The Fourcast

It’s been a week since America voted to return Donald Trump to the White House, and there are already reports of new appointments - including Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik. How will these people shape the way Trump deals with the world - what’s going to happen in Ukraine and the Middle East? And what will China do?

To talk about this in this episode of The American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Michael Martins, who worked in Trump’s first administration as a foreign policy advisor in the US embassy in London and now runs the Overton Advisory consultancy, and Channel 4 News’ International Editor Lindsey Hilsum.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser and Ka Yee Mak.

Donald Trump has won the election, beating Kamala Harris and the Democrats, and will be the next president of the United States - but what kind of leader will he be?

During the campaign we heard from generals that worked with him that he has fascist tendencies - was this all over the top, or are we actually about to see the American republic on the brink? And what next for the Democrat Party? What went wrong, again? Will there be a reckoning?

On this episode of the American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by the Wall Street Journal’s senior political correspondent Molly Ball and The Atlantic’s staff writer Christine Emba.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson, Ka Yee Mak, Ed Gove.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are making their final pitch to voters, as an American election race that has seen assassination attempts and President Joe Biden stepping aside as a candidate enters its final day.

This is the tightest race in modern American history - so what comes next? Four years ago the world witnessed the horrors of rioters attacking Capitol Hill on January 6th - could it be worse this time? What will Donald Trump or Kamala Harris actually do if they win?

On this episode of The American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Channel 4 News’ Washington Correspondent Siobhan Kennedy and News Correspondent Kiran Moodley, who has been following the Trump campaign.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Ed Gove, Rob Thomson, Ka Yee Mac.

Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the Conservative Party after beating Robert Jenrick in what is an historic moment - the first black female leader of one of the UK’s main political parties. But does she have any chance of winning the next election? Will she even hang on that long with the Tories’ history of ditching leaders who don't deliver? Are the Labour Party the real winners here?

On this episode of the Political Fourcast, Cathy Newman is joined by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, former Conservative MP Laura Farris, who lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats in July, and Luke Tryll, Executive Director of the polling firm More in Common.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Ka Yee Mak, Rob Thomson.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are out trying to salvage their US election campaigns after a series of gaffes started by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico an ‘island of garbage’, followed by President Joe Biden appearing to say Trump’s supporters are garbage.

Will any of these missteps change the course of the race?

In this episode of the American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Democrat state representative Dr Jasmine Clark and Republican strategist Eric Tanenblatt.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson, Ed Gove, Ka Yee Mak, Dani Isdale.

After months of speculation, leaks, and endless criticism, Rachel Reeves has finally delivered Labour’s first budget in 14 years and it had £70 billion more in spending, £40 billion more in tax along with a lot more borrowing and a lot more debt. So, will it define this government? Will it deliver growth and fix public services? Is it what people voted for? 

In this week’s episode of the Political Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by KPMG's chief economist Yael Selfin, Jonathan Ashworth, chief executive of Keir Starmer's favoured think tank, Labour Together, and Matthew Lesh of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the think tank most closely associated with the last prime minister to go for growth - Liz Truss.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson, Ka Yee Mak.

As the US election heats up Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remain neck and neck in the polls, but even as the Democrats have the likes of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift backing them, the mood music is not sounding so good in this crucial presidential election. 

So how did we get here, what are the key issues motivating voters and can Kamala Harris or Donald Trump finally pull ahead in the final week? 

In this week’s episode of the American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by Democrat state representative Andre Carroll and Dennis Powell, a Republican strategist and author.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson, Ed Gove, Dani Isdale.

Assisted dying could very soon be legalised in the UK, with MPs being given a free vote by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a bill that’s just been introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.

It’s a controversial issue with passionate feelings on both sides that has been debated - and rejected -by parliament before, but campaigners think this time they could get it over the line. So, is this bill a humane and logical step to relieve those in unbearable agony, or is it a slippery slope that distorts the value of life in the UK?

 In this week’s episode of the Political Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Conservative MP Danny Kruger, who fronted a documentary on the subject with his mother Prue Leith, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, a long-time campaigner for assisted dying, and Channel 4 News’ Health and Social Care editor Victoria MacDonald.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson.

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The Morgan McSweeney-Sue Gray saga, endless stories about freebies and gloomy economic forecasts ahead of Rachel Reeve’s first budget - so, how badly have Keir Starmer’s first 100 days gone and could the next 100 actually be worse?

On this week’s episode of the Political Fourcast, Cathy Newman is joined by Thangam Debbonaire, who was set to be a leading cabinet minister in Starmer’s government before she lost her seat in a shock result at the election, Faiza Shaheen, who was a rising star in the Labour Party before a public spat led to her running as an independent in July, and Channel 4 News’ senior political correspondent Paul McNamara.

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Britain's first Muslim cabinet minister, has long been an outspoken critic of her own party over its attitudes towards Islam.

Last week, after an investigation was launched against her over a post on social media, she resigned the whip saying it is a reflection of ‘how far right’ the Conservative Party has moved since her time in office. 

Warsi has just released a book, “Muslims Don’t Matter”, which is an impassioned polemic setting out her views on the hypocrisy and double standards applied to British Muslims.

In this episode of The Political Fourcast, she speaks to Cathy Newman about the Israel-Gaza war, Islamophobia in the UK and the Conservative Party's "disturbing" shift to the extremist right.

Produced by Silvia Maresca and Calum Fraser.