Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards

The post of deputy leader is ill-defined at best. Yet delving deep, and going back to contests in the 1970s, shows they change the course of Labour's history. The current one will also make waves when the result is declared. Plus Donald Trump.. the peacemaker. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Conservative Party conference gathers with the party way behind in third place and being hit by defections to Reform, a threat from the right they have never faced before. Can they survive? Written and presented by Steve Richards.Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts including the latest on Labour's Deputy leadership contest, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Labour Party conference is in a febrile mood – there's much talk of leadership, and also of Farage. Can Starmer bring together those horrified by a Reform government? Or is he too unpopular, not least with those on the left? Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who are the Liberal Democrats? The coalition years exposed a deep split between social democrats and free market liberals. Are those divisions healed? Is Ed Davey right to party play for laughs? Is he making the correct pitch in the current multi-party mayhem? Tickets for Thursday's epic live show in the main concert hall at Kings Place are available here. Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Predictably, Peter Mandelson's return to the centre of the political stage has ended in crisis. Mandelson's influence on Keir Starmer grew after Labour lost the Hartlepool by-election in the early days of Starmer's leadership. The fashionable narrative is that Starmer changed his strategy for the better after Hartlepool, but is that when the seeds were sown that have led to the current crisis around his leadership?• Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here.  • Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer has kept more or less the same Cabinet but given most of them new jobs. Will it work as Reform UK soars in the polls? Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here. https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics-6/    My biography of Tony Blair is published this Thursday and is available here. https://www.waterstones.com/book/tony-blair/steve-richards/9781800754409  Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. A bonus podcast is coming soon! https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Labour languishing in the polls, Keir Starmer has reshuffled his top team… yet again. His leadership has been punctuated by changes in senior personnel, so does that tell us more about him or them? My book on Tony Blair is published next Thursday. You can pre-order it here.Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week!Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here’s a recording of the final show at this year’s festival, where there was a different show every day. The final one looked ahead via four political figures, but many other themes and characters were explored over the fourteen shows. It was great seeing so many of the co-operative in Edinburgh!Subscribe to Patreon⁠ for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The run of Rock & Roll Politics shows is in full swing, with host Steve Richards delivering a different show each day. Here's an update for the co-operative on the various themes and the audience predictions, plus questions on the political drama being played out in Wales, and much more. Rock & Roll Politics is live at the Edinburgh Festival right now, with a different show every day. Tickets here. Subscribe to Patreon for live events, bonus podcasts and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Labour government has endured a traumatic first year on many fronts, but its opponents are in different ways extremely vulnerable. If its opponents cannot win next time Labour will secure a second term, yet the mood music suggests a government in near fatal trouble... Rock & Roll Politics is live at the Edinburgh Festival with a different show each day. Tickets available here.Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.