Political Outreach

Alexandre Holroyd was the candidate of La République En Marche! at the 2017 legislative elections for the third constituency for French residents overseas. He won the second round against former Hollande minister Axelle Lemaire on 18 June 2017.

His constituency of Northern Europe covers all French citizens living in ten countries in Northern Europe - specifically, Iceland, Norway, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Sweden, Finland (including Åland), Ireland, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It contains roughly 140,731 registered French voters. By far the greatest number of these (113,655) are living in the United Kingdom, the country with the third greatest number of registered French residents in the world.

Alexandre himself is French-British and was brought up in London and attended a French school. Having attended University in both UK and France, he began a career in consultancy in London.

When Emmanuel Macron founded En Marche, Alexandre quit his job to found the overseas arm and campaigned vigorously for a Macron victory.

In this episode we discuss French politics, French identity, the rise of Rassemblement National and the future of En Marche.

You need to check this episode out!

Joe Walsh is a former US Member of Congress for Illinois, a staunch free market Republican he's been on a real political journey since 2016. A member of the Tea Party movement, he's been horrified by the dangerous elements that have taken over the GOP since Trump came aboard.

Born and raised in the Chicago metropolitan area, Walsh was elected to the U.S. House in 2010, defeating three-term incumbent Melissa Bean. Though he received little Republican Party support in his bid against Bean, he was popular with the Tea Party movement. In the 1990s, he identified as a moderate Republican, but he later became a conservative and a Tea Party activist.

Later, during his presidential campaign running against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020, Walsh expressed regret for some of the comments and stances he made during his time in Congress.

We go in depth into the current challenges facing America, how two party politics is deepening divide and is not working for most Americans.

Joe has his own great podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f-ck-silence-with-joe-walsh/id681477236

Sir Martin Sorrell is Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital plc, which is building a purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, local clients and millennial-driven influencer brands.

Sir Martin was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million “shell” company in 1985 into the world’s largest advertising and marketing services company. When Sir Martin left in April 2018, WPP had a market capitalisation of over £16 billion, revenues of over £15 billion, profits of approximately £2 billion and over 200,000 people in 113 countries.

Prior to that, Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi plc for 9 years and worked for James Gulliver, Mark McCormack and Glendinning Associates before that.

S4 Capital plc merged with MediaMonks, its content practice, in July 2018 and MightyHive, its programmatic practice, in December 2018 and has added eight further content programmatic and data companies to both practices in 2019 and six in 2020. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange under SFOR.L and after a little over two years, S4 Capital plc has over 2870 people in 30 countries, with a market capitalization of over $2.7 billion.

Sir Martin supports a number of leading business schools and universities, including his alma maters, Harvard Business School and Cambridge University and a number of charities, including his family foundation.

Martin Bell, is a British UNICEF Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament for Tatton from 1997 to 2001. He is known throughout the UK as "the man in the white suit".

Martin is someone I've wished to interview for a number years, someone who unbeknownst to him has influenced my own political thinking. Martin is the true example of an Independent politician, we discuss his own journey. From working for the BBC in some of the worlds worst conflicts and his learnings from those days, to his dramatic entry into British politics and taking the safe Conservative seat of Tatton in dramatic fashion.

Hear the background of how 24 days before the 1997 Election both the Liberal Democrats and Labour stood aside for Martin. Hear reflections of how he was received and his own personal achievements.

We also discuss how Journalism in the UK now does a disservice to reporting, especially on the plight of many in places such as sub-Saharan Africa.

Martin now uses his platform as a UNICEF Ambassador and raises funds to tackle the victims of War and Conflict around the world. A truly remarkable man!

Siobhan Benita is a former civil servant. She was an independent candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election. She was then the Liberal Democrat candidate in the London mayoral election originally planned for 2020, but after the election was delayed to 2021, she withdrew as the candidate. Hear amazing stories from Siobhan's time as a Civil Servant under the New Labour Government, what it was like when the Coalition came to power and how she decided to leave and run for Mayor of London. Siobhan gives us insight into how Coronavirus affected her run for London Mayor this time around, why she decided to drop out and leave the Liberal Democrats. She also has her own Political Podcast 'Political Takeaway' check it out!

Emma Foody was appointed as Nottinghamshire’s Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner in June 2020.

As Deputy PCC, Emma assists in the delivery of the PCC’s wider responsibilities to ensure Nottinghamshire Police is effective and efficient, with specific leadership responsibilities in helping and supporting victims, protecting and safeguarding vulnerable people, strengthening links with the regional criminal justice board and community engagement.

A University of Nottingham History and Politics graduate, Emma was formerly External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation and previously worked as Quality and Performance Officer for the North East Ambulance Service, with responsibility for auditing 999 calls and ensuring they were handled safely and professionally. Prior to this, she worked as a 999 Emergency Call Handler for the North East Ambulance Service.

Since 2017, Emma has served as Regional Director of The Labour Party and until recently was a sitting magistrate.

Emma and I have known one another since 2011, she's an intelligent and engaging person and highly equipped to take on such a role. Hear how she's travelled the world from America to Australia electioneering and what she hopes to achieve in her new role.

Michael Mullaney is a rising star in the Liberal Democrats and a well know Councillor in Hinckley. Michael and I have been friends for a good while now, having brought me into the Liberal Democrats. Michael was the PPC for Bosworth in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 and has put the party on a good footing for 2nd place in the seat. Hear how Michael became interested in politics, his brief flirtation with the Labour party and how he was just shy of becoming an MEP. Michael is one of the strongest voices for local devolution, fighting the unitary authority proposals from the Conservative Government.

Marshall is a dairy farmer in the agrifood sector and was president of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) from 2014 to 2016.

Marshall was elected to the 25th Seanad on 27 April 2018 in a by-election for the Agricultural Panel. The vacancy was caused by the resignation of Denis Landy. He was approached to stand by Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader; his candidacy was also supported by Sinn Féin. He has never been a member of a political party and sat as an independent. He was the first unionist member elected to the Oireachtas since the 1930s.

He lost his seat at the 2020 Seanad election.

In this episode we talk through Northern Irish politics and cross border relations with the Republic of Ireland. Ian was fantastic to interview as he believes respect even for those he disagrees with is fundamental to moving Northern Ireland forward, his willingness to work with republicans has gained him respect across the political aisle.

David Zuckerman is an American businessman, farmer, and Vermont Progressive Party politician currently serving as the 81st Lieutenant Governor of Vermont, since 2017. He previously served in the Vermont House of Representatives for seven terms (1997–2011), and the Vermont Senate for two (2013–2017). He is the Democratic Nominee for Governor of Vermont in the 2020 election.

In 2016 Zuckerman ran for lieutenant governor as a Progressive, and also received the nomination of the Democratic Party by defeating Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives Shap Smith and Representative Kesha Ram in the Democratic primary. He defeated Republican State Senator Randy Brock in the 2016 general election. Zuckerman was re-elected in 2018.

Zuckerman is the first Progressive Party candidate to win statewide office in Vermont. Zuckerman's win reinforced Vermont as a state with the presence of a major party other than the Democratic and Republican parties.

On January 13, 2020, Zuckerman announced his intention to run for Governor of Vermont in the 2020 election.

Well it's come to this! You requested it and now I've delivered an interview with my Dad and former Labour MP for Inverclyde. My Dad will always be my political hero, now you can hear a personal political story about his early days as an apprentice mechanic and what prompted him to become politically active in the 1980's. Having served as a Councillor in Inverclyde and Council Leader in 2011 he was elected in a By-election to Parliament.