The Week in Westminster

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4's weekly assessment of developments at Westminster

Épisodes

  1. -5 H

    14/02/2026

    Caroline Wheeler of The Sunday Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster. After a week in which the Prime Minister had to fight for his political survival, Caroline speaks to Labour grandee, Alan Johnson, a Cabinet minister in both the Blair and Brown governments, and Peter Hyman, a former strategist for Tony Blair when he was in Number Ten. In the wake of the scandal around Peter Mandelson, and amid concerns about the slow progress of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a new cross-party group is calling for 'wholesale' reform of the House of Lords. One of those involved is Carmen Smith of Plaid Cymru, the youngest member of the House of Lords. Lord Young of Acton, a Conservative peer and founder of the Free Speech Union, is concerned that rule changes on stripping peerages could be used to suppress speech. Ahead of the Government's Schools White Paper, which is likely to include controversial reforms to special educational needs provision, Caroline speaks to Jo Hutchinson of the Education Policy Institute about how the system might be changed. And, to discuss what it's like inside Number Ten at moments of political crisis, Caroline brings together Guto Harri, former Director of Communications to Boris Johnson, and Luke Sullivan, former political director for Sir Keir Starmer.

    28 min

  2. 7 FÉVR.

    07/02/2026

    The Guardian's political editor Pippa Crerar assesses the latest developments at Westminster. The Mandelson scandal dominated the week and Pippa discusses it with Labour MP Natalie Fleet, herself a survivor of grooming and a member of the Women and Equalities Committee and senior Conservative MP, Sir Bernard Jenkin. To debate the government's EU reset, Pippa brought together Lord Peter Lilley, a former Conservative cabinet minister and long-term Eurosceptic. And the MP Anneliese Dodds, who is a former chair of the Labour party and was previously a member of the European parliament. Labour MP Chris Curtis and Kate Ogden, a higher education expert from the Institute for Fiscal Studies talk about student loans. And historian Sir Anthony Seldon and seasoned journalist and political biographer Anne Perkins discuss where the Mandelson scandal ranks in the long history of political scandals.

    27 min

  3. 31 JANV.

    31/01/2026

    Sonia Sodha assesses the latest developments at Westminster. This week Sir Keir Starmer became the first Prime Minister in eight years to visit China. To discuss the visit Sonia is joined by Labour MP and Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee Liam Byrne, and the Conservative MP Sir Andrew Mitchell, who served as Deputy Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government. Following the Home Secretary's announcement of reforms to the police services in England and Wales Sonia spoke to two MPs, both former police officers, to discuss the proposals. Labour's Jonathan Hinder served in London for nine years, reaching the rank of inspector. He was also the head of the Police Now training academy and the Liberal Democrat Wendy Chamberlain, worked for the Scottish Police College as well as the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. To discuss the issue of loneliness in young men, Sonia is joined by MP Mims Davies, who is a former Conservative Minister for Loneliness and now co-chairs the parliamentary group on Men and Boys' Issues and Chris Hemmings, the Founder of Men’s Therapy Hub, who is also a psychotherapist who specialises in working with men and boys. And, this week saw the launch of a new Conservative group for, what it calls, the 'politically homeless' on the centre right. So what role do political movements play in political parties? To discuss this Sonia speaks to Amber Rudd, a former Conservative Cabinet Minister and vice chair of Prosper UK, and Labour peer Stewart Wood, who is a former adviser to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. He is also a signatory to Mainstream, which says it is the home for 'Labour's radical realists'.

    28 min

  4. 24 JANV.

    24/01/2026

    Following President Trump's pressure on European allies over the future of Greenland, Ben analyses whether there has been a fundamental shift in the Transatlantic alliance with Lord Darroch, former UK Ambassador to the USA, and Sarah Elliott, director of the US-UK Special Relationship Unit at the Prosperity Institute. As the government approves plans for a new Chinese embassy in London ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to China, Ben brings together Lord Beamish, chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, and Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who previously chaired the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. After the House of Lords voted in favour of a ban on social media for children under 16, Ben speaks to Professor Amy Orben of Cambridge University who co-led a government study to understand the impact of social media on young people. And, is centrism dead? Times columnist Matthew Parris does not think so and argues that Conservative defections to Reform give Kemi Badenoch an opportunity to pivot her party to the centre. He debates that with non-affiliated peer, Claire Fox, a former Brexit Party MEP, a forerunner to Reform UK.

    28 min

  5. 17 JANV.

    17/01/2026

    Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler reports on the latest developments at Westminster. Following the defection of Robert Jenrick from the Conservatives to Reform UK, Caroline speaks to Henry Hill, the deputy editor of Conservative Home and James Orr, a Cambridge University academic and senior advisor to Nigel Farage. Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston-upon-Hull East is a prominent critic of the government's plans to restrict jury trials. He discusses this and other Labour u-turns with Claire Ainsley, former policy director to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute. Crossbench peer, Beeban Kidron and Baroness Nicky Morgan, the former Culture Secretary discuss Elon Musk backing down in the row over sexualised deepfakes produced by its AI tool, Grok and whether the UK has the right regulatory framework for the online sphere. And the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry and the former Conservative Security Minister Tom Tugendhat speak to Caroline about Iran, Greenland and whether a Chinese mega-embassy should be built in London.

    29 min
  • 5 épisodes

À propos

Radio 4's weekly assessment of developments at Westminster

Informations

  • Création
    BBC Radio 4
  • Années d’activité
    2007 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    5
  • Classification
    Tous publics
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Site web de l’émission
    The Week in Westminster

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