Calling Peston: The ITV News Politics Podcast

The Calling Peston team are in Salford in Greater Manchester - where Johnson v Corbyn: The ITV Debate is taking place on Tuesday evening. Daniel's been behind the scenes on the set of the debate - and Robert gives his take on what we can expect from the head-to-head and what difference will it make to the campaign. We'll bring you a special episode of the podcast at 6am on Wednesday morning with reaction and analysis to the debate - and then we're back again as usual at 5pm on Thursday. Don't forget to subscribe - and if you like what you hear, rate and review the podcast. Get in touch with the Calling Peston team - contact @DanielHewittITV, @ShehabKhan and @Peston. For the latest election news, go to itv.com/news and follow @ITVNewsPolitics on Twitter.

Ahead of the first head-to-head election debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson on Tuesday on ITV, host and moderator Julie Etchingham speaks exclusively to Daniel and Shehab. Julie reveals how she prepares, how nervous the politicians get, what they do during the ad break and ultimately, whether TV debates make a difference in deciding how we vote. You can watch the fascinating interview in full at youtube.com/itvnews. Daniel and Shehab also catch up with Robert, fresh from interviewing Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson. He shares what Tory candidates are being told about the opinion polls by the man running the Conservative Party campaign. Daniel reveals which MP he accidentally invited to Alton Towers and Shehab has a sixty-second rundown of what’s been happening in the campaign today. We’ll bring you a new episode every weekday around 5pm throughout the election campaign. Don’t forget to subscribe - and if you like what you hear, give us a review.

Earlier this week on the podcast, Robert Peston dropped by the Calling Peston studio/cupboard to answer some of the many election-related questions you tweeted him. We couldn't fit all of the Q&A in that episode, so here it is for you in full. Among the questions: why hasn't the Russian interference report been released; will Remain parties come together to form a coalition - and are we now stuck with winter general elections forever? We'll do another Q&A with Robert on the podcast soon - so send your election questions by tweeting @DanielHewittITV, @ShehabKhan and @Peston using #CallingPeston. We'll be back as usual with a new episode on Monday evening.

Today's campaign can be summed up with two B's: broadband and (the Tory) bus. There's been loads of talk about Labour's £20 billion pledge to provide free full-fibre internet access across the UK by 2030, which the party says would be funded by renationalise part of BT. The Tories and Lib Dems have said the scheme is unaffordable. We chat to our correspondent Libby Wiener who spoke to Jeremy Corbyn in Lancaster today - he told her "It is affordable, and it's got to be affordable because our country needs it." Is the policy a gamechanger? As for the Conservatives, Boris Johnson launched the party's battle bus in Greater Manchester today. Robert Peston got on the bus to speak to the prime minister in his first sit-down interview of the campaign. We bring you the key parts of that interview - watch it in full at youtube.com/itvnews. And Daniel and Shehab take a look at who's up and who's down at the end of week two of the campaign.

New figures out today show more patients than ever waited longer than four hours in A&E in England during October. Labour's seized on the data, saying the NHS was in crisis - but Boris Johnson says Labour would "rack up such colossal debt" that it would be impossible to invest the money needed into the health service. With the NHS high up on many voters' key priorities, will today's figures see support switch away the Conservatives and to Labour? Robert gives us his take. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been heckled for a second day in a row during his visit to Scotland. Our correspondent Libby Wiener has been following Mr Corbyn - we chat to her about how the party's campaign in Scotland is going so far. Plus some very important discussion about what really is the right way to make a cup of tea, after a Tory campaign video showed Boris Johnson adding milk to his cup of tea BEFORE removing the bag.

