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PODCAST

Westminster Insider

POLITICO’s weekly political series lifts the curtain on how Westminster really works, offering in-depth insight into the political issues which typically only get broad-brush treatment in the wider media.

news politics

All Episodes

39:12

The media and the UK election: Can Fleet Street still...

Westminster Insider ·

2024/05/24

Will the Sun win it? After Rishi Sunak called a shock general election, host Aggie Chambre set out to discover just how much influence newspapers will have in this campaign.Former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock tells her what it was like being attacked in the press in the run up to the 1992 election.Former Sun editor David Yelland reminisces about Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair's relationship — and said it was like a "love affair." He says getting the backing of Fleet Street can be a "self

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44:07

Is the Bank of England really a secret political player?

Westminster Insider ·

2024/05/17

Just how much power do the economists of Threadneedle Street really wield? As the Bank of England grapples with whether to keep interest rates at an all time high, host Sascha O’Sullivan goes on a mission to find out.In this week’s episode, she speaks to those who have been at the very heart of Westminster's relationship with the Bank for the last three decades.Former Prime Minister Liz Truss tells Sascha exactly why she believes Bank of England economists were attempting to pull apart her

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44:01

How to prepare a secret Tory leadership campaign

Westminster Insider ·

2024/05/10

After the Tories' drubbing in the local elections and the many, many rumors about efforts to unseat Rishi Sunak, Aggie Chambre talks us through how to prepare a secretConservative leadership campaign.Former No. 10 head of political comms Adam Jones takes us inside Liz Truss's "fizz with Liz" soirees, explains why she took *that* picture in the tank, and says his former boss got "punch drunk" on love from Tory members.Former adviser Lucia Hodgson, who ran Andrea Leadsom's 2019 leadership bid,

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51:32

Inside the Westminster honey trap scandal

Westminster Insider ·

2024/05/03

In the first episode of season 14, host Aggie Chambre tells the inside story of how POLITICO broke the Westminster honey trap story, and goes in search of who is really responsible.She hears from most of the key characters involved in the scandal that rocked SW1.Two victims tell Aggie about their messages and one of them explains what happened when he organized a meeting with the catfisher.POLITICO's own Dan Bloom reveals for the first time that he receiveda message from the mysterious catfisher and

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49:05

The secrets of the pollsters

Westminster Insider ·

2024/03/22

Host Sascha O'Sullivan delves into the secrets of the polling industry and asks — if the polls were wrong before, could they be wrong again?David Cameron's former pollster Andrew Cooper tells Sascha how the Conservatives upstaged the polling industry in 2015 and pulled an unexpected election victory out of the bag.Labour polling stalwart Stan Greenberg, who has run the numbers for Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Ed Miliband, explains what the other side of the 2015 campaign was like.Tom

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38:40

Leak inquiry: what happens when Westminster's secrets...

Westminster Insider ·

2024/03/15

This week, Aggie Chambre looks atthe art of the leak and asks — why do people do it, and what happens when your political secrets are exposed?Former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green talks about helping to leak Home Office secrets when Labour was in charge.Aggie hears from journalist and author Isabel Oakeshott about her controversial decision to leak Matt Hancock’s Covid WhatsApps — and why she had to adopt a disguise during the process.POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Jeremy Corbyn’s former spinner

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51:12

How Westminster fell in love with Australian politics

Westminster Insider ·

2024/03/08

New host Sascha O'Sullivan explores Westminster's obsession with all things Australia — and considers the lessons British politics might learn from down under.From the U.K. Tory party's succession of Aussiecampaign chiefsto the varying attempts to deploy Australian-style immigration policies, Westminster has held an enduring fascination with its rougher politicalcousins down under.Sascha speaks to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has long enjoyed links with the U.K. Tory party and

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40:37

How to prepare for opposition

Westminster Insider ·

2024/03/01

By now, surely everyone in Westminster knows how to get ready for government — but have enough considered how to prepare for opposition?In this week's episode, host Aggie Chambre tackles the conundrum of how to prepare for the one job in politics no one wants.She speaks to former opposition leader Neil Kinnock about his time in charge, including the advice his children gave Tony Blair's kids.Conservative peer George Young, who has been around since 1974, talks about all the times hisparty hasgone

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54:55

How a small town in England opened its arms to Ukraine

Westminster Insider ·

2024/02/23

As the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, Jack Blanchard returns home to the north of England to hear the stories of the refugees who arrived there in 2022 — and of one small town community which opened its arms to help.Jack meets those who hosted Ukrainian people in their homes, and hears from the Ukrainians themselves about what it's like to arrive so suddenly in a far-off land. Community organisers discuss how they rallied round to help, while former Refugees

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37:14

Diary of a by-election

Westminster Insider ·

2024/02/16

As the people of Wellingborough headed to the polls for a historic vote, hosts Aggie Chambre and Sascha O'Sullivantook a train to the East Midlands to see how by-elections really play out on the ground.Over the course of a month, they went door-knocking with the candidates, spoke to disenfranchisedvoters and, finally, stayed up all night to watch the count.They watched Reform’s Ben Habib drive round in an gigantic, double-decker blue bus and Labour’s Gen Kitchen show off her Taylor Swift friendship

