The Edition: Elizabeth Day on the 'beautiful & ironic symmetry' of Reform vs Restore

For this week’s Edition, Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator's political editor Tim Shipman, the writer Guy Stagg and the author and host of How to Fail Elizabeth Day.

This week, the guests discuss whether Nigel Farage’s Reform UK can see off the threat from Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain. Restore Britain’s success may be modest and, so far, very online but that doesn’t mean they won’t hinder Farage’s effort to reach Number 10. If polls from the Makerfield by-election are anything to be believed, Restore could have a real impact. The battle for the tight is also having an impact across the political spectrum too – should Labour move further to the right to appeal to Reform and Restore's disgruntled voters, or should they simply ignore them? For Elizabeth Day, there is an ‘ironic and beautiful symmetry’ to the Reform versus Restore dynamic, which almost makes her nostalgic for the 'Tory boy' politics of post-Thatcher era.

Also this week: from Makerfield to Mandelson, the government has been busy this week responding to the latest tranche of messages released on Monday. Yet – were some missing? Tim discusses the missing messages of Starmer loyalist Darren Jones MP which he exclusively revealed in this week’s Spectator. How damaging is this for Labour? And how should we treat WhatsApp messages legally?

Plus, they discuss: the travel experiences that have shaped their lives, from Orthodox churches perched on Istanbul rooftops to the ‘most bombed hotel’ in Belfast; if collecting books is an acceptable form of hoarding; whether they would take frog poison; and finally, with the news that Nigel Farage may have been banned from Desert Island Discs, they reveal some of the items they would take with them.

Elizabeth Day’s latest book One of Us is out now and available in all good bookshops.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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