In a bonus episode of Westminster Insider, host Sascha O’Sullivan sits down with Jack Blanchard to find out who is the real Andy Burnham.

Jack talks through the journey Burnham has made from loyal minister in the new Labour years to the man he is today — and the most pivotal moments that have shaped him as the politician who is now hoping to win the Makerfield by-election and, eventually, the keys to No10 Downing Street.

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Climate change, Palestine, Brexit, the Iraq War. Westminster has seen it all when it comes to protests, and the inhabitants of Parliament are largely desensitised to the angry cries at the gates. This week on Westminster Insider host Sascha O'Sullivan asks: what's the point of marching on Whitehall?

Peter Tatchell, career protestor famous for his involvement in the gay rights movement, explains how the LGBT marches in the 1990s and early 2000s helped move the needle.

But former Conservative MP and gay rights campaigner Edwina Currie takes Sascha inside the back-room lobbying, which she insists was more effective than any protest.

Sascha speaks to Sophie Cowen, who spent years working for both Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, about what the attention-grabbing stunts of the climate protests achieved.

And Dr Maria Stephan, political scientist and co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works, explains why the No Kings marches have been so successful.

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Ten years — and six prime ministers — ago Britain was on the brink of voting to leave the European Union.

Host Patrick Baker was in his first job as a TV news producer during the referendum campaign. A decade on, he’s gone back to the people who lived through its biggest moments to find out what was really happening behind the scenes, and how those events changed British politics forever.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, recounts the brutal battle with rival group Leave.EU to become the official Brexit campaign, and how his colleague Dominic Cummings used new techniques to persuade swing voters to vote for Brexit.

Kate Fall, David Cameron’s then deputy chief of staff, remembers sitting in the front row when Barack Obama delivered his infamous “back of the queue” warning — and provides her theory on whether Downing Street planted the phrase.

Broadcaster Rachel Johnson relives the chaos of boarding a boat on the Thames with Bob Geldof to confront a flotilla of pro-Brexit fishermen, before the rockstar began lambasting Nigel Farage.

And former Labour MP Gisela Stuart recalls what it was like to participate in the BBC's live TV debate at Wembley, and remembers what it was like at the Vote Leave headquarters on the morning of Brexit.

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At the local elections, the Conservative Party lost hundreds of councillors and dozens of seats across England, Scotland and Wales, but Kemi Badenoch declared a comeback.

So this week, Sascha O'Sullivan goes inside the Conservative Party's hopes for a renewal. She speaks to Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride in Solihull and James Cowling of Next Gen Tories about why they think the Tories can make a revival.

Henry Hill, political editor at The Critic, who has spent years covering Conservative politics, and pollster Scarlett Maguire tell Sascha about the flaws in the Tories' plan.

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As Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former health secretary Wes Streeting jostle for influence in the Labour party, host Sascha O'Sullivan looks at what it takes to turn around a party's fortunes mid-term.

Former John Major aide Daniel Finkelstein explains how the Conservative Prime Minister managed to win the 1992 elections against the odds and differentiate himself from his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher.

Theo Bertram, former Tony Blair and Gordon Brown advisor turned think tank boss, talks Sascha through Brown's fateful decision not to call a snap election after taking over from Blair, and the challenge he faced in gripping the No. 10 machine.

The most recent history of mid-term Prime Ministers might prove most instructive for any new Labour Prime Minister, and Rishi Sunak 's former deputy director of policy James Nation takes Sascha inside the effort to reboot his premiership. He tells Sascha Sunak's team found themselves hamstrung by the manifesto commitments promised in 2019, and struggled to keep the party from infighting after taking over from Liz Truss.

Sascha discusses the lessons from these mid-term Prime Ministers with former Keir Starmer policy director Claire Ainsley to find out if Labour can fight its way out of unpopularity — with or without Keir Starmer at the helm.

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With Keir Starmer fighting for his political life after the most perilous week of his premiership, the prime minister and his inner circle have been engaged in a desperate rearguard effort to shore up his position.

This week on Westminster Insider, host Patrick Baker lifts the lid on what life is really like inside Number 10 when a Prime Minister and their shrinking band of loyal advisers enter what Westminster knows as “bunker mode.”

Boris Johnson’s former aide Ross Kempsell sets out his “rules for the bunker” — such as ensuring you have a highly political Chief Whip and tightly controlling access to the prime minister.

