Downing Street vs the Conservative party
Number 10 found itself at odds with its own MPs this week, as its plan to install former minister Chris Grayling as chair of the intelligence committee backfired. With serious questions also raised ab...
18 Jul 202031min
Sunak's snacks to save the economy
Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out a £30bn plan to save British jobs this week, with a big boost for pubs and restaurants, but will it be enough to stem the tide of unemployment? We delve into his summer ...
11 Jul 202031min
Jeremy Hunt on the lessons of Covid-19
In the first episode of a special summer interview series, Sebastian Payne talks to Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary and chair of the health select committee, about why the UK was not better prepa...
8 Jul 202028min
Boris the builder and the UK’s offer to Hong Kong
The FT politics podcast has relaunched as 'Payne's Politics' and in this first episode presenter Sebastian Payne and his guests analyse Boris Johnson's plan to get his government back on track and rad...
4 Jul 202038min
The great British unlocking, plus RLB and Sedwill are out
Boris Johnson announced this week that July 4 would be the UK’s Independence Day, when swaths of the economy would reopen. But is the prime minister moving too fast and going against scientific and me...
27 Jun 202032min
U-turns on free school meals and tracking app, No10 wades further into culture war
Boris Johnson caved in to Marcus Rashford’s campaign to provide free school meals over the summer holidays, but why did it take so long? No 10 responded by defending the statue of Winston Churchill an...
20 Jun 202032min
Conservative anger grows over Covid crisis, and should statues be pulled down?
Tory ministers and MPs were furious this week at Downing Street’s refusal to ease the 2m social distancing rule to boost the ailing economy. Will Boris Johnson go against the advice of his scientists ...
13 Jun 202031min
Quarantine fallout, queueing in parliament, chaos at the top and the UK’s offer to Hong Kong
Boris Johnson’s government found itself confused this week about why it was introducing a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals in the UK. Ministers and MPs warned it would undermine the economy, while s...
6 Jun 202030min
