The Rundown by PoliticsHome

By PoliticsHome

What's The Rundown by PoliticsHome about?

Our weekly podcast from Politics Home discussing all the ups and downs in Westminster. Please subscribe and share - and keep up with all the latest news on PoliticsHome.com. Got a question for the team? [email protected].

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The Rundown by PoliticsHome episodes:

04.26.2024
Will Rwanda work?
Conservative MP Robert Buckland and director of the Hansard Society Dr Ruth Fox join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Caitlin Doherty to discuss the passage of the government’s Safety of Rwanda Bill into law after a tortuous journey through parliament, and...
04.18.2024
Liz Truss Interview: She'd do it again
Former prime minister Liz Truss speaks to PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss her new book, Ten Years to Save the West, and reflect on her tumultuous 49 days in Downing Street in 2022, what her second act would be, and...
04.12.2024
Can the Tories survive?
Katy Balls, political editor of The Spectator, Henry Hill, acting editor of ConservativeHome, Paul Scully, Tory MP for Sutton and Cheam, and Gavin Rice, director at Onward’s Future of Conservatism project, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to consider the future of...
04.05.2024
Why vote?
Authors of Why Vote? How to make your voice heard in a world of broken politics Jo Phillips and David Seymour join PoliticsHome's Caitlin Doherty and Alain Tolhurst to discuss why apathy is the enemy of democracy, why we should...
03.30.2024
Mood of the nation
Labour MP and chair of the Commons Petitions Committee Cat Smith and CEO of pollsters Thinks Insight & Strategy Ben Shimshon join PoliticsHome's Adam Payne and Alain Tolhurst a major new Mood of the Nation survey, featuring excerpts from an...
03.21.2024
Fixing Parliament’s ethics crisis
At a special event in the House of Lords this week, PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst meets three ethics regulators to look at the role of Standards in Parliament, The Civil Service, and Public Life. Featuring First Civil Service Commissioner Baroness Gisela...
03.14.2024
Brewing scandals
‌ Barry Gardiner, Labour MP and longtime campaigner for leaseholder victims, Nazek Ramadan, director of Migrant Voice, and Alice Hardy, a lawyer for Bindmans, who work on behalf of the TOEIC overseas students, falsely accused of cheating on their English language...
03.07.2024
Women in Westminster
To celebrate the launch of this year’s Women in Westminster 100 list three of the nominees; Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, Conservative MP Theo Clarke and founder of campaign group Pregnant then Screwed, Joeli Brearley join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst and Laura Silver...
03.01.2024
Bills, bills, bills
Director JL Partners pollsters Scarlett Maguire, and Group Executive Vice President at energy solutions provider Grundfos Bent Jensen join PoliticsHome's Nadine Batchelor-Hunt and Alain Tolhurst to discuss the public’s desire for help with home energy efficiency measures to cut utility...
02.23.2024
Are MPs safe?
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, whose sister Jo Cox was murdered in 2016 while serving as the MP, and Conservative MP and vice chair of the cross-party group on hate crime Elliot Colburn join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss safety risks...
02.16.2024
Pubs on the brink
PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst heads to The Sanctuary House pub in Westminster with Labour MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on pubs Charlotte Nichols, Camra's Ellie Hudspith, UK Hospitality's Tony Sophoclides and British Beer and Pub Association's Emma...
02.09.2024
Local cash crisis
Labour MP and chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Clive Betts, and leader of Milton Keynes Council Pete Marland, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Caitlin Doherty to discuss the crisis in local government finance after a number...
02.02.2024
Conversion therapy ban in the long grass
Tory MP Alicia Kearns and interim CEO of anti-LGBT abuse charity Galop Amy Roch join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Zoe Crowther to discuss the government's ailing promise to legislate against the controversial practise of conversion therapy. Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced...
01.25.2024
Football’s financial crisis
Labour MP and former shadow sports minister Clive Efford and director of advocacy at campaign group Fair Game Mike Baker join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst and Tom Scotson to explore government plans for an independent regulator and football governance as the future of...
01.19.2024
Reform want to "obliterate" Tories
Ben Habib, co-deputy leader of Reform UK, and Christabel Cooper, director of research at think tank Labour Together, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Adam Payne to discuss the surge in support for the right-wing party Reform and the impact it...
01.12.2024
Democracy in crisis?
Alistair Carmichael, former Cabinet minister and Liberal Democrat MP, Dr Jess Garland, director of policy and research at the Electoral Reform Society, and Naomi Smith, CEO at the campaign group Best for Britain, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to take a...
01.04.2024
What's in store for 2024?
Natasha Clark, LBC’s political editor, and Zoë Grünewald, political correspondent at the Independent, join PoliticsHome's Adam Payne and Alain Tolhurst to look ahead at what 2024 in politics could hold – not least a general election.
12.28.2023
2023 in politics
The Spectator’s political correspondent James Heale joins PoliticsHome to relive another dramatic year in politics, featuring the SNP camper van, Rishi Sunak’s row with Greece over the Elgin Marbles, Keir Starmer getting glittered, Nadine Dorries' revenge, and David Cameron’s second act. Presented by Alain...
12.21.2023
Rishi Sunak's torrid year
Paul Scully, Conservative MP and former minister, Laura Dunn, political and digital consultant who advises senior Tories, and Ben Riley-Smith, Telegraph political editor and author of The Right to Rule, a book looking at the past 13 years of the...
12.15.2023
Back room power players
Sir Graham Brady, current and longest-serving chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, and Lord Philip Norton, Tory peer and author of The 1922 Committee: Power Behind the Scenes, talk to PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst about the history, role...
12.07.2023
Justice in crisis
David Gauke, former Justice Secretary, Victoria Gethin, head of family law at Stephensons, Rob Preece from the Howard League for Penal Reform, and Richard Atkinson, vice president of the Law Society, join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss the crisis in...
12.01.2023
Tories bet the house(ing)
Conservative former housing minister Brandon Lewis, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter Polly Neate, journalist and commentator John Oxley, and senior researcher at the Centre for London Millie Mitchell, join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss whether a bold new offer...
11.24.2023
Hunt's fiscal "fiction"
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, Tory MP Stephen Hammond, Resolution Foundation's Cara Pacitti and Institute for Fiscal Studies' Ben Zaranko join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss Jeremy Hunt's plans to kickstart the economy and whether the Chancellor...
11.17.2023
Behind David Cameron’s shock return to Cabinet
Lord Ed Vaizey, former culture minister and leading Cameroon, Baroness Kate Fall, David Cameron’s deputy chief of staff in Downing Street, and Professor Meg Russell from UCL’s Constitution Unit join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss the former PM’s shock return...
11.10.2023
Labour’s path to power
Neal Lawson, director of centre-left campaign organisation Compass, Abdi Duale, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, and Morgan Jones, reporter for the website Labour List, join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss Keir Starmer’s re-shaping of the Labour party,...
