Armando Iannucci: Westminster Reimagined | a New Statesman podcast

Britain has one of the most unequal economies in Europe.

In the UK, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer than in other European countries. The income gap is the largest it has been in ten years, food-bank use has doubled since 2014 and nearly a third of low-income families are unable to heat their homes; meanwhile the richest 1 per cent of households in the UK are worth £3.6 million each. 

Why? And what impact does this have on our politics?

Anoosh and Armando meet Dominic Watters, a social worker living on the breadline, and Adrienne Buller of the think tank Common Wealth, to explore the impact of inequality and whether the political system is geared against the "undeserving poor".

Guests

Dominic Watters is a single dad, social worker and campaigner against food insecurity. He's the author of Social Distance in Social Work: Covid Capsule One

Adrienne Buller is director of research at the Common Wealth think tank and author of The Value of a Whale. 

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Underhand, "bullying", quid-pro-quo... are whips helping run the country, or turning politics into a game of political point-scoring?

Armando and Anoosh are joined by playwright James Graham and professor of politics Chris Hanretty to discuss the whipping operation in parliament - and whether blowing the whistle on whips' tactics will actually change anything for the better.

Guests

James Graham is the award-winning writer of political plays This House, Brexit: The Uncivil War and Labour of Love

Chris Hanretty is a professor at Royal Holloway University who studies pork barrel politics.

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on May 11, 2022.

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Do political "tribes" still matter, or do voters pick-and-mix their political preferences?

Armando and Ailbhe Rea are joined by the legendary polling expert, John Curtice, and former Labour defector Shaun Woodward, to explore the importance of demographics in understanding voting intention and whether identity politics really does sway voters.

Guests

John Curtice is professor of politics at Strathclyde University and the resident polling expert on the BBC's coverage of general elections from 2005-2017.

Shaun Woodward is a former Labour minister who defected to the Conservatives in 1999. He now chairs the Human Dignity Trust, an international LGBT charity.

Ailbhe Rea was political correspondent at the New Statesman until 2022, and was a regular co-host of the New Statesman podcast.

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on May 4, 2022.

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Britain doesn't have a written constitution. Is it time we did?

Armando and Anoosh are joined by former attorney general Dominic Grieve and the head of UCL's Constitution Unit, Meg Russell, to discuss Britain's "ramshackle" constitution - and whether democracy can continue to thrive in Westminster after Brexit without a codified system of government.

Guests

Dominic Grieve is a barrister and former Conservative MP who served as Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 - 2014.

Meg Russell is professor in British and comparative politics and director of the Constitution Unit at University College London.

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on April 27, 2022.

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Does change happen because of politicians, or despite them?

Armando and Anoosh speak to two campaigners addressing issues of inequality to discuss whether it's people or politicians who change public opinion - and whether activists are letting the government off the hook.

Guests

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah launched her grass roots campaign to improve London's air quality after her daughter became the first person in the world to officially die from air pollution. Find out more about the Ella Roberta foundation for clean air: https://www.ellaroberta.org/

Gary Stephenson is a former interest rate trader who made his fortune betting on the fallout of the 2008 market crash, before leaving the City to campaign against wealth inequality. See his YouTube channel, GarysEconomics, here: https://www.youtube.com/c/garyseconomics

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on April 20, 2022.

Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

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Archaic, exclusive and impenetrable - is there any way parliament can be dragged into the 21st century?

Anum Qaisar - at the time of recording the SNPs newest Westminster MP - and Emma Crewe, professor of anthropology at SOAS, join Armando and Ailbhe Rea to explore what’s prevented parliament from evolving into a modern, 21st-century legislature and why it’s still a tough place for MPs from non-traditional backgrounds.

Guests

Anum Qaisar is a female, muslim, Scottish Pakistani former school teacher elected as the SNP MP for Airdre and Shotts in 2021.

Emma Crewe is a professor of anthropology at SOAS who has studied the workings of the House of Commons and House of Lords.

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on April 13, 2022.

Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

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Why do we find it so hard to disagree without hating each other?

Former Conservative minister Anna Soubry and self-proclaimed "radical social democrat" Paul Mason join Armando and Ailbhe Rea to explore whether there could ever be a pact between the centre and the left, and why it seems much harder to debate agreeably than ever before.

Guests

Anna Soubry is a former Conservative minister and vocal critic of Brexit who resigned to found the Independent Group, later Change UK, which she led until losing her seat in 2019.

Paul Mason is a journalist and political activist. He was the business editor of Newsnight and economics editor of Channel 4 News.

Ailbhe Rea was the political correspondent at the New Statesman and a regular co-host of the New Statesman podcast until 2022

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on August 2, 2021. Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

Subscribe to the New Statesman for full access to all our reporting and analysis. Get your first month free: www.newstatesman.com/30daytrial

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Is Westminster's political power fading?

Anoosh and Armando are joined by actor and director Chris Addison and former independent parliamentary candidate Claire Wright to discuss the distribution of political influence in the parliamentary system, whether it's possible to influence politics at a local level without buying in to a central party line, and why so many MPs start out as SpAds.

Guests

Chris Addison is a comedian, writer, actor and director who, among other notable roles, played the special advisor Ollie Reeder in Armando Iannucci's hit political satire The Thick of It.

Claire Wright fought the constituency of East Devon as an independent candidate in three general elections, coming second each time.

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This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on August 9, 2021. Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

Subscribe to the New Statesman for full access to all our reporting and analysis. Get your first month free: www.newstatesman.com/30daytrial

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Making lasting change - is it easier from inside Westminster, or through public protest and activism?

Armando Iannucci and Stephen Bush are joined by Louise Casey, the UK government's former homelessness tsar, and Paul Stephens of Extinction Rebellion to discuss how you make change happen within and without the British political system.

Guests

Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock, DBE, has been head of the UK's Rough Sleepers Unit, Director of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and head of the Respect Task Force. She was the UK's first Victims' commissioner and Director General of the Troubled Families programme, before heading a review for David Cameron into community cohesion and extremism. During the pandemic she chaired the Covid-19 rough-sleeping task force.

Paul Stephens is a former Metropolitan Police Officer turned Extinction Rebellion activist, working as the environmental activist group's police liaison officer.

Stephen Bush was the New Statesman's political editor 2018-2022, and a founding host of the New Statesman podcast.

This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed on August 2, 2021. Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

Subscribe to the New Statesman for full access to all our reporting and analysis. Get your first month free: www.newstatesman.com/30daytrial

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The British government has no shame. How can we hold politicians to account?

Ian Hislop (Private Eye, Have I Got News For You) and Jill Rutter (former senior civil servant) join Armando Iannucci and Anoosh Chakelian to discuss political scandal, resignations, and accountability in politics.

This episode was originally published in the New Statesman Podcast on 26 July, 2021. Listen to the New Statesman podcast here: https://podfollow.com/new-statesman

Guests

Ian Hislop is the editor of Private Eye and regular on the long-running satirical panel show Have I Got News For You.

Jill Rutter is a former British civil servant. She is a senior research fellow of UK in a Changing Europe, and was previously the programme director at the Institute for Government directing the organisation's work on better policy making and Brexit.

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