Deep Dive

Labour is in freefall. After catastrophic local election results - losing 38 councils, nearly 1,500 councillors, their worst-ever showing in Scotland, and a devastating collapse in Wales after 27 years in power - Keir Starmer is clinging to power. Cabinet ministers are briefing against him, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting has already briefed allies that he'll launch a formal leadership challenge. The question is no longer if Starmer goes - but when. Chris Pleasance is joined by the Mail Online's Political Editor James Tapsfield, reporting live from the corridors of Westminster, to untangle the chaotic sequence of WhatsApp rows, 16-minute meetings and backbench rebellions that brought us here. Who can actually replace Starmer? Can Andy Burnham get back into Parliament in time? And is whoever comes next simply inheriting a poisoned chalice?

Britain goes to the polls on Thursday - and the political map is being redrawn in real time. Daily Mail columnist Guy Adams has spent a week on the campaign trail, canvassing across Wales, and what he found should alarm both Labour and the Conservatives. Labour are losing voters to Reform on the right and the Greens on the left, while the Conservatives are fighting a "rear-guard action". But the story stealing the headlines is the Greens' extraordinary surge under Zack Polanski - a former actor and hypnotherapist who deploys social media with devastating effectiveness. Is he the hard-left Donald Trump? And as thirty Green candidates face antisemitism investigations, what dark forces has he unleashed?More from Guy Adams:https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15783551/Zack-Polanski-huckster-Green-Party-leader.htmlhttps://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15767291/GUY-ADAMS-finds-Labours-grip-Wales-doomed.htmlHost: Chris PleasanceGuest: Guy AdamsProducers: Joseph Palmer and Artemis Irvine

King Charles and Queen Camilla's state visit to the United States is already being hailed as a diplomatic triumph - but can royal charm do what politicians have failed to? Sarah Vine is joined by the Daily Mail's Richard Kay, reporting live from New York, to unpack every extraordinary moment of the first British state visit to the US since 2007. From Charles's barnstorming congressional address, complete with 13 standing ovations and some very cheeky jokes, to the story of HMS Trump's bell and a White House-shaped beehive, the king has navigated a diplomatic minefield with remarkable aplomb. But with Harry taking potshots from Montecito, Andrew lurking in the background, and a new British ambassador already in hot water, there's no shortage of drama. So what does this visit really mean for the special relationship?Hear more from Richard Kay and the Mail's other royal experts on the royal talk show Palace Confidential - on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Host: Sarah VineProducers: Joe Palmer and John RogersExecutive Producer: Bella Soames

Senior reactor operator Leonid Toptunov was 25 years old when he sat down at the controls of Reactor Number Four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was just after midnight on April 26, 1986. He would be dead within three days.At 1:23am and 44 seconds, a power surge of catastrophic proportions tore the 1,000-tonne concrete roof off the reactor and blasted the equivalent of 500 Hiroshima bombs worth of radiation into the night sky above Soviet Ukraine.In Pripyat, a city of 50,000 people built for one purpose only: Chernobyl, the buses were already on their way. The residents would never return home.In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: Chernobyl reconstructs how the world's worst nuclear disaster unfolded – from the routine safety test that spiralled out of control, through the desperate hours as firefighters and engineers fought an invisible killer without knowing what they faced, to the cover-up that reached all the way to the Kremlin, and the clean-up operation that exposed around 700,000 people to dangerous levels of radiation.Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, this is the definitive minute-by-minute account of the Chernobyl disaster - 40 years on. Host: Michael BuerkProducer: John RogersSound Design: John ScottExecutive Producers: Bella Soames and Jamie East

For two months, Iran has held the global economy hostage through a narrow stretch of water and the world's most powerful military can't seem to do anything about it. With oil prices surpassing $100 a barrel; Trump's ceasefire extended for the fourth time; and negotiations deadlocked between US demands and Iranian hardliners who don't want to negotiate with Western officials, Chris Pleasance sits down with Daily Mail US political reporter Philip Nieto to untangle the mess. Why was America so unprepared? Why can't the West simply take the strait by force? And is the US - long guarantor of the world's open sea lanes - watching its superpower status slip away in real time? Host: Chris PleasanceProducers: Joe Palmer and John Rogers Executive Producer: Bella Soames

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022, at age 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, ending a remarkable 70-year reign. From taking her palace on the throne in the first televised coronation the country had ever seen through five Royal Jubilees, fifteen Prime Ministers, beginning with Winston Churchill and ending with Liz Truss, to the loss of of her ‘strength and stay’ of 73 years Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II occupied a unique place in the hearts of her people.In this special celebration, Sarah Vine is joined by the royal historian's royal historian Hugo Vickers to talk about his latest book, Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History. A revelatory biography that doesn’t just chart the highs and lows of her reign but sheds new and unprecedented light on the woman behind the crown.

Iran's Supreme Leader is dead. Its military command has been shattered. Yet five days into the American-Israeli assault, Iran is firing back - at Israel, at the Gulf, and now at Turkey. Dubai, long flouted as the safest place in the Middle East, has been hit by drone and missile strikes. Ali Khamenei's son has emerged as the favourite to replace him, but Israel threatened on Wednesday to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed the Ayatollah. Daily Mail Special Correspondent David Patrikarakos and US Senior Political Reporter Elina Shirazi break down the latest developments, what Iran's retaliation means for the region, and the questions at the heart of this crisis: who will now fill the political vacuum and what next for the Iranian people?

Following the explosive revelations in the latest release of Epstein files, historian Andrew Lownie joins Sarah Vine to unpack what we know. The conversation covers the evidence that Epstein ran a blackmail operation with Russian intelligence connections, the wider royal family's knowledge of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's activities, institutional cover-ups, and whether King Charles will address the crisis. Lownie argues this scandal surpasses Profumo in scale and represents a grave threat to public trust in British institutions.