11.03.2023
Covid chaos in No.10
Health minister during Covid-19 Lord Bethell, Institute for Government's Cath Haddon, openDemocracy reporter Ruby Lott-Lavigna, and chair of the health select committee Steve Brine join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss a week of explosive hearings at the Covid inquiry. Presented by...
10.27.2023
Can AI be saved from itself?
AI minister Viscount Camrose, Ada Lovelace Institute's Renate Samson and TechUK's Antony Walker join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Zoe Crowther to discuss Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's big AI speech and next week’s Bletchley Park global AI safety summit.
10.20.2023
Do bishops belong in the Lords?
Tommy Sheppard, SNP MP and chair of the Humanists APPG, Jess Sargeant, associate director at the Institute for Government, and broadcaster Edward Stourton, presenter of Sunday, BBC Radio 4’s long-running religious affairs programme, join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss whether...
10.11.2023
Live At Labour Conference: MPs eye a decade in power
Shadow attorney general and Labour MP Emily Thornberry and Labour leader of Manchester council Bev Craig join PoliticsHome's Adam Payne and The House's Tali Fraser at Labour party conference in Liverpool where the party set out its pledges for government...
10.03.2023
Live at Conservative Conference: Rishi's final push
Conservative party chair Greg Hands and Tory MP Sara Britcliffe join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst live at Conservative party conference in Manchester to discuss how Tories can take on the final year before the next election, and what they've been hearing...
09.29.2023
The future of money
Tory MP Marcus Fysh, who chairs the APPG on central bank digital currencies, and Silkie Carlo, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Tom Scotson to look at how access to cash and a...
09.22.2023
Never-ending prison sentences
Conservative MP and chair of the justice select committee Sir Bob Neill, Lib Dem peer and justice reform campaigner Baroness Lorely Burt and deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust Mark Day discuss the “unique injustice” of now discredited Imprisonment...
09.15.2023
How many education secretaries?
Chair of the education select committee and Conservative MP Robin Walker, general secretary of teaching union the NASUWT Dr Patrick Roach and co-founder of teacher survey app Teacher Tapp Laura McInerney join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss the impact of...
09.08.2023
Tory hope crumbles
Conservative MP Matt Warman joins PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Caitlin Doherty to discuss a tricky first week back in Parliament after summer recess for Rishi Sunak with the RAAC crisis and and a ruthless Keir Starmer reshuffle.
09.01.2023
Dawn Butler: Politics of purpose
Labour MP for Brent Central Dawn Butler. a former minister under Gordon Brown, talks to PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst about making history as the first black woman to speak from the House of Commons despatch box, how to fix the Met...
08.24.2023
James Schneider: “The centre doesn’t really exist”
Jeremy Corbyn’s former director of strategic communications James Schneider talks about how Labour’s hope in 2017 turned to despair in 2019, and tells PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst why he’s sceptical that Keir Starmer will be more radical in office than he...
08.17.2023
Luciana Berger: “I feel that our democracy is diminished”
Former Labour MP Luciana Berger explains why she sensationally quit the party over anti-semitism in 2019, what made her return earlier this year under Keir Starmer’s leadership, and discusses with PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst how even now there is “limited understanding”...
08.11.2023
Chris Bryant: Is this the worst Parliament ever?
Labour MP, former minister and chair of the Committee on Standards Chris Bryant, speaks to PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst about why the House of Commons has become such a disreputable place, and his plan to fix it. Presented by Alain Tolhurst,...
08.04.2023
Lord Bethell: Ministry of Sound to ministry of health
Former public health minister Lord Bethell discusses how he joined the upper chamber through the little-known hereditary peer by-election system, his previous life running the Ministry of Sound nightclub, and his crusade to improve the nation’s wellbeing. Presented by Alain Tolhurst,...
07.28.2023
Could government ditch green pledges?
Daisy Powell Chandler, elections strategist and consult at Public First, and Cameron Smith from the Conservative Environment Network join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Caitlin Doherty to discuss the fallout on climate and net zero policy after the ULEZ row in...
07.21.2023
What happens when the mortgage bomb goes off?
Labour frontbencher Abena Oppong-Asare, research director at the Resolution Foundation James Smith and deputy director at centre right think tank Onward Adam Hawksbee join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss the 'mortgage time bomb' ticking under the British economy.
07.13.2023
Rishi Sunak’s triple by-election blues
Former government special adviser Salma Shah and Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester Robert Ford join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to look ahead to next week’s triple by-election, and what it means for the political parties fortunes as...
07.07.2023
Will Westminster ever calm down?
Former Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb and ex-trade minister Mark Garnier join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst and Adam Payne to take stock of where the Conservative Party is a year on from Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister, and why Rishi Sunak...
06.30.2023
Parliament's "class ceiling"
Justine Greening, former Conservative Cabinet minister, Tory MP for Don Valley Nick Fletcher, and Oxford University academic and expert on class in Parliament Albert Ward, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss the ‘class ceiling’ in Parliament and how social mobility...
06.23.2023
UK stuttering on road to Net Zero
Barry Gardiner, Labour MP and member of the newly-created Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, Pete Chalkley, director of think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, and Luke Murphy, head of the Environmental Justice Commission at the Institute for...
06.16.2023
Boris Johnson's gone, Tories are moving on
Conservative MP for Stroud Siobhan Baillie, and founder of the liberal conservative think tank Bright Blue Ryan Shorthouse, join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst and Caitlin Doherty to discuss how the Tories can finally move on from the tumultuous Boris Johnson era...
06.08.2023
Government turns on its own officials
Amy Leversidge, Assistant General Secretary of civil servants’ union the FDA, Institute for Government senior fellow and former Department for Education advisor Sam Freedman, and Civil Service World deputy editor Beckie Smith join PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst to discuss the latest...
06.01.2023
The race is on to be chosen to run as an MP
Veteran political journalist Michael Crick, who runs the @tomorrowsmps twitter account, Luke Akehurst, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, and Jackson Ng, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate in 2015 and 2017, join PoliticsHome's Alain Tolhurst to discuss the...
05.26.2023
Liz Truss's knotty legacy
Seven months on from Liz Truss’s exit from Downing Street, Tory MP Ranil Jayawardena, who served as Environment Secretary in her Cabinet, Rohan Watt, who wrote her manifesto and worked in her No 10 policy unit, and Dr Catherine Haddon,...
05.19.2023
Housing crisis comes to a head
Bob Seely, Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, John Myers, co-founder of the London YIMBY housing campaign, Dan Tomlinson, Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Chipping Barnet, PoliticsHome’s Alain Tolhurst discuss the housebuilding crisis that looks set to define debate in...

