As Mike Amesbury bows out of his career as a Labour MP after being caught on tape assaulting a constituent, this week’s episode of Westminster Insider goes inside politicians’ wrangles with the law.

Host Sascha O’Sullivan finds out if winding up in front of a judge can ever be survivable for a politician — high-profile or not. She talks to former Lib Dem advisor Sean Kemp about how the case of Chris Huhne, climate secretary during the coalition years, triggered a by-election which almost threatened the leadership of Nick Clegg.

Fergus Mutch, former director of communications to the Scottish National Party, recalls being a witness in the trial of his former boss, Alex Salmond, who was eventually acquitted of charges of sexual assault in 2020. Mutch says the Salmond trial and the internal warfare it triggered did huge amounts of damage to the SNP.

And Sascha turns to the sensational hush money trial of Donald Trump in the midst of the 2024 presidential election campaign. She talks to Michael Martins, a former senior advisor to the US embassy in the U.K., and Sarah Elliot, the spokesperson for Republicans overseas about how Trump eventually used the trial to his advantage.

Sascha looks at how Marine Le Pen is using a similar playbook to Trump, with a trial against her helping galvanise her support base.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered about COBRA? Not the snake or the yoga pose — but Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, the place at the heart of Whitehall where a highly sensitive, critical government committee meets when a crisis hits the U.K.

This week, host Patrick Baker takes you inside these mysterious meetings to find out how those in charge take crucial decisions — often on matters of life and death.

One of the original architects of COBRA, David Omand, who went on to become director of spy agency GCHQ, explains how the Munich Olympics hostage crisis triggered alarm in the U.K. and highlighted the need to build COBRA.

Lucy Fisher from the Financial Times explains how to access the secret bunker under the Ministry of Defense that would be home to its duplicate in case of nuclear attack.

Tony Blair's former Cabinet Secretary Richard Wilson describes how he convened what was a very busy COBRA on 9/11, a day that exposed the U.K.’s own vulnerabilities and led to rapid changes to the UK's guidebook for handling terror attacks.

In an age of heightened tensions, Susan Scholefield, a former COBRA director, recalls how drills and exercises became more common and how it was her job to make sure the Pope was safe, monitoring his state visit from the U.K.’s version of the Situation Room.

Former Defence Secretary Michael Fallon describes being in COBRA in response to multiple atrocities on U.K. soil in 2017, and recalls how ministers scrambled to work out whether more attacks were on the way. Fallon also reveals the person he wouldn't trust to chair a COBRA meeting (or anything, really).

Katie Perrior, ex-No 10 comms chief under Theresa May, remembers rushing into COBRA after the Westminster Bridge attack amid fears that offices in Parliament might be unsafe.  

With the arrival of the pandemic, a crisis of a wholly different order, emergency planner Lucy Easthope sets out some of COBRA's pitfalls. Easthope, who co-founded the After Disaster Network at Durham University, believes too much emphasis is put on state-of-the-art nerve centers rather than simple honesty, in the midst of crises for which ministers are generally not very well prepared.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Keir Starmer recently forced to promise his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, would stay on until the next election, Westminster Insider Host Sascha O'Sullivan talks to former Chancellors and advisors who have worked in No 10 and No 11 Downing Street over the last 30 years to find out how to survive one of the toughest gigs in politics.

She talks to former Chancellor Norman Lamont about the aftermath of the Black Wednesday financial crisis in 1992 and what lead to John Major sacking him less than a year later.

Former advisor to Blair and Brown Theo Bertram tells Sascha the Chancellor-turned-PM Gordon Brown struggled to relinquish control over the Treasury to his new neighbour in No11, Alistair Darling. Sam White, who worked for Darling during his time as Chancellor, explains how an ideological wedge pulled the two apart before and after the 2008 financial crash.

George Osborne, former Chancellor and now host of the Political Currency podcast, explains his unusual closeness with David Cameron through their shared belief in the merits of austerity. But he tells Sascha how their closeness may have risked a form of 'groupthink' during their time in office.

Osborne also sets out why he thinks Rachel Reeves current economic plans have more in common with his economic agenda in the 2010s that people might realise.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turncoats, opportunists … or just idealists whose bosses lost their way? 

