The Edition: Kemi's fightback, the cult of Thatcher & debunking British myths
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 2 October 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
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Summary
The Spectator’s cover story this week is an interview with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch ahead of the Tory party conference. Reflecting on the criticism she received for being seen as slow on policy announcements, she says that the position the Conservatives were in was ‘more perilous than people realise’ and compares herself to the CEO of an ailing firm. Can Kemi turn it around for the Tories?
Host William Moore is joined by the Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman – who interviewed Kemi – alongside commissioning editor Lara Brown, and academic and author Philip Hensher. They discuss whether the ‘cult of Thatcher’ needs to die, Tim says he's more Disraeli and Bismarck to Lara's Pitt and Philip reveals what once got him sacked from the House of Commons.
Plus: while discussing Philip's review of Graham Robb's The Discovery of Britain, the panel ponder which politicians are best at invoking history.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm George Osborne and I'm Ed Balls. We've been at the heart of British politics for some decades. |
| 0:06.6 | And I guess we do know how it really works. Yeah, and that's why we started this podcast political currency to give you the inside story to tell you how things actually happen. |
| 0:16.0 | And there's no spin and no waffle in our podcast. |
| 0:18.7 | Look, I'm not totally sure that is quite right on the waffle, |
| 0:21.8 | but definitely straight talking analysis from two people who've been in the room |
| 0:25.8 | when the big calls are made. |
| 0:27.3 | Yeah, we often disagree, but we always say what we think. |
| 0:30.6 | So if you are serious about politics, this is the podcast for you. |
| 0:34.0 | New episodes are out every Monday and Thursday. |
| 0:36.3 | Search political currency wherever you get your podcasts and of course on YouTube. |
| 0:44.5 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator, where each week we shed a little light on the thought process |
| 0:55.1 | behind putting the world's oldest weekly magazine to bed. I'm William Moore, the Spectator's |
| 1:00.4 | features editor. On this week's podcast, Can Chemie Save the Tories? Does the Cult of Thatcher |
| 1:06.5 | needs to die? And what are the popular myths that make up Britain? |
| 1:25.6 | First up, can Kemmy save the Tories? Ahead of Tory Party conference this week, |
| 1:28.3 | our political editor, Tim Shipman, interviews Conservative leader Kemi Badernock. She tells him that the party was in a much more perilous |
| 1:33.6 | position than people realised when she became leader, and she tells Tim how she plans to fight |
| 1:38.5 | back in the year ahead. So can Kemi turn things around? Tim, join the podcast to discuss. |
| 1:47.1 | Tim, thank you very much indeed for joining me. |
| 1:49.8 | Pleasure. |
| 1:50.3 | So, Kemi's going to conference at the end of this week. |
| 1:53.8 | Is it a make-or-break moment for her? |
... |
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