The Rundown by PoliticsHome

For the 150th episode this week former deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine comes on the show for a special interview ahead of the publication of his new memoir ' From Acorns to Oaks ' about the second part of his career as an advisor to David Cameron and reflecting further on his time in Margaret Thatcher and John Major’s Cabinets. The Conservative peer, who at 91 is still one of the ‘...

Before the election Labour promised to restore confidence in government by cleaning up lobbying, improving transparency and tightening the rules for MPs, but is Keir Starmer's administration really sticking to its word? The Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Melanie Onn , a member of the Commons standards committee, Gabe Winn , chief executive of the Blakeney Group, a public affairs...

A difficult financial outlook has got even tougher for Rachel Reeves in recent days, so what is happening to the UK economy, and just how difficult will things get for the Chancellor with the next OBR forecast and the spending review looming? To take a deeper look at what is fuelling the current market turmoil, and ask whether things really are as bad as during the Liz Truss era, host Alain Tolhur...

One of the most interesting and consequential politicians of the past few years, Steve Baker was the Conservative MP for Wycombe for 14 years, served as a minister in three departments for three different prime ministers, but is probably best known as the so-called ‘Brexit hardman’, who corralled the ERG group of eurosceptic Tories into numerous rebellions over how Britain left the EU. Now out of...

To mark the new year LBC’s political editor Natasha Clark and PoliticsHome editor Adam Payne join host Alain Tolhurst to look ahead to the next 12 months in British politics with a preview of 2025; What will be the big flashpoints as Keir Starmer tries to boost his flagging premiership? Can Kemi Badenoch revive the Tories in the face of threats of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK? Will Westminster continu...

In a special festive episode the PolHome team looks back at the biggest political moments of 2024 after a historical and tumultuous year, dominated by Labour’s landslide election victory this summer, and the fallout from the first change in government since 2010. Joining Alain Tolhurst to discuss everything from Liz Truss losing her seat to Sue Gray’s defenestration, farmer protests, Donald Trump’...

Rough sleeping and homelessness are some of the most intractable problems successive governments have failed to solve; but does it need to be this hard, are the solutions already out there, and if so why has no administration managed to grasp the nettle? Lord John Bird , crossbench peer and co-founder of The Big Issue magazine, Andy Preston , former mayor of Middlesbrough and founder of the charit...

What does the continued fracturing of the UK’s political landscape means for our democracy going forward? After a preliminary vote on proportional representation surprised almost everyone in Westminster by passing last week, will this Parliament might finally see some movement on electoral reform? Lisa Smart , Liberal Democrat MP for Hazel Grove and vice chair of the new All Party Parliamentary Gr...

So, when is a reset, not a reset? As Sir Keir Starmer outlines various ‘milestones’ he wants to achieve before the next election, a panel of seasoned analysts look at why is there a squeamishness about resets, why parties still end up doing them so often, and whether they can be done effectively. Catherine Haddon , programme director at the Institute for Government, Jo Tanner, a political comms st...

A panel of foreign policy experts joins host Alain Tolhurst to look at global affairs, the dangers the UK faces around the world, how the public feels about them, and what Keir Starmer's government can do to tackle the big security issues. Sophia Gaston , who works at the ASPI think tank, Tobias Ellwood , former defence committee chair, and Chris Hopkins , political research director at pollsters...

With the return of the bill on assisted dying next week we're unapologetically getting into the weeds of Parliamentary procedure for this episode, and looking at whether a Private Members Bill from a backbench MP is really the best way of passing such potentially important legislation. Two doyens of PMBs in UK policy circles; Dr Daniel Gover , Senior Lecturer in British Politics at Queen Mary Univ...

After a host of MPs were among the millions of people to quit X, formerly known as Twitter, in recent days over the role of its owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, and the amplification of misinformation and abuse, Josh Simons , Labour MP for Makerfield and member of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, joined Ben Guerin , co-founder of creative agency Topham Guerin, which has worked on...

After 14 years in power the Conservatives were unceremoniously booted out of office under a Labour landslide in July's general election, so this week Baroness Kate Fall , who was deputy chief of staff to David Cameron for more than a decade, Fred de Fossard , director of strategy at the Legatum Institute, and a former Conservative special adviser, as well as Henry Hill , deputy editor of the websi...

