The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority.

Subscribe today for just 12 pounds and receive a 12 week subscription in print and online. Plus we'll give you a 20 pound

Amazon gift voucher absolutely free. Go to Spectator. Co. UK forward slash voucher. voucher.

Hello and welcome to Coffey House Shots Spectators Daily Politics Podcast.

I'm Katie Balls and I'm joined by Isabel Hardman and James Heel.

We're back to going to the Easter recess and Ritchie's funeral as his custom has just sat before the

liaison committee. Isabel you've been blogging it for Coffee House. What were the highlights? It was a rather short session by normal standards.

Yeah, it was only 90 minutes and they did keep the time and it was I'd say better humoured than previous ones from him

and certainly from some of his predecessors as well. There were still moments of

irritation and as you'd expect they were generally with opposition MPs, particularly Clive Betts, who's chair of the local government committee and Juada Cherry, who he got very cross with actually and suggested that one of her questions was part of the increasing threats against MPs,

which she obviously didn't take particularly kindly to either.

But I'd say it was quite, I mean there was quite a lot that was

covered and quite a lot that came out of it, but in a sense what came out of it was what the

Prime Minister didn't want to say,

if that makes sense.

So you could read between the lines of what he wanted to comment on

and what he didn't want to comment on

as to where policy is going well and where it's not going so well.

So for instance he was very happy to confirm to Stephen Crabbe that, who was a Tory MP, that the

Triple Lock would be in the next Conservative manifesto, something we already know and

that it would be maintained for the duration of the next Parliament.

And then he added that he saw it as being affordable but he didn't want to

...