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PODCAST

Political Fix

Financial Times

The Financial Times takes you into the corridors of power to unwrap, analyse and debate British politics with a regular lineup of FT correspondents and informed commentators. New episodes available every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All Episodes

38:01

Political Fix Live: Labour’s year in review

Political Fix ·

2025/12/12

It’s been another turbulent year in politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced down rebellions from within his own party, overseen scandals and sackings, and delivered a constant barrage of bad news from health and housing to small boats and the Budget.He’s fared a little better on the world stage – with successful state visits, securing a comparatively competitive trade deal with Trump, as well as a tentative rapprochement with Europe.But with every international success, Starmer’s standing

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39:34

Deals, donations and damage limitation

Political Fix ·

2025/12/05

Sir Keir Starmer started the week with not one but two speeches defending his party’s Budget decisions in the wake of claims that chancellor Rachel Reeves had misled the public and fellow MPs about the state of the nation’s finances. Was his sell convincing? The prime minister also brought up Brexit, but as panellist Robert Shrimsley points out, Starmer was characteristically unclear as to whether the Labour party was ultimately leaning into or out of the EU.Plus, host George Parker and the rest of

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53:33

Bonus: What does the 2025 Budget mean for your money?

Political Fix ·

2025/12/01

It’s been a rollercoaster week for both UK politics and our personal finances, with chancellor Rachel Reeves setting out tens of billions of pounds of tax rises in the Budget. But how will these new taxes be applied and what could they cost you? In a Money Clinic podcast recorded live at the FT, host and consumer editor Claer Barrett is joined by Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates; Stuart Kirk, the FT’s investment columnist; and Tej Parikh, the FT’s economics leader writer, to field

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39:53

Budget bonanza: tax highs and growth lows

Political Fix ·

2025/11/28

After months of speculation, predictions and U-turns, Rachel Reeves finally announced her Budget this week. And, symptomatic of the chaos this Budget has wrought, there was one final twist: the entire Budget appeared on the Office for Budget Responsibility's website 45 minutes before the chancellor was set to give her speech. It sent the media and the markets into a spin…the key takeaway: a historic tax rise achieved without officially breaking the government’smanifesto promise. So what are the

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1:30

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Defying death

Political Fix ·

2025/11/24

Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes. And increasingly, it seems as though anti-ageing efforts have moved from the super rich to a mass market consumer industry. In this series, we’re covering the past, present and future of the longevity movement. We’ll be looking at where the fixation on longevity is coming from, and trying to understand the practical and ethical issues at the heart of

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34:28

Boats and the Budget: the battlelines are drawn

Political Fix ·

2025/11/21

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a tough set of measures overhauling immigration policy this week, in a bid to deter illegal boat crossings and tackle the thorny issue of asylum seekers that dominates the news agenda. But how did the announcement go down with a divided Labour party?And, just days away from the Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves is under huge pressure after a series of U-turns and leaks on taxation policy.Host George Parker discusses whether anything can be done to reverse the

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32:09

Is Starmer’s leadership on the line?

Political Fix ·

2025/11/14

It has been a whirlwind week in Westminster with the BBC in crisis and a supposed challenge to the prime minister’s leadership. So, was there a putative coup from within Keir Starmer’s own cabinet? Is there a “toxic culture” in Downing Street? Plus: the panel’s take on the runners and riders for the top job at the national broadcaster. Host George Parker is joined by Anna Gross, Stephen Bush and Jim Pickard to discuss.This episode was recorded before the FT broke the story about the chancellor

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34:49

To tax, but who to tax, that is the question

Political Fix ·

2025/11/07

With just three weeks to go until the Budget, Rachel Reeves gave a surprise speech to reset expectations on who she’s planning to hit with more taxes on November 26. This has fuelled further speculation about whether the government's central manifesto pledge to not raise income tax rates is now doomed.Host Miranda Green is joined by FT colleagues Jim Pickard, Sam Fleming and Katie Martin to discuss the chancellor’s options: a pick’n’mix of tax rises or breaking a central pledge to the electorate

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33:44

Reeves’ £30bn treasure hunt

Political Fix ·

2025/10/31

With a month to go until the Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to find a projected £30bn to balance the books. And the forecasts are not in her favour, with the OBR’s bigger than expected productivity downgrade dealing another blow to the Treasury this week. So where will the chancellor find the money – and if Labour have no choice but to break their manifesto tax pledge, where will that leave them with the electorate?Host George Parker is joined by associate editor and columnist Stephen Bush,

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28:43

Budget, boats and a by-election

Political Fix ·

2025/10/24

Chancellor Rachel Reeves received a rare bit of good news from lower inflation statistics this week, which could reduce government borrowing ahead of the November Budget. But the uphill struggle to improve Labour’s standing in the polls continues after a drubbing in Caerphilly, the embarrassing failure of the one-in-one-out migrant policy and the chaotic start to the grooming gang inquiry. Host George Parker is on hand to dissect the week along withdeputy political editor Jim Pickard, UK chief

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33:12

Britain: a beacon of economic stability?