With the Brexit Party not standing in Tory-held seats to avoid splitting the Brexit vote, and a Lib Dem candidate standing aside in a marginal seat to avoid splitting the Remain vote, it feels like tactical voting could play more of a role in this election than ever before - but will it make a significant difference to the outcome? We ask Robert about that, plus Labour's £26 billion NHS announcement - and get his take on another day where the Tory campaign was dominated by the floods, with Boris Johnson confronted by angry residents in South Yorkshire. Daniel and Shehab chat to Alastair Campbell, who knows all about confrontations between senior politicians and the public. He was communications director for Labour during the 2001 election campaign when deputy prime minister John Prescott punched a protester who threw an egg at him. He tells us what it was like at the heart of the campaign dealing with the fallout. And he exclusively tells us why he'll be backing ex-Tory minister David Gauke, who's standing as an independent the South West Hertfordshire seat he's held since 2005. It's all about tactical voting...

A political party can run the slickest election campaign ever, but there’s always one thing it can never control - and that’s events. The devastating floods in northern England have forced many to leave their homes - and sparked visits to the worst-hit areas by Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson. Boris Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting today but has been criticised by his opponents over the government's response to the floods. We ask Robert whether the way the PM has dealt could affect the Conservatives campaign. And what do people in Yorkshire think when party leaders come to visit them at times like this - it is helpful or just electioneering? We get the view of Geri Scott from the Yorkshire Post. Labour says it has successfully thwarted a cyber-attack targeted at its digital platforms - we ask who might be behind it and whether we could see more of this in the run-up to polling day. Robert also answers some election questions you’ve been asking him on Twitter (keep them coming - tweet @Peston using #CallingPeston).

Week two of the campaign has started with a bang - Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage announcing his party won't the contest the 317 seats held by the Tories at the last election amid fears it could lead to a hung parliament and a second referendum. He'd previously threatened to stand candidates in some 600 seats unless Mr Johnson abandoned his withdrawal deal with the EU. Just how much of a boost will his decision give to Boris Johnson's chances of returning to Number 10? We hear from Emma Murphy in Hartlepool, who is travelling with the Brexit Party campaign for ITV News - and from Paul Brand, who tells us how the news is going down in the Tory camp, as the PM visited the West Midlands. Of course, we give Political Editor Robert Peston a call to get his take on just how significant how today's developments are. And after Nigel Farage was likened to Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings by a former adviser to Theresa May, we ask our team which actor they'd like to play them in a movie about their life. You'll hear some rather interesting answers...

The first week of campaigning is almost over and what a week it's been. After a great deal of focus on Labour and the Conservative campaigns, Friday saw the launch of the Scottish National Party's election bid as Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted to form a “progressive alliance” after the election to evict Boris Johnson from 10 Downing Street. Daniel and Shehab ring Robert from the SNP launch in Edinburgh to ask whether a vote for the SNP is really a vote for Labour, as the Conservatives claim. Also, a new Friday feature on Calling Peston - who's up and who's down? Robert attempts a set of quick-fire questions about each of the main political parties. And we may be only 3 days in, but it feels like a lifetime for the ITV News teams following the parties around the country eating sandwiches in motorway service stations everyday. We speak to Paul Brand and Rachel Bradley on their election diets while they cover the Conservative campaign. We've also got an interview with Professor Jane Green from the British Election Study on whether we can trust the polls and what impact (if any) the Brexit Party may have on this election. We played a small part of our chat with Jane on today's episode - the full interview is on the ITV News YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zd5j6tIU0s and is well worth a watch.

Day two of the campaign and it’s just as full on as day one. After the Tories had what can be described as not the best of starts to the campaign, Labour’s been hit with the double whammy of deputy leader Tom Watson resigning and two former Labour MPs urging voters to back Boris Johnson. And if that wasn’t enough, after just one episode, Daniel’s co-host Shehab is nowhere to be seen! We track him down to find out exactly what he’s playing at. The big theme of today's campaign has been the economy - with Labour and the Conservatives making big spending promises to voters. Labour's pledging an extra 150 billion pounds and investment on a scale "never seen before". The Conservatives say they'll also borrow more to spend more on transport and hospitals. Do the sums add up? We call Robert on his lunch break to get his take on it all. With the chancellor and shadow chancellor in the north west of England, we talk to the political editor of the Manchester Evening News, Jen Williams, about the gap in government investment between the north and south - and what else matters to voters away from the Westminster bubble.