In January 2021, the first Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines made their way into people’s arms. By mid-march, 11 million people had received the jab. After successive lockdowns, it felt like a way out. But now, more than two years on, storm clouds are gathering. Today, 80 of them are preparing to sue Astrazeneca. They say that until now, no one has wanted to hear their stories. So we’re telling them. Find out more: ‘We were told the vaccine was safe - but what happened has been life-changing’ Archive ...
Nov 09, 2023•42 min•Ep. 6
In the face of major disasters, it is perhaps inevitable that there will be missteps. And when the dust settles, people are asked to account for their actions. How is history going to judge the government’s response to COVID? In this last episode of the Lockdown Files podcast, the investigations team at the Telegraph investigates potential mistakes at the heart of the pandemic response. Shutting schools, a lack of oversight with financial support and questions over whether lockdown would ever ha...
Aug 18, 2023•38 min•Ep. 5
Is it ever ok to scare the public? In this episode, the reporters dig into leaked messages which show a discussion between Matt Hancock and one of his team. They say “We frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain” and “When do we deploy the new variant”. The exchanges speak to a so-called “Project Fear”, which prompts the team to ask government ministers about whether decisions made were the right ones… We also speak to the adviser behind some of the government's messaging… And to a mum...
Aug 11, 2023•35 min•Ep. 4
Tens of thousands of care home residents died during the pandemic. Many people see it as the government’s biggest failure. Matt Hancock’s Whatsapp messages lifted the lid on conversations behind key decisions. But it wasn’t just the messages which were revealing… The team behind the Lockdown Files unearths new documents suggesting an unnerving offer made to care homes in Durham and Birmingham. Read more about the Lockdown Files here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-files | For 30 days’ free ac...
Aug 04, 2023•31 min•Ep. 3
The Investigations team looks back on the early days of the pandemic. How prepared was the government? Was lockdown inevitable? But they hit a stumbling block - they may have 100,000 messages, but there’s a gap in March. So the team decide that if they can’t read where those key decisions were made, they’d do the next best thing: speak to people who were in the room where it happened Read more about the Lockdown Files here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-files | For 30 days’ free access to Th...
Jul 28, 2023•25 min•Ep. 2
In January 2023, reporters at the Telegraph are called into a meeting. The newspaper has got something big. Matt Hancock’s Whatsapps from when he was the Health Secretary, during the pandemic: 100,000 messages. The reporters start digging. Rate and Review the Lockdown Files podcast here: https://podfollow.com/the-lockdown-files | Read more about the Lockdown Files here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-files | For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/lockdownfilespodcast |...
Jul 21, 2023•20 min•Ep. 1
In this bonus episode of Chopper's politics, former BBC chairman Richard Sharp joins Chris for his 'exit interview' to discuss the controversial events surrounding his departure. Over a round of black velvets they discuss his opinions on former PM Boris Johnson, why he's in favour of a charter renewal and his advice for his successor. For 30 days' free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/chopper | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 08, 2023•41 min
Over 360 episodes, 8.2 million listens and one Red Lion Pub, welcome to the last edition of Choppers Politics Podcast. Joining the Telegraph's legendary political journalist Chris Hope in Westminster's finest drinking hole is star of Spitting Image: Idiots Assemble, comedian Matt Forde , discussing comedy in a woke world as well as bringing some of his finest political impressions. Two big beasts of the Tory party also join Chris, including Jacob Rees Mogg airing his concerns about the privilege...
Jul 07, 2023•51 min
It’s been a week when the economic picture has worsened for millions of us and to discuss the government wrestling with the problem - and how Liz Truss was right - is Ranil Jayawardena , a former Tory Cabinet minister in Truss’s administration. As Labour surge ahead in the polls, MP Rosie Duffield - sidelined by the leaders of her own party - joins Chris to discuss whether the party is ready for governing the country. Plus, schools have been at the forefront of recent news with reports of studen...
Jun 30, 2023•43 min
Treasury minister Andrew Griffith MP hot-foots it across the road to the Red Lion pub to tell Christopher Hope that he thinks banks should help families who are seeing their mortgage costs spiral, and face the awkward question of how he'd deal with a business that had three CEOs in the space of a year (Conservative Party, take note). Also on the podcast, Joy Morrissey MP , one of only seven Conservative MPs who voted against the privileges committee report into Boris Johnson, and a whip no less....
