Budget 'breathing space', baked beans and 12 bins

In Friday’s episode of The Daily T, Tim Stanley looks ahead to the US midterm elections after Donald Trump dropped out of his final two rallies in Kansas and Iowa. Tim speaks to Poppy Coburn, The Telegraph’s Associate Comment Editor, who is in Washington to cover polling day next week. They run through the key states and candidates, and Poppy shares her take on the atmosphere in the capital. Tim also speaks to Greg Swenson, the Republicans Overseas UK chairman, who reflects on the party’s mood before the pivotal election.

In Thursday’s episode of The Daily T, Tim Stanley and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg are joined by Allister Heath, the Editor of The Sunday Telegraph, to discuss John Healey’s maiden Budget. Allister described it as a “nothing-burger” of a Budget and said that “a lot of things will get worse” over the next two years as a result of the Chancellor’s measures. The three weighed up the prospect of the nation going to the polls in the near future – despite the PM’s denials – with yesterday’s Budget seeming to be a holding operation. Allister said Andy Burnham “wants to go down in history” like other Labour prime ministers and would need a mandate to implement many of the policies he wants to introduce.

In Wednesday’s episode of The Daily T, Tim Stanley and Jacob Rees-Mogg are joined by financial journalist and host of the Investing Unlocked podcast Georgie Frost to react to John Healey’s maiden Budget as Chancellor. Speaking immediately after the Chancellor’s speech, Tim welcomed some of the measures, such as the winter fuel payment, but criticised how Mr Healey was funding it, saying that the increased taxes on landlords and banks “are essentially a raid on the asset-owning middle classes”. On the issue of military spending, Jacob was critical, saying: “He’s got no more on defence than there was when he resigned. And yet he’s staying in office and in charge of it. That’s a pretty awkward position for him to be in.”

In Tuesday’s episode of The Daily T, Tim Stanley and Jacob Rees-Mogg are joined by Sir Ben Wallace, the former Tory defence secretary. Sir Ben has accused the Government of falsifying spending on the defence budget in order to appear closer to reaching the pledged 3 per cent of GDP by 2030. He criticised the Government for taking only a superficial step towards the target and falling behind its European allies. He said: “Germany, Poland, the Baltics, Scandinavians, have put their money where their mouth is. Denmark even cancelled a public holiday to increase tax revenues to fund it. We have done press releases.” Tim and Jacob also discuss Andy Burnham’s first 100 days in office, exploring the difficulties associated with coming in in mid-term. They explore the changes he has made and the promises he has made for the future – and whether a snap election could be on the horizon.

In today’s bonus episode of The Daily T, Tim Stanley and Jacob Rees-Mogg analyse the prospect of an early general election as rumours of the major parties preparing to campaign swirl in Westminster. The pair analyse the likelihood of Andy Burnham triggering a snap vote following this week’s Budget, and how big of a gamble it would be for the Prime Minister to go to the polls before Christmas. Tim and Jacob also discuss Mr Burnham’s “ideological Europhilia” as the PM seemingly opens the door to EU freedom of movement as he considers options for a new relationship with Brussels.