Katy Balls

Katy Balls is Diary Editor at The Spectator.

Who should get the credit for the climbdown on two-tier sentencing?

5 April 2025 9:00 am

In Westminster, politics is often a zero-sum game. There is a winner and a loser. But this week, two politicians…

Keir Starmer plots retaliatory tariffs

4 April 2025 12:25 am

How will the UK respond to Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’? After the US President announced a batch of new tariffs…

Can Britain escape Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’?

31 March 2025 6:27 pm

Labour MPs are still reeling from last week’s Spring Statement in which the Chancellor slashed welfare spending and made further…

Labour’s popularity contest

29 March 2025 9:00 am

A few months ago, over a plate of bone marrow, a Tory adviser was considering how best to kneecap Labour.…

Can Reeves avoid further tax rises?

27 March 2025 7:24 pm

Rachel Reeves wakes to a swathe of tricky front pages this morning after the Spring Statement in which the Office…

For Rachel Reeves the worst could be yet to come

23 March 2025 10:41 pm

Rachel Reeves has spent the morning touring the broadcast studios as she attempts to pitch roll for Wednesday’s Spring Statement.…

Can Keir Starmer stem the welfare rebellion?

17 March 2025 8:13 pm

Keir Starmer is gearing up for a showdown with his party as the Prime Minister prepares to unveil his welfare…

Starmer’s tribes are at war

15 March 2025 9:00 am

Labour MPs these days are experiencing whiplash. When in opposition, the party attacked the Tories’ proposed benefits cuts for ‘effectively…

Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe’s feud helps only one person

10 March 2025 8:12 pm

Well, that didn’t take long. Despite much talk of professionalisation, Nigel Farage’s latest political outfit is following the pattern of…

Starmer is the unlikely hero of the hour. Can it last?

8 March 2025 9:00 am

When Donald Trump addressed Congress this week, he declared he was ‘just getting started’. His words will not have soothed…

Can Kemi Badenoch control her party?

5 March 2025 1:58 am

Donald Trump’s decision overnight to pause US military aid to Ukraine has sent politicians across the world into a tailspin.…

Starmer’s summit is high stakes for Zelensky

2 March 2025 7:26 pm

There is only one story dominating the news this weekend following Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous meeting on Friday with the US…

Zelensky’s White House visit turns sour

1 March 2025 5:10 am

Keir Starmer will have been pleased on Thursday after his meetings with Donald Trump managed to avoid any major gaffe…

Will Dodds’s departure trouble No.10?

1 March 2025 12:36 am

Keir Starmer has lost another minister. Anneliese Dodds is stepping down as International Development Minister following No. 10’s decision to…

Starmer’s Trump charm offensive gets underway

28 February 2025 6:48 am

The Trump charm offensive has begun. Keir Starmer has met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office as his first…

Could a Tory/Reform pact be looming?

8 February 2025 9:00 am

In 1603, James VI managed to do what few thought possible. The self-styled first King of Great Britain succeeded in…

Kemi Badenoch makes her move on immigration

6 February 2025 8:21 pm

Kemi Badenoch has finally announced a policy. Ahead of the Labour government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill being debated…

Reform tops a YouGov poll for the first time

4 February 2025 6:38 pm

There’s reason for cheer at Reform HQ this morning: Nigel Farage’s party is leading Labour in a YouGov voting intention…

Starmer’s Brussels charm offensive is a risky business

3 February 2025 7:47 pm

How far will the Labour government’s European reset go? This is the question being asked in Westminster as Keir Starmer…

The Tory party’s wannabe comeback kids

1 February 2025 9:00 am

When a prime minister leaves No. 10, they usually discover the phone soon stops ringing. But there is at least…

Will Labour MPs back Rachel Reeves’s growth plan?

28 January 2025 10:37 pm

It’s ‘growth week’ in government, as the Chancellor Rachel Reeves attempts to convince sceptical business leaders, bankers and voters that…

Is Donald Trump warming to Keir Starmer?

27 January 2025 9:58 pm

Does Keir Starmer finally have cause for optimism over Donald Trump? It did not go unnoticed that the only Labour…

Is Keir Starmer a lawyer or a leader?

25 January 2025 9:00 am

Keir Starmer surprised his colleagues during his first week in power when he appointed his old friend Richard Hermer KC…

Starmer: I knew about Rudakubana’s extremist history

21 January 2025 8:34 pm

After coming under criticism for not announcing a national inquiry over the grooming gangs scandal, Keir Starmer moved quickly on…

Will Trump 2.0 derail the Starmer Project?

20 January 2025 8:53 pm

Donald Trump is back. Later today, Trump will once again take the oath of office and be sworn in as…