Jun 22, 2023•44 min
On the day the former PM faces having his parliamentary pass removed after being found to have “deliberately” misled MPs over partygate, Christopher Hope is joined in the Red Lion by Boris Johnson's long-time pal, legendary pollster Frank Luntz . Frank thinks comparisons to Trump are unfair on Johnson, but bemoans the fact his friend did not take the seriousness of his post more seriously. Also on the podcast, the so-called grandfather of Brexit, Bill Cash MP , on why he's retiring and whether g...
Jun 15, 2023•44 min
Finally the Covid inquiry starts next week - and the Government is in a right old tangle over what to do about it. Veteran Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister David Davis joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to voice his concerns about the shadowy Government body called the Counter Disinformation Unit, which was used to spy on lockdown critics and why he'd only give the current government a 6/10. Also on the podcast, we explore what would Labour do about the Covid Whatsapp row, if it's...
Jun 09, 2023•54 min
With the advent of AI and concerns over 8 million 'economically inactive' people in Britain, we thought it was high time we asked Mel Stride MP , Work and Pensions Secretary, back to the Red Lion pub for a chinwag. Hot off his heels and hot off the press was Onward think-tank Director Sebastian Payne brandishing the findings from their report "Missing Millennials", which sets out the challenge facing the Tories with younger voters. And in a week where Whatsapps from Boris Johnson are dominating ...
Jun 02, 2023•47 min
Immigration. The issue which drove so many people to vote to leave the EU before the 2016 EU referendum is back in the news and rising as an issue. Alp Mehmet , Chairman of Migration Watch, popped by the Red Lion pub to discuss the newest immigration figures of 606,000 net. It’s also been a big week for Labour's plans for the economy with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves jetting off (pun intended) to America to deliver her "business model for Britain" speech. One senior Labour MP who is doing som...
May 26, 2023•46 min
Olympian James Cracknell joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to explain why he hopes become a Tory MP, appropriately in Henley on Thames, and how he would react if a certain blonde, former PM tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to step aside... Also on the podcast, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer MP , fresh from a busy few weeks with the Coronation and then Eurovision, encourages Britain to embrace its cultural soft power, and urges charities to stay out of politics. Plus former producer t...
May 19, 2023•49 min
Sir Charles Walker MP joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion this week to express his fears that we are descending into authoritarianism, after arrests of protestors this weekend at the Coronation. Plus as the MP for Broxbourne is not seeking re-election, he gets a few more things off his chest, such as how MPs these days are just "superannuated citizens advice bureaus". Ouch. Also on the podcast, Miriam Cates MP debates the nature of conservatism and reveals why she cried when the Government an...
May 11, 2023•47 min
Sir Keir Starmer claims that Labour is on course to win a majority at the next general election, after the party made gains and the Tories suffered heavy losses at local elections across England. But is claiming a Conservative crumbling to be a Labour win correct? Electoral Calculus's Martin Baxter and the Sunday Telegraph's Tony Diver join Christopher Hope at Telegraph Towers to discuss. Plus former digital minister Matt Warman MP discuss the other hot topic of the moment - no, not the Coronati...
May 05, 2023•29 min
Christopher Hope gets a field trip this week, leaving the Red Lion behind for Lewes in Sussex. Chopper is joined by Conservative Party Chairman, Greg Hands and mental health minister and local MP Maria Caulfield , as they went out knocking on doors ahead of next week's local elections. Hands is quick to say that Sunak plays well on the doorsteps, but do the voters we hear from agree? And which former leader would he like to see being more vocal (clue is in the title, listeners). Plus the Conserv...
Apr 28, 2023•39 min
Tory grandee Sir Robert Syms makes a startling prediction to Christopher Hope in the Red Lion this week - he thinks his party can win the next election. The MP for Poole Symes thinks that people's political views are not as fixed as they used to be, and once the ship has steadied, Sunak can give the party a vision to inspire voters. Also on the podcast, Baroness Anne Jenkin explains the impact that smartphones are having on young people's perceptions of sex: "they have porn in their pockets and ...
Apr 20, 2023•39 min
Chopper is off frolicking in the sun so this week Dia Chakravarty is in the podcast hotseat for an in-depth look at a subject that saw Conservative MPs starting their Easter holidays with a spring in their step - the CPTPP, or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Not exactly catchy, is it? Amanda Tickel , Head of Tax and Trade Policy at Deloitte UK, and Liam Halligan , Economist and Telegraph columnist break down what the CPTPP is and how it differs from the...
