Westminster Insider

This week, Aggie Chambre looks at the art of the leak and asks — why do people do it, and what happens when your political secrets are exposed?

Former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green talks about helping to leak Home Office secrets when Labour was in charge.

Aggie hears from journalist and author Isabel Oakeshott about her controversial decision to leak Matt Hancock’s Covid WhatsApps — and why she had to adopt a disguise durin...

New host Sascha O'Sullivan explores Westminster's obsession with all things Australia — and considers the lessons British politics might learn from down under.

From the U.K. Tory party's succession of Aussie campaign chiefs to the varying attempts to deploy Australian-style immigration policies, Westminster has held an enduring fascination with its rougher political cousins down under. 

Sascha speaks to former Aus...

By now, surely everyone in Westminster knows how to get ready for government — but have enough considered how to prepare for opposition?

In this week's episode, host Aggie Chambre tackles the conundrum of how to prepare for the one job in politics no one wants. 

She speaks to former opposition leader Neil Kinnock about his time in charge, including the advice his children gave Tony Blair's kids. 

Conservative peer George You...

As the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, Jack Blanchard returns home to the north of England to hear the stories of the refugees who arrived there in 2022 — and of one small town community which opened its arms to help.

Jack meets those who hosted Ukrainian people in their homes, and hears from the Ukrainians themselves about what it's like to arrive so suddenly in a far-off land. Community organisers...

As the people of Wellingborough headed to the polls for a historic vote, hosts Aggie Chambre and Sascha O'Sullivan took a train to the East Midlands to see how by-elections really play out on the ground. 

Over the course of a month, they went door-knocking with the candidates, spoke to disenfranchised voters and, finally, stayed up all night to watch the count. 

They watched Reform’s Ben Habib drive round in an gi...

Host Jack Blanchard goes for lunch with the Sunday Times' chief political commentator, Tim Shipman, as the deadline for his new Brexit tome approaches.

Over a bottle of claret and (medium) rare steak, Shipman discusses the art of long-form political writing; recalls his best and worst interview experiences, from Donald Trump to Theresa May; considers his favorite moments of the chaotic past decade in British politics and offers tips...

For the first episode of the year, host Aggie Chambre goes inside right-wing TV channel GB News and investigates the role it might play in shaping the future of the U.K. Conservative Party. And she looks at the scandals, controversy and culture that has surrounded the channel so far. 

With the help of the channel's chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos, and former presenters including Simon McCoy and Guto Harri, Aggie tells...

For the final episode of the year, host Jack Blanchard and a series of expert guests look ahead to 2024 and what is certain to be an extraordinary year of world politics.

The Spectator’s Katy Balls and the Times’ Patrick Maguire survey the election prospects of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer respectively, while More in Common’s Luke Tryl — a polling and focus group expert — assesses Britain’s current electoral landscape.

The Resolution...

Host Aggie Chambre explores the crisis in Britain's prison system and asks what can be done to fix it. 

She goes inside a prison riddled with drugs and violence, and hears from the governor and from long-serving inmates about what's really going on. 

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk sets out his plan to overhaul the sector, and why he believes part of the answer is to stop handing out jail terms for less serious crimes. 

Fo...

In the week Boris Johnson finally said sorry for the mistakes made by his government during the COVID-19 pandemic, host Aggie Chambre explores the art of the political apology — and asks how politicians can redeem themselves after completely screwing up. 

Johnson's former Downing Street aide Cleo Watson analyses her former boss's apology, and why he chose to deploy it this week. 

Neil Parish, the former Tory MP wh...

With opposition parties starting to dream about life in Whitehall as the next election looms, host Aggie Chambre takes a look at how politicians actually prepare for government. 

She hears from the key players involved in the 2010 election — the last time opposition parties came to power. The former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell, then the most senior civil servant in the country, recalls an eyebrow-raising chat with David Cam...

With opinion polls showing Donald Trump beating President Joe Biden in key battleground states a year out from the next U.S. election, podcast host Jack Blanchard asks whether Westminster is even remotely ready for the prospect of a second Trump presidency.

Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch and ex-Downing Street comms chief Katie Perrior recall their own interactions with Trump during his first tenure as president,...

In the week U.K Home Secretary Suella Braverman was finally sacked, host Aggie Chambre asks what you actually have to do to get fired from the government — and what the calculations are for the leaders doing the firing. 

Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, recalls his "underhand" sacking of two junior ministers, while Cleo Watson, a former deputy chief of staff at Downing Street, reveals the secrets of the&nb...

Britain's civil service is under fire like never before — criticised as an obstructionist "blob" by ministers and castigated for a "terrifyingly sh*t" response to the COVID-19 pandemic by former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings.

So what do U.K. government officials — normally banned from speaking to the media — actually make of it all?

This week in a special 'focus group' episode, five former mid-ranking civil servants sit down w...

As war rages in the Middle East, host Jack Blanchard sits down with Alf Dubs, the 91-year-old Labour peer who arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport — which organized the rescue of children from the Nazis — aged just six.

Dubs reflects on his experiences as a child refugee in 1939 and on how he forged a new life in the U.K. He explains why he got into politics, and how he has since devoted much of his life to helping other young ...

With Labour Party leader Keir Starmer dragging his party onto the center ground, host Aggie Chambre asks what remains of the left in Britain — and what the future may hold for this increasingly marginalized group.

She hears from three Labour MPs in the left-wing socialist campaign group, all former members of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Cabinet. Dawn Butler, Clive Lewis and Ian Lavery describe a widespread sense of nervousness at being a...

One year on from Liz Truss’ chaotic premiership, host Ailbhe Rea takes on what remains a controversial topic: the role free-market think tanks really play in our politics. 

Ailbhe interviews the co-founder of one of these free-market think tanks, the ASI’s Madsen Pirie, and hears his candid account of how they wield influence across Westminster.  

Then we dive inside the funding of these think tanks, with the man who b...

With Conservative Party conference about to commence, host Aggie Chambre asks the question on everyone's lips: What the hell is the point of the conference season anyway? 

She speaks to former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Hesiltine about what conferences used to be like in years gone by. Sky News' Sam Coates and POLITICO's own Jack Blanchard talk about their importance for journalists, and how and when conference events c...

Host Ailbhe Rea hits the campaign trail in the greater Glasgow constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, where a high-profile by-election battle between Labour and the ruling Scottish National Party looks very much like next year's general election in Scotland in microcosm.

Ailbhe meets the leaders of the two parties battling it out here: the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, Humza Yousaf, and the Scottish Labour leader, A...