Defecting to a new party is one of the momentous decisions an MP could ever make. Years of loyalties, backroom deals and deep friendships are lost in an instant. Patrick Baker speaks to MPs who have wrestled with the decision to switch party, to discover what it is really like. 

Shaun Woodward, who left William Hague’s Conservative party to join Blair’s New Labour in 1999, recalls the dirty tricks used try to prevent his defection and how the move precipitated a huge media storm.

Former Ipswich MP Dan Poulter, who defected from the Tories to Labour last April, explains how he lost faith in the Conservatives (just before an election) and solicited advice from those on the other side of the aisle, including veteran MP Jon Cruddas.

Helen Pidd, host of The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, was given special access to defector Christian Wakeford in Parliament, and witnessed first-hand the reaction from Tory MPs furious at his perceived betrayal after the Bury South MP crossed the floor to join Labour.

Brexit stalwart Douglas Carswell recounts his decision to join UKIP, which helped to pave the way for the EU referendum — while David Cameron’s former communications chief Craig Oliver sets out his strategy for spinning a subordination in the ranks.

And Libby Wiener, who spent twenty years as a political correspondent for ITV News, looks back at the Westminster drama of multiple defections. She explains how these rare events are becoming more common, in an era where voters’ own party allegiances are less secure.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, Westminster has been addicted to Twitter (now called X). Host Sascha O'Sullivan looks at how the site – and SW1's reliance on it – has changed since tech billionaire Elon Musk took over.

Sascha talks to Charlie Peters, journalist at GB News, whose story about grooming gangs was amplified by Musk before going on to dominate Britain's news cycle for a fortnight. She compares how the same story was covered originally by freelance journalist Julie Bindel, who exposed the extent of the grooming gangs in 2007, in a world before social media was so prevalent. 

Labour MP Emily Thornberry and chair of the foreign affairs select committee reflects on going viral for the wrong reasons and subsequently resigning in 2014. She explains how politicians' use of social media has changed since then, subject to algorithms that favour right-wing content. 

And Sascha takes a deep dive into how Nigel Farage has harnessed the power of going viral for decades – all the way back to his days as an MEP. She speaks to his former comms chief Gawain Towler and social media journalist Sophia Smith Galer – and asks whether the left needs to raise its game when it comes to mastering social media. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Mandelson, the new British ambassador to the United States, has finally taken up the daunting challenge of being the U.K.’s Trump whisperer. And it’s clear the man dubbed the prince of darkness will need to use every trick in his book to ensure the U.K. emerges unscathed – or even, perhaps, benefits - from Trump’s America First agenda. 

This week on Westminster Insider, Patrick Baker speaks to some of Mandelson’s predecessors and those who know a thing or two about how to master Washington D.C., for their advice on how to make a success of the most prestigious diplomatic gig of all.

Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. under Obama, Peter Westmacott, is a man who knows how to throw a good party. He explains how to use the opulent British ambassador’s residence to bring in the great and the good of American politics and reflects on the personal nature of the relationships he formed. 

Author Anthony Seldon evokes the historic power of the special relationship and details the British cultural assets diplomats have at their disposal for wooing the Washington elites. 

Catherine Meyer — the wife of the late Christopher Meyer, who served as ambassador under Tony Blair — explains how she was often deployed to take advantage of the seating plan at glitzy downtown dinners in D.C., trying to coax a secret or two out of the notoriously tight-lipped Vice-President Dick Cheney. 

Blair’s ambassador during the Iraq war, David Manning, recalls the intensity of being a wartime diplomat — and how he relied on close access to the Bush White House to make sure Britain’s voice was heard.

Kim Darroch, who served during the first Trump term before an abrupt leak-induced exit, explains how best to deal with any unexpected, early morning social media outbursts — and says it is vital to ensure you keep in with the billionaires upon whom Trump relies for economic advice.

John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, tells Patrick who he thinks has fared best with the US President and why (hint: it has something to do with golf) and says a safer choice might have been a career diplomat. 

And Jenny Wright — formerly the embassy press adviser to recently-departed ambassador Karen Pierce — reveals how she and her team used a cup of tea to devastating diplomatic effect.

