Westminster Insider

Inside right-wing TV channel GB News, host Aggie Chambre investigates its influence on the UK Conservative Party. With the help of Angelos Frangopoulos, Simon McCoy, and Guto Harri, she uncovers the channel's chaotic launch, scandals, and culture. Comparisons are made to Fox News, and the potential impact on the upcoming election is discussed.

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 considers how the state of the economy will affect the U.K. general election, whenever it is held.Beyond Britain, POLITICO’s Meredith McGraw, Shawn Pogatchnik and Stuart Lau discuss the impact that elections in the U.S., Ireland and Taiwan could have on the Western world.And former U.K. Foreign Office chief Peter Ricketts considers how the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to play out in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 considers whether he would make the same speech again today. Aggie meets Charlie Taylor, Britain's chief inspector of prisons. He tells her of the harrowing scenes he has witnessed in prisons around the U.K. this past year.And the Howard League's Andrea Coomber, a prison reform campaigner, calls for politicians to be brave in explaining to the public that prison does not work the way they think it does.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Downing Street aide Cleo Watson and former Tory MP Neil Parish discuss the art of political apologies, analyzing Boris Johnson's recent apology for COVID-19 mistakes. They explore the complexity and consequences of political apologies, reflecting on scandals involving pornography, sexting, and more. The podcast delves into the aftermath of apologies and politicians' paths to redemption, highlighting the challenges they face. It also discusses successful political apologies, including those by Neil Parish, Brooks Newmark, Nick Clegg, and Boris Johnson, questioning the potential success of Johnson's COVID apology.

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 reveals some disastrous first meetings between shadow ministers and civil servants during preparatory talks. Another ex civil servant, Una O'Brien, recalls awkward moments when her ministerial bosses spotted her headed to private talks with their opposite numbers. And former Lib Dem Minister David Laws reveals his fear of walking up Downing Street for the first time.  Meanwhile the Institute for Government's Emma Norris, POLITICO's Dan Bloom and former Labour adviser Matt Lavender set out what Keir Starmer's party is doing right now to try to prepare for power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the Labour leader might respond to Trump's special brand of diplomacy if he becomes prime minister next year.Polling guru Joe Bedell of Stack Data Strategy sets out just how likely Trump really is to win again in 2024, while POLITICO's own Eugene Daniels — co-author of our Washington D.C. Playbook emails — explains the political factors driving Trump's seemingly unlikely return. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the week U.K Home 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 calculations are 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 chief of staff at Downing Street, reveals the secrets of the reshuffle whiteboard. Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan tells Aggie what really happened when she was sacked by Theresa May in 2016, and the "awkward" conversation that followed. And May's ex-chief of staff Gavin Barwell lifts the lid on what it's like to sack a minister — in this case Gavin Williamson — embroiled in scandal.Former Chief Whip Wendy Morton talks through her approach to sacking people, while former minister Matt Warman reveals what it was like being sacked by Morton. And Tory MP Paul Bristow — who was sacked as a government aide last month — explains why he has no regrets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 panelists, who worked in departments across government — one for as long as 30 years — tell Aggie about the deteriorating relationship between ministers and officials, and about how difficult all that Whitehall bureaucracy makes their jobs.They discuss how rare it is for anyone to actually get fired from the civil service — and even reveal the secret formula for getting promoted which works almost every time.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 affected by the current wars in Israel / Gaza and Ukraine, and would like to see the U.K. government take a new approach toward those seeking asylum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Labour Party leader Keir Starmer dragging his party onto the center ground, host Aggie Chambre asks what remains of the left in Britain — and what the future may hold for this increasingly marginalized group.She hears from three Labour MPs in the left-wing socialist campaign group, all former members of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Cabinet. Dawn Butler, Clive Lewis and Ian Lavery describe a widespread sense of nervousness at being at odds with the leadership following what Lavery calls a "purge" of the Labour left.Corbyn himself urges left-wing Labour MPs to speak up, telling them that “being silent is never an option."Labour grandees Peter Mandelson and Neil Kinnock insist Starmer was right to marginalize the left of the party, to make Labour electable again.And Novara Media journalist Ash Sarkar insists there may yet be a powerful future for the left, sitting outside the Labour Party if necessary.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices