Politics Without The Boring Bits The Times

Children's TV legend Timmy Mallett tells Matt what he would do if he ruled the world, including using sleep as an energy source.

Plus: Lara Spirit continues her A-Z of Parliament, this week looking at "O" for "opposition days".

After a difficult set of election results for the Conservatives, including a by-election defeat in Blackpool South, Matt looks at what they mean for the parties and for Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer as elections expert John Curtice says that losing is the government's "habit".
Plus: Columnists India Knight and James Marriott discuss why neither of them voted, whether they sympathise with Boris Johnson who forgot his ID at the polling booth, and what it means for politics that young people are becoming more religious.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In half a century just three opposition leaders have become prime minister. 45 years after Margaret Thatcher arrived in Downing Street, Matt hears from the people who knew her best - including Conservative colleagues Ken Clarke, Jonathan Aitken, and David Howell, aide turned author Michael Dobbs, her biographer Charles Moore, and her daughter Carol Thatcher.
Plus: Manveen Rana and Matthew Parris discuss the SNP's leadership struggles, is noise in the Commons a good thing, and whether you should trust attractive politicians. 
The Columnists: (01:00)
The Big Thing: (22:27)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Shipman and Kait Borsay join Matt Chorley to pause and unpack the action from the Commons chamber as Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak clash over pensions and how to fund them, and one Tory gets a ticking-off from the Speaker.
Plus: Columnists Alice Thomson and Robert Crampton discuss the violence on American University campuses, whether sports stars make good politicians and the policing of domestic violence. 
Columnists (02:30)
PMQs Unpacked (23:05)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For months a group of Tory plotters have been saying that the local elections will be pivotal to their efforts to remove Rishi Sunak from office. So as the moment of truth nears, can the plot succeed, or are the plotters themselves divided?
Plus: After an MSP accidentally (and briefly) enters the race to replace Humza Yousaf, we look at the shotest ever leadership campaigns.
Short Leadership Campaigns: (05:06)
The Big Thing: (12:25)


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt sits down with MPs leaving Parliament at the next election to find out about their highs and lows, their best and worst bosses, and the lessons they've learned from politics.
Caroline Lucas - the only Green MP - tells Matt about her reasons for standing down and what's wrong with Westminster - including MPs cowering in the toilet to hide from their party whips.
Plus: As Humza Yousaf resigns, Times Scottish Political Editor Kieran Andrews tells us where the SNP goes next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.