The Politics Show

The writer, satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci returns to the  New Statesman Podcast  to co-host our third series of  Westminster Reimagined . In six special episodes, Iannucci explores the parts of British public life he believes are broken and works out how to fix them with guests from inside and outside Westminster.    In this episode, Iannucci and Anoosh Chakeli...

For the first time since 2010, constituency boundaries are set to be redrawn. The Boundary Commission for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has published its final proposals, to be followed by final recommendations in 2023 that are likely to be adopted in time for the next election. Anoosh Chakelian and Rachel Wearmouth are joined by Ben Walker, who has made a detailed  map of the...

As the Conservative Party deadline approaches for MPs to say whether they want to run in the next election, many young Tory MPs have already announced that they’ve had enough, including the Bishop Auckland MP Dehanna Davison. Charlotte Ivers, the Times Radio presenter and columnist for the  New Statesman  and  Sunday Times , joins Rachel Cunliffe to talk about why this is, and how R...

The writer, satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci returns to the  New Statesman Podcast  to co-host our third series of  Westminster Reimagined . In six special episodes Iannucci explores parts of British public life he believes to be broken, and is joined by guests from inside and outside Westminster to work out how to fix things. In this episode, Iannucci and Anoosh Chakelian,...

Rishi Sunak has denied reports that the government is preparing to seek a “Swiss-style” deal with the EU over the next decade to rebuild economic ties with the trading bloc. Rachel Cunliffe, Rachel Wearmouth and Freddie Hayward discuss why the Prime Minister is incurring the wrath of hardline Tory Brexiteers, the signs of rising public discontent with Brexit, and whether this is a window of opport...

In 2014, the then prime minister  David Cameron  commissioned a review into a worrying global phenomenon: an increase in drug-resistant infections. “If we fail to act,” he warned, “we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine.”    The economist Jim O’Neill, who chaired the review, predicted...

In a special episode of the  New Statesman  podcast, recorded live at the Cambridge Literary Festival, Rachel Wearmouth, Freddie Hayward and Ben Walker look back at the last few weeks in politics, including the fall out from the Autumn Statement, how Rishi Sunak is going down with voters and whether Labour is finding its voice. Then they take questions from the audience on everything fro...

The writer, satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci returns to the  New Statesman Podcast  to co-host our third series of  Westminster Reimagined . In six special episodes Iannucci explores parts of British public life he believes to be broken, and is joined by guests from inside and outside Westminster to work out how to fix things.    In this episode, Iannucci and Anoo...

Rachel Cunliffe, Freddie Hayward and Rachel Wearmouth dissect the Autumn Statement, which will leave Britain with highest tax burden since the Second World War. They discuss what to make of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s bleak forecast that living standards are set to collapse by the largest amount on record, and recap how we got to this point just 55 days after Kwasi Kwarteng’s ill-fated...

As Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt prepare for a Budget that will likely mean years of austerity, Rachel Cunliffe talks to the Conservative commentator John Oxley about the mess the party finds itself in. They discuss whether the damage done by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng is reversible, or if the party was in terminal decline anyway. Plus, what hopes Tories have at the next election and the impact of...

The legendary writer, satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci returns to the  New Statesman Podcast  to co-host our third series of  Westminster Reimagined . Across six special episodes, Iannucci explores parts of British public life he believes to be broken, and is joined by guests from both inside and outside the Westminster world to work out how to fix things.&nb...

Gavin Williamson has resigned from the cabinet as minister without portfolio after a string of bullying allegations, including expletive-laden texts to a female colleague. It’s not the first time he has lost a government job: he was sacked twice before, under Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Anoosh Chakelian, Rachel Wearmouth, Freddie Hayward and Emma Haslett discuss the scandal and contro...

As Cop27, the UN climate conference, starts in Egypt, Anoosh Chakelian is joined by India Bourke, our environment correspondent, to discuss why Rishi Sunak U-turned and is now attending, what might be announced and why it’s disappointing that the leaders of so many other countries are not going. Read more: Carbon emissions tracker  2022: How do countries compare?  Greta Thunberg on why&n...

