in Parliament to appeal to leave voters

ahead of an election.

He's already made a virtue of opposition to the Home Office of Rwanda plan, hitting

out at the lefty lawyers trying to fraught the migration crackdown.

There are some in government who go so far as to think the policy will be most popular

with the public if it ends up being blocked by the courts or House of Lords.

Regardless, Johnson's Deputy Chief of Staff, David Kanzini,

looking ahead to the next general election, has heralded the plan as an ideal

wedge issue. AIDS have been ordered to find more policies in the departments that divide the

opposition. It's not just Kirstama, who the Tories want to put in a tight spot. After the liberal

Democrats took twice as many council seats from the Tories as Labour in this month's local

elections, the Conservatives

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