Since Attlee & Churchill

In the latest Matters of Interest, Richard tears apart the complaints made by some employees in government about the condition of Number 10 Downing Street, opening up a discussion about the refurbishments of the building over the years and the power of Number 10 versus other government departments. Then Lee takes issue with a recent report about different types of 'reading' - including digital rea...

In this week's podcast, Richard and Lee are joined by historian Tom Chidwick to discuss the life and times of Dick Taverne. In the early 1970s, the Labour MP for Lincoln was deselected by his party over Europe; in response, he resigned his seat and stood in a spectacular by-election. When voters went to the polls, Taverne achieved what John Curtice has called 'the most significant by-election succ...

In their regular mid-week episode, Lee and Richard clash on the current scandal engulfing the BBC before Richard shares some anonymous correspondence from the heart of Whitehall, exposing some of the challenges we face in being an effectively-governed nation. Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review! *** Sin...

In this episode, released on Remembrance Sunday, Lee and Richard discuss four titanic politicians of the twentieth century shaped by their experience of war. Clement Attlee and Harold Macmillan both served with distinction in the First World War, and Denis Healey and Edward Heath in the Second. This podcast looks at what their contribution to the war looked like - including their many brushes with...

In this week's Matters of Interest, Richard shares some remarkable examples of leading British politicians who have chosen not to go by the name they were given at birth. Who did it? And why? Then Lee discusses the recent reforms to political donations in Australia, with a lively discussion about the need for - and the pitfalls of - reforming the way we fund our political parties. Did you know tha...

In this week's episode, Lee and Richard discuss the biggest political scandal of a generation: the publication of MPs' expenses in 2009. Reported on by the Daily Telegraph after the sensational leak of over a million and a half documents from Parliament, the scandal captured the attention of the nation. From duck houses to moat cleaning, phantom mortgages to packets of biscuits - every detail seem...

In this week's Matters of Interest, Richard reflects on the historic size of the Civil Service and considers whether Reform's plan to reduce it is really the solution to getting things done in Britain. Lee thinks back to the noughties when Labour last tried to introduce ID cards and asks what Keir Starmer could learn from Tony Blair. And the pair discuss - and disagree! - on whether compulsory vot...

In this week's podcast, we discuss one of the most important forks in the road in Britain's post-war history: when Clement Attlee's Labour government refused to take part in discussions on the Schuman Plan, which would become the European Coal and Steel Community and ultimately evolve into the European Union. What motivated their decision? Was it Germanophobia, or a devotion to socialism? And did...

Richard kicks off this week's 'Matters of Interest' episode by discussing whether the old political parties in Britain - the Conservatives and Labour - are dying, changing, or simply finding they have new competitors vying for power. Lee focuses on the question of Margaret Thatcher's legacy, one he is keen to defend - and Richard even keener to condemn. Visit the Since Attlee & Churchill books...

October 2025 marks 100 years since the birth of Margaret Thatcher. In this week's podcast, Lee and Richard discuss the dramatic events that came in her sixty-sixth year: her downfall as Prime Minister. Why did she resign after eleven and a half years in Number 10? Could she have fought on? And if she had stayed in power, would she have won the 1991/2 general election? Listen to find out their answ...

This week, Lee and Richard discuss whether the public really pay attention to politics - with Lee challenging the shibboleth of some political commentators that very few people really pay attention to what is going on in Westminster. They also discuss party memberships, following news that the Lib Dem membership has halved in the last five years. And Richard shares his thoughts on the importance o...

115 years ago this week, one of Labour's most iconic politicians was born. Barbara Castle grew up in Yorkshire before attending Oxford University and becoming a Labour MP in 1945. For over three decades, she was one of the best-known MPs in the country and one of the most forceful advocates for socialism. In this episode, Lee interviews Richard about Castle's life and achievements and Richard expl...

Throughout the month of October, Lee and Richard are experimenting with mid-week editions of Matters of Interest. In this first episode, Lee returns from Conservative Party Conference and shares his thoughts on Margaret Thatcher's legacy and the Tories' newly announced policies. And Richard discovers an almost century-old prescription given to Winston Churchill by an American doctor, which reveals...

