Quite right!

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.com/quiteright.

In this week’s Q&A: Michael and Maddie tackle Labour’s uneasy majority and ask why a government with a 174-seat majority already looks so skittish. Are backbench rebellions a sign of weakness – or a rational response from MPs who expect to be out in one term? Does Keir Starmer lack the political instincts needed to hold such a sprawling parliamentary party together?

Also this week: could the Rwanda scheme ever have saved the Conservatives? Michael lifts the lid on why the plan stalled – from internal resistance within the state to the limits of last-minute delivery – and explains why even a symbolic flight would not have reversed Tory defeat.

And as faith in multilateral institutions frays, they ask whether the UN still serves a meaningful purpose, or whether international law has acquired an undeserved air of moral infallibility.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson

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This week: Michael and Maddie ask whether Keir Starmer’s grip on the Labour party is beginning to slip. After the party machine moved to block Andy Burnham from returning to Westminster, is Starmer governing from a position of strength – or fear? Does the decision expose a deeper crisis of authority at the top of the Labour party, and are we entering the early stages of a succession battle over who comes next?

Then: Suella Braverman’s long-anticipated defection to Reform UK. Was her exit inevitable, and what does it mean for the balance of forces on the right? As Reform continues to lure Conservative figures across, is it consolidating as a serious insurgent party – or accelerating a destructive fragmentation that could leave the Conservative party locked out of power for a generation?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.

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On this week’s Q&A: Michael and Maddie ask the question dividing the British right: is Britain really broken? As ‘Broken Britain’ rhetoric surges on the right, they debate whether it clarifies the country’s problems or corrodes national confidence. Should we trust those who stand to benefit from a declinist narrative? And is Nigel Farage too much of an English nationalist and nostalgist?

Also this week: from national decline to family drama. Why has the Brooklyn Beckham fallout gripped the country, and what does it reveal about celebrity, commodified family life and the price of fame? Is this a modern King Lear – or just an overgrown child who needs to grow up?

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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This week: Michael and Maddie ask whether the so-called special relationship between Britain and the United States has finally reached breaking point. As Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland and his reversal on the Chagos Islands unsettle allies, has the British right begun to turn decisively against him? Was the special relationship ever more than a comforting myth – and what does a more erratic, transactional America mean for Britain’s security, sovereignty and strategic future?

Then: Robert Jenrick’s dramatic defection to Reform UK. Was his exit from the Conservatives a naked career move, or a genuine ideological break forged by failure on migration and borders? And does his defection strengthen Reform’s claim to be a serious insurgent force – or expose the growing risk of a destructive civil war on the right that ultimately benefits Keir Starmer?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.

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This week: Michael and Maddie examine the rise of the Green party and ask whether it represents a passing protest vote or a genuine realignment on the British left. As Labour’s support continues to leak away and figures once loyal to Jeremy Corbyn drift towards the Greens, are Keir Starmer’s U-turns finally catching up with him – and how far can a ‘hipster–hobbit alliance’ really go?

Then: the row between Rory Stewart and Dominic Cummings, after claims about overseas students and radicalisation in Britain were dismissed – only to be vindicated. What does the episode reveal about political forecasting, expert class overconfidence, and why some of Westminster’s most celebrated commentators keep getting the future wrong?

And finally: why is Labour going after the pub? Michael and Maddie dissect the government’s botched approach to business rates, drink-driving policy and rural life – and ask whether spreadsheet socialism and petty authoritarianism are quietly crushing what remains of Merrie England.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright

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This week on Quite right!, Michael and Maddie examine Nadhim Zahawi’s dramatic defection to Reform UK and ask whether it strengthens the party’s insurgent credentials or exposes a deeper strategic mistake. Is Reform becoming a genuine outsider movement, or simply a refuge for disaffected Tories? And what does the pattern of Boris-era defections reveal about credibility, competence and the challenge of turning populist energy into a governing force?

Then, Iran: mass protests against the regime have erupted onto the streets of Tehran and beyond. Are these demonstrations the prelude to real regime change – or another brutal crackdown waiting to happen? And what role should the West, and the United States in particular, play as the situation escalates?

And finally: as MPs call for X to be banned in the UK over the conduct of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, Michael and Maddie ask whether this is a necessary intervention to protect the vulnerable – or another bout of performative pearl-clutching that misses the far bigger risks posed by artificial intelligence.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.

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This week: Michael and Maddie look ahead to a turbulent political year, asking who will rise, who will fall – and whether Keir Starmer can survive the mounting unrest within his own parliamentary party. With Labour backbenchers showing an increasing willingness to defy the leadership, is a full-blown rebellion inevitable?

They also discuss the government’s controversial decision to welcome Alaa Abdel-Fattah back to Britain, and ask what the episode reveals about two-tier politics, herd mentality in Westminster, and a Prime Minister more comfortable in the role of human rights lawyer than national leader.

And finally: should Britain bring back national service? Michael makes the case for a far tougher, more hard-edged approach to national resilience – while Maddie questions whether conscription would deepen an already broken generational contract.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright

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This week: Michael and Maddie dissect Donald Trump’s audacious raid on Venezuela and ask what it reveals about power, national interest and the unravelling of the rules-based order. Was America acting like a rogue state – or simply doing what states do when their interests are at stake? And could Britain learn a thing or two from how they conduct their foreign policy, specifically with regard to the Chagos Islands?

Then, closer to home, they unpack the scandal surrounding West Midlands Police and the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Who really made the call – and what does it tell us about two-tier policing and the erosion of equal justice?

And finally: are weight-loss jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy quietly reshaping society – and what will happen when the prices drop later this year?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright

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This is the second of a two-part discussion with Dominic Cummings, in which he reflects on his time in government – what he got right and what he regrets – and what he believes must change for the country to thrive.

In part two, Dominic diagnoses the ‘pre-revolutionary’ mood of British politics, marked by voter rage, economic stagnation and institutional failure. He dismisses government promises on immigration as ‘total nonsense’, attacks the political class’s handling of the cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine, and delivers a sobering account of why the Conservative Party is ‘completely dead’. Dominic also assesses the prospects of Reform and Nigel Farage, warns of an increasingly aggressive establishment response to outsider movements, and weighs in on whether Michael would have made a good prime minister.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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In this special two-part interview, Michael and Maddie are joined by Dominic Cummings. After starting his political career at the Department of Education, Dominic is best known as the campaign director of Vote Leave, the chief adviser in Downing Street during Boris Johnson’s premiership, and one of the most influential strategists of modern times.

Whether you consider him a visionary reformer or (as David Cameron once said) a ‘career psychopath’, his ideas – on government, technology, the blob, education and the future of the right – continue to provoke debate.

In part one, Dominic diagnoses Britain’s institutional decline and takes us inside Whitehall’s ‘heart of darkness’. He explains that ministers have been stripped of real power by lawyers and the Cabinet Office, and how the ‘madness’ of the Human Rights Act has produced chilling outcomes for defence and counter-terrorism. He reflects on the reforms launched after the Conservatives’ 2019 election victory and why they were ultimately abandoned, criticises Boris Johnson’s failure to pursue the mandate he was given, and revisits the government’s handling of Covid.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.

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