Hello and welcome to The Spectator podcast. I'm Cindy Yu. A cross-party Remain alliance successfully tied Boris Johnson's hands in Parliament last week. But with the general election looming, will this unlikely coalition last? We also find out about study drugs.

What are the little blue pills that American students are turning to?

And last, is Boris Johnson anything like his classical heroes?

Last week, a rather effective cross-party alliance passed the Ben Bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

These days, with Parliament prorogued, Katie Balls reports that they are still plotting regularly.

Their goal is to ensure that Brexit is extended and then to call a general election on their own terms.

But with radically different domestic agendas and constituencies in which they'll be combating each

other, can this unlikely coalition last? Katie joins me now to Wargame for the Remainers,

together with Polly McKenzie, Chief Executive of Demos and former advisor to Nick Clegg.

Katie, in your cover piece this week, you describe a remote control government made up of

cross-party Remainers. Tell us about this this week, you describe a remote control government made up of cross-party

remainers. Tell us about this alliance. So you have a situation where this cross-party rebel alliance

that you could call them of MPs who you don't agree on that much, including Brexit, but they do

agree they don't want a no-deal Brexit teaming together to try and legislate against a no-deal

Brexit. In the process, we've seen over 20 Conservative MPs lose the whip, and we've seen

the opposition parties really start to work out how to work together on certain issues. And you

have a situation where they now regularly meet in Jeremy Corbyn's office. And this isn't so much the independent Tories, but the five opposition parties.

So you have a representative from each of them.

And they discuss how they plan to work together, primarily to stop no deal.

But we have seen in recent weeks other ways they can work together to hurt the Tory government.

So it ties in. But for example, we had Dominic Greaves' humble address,

voted for by MPs from all of these parties.

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