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50:10

A boozy lunch with Tim Shipman

Westminster Insider ·

2024/02/09

Host Jack Blanchard goes for lunch with the Sunday Times' chief political commentator, Tim Shipman, as the deadline for his new Brexit tome approaches.Over a bottle of claret and (medium) rare steak, Shipman discusses the art of long-form political writing; recalls his best and worst interview experiences, from Donald Trump to Theresa May; considers his favorite moments of the chaotic past decade in British politics and offers tips to aspiring journalists on how to do a "proper" political lunch

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56:58

Inside GB News

Westminster Insider ·

2024/02/02

For the first episode of the year, host Aggie Chambre goes inside right-wing TV channel GB News and investigates the role it might play in shaping the future of the U.K. Conservative Party. And she looks at the scandals, controversyand culture that has surrounded the channel so far.With the help of the channel's chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos, and former presenters including Simon McCoy and Guto Harri, Aggie tells the story of how the organization went from a chaotic launch to finding its

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54:21

The year ahead in 54 minutes

Westminster Insider ·

2023/12/22

For the final episode of the year, host Jack Blanchard and a series of expert guests look ahead to 2024 and what is certain to be an extraordinary year of world politics.The Spectator’s Katy Balls and the Times’ Patrick Maguire survey the election prospects of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer respectively, while More in Common’s Luke Tryl — a polling and focus group expert — assesses Britain’s current electoral landscape.The Resolution Foundation’s David Willetts looks ahead to the Budget in March and

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41:10

How did Britain's prisons go so wrong?

Westminster Insider ·

2023/12/15

Host Aggie Chambre explores the crisis in Britain's prison system and asks what can be done to fix it.She goes inside a prison riddled with drugs and violence, and hears from the governor and from long-serving inmates about what's really going on.Justice Secretary Alex Chalk sets out his plan to overhaul the sector, and why he believes part of the answer is to stop handing out jail terms for less serious crimes.Former Tory leader Michael Howard relives his famous "prison works" speech of 1993 and

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44:04

The art of the political apology

Westminster Insider ·

2023/12/08

In the week Boris Johnson finally said sorry for the mistakes made by his government during the COVID-19 pandemic,hostAggie Chambre explores the art of the political apology — and asks how politicians can redeem themselves after completely screwing up.Johnson's former Downing Street aide Cleo Watson analyses her former boss's apology, and why he chose to deploy it this week.Neil Parish, the former Tory MP who apologized — and quit — after getting caught pornography in the House of Commons chamber,

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40:13

How to get ready for government

Westminster Insider ·

2023/12/01

With opposition parties starting to dream about life in Whitehall as the next election looms, host Aggie Chambre takes a look at how politicians actually prepare for government.She hears from the key players involved in the 2010 election — the last time opposition parties came to power. The former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell, then the most senior civil servant in the country, recalls an eyebrow-raising chat with David Cameron when he was leader of the opposition. Former Tory minister Nick Boles

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42:07

Is Westminster ready for the return of Donald Trump?

Westminster Insider ·

2023/11/24

With opinion polls showing Donald Trump beating President Joe Biden in key battleground states a year out from the next U.S. election, podcast host Jack Blanchard asks whether Westminster is even remotely ready for the prospect of a second Trump presidency.Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch and ex-Downing Street comms chief Katie Perrior recall their own interactions with Trump during his first tenure as president, while Keir Starmer's former chief of staff Chris Ward considers how

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38:10

How to get sacked from government

Westminster Insider ·

2023/11/17

In the week U.KHome Secretary Suella Braverman was finally sacked, host Aggie Chambre asks what you actually have to do to get fired from the government — and what the calculationsare for the leaders doing the firing.Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, recalls his "underhand" sacking of two junior ministers, while Cleo Watson, a former deputy chiefof staff at Downing Street, reveals the secrets of thereshuffle whiteboard.Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan tells Aggie what really happened

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38:22

Revenge of The Blob

Westminster Insider ·

2023/11/10

Britain's civil service is under fire like never before — criticised as an obstructionist "blob" by ministers and castigated for a "terrifyingly sh*t" response to the COVID-19 pandemic by former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings.So what do U.K. government officials — normally banned from speaking to the media — actually make of it all?This week in a special 'focus group' episode, five former mid-ranking civil servants sit down with host Aggie Chambre to lift the lid on life inside Whitehall.The

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39:23

Meet Alf Dubs: The child refugee who became a UK...

Westminster Insider ·

2023/11/03

As war rages in the Middle East, host Jack Blanchard sits down with Alf Dubs, the 91-year-old Labour peer who arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport — which organized the rescue of children from the Nazis — aged just six.Dubs reflects on his experiences as a child refugee in 1939 and on how he forged a new life in the U.K. He explains why he got into politics, and how he has since devoted much of his life to helping other young people in dire need. He calls for more humanitarian support for those

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173 results

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