Westminster Insider

Host Sascha O'Sullivan delves into the secrets of the polling industry and asks — if the polls were wrong before, could they be wrong again?David Cameron's former pollster Andrew Cooper tells Sascha how the Conservatives upstaged the polling industry in 2015 and pulled an unexpected election victory out of the bag.Labour polling stalwart Stan Greenberg, who has run the numbers fo

This week, Aggie Chambre looks at the art of the leak and asks — why do people do it, and what happens when your political secrets are exposed?Former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green talks about helping to leak Home Office secrets when Labour was in charge.Aggie hears from journalist and author Isabel Oakeshott about her controversial decision to leak Matt Hancock’s Covi

New host Sascha O'Sullivan explores Westminster's obsession with all things Australia — and considers the lessons British politics might learn from down under.From the U.K. Tory party's succession of Aussie campaign chiefs to the varying attempts to deploy Australian-style immigration policies, Westminster has held an enduring fascination with its rougher political 

By now, surely everyone in Westminster knows how to get ready for government — but have enough considered how to prepare for opposition?In this week's episode, host Aggie Chambre tackles the conundrum of how to prepare for the one job in politics no one wants. She speaks to former opposition leader Neil Kinnock about his time in charge, including the advice his children gave

As the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, Jack Blanchard returns home to the north of England to hear the stories of the refugees who arrived there in 2022 — and of one small town community which opened its arms to help.Jack meets those who hosted Ukrainian people in their homes, and hears from the Ukrainians themselves about what it's like to arriv

As the people of Wellingborough headed to the polls for a historic vote, hosts Aggie Chambre and Sascha O'Sullivan took a train to the East Midlands to see how by-elections really play out on the ground. Over the course of a month, they went door-knocking with the candidates, spoke to disenfranchised voters and, finally, stayed up all night to watch the count. T

Host Jack Blanchard goes for lunch with the Sunday Times' chief political commentator, Tim Shipman, as the deadline for his new Brexit tome approaches.Over a bottle of claret and (medium) rare steak, Shipman discusses the art of long-form political writing; recalls his best and worst interview experiences, from Donald Trump to Theresa May; considers his favorite moments of the chao

For the first episode of the year, host Aggie Chambre goes inside right-wing TV channel GB News and investigates the role it might play in shaping the future of the U.K. Conservative Party. And she looks at the scandals, controversy and culture that has surrounded the channel so far. With the help of the channel's chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos, and former presenter

For the final episode of the year, host Jack Blanchard and a series of expert guests look ahead to 2024 and what is certain to be an extraordinary year of world politics.The Spectator’s Katy Balls and the Times’ Patrick Maguire survey the election prospects of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer respectively, while More in Common’s Luke Tryl — a polling and focus group expert —

Host Aggie Chambre explores the crisis in Britain's prison system and asks what can be done to fix it. She goes inside a prison riddled with drugs and violence, and hears from the governor and from long-serving inmates about what's really going on. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk sets out his plan to overhaul the sector, and why he believes part of the answer is to stop hand