Rebellions, suspensions, tears. The
first half of the year in British
politics was quite dramatic. What does
the second half hold? We'll try and do
some predictions on this episode of the
BBC's Daily News podcast newscast.
Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio.
We're going to do this episode in three
parts. The first part will be a little
reminder of where we left politics in
June July of 2025 before everyone went
on their summer holidays. Then we'll
talk about some of the people who didn't
go on the summer holidays. Clue Nigel
Farage, leader of Reform UK. And then in
the final bit, we will talk about some
of the big issues that are going to
dominate British politics for the rest
of the year. And here to help me are two
people who are steeped in politics,
past, present, and future. Sitting on
the sofa here in the newscast studio is
political correspondent Joe Pike. Hi
Joe.
>> Hi Adam.
>> And also Hannah White, who's director of
the Institute for Government, is here.
Hello Hannah.
>> Hello. Right. Before we talk about the
future, let's talk about the recent past
because I always find with politics
because we we we go forward at like kind
of light speed. We sometimes forget
where we've been. So like a soap opera
recap. Let's talk about some things that
were happening before the summer
holidays. I suppose Joe, one of the big
things was Labour's massive climb down
on its welfare reforms.
>> The ice to the right 335.
The nose to the left 260.
Absolutely. A moment of embarrassment
for KS Dharma. A tricky moment around
discipline. And one of the last things
his team did, at least his team of whips
did before the summer recess, was
suspend four Labour MPs, including
Rachel Mascll, who of course was quite
prominent left-wing Labour MP and uh
leader of some of the rebels. Maybe that
effort over discipline will continue in
the future and it's not over yet. and
people in the junior ministerial ranks
who were maybe involved behind the
scenes in that rebellion uh could be uh
could be sort of held to account uh for
that. We also had that really striking
moment in the House of Commons during
Prime Minister's questions where the
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was crying. We
still don't know uh why exactly. And I
suppose
>> they said it was a personal reason at
the time, didn't they? Clearly, I was
upset uh yesterday and everyone uh could
see that. Um it was a personal issue and
I'm not going to go into the details uh
of that.
>> Uh the summer has been a chance, I'm
told, for her to recharge. The summer
was also seen as a danger point around
possible um riots, unrest like we saw
last year over the Southport murders,
especially considering the number of
hotel asylum hotel protests. Now, of
course, there have been protests and
there's been this uh legal action around
the Eping Hotel, which has been
significant, but I certainly think
senior people in government
feel that they've got through the summer
without something that could have been
really, really um difficult, punishing
on the domestic front.
>> Yeah. And we'll talk about this summer
recess in a second, but Hannah, back to
that moment that week where there was
the climb down on welfare and then
Rachel Reeves crying. Rachel Reed's
crying ended up being good for her,
weirdly, didn't it? In terms of
basically people interpreted it as when
the bond markets, the cost of government
borrowing shot up when she started
crying because straight away traders
were thinking she's going to be replaced
by somebody who's going to borrow and
spend more and that would be bad for the
UK's finances, so therefore we're going
to charge them more to borrow. So
actually the crying sort of secured her
position in a weird way.
>> Yeah, that's right. It it made people
think that actually she was safer when
all the chat around the climb down over
welfare was was this a not a sensible
rushed plan that had been brought
brought forward by the Treasury in order
to try to plug a hole that had uh
emerged in the public finances because
she hadn't left herself enough headroom.
Um and that was all bad for her. Um but
when that people saw how the markets
reacted to the possibility of if not her
then something uh in their view worse um
then yeah she ended up in a stronger
position.
>> And then Joe over the summer I mean
everyone would pretty much agree that
Nigel Farage did a good job of capturing
the headlines. That is the view from
multiple people within the government
unprompted because the opportunity for
opposition parties really is in in late
July and all of August because that is
the moment where there's generally a
little bit less news. Parliament's not
sitting so there aren't MPs in London
and also uh court cases aren't uh
happening at the same rate and therefore
the news agenda is just different.
Certainly the view within the government
and of course the view of of Nigel
Faraj's aids is that they've had uh
reform have had a very successful
summer. He decided at the start to uh
talk about crime to focus on crime for
those six weeks or so ending with this
week's unveiling of policy on illegal
migration. If you come to the UK
illegally, you will be detained and
deported and never ever allowed to stay.
Period. And they've gone through a sort
of formula really often towards the
start of the week having a news
conference. Maybe that's preceded by him
writing a a column in one of the uh
papers. And um I think it has really
worked in a way that certainly keenox
interventions haven't necessarily. There
are some sort of uh sniffy uh
individuals within the Labor government.
