House of Lords Podcast: Lord Speaker's Corner

Prisons Minister James Timpson, Lord Timpson, speaks to Lord Forysth of Drumlean about fostering, business leadership and prison reform in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner.   In this episode ‘We all had a responsibility to help these other people.’   Lord Timpson reflects on a life shaped by an unconventional childhood, where his mother fostered almost 100 children over the ye...

Lord Speaker’s Corner returns as the Iranian-born Bishop of Chelmsford shares the extraordinary family story behind a pillowcase pierced by four bullets aimed at her father.   In the first episode of a new series, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean speaks to the Rt Revd Guli Francis-Dehqani about survival, faith, and what her experience reveals about Iran today. In this episode “My mother was shot. (Sh...

The tables are turned as outgoing Lord Speaker Lord McFall of Alcluith is the guest on his own podcast.   As Lord McFall of Alcluith prepares to step down after nearly five years as Lord Speaker, he speaks to fellow Scottish peer and broadcaster Baroness (Ayesha) Hazarika. This episode looks back at Lord McFall’s extraordinary personal journey into politics, and his nearly 40 years at Westmin...

Michael Gove, Lord Gove, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner as he discusses the fragmentation of British politics, breaking up the Treasury, Brexit and The Celebrity Traitors.   Lord Gove speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about why two-party politics no longer works, suggesting “We have to ask ourselves ‘why has this happened?’, and not ‘how can we put Humpty Dumpty back together ag...

Defence, security, Russia and China are on the agenda in the latest Lord Speaker’s Corner. Former Nato Secretary General, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, and former First Sea Lord, Lord West of Spithead, speak to Lord McFall of Alcluith. In this episode, Lord Robertson, who was also Defence Secretary from 1997 to 1999, warns that the UK is “under-prepared and under attack”. He also discusses Russian...

Former head of MI5 Baroness Manningham-Buller joins Lord Speaker’s Corner to discuss the relationship between MI5 and MI6, reading upside down, meeting Vladimir Putin and whether Russia is at war with the West. Eliza Manningham-Buller, Baroness Manningham-Buller, served in MI5 for 34 years, becoming Director General in 2002 before retiring in 2007. She spoke to Lord McFall of Alcluith on 22 July 2...

Entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner as she sounds the alarm over the deepening gender divide in tech. Martha Lane Fox is Chancellor of The Open University, and President of the British Chambers of Commerce. In 1998 she co-founded Europe’s largest travel and leisure website, lastminute.com. From 2009-2013, she helped create the Gover...

‘War and conflict is not something that is not familiar to me. It is not an essay title, it is not a theoretical exercise. It's very real.’     Campaigner Baroness Helic is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner as she warns that society has become numb to sexual violence in war.     Arminka Helic, Baroness Helic, campaigns to raise global awareness of rape as a war crime. H...

‘The demand for journalism is unprecedented in the whole of human history. But what's got much harder is to work out what the best media for it is, and where the money lies and where the future lies.’ Former editor of the Daily Telegraph, Lord Moore of Etchingham, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.   Charles Moore, now Lord Moore of Etchingham, also previously edited the Spectator...

‘ The US is just so obsessed about being big, it doesn't understand that by others becoming bigger, the US can become wealthier.’ Jim O’Neill, Lord O’Neill of Gatley, is an ex-Treasury Minister, former Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs and Crossbench member of the House of Lords.   In this latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner, Lord O’Neill shares his perspectives with Lord McFall of Alcluit...

Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, speaks about why she is campaigning on topics including salmon farming and water company pollution in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘We’ve seen water companies polluting our waterways, our beaches, our lovely fishing streams… our chalk streams that are very rare and precious. And yet, we still can’t stop them doing it.’   Baroness Jon...

Former leader of the Labour party Neil Kinnock, Lord Kinnock, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘I guess that's what gave me my politics basically. The idea that many people working together could produce and provide at the level of quality that would've been absolutely impossible for the individual or the family.’   Lord Kinnock speaks about growing up in south Wales and what dre...

