Katy Balls

Katy Balls is Diary Editor at The Spectator.

Is the Chagos deal dead in the water?

18 December 2024 9:35 pm

Is the Chagos Islands deal dead? Ever since Keir Starmer and his foreign secretary David Lammy announced plans to hand…

Farage’s Musk meeting is uncomfortable for the Tories and Labour

18 December 2024 1:53 am

It’s happened. To the likely dismay of both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage has met with Elon Musk…

Why 2025 could redefine politics

14 December 2024 9:00 am

Santa will have a tricky time this year fulfilling all the Christmas wish lists in Westminster. Keir Starmer is desperately…

Economy shrinks in blow for Rachel Reeves

13 December 2024 8:42 pm

Another day, another piece of bad news for the chancellor. The economy shrank in October for the second month in…

Can Labour’s reset see off Reform?

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Arriving on stage to accept ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards, Nigel Farage gave…

Is Keir Starmer turning into Rishi Sunak?

2 December 2024 7:02 pm

Keir Starmer is only 150 days into his premiership and his team are already planning a reset. Officially, no one…

‘I was much more disposable than I believed’: an interview with Boris Johnson

30 November 2024 9:00 am

Boris Johnson is enjoying himself back at The Spectator. ‘My place of former employment,’ the former editor booms as he…

Will the assisted dying bill become law?

30 November 2024 2:01 am

The assisted dying bill has passed its second reading. After an emotionally charged debate, MPs have voted 330 to 275…

Louise Haigh’s resignation raises questions for Keir Starmer

29 November 2024 6:30 pm

Keir Starmer is one cabinet minister down. This morning Louise Haigh resigned as Transport Secretary following the revelation that she…

The election petition reveals Starmer’s Achilles heel

27 November 2024 12:12 am

Today the Prime Minister is attempting to get back on the front foot with the publication of an employment white…

Rachel Reeves faces a frosty reception at the CBI summit

25 November 2024 9:27 pm

At the beginning of the year, Rachel Reeves was being praised all round for her efforts repairing relations between the…

Who are Labour’s new working-class voters? An interview with Claire Ainsley

25 November 2024 2:21 am

What is a working person? This question dominated the lead-up to Labour’s first Budget in over 14 years. After Rachel…

Wild Wes: Streeting is causing trouble for Starmer

23 November 2024 9:00 am

Avote on assisted dying was supposed to be one of the easiest reforms for Keir Starmer’s government. To many, including…

Is Keir Starmer really going to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu?

22 November 2024 8:10 pm

Benjamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters Britain. That is the welcome the Israeli leader will receive should he fancy…

Assisted dying is becoming Starmer’s mess

16 November 2024 9:00 am

In the months before the general election, the Labour party had an internal debate about starting a ‘national conversation’ on…

Has Trump already derailed Reeves’s first Budget?

12 November 2024 9:25 pm

When Rachel Reeves went out to sell her £40bn tax-raising budget on the airwaves, she offered a message of reassurance:…

Inside Kemi Badenoch’s first shadow cabinet

9 November 2024 9:00 am

At her first shadow cabinet as Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch walked into the room and declared that there were ‘still…

How does Starmer solve a problem like Farage?

8 November 2024 8:11 pm

Who is the biggest winner in the UK from Donald Trump’s victory across the pond? The answer may be Nigel…

Three challenges Trump poses for Starmer

6 November 2024 11:55 pm

It’s happened. The scenario Labour politicians hoped would not come to pass is now a reality: Donald Trump is heading…

Has Kemi Badenoch formed a unity cabinet?

5 November 2024 11:12 pm

In approximately 12 hours, all UK news will take a back seat as the world looks to the United States…

What Kemi Badenoch’s victory means for the Conservatives

2 November 2024 10:46 pm

The results of the Conservative leadership contest are in. Almost four months after the Tory party suffered its worst general…

Labour’s new cabinet divide

2 November 2024 9:00 am

There were no civil servants present when ministers gathered for their weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The reason? It was…

Will Rachel Reeves hike taxes even higher?

1 November 2024 12:02 am

Rachel Reeves has spent the morning out on the media round trying to sell her first Budget to the public.…

Three tests for Reeves’s first Budget

30 October 2024 7:08 pm

It’s Budget day in Westminster. The question being asked by Labour MPs: can Rachel Reeves pull it off? This lunchtime,…

Keir Starmer’s Budget reality check

28 October 2024 9:20 pm

It’s Budget week in Westminster. Over three months after Keir Starmer triumphed in the general election, his Chancellor Rachel Reeves…