In this episode we welcome our guest contributor Professor Tim Bale (Queen Mary, University of London) who talks with Professor Charles Lees about why the media’s use of Vox Pops is a waste of time and also how the Prime Minister’s week badly unravelled, following his unexpectedly strong performance in the first Leadership Debate on Tuesday.

We ask what on earth where he and his team thinking when he left the D Day celebrations on Thursday. We then move on to strategy and discuss whether Isaac Levido’s stewardship of the Conservative campaign is as effective as expected or if there is more to the Tory campaign than the highly visible ‘air war’.

Professor Chris Rojek and Dr Lise Butler throw light on historical comparisons from Canada and beyond and we discuss the lessons of Margret Thatcher’s 1970-1983 government as a template for how a future Starmer government might start to move the dial on what is politically possible following their various campaign pledges.