The Edition: inside the plot to take down Rishi Sunak
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2024
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the podcast: The Spectator's political editor Katy Balls writes our cover story this week about 'the plot' to oust Rishi Sunak. When former culture secretary Nadine Dorries made the claim in her book that a secret cabal of advisors were responsible for taking down prime ministers, she was laughed at. But with shadowy backroom fixers assembling to try and take down the prime minister, did she have a point? Katy joins the podcast alongside the Financial Times' Stephen Bush to discuss what makes a successful 'plot'. (03:11)
Also: Lara and Will take us through some of their favourite pieces from this week's issue, featuring an extract from the 'letter from Antarctica', narrated by its author Robbie Mallet, a polar climate scientist at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. (15:33)
Then: The Spectator's commissioning editor Mary Wakefield writes her column this week about XL Bullies. She says that coming face to face with one forced her to change her tune when it comes to the vilified breed and joins the podcast alongside XL Bully owner Sophie Coultard. (19:45)
And finally: who knew women love flowers?
Henry Jeffreys, for one. Ahead of Valentine's Day he writes this week about his surprise at learning that women do, in fact, love flowers. He speaks with Lara – a former florist herself – about the dos and don’ts of flower purchasing. (32:37)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
If there are any areas of the magazine that you are particularly interested in or any questions you have for Will and Lara, please email: podcast@spectator.co.uk. We will try and answer as many as we can in next week’s episode.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. |
| 0:07.6 | Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12 week subscription, in print and online, plus a £20 £20,000, Amazon gift voucher, absolutely free. |
| 0:17.3 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:28.9 | Hello and welcome to a slightly new format for the edition podcast. We're going to be talking a little bit more about the magazine, as per usual, but trying to give some insight into the thought process behind putting the spectator to bed each week. |
| 0:42.8 | I'm Laura Prendergast, the Spectator's Executive Editor. |
| 0:45.9 | And I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:51.8 | So, Will, it's Wednesday afternoon, and the magazine went to press a couple of hours ago, 1.30 today. |
| 0:58.0 | Our cover line this week is the plot, Katie Balls on the Plan to Take Down Rishi. |
| 1:03.8 | Why don't we start by casting my mind back to conference on Monday when we decided this cover? |
| 1:09.2 | How is it decided? |
| 1:11.7 | Well, I mean, the plot to take down Rishi Sunak is something that has been brewing for a while, but there was |
| 1:16.8 | something which Katie Ball said in that conference on Monday, which made us all laugh. And I do think |
| 1:21.9 | it's probably quite a good rule that if something makes us all laugh on a Monday morning, then it's not a bad idea for a feature or to be, |
| 1:29.8 | in this case, our cover feature. And what made us laugh was that she was talking about this |
| 1:33.4 | plot to take down the prime minister and was making the point that when Nadine Doris, |
| 1:38.1 | the former culture secretary and sort of ultra Boris loyalist, made the claim in her book, which was called the plot last year, |
| 1:46.2 | that the number 10 advisor, Dougie Smith, had orchestrated a plot to remove Boris Johnson from office |
| 1:51.9 | and was now planning to oust Rishi Sunak. This book was just torn apart by everyone, by the |
| 1:58.6 | book reviewers, by her her colleagues i mean everyone |
| 2:02.5 | sort of laughed at it but katie was making the the point that actually you know nadine sort of had a |
| 2:08.6 | point yeah and the cover image itself was was fun to come up with because we we conceived of it as a |
| 2:14.1 | sort of kind of airport thriller book cover i I suppose. And we went to Morton, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.