This week The Times is launching a new politics podcast. We're dropping the first episode here -- subscribe to The State of It for free, wherever you get your podcasts, to tune in every week.

Welcome to The State of It, coming to you from Liverpool where the Labour Party is finishing its annual conference. Keir Starmer's team seem happy after his leader's speech, but what are his MPs really saying about him? Was he wise to call Nigel Farage a racist? How will Rachel Reeves balance the books in November's budget? Oh, and which cabinet ministers excelled at last night's karaoke?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times.

Featuring:

• Steven Swinford, political editor, The Times
• Caroline Wheeler, political editor, The Sunday Times
• Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator, The Times
• Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall editor, The Sunday Times

Producer: Euan Dawtrey

Executive producer: Molly Guinness

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.