Former civil servant Robert Midgley, who worked under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, recalls political advisers suddenly vanishing behind closed doors during moments of crisis, leaving officials wandering the corridors of Downing Street awaiting news of a prime ministerial resignation.

Beatrice Timpson, former deputy press secretary to Liz Truss, explains how communications teams often go to ground during political meltdowns in an effort to impose message discipline when the PM’s back is against the wall.

Conservative peer George Bridges, who worked in Downing Street under John Major, describes the melancholy atmosphere surrounding a prime minister who knows, deep down, that their time is up.

And psychotherapist and political commentator Lucy Beresford argues that bunker mode is not merely a crisis-management strategy, but a revealing feature of the prime ministerial psyche — helping explain why so many leaders cling on long after hope of survival has faded.

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The Victorians called Britain and Germany “awkward cousins.” These days, Keir Starmer is trying to revive that Anglo-German amity as part of a broader reset with the European Union. The prime minister has wooed Chancellor Friedrich Merz since the Christian Democrat leader took power in Berlin last year, leading to the signing of the Kensington Treaty nine months ago.

The treaty was designed to fill the gap in bilateral relations after Brexit and give the Anglo-German relationship more power with an increasingly bellicose Russia. But how much influence do Starmer and Merz have over an erratic American President Donald Trump — and can the E3 (the U.K., Germany and France) really influence Trump’s war with Iran?

Host Anne McElvoy talks to Susanne Baumann, Germany’s ambassador to London, in her first interview since she was appointed last September. In a week when the British government received stinging criticism over its defense plans, the ambassador defends Germany's cooperation on long-range missile and other projects. She also rates England's chances at this summer's FIFA World Cup under German coach Thomas Huchel.

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Despite the war in Iran and its economic consequences preoccupying ministers, much work is going on behind closed doors in Whitehall to strike a closer relationship with Brussels.

Nearly a decade after Britain voted to leave the EU, Keir Starmer has tasked his ministers with negotiating a post-Brexit reset that aims for closer alignment with the bloc in a bid to bring down prices and cut regulations on businesses.  

In this interview episode of Westminster Insider, host Anne McElvoy talks to one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies, Nick Thomas-Symonds. The Cabinet Office Minister has been notching up the Eurostar hours  back and forth to Brussels in a bid to strike a deal by the summer. Will he and his EU counterparts be able to agree a youth mobility scheme and alignment in key sectors of the economy, or will their differences be too great to overcome?

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As Westminster rolls into recess, host Sascha O'Sullivan looks at some of the problems which bedevil SW1 from voter disengagement to constant reshuffles to find out if political systems from Australia to Italy might have the solutions.

Sascha speaks to Australian-raised Labour MP Lauren Edwards about the push for compulsory voting here in Britain and how it makes Australians more involved in the democratic processes which run their country.

Italian journalist Marco Varvello explains the polling ban in Italy which makes it illegal to forecast the result 15 days before an election.

Mark Paul, London correspondent for the Irish Times, gives Sascha the run-down on citizens assemblies which might be trialled in the UK on digital ID, but have been used in Ireland for decades now.

And Jack Blanchard, managing editor and author of POLITICO's Playbook in the US, reflects on how an American-style Cabinet prevents the reshuffles British politics is so accustomed to.

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From ChatGPT-written speeches to constituents flooding MPs with AI-generated emails, artificial intelligence has arrived in Westminster.

In this episode of Westminster Insider, host Patrick Baker explores how politicians and ministers are scrambling to respond, balancing fears about deepfakes, bias and online harms with a determination to harness AI for economic growth.

The UK’s first AI minister, Kanishka Narayan, says he believes that an artificial intelligence more capable than humans (so-called AGI) could arrive in five years' time, and explains how he is trying to balance the risks of AI with its economic potential.

Labour MP Mike Reader, dubbed the “ChatG-MP” after being spotted using the model to respond to constituents on a train, describes how AI is changing the day-to-day work of politicians.

Conservative MP Luke Evans reflects on delivering the first AI-generated speech in the House of Commons.

Labour MP Dawn Butler, who served on Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee, sets out her concerns about AI perpetuating racial discrimination and why she believes it must be tightly controlled.

POLITICO’s Tech Editor Isobel Hamilton traces the twists and turns of the UK’s AI policy, including the influence of a pivotal meeting between the Prime Minister and a leading tech CEO.

And Andrea Miotti, CEO of Control AI, explains why he believes urgent action is needed to guard against the existential risks posed by increasingly powerful systems.

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