The Rundown by PoliticsHome

This year’s special Christmas edition of The Rundown podcast comes in the form of a festive quiz, seeing how much our reporters can remember about another mad 12 months in Westminster

You can play along at home too, so let us know if you do better than our teams, and there will be a text version of the quiz available online at PoliticsHome.com if you’re looking for a fun way to spend your Boxing Day.

But there to play the qui...

As we head towards Christmas and look back at the political year, this week's episode features the author of the most explosive and controversial political book of 2025, Ungovernable, the diaries of the former Chief Whip Simon Hart.

Now known as Lord Hart of Tenby having been promoted to the House of Lords, he drew criticism from his own former colleagues after lifting the lid on his time inside the Whips office during the dying...

With more leadership speculation swirling around Keir Starmer and claims he is seen as a ‘caretaker Prime Minister’, this week the podcast takes a look at things from the other end of the telescope; asking how do you protect the person in charge if you’re working inside Number 10? What can you do to defend your principal and neutralise any threats they face?

Well to answer that three people who worked at the coalface in differen...

This week Britain’s newest party - Your Party - finally got going in earnest, after a difficult birth to say the least. Over the past few months since its unexpected launch there have been legal threats , accusations of misogyny, boycotts, expulsions, resignations, and at the heart of it all acrimony between its two leading figures; Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, and that’s all before they’d even held a conference to decide on a ...

After another momentous tax-raising fiscal event from Rachel Reeves, this week we’re running the rule over the 2025 Budget, with its further freezes to tax thresholds, the scrapping of the two-child limit on benefits, reforms to savings, pensions and ISAs, as well motoring and property taxes, and a host of cost-of-living measures too.

Oh and the fact the whole thing was leaked by the OBR half an hour before the Chancellor stood ...

As Reform UK continue to top the polls, this week we’re looking at why so many voters are turning away from the two main parties and looking in Nigel Farage’s direction, and what they need to do to convert the curious into an election-winning majority.

So PoliticsHome has teamed up once again with the polling and strategy gurus at Thinks Insight, who have conducted focus groups with a host of Labour and Conservative voters think...

As the Budget finally looms into view, this week the panel takes a look at one of the potential tax reforms suggested to Chancellors year-in, year-out, that could transform the Treasury coffers, but is one that this government, and every previous one stretching back decades, has refused to touch - council tax.

While economists and tax experts all agree it is an unfair, outdated and regressive levy, nobody has the political will ...

There is a crisis in higher education, as financial woes threaten the UK’s world-renowned university sector, with dozens of institutions in serious financial difficulties with fears of cuts, closures and collapse.

Joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss what is causing such strain on universities, how it can be solved, and what may happen if it doesn’t, are the former universities minister, Conservative peer Lord Jo Johnson, as w...

With the Autumn Budget looming, this week The Rundown takes a look at one of the key players in shaping the government’s fiscal policy, but one that we know little about. 

The forecast on the future health of the British economy delivered to Rachel Reeves by the Office for Budget Responsibility will have more impact on shaping what the Chancellor announces next month than almost anything else, but who are the unelected panjandru...

As the storms roll in and all memories of summer recede, for the health service this only means one thing; the start of the annual winter pressures faced by the NHS.

After record waits in A&E last year, sharp increases in corridor care and waiting lists spiralling further beyond long-missed targets, this week host Alain Tolhurst looks at what the government is doing to prevent another crisis this winter.

Joining him are H...

After the collapse of the Chinese spying case, host Alain Tolhurst looks at the state of the Anglo-Sino relationship, how it has evolved over the years, where UK-China relations are now under this current government, and what should be done to improve them.

On the panel are Tony Vaughan, Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe, and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on China, along with Mark Field, former minister for Asia an...

Something a little bit different again this week, as host Alain Tolhurst and the PolHome team head up to Manchester for the Conservative Party’s annual conference, and return with a despatch from the four-day event, finding out what the mood is like among the Tories as they settle into the slog of opposition.

Featuring MPs, pollsters and academics, including Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly, ...

This week's episode is a little different, as listeners are taken deep within Labour’s annual party conference, giving you the inside track on how things unfolded in Liverpool over the past few days, from Andy Burnham's leadership challenge, Cabinet ministers taking on Nigel Farage, as well as the less serious moments such as a charity rugby league game and the infamous Mirror party on the final night.

Host Alain Tolhurs...

This week the focus is on the Liberal Democrats after the party held their annual conference in Bournemouth.

Which despite still giving off a celebratory mood at becoming the third-largest party in the Commons last year, was beset by questions over whether Ed Davey’s stunt-based leadership style is wearing a little thin.

And a discussion whether they are punching below their weight in the political discourse 12 months on from...

This week the so-called ‘dark arts’ of politics are being demystified, with a look inside the system known as whipping, where MPs are corralled by fair means or foul into voting with their party’s leadership in Parliament.

But in the modern era have things moved more from threats of punishment to pastoral care? And have the days of the 'little black book' filled with politicians misdeeds ready to be used against them, as...

This week is a look under the bonnet of British politics, and shining a light into the dark corners of how Westminster’s finances operates, and seeing if the endless pledges to close loopholes and tighten regulations after every scandal have actually led to a crackdown on illegal lobbying and undue influence on democracy.

Or whether the UK remains vulnerable to illicit wealth, cronyism and financial corruption, despite Keir Star...

As MPs returned to Westminster after the summer recess, this week we’re looking ahead to a crucial autumn for this government, packed full of potential pitfalls as they hope year two in office is an upgrade from a tricky first 12 months.

But after a clunky internal Downing Street reset and distracting revelations about Angela Rayner’s tax affairs, things have not got off to the best start, with a high-risk Donald Trump visit, pa...

This week is the sixth and final episode in our series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts and looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office in some of the big policy areas, and the biggest has been saved until last; the economy.

Fixing the country’s finances was their number one priority when Keir Starmer came into office last year, promising to kickstart economic growth after a decade of s...

In the latest episode in a series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office, this week the focus is on the world of work, from employment rights, public sector pay, and the government’s relationship with trade unions.

Host Alain Tolhurst is joined by Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which represents 48 unions with a total of ...