Westminster Insider

Peter Mandelson, the new British ambassador to the United States, has finally taken up the daunting challenge of being the U.K.’s Trump whisperer. And it’s clear the man dubbed the prince of darkness will need to use every trick in his book to ensure the U.K. emerges unscathed – or even, perhaps, benefits - from Trump’s America First agenda.  This week on Westminster Insider, Patrick Baker speaks to some of Mandelson’s predecessors and those who know a thing or two about how to master Washington D.C., for their advice on how to make a success of the most prestigious diplomatic gig of all. Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. under Obama, Peter Westmacott, is a man who knows how to throw a good party. He explains how to use the opulent British ambassador’s residence to bring in the great and the good of American politics and reflects on the personal nature of the relationships he formed.  Author Anthony Seldon evokes the historic power of the special relationship and details the British cultural assets diplomats have at their disposal for wooing the Washington elites.  Catherine Meyer — the wife of the late Christopher Meyer, who served as ambassador under Tony Blair — explains how she was often deployed to take advantage of the seating plan at glitzy downtown dinners in D.C., trying to coax a secret or two out of the notoriously tight-lipped Vice-President Dick Cheney.  Blair’s ambassador during the Iraq war, David Manning, recalls the intensity of being a wartime diplomat — and how he relied on close access to the Bush White House to make sure Britain’s voice was heard. Kim Darroch, who served during the first Trump term before an abrupt leak-induced exit, explains how best to deal with any unexpected, early morning social media outbursts — and says it is vital to ensure you keep in with the billionaires upon whom Trump relies for economic advice. John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, tells Patrick who he thinks has fared best with the US President and why (hint: it has something to do with golf) and says a safer choice might have been a career diplomat.  And Jenny Wright — formerly the embassy press adviser to recently-departed ambassador Karen Pierce — reveals how she and her team used a cup of tea to devastating diplomatic effect. CORRECTION: This episode was updated to correct the date of the first UK ambassador to the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the final episode of the year, new host Patrick Baker and a selection of expert guests take you through 2025 — a year that looks like it might well be even crazier than the last.The FT’s Stephen Bush sets out the prime minister's daunting in-tray in 2025, while the Spectator’s Katy Balls explains what’s in store for the Tory party under new leadership — as well as the threat to both parties from Nigel Farage and Reform UK.  Sarah Calkin – an expert on local government — discusses what May’s local elections could bring.Further afield, the Times’ Washington Correspondent Alistair Dawber talks us through what we can expect from the second Trump presidency and its implications for the wider world.  Professor Lina Khatib —from Chatham House — mulls the possible impact of Trump on conflicts in Middle East, and offers her take on what could lie ahead in Syria and Iran.POLITICO’s Berlin Playbook host Gordon Repinski discusses what could happen in the German elections in February and POLITICO’s Senior UK Energy Correspondent Charlie Cooper tells us what’s at stake at COP 30 in Brazil in November — ahead of what’s set to be a crucial year for the climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, Westminster has been dominated by politicians who attended some of the most prestigious schools in the country. This week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan finds out whether public schools still dominate or if state educated Rachel Reeves and Bridget Phillipson's move to tax fees reflects the end of the era of Etonians.Sascha visits Eton College and takes a tour around the art school and the theater, hears from an old boy about the kind of education children receive there — and discovers why our prime ministers are far more likely to have been attended this school than any other.Former Labour adviser and old Etonian Patrick Hennessey tells Sascha the confidence a school such as his alma mater instills can easily slip into arrogance.FT journalist and author Simon Kuper explains why privately educated politicians have always tended to banded together in Westminster — and how that can leave those that attended less prestigious institutions out in the cold.Keir Starmer's former adviser Donjeta Miftari describes coming to work in SW1 as a former comprehensive pupil and immediately noticing the networks which the independent sector fosters beyond the school itself.Former David Blunkett adviser Conor Ryan recalls the fights with private school heads when the Blair government axed the state-funded assisted places scheme.Sam Freedman, education expert and former adviser to Michael Gove, explains how the former education's secretary's background informed his attitude to education reform.And Sascha travelled to Brentwood, a private school in Essex, where headteacher Michael Bond tells her Reeves' decision to put VAT on private schools was "punishing" them unfairly, as the private sector was making strides towards making fee-paying schools less exclusive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jack Blanchard takes a deep dive into the momentous U.K. general election of July 2024, which saw Labour sweep back into power after 14 years in opposition. Lifting the lid on a historic campaign are journalists Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth, whose new book — "Landslide: The Inside Story of the 2024 Election" — offers the most detailed account so far of a moment of generational change in British politics. Ross and Wearmouth take us inside the rival campaign teams and explain how all the crucial decisions were taken, from Rishi Sunak's fateful choice to leave a D-Day commemoration service early to Keir Starmer's famous "Ming vase" strategy that would ultimately secure Labour's victory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the House of Commons agonizes over legalizing assisted dying, host Sascha O'Sullivan looks back at previous votes of conscience to find out what happens when MPs don't have the party whip guiding them.Alun Michael, one of the architects of Tony Blair's ban on fox hunting, explains how it took years to get to the point of a vote in parliament, and how his personal safety — and that of his family — was put in jeopardy.Former Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone recalls the same sex marriage vote and the internal politics between the Lib Dems and Conservatives during the coalition government — leading to David Cameron "stealing" the announcement from her.John Bercow, former Commons speaker, tells Sascha about moments in the Commons chamber when MPs went against the party grain during votes of conscience.Ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries describes how, as a backbencher in 2008, she led one of the biggest challenges to the 1967 Abortion Act.And Sascha also looks at decisions over war and peace, when MPs must wrestle with a profoundly moral choice and make one of the weightiest calls possible for a parliament, as former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps says the decision not to intervene in Syria in 2013 contributed to the global instability we all now face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jack Blanchard speaks to some of the most powerful Downing Street spin doctors of the past decade — and asks whether they're really as angry as the 'Malcolm Tucker' stereotype suggests.James Slack, the prime minister's official spokesman between 2017 and 2021, gives a rare insight into the brutal experience of chairing the Downing Street Lobby briefing — going head to head with dozens of hostile political journalists every day.Lee Cain recalls the "insane" experience trying to spin for a newspaper-obsessed Boris Johnson — during a global pandemic — and explains why the No. 10 director of communications job is too big for any one person.Another former No. 10 director of comms, Katie Perrior, recalls her own challenges trying to spin for a media-shy Theresa May, and explains why it's so important that communications is given top billing by any prime minister.And Craig Oliver, who held the No. 10 director of comms job longer than anyone else, recalls the triumphs and the failures of trying to set the media narrative for David Cameron's government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan lifts on the curtain on the best political lunches — who to invite, where to go, and what to talk about.She speaks to Vivek Singh, owner of the Cinnamon Club, a SW1 culinary institution, about the two decades of drama and intrigue he's witnessed over his famous lamb shanks. Singh tells Sascha about the best tables — where you can see everyone but no one can see you — and how Gordon Brown was partial to a spot of grouse.Former Labour MP and member of Tony Blair's government Siôn Simon explains why the classic lobby lunch between journalists and politicians is actually "underlyingly stressful" and Sun on Sunday Political Editor Kate Ferguson tells Sascha how to warm up an MP to get them to spill the beans.Sascha speaks with Freddie Sayers, CEO of Unherd, which owns the Old Queen Street Cafe — a new favorite haunt of politicos of all stripes. Former political correspondent turned restaurant critic Charlotte Ivers tells Sascha why politicians have terrible taste in food.And the FT's Henry Mance recalls settling in for a port or three after lunch with Nigel Farage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Westminster Insider heads to Washington to capture a historic election night that changed America — and the world.Host Emilio Casalicchio takes us on a wild ride across the political epicenter of the U.S. as the votes began flooding in and the crucial swing states fell to Donald Trump. He spoke to hopeful Democratic campaigners in a plush club in downtown D.C. and excitable Trump fans packed into a dive bar on the less-polished eastern side of the city.As the results became clear, Emilio headed to the streets outside Howard University, where Kamala Harris no-showed her own election night event, leaving dejected Democrats to begin the unhappy trudge home.He stumbled upon POLITICO D.C. Playbook writer Eugene Daniels, who was in the room as the mood soured through the night before it was announced there would be no victory speech.And as Trump's historic win solidified, Emilio found ecstatic MAGA enthusiasts spilling out of their watch event after closing time.In fitting fashion, he ended the night outside the White House itself, reflecting on the seismic result — and what it means for all of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Reeves' first budget was a historic moment — for her, for the Labour Party ... and for the nation's tax burden. So this week Westminster Insider host Sascha O'Sullivan goes back in history to find out what makes a budget truly memorable.Historian Robert Saunders revisits William Gladstone's bumper 19th Century budget speeches, which sometimes lasted four or five hours. And he discusses the archaic traditions, begun under Gladstone, which U.K. chancellors still follow to this day.Fellow historian David Lough explains how Winston Churchill's biggest budget decision, to rejoin the gold standard in 1925, overshadowed the future PM's ill-fated stint as chancellor — and how Churchill's own precarious finances impacted on his work at the Treasury.Veteran journalist Andrew Marr discusses the postwar budgets of Labour Chancellor Stafford Cripps and the famous 1980s budgets of Tory grandees Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson, still venerated by Tory MPs to this day.Carolyn Quinn, BBC journalist and presenter for 36 years, takes Sascha inside the New Labour years — with a little help from Ed Balls — as well as the "omnishambles" George Osborne budget of 2012. And outgoing Institute for Fiscal Studies boss Paul Johnson explains how the IFS became such a central part of Westminster's budget day tradition — and how his economists work through the night to keep us informed of what the chancellor has planned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alistair Campbell famously once proclaimed of Tony Blair's government: "we don't do God." Two decades on, this week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan goes to the politicians' church St Bartholomew the `Great to find out if that's still true.She speaks to some of parliament's most prominent Christians about the influence of religion on politics. Liberal Democrat Tim Farron tells Sascha about stepping step down from the leadership of his party after being confronted with a choice between "being a good leader and a good Christian."Tory MP and evangelical Christian Danny Kruger shares with Sascha how his religion informs his values as a politician and drives the policies he has helped lobby for with Conservative colleagues.Sascha speaks to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, nicknamed "the rev" because of his faith, about how his support for gay marriage legislation in 2012, led to him being "condemned by the local priest three Sundays in a row." And how, he says, he feels the need to make the case for Christian politics on the left as a louder religious voice emerges in Conservative politics.POLITICO Playbook reporter Bethany Dawson takes Sascha inside the Alliance for Responsible Citizens conference, where British and American politicians openly called for a return to our "Judeo-Christian foundations."And Bishop Alan Smith of St Albans makes the case for bishops in the House of Lords, while Lib Dem peer Lorely Burt and journalist Tali Fraser argue that Christian traditions still present in parliament can prove alienating for non believers and people of other faiths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices