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Westminster Insider

The secrets of TV news

Season 9, Ep. 3

New host Aggie Chambre takes us inside the world of TV News, and asks how the advent of 24-hour rolling coverage has shaped British politics.

Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge explains the importance of the Sunday shows to the Westminster news cycle, and reveals the reaction from Downing Street after she asked then-PM Theresa May a question she really didn't want to answer.

Her outgoing boss John Ryley, head of Sky News, tells the podcast how his channel transformed 24-hour political coverage, and takes a final swipe at his TV news competitors. 

ITV's Rachel Bradley and veteran broadcaster Michael Crick lift the lid on the art of the doorstep interview, while former Culture Secretary John Whittingdale explains the misery of embarking on a round of broadcast interviews.

Craig Oliver recalls his time running David Cameron's comms operation and explains how much thought goes into every TV image. And Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, explains what really happened that time he fell over on Brighton beach — and how much damage the endless TV coverage caused him. 

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  • 8. The secrets of the pollsters

    49:05
    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 for Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Ed Miliband, explains what the other side of the 2015 campaign was like.Tom Lubbock of JL Partners and Josh Williams of Labour Together explain why voter archetypes — from "Mondeo Man" to "Stevenage Woman" — are so beloved by the media ... and how they're actually useful for politicians seeking to win elections. Sascha also tags along to a series of focus groups — including with More in Common's Luke Tryl — to see how they really work.And the New Statesman's associate political editor, Rachel Cunliffe, and pollster Scarlett Maguire explain how communicating polling can be twisted or over-egged — and why we really should be talking about more than just the top line. 
  • 7. Leak inquiry: what happens when Westminster's secrets are spilled

    38:40
    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 Covid WhatsApps — and why she had to adopt a disguise during the process.POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Jeremy Corbyn’s former spinner James Schneider tell Aggie about the infamous 2017 Labour manifesto leak and the consequences for the party’s campaign.And Times political editor Steven Swinford, recipient of a hefty chunk of Westminster’s secrets, talks us through how he got leaked information about the second Covid lockdown and government decisions around Huawei. 
  • 6. How Westminster fell in love with Australian politics

    51:12
    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 cousins down under. Sascha speaks to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has long enjoyed links with the U.K. Tory party and who was the first premier to vow to "stop the boats."Rohan Watt, a Queensland native who worked in Liz Truss's No. 10 Downing Street, explains how Australian advisers have long been surfing the coattails of legendary campaign guru Lynton Crosby, and how their blunt style of communication has made them mainstays in British politics. Australian-British journalist Latika Bourke considers the brutal campaign tactics sometimes deployed down under, while foreign policy expert Sophia Gaston explains how the recently-signed AUKUS security pact will reinforce relations between the two countries.Comms guru John McTernan, who worked for both Tony Blair in Downing Street and Australian PM Julia Gillard in Canberra, explains why Australia can offer a helpful election playbook for British politicos to follow — but why Westminster should be wary of stealing their ideas wholesale. And Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson tells how she recently undertook a fact-finding trip to Australia to gather advice on childcare policy from the Aussie Labor Party — as well as tips on how to help U.K. Labour win an election. 
  • 5. How to prepare for opposition

    40:37
    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 Tony Blair's kids. Conservative peer George Young, who has been around since 1974, talks about all the times his party has gone from government to opposition. Tories Robert Buckland and Charles Walker consider what their fellow MPs are thinking about life after polling day as they teeter on the edge of opposition.Labour MP Diana Johnson, who has spent the last 14 years on the opposition benches, explains how best to make an impact while you're out of government. Academic Nigel Fletcher runs through the history of the formalization of opposition — dating all the way back to 1937. And Cath Haddon from the Institute for Government tells Aggie the hardest thing about going from government to opposition. 
  • 4. How a small town in England opened its arms to Ukraine

    54:55
    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 arrive so suddenly in a far-off land. Community organisers discuss how they rallied round to help, while former Refugees Minister Richard Harrington explains how the government worked at breakneck speed to get the complex scheme off the ground. Jack's own mum even makes a guest appearance, with a very special family story to tell.
  • 3. Diary of a by-election

    37:14
    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. They watched Reform’s Ben Habib drive round in an gigantic, double-decker blue bus and Labour’s Gen Kitchen show off her Taylor Swift friendship bracelets. They listened to the Liberal Democrat’s Ana Savage Gunn regale stories of her former life as a police firearms officer ... and even managed to track down the elusive Tory candidate, Helen Harrison.And the duo consider what this show-stopping by-election result will mean for the upcoming general election.
  • 2. A boozy lunch with Tim Shipman

    50:10
    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 chaotic past decade in British politics and offers tips to aspiring journalists on how to do a "proper" political lunch. 
  • 1. Inside GB News

    56:58
    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 presenters including Simon McCoy and Guto Harri, Aggie tells the story of how the organization went from a chaotic launch to finding its place in the media landscape.GB News host, and founder of the Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, boasts of the "extraordinary" freedom he enjoys at the organization, while his colleague Lee Anderson, a Tory MP, says GB News has given unrepresented viewers a "safe space" to go. Former Labour MP and current GB News presenter Gloria De Piero and Conservative Home's Henry Hill look ahead to the election, and discuss the impact the channel could have in the upcoming year.And former BBC Westminster boss Katy Searle, and former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, compare the channel to America's Fox News, and ponder whether regulator Ofcom should be doing more to intervene. 
  • 8. The year ahead in 54 minutes

    54:21
    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 — assesses Britain’s current electoral landscape.The Resolution Foundation’s David Willetts looks ahead to the Budget in March and considers how the state of the economy will affect the U.K. general election, whenever it is held.Beyond Britain, POLITICO’s Meredith McGraw, Shawn Pogatchnik and Stuart Lau discuss the impact that elections in the U.S., Ireland and Taiwan could have on the Western world.And former U.K. Foreign Office chief Peter Ricketts considers how the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to play out in 2024.