Politics Unpacked

Daniel Finkelstein and Henry Zeffman discuss what we we learned from the MPs defending Boris Johnson during the debate over the Privileges Committee report, and why is Keir Starmer planning to fill the Lords with new Labour peers?Plus: Does Britain care about freedom? New research by US Pollster Frank Luntz shows how important freedom is to the UK public, and how political parties can use the concept to win their votes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Gary Streeter started out in the SDP, defected to the Tories, was an aide to John Major after his general election defeat and was sacked by Iain Duncan Smith after telling him he was 'unelectable'.He joins Matt for the latest episode of the Exit Interviews - our series talking to MPs leaving Parliament at the next election.Plus columnists Rachel Sylvester and Iain Martin enter the 'no Boris zone' to discuss Labour's green energy promises, the SNP slumping in the polls, and has a mathematician invented a new swear word? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week in 1983 one of the great political schemers, Edmund Blackadder hit TV screens for the first time. Matt chart's the politics of the classic sitcom, from the power plays to the by-elections, speaking to Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick, and Miriam Margolyes who was a regular on the show. Plus Columnists India Knight and James Heale discuss whether partygate would have blown over had Boris Johnson fessed up at the very start and whether today's softer work culture is destroying ambition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the Privileges Committee finds that Boris Johnson misled the Commons, Matt considers his future career options with Times sketchwriter Quentin Letts, biographer Andrew Gimson, the Spectator's Katy Balls and Johnson supporter David Campbell Bannerman.Plus: Columnists Manveen Rana and Matthew Parris on the former prime minister's relationship with the truth, the migrant boat disaster in Greece, and should we take more responsibility for being scammed?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer takes aim at Rishi Sunak over Boris Johnson's resignation honours list, while Sunak attacks Labour for picking peers like Tom Watson.Matt, Tim Shipman, Isabel Hardman and Patrick Maguire pause and unpack the exchanges from the House of Commons.Plus: Columnists Alice Thomson and Robert Crampton discuss whether being in the Lords is all it's cracked up to be, whether abortion laws are fit for purpose and as a council moves to ban ice-cream vans, Robert tells his best ice cream joke.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Finkelstein and Henry Zeffman are back to discuss the battle over Boris Johnson's honours list, why the former prime minister annoys Rishi Sunak so much, and whether there's any chance of Labour winning all four by-elections on the horizon.Plus: As the Covid inquiry public hearings get underway, Matt looks at the big questions to be answered with a line-up of experts from the Times and the Sunday Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Labour veteran Dame Margaret Hodge sits down for The Exit Interviews, our new series featuring MPs leaving Parliament at the next election.She talks to Matt about her 30-year career in the Commons including being neighbours with Tony Blair, her battles with the BNP, and what she really said to Jeremy Corbyn when she confronted him over antisemitism.Plus: Columnists Iain Martin and Libby Purves discuss whether Keir Starmer is the luckiest man in politics after a weekend of Conservative and SNP chaos, and will Boris Johnson shut up and go away? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former US President Donald Trump has been criminally charged for the second time in three months, but is still the favourite to secure the Republican nomination in the race for the White House. Can any of the other candidates stop him? Matt speaks to Trump's former Press Secretary Sean Spicer.Plus, columnists India Knight and James Marriott talk about how to have a barbecue in a heatwave, why India hates emails, and should we leave beaches covered in seaweed? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Finkelstein, Times columnist and friend of the podcast, tells the story of his parents' remarkable journey from the Soviet Gulags and the Nazi concentration camps of World War II to safety in north London.Matt joins him at the Wiener Holocaust Library, home to his grandfather's archive documenting the Nazi rise to power, to discuss his book Hitler, Stalin, Mum & Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival.Plus Manveen Rana and Matt Frei discuss what Rishi Sunak achieved on his trip to Washington, what Caroline Lucas achieved as the only Green MP, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan explains what it's like throwing a pitch at a baseball game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Rishi Sunak away in America, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden faces off against Labour's number two, Angela Rayner. Matt, Patrick Maguire and Lara Spirit pause and unpack the exchanges as the two trade blows over the Covid inquiry, and Rayner tells Dowden his punchlines are 'dire'.PLUS: Columnists Hadley Freeman and Oliver Kamm discuss weight loss drugs, Oxfam's controversial new advert, and Libby Purves reviews the actors reconstructing Prince Harry's courtroom evidence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.