Katy Balls

Katy Balls (born 12 February 1989) is a British journalist. She is political editor of The Spectator.

Quotes

• In a sign of national disapproval, Mr. Johnson was greeted with boos and jeers at the Platinum Jubilee service on Friday. It's not that a Conservative politician being booed is rare; in fact, it's quite common. It's that such a thing is not supposed to happen to him.
  • "Boris Johnson Is at the Beginning of the End", The New York Times (7 June 2022).

• Reform is also thinking long-term. The party wants to seize this moment of peak Tory unpopularity (few prime ministers have seen approval ratings as low as [Rishi] Sunak has now) and use it for a realignment of politics. Its real focus is the election after the next one, when it hopes a shake-up of the two-party system could take place. Just as the SDP-Liberal Alliance split the left in the 1980s, Reform may split the right now.
  • "Will the Red Wall revolt split the right?", The Spectator (16 March 2024).

• Some candidates describe themselves as feeling numb over the result. Others are simply angry they were put in this position – made to fight an election they thought was a bad idea. It's not just the 'big names' who have lost their seats, it's the losses in areas that have been Conservative for 100 years, such as Chichester. Then there’s Reform gains in former Tory strongholds such as Great Yarmouth. It means the recriminations are well under way.
  • "The Tory blame game begins", The Spectator (5 July 2024).
  • The Conservative Party was reduced to 121 MPs at the 2024 general election losing in 252 constituencies it had held in the previous election in 2019.