Since Attlee & Churchill

In this mid-week episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard examines the constitutional issues raised by Darren Jones MP’s evidence to Parliament about the failures of Keir Starmer’s mission-led government. Were civil servants obstructing the government’s ambitions, or did the real problems lie with confused responsibilities, muddled leadership and a Prime Minister unwilling or unable to take responsibility ...

In July 1948, just as the National Health Service was coming into being, Aneurin Bevan delivered a speech in which he declared that the Conservatives were “lower than vermin”. But rather than take offence, thousands of Tories decided to embrace the insult - and the Vermin Club was born. In this episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard and Lee explore the curious history of a political organisation that attracted...

In this week’s 'Matters of Interest', Lee and Richard share their reflections from Oslo, where they’ve been researching how politicians get their policy advice in different parliamentary systems. After a visit to the Storting, Norway’s parliament, they reflect on the differences between Norwegian and British politics, from proportional representation and party discipline to the relationship between MPs and their c...

In this week's Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard and Lee explore Labour's long and often fraught relationship with the judiciary. From the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the Taff Vale case to Michael Foot's criticisms of judges in the 1970s, why did the Labour movement so often see the courts as an instrument of the establishment, standing in the way of working-class progress? Richard explains how Labour's historic commitment to parliam...

In this week's Matters of Interest, Richard and Lee reflect on the Conservative Party Conference and consider what it says about the role of Kemi Badenoch, with Lee arguing she is — rarely for the Conservatives in recent years — a leader who is wholly secure in her position. But what will Badenoch's strategy for the Conservatives be? Next, Richard introduces the 'sewer socialists' of Milwaukee, the American socialists w...

When Tony Blair’s New Labour government came to power in 1997, it promised a referendum on changing the voting system for the House of Commons. It then appointed the political grandee Roy Jenkins to work out what an alternative might look like. The Jenkins Commission reported its proposals for a new electoral system in 1998, but the referendum was never held.

With electoral reform once again high on the political agenda, i...

This week, Lee and Richard discuss Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour Party Conference. Did it actually represent a meaningful change in Labour’s policies and politics? Or do Burnham's words simply amount to a nebulous set of promises that his government cannot and will not deliver — at least this side of an election? They then turn to a topic that has been at the heart of Labour politics since the party's founda...

Labour General Secretary Morgan Phillips famously claimed that the Labour Party owed more to Methodism than to Marxism. But was he right? In this episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard and Lee explore the Methodist tradition and its influence on the Labour movement - including the importance of Methodism in teaching working class people about political organisation and public speaking. Throughout the episode, Richard shar...

This week, Lee and Richard discuss the changing nature of the US–UK relationship, from Churchill and Truman to Burnham and Trump. They ask: what exactly is the “special relationship” between Britain and America? And how does it play out in practice? And should it change? Next, Lee turns to the extraordinary snap election getting underway British Columbia. Why has the Premier called an election two years early, jus...

Betty Boothroyd was the first woman to become Speaker of the House of Commons - and from the Speaker's chair became one of the most popular and recognisable figures in modern British politics. But what made her so successful in the role? In this episode, Richard and Lee look at Boothroyd’s journey from a working-class childhood in Dewsbury, through failed attempts to enter Parliament and an unlikely spell in American politics...

In this mid-week episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Lee and Richard broadcast from Canada, where they've spent the week talking to politicos. Lee begins by considering what the Right in the UK, and throughout much of the West, could learn from the current travails of the Canadian Conservatives. Next, Richard considers why Andy Burnham is tackling the inability of Catholics to formally recommend the appointment of Anglican Bis...

This week Since Attlee & Churchill takes a funereal turn as Lee and Richard trace where each of Britain's nine deceased post-war prime ministers chose to be buried. Featuring Clement Attlee's memorial in Westminster Abbey, Winston Churchill's return to Bladon, Anthony Eden's dramatic dash home from Florida to die in Wiltshire, Harold Wilson's beloved Scilly Isles - and more. What do these final locations tell us about the indiv...

In this mid week episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, recorded in the United States, Lee and Richard tackle two live debates spanning the Atlantic. First, Richard makes the case against Britain's council tax system — a tax still based on 1991 property valuations — and considers whether Andy Burnham was right to rule out replacing it with the sort of property tax used in America. What would be the pros, cons and the ...

John Freeman was one of the brightest stars of the Labour Party’s post-war generation. Elected in the 1945 Labour landslide, he rapidly rose through Clement Attlee’s government and became a hero of the Labour left. Some even thought he could one day become Prime Minister. But after resigning from the government alongside Nye Bevan and Harold Wilson, he walked away from Parliament aged just 40. For the remainder of his l...

In this week’s Matters of Interest, Lee and Richard discuss Starmer’s decision to resign as an MP – and look at how his departure is part of a much bigger change in the relationship between former prime ministers and Parliament. Will any future PM do as Arthur Balfour and Edward Heath did and stay in the Commons long after their time in Number 10 is over? Then, Richard turns to the recent debate on the trade-offs ...

In this episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Lee and Richard are joined by Nigel Fletcher, author of 'Churchill's Queen: The Remarkable Friendship That Shaped Our Age', to explore the fascinating relationship between Winston Churchill and Elizabeth II. In his new book, Nigel explores how their relationship developed even before Elizabeth's accession in 1952, with Churchill playing an influential role in her early life. This epi...

This week, Lee and Richard debate whether Andy Burnham should call an early general election – and what, if anything, could justify him doing so. Is the conventional wisdom that a Prime Minister is never as popular as they are in their first few months actually true? And what can Burnham learn from the experiences of Theresa May, Gordon Brown, John Major – and even Stanley Baldwin?! Next, Richard looks at the extraordin...

In this episode of the Since Attlee & Churchill Summer Book Club, Lee and Richard are joined by Nan Sloane, author of 'Margaret Bondfield: The Life and Times of Britain’s First Female Cabinet Minister', to discuss the extraordinary life and career of one of the pioneers of the Labour movement. Bondfield was the first woman to speak from the despatch box in the House of Commons, the first woman Privy Counsellor and the fir...

Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for a month, but how good a start has he made? Lee and Richard debate Burnham’s first weeks in Downing Street, with Lee arguing that the new Prime Minister has so far offered little more than Martin Lewis-style tinkering to save people a few quid instead of the genuinely bold programme the country needs (and he promised). Meanwhile, Richard argues that Burnham has already delivered a surpr...