Craft Politics

The team is back in London — Joseph is enjoying the rare British sunshine, while Holly and Andrew are soaking up the political chaos. This week, we unpack the Labour government’s tough week of headlines and hard truths: from a post-budget messaging mess to a controversial shake-up of the UK justice system — and a surprise pipeline agreement in Canada. 📉 Labour’s Budget Blunders: ‘Did She Mislead...

With Celia McSwaine & Christine Quigley The Labour government dropped its first full budget — and everyone’s claiming victory… or crying foul. This week, Joseph and Andrew are joined by Celia McSwaine (former Treasury SpAd) and Christine Quigley (Labour strategist) to unpack what it all means: from fiscal drag and frozen thresholds to the abolition of the two-child benefit cap and Kemi Badenoch’s...

With special guest Alex MuirIn this week’s interview edition, Joseph Lavoie and Andrew Percy sit down with Canadian-American pollster and strategist Alex Muir to map out the real factions driving the MAGA movement — and why Canada is dangerously unprepared for a second Trump administration. Muir doesn’t pull punches.“The America we grew up with doesn’t exist anymore. In the same way that the Canad...

This week’s episode runs the gamut: from house prices in freefall, to Labour’s immigration U-turn, to what the hell is going on in Parliament (again). We also say a bittersweet goodbye to one U.S. Congressman — and welcome a rare, almost-sincere apology from Marjorie Taylor Greene in our Lipstick on a Gerbil segment. Pour a pint and let’s get into it.⸻🏠 1. UK Housing Market WobblesNew data shows...

This week, we tackle the institution that’s cracking (the BBC), the leader who’s spending (Mark Carney), and the conservative premier who’s somehow breaking hearts and polling records (Doug Ford). Also, Prince Harry makes a surprise appearance… in our Lipstick on a Gerbil segment. 🏚 1. BBC on the Brink We break down the resignation of BBC’s Director-General, Tim Davie, following a firestorm of sca...

Budget Season, Housing Scandals & Populist Snapbacks Joseph’s in a bad mood. Andrew’s six minutes late. Holly’s podcasting from a cow-filled Cumbrian farm. And somehow, this chaotic start perfectly mirrors the week in politics we’re about to unpack. In this week’s Issue Scan, we tackle three big stories⸻ 💸 1. Carney’s Budget of Austerity (Without Saying “Austerity”) We preview Prime Minister Mark...

From the UK’s disastrous week under Labour to a major trade gaffe (or not?) in Canada, and Doug Ford’s surprising turn as global spokesman for tariffs and Reaganomics — we unpack a week of political faceplants, media spin, and near perfect lipstick jobs.⸻🧨 1. A Week in the Life of a Labour PMOne tweet said it all. Six political scandals. One week. And a mounting sense that Keir Starmer’s governme...

🧨 1. Maccabi Tel Aviv Fan Ban: Judenfrei by Policing? When Aston Villa banned Israeli fans from attending their upcoming UEFA fixture, citing security risks, it sparked outrage — and raised serious questions. Why did local UK officials capitulate to pressure from anti-Israel campaigners? How did Birmingham end up, as Andrew puts it, “effectively declared Judenfrei”? What does this mean for sport...

Guest: Dan Robertson, former Conservative strategist & founder of ORB Advocacy This week, Joseph and Holly are joined by long-time conservative strategist Dan Robertson, who has an unconventional set of ideas: Canada’s Conservative Party can’t out-campaign a system rigged against it. Dan’s solution? Structural reform. In a recent op-ed, he outlines three controversial but compelling ideas to level...

Joseph is back, Andrew has a cold, Holly has green tea — and the Craft Politics crew takes on three major stories reshaping the political map: peace in Gaza, Canada’s economic pivot, and Britain’s inflation problem. 🧭 What’s Inside: 🇮🇱 20 Hostages Freed — Can Trump Deliver Peace in Gaza? All living hostages have been returned after 738 days in captivity Trump takes centre stage in the peace proce...

With Andrew Percy, Holly Mumby-Croft & guest roving reporter Antony Higginbotham Joseph’s away, so the adults are off-duty — and the former MPs are in charge. In this special Tory Party Conference edition, Andrew and Holly are joined by their old colleague (and flatmate) Antony Higginbotham — back from the ground in Manchester with gossip, grit, and grim assessments of where the Conservative Party...

This week, we’re joined by Lord Daniel Hannan, one of the most thoughtful — and globally fluent — conservative voices in politics. We go deep on the future of the right across the Anglosphere: 🇬🇧 Is the British Conservative Party dead or just regenerating? 🇺🇸 Has the U.S. abandoned the world it built? 🇨🇦 Why is Canadian conservatism still the sanest? 🗳 And is the UK heading toward a merger moment...

We’re back with another Issue Scan — and we’ve got a full lineup: 🌍 A 20-point postwar plan for Gaza 🇬🇧 Labour’s conference drama (or lack thereof) 📬 And a Canada Post strike that’s gone… oddly unnoticed? Joseph, Andrew, and Holly break down the headlines with just enough disagreement to keep things honest — and just enough beer to keep things friendly.

We had intended to explore this major foreign policy shift with a former G7 foreign minister, but unfortunately, schedules got in the way. Percy and Joseph share their thoughts on what is an incredibly sensitive topic. The conversation delves into the recent recognition of Palestine at the UN, contrasting Canadian foreign policy, and the implications of the October 7th attacks. We discuss the role...

We’re back with another Issue Scan — and somehow, the world got messier again. This week, we covered everything from Trump’s sudden about-face on Ukraine, to Keir Starmer’s high-stakes state visit with the same man, to Ed Davey’s surprisingly jazzy Lib Dem conference. And yes, we finally got Andrew back — fresh from California and full of strong beer opinions. We also welcomed some new (and critic...

This week on Craft Politics, we kick off our latest Issue Scan with a Prime Minister in crisis, a Conservative Party in retreat, and a Canadian housing announcement that somehow manages to add more bureaucracy to solve… bureaucracy. Plus, our favourite comms segment—Lipstick on a Gerbil—features an impossible task: defending Peter Mandelson. With Percy mostly frozen on screen (literally), Joseph a...

When we last had Ginny Roth on the show, everyone assumed Pierre Poilievre would be Canada’s next Prime Minister. Much has changed in seven months. This week, we ask Ginny: 🔄 Rebuilding the narrative: What should Poilievre say (and not say) in Question Period to shift the political terrain? 💸 Cost of living, crime, and immigration: Ginny argues that these remain the three most potent issues for...

Plus: Canada’s economic blues, France’s fourth PM in four years, and Farage dodges a lipstick. Joseph, Andrew, and Holly return with another Issue Scan—three stories, three jurisdictions, and one increasingly depressing outlook on the Western political economy. But don’t worry, we offset the doom with solid banter, questionable French pronunciation, and beer reviews. 🧭 Here’s what’s inside this w...

With Andrew MacDougall, former Director of Communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper This week, we’re joined by Andrew MacDougall, a fellow Harper PMO alum and one of the sharpest communications minds in the business. His latest paper for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute makes a bold case: that the attention economy, powered by Big Tech platforms, is actively undermining Western democracy—and...

It’s back-to-school, back-to-politics, and back to your feeds with Season Two of Craft Politics — now with a brand new format and a new co-host. We’re thrilled to welcome Holly Mumby-Croft, former UK Member of Parliament, to the pod. She’ll join Percy and I each week for our Tuesday Issue Scan episode, adding deep political insight and a healthy counter-weight to Percy... In this episode: 🇬🇧 Labou...

Our cheeky half before we break for August It’s our final episode before a short summer break—and we’re closing it out with a cheeky half pint and a big-picture scan of the trade and political chaos unfolding across Canada, the US, and the UK. In this episode: 🇨🇦 Carney concedes “tariff-free” deal with Trump is unlikely • What the PM’s first public walk-back says about expectations management • Do...

With Hunter Knifton We revisit the 2025 Canadian federal election—not with hot takes, but with hard data. Our guest is Hunter Knifton, the analyst behind the Charting Canada Substack, who’s challenging two of the most commonly accepted narratives about the election. In this episode: 🗳 The myth of the “NDP-to-Conservative switcher”: why it’s not supported by the numbers 📉 Why the collapse of the P...

With Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal It’s been six months since Mark Carney smashed through the wall of Canadian politics and declared, “This is a crisis.” He’s been elected. He’s governing. And he’s moving fast. But how far can a technocrat push before political gravity kicks in? To take stock of Carney’s first chapter as Prime Minister, we’re joined by Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal—two Liberal ins...

With Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor, Sky News This week, we’re joined by Sam Coates, co-host of Politics at Sam and Anne and one of the UK’s sharpest political analysts, to make sense of a government struggling to hold the line—on foreign policy, economic discipline, and party unity. In this episode: 🇮🇷 Why the UK backed the ends but not the means of Trump’s strike on Iran ⚖️ How Starmer’s de...

With Shuvaloy Majumdar, MP for Calgary Heritage This week, Israel launched one of the most significant military operations of our time—decimating Iranian nuclear infrastructure, IRGC command, and ballistic capabilities. The West? Mostly quiet. We go deep with Shuvaloy Majumdar, MP, former advisor at Foreign Affairs, and one of the sharpest, clearest voices on Middle East geopolitics today. In this...