With Jeremy Corbyn's Your Party suffering some teething problems, host Patrick Baker delves into the art of starting a new political outfit.
Corbyn himself speaks to POLITICO's Bethany Dawson at one of the many Your Party regional assemblies happening across the country.
With tensions between Corbyn and co-leader Zarah Sultana simmering as the duo try to get their start up off the ground, Labour insider Sienna Rodgers of The House magazine explains the roots of the discord and how rival factions have been undermining the party's progress at an early stage.
Patrick sits down with former Change UK MP Gavin Shuker in Nando's, site of one of the now-extinct party's early summits, to discuss the pitfalls of starting a new venture in Westminster.
Journalist Catherine Mayer, who co-founded the Women's Equality Party alongside comedian Sandi Toksvig, lifts the lid on the curious underworld of smaller political parties and the outsized impact they can have on our politics.
Professor Alan Sked, the founder of UKIP, tells the story of arguably the U.K.’s most consequential political newbie and describes how he slowly lost control of the party to Nigel Farage.
And Reform UK board member and Farage's former press secretary Gawain Towler sets out how he believes the U.K.’s current insurgent can complete its journey from newcomer to party of power.
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What Liz Truss wants Britain to learn from Trump
Liz Truss is never far from the shores of the United States, hobnobbing with the folk seeking to "Make America Great Again." What does she think Britain can learn from the second Trump era?
Anne McElvoy travels to Washington to talk to the former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss, who’s on a self-proclaimed “mission” to remake the U.K. in the image of MAGA-land. It’s exactly three years since she left Downing Street after just 49 days in office following a mini-budget that sent the markets into freefall — and has haunted her party ever since.
In a wide-ranging interview, Truss tells Anne that the Green Party might end up being the official opposition party after the next general election and argues that voters are sick of "technocratic managerial crap" in politics. She insists that she will foreseeably not be joining Reform UK, despite criticizing her own party’s record in office. Truss also pours scorn on both Kemi Badenoch’s leadership of her old party and the Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whom she blames for an impending economic crisis.
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Starmer ally: Come clean on relations with China after spy row
It’s been a week where the politics of the Middle East and Britain’s relations with China have loomed large over Westminster.
For all the backslapping and goodwill of Sharm el-Sheikh, will the ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners in Gaza pave the way for a political solution? What part could Britain play? And how will the row over the collapsed Chinese spy case play out at home as the blame game between the government, opposition and prosecutors continues to rumble on? What impact will it have on Keir Starmer's attempts to boost economic relations with China?
Anne McElvoy talks to one of Westminster’s most prominent figures on foreign affairs, Emily Thornberry, who chairs the influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee of MPs. As one of Labour’s most senior backbenchers and a former shadow attorney general, she’s been unafraid to be a critical friend of Starmer. She's also joined by Tim Ross, POLITICO’s chief political correspondent for Europe and the U.K., who’s been reporting on the reaction to President Trump's Gaza peace plan and gauging the mood in Westminster over the row about Chinese espionage.
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31:34
Inside Party Conference: Where next for the Tories?
With dire poll ratings and Reform UK in the ascendancy, Kemi Badenoch’s well-received speech at party conference provided a rare moment of optimism for the Conservatives. But where are they headed next?
Host Patrick Baker has been behind-the-scenes of Conservative Party conference in Manchester, on a mission to find out.
From the control center – A.K.A. the Politico Pub at the heart of the conference arena – Patrick challenges Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly on whether the party’s new hardline immigration policies represent a shift away from moderate, center-ground conservatism.
Members of the old guard, ex-cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps and Robert Buckland, share their views on how the Tories can win back a sceptical electorate.
POLITICO’s Annabelle Dickson joins Patrick for a conversation about what Conservatives on the ground are saying about the party’s future.
Kemi Badenoch pays a visit to the pub, where her pint-pulling skills are put to the test and assessed in real time by POLITICO’s Emilio Casalicchio.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride sits down with Patrick to explain why he’s confident the Tories can win back trust on the economy and how the party can avoid becoming Reform-lite.
Patrick tours the conference gatherings to see how the party faithful are warming to the man many believe wants to succeed Kemi Badenoch next May, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.
And Tory grandee Michael Heseltine expresses fears that his party is paying too much attention to Nigel Farage at the expense of the wider electorate.
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Postcard from Liverpool: is Starmerism over already?
Host Sascha O'Sullivan goes behind-the-scenes of Labour Party conference in Liverpool, talking to senior politicians and advisors as she tries to hunt for Keir Starmer's ideology – once dubbed "Starmerism".
She tracks down Andy Burnham as the threat of a leadership challenge from the Manchester Mayor fades into the distance.
And she speaks to Lucy Powell as she runs to be deputy leader of the Labour Party.
Outside the POLITICO Pub, Sascha interviews Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy about what he thinks Starmerism means.
And Sascha speaks to head of policy at Labour Together Morgan Wild and former senior advisor to the Prime Minister Peter Hyman about why finding a philosophical direction for the party is so important.
Financial Times journalist Stephen Bush and Labour MP Alistair Strathern give Sascha their analysis on the all-important speech from the Prime Minister – and what it says about the future of Keir Starmer's Labour Party.
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POLITICO’s weekly political series lifts the curtain on how Westminster really works, offering in-depth insight into the political issues which typically only get broad-brush treatment in the wider media.
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