Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards

In another packed episode-latest on Covid testing, B Johnson's conference speech crammed with objectives without explaining how he'll meet any of them-and your brilliant questions inc Andrew Neil's new channel, Keir Starmer's knighthood..and pro-Europeans without a voice...and what you're up to while listening to this podcast..plus details of next live show at Kings Place on October 19th. Learn mo...

The media is trained to spot tensions between PMs and Chancellors, but often gets the complex relationship wrong...plus Covid, the government's response and Monty Python's Flying Circus...and your brilliant questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the virus wreaks havoc again, why some MPs call for the army to intervene ...and why there'll be significant consequences as some Tory newspapers give B Johnson a hard time (though nowhere near as hard as they would have done to a Labour PM)...Plus your brilliant questions.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

The government's 'oven ready' deal that would 'get Brexit done' is now being violated...by the government...and your brilliant questions on Boris Johnson, Brexit, Keir Starmer and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Number 10 that presided chaotically over Covid and its consequences does not go for introspective humility...Instead of learning lessons from its failures it moves on with naive self-confidence and counterproductive machismo as it threatens to renege on its own 'oven ready' Brexit deal....plus some of your brilliant questions answered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com...

Boris Johnson is struggling. Does he realise yet that he is not equipped to meet the epic demands of leadership? Writing the paperback version of 'The Prime Ministers- Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson' I am struck by how miserable Prime Ministers are a lot of the time. They get to the top, feel euphoric...and then all hell breaks loose. Also given the performance of the government....

Have the last twelve months been the most historic since the end of World War Two? Covid, Brexit, a big Tory election win....that takes a lot of beating..there's been the Suez Crisis, Sterling Crises, Three Day Weeks, Winter of Discontent, Iraq, Financial Crash...and what about the epic dramas of the early 1980s? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast....

In UK politics B Johnson can escape scrutiny more easily than D Trump, Johnson's model of leadership in some respects. Johnson does not like being challenged and in one huge policy area he is getting his way. The UK economy faces another big hit because of the Johnson/Cummings approach to talks with the EU, but few are questioning what they are doing and what the likely consequences will be. On th...

Rishi Sunak walks on water but he does so by putting the case for borrowing and spending. How should Labour respond? There are big risks and opportunities for Starmer and his new team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Dominic Cummings the most powerful  Number 10 special adviser of modern times? I reflect on the relationship between PMs and their favourite special advisers. From Harold Wilson and Marcia Williams to Johnson and Cummings...the most illuminating relationships in politics.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

This week I reflect on the chasm between B Johnson's bold objectives and his capacity to deliver..plus Dominic Cummings, the shallow revolutionary with angry, contradictory plans...and K Starmer's sacking of RLB and the complex implications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I reflect on the contradictory leaks coming from Number 10, the Treasury and the wider government..and reveal the outcome of my exclusive poll on the fate of Boris Johnson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lookahead to the next virtual live Rock N Roll Politics on Wednesday June 17th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In England voters only turn against Conservative governments when they are seen as incompetent. With one of the highest virus death tolls and a hard Brexit looming is B Johnson in danger of losing the battle of competence..with electoral consequences? Also some thoughts on the BBC's new DG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

There are signs of tension between Johnson, ministers and some of the scientists over the lockdown exit and the Cummings' affair. At first they appeared to be dancing together as ministers proclaimed absurdly that they were 'following the science', but now the mood on the dance floor darkens...plus Emily Maitlis and the BBC  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Host...

Why is B Johnson so dependent on D Cummings? Is his determination to keep him a sign of strength or weakness? The saga of Cummings dash to Durham shows at the very least that the Vote Leave campaign runs Number Ten. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A preview of the live virtual show on the Kings Place website at 7pm on Monday May 18th. The last live virtual show was on the day B.Johnson returned to work..how is he doing? How is K Starmer doing? And will the UK and politics in the UK change permanently and if so in what way?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...

A look ahead to Monday's virtual show on the Kings Place website starting at 7 pm...The last live virtual show was on the day B Johnson returned to work...How's he doing? How's K Starmer doing? And will the virus emergency change the UK and politics permanently ..and in what way? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Boris Johnson outlined the Lockdown exit strategy in a grand televised address to the nation. Yet avoidable confusion followed. Why? I reflect on how Tony Blair and others in the New Labour era would 'bombproof' every statement before a public word was uttered and seek to answer why B Johnson and his team are more casual in their approach. Also my verdict on Keir Starmer's early days... Learn more...

This week I reflect on Matt Hancock not meeting his testing target, claiming to do so..and the triumph he could have claimed for getting close to his goal. Targets work..and the scrapping of targets was one of the many calamitous decisions taken by the coalition government... Plus Brexit latest..and thoughts on my virtual live show from a room in my house.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Rock n Roll Politics the Lockdown Special is on the Kings Place website at 7pm on Monday April 27th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am hooked on the Number 10 daily press conferences even though they are dull and reveal little..perhaps my addiction is explained by the gap between the eerie, subdued mood at the conferences with the epic crisis being played out..it's a darkly compelling disjunction..and on other matters the former Cabinet minister Peter Hain reflects on Labour's decline and the need for radical Keynesian econo...

In this episode I look at how perceptions of B Johnson changed in terms of his role as a Prime Minister when he was moved to Intensive Care-he was viewed suddenly as more leadenly than he was; I interviewed T Blair for my Radio 4 programme on Labour's challenges 'Left out of Power'- here is the interview in full. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast....

Not for the first time ministers are hoist by their own petard as they try to exert control over the NHS only to discover they gave away their powers to do so..and Keir Starmer wins by a landslide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

B Johnson has been famous for so long it is easy to forget how inexperienced he is as a PM facing the big challenge since 1945...and now he gets the virus along with other key players. Keir Starmer faces a different challenge..making his mark at a time of national emergency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...