Apr 13, 2023•49 min
It’s been a week of reflection, and so we brought quiet contemplation to the Red Lion pub this week. With the death of Nigel Lawson earlier this week reminding Tories of a time when the Government was bold about tax cuts, Sir John Redwood MP joins Christopher Hope to talk about what the current crop of Conservatives can learn from the late former Chancellor. And as we mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, veteran Telegraph journalist Philip Johnston reflects on that seismic mom...
Apr 06, 2023•44 min
It's a bumper episode for Chopper's Politics listeners this week, don't say we don't treat you. Lord Mandelson joins Christopher Hope on the week that former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was barred from standing as Labour candidate. He muses on whether Sir Keir Starmer might actually want Corbyn to run against him ("I couldn't possibly say..."), reveals how impressed he is by the upcoming crop of Labour candidates, "absolutely as good, if not better, than those we selected in the 1990s before the...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Note: this episode was recorded before Humza Yousaf was announced as the new leader of the SNP on Monday 27th March 2023. Ahead of the SNP leadership contest result, Christopher Hope brings you a Scotland special edition of Chopper's Politics. The Telegraph's Scottish Political Editor, Simon Johnson, and columnist and staunch unionist Alan Cochrane , head to the studio to talk about the role of the Greens in the future of Scotland and whether the unionist parties, whisper it, might be in talks a...
Mar 26, 2023•34 min
This week two of the Conservative Party's obsessions reared their head yet again : Boris Johnson and Brexit. You may think you've everything there is to know about either subject but no, there's more, so Christopher Hope has invited a cavalcade of distinguished guests to the Red Lion pub to chew the fat on everyone's pet subjects. Conservative Home Editor Paul Goodman gives his assessment of whether we could see a Boris by-election, and why he believes the former PM is doomed to channel Bilbo Ba...
Mar 24, 2023•40 min
Taxes, childcare and Brexit beer boost: The Telegraph's Camilla Tominey and Gordon Rayner join Christopher Hope to give us the top lines of Jeremy Hunt's Budget. Will the Chancellor keep the promise he made to Chopper on this podcast in January that his priority will be bringing down business taxes? Listen to find out (although we suspect you can take a guess...)! For 30 days' free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/chopper | Sign up to the Chopper's Politics newsletter: https:...
Mar 15, 2023•35 min
Yvette Cooper MP joins Christopher Hope on the week that Rishi Sunak unveiled his plans to tackle illegal immigration. Conservatives think that illegal migration is the one policy area where the party can beat Labour, but the Shadow Home Secretary unsurprisingly disagrees. She tells Chopper that Labour ministers will set themselves the objective to stop all small boats' crossings in the English Channel. Plus in a show of cross-party praise, she hails Theresa May's work to help victims of people ...
Mar 10, 2023•37 min
More than 100,000 WhatsApp messages. 2.3 million words - the equivalent of three copies of the King James Bible. You’ve read the headlines about the Telegraph’s extraordinary examination of the Lockdown Files - and now you can hear from some of the journalists behind it. Christopher Hope is joined by the woman with the WhatsApps, Isabel Oakeshott , and Investigations Editor Claire Newell , in the newsroom where it happened. The pair tell Chopper how the team found the stories among the many file...
Mar 04, 2023•23 min
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, alongside the European Union president Ursula von der Leyen, announced details of the Windsor Framework this week, a deal he's hoping will put an end to the past six and a half years of wrangling to an end. So is the Brexit hurly-burly done? Has the battle been finally won? Joining Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to chew the fat is former Brexit adviser to Theresa May, Raoul Ruparel , on how this deal differs from its forebears. Plus the DUP's Sammy Wilson returns ju...
Feb 28, 2023•38 min
Boris Johnson is turning into one regular headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. So this week Christopher Hope is looking at three spheres where the former PM is intent on sticking his oar in. First, the Brexit impasse in Northern Ireland. The DUP's Sammy Wilson joins Chopper to discuss whether Boris' interventions on a trade deal are helpful, whether a change in Westminster leadership could make a difference, and casts doubts on whether Rishi Sunak even understands the concept of the Union (o...
Feb 23, 2023•41 min
Well, if there was any danger of recess getting boring, Nicola Sturgeon had other ideas. Just as Chopper was taking a well-earned holiday, the First Minister shocked Scotland and the United Kingdom by resigning after eight years in the job. So where does this leave Scotland and the future of the union, and what will be the ripple effect on Westminster? The Telegraph's Gordon Rayner and Alan Cochrane head to the studio to discuss just that, whether Sturgeon will end up backseat driving for the ne...
Feb 16, 2023•19 min