Of course, they would criticize Kimmy
Baden anyway because she's a political
rival, but one described her uh
interventions as a series of weird
interviews, partly because there were
unexpected headlines from them,
including a BBC interview when she
talked about um snitching on someone who
had um uh had been in an exam with her
her at school.
>> And I said, "He's cheating." I stood up
in the middle of the exam and I stood up
said, "He's cheating. He's the one
that's um doing it." And that boy ended
up getting expelled. and I didn't get
appraised for it every you know and I
was a relatively popular uh kid at
school and people said why did you do
that why would you do that and I said
because he was doing the wrong thing
>> she has made some progress her team
argue around the area of hotels she went
to Eping and she has been um quite quick
at responding when issues arise where
Labor looks weak and she's certainly
done that today but she hasn't uh cut
through as successfully And that's
probably partly because we all know who
Nigel Farage is. He's at a different
stage of his leadership. He can just
appear unveil policy. She's not focusing
on policy, but also voters don't
necessarily know who she is. And
therefore explaining and introducing
Keabnok has still been a bit of their
job. Hannah, there's this thing that the
papers used to have that August is
called silly season because Parliament's
not sitting. Normal politics is kind of
on pause for the holidays and so the
papers are full of silly stories. Um,
that's not been true this year. And I
wonder if politicians will take the
lesson from that that actually there
isn't a summer holiday anymore because
they will have seen how successfully you
can grab the headlines if you do
eye-catching things in August.
>> Yeah, I think that is probably a fair
lesson to take. I mean, I think
organizations and individuals have
always tried to capitalize on the summer
as a time when they might be able to uh
get more attention. I think reform, as
Joe says, have have done that very well.
they've been helped um on that I would
say by the very nice weather we've had
which has made for lots of opportunities
to go and have uh you know shots of
small boats arriving on calm seas um and
anticipating that that might be the case
and there'll be some good visuals uh to
accompany the the sort of the new
stories that they've wanted to to bring
forward I think has has been um has been
smart
>> and also talking about holidays Karma
has been away twice but the first time
it got interrupted because he had to go
to Washington for that one day, I think.
Yeah. With with with President Trump and
all the other EU leaders. And actually
that was less than two weeks ago.
>> Yeah. Uh what 10 10 days ago I think
that he he interrupted that family
holiday in Scotland. The uh military
plane uh stopped off at Glasgow airport
to pick him up and he um got off I'm
told at Glasgow on the way back. But it
was um it was an issue that clearly Kama
thinks was incredibly important being in
the room with Donald Trump and Mir
Zilinski and all those European leaders
in this unprecedented uh meeting and of
course so much of the positives of his
first year in a bit in power seems to
have been around foreign policy. his
coalition of the willing in particular
which some people were skeptical about
at the start but now we've got over 30
countries and if there was to be a peace
deal certainly it seems that the US are
more keen in in in in playing a part
people in Downing Street have said to me
look this was always talked down and
actually it's a big success that should
be recognized but the foreign policy
successes um don't seem to necessarily
have moved Ukraine anywhere close
anywhere closer to peace and all the
domestic problems still remain.
>> Um and then on Thursday this week, Joe,
you you were covering a story that seems
like kind of classic Westminster is back
because it was about staffing in number
10. So just tell us a bit more about
that story.
>> This was Kiestama's decision to replace
his principal private secretary who is
called Nimandit and this role is
incredibly influential. Hannah knows it
even better than me. It is a role where
you are the gatekeeper for the prime
minister. You usually sit on a desk next
to the chief of staff outside the prime
minister's office and I'm told the best
uh principal private secretaries or
PPS's uh really go into battle for their
uh PM. They act on the authority of of
the PM, look, sort out their diary,
control the flow of information, and
sometimes have to go toe-to-toe with
senior civil servants and bang heads
together. Um, the fact that he's chosen
after this person, N Pandit has been in
the role for just 10 months to replace
her is probably less about whether she
was good at the job and clearly not good
enough to to remain was was the view. Um
but more about some argue Karma's
ability to pick the right people because
we've had three senior figures who he
has picked and later let go. Sue Gray
being the most prominent one. She left
last October. Matthew Do is was the
director of communications at Downing
Street. He left in March. And now I'm
told number 10 is trying to finalize who
to replace Nim Pandit with. Ironically,
she is remaining in in number 10. She's
moving to a role working on policy
delivery. But there are people in
government who seem perplexed even by
that because there are three other
people in number 10, I'm told, who
already consider uh themselves to be in
charge of Kama's policy team. Um Hannah,
when I was at a careers event when I was
much younger, I met somebody who was in
this job and they said not to be
broadcast but really but oh I really run
the country on a day-to-day basis. Is
that an accurate description of what
that role requires?
