Westminster waits for Donald’s decision

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Westminster waits with bated breath to discover whether Donald Trump will ally with Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites. The President called for ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!’ from Tehran overnight. The day to day of domestic politics appears diminished by comparison with the ever-looming threat of an escalated conflict…

But the show must go on: today’s PMQs saw Chris Philp (why not Robert Jenrick?) and Angela Rayner deputising for their absent leaders; Liz Kendall introduced legislation to enact cuts to personal independence payments for disabled people; the Commons voted to decriminalise abortion at any point until birth; and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is up to its old tricks, announcing that inflation has fallen when the reality is much more complicated. Can we trust the forecasters? And did anyone ask for this amendment on abortion?

James Heale speaks to Michael Simmons and Kate Andrews.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Transcript

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0:38.7	involves risk. Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm James Heel. I'm joined today by
0:47.3	Michael Simmons and Kate Andrews. Now, the big story that's dominating this week is, of course,
0:51.5	what's happening in the Middle East. Iran's supreme leader has warned Trump of irreparable harm if America joins the Israeli strikes.
0:57.4	Kate, you're obviously out there in D.C. What are the kind of divides in terms of American
1:01.4	conservative domestic opinion? James, as you say, it is without a doubt the biggest story
1:05.6	and one that is starting to rip apart the MAGA right. It does appear that things continue to escalate,
1:14.1	as Donald Trump calls for unconditional surrender, all caps, on true social. Iran's Ayatollah has
1:20.5	responded suggesting that there will be no surrender warning the United States about getting
1:25.7	directly involved with any kind of attack on
1:28.6	Iran. The understanding in America and in Washington, D.C., is that the Trump administration is
1:34.8	considering all options at this point, including a direct strike, but nothing has been confirmed.
1:40.6	As you can imagine, this is bringing into huge doubt for many of Donald Trump supporters
1:46.4	one of the key reasons that they have voted for him over and over again. I think it is one of
1:51.6	the better reasons that people vote for Donald Trump, right? The fact that he hasn't started any
1:56.4	new wars under his watch as president in his first or second term so far, and the fact that he has
2:01.8	always vowed not to, that he has opted for peace. I think when Donald Trump often seems most
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