CORRECTION: This episode was updated to correct the date of the first

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the final episode of the year, new host Patrick Baker and a selection of expert guests take you through 2025 — a year that looks like it might well be even crazier than the last.

The FT’s Stephen Bush sets out the prime minister's daunting in-tray in 2025, while the Spectator’s Katy Balls explains what’s in store for the Tory party under new leadership — as well as the threat to both parties from Nigel Farage and Reform UK.  Sarah Calkin – an expert on local government — discusses what May’s local elections could bring.

Further afield, the Times’ Washington Correspondent Alistair Dawber talks us through what we can expect from the second Trump presidency and its implications for the wider world.  

Professor Lina Khatib —from Chatham House — mulls the possible impact of Trump on conflicts in Middle East, and offers her take on what could lie ahead in Syria and Iran.

POLITICO’s Berlin Playbook host Gordon Repinski discusses what could happen in the German elections in February and POLITICO’s Senior UK Energy Correspondent Charlie Cooper tells us what’s at stake at COP 30 in Brazil in November — ahead of what’s set to be a crucial year for the climate.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, Westminster has been dominated by politicians who attended some of the most prestigious schools in the country. This week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan finds out whether public schools still dominate or if state educated Rachel Reeves and Bridget Phillipson's move to tax fees reflects the end of the era of Etonians.

Sascha visits Eton College and takes a tour around the art school and the theater, hears from an old boy about the kind of education children receive there — and discovers why our prime ministers are far more likely to have been attended this school than any other.

Former Labour adviser and old Etonian Patrick Hennessey tells Sascha the confidence a school such as his alma mater instills can easily slip into arrogance.

FT journalist and author Simon Kuper explains why privately educated politicians have always tended to banded together in Westminster — and how that can leave those that attended less prestigious institutions out in the cold.

Keir Starmer's former adviser Donjeta Miftari describes coming to work in SW1 as a former comprehensive pupil and immediately noticing the networks which the independent sector fosters beyond the school itself.

Former David Blunkett adviser Conor Ryan recalls the fights with private school heads when the Blair government axed the state-funded assisted places scheme.

Sam Freedman, education expert and former adviser to Michael Gove, explains how the former education's secretary's background informed his attitude to education reform.

And Sascha travelled to Brentwood, a private school in Essex, where headteacher Michael Bond tells her Reeves' decision to put VAT on private schools was "punishing" them unfairly, as the private sector was making strides towards making fee-paying schools less exclusive.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jack Blanchard takes a deep dive into the momentous U.K. general election of July 2024, which saw Labour sweep back into power after 14 years in opposition. Lifting the lid on a historic campaign are journalists Tim Ross and Rachel Wearmouth, whose new book — "Landslide: The Inside Story of the 2024 Election" — offers the most detailed account so far of a moment of generational change in British politics. Ross and Wearmouth take us inside the rival campaign teams and explain how all the crucial decisions were taken, from Rishi Sunak's fateful choice to leave a D-Day commemoration service early to Keir Starmer's famous "Ming vase" strategy that would ultimately secure Labour's victory.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the House of Commons agonizes over legalizing assisted dying, host Sascha O'Sullivan looks back at previous votes of conscience to find out what happens when MPs don't have the party whip guiding them.

Alun Michael, one of the architects of Tony Blair's ban on fox hunting, explains how it took years to get to the point of a vote in parliament, and how his personal safety — and that of his family — was put in jeopardy.

Former Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone recalls the same sex marriage vote and the internal politics between the Lib Dems and Conservatives during the coalition government — leading to David Cameron "stealing" the announcement from her.

John Bercow, former Commons speaker, tells Sascha about moments in the Commons chamber when MPs went against the party grain during votes of conscience.

Ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries describes how, as a backbencher in 2008, she led one of the biggest challenges to the 1967 Abortion Act.

And Sascha also looks at decisions over war and peace, when MPs must wrestle with a profoundly moral choice and make one of the weightiest calls possible for a parliament, as former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps says the decision not to intervene in Syria in 2013 contributed to the global instability we all now face.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices