The Rundown by PoliticsHome

PoliticsHome
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Our weekly podcast from Politics Home discussing all the ups and downs in Westminster. Please subscribe and share - and keep up with all the latest news on PoliticsHome.com. Got a question for the team? news@politicshome.com.

  1. 5D AGO

    Will government finally quit X?

    Amid another row over whether ministers and their departments should stay on X, this week The Rundown takes a look at the role of social media in this government's communications. After AI tool Grok began creating non-consensual indecent images of women, and even child sexual abuse material, the long-running arguments over whether Downing Street should join the growing ranks of MPs and finally come off the website formerly known as Twitter were re-ignited, with the focus on what other methods they use to speak to people and get its messaging across. To discuss all that host Alain Tolhurst and PolHome reporter Zoe Crowther are joined by former Number 10 director of strategic communications, James Lyons, and later in the episode they talk to Labour MP Sarah Owen, chair of the Commons women and equalities committee. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    36 min

  2. JAN 2

    What does 2026 have in store? Predicting this year's big political storylines

    As we enter 2026, The Rundown looks ahead at what is likely to be yet another crucial and turbulent year in British politics, giving the listeners the inside track on what to look out for over the next 12 months, and guiding you through the big stories ahead. To help navigate through all of that, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by LBC’s political editor and returning guest Natasha Clark, and alongside her is Adam Payne, editor at PoliticsHome. The trio starts the discussion with May’s crucial local elections, which, despite plans to further delay voting in some areas due to the conversion of councils into unitary authorities, will still have a massive impact on shaping the political year for all of the main parties. For Labour, will a bad night in Wales and Scotland precipitate a leadership challenge against the Prime Minister? Or can the government manage expectations and calm nervous Labour MPs into giving Keir Starmer more time? They discuss Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's prospects of returning to the House of Commons in 2026, and whether the willingness of Conservative MPs to stick with Kemi Badenoch will be tested by another bruising set of election results. For Reform UK, it is another big chance for Nigel Farage's party to prove that its rise to the top of the polls can be translated into electoral wins, but the bigger story could be about how well the councils and mayoralties it has already picked up are faring under Reform rule, after bumpy starts at its flagship council in Kent and elsewhere. The panel also looks at whether the Green Party's surge under Zack Polanski will be maintained in 2026, whether the Liberal Democrats can make their voices heard, and how much of an impact the war in Ukraine, the peace settlement in Gaza, and Donald Trump's volatility will overshadow any attempts by Starmer to maintain domestic stability. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    43 min

  3. 12/25/2025

    The Great Big Christmas Quiz Of 2025!

    This year’s special Christmas edition of The Rundown podcast comes in the form of a festive quiz, seeing how much our reporters can remember about another mad 12 months in Westminster You can play along at home too, so let us know if you do better than our teams, and there will be a text version of the quiz available online at PoliticsHome.com if you’re looking for a fun way to spend your Boxing Day. But there to play the quiz live in the studio alongside host Alain Tolhurst are three teams of intrepid hacks, starting with team one made up of Zoe Crowther and Matilda Martin from PoliticsHome, team two are two more PolHome reporters; Tom Scotson and Harriet Symonds, and team three are friend of the pod James Heale, deputy political editor of The Spectator, back for his 4th year on our Christmas podcast, alongside Zoë Grünewald, Westminster Editor at The Lead and political broadcaster. Enjoy, and a very merry Christmas from The Rundown team! To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    23 min

  4. 12/19/2025

    Simon Hart on lifting the lid on the Whips Office

    As we head towards Christmas and look back at the political year, this week's episode features the author of the most explosive and controversial political book of 2025, Ungovernable, the diaries of the former Chief Whip Simon Hart. Now known as Lord Hart of Tenby having been promoted to the House of Lords, he drew criticism from his own former colleagues after lifting the lid on his time inside the Whips office during the dying days of the Conservative government. He spoke to host Alain Tolhurst about the anger he faced for breaking the omerta of the whipping system, what the Labour government can learn from his time in office, and insights from a new political life in the upper chamber and in opposition. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    29 min

  5. 12/12/2025

    How to protect a Prime Minister

    With more leadership speculation swirling around Keir Starmer and claims he is seen as a ‘caretaker Prime Minister’, this week the podcast takes a look at things from the other end of the telescope; asking how do you protect the person in charge if you’re working inside Number 10? What can you do to defend your principal and neutralise any threats they face? Well to answer that three people who worked at the coalface in different Downing Street administrations and faced a litany of internal threats join host Alain Tolhurst. First up is Beatrice Timpson, who was deputy press secretary to two prime ministers, Liz Truss and then Rishi Sunak, and is now a director at Sanctuary Counsel. Alongside her is Guto Harri, who was Downing Street Director of Communications in the final year of Boris Johnson’s premiership, and also Paul Harrison, press secretary to Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May for three years, and now an Executive Director at Lexington. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    36 min

  6. 12/05/2025

    It's 'Your Party' now, but for how long?

    This week Britain’s newest party - Your Party - finally got going in earnest, after a difficult birth to say the least. Over the past few months since its unexpected launch there have been legal threats , accusations of misogyny, boycotts, expulsions, resignations, and at the heart of it all acrimony between its two leading figures; Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, and that’s all before they’d even held a conference to decide on a permanent name and leadership structure. But last weekend several thousand members put all that aside, well mostly, to meet in Liverpool, and both The House magazine's deputy editor Sienna Rogers, and PolHome reporter Tom Scotson, were up there to cover it. They join host Alain Tolhurst to talk it all over, and discuss where the party goes now, alongside Andrew Fisher, director of policy for the Labour Party under Corbyn. Sienna’s article on the formation of Your Party is available hereYou can listen to The Radio 4 Profile of Zarah Sultana she appears on hereTo read Tom’s story about MP Ayoub Khan killing a dog click hereHis article on the Muslim vote for the Telegraph is hereAnd to sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    50 min

  7. 11/28/2025

    Budget 2025: Reeves and Starmer buy some time

    After another momentous tax-raising fiscal event from Rachel Reeves, this week we’re running the rule over the 2025 Budget, with its further freezes to tax thresholds, the scrapping of the two-child limit on benefits, reforms to savings, pensions and ISAs, as well motoring and property taxes, and a host of cost-of-living measures too. Oh and the fact the whole thing was leaked by the OBR half an hour before the Chancellor stood up in the Commons to deliver the thing... To discuss all that and much more on this bumper episode we’re going to hear from the Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, Treasury minister Lucy Rigby, economists James Smith from the Resolution Foundation and Carsten Jung from the IPPR think tanks, as well as Labour MP Yuan Yang, who sits on the Treasury select committee. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    50 min

  8. 11/21/2025

    Can Farage convert Reform-curious voters?

    As Reform UK continue to top the polls, this week we’re looking at why so many voters are turning away from the two main parties and looking in Nigel Farage’s direction, and what they need to do to convert the curious into an election-winning majority. So PoliticsHome has teamed up once again with the polling and strategy gurus at Thinks Insight, who have conducted focus groups with a host of Labour and Conservative voters thinking of backing Reform next time round, asking why they are ditching their previous party. So to help host Alain Tolhurst assess the results of this work and look at how and why the political landscape of the UK is changing, he is joined by Allie Jennings, director at Thinks, along with leading academic Paula Surridge, Professor of Political Sociology at Bristol University, and PolHome editor Adam Payne. To sign up for our newsletters click here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

    39 min
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Our weekly podcast from Politics Home discussing all the ups and downs in Westminster. Please subscribe and share - and keep up with all the latest news on PoliticsHome.com. Got a question for the team? news@politicshome.com.

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