Isabel Hardman's Sunday Roundup - 06/09/2026

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0:22Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shops, the Spectator's daily politics podcast. I'm Isabel Hardman and this is a Sunday Roundup. This week it's more controversy for Reform UK as two of Nigel Farage's senior officials are forced to step down after being filmed discussing about how to break foreign donations rules. Footage released by Channel 4 showed James Orr and Dan Dukes arranging for opinion polls to be paid for using money from a US businessman. Nigel Farage was also shown at a meeting thanking the would-be donors who were in fact undercover journalists from the group verbatim. In an interview with Laura Koonsberg, Nigel Farage claimed he had been told everything was above board.

1:03Did you not know that it was illegal for foreign firms to donate to UK political parties? Of course I know that. But were you just not then paying attention? You weren't asking the question? No, because I was told he was giving it to a UK family trust. Oh, sorry, a family office that was based in the UK. He said in your presence, I run an American family office. I am not a compliance officer. I was in the middle of canvassing in the Clatsom by-election. I turn up, I frankly wasn't even listening You weren't listening? I just asked, is it all above board? I was just there to come and say hello So you weren't listening when you were discussing donations of thousands and thousands of pounds I was told there was a global family office based in London, so the money could have come from Singapore the money could have come from all over the world you know, income could have come from all over the world into a family office based in London I know electoral law You know, I know donation law better than anybody.

1:59Frankly, the two individuals involved here have never been involved in fundraising before. And they shouldn't have been involved directly in fundraising. They should have done basic checks. And nobody, nobody should be brought to me unless they've been vetted properly. Farage said that this latest sting was an example of the disproportionate targeting of himself and reform by an establishment ecosystem that wants to stop the new kids on the block. He also said that his family have been impacted to the extent that they have been begging him to step away from politics. You know why? I was angry over the summer.

2:33I'm not now. I've moved on. We're having a great conference. I'm enjoying life. I enjoyed the by-election campaign. I've been aggrieved because of the impact and things that have been done to my family. Most of which I have not talked about in public, many of which are frankly monstrous, are not scrutiny and are not in the public domain. and did that upset me hugely over the course of a summer I would admit that it did I would admit that it did very very much to the point where for the first time really in my political career you know I haven't got my family's support they would rather I packed it up and walked away so yeah it's been difficult have you thought about packing it in and walking it away if your family haven't I haven't but when you've got your family begging you to it's not easy but I think we're through that now.

3:20I believe we're through that bad period. I think the general public do understand that I have got some unusual circumstances that others don't have to deal with. And yeah, you know, we're back here. It's a big conference, it's an energetic conference. We had a bad start with a few little local difficulties, as we've discussed, but you can see the party's very upbeat. It's a bit more than a few local difficulties, doesn't it? You've lost two of your most senior people, you can't just laugh it off. Laughing it off. You lose people in life, in business, in politics. It happens for all sorts of reasons.

4:00Keir Starmer has announced he is standing down as the MP for Hoban and St Pancras, triggering a by-election. Saghur Abdiwali, the current leader of Camden Council, has been tipped as a frontrunner to take over from Starmer. On Sky News, John Sopel asked Reform's Robert Jenrick whether he thought that comments made by his colleague Zia Yousaf about Abdiwali had been racist. The by-election has been called in Hovind and St Pancras this week. Not very favourable or fertile territory for reform historically, that part of the... Well, you never know. Well, we'll see. Your colleague Zia Yousaf, the Home Affairs spokesperson for your party, said the frontrunner being foisted on the people of Hovind by Labour to replace the former Prime Minister Kiyos Dama in our parliament was born in Somalia.

4:44Do you understand what's happening? I mean, we had Jonathan Reynolds on the programme earlier who just said that it's plain racist. It is, isn't it? No. Why? Because I think the point that Zia is making is that, you know, there's no rule against people standing for our parliament who weren't born in this country. What is the phrase, do you understand what's happening? What does that mean? Well, I think the point he's making is this, is there's no rule against people standing who weren't born in this country, who came for whatever reason here, and people have done that in the past. But Somalians are Romans?

5:13In the past, no, I don't know this person, so I'm not here to cast aspersions upon her. But I do want people to sit in our parliament... Well, she served the community for over a decade as a volunteer and trustee for local charities, a school governor at two of the schools and a local government officer... Well, maybe she is someone who is entirely patriotic and supportive of this country. I would just say, and this is the point... Then why say that? This is the point I think Zia was making. That is not everyone, sadly, in our current House of Commons. I have been shocked by what I've seen in the House of Commons in recent times.

5:46But let me finish my point. Why are there people standing for Parliament at the moment, in fact sitting in the House of Commons, who are more interested in whether an airport is being built in Miripour than whether the bin strike is cleared in Birmingham? That is something going very badly wrong with our politics. I don't like sectarian politics. I want people who are solely interested in putting the interests of our country first. But you know nothing about you. Well, I said I don't know this lady. Well, I've just told you about her background. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. You're impugning someone's integrity and patriotism on the basis of the fact that she was born in Somalia.

6:23So all Somalis should be treated as suspect. It's not about whether she's from Somalia or the United States or wherever. I'm saying that if you weren't born in this country and you stand for Parliament, it's a legitimate question to ask, where are your loyalties? Are you going to put the interests of Britain first? and you would not believe how much time is wasted in the House of Commons debating things that have got nothing to do with this country whatsoever and how many people stand up and make the case for Pakistan or Gaza as if they were representing those places and not their own constituents.

6:56And I want that to end. Since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, he has repeatedly claimed that the UK took a wrong turn in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. Speaking to Laura Coonsberg, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted that Labour was not focused on the past. What do you mean in brass tacks? Because I think a lot of people watching and listening carefully in the last month hear that and think, OK, that means nationalisation, that means the government owning things. It doesn't necessarily mean that. What does it mean? It doesn't necessarily mean that, though, as I've said, there are some areas where that has had to be the case.

7:29That has been the only viable option. It's a menu. In some cases, it will be about enabling things. I mean, the£2 bus cab, that's very popular, is state public control, to some extent, of the prices, but delivered in partnership with the private sector. So this is not going to be about... The mistake that some Tories are making when they see this. Is this about looking to the past? Is this about looking back to the 70s? No. But that's what it sounds like when Andy Burnham keeps saying, oh, things went wrong four decades ago. But it's about addressing what I think has been a real driving force for British politics, which is this sense that people have, that they have lost power.

8:02And it also relates directly, by the way, to the fact it is far too hard to do things in this country. You have to get so many agencies, so many legal authorities to build basic infrastructure, which then makes it at a cost more than our rivals. But that's about regulation, though. That's a different thing. That's about regulation, which have been brought in many cases by successive Labour governments. Public control can mean regulation, can mean better regulation. And on GB News, Camilla Tobinney interviewed Andrew Griffith, who has become the new Shadow Chancellor. Griffith has emphasised his experience in business and commitment to fiscal responsibility.

8:36Tomini pointed out that Griffith was a Treasury Minister when Liz Truss announced her disastrous mini-budget. Are you definitely fiscally responsible, Andrew Griffith? As the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has pointed out, you were a Treasury Minister when Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng came out with their mini-budget that nearly broke the British economy. There's only one person responsible for the Liz Truss budget, and that's Liz Truss. I was a very junior minister at the time. I wasn't cited on that budget. My portfolio did not include tax and spend decisions. But look, the person that I am, Camilla, and you can see that this week, when I set out in two days after my appointment, proper plans, fully costed, to fund the defence of our nation, something that John Healy claimed to have resigned over back in the summer.

9:24He's been the real Chancellor for two whole months, absolutely nothing, kicking the can down the road. I want people to be able to sleep safe in their beds at night, knowing that our nation is being defended securely, but also that their finances, their jobs, their savings and investments are safe, are in safe hands. That's who I am. That's who I'm going to be. We'll get on to John Healy in just a minute, I promise, because I have been asking Jonathan Reynolds about him and defence spending. But just briefly, though, you did praise Liz Truss for her economic programme, didn't you? You were quite keen on that mini-budget.

10:01Well, it wasn't all bad, Camilla. Any plans to cut taxes, to get the economy growing, to get people building, to reduce some of the thicket of regulation. But I'll be really clear, there was one fatal flaw, fatal mistake in that budget. The plans didn't fully add up. They didn't explain where all the money is coming from. That is exactly the position that this government right now is in. And the interest rates that they are having to pay on our debt are even higher. The nation is paying more than£100 billion a year simply for the privilege of borrowing money. That's more than twice the amount we spend on defence.

10:37That is no way to run an economy. So fiscal responsibility will underline everything we do. That is who I am. That's what I did in my 25 years in business. Someone's, I think, pointed out this week that that exceeds the entire business experience of the entire Labour cabinet but judge me by my actions week one finding a fully costed plan to fund our defences and every tax cut that we promise and we will be a tax-cutting Conservative government will be fully costed we would explain where the money is coming from okay but you have just admitted that you worked in a Treasury that came out with a budget where the sums didn't add up.

11:17And as I also said, Camilla, is that I was not responsible for tax and spend. I first saw that budget the night before, after the markets had closed, the night before when it had already gone to press. I wasn't in the cabinet. I wasn't the author. I wasn't the architect. It was a clear mistake. The party has learned from that mistake. Liz Truss accepted responsibility and apologised at the time. My focus is how we go forward. How do we build plans to grow our nation, plans for the 2030s and a responsible, fiscally responsible set of Conservative plans? That's who I am. Judge me by my actions. You can see what we've done this week in terms of a fully costed plan to fund the nation's defences properly.

11:59That's all for this week. I'm Isabel Hardman and this podcast was produced by Joe Bedell-Brill. If you enjoy Coffeehouse Shot, don't forget to click the follow button on whatever platform you are listening to us on. That way you'll get the latest episodes straight to your feed as soon as it's released. And do subscribe to our daily Evening Blend email. It's a free roundup of all the political news each day, along with analysis and a diary on what to expect next. Just go to spectator.co.uk forward slash blend. Thanks for listening and I hope you join us again next week.

12:37Thank you.

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