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How To Win An Election
How To Decide When To Call An Election
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With Rishi Sunak still behind in the polls, will he wait a full year before calling a General Election? And at a time when many voters feel pessimistic about the future, can either Sunak or Keir Starmer generate a sense of hope and change?
In this first episode of How To Win An Election, electoral masterminds Peter Mandelson, Polly Mackenzie and Daniel Finkelstein join Matt Chorley for your insider's guide to the twists and turns of the next year in politics.
Send questions, comments and voicenotes to: howtowin@thetimes.co.uk
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How To Learn From Former PMs
42:06|The political masterminds are answering your questions this week, including - should Keir Starmer look to Harold Wilson, or ignore historical precedents? Can politicians make the case for borrowing more? And what can Reform learn from the Lib Dems about coming second?Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow To Call A Cobra Emergency Meeting
40:32|The government has held a meeting of the Cobra committee to discuss the Israel-Iran crisis - but how important is it really during a national emergency, and is it the UK's version of the White House Situation Room?The political masterminds also discuss the political impact of backing America during a conflict, and whether Keir Starmer can start ignoring Kemi Badenoch at prime minister's questions.Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow Reform Plans Another Election Upset
36:58|The political masterminds ask whether Rachel Reeves' Spending Review charts a course to victory at the next General Election, before turning to another set of national elections - can Reform UK win in Labour's heartlands when Welsh voters go to the polls in a year's time?And who will win the Lib Dem KitKat of victory?Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow To Stop A Spending Review Revolt
39:38|With tough choices facing the government, the political masterminds look at what goes on behind the scenes ahead of a spending review - and how reluctant ministers are brought into line.And as the Tories finally put the boot into the Liz Truss legacy, have they found a new strategy on the economy - and will anyone notice?Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow To Bring In An Outsider, Tsar, Or GOAT
39:33|The political masterminds are joined by former Tory cabinet minister David Gauke, fresh from leading the sentencing review for Keir Starmer's government. When does bringing people into the big tent work, and when is does it go wrong? They talk about Tony Blair's tsars, Gordon Brown's GOATS and Chris Grayling's gaffe.They also discuss cabinet tussles over the spending review, and Robert Jenrick's vigilante video tackling fare dodgers.How To Perform A Giant U-Turn
40:55|Keir Starmer is changing course on the winter fuel allowance - where does it sit in the league table of political U-turns, and will it please anybody?The political masterminds also discuss the Conservative Party's existential polling spiral, why Starmer's approval ratings have fallen so far in the year since the General Election was called, and why Hugo agrees with Polly that babies should get the vote.Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow… The Elections Were Won And Lost: Labour in 1992
01:08:33|We're kicking off a new series on the podcast, looking at how the biggest elections in recent history were won - and lost.We start with the Labour campaign in 1992, an election that has been mythologised and is still influencing political strategy today. From soapboxes to shadow budgets to Sheffield rallies, the political mastermind are joined by then Labour leader Neil Kinnock to get under the skin of the campaign and separate electoral fact from fiction.Send your comments and questions to howtowin@thetimes.co.ukHow To Save A Legacy Party
42:20|The Labour and Tory leaders are getting plenty of advice on how to see off the threat from Reform UK, the Lib Dems and the Green Party. Should they move to the right, the left, or double down on what they're already doing? And does it have anything to do with Greggs?Send questions, comments and voicenotes to howtowin@thetimes.co.uk.How To Win A Canadian Election
38:54|Canada has been to the polls, and the results are extraordinary - a huge swing in the polls helping the Liberals rise from the dead, opposition leaders losing their seats, and established parties reduced to the sidelines.The political masterminds find out exactly what happened, how much of it was really down to Donald Trump, and what the parties here in the UK can learn.And stop the clocks - Keir Starmer told a joke in the Commons that had MPs laughing, do the team think it delivered?