Veterans In Politics Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Note- this was recorded prior to Danny's resignation . Danny Kinahan, is the first Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland and was appointed to this role by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 2020, as a result of the New Decade New Approach political agreement. He's a former Army officer, MLA and Member of Parliament. In this episode, our host Jo...

Send us Fan Mail Colonel (Retd) James Phillips is the first veterans commissioner for Wales. James, who lives in Pembrokeshire, left the Army after serving 33 years, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and the Balkans. He believes Wales has a "long tradition of service and sacrifice". His appointment means Wales joins Northern Ireland and Scotland in having a dedicated commi...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel McBirnie is a Saffron Walden councillor and resident.  He has fought developers and won concessions for local people and is a former Army Lieutenant Colonel who’s provided MoD briefings to the government on Covid and Mental Health. Daniel began his military career at the Army's 6th Form College, Welbeck, which is sadly no longer open.  He went on to a full career in th...

Send us Fan Mail Hailing from the West of Ireland, Rich’s vibrant childhood was filled with sports and weekend fun with his grandparents. After an ankle injury and subsequent loss of his left leg due to sepsis, Rich found a new path in athletics and indoor rowing. His resilience shone at the 2023 Invictus Games, where he claimed gold in the 100m, silver in table tennis, and bronze in the relay. An...

Send us Fan Mail We return this week during Season 10 of the podcast to the Conservative Leadership race with former Secretary of State, Rt Hon James Cleverly MP.   Our host Jonny Ball first met James back in the Noughties when they were both active in London Party Politics.  Since then, James has gone on to great things, but in this episode, Jonny recalls an early moment from a Party Conference i...

Send us Fan Mail We kick off season 10 of the Veterans In Politics Podcast with Conservative Leadership hopeful, Tom Tugendhat!  This is a fantastic start to the season, and you wont be surprised to learn that our host Jonny and Tom (whom share the same cap badge from their time in the army) talk about leadership... a lot! Tom was Minister of State (Minister for Security) between 6 September 2022...

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Send us Fan Mail Jim was first elected to Ards Borough Council in 1985 and served as Mayor in 1991/92. He was elected as a member of the Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue in 1996 until it completed its work in 1998. He was then subsequently elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly representing Strangford. Within the NI Assembly Jim served on both the Public Accounts Committee and Agric...

Send us Fan Mail This week we are back with our 'Behind the Politics' segment, speaking to those behind the scenes, turning our attention to the world of journalism. Our guest is from The University of Northampton, Kate Ironside. Kate is a former political journalist, with 26 years experience in industry. She worked for the Reading Evening Post, Central Press, the Daily Express, Western...

Send us Fan Mail Tom Blenkinsop was born  in Middlesbrough, brought-up in Marton and graduated from Teesside University with a BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and the University of Warwick with an MA in Continental philosophy. Tom joined  the Army Reserve in 2017 in the Royal Military Police in which he still serves today, and was an MP whilst training to be an RMP, something we explore...

Send us Fan Mail About this week's guest: Dr. Sebastian Gorka is a Talk Show Host on the Salem Radio Network Platform, and began his show AMERICA FIRST on New Years Day, 2019.  With parents who had lived as children under fascism and then escaped Communist Hungary, Sebastian was raised to love freedom. And his love of talk-radio developed early. As a child he would listen late into the night...

Send us Fan Mail The Rt Hon Dr Andrew Murrison MP is a Minister at the MOD and we were excited to record this episode in the heart of our nation's Defence HQ at MOD Main Building.  We talk about the Invictus Games, Ukraine, his service in the Royal Navy as a doctor, both regular and reserve, his family, Defence and the various ministerial roles he has served in. We also share a special messag...

Send us Fan Mail This week we speak to veteran Channel 4 and BBC investigative journalist, Michael Crick as part of our 'Behind the Politics' feature where we interview experts in the field of politics, from campaign managers to pollsters to journalists like Michael... and maybe even the odd Special Advisor! Michael is a TV legend,  broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding m...