>> Yeah. I mean doing that role you really
are in charge of the whole civil service
side of number 10 and you are you are
that gatekeeper to number 10 uh to the
prime minister. And I think that you
know partly as Joe says the departure of
Nin Pandanda you know 10 months after uh
being appointed does you know if if if
the role is not working it's such a key
role that is absolutely right that you
must move that person on and and get
someone who does work but that does
raise a question about what whether Kest
is looking for the right things when
he's making these appointments um and I
think I share share the the concern that
that Joe highlights that people this
this news that well she's it's not that
the prime minister has lost confidence
in her because she's moving to a
different role in number 10 but the
consistent message we seem to get from
number 10 is that there is confusion on
the policy side over who leads on what
over who actually is speaking for the
prime minister and so it's all very well
having people you want in number 10 but
we would argue that actually unless you
really sort out the roles in the
accountabilities and who is in charge
and get that really clear any number of
brilliant people being brought in aren't
aren't going to fix what's going wrong
>> and I mean obviously Nin Panda is a
civil servant can't speak for herself
doesn't do interviews so her voice is
absent from all of this but I think what
sort of justifies us talking about her
role is I remember the day Downing
Street put out their statement about the
new personnel after Sue Gray had gone
and Nin Pandit was one of the names and
one of the jobs that was put in that
package
as proof that the prime minister was
getting a grip of his operation. So I
think that's what justifies talking
about her
>> or one of the reasons that justifies
talking about her
>> and and and previously in the past we
have talked about people and reported on
people at this level. I mean, probably
the most recent well-known example was
Martin Reynolds um Party Marty as some
of the tabloids dubbed him, and that was
because of um his role in number 10 at
the time of of of Party Gate. Um and
just because we don't know somebody
doesn't mean that they aren't incredibly
important and influential. And what's
interesting about the conversations I
had after we broke that story alongside
my my colleague Henry Zeffman was that
nobody told me they thought this was the
wrong decision. So perhaps Kiestarma has
made the right decision. There are lots
of people who are definitely fans of Nim
Pandi Pandit allies of Kiama but others
who say she's really really talented but
nobody has said this was a mistake. So
potentially he's done good even if he's
correcting his own mistakes. Also, is
this the opening step in a reshuffle?
So, obviously this is an HR thing to do
with the civil servant, but is this the
opening opening step in a much more
political process that would see
ministers and cabinet ministers being
moved? Do we reckon?
>> Well, there's constant discussion of the
prospect of a reshuffle in
>> which is what happens when you haven't
had one.
>> Indeed, which I mean generally we think
is a good thing in terms of you know
what you want consistency and to let
people get on with their jobs and
deliver unless it's not working in which
case you should have a reshuffle. There
is talk of a reshuffle particularly of
junior ministers coming up. There's also
talk of further changes and
clarifications of roles in number 10. Um
so this may not be the only um
clarification that we see in coming
weeks I think.
>> Although Joe if we now indulge in some
reshuffle speculation of our own why not
everyone else is doing it. Um I mean
Rachel Reeves back to her. She's pretty
safe for the reasons we discussed and
also the fact is Stormer has said that
she's safe.
Cooper, I mean, she's got a big task on
her hands. If you're smashing the gangs,
you don't want to change the chief
smasher halfway through the smashing
process.
>> Yeah, I I haven't heard from anyone that
a cabinet reshuffle is imminent,
although famous last words. Although I
have been told, and it does come up
repeatedly from different people, that
if Cooper doesn't make progress on
reforming the immigration system,
various people think that she's finished
and she's gone for now. Maybe she has
another a year to go to show progress.
But Karma because this issue he believes
is so important to voters and will be
important the next election doesn't want
to sort of realize a year out or six
months out I need to change personnel
when actually it would be too late uh to
really change policy and different
people have different views but
certainly if you were to have a cabinet
reshuffle some argue a moment of
jeopardy and risk for Karma and his
leadership could be next May after the
Welsh and Scottish elections. Certainly
opinion polls suggest the Welsh
elections could be very difficult um for
the Labour party in the Senate
especially as the voting system is is
changing there and in Scotland maybe a
year ago you'd have thought that an
Asawa the Scottish Labour leader could
have been the first minister living in
but house now uh that looks a little bit
more difficult. John Swinny is doing
okay in the role, but also we've seen
the rise of reform in Scotland and
they're not doing too badly in opinion
polls. Okay, Hannah, let's talk about
parliament coming back on Monday and I
was standing in for matured
Lucy Powell who's the leader of the
House of Commons and she was on to
reveal how long this parliamentary
session is going to be. In other words,
there's not going to be a king speech
until April May 2026.
