Hello and welcome to The Spectator podcast. I'm Isabel Hardman.

Boris Johnson has officially become Prime Minister, so what can we expect from his first hundred days?

And with the Gulf situation hotting up, what should Britain's policy towards Iran be?

And finally, I interview a historian who kayaked the length of the UK and Ireland within a year.

And so first, Boris Johnson has become Prime Minister and cemented his power with a strong

group of loyalists within hours of entering Downing Street.

In his cover article this week, James Forsyth argues that Boris has to hit the ground running,

and if public opinion is on his side, then he might just about overcome Parliament to get his ideal Brexit outcome.

James joins me now, together with Conservative MP Simon Hart,

who founded the pragmatic Brexit delivery group to support leaving the EU with a deal,

but supported Boris Johnson's leadership

campaign. So James, what would you say the first hundred days hold in store for Boris Johnson?

Is there an election in those next few months? I think they are make or break for Boris Johnson.

I think the chances of an election are increasing by the day because if you look at how

Boris Johnson is behaving, this is someone who

wants to be ready for an election at any moment. I thought his speech in Dalling Street was

attempts to basically deal with the big electoral vulnerabilities that cost the Tories their majority

in 2017. So he's going to come out of a plan for social care. He has got a school funding plan. He's going to do more animal welfare stuff, e.g. no repeater, the fox hunting thing from 2017, and, you know, more money for the NHS. And then, you know, Brexit is going to be layered on top of that. I think that you can see. And I think if you look at the reshuffle he conducted last night, that wasn't a reshuffle

that was designed to placate each and every faction in the Conservative Party. That was a reshuffle

about getting a government where everyone is committed to the UK leaving the EU on October 31st,

come what may. And I thought in another sign that he is getting ready for an election, in every job where he basically had to pick between a good media performer and a technocrat, he went for the media performer rather than a technocrat.

Simon, are you preparing to go back to your constituency over the summer and prepare for war?

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