After the most consequential Budget in more than a decade, Labour MP  Chris Curtis , vice-chair of the Labour Growth Group, Mel Stride , former Treasury minister and ex-chair of the Treasury Select Committee, join host Alain Tolhurst and two top think tank economists; Isabel Stockton , Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and James Smith , Research Director at the Resolut...

What happens when MPs stop being MPs? With hundreds of Parliamentarians having left the Commons this summer following Labour’s landslide victory, what happens to all those turfed out of their seats? Three former Conservative MPs; Vicky Ford , ex-MP for Chelmsford, James Sunderland , who represented Bracknell, and Matt Warman , the former member for Boston and Skegness, join host Alain Tolhurst to...

After a new bill attempting to legalise assisted dying in the UK was introduced to the House of Commons, the Green Party MP Sian Berry , former Lord Chancellor and Labour Peer Lord Falconer , and Nathan Stillwell , assisted dying campaigner at Humanists UK, join host Alain Tolhurst to look at how likely Kim Leadbeater’s private member's bill is to eventually become law, the scope it might cover, h...

As Labour prepares to mark 100 days in office Lucy Rigby , the party's new MP for Northampton North, Tim Durrant , programme director at the Institute for Government, as well as Emma Dean , managing director at Portland communications, and a former government special adviser, join Alain Tolhurst to look at how these first few months have gone, what Labour have managed to achieve back in power, som...

In the final of our party conference specials, recorded in front of a live audience in Birmingham, two Conservative politicians - one at the start of their Commons career, and another who had reached the end - discuss with Alain Tolhurst why the atmosphere was so upbeat for a party having suffered such a massive defeat, what direction the new leader should follow to try and win back power, and whe...

In the second of our party conference specials, recorded live in front of an audience at Labour’s annual get together in Liverpool, the arts minister Chris Bryant discusses with Alain Tolhurst why there was a less festive atmosphere then might be expected after a monumental landslide victory, what he wants to do to fix the arts in this country, and whether the rows over donations and freebies whic...

In the first of our party conference specials we go inside the Liberal Democrat victory lap in Brighton. Munira Wilson , the party’s education spokesperson, as well as Danny Chambers , their new MP for Winchester, join Alain Tolhurst to discuss what the party can actually achieve after its best election result ever, and how they might hold on to all those extra seats next time round. Also on the p...

What makes a good maiden speech, how do you write and deliver one, and what do they say about the MP that makes it? To talk about getting through that tricky first innings in the Commons two more members of the 2024 intake who have already taken their maiden voyage; Jeevun Sandher , the Labour MP for Loughborough, and Julia Buckley , the Labour member for Shrewsbury, join Alain Tolhurst for this w...

Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray identified before the election all of the most pressing issues for a new government's bulging in-tray in her infamous ‘s*** list’, so this week two more members of the 2024 intake of MPs; Lewis Cocking , the new Tory member for Broxbourne, and a former leader of the local council, and Tim Roca , Labour MP for Macclesfield, who has worked in the university...

Continuing our series introducing the political class of 2024 by profiling new MPs, this week we have Caroline Voaden , who last month was elected as the new Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon. A former journalist and MEP, she speaks to Alain Tolhurst about how she got involved in politics, winning her the seat for the Lib Dems as they swept the so-called ‘blue wall’, Ed Davey’s campaign antics,...

Continuing our series introducing the political class of 2024 by profiling new MPs to look out for, this week we have Joe Robertson , the Conservative MP for the new Isle of Wight East seat. In a historically bad night for his party Joe was one of 26 new Tories to enter the Commons, so he discusses with Alain Tolhurst what it was like winning his seat as so many others lost theirs, how the party i...

Terry Jermy , the new Labour MP for South West Norfolk, who in a night of massive shocks on election night, delivered probably the biggest by unseating the former Prime Minister Liz Truss. One of the final constituencies to be called, Truss - who had a majority of more than 26,000 - was ousted by 38-year-old Jermy from the seat she had held since 2010. He reveals to Alain Tolhurst the inside story...