Co-host Aggie Chambre sits down for a rare interview with former Downing Street chief of staff Fiona Hill to talk about her central role in Theresa May's first government, the astonishing highs and disastrous lows of life in No. 10, and the devastating impact of being fired after the failed 2017 general election. Hill reveals the years of secret plotting behind Theresa May's successful bid to become prime minister; the inner workings of May's dysfunctional Downing Street operation; and the surpr...
Mar 10, 2023•48 min•Season 9Ep. 4
New host Aggie Chambre takes us inside the world of TV News, and asks how the advent of 24-hour rolling coverage has shaped British politics. Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge explains the importance of the Sunday shows to the Westminster news cycle, and reveals the reaction from Downing Street after she asked then-PM Theresa May a question she really didn't want to answer. Her outgoing boss John Ryley, head of Sky News, tells the podcast how his channel transformed 24-hour political coverage, and ...
Mar 03, 2023•53 min•Season 9Ep. 3
Host Ailbhe Rea takes you inside the weird and wonderful world of the House of Lords, and explores the increasingly bitter battles over its future. Paralympic gold medallist and crossbench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson lifts the lid on what life in the Lords is really like, and Ailbhe has a rare meeting with an endangered species: a hereditary peer, the Earl of Caithness, in his natural habitat. John McFall, the Lord Speaker, takes us on a guided tour of the grand building itself — and explains how i...
Feb 24, 2023•53 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Host Ailbhe Rea tells the inside story of Liz Truss' chaotic, historic 49 days in No. 10 Downing Street, via candid interviews with those in the room where it happened. Speaking publicly for the first time about that turbulent period, Truss' former special adviser Hugh Bennett and ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's former aide Celia McSwaine lift the lid on life inside Truss' Downing Street — and how it all went wrong in six short weeks. They are joined by Truss' former speechwriter Asa Bennett, her...
Feb 17, 2023•59 min•Season 9Ep. 1
For the final episode of the year, host Jack Blanchard looks ahead to the biggest political stories coming down the track in 2023. Guests include Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies; former U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon; Katy Balls of the Spectator; Stephen Bush of the Financial Times; Ipsos pollster Keiran Pedley; Tory peer and elections expert Robert Hayward; Jill Rutter and Giles Wilkes of the Institute for Government; and POLITICO's own Jamil Anderlini and Cristina Galla...
Dec 23, 2022•51 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Host Ailbhe Rea looks at the world of political punditry with the help of some of Westminster's best-known commentators and producers, and the comedian Joe Lycett. Rob Burley, who spent years running flagship political programmes at the BBC including the Andrew Marr Show and Politics Live, explains why Lycett's infamous appearance on Laura Kuenssberg's show in September enraged him, and discusses whether conflict is ever engineered on his shows. Scarlett Maguire, producer of the Andrew Neil Show...
Dec 16, 2022•58 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Host Jack Blanchard speaks to former U.K. energy ministers and policy experts about the chequered history of British energy policy over recent decades — and how the nation was left so vulnerable to Vladimir Putin's energy price war. Guests including former Energy Ministers Charles Hendry and Michael Fallon, and former Whitehall policy chief Adam Bell, explain how what should have been a smooth transition away from fossil fuels has been blotted by a stalled nuclear program and endless rows about ...
Dec 09, 2022•49 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Host Ailbhe Rea takes a closer look at the shadowy world of the whips — the sinister party enforcers whose job it is to keep MPs in line. Michael Dobbs, the creator of "House of Cards" and one-time chief of staff to Margaret Thatcher, lifts the lid on the murky world of whipping that inspired his novels and the hit TV dramas, while Jacqui Smith, a chief whip to Tony Blair, describes how she did it in the era of Blair/Brown plotting. Playwright James Graham — whose hit play "This House" brought t...
Dec 02, 2022•53 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Host Jack Blanchard sits down with Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, to discuss life, politics and the Labour Party over a bottle of red wine at an exclusive Westminster restaurant. Streeting, tipped by many as the next Labour leader, discusses his poverty-stricken childhood, his recent battle with cancer and his vision for the future on the eve of his 40th birthday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...
Nov 25, 2022•51 min•Season 8Ep. 4
As U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveils huge spending cuts and tax hikes in his Autumn Statement, host Ailbhe Rea looks back at the economic program still haunting the current debate: the austerity of the early 2010s. David Gauke, one of former Chancellor George Osborne's must trusted lieutenants, opens up about how the big decisions were taken and reflects on how he'd do things differently if he had his time again. Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation think tank and formerly head of p...