What's The Rundown by PoliticsHome about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Rundown by PoliticsHome episodes:

Will Rwanda work?

Liz Truss Interview: She'd do it again

Can the Tories survive?

Why vote?

Mood of the nation

Fixing Parliament’s ethics crisis

Brewing scandals

Women in Westminster

Bills, bills, bills

Are MPs safe?

Pubs on the brink

Local cash crisis

Conversion therapy ban in the long grass

Football’s financial crisis

Reform want to "obliterate" Tories

Democracy in crisis?

What's in store for 2024?

2023 in politics

Rishi Sunak's torrid year

Back room power players

Justice in crisis

Tories bet the house(ing)

Hunt's fiscal "fiction"

Behind David Cameron’s shock return to Cabinet

Labour’s path to power

Covid chaos in No.10

Can AI be saved from itself?

Do bishops belong in the Lords?

Live At Labour Conference: MPs eye a decade in power

Live at Conservative Conference: Rishi's final push

The future of money

Never-ending prison sentences

How many education secretaries?

Tory hope crumbles

Dawn Butler: Politics of purpose

James Schneider: “The centre doesn’t really exist”

Luciana Berger: “I feel that our democracy is diminished”

Chris Bryant: Is this the worst Parliament ever?

Lord Bethell: Ministry of Sound to ministry of health

Could government ditch green pledges?

What happens when the mortgage bomb goes off?

Rishi Sunak’s triple by-election blues

Will Westminster ever calm down?

Parliament's "class ceiling"

UK stuttering on road to Net Zero

Boris Johnson's gone, Tories are moving on

Government turns on its own officials

The race is on to be chosen to run as an MP

Liz Truss's knotty legacy

Housing crisis comes to a head