Political Fix ·

2025/10/17

The countdown is on: Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just six weeks to finalise her Autumn Budget before the November 26 deadline. This week, she was in Washington DC for the annual meeting of the IMF, where she hinted at tax rises for the rich, while pinning some blame for Britain’s economic problems on her predecessors. The British public are not likely to love the chancellor’s efforts to fill the projected £22bn hole, but who will they hold responsible?Host George Parker is joined by deputy opinion

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2:16

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

Political Fix ·

2025/10/14

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed. The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22.Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP

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34:57

Has Kemi Badenoch silenced the critics?

Political Fix ·

2025/10/10

Conference season is over for another year and after a rousing speech from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to the party faithful, the Political Fix panel is asking: has she done enough to silence her critics and reverse the party’s slide into oblivion? And while recovering from a month on the road, your trusty Political Fixers mull over the performance of the other parties and what lies ahead as parliament reconvenes on Monday. Plus, more questions than answers about a Chinese spying case that

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1:40

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Mission to Mars

Political Fix ·

2025/10/06

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transforming the human race into an interplanetary species.In a new series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if we’re really about to land, and even live, on the red planet.Free to read:Musk’s mission to MarsThree days with America’s rocket chasersTech Tonic is produced by Mischa

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36:27

Labour’s conference comeback?

Political Fix ·

2025/09/30

This week, the Political Fix team comes to you from Liverpool — with all the news from the annual Labour Party Conference. Sir Keir Starmer struck a patriotic tone to the Labour faithful, promising to fight Nigel Farage’s “politics of grievance” and build a renewed, healthy Britain “with the flag waving in our hands” — flags he was keen to reclaim from his opponents on the nationalist right.And that confident tone had also been struck by his chancellor, the day before. Rachel Reeves reaffirmed the

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32:16

Does Starmer have a northern problem?

Political Fix ·

2025/09/26

As the prime minister prepares for his annual party conference, the mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, seems to be mounting a thinly veiled bid for the Labour leadership. In numerous interviews given to the media this past week, Burnham said he had been privately urged by MPs to challenge Sir Keir Starmer. And the provocation came with what looked like a personal manifesto: tax increases on the wealthy, mass nationalisations and a promise not to be “in hock to the bond market”. So do

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41:05

Trumpery, pageantry and the ‘special relationship’

Political Fix ·

2025/09/19

President Donald Trump landed in Windsor this week for his historic second state visit to the UK. What ensued was a celebration of pomp and pageantry fit for a king: a Red Arrows flyby, a lavish banquet in a castle, and a press conference at Chequers – during which the president continually heaped praise on the ‘special relationship’. Was this display of UK soft power just symbolic sycophancy, or has it resulted in some real substance? Host George Parker – fresh from the prime minister’s country

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31:21

Starmer in a spin as the ‘Dark Lord’ bites the dust

Political Fix ·

2025/09/12

After the toe-curling revelations about Lord Peter Mandelson’s connections with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the ambassador’s departure seemed inevitable to all - with the exception of some in Downing Street. Questions about the speed of his sacking, what Sir Keir Starmer knew and why the New Labour grandee was hired in the first place will plague the prime minister as he prepares for US President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit. Host George Parker is joined by FT columnist Stephen Bush,

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31:45

Bonus ep: How the UK is navigating the Trump era

Political Fix ·

2025/09/09

US President Donald Trump is coming to the UK next week. What can we expect from his visit? And where do things stand between the US and the UK?In this special bonus episode, our two FT political chat shows, Political Fix and Swamp Notes, team up to unpack relations between the two longtime allies. Marc Filippino, host of the Swamp Notes podcast, and US managing editor Brooke Masters are joined by Political Fix’s George Parker and Lucy Fisher to discuss. This episode was recorded on September 6 in

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32:26

Rayner, Reeves and Reform

Political Fix ·

2025/09/05

It wasn’t the start to the new parliamentary term that Prime Minister Keir Starmer hoped for. His insistence that his focus is now on “delivery, delivery, delivery” was eclipsed by the furore surrounding the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, over her tax affairs. To discuss where her precarious position leaves Starmer, plus his attempts to get the economic agenda back on track, host George Parker is joined by political correspondent Anna Gross, FT columnist and author of the daily Inside

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