Morale within the Conservative campaign is low and was damaged further this week after the party chair became the fifth Tory MP to abandon his seat in the north to fight for a safer seat in the south of England. The FT’s Whitehall editor Lucy Fisher gets round the table with colleagues Robert Shrimsley and Jim Pickard to reflect on the damage done and on those tax claims made by Rishi Sunak during the first leaders’ TV debate. Plus, the FT’s Michael Peel joins to discuss how the rest of the world views the UK.

Follow Lucy on X: @LOS_Fisher

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Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Audrey Tinline. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and audio mix by Breen Turner. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. 

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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