Nov 18, 2022•43 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Following Rishi Sunak's unprecedented 50-day turnaround from defeated leadership candidate to U.K. prime minister, Westminster Insider host Jack Blanchard looks back at some of the great political comebacks of our times. Guests include Peter Mandelson, who shocked Westminster — and himself — with a sensational return to the U.K. Cabinet in 2008 after four years away as an EU Commissioner; and U.S. historian John A. Farrell, who recalls Richard Nixon’s extraordinary rise to the American presidenc...
Nov 11, 2022•50 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Host Ailbhe Rea profiles the U.K.'s new prime minister, with the help of those who know him best. From his early years in Southampton and his lifelong Hindu faith; his elite education at Winchester, Oxford and Stanford; to his rapid rise through the political ranks, his time as U.K. chancellor and his machinations for the top job, we uncover the values, personality traits, priorities and potential pitfalls of the new man in No. 10. At the Hindu temple in Southampton that Rishi Sunak's family hav...
Nov 04, 2022•53 min•Season 8Ep. 1
As the world grapples with the energy crisis stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, energy security has climbed to the top of the political agenda. Successive U.K. governments had already laid out strategies to decarbonize all sectors of the economy to meet net-zero targets by 2050. Now, in the sprint towards energy independence, pledges have been made to make the U.K. a net energy exporter by 2040. But is that possible? Spoiler alert: not without renewables. Presenter David Baker speaks to...
Oct 28, 2022•19 min
As Liz Truss considers another humiliating budget U-turn, host Jack Blanchard looks back at the U.K.'s infamous 1972 'Dash for Growth' budget — when another Tory Chancellor announced unfunded tax cuts and sent inflation through the roof — and considers the parallels with Truss' chaotic first month as prime minister. Historians Duncan Needham and Nick Thomas-Symonds explain the backdrop to that 1970s meltdown, while economists Paul Johnson, Gerard Lyons and Soumaya Keynes consider what's gone wro...
Oct 14, 2022•47 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Host Ailbhe Rea goes behind the scenes at this week's chaotic Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, with newly-installed leader Liz Truss already on the ropes. The conference saw Truss openly criticized by members of her own government and forced to U-turn on a flagship tax cut, just 10 days after it was announced. Ailbhe gives the inside story from the biggest speeches, the fiery fringe meetings and the late-night drinks parties as Tory MPs despair at the new regime. Hosted on Acast. See...
Oct 07, 2022•52 min•Season 7Ep. 5
POLITICO's Ailbhe Rea meets the ultimate Westminster Insider, Laura Kuenssberg, until recently the BBC's political editor and the new host of the BBC's flagship Sunday politics show. In a rare interview, Kuenssberg discusses her early career, life covering the tumult of the past seven years in British politics, and how she managed to survive the relentless pace at the coalface. She discusses the sisterhood in Westminster, how it feels to be at the center of heated rows about bias and impartialit...
Sep 30, 2022•45 min•Season 7Ep. 4
It's time for the weirdest few weeks of the British political calendar: conference season. Host Ailbhe Rea takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the speeches, fringe events, champagne receptions and bad karaoke parties that happen at the annual Conservative and Labour conference, with the help of Emily Thornberry, Labour's shadow attorney general and a conference veteran. Two former advisers to Conservative cabinet ministers, Tim Smith and Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, tell the inside story of some of their...
Sep 23, 2022•44 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Behind the scenes, the late Queen Elizabeth II was the ultimate Westminster Insider. Host Ailbhe Rea and POLITICO's Annabelle Dickson uncover how the Queen received a daily dose of gossip from deep inside the heart of government, and speaks to two of the politicians tasked with sending that private missive to Buckingham Palace: former Conservative whip Anne Milton, and former Cabinet minister Julian Smith. Simon Lewis, a former communications secretary to the Queen and later to Gordon Brown in D...
Sep 16, 2022•44 min•Season 7Ep. 2
With days to go until Boris Johnson’s replacement is announced, host Ailbhe Rea considers whether the Conservatives are now on their way out of office — or whether this is just one more clever shape-shift from the most successful political party in the world. She meets Johnson’s cheerleaders and his critics, grassroots members and expert advisers, to discuss how Boris Johnson changed the Tory Party — and what on earth it will do when he’s gone. Ailbhe asks Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary a...
Sep 02, 2022•42 min•Season 7Ep. 1
As Boris Johnson prepares for his final session of Prime Minister's Questions, Ailbhe Rea takes a look inside the weekly showdown at the heart of British politics. Former PM David Cameron explains what it's really like to stand at the despatch box for a noisy session of PMQs, and reveals how he prepared and strategized for the toughest event of his week. Ayesha Hazarika, a former adviser to Ed Miliband, lifts the lid on the different pressures faced by a leader of the opposition, while Theo Bert...