What is the significance of that kind of
timetable? What should we read into
that?
>> So that's really confirming what was
largely expected. I think it's not
unusual for the first session after an
election to run long because an incoming
parl incoming government has to uh get
all the bills it wants to pass drafted
before it can start introducing them
into the house. Whereas normally when
you're running session to session,
you've got some stuff in the works and
and so on. So often it does take a bit
longer. I think the original um plan
potentially was to try to wrap up the
session before Christmas this year uh in
order that you could then end up at the
end of the parliament with a short
session before a run into a May
election. It's obvious that from the
weight of legislation, some of which is
taking uh a bit longer than expected,
particularly in the House of Lords, lots
of um committee sessions in the House of
Lords scheduled for a number of weeks
running longer than expected. uh and a
lot really still to get through the
Lords uh that they're just not going to
do it by Christmas. So May looks um
unsurprising at this point.
>> Why is it taking so long in the House of
Lords? Because Lucy Powell was
suggesting to me, in fact, she said it
that it's hereditary and conservative
peers who don't like reforms to the
House of Lords and to get revenge on the
government. They're slowing things down.
>> They are deliberately slowing some
things down, particularly some of those
big bills that you just mentioned then.
Um but look, we're we're undeterred.
These are big manifesto commitments to
uh abolish zero hours contracts, for
example, or or end no faulted evictions
and give renters more um rights over uh
where they're where they're living
around rent increases and um those kind
of things.
>> I think there's probably some truth in
that and that's what every government
that decides to try to attempt any form
of House of Lords reform has to be uh
alive to. Uh they have slowed things
down. on there have been a lot of
amendments and the government has much
less control over the agenda in the
House of Lords. So if they decide to
take longer, they can take longer. You
know, there are some usual channels that
try to sort things out, but you know,
the fact that we seem likely to see the
House of Lords in the next couple of
weeks sitting in in some mornings.
They're sitting
>> Lord's working in the morning.
>> I know. uh on some you know and every
Friday really just shows that with a
combination of the predatory peers bill
uh the assisted dying bill uh but also
some of these other big meaty bills
which are in in the lords it's it's
going to take take longer
>> and the consequences of that are big
labor priorities like the renters bill
which gets rid of no fault evictions and
the employment rights bill which would
give people more employment rights on
day one of their job. They're still not
they've not been passed as laws yet.
They're still grinding through the
Houses of Parliament.
>> Yeah. I mean, I think their original
plan again was potentially that Render's
rights might get through before the
summer recess, but it hasn't. But it
should it should get through pretty
swiftly. Now, there's big pieces of
legislation like the English Devolution
Bill, which is hasn't yet had its second
reading. That's that's really a flagship
bill on some of the new uh measures that
the government wants to bring in around
Mayers and strategic authorities and so
on. That those have still got to go
through that's got to go through both
houses of of parliament. There were big
things that the government committed to
in its manifesto. If you look at its
first king speech that had um I think 41
bills flagged in it. Um some of those
were in draft. Some of those have fallen
away for different reasons. Of the ones
which they might have hoped to get
through in their first session. 31 of
the 33 have so far been introduced. So
there's just a couple that haven't been
introduced yet. That's a that's a pretty
pretty good place to be for for Lucy
Powell, I think.
>> Um, and Joe, is that all basically I
mean, while it's important bits of
legislation in their own right, actually
just kind of warm-ups for the budget in
October or November.
>> Yeah. And I think we're going to see
endless budget speculation. Interesting
that in recent days, Rachel Reeves has
recruited Torston Bell, the pensions
minister, to basically lead for her on
what to do in the budget. This is
somebody who was head of policy for Ed
Milliband and worked for Alistister
Darling when he was Labour chancellor
during the 2008 financial crisis.
Interesting that she's I wouldn't
necessarily say a reshuffle but
certainly amended her top team because I
think she knows there are some very
difficult decisions to make on tax. The
other thing that jumps into my mind that
we've been told oh it's coming in the
autumn wait for it is that is that
government poverty strategy which of
course could um be very farreaching. Um
there's a lot of pressure from various
people within the cabinet and on the
Labour backbenches over the two child
benefit cap, but also it's one of those
sorts of areas of policy that a bit like
um possible welfare cuts before the
summer, a lot of Labour MPs care about.