Send us Fan Mail Veterans In Politics- Andrew Selous MP- Former Army Reservist on a day in the life of an MP Our host first met Andrew Selous MP when he himself was brand new to politics.  UIt was great to sit down in Parliament all these years later and chat through mucvh about the day in life of an MP.  From PMQs to consituency life and casework, this episode is packed full on insight. We also t...

Send us Fan Mail James Paul Watson (known as Paul) joined the Irish Guards straight from school and completed 6 operational tours including Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He sustained a spinal injury in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to his medical discharge from the British Army in 2015. He immediately enrolled at Salford University where he graduated in 2018 with a degree in...

Send us Fan Mail Tobias Ellwood has always been in the headlines.  This interview covers the reasons why, and comes with a trigger warning as we talk about tricky subjects, including grief and trauma.  For details of supportive organisations, see the bottom of these notes. About our guest: Tobias was elected as Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East in May 2005, and subsequently re-elected in 2...

Send us Fan Mail Royston Smith GM MP is an RAF veteran, former council leader and George Medal recipient and our latest guest on Veterans In Politics Podcast. He has been the Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen since 2015 and is the former Leader of Southampton City Council, having served as the Councillor for Harefield Ward – where he was born – from 2000 until 2016. He has worked in both...

Send us Fan Mail This week we sit down with HAC Veteran James Gray MP. James was first elected as MP for North Wiltshire in May 1997.  He was educated at Hillhead Primary School and Glasgow High School and later read History at Glasgow University and Christ Church, Oxford. More recently he was a visiting Parliamentary Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford and is a graduate of the Royal College of...

Send us Fan Mail Veterans In Politics Podcast this week meets Richard Drax MP, a former Guards Officer who served in Northern Ireland and is on the Defence Select Committee Richard was delighted to re-elected the MP for South Dorset in December 2019. He served across the world, including Germany, Cyprus, Kenya, Brunei, Hong Kong, the United States, London and three operational tours in Northern Ir...

Send us Fan Mail Veterans In Politics this week is with Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, the former TA Officer and past Defence Minister who worked hard to bring the Armed Forces Covenant into being with the then Prime Minister David Cameron. We talk about his beginnings in the Royal Anglian TA, getting into local government and eventually becoming a Member of Parliament.  On the way, he even went up in a...

Send us Fan Mail Jonny and Lydia wrap up their look at Party Conference season with analysis of the Labour Party Conference. We take a look at the man who wants to be Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer's speech, which began with protester throwing glitter over him! But he handled it well and it actually played into his delivery. 'Behind the Politics' is a new addition to the show wher...

Send us Fan Mail Jonny and Lydia are back to take a look at Conservative Party Conference with more insights 'behind the politics' off of the back of the news Hs2 has been shelved for the North. We unpick Conservative Party Conference including the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's speech which was packed full of stuff!  A key moment for the Conservatives and the PM as they look to &apos...

Send us Fan Mail Jonny and Lydia are back with more insights 'behind the politics' as they review the Liberal Democrat Party Confidence and a particular focus on Ed Davey's speech.  What was said?  What wasn't said?  What does this all mean?  We unpick this and provide some analysis to better help you understand what's going on during Conference season and UK politics at t...

Send us Fan Mail We return this week with Flick Drummond MP a veteran of the Int Corps' TA and talk to her on political resilience amongst many things. Flick has a background in education and does some extraordinary policy development work in this are cross-party.  She also has been through the mill with her political career having experienced failure at the highest level, only to bounce back...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we meet Jason McCartney MP- a former RAF Officer, journalist and now MP We talk about his RAF family links, his career that took him to Iraq as well as his journey into journalism and latterly politics.  Jason knows what it is like to win and lose, and we discuss the disaster of the 2017 General Election and how the Prime Minister of the day called him to apologise...