Former top diplomat Simon McDonald, Lord McDonald of Salford, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. Lord McDonald shares his views on a range of current international issues from President Trump and Greenland to the Chagos Islands and British soft power, plus changes to the global approach of the USA, China and Russia: ‘For most of my career, the reasons why the institutions of the late 19...

From politics to comedy to campaigning against anti-social behaviour, broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. Baroness Hazarika grew up in Coatbridge, Scotland and is the first person of Indian Assamese heritage to join the House of Lords. She rose to become a senior adviser to Labour figures including Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband, playing a crucial role prepari...

From the Foreign Office to National Security Adviser to Cabinet Secretary, Mark Sedwill – Lord Sedwill – is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘It comes down in the end to the quality of the individual and then they'll get the best out of the best civil servants.’ In this episode, Lord Sedwill shares his perspectives on the relationship between ministers and officials, reforming the Civil...

From education to government, Northern Ireland to Hong Kong, organising a Papal visit to leading a university, Chris Patten speaks about his life and work. ‘You engage them, first of all, without the sort of mushy feeling that you can't do business with them unless you accept their political narrative… we should talk to the Chinese, but we should do so in a pretty clear-sighted way.’ In a wide-ran...

‘I'd heard bombs before, so I knew it was a bomb.’ Forty years ago this month, Robin Butler - Principle Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher - was in the room with the prime minister when the Brighton bomb exploded nearby in their hotel. ‘This is our opportunity to show that terrorism can't defeat democracy’ Now Lord Butler of Brockwell tells the Lord Speaker about his experience, from their ini...

‘This morning, even this morning, I was in my prayer saying to God, "What am I doing here?”’ Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, senior bishop in the Church of England and leader of the bishops in the House of Lords, speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith. ‘Growing up was pretty complicated to put it mildly.’ In this expansive interview, he speaks to the Lord Speaker about his early life,...

Lord Speaker’s Corner returns for a new Parliament and Lord McFall of Alcluith’s first guest is former Director General of MI5 and Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Jonathan Evans, Lord Evans of Weardale . ‘MI5 in those days was very secretive, had a very low public profile… it was only on day two of my initial training course that I realised I'd actually joined MI5.’ In this epi...

Sovereignty, tackling terrorism and even Macbeth are on the agenda in the latest Lord Speaker’s Corner as David Anderson, Lord Anderson of Ipswich KC, speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith. ‘You were inventing effectively a new system… that had to be common to all the difference countries of Europe… It seemed to me much better to do it that way than to be fighting each other as we had been for hundred...

Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. In this episode, Baroness Young speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about her work tackling modern slavery, race and inequality in the creative sector, and why consumers should challenge companies to do better when they source materials. Baroness Young has extensive experience telling truth to power. From challengin...

Should Mars be our plan(et) B? Should we continue with manned spaceflight? Hear from the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees of Ludlow, in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘Now that robots can do the things that humans were needed for 50 years ago, the case for sending people is getting weaker all the time.’   In this episode, Martin Rees - astrophysicist, former President of the Royal So...

Peter Mandelson - former Cabinet minister, leading figure in New Labour and now Lord Mandelson - speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about his life in politics. ‘Born into the Labour Party’, Lord Mandelson began a career of campaigning at school, where he was reprimanded by his grammar school headteacher for advocating for comprehensive education. ‘It was very difficult in the 1980s. It made me, of...

Former top diplomat Lord Ricketts speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about the conflicts in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine, the impact of Brexit and more in this episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. Peter Ricketts, an expert in international relations and now a crossbench member of the House of Lords, has previously served as the UK’s ambassador to France and representative to Nato. He has been chair of the...

Lord Lamont talks tackling inflation, controlling interest rates and growing up in Shetland in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘Although I personally would not have joined the ERM and although I personally didn't think it was a disaster when we had to leave, I think the period we were in the ERM for two years did actually do the economy a huge amount of good.’ Norman Lamont, now Lord...