Quite right!: is it nearly over for Keir Starmer?
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To hear this week's podcast in full, search 'Quite right!' wherever you are listening now.
This week: Michael and Maddie ask whether Keir Starmer’s grip on the Labour party is beginning to slip. After the party machine moved to block Andy Burnham from returning to Westminster, is Starmer governing from a position of strength – or fear? Does the decision expose a deeper crisis of authority at the top of the Labour party, and are we entering the early stages of a succession battle over who comes next?
Then: Suella Braverman’s long-anticipated defection to Reform UK. Was her exit inevitable, and what does it mean for the balance of forces on the right? As Reform continues to lure Conservative figures across, is it consolidating as a serious insurgent party – or accelerating a destructive fragmentation that could leave the Conservative party locked out of power for a generation?
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is Madeline Grant, host of Quite Right alongside Michael Gove. |
| 0:04.3 | If you want to hear the latest episode of Quite Right in full, then you can do so on its dedicated podcast channel. |
| 0:10.1 | Just search Quite Right wherever you are listening now. |
| 0:13.1 | Listeners on the best of Spectator playlist can enjoy a section of our discussions, |
| 0:17.0 | but for the full thing, please seek out the Quite Right channel. |
| 0:20.3 | While you're there, click the follow button to never miss an episode. |
| 0:23.4 | And why not give us a rating and review? |
| 0:25.4 | It really helps us out. |
| 0:26.9 | Happy listening. |
| 0:33.7 | Hello and welcome to The Spectator's weekly podcast, Quite Right. |
| 0:37.3 | I'm Michael Gove, editor of The Spectator. |
| 0:40.0 | And I'm Madeline Grant, assistant editor and parliamentary sketchwriter. And this week, we'll be discussing Andy Burnham's thwarted ambition and whether or not Keir Starmer can survive. |
| 0:48.9 | We'll also be discussing Suella Braverman's defection. Who could be next next and what does it mean for the future of the right? |
| 0:55.0 | And we'll also be discussing Desert Island Discs. What do Kenny Bade Knox choices mean? |
| 0:59.9 | And what would we take to that bikini at all with us? |
| 1:07.1 | So over the weekend, it looked as if Andy Burnham, Manchester Metro Mayor, long-time rival of Kierstama, |
| 1:13.9 | potentially had a route back into Parliament. But now it transpires that the National Executive |
| 1:18.8 | Committee of Labour have blocked him from running in the by-election that could have seen him return |
| 1:25.7 | to Westminster. So on the Labour NEC you have people like Shabana Mahmood, but also Kierstahma himself, |
| 1:32.7 | who returned from important state business to vote against Burnham from running. |
| 1:37.3 | If you had been Kirste-Darmer, would you have done as he did with Andy Burnham? |
| 1:41.3 | Unhesitatingly. |
... |
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