Jul 15, 2022•47 min•Season 6Ep. 8
As the jaw-dropping downfall of Boris Johnson plays out on Twitter feeds across Westminster and far beyond, Jack Blanchard looks at how the social media platform has revolutionized the way we watch, write about and conduct British politics. Co-host Ailbhe Rea, Twitter executive Nick Pickles and freelance journalist Marie Le Conte discuss how Twitter has become the main platform through which political junkies now view major events such as the end of a prime minister's premiership, and how it off...
Jul 08, 2022•43 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Co-host Ailbhe Rea sits down with the Labour Party's charismatic former deputy leader Tom Watson to discuss his life in politics and much beyond. Watson recalls his central role at the heart of the Blair/Brown battles of the 2000s, and the showdown with Rupert Murdoch which saw him propelled into the limelight — and trailed by private investigators — in the 2010s. He opens up about his chaotic years as Jeremy Corbyn's deputy, on his life beyond politics as chairman of UK Music — he spent last we...
Jul 01, 2022•44 min•Season 6Ep. 6
In the wake of Thursday's crunch by-election results, Jack Blanchard considers why Britain always seems to turn against even its most popular prime ministers in the end. The Atlantic's Tom McTague and pollster James Johnson discuss the collapse in Boris Johnson's popularity, and whether it's still possible for him to turn things around. And former Downing Street officials Caroline Slocock, Jon Ashworth, Paul Harrison and John McTernan explain how it all went wrong for past leaders such as Margar...
Jun 24, 2022•47 min•Season 6Ep. 5
This week Jack Blanchard sits down for dinner with former Brexit Secretary David Davis to discuss his 35-year career in politics. Over ribeye steak and too much Malbec in an exclusive Westminster restaurant, Davis muses on the Brexit negotiations which will prove his legacy, and his personal relations with David Cameron, Michel Barnier, Theresa May and other key players of the recent past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
Jun 17, 2022•41 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Co-host Jack Blanchard speaks to Jon Ashworth, Labour’s pugnacious shadow work and pensions secretary about his extraordinary childhood and his 20-plus years in Parliament. In the week Boris Johnson faced down an attempted Tory coup, Ashworth recalls the tumultuous years he spent working for former PM Gordon Brown as Labour MPs plotted to bring him down. He discusses the frustrating past decade in opposition, and where Labour has got it wrong since 2010. And he opens up about his remarkable chil...
Jun 10, 2022•35 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Host Ailbhe Rea takes us on her year-long journey covering the British government’s contentious efforts to find peace and reconciliation within Northern Ireland’s war-torn past. She travels back to her homeland to hear the emotive testimony of the families of some of those murdered during The Troubles, and their anger at Westminster proposals for an effective amnesty for those responsible. But she hears too from Conservative MPs – and former soldiers – like Johnny Mercer and Mark Francois, who s...
Jun 03, 2022•41 min•Season 6Ep. 2
New host Ailbhe Rea explores the quirks and the controversies of the pack of journalists who inhabit Westminster, known universally as 'the lobby.' We take a trip down memory lane with the legendary Andrew Marr, former political editor of the BBC, and tour the 'Burma Road,' the historic corridor in the House of Commons where political reporters have their offices. We hear Alan Rusbridger, the former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, air his concerns about the way the lobby goes about its work, an...
May 27, 2022•43 min•Season 6Ep. 1
POLITICO’s weekly narrated story, hosted by Ailbhe Rea, lifts the curtain on how Westminster really works, and looks in-depth at political issues which typically only get broad-brush treatment in the wider media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 21, 2022•30 sec
Westminster Insider is back ... with a twist . In this sneak preview, Jack Blanchard meets the new voice of Westminster Insider, Ailbhe Rea. Together, they give you a teaser of what to expect from the new season of the weekly podcast from POLITICO. Subscribe now — and never miss an episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
May 20, 2022•5 min
Jack Blanchard speaks to some of the key U.K. players involved in the passage of the Maastricht Treaty and ponders whether this was the moment which set Britain on the path to Brexit. Former British diplomat John Kerr recalls the epic all-night negotiations in Holland, including a session where he hid under a table to offer secret advice to Prime Minister John Major. Treasury Minister Francis Maude tells how he was dispatched to sign the treaty by his then-boss, Chancellor Norman Lamont, who see...
Mar 18, 2022•52 min•Season 5Ep. 8