In the second part of their miniseries on consequential party conferences, Richard and Lee discuss the Conservatives' 2005 gathering in Blackpool. In the wake of their third successive election defeat, Tories gathered on the Fylde coast to mull over the choice of leader. The front-runner at the start of proceedings would bomb on the conference stage and a little known MP would emerge as the leader...

With party conference season underway, Lee and Richard begin a new two-part miniseries discussing some of the most consequential Labour and Conservative conferences in the post-war era. First up is Labour's 1952 conference in Morecambe. Amidst pelting rain, Britain's socialists gathered in opposition for the first time in over a decade. The party was deeply split over its own record in government...

In June 1995, John Major shocked the political world by resigning as Leader of the Conservative Party. But in the very next sentence of his resignation statement, he confirmed that he would be standing to be his own successor. Why? What did he hope to achieve? Who stood against him? And what were the consequences? We look back 30 years to these dramatic political events and ask what lessons other...

We conclude our miniseries on the Labour politicians whose lives came to premature ends with John Smith. After spending his early life practising law in Scotland, Smith served in the Wilson and Callaghan governments before 1979. In opposition, he was never far from the action - and in 1992 was chosen overwhelmingly to lead the Labour Party. Yet after just 22 months in charge, he died of a heart at...

In part two of our mini-series looking at the Labour politicians whose lives came to tragic and premature ends, we turn to Anthony Crosland. Having established himself as one of the lighthouses of socialist thinking in Britain, Crosland became a senior minister in the Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan governments. He left his mark wherever he went, including his fierce attacks on grammar schools. Cr...

Richard and Lee begin a new mini-series looking at the Labour politicians whose lives came to tragic and premature ends, starting with Hugh Gaitskell. After becoming Chancellor just five years into his time as an MP, Gaitskell became the flagbearer for the Labour Right and, in 1955, the successor to Clement Attlee. His first meeting with the voters ended in defeat, but in 1963 he looked to be on t...

For this episode, Lee and Richard are joined by Katherine Carter, the curator of Chartwell, Churchill's country home, and the best-selling author of 'Churchill's Citadel'. Their discussion ranges from Churchill's decision to buy a semi-ruined home in rural Kent to the remarkable cast of characters - from Britain and around the world - that he invited to meet with him there. Throughout Churchill's...

Alice Mahon may not be a well-remembered figure today, but for 18 years she served as MP for Halifax. In this episode, Lee and Richard discuss how this working class Yorkshirewoman entered the House of Commons and how her left-wing politics were received in Tony Blair's Labour Party. In doing so, they reflect on Blair's style of party management - in which left-wingers like Mahon were tolerated -...

In a special bonus episode to mark 25,000 downloads of the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast, Lee and Richard interview Dr Mark Garnett, a renowned historian of the Conservative Party and researcher for Ted Heath on the former prime minister’s memoirs. They discuss Heath’s approach to writing his much-anticipated autobiography; his ideology; how he came to terms with Thatcherism; and why he sta...

In 1949, the Young Conservatives boasted 160,000 members. They were the largest political youth organisation in the free world. Their social events were iconic and thousands of marriages, it was said, had been formed after encounters at Young Conservative committee meetings or balls. But by the mid-1960s, the organisation was declining; by the 1980s, it was in freefall. So what happened to the You...

Black Wednesday, also known as the Sterling Crisis of 1992, is one of the most traumatic events in Britain's post-war economic history. It left Britain looking devalued and powerless compared to the economic powerhouse of Germany, whilst for John Major and his government it was a blow to their economic credibility from which they would never recover. But was it actually a bad day for Britain? And...

The third and final instalment of a special mini-series on the Attlee versus Churchill elections turns to the 1951 general election. In some respects, it was a repeat of the contest 20 months earlier - similar candidates, similar ideas, and a similar number of votes for both parties. But due to the workings of the electoral system, it gave the Conservatives and Winston Churchill a small majority i...