The writer, satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci, returns to the  New Statesman Podcast  to co-host our third series of  Westminster Reimagined . In six special episodes Iannucci explores parts of British public life he believes to be broken, and is joined by guests from inside and outside Westminster to work out how to fix things.     In this episode, Iannucci a...

Anoosh Chakelian, the New Statesman’s Britain editor, is joined by Andrew Marr, political editor, and Rachel Wearmouth, deputy political editor, to assess Rishi Sunak’s first ten days in Downing Street, from the damaging re-appointment of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary to mixed messages on his government’s commitment to the climate. They discuss his tricky mandate, the prospect of tax rises an...

With the Conservatives on to their fifth prime minister in just six years, we talk to the political scientist and author Brian Klaas about the leadership problem in politics: why the top jobs attract the worst people; why it was a good thing that Truss was able to fail so quickly; and what we need to do to defend democracy.   If you have a question for You Ask Us, go to newstatesman.com/...

Rishi Sunak attended his first PMQs on Wednesday 26 October, and seemed to buoy up his divided party with Johnsonite attack lines on Labour – but can he hold on to unity and win back the country’s trust?  Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Rachel Cunliffe, Rachel Wearmouth and our business editor, Will Dunn, to discuss Sunak’s first few days in charge, the fallout from his reappointment of Suella...

The UK is to have a new prime minister whose policies are unknown and no one but Tory MPs voted for. Public appetite for a general election is high. What will Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, do when he officially enters No 10, and why did Boris Johnson drop out of the Conservative leadership race this weekend? Anoosh Chakelian, the New Statesman’s Britain Editor, is joined by Rachel Wearmouth,...

In this bonus episode of the  New Statesman Podcast , Rachel Cunliffe interviews the  Daily Star  deputy editor-in-chief Jon Livesey about how a lettuce livestream helped chronicle the downfall of Liz Truss’s calamitous time in office.   They talk about why it cut through to the public, what’s happening to the lettuce now, and which vegetable will come next. LISTEN AD-FREE: 📱...

Liz Truss has announced she will stand down as prime minister after her government was plunged into chaos yesterday. The Home Secretary was forced to resign, the chief whip attempted to resign, and Tory MPs were allegedly manhandled and reduced to tears over a fracking vote which was (maybe?) a vote of confidence.   Rachel Cunliffe, Ben Walker and Rachel Wearmouth discuss Liz Truss’s res...

In a desperate attempt to stabilise the financial markets Jeremy Hunt, the newly appointed Chancellor, has reversed “almost all” of the tax cuts announced in the government’s mini-Budget just three weeks ago. Anoosh Chakelian and Harry Lambert discuss the measures announced in Hunt’s emergency statement this morning, reports that he is now acting effectively as a caretaker PM, and who would succee...

Emma Haslett,  The New Statesman ’s associate business editor, speaks to Gary Stevenson, an economist and former trader for Citibank, a job he initially won in a card game. In 2011 he became the bank’s most profitable trader globally by correctly predicting the economy would not recover from the 2008 financial crash. In 2014 Stevenson quit his job, and he now campaign...

What was left of Liz Truss’s authority visibly dissipated in Prime Minister’s Questions this week. As Freddie Hayward reports, the atmosphere was “funereal”, with the Prime Minister repeating “I’m genuinely unclear” and refusing to talk about market turmoil or tax cuts, only the government’s energy package. Anoosh Chakelian, Rachel Cunliffe, Rachel Wearmouth and Freddie Hayward discuss the critici...

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Dale Vince, a green energy industrialist and founder of Ecotricity, a renewable energy company. Vince’s book  Manifesto: How a Maverick Entrepreneur Took On British Energy and Won  was published in 2020, charting his journey from leaving school aged 15, to becoming a New Age traveller, and finally into the weird world that is Britain’s energy market.  ...

As conference season ends, our Political Editor, Andrew Marr, discusses the Conservative and Labour conferences with Freddie Hayward and Anoosh Chakelian.   They reflect on the mood at the Conservative Party conference, whether Liz Truss will get any policy through parliament and if Labour really is more confident that it could return to government.   Then in You Ask Us they answer a lis...