

Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
BBC Radio 4
Nick Robinson has a conversation with, not an interrogation of, the people who shape our political thinking about what shaped theirs.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 24, 2023 • 38min
The Kwajo Tweneboa One
Nick Robinson talks to the housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa about his own experience of poor social housing and his father's death, how he harnessed the power of social media to become a powerful voice in Westminster and whether he fancies a go at elected politics himself.

Feb 17, 2023 • 39min
The Steve Reed One
Nick Robinson talks to the shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed, about why the collapse of a factory that employed most of his family led to him joining the Labour Party, how being mugged at knifepoint helped inform his new approach to antisocial behaviour and why he thinks the parentsof young offenders should be sent to mandatory parenting classes.

Feb 10, 2023 • 34min
The Iain Anderson One
Nick Robinson talks to the influential lobbyist and new chair of Stonewall, Iain Anderson, about how the case of Isla Bryson has brought gender politics to the top of the news agenda and how he thinks the heat can be taken out of the debate. Anderson, a lifelong Conservative who founded the lobbying firm Cicero and ran Ken Clarke's leadership campaigns, talks candidly about why he's now moving away from his political roots.

Feb 3, 2023 • 39min
The Mary Bousted One
Nick Robinson talks to the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, Mary Bousted, about how her headteacher father inspired a passion for education, why she quit her job as an English teacher and whether, in a week of widespread teacher strikes, she can see the current crisis coming to an end anytime soon.

Jan 27, 2023 • 36min
The Tony Danker One
Nick Robinson talks to the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, Tony Danker. They discuss what it was like to grow up in a Jewish family in Belfast during 'The Troubles', why he chose to join the Treasury three weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and how his calls for post-Brexit Britain's economy to grow more led to ministers accusing him of talking the country down.

Jan 20, 2023 • 39min
The Sharon Graham One
The leader of the Unite union gives a frank and engaging interview to Nick Robinson. She defends the new wave of strikes by ambulance workers, sets out how under her leadership Unite is 'following the money' to target bad employers and explains why Keir Starmer's Labour party is a 'bad tribute act' to Tony Blair and reveals she was threatened by former colleagues when she began an investigation into 'potential criminality' within the union. She tells stories from her early life, including how she led a walkout of silver service restaurant staff aged just 17 in a protest over pay.

Dec 5, 2022 • 59min
The Liz Truss's Big Gamble One
A bonus episode, as Nick tells the extraordinary inside story of how Liz Truss gambled her premiership on a dramatic challenge to decades of orthodoxy.

Nov 25, 2022 • 36min
The Bridget Phillipson One
Nick Robinson talks to Labour's shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, about her mum standing up to the people that burgled their house, her grandad's love of books sparking her passion for education and how she ended up as an extra on Byker Grove.

Nov 18, 2022 • 50min
The Clare Moriarty One
Nick Robinson talks to the chief executive of Citizens Advice, Clare Moriarty, about her and her family's long history with the civil service, how she coped with having cancer while running the Brexit department and what more the government needs to do to help people suffering in the cost of living crisis.

Nov 11, 2022 • 39min
The Carla Denyer One
Nick Robinson talks to the Green Party's co-leader, Carla Denyer, about discovering grassroots campaigns at sixth form, declaring Europe's first climate emergency and why she chooses to wear both a red and white poppy.