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Coffee House Shots

The inside story of Kemi's first year

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

‘On the day of the local elections, when the Tories suffered a historic setback, Kemi Badenoch went to the gym and got her hair done,’ Tim Shipman reveals in the magazine this week. Aides insist that Badenoch has since ‘upped her game’. Her PMQs performances are improving and the CCHQ machine seems to have whirred into gear, making sure that Labour’s embarrassments – from Angela Rayner’s flat to the collapsed China scandal – don’t go unpunished. Is she finally turning the ship around after a year in the job? Michael Gove and Tim Shipman discuss.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:09.7

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0:20.6

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0:40.9

Hello, a... to claim this offer now. Terms apply. Hello and welcome to Coffee Houshots. I'm Michael Gove, editor of The Spectator,

0:46.1

and I'm joined by Tim Shipman, our political editor, Tim. So this week's been a week,

0:51.3

certainly of political drama, not least thanks to the spectator at our Parliamentarian of the Year awards, but it's also an anniversary time as well.

1:01.1

We'll shortly be thinking about what it's like for America and the world with President Trump celebrating a year since his election.

1:09.5

But it's also a year, give or take a few weeks,

1:12.4

since Kemi Bainoch took over as Conservative Party leader.

1:15.9

And while there's been a lot of heat on Kirstongar and Rachel Reeves,

1:19.5

which we'll touch on in a second,

1:21.8

inevitably we have to reflect on how the Conservatives stand

1:25.1

after what's been a very challenging year for them.

1:28.6

And Tim, this week in the Mag, you've been looking at Chemey's progress, both the critique that's

1:35.8

mounted by her internal opponents, but also the points that have been made in her favour by

1:41.2

her supporters within the party. It's a balanced scorecard. What do you think

1:46.8

are the remaining areas of weakness or the continuing areas where her critics want to sort of

1:53.3

highlight? And what do you also think are the areas where she's either shown improvement or has

...

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