Could it be an area where Karma gets
into a sort of discipline challenge
again? especially as Labour MPs,
especially the new intake, do seem to
feel a little bit more emboldened and
some of them have of course looked at
the opinion polls too and are wondering
about their jobs.
>> Um Hannah, what's your take on Torston
Bell who's been on newscast a lot both
as a minister and before that as a head
of the think tank the resolution
foundation which looked at people on low
and middle incomes and came up with
policies to support them. What's your
take about him sort of moving into the
Treasury a bit more?
>> Yeah, well I mean he was he was in the
Treasury as pensions um minister. he
would have been in and out. He's got a
piece of legislation coming through to
to make the changes to the to the
pensions industry that the government
wants wants to see. He was already close
to the chancellor. I think uh we saw and
a couple of the uh chancellor's advisers
who were in the more sort of academic
space uh moving out before the summer
recess um John Van Reinan and Anna
Valera and my my sense I haven't I
haven't heard it precisely what
Torston's kind of exact role is but that
he is coming in to sort of provide the
sort of advice
>> sounds like they're making a bit more
political and a bit less thinky.
>> Yeah. So uh but you know he he's a he's
a smart guy and at the Resolution
Foundation he's done a lot of the
thinking about the sorts of uh welfare
type uh questions which are going to be
uh at the forefront of the government's
mind. So that it seems like a a sensible
uh idea
>> and it sounds like Joe we're going to
get one fword over and over and over
again. Fairness.
Have you picked up on this? I've seen a
few things saying oh the whole theme of
the next few months in the leadup to the
budget is going to be fairness. Now, of
course, you can have a massive argument
about what fairness is and what might be
fair to some people is unfair to others.
And actually, is that at the the root of
lots of these kind of ideas we've seen
being floated for budget measures? The
latest one being, do you charge national
insurance on landlords income from
renting out properties?
>> I suppose there are two parts to any
budget. one is deciding what you want to
do and the other how to frame it and
sell it especially if you're making um
decisions that are going to impact
people potentially in a negative way in
terms of um tax rises.
>> Hannah, do you want to give us some
other pointers and just things to keep
in mind when we hear all the speculation
about the budget in the next few weeks?
And we've already had several weeks of
speculation already. Yeah. I mean, there
have been quite a lot of kites flown,
haven't there, over the summer on on
>> which is the phrase for when people put
ideas out there to see how they how they
go.
>> Indeed. And I mean that in itself I
guess is is just a bit worrying in the
sense that when you think about some of
the difficult choices that are going to
have to be made um and some of the
complicated and uh unforeseen
consequences there can be of some of
these policies and and how you know from
a government's point of view how you
know what they're what they're always
hoping every time they bring forward a
budget and measures is you know not to
see it unravel and unravel and unravel
in the in the weeks that come. You know,
if you look back at the history, the
chancellors who've succeeded in landing
difficult policy choices are not
chancellors who started flying kites a
couple of months out from from the
budget. Some of the things that, you
know, we did around pensions, for
example, you know, those were a process
of months and years to lay the
groundwork to get some of this stuff
through. And so the fact that some of
this stuff is being sort of um chucked
out there to see how it lands and how
the language works just a few weeks,
>> it doesn't look visionary.
>> Well, it it's just about, you know, is
it going to be sustainable? And I think
the other thing just relating to the
conversation we've had about the welfare
um shenanigans is exactly as Joe says,
if uh if these measures that come
forward in the budget which are going to
provide the the money that Rachel Reeves
needs to find uh are perceived to be a
collection of measures uh as opposed to
a vision and a strategy and something
with a narrative, they're just going to
be that much easier to unpick. and the
emboldened uh uh backbenches and there
will be always some who have whichever
constituency it is in mind who are the
ones for whom whatever it is turns out
to be unfair as you say Adam uh will
just think well you know it they only
came up with it last week you know we
can maybe get them to change their minds
come up with something else
>> it's dangerous politically I think
>> and then Joe two big things that are
actually not going to happen in
parliament Donald Trump back in the UK
but not on holiday this time not
visiting his golf courses although I'm
sure you'll fit one in uh on his actual
state visit.
>> Yeah. And that does seem to be uh
something he's very excited about and
the relationship Karma has struck with
Donald Trump maybe has defied some
expectations and seems to be um pretty
positive. Certainly people in government
always point to the trade agreement
between the two countries even though
that you know not everything is is quite
finalized as an example of of how the UK
is winning in that space. Although we of
course know that not every prominent
political figure will be attending the
state banquet. Libdam leader Ed Davyy
saying that he and his wife will not be
attending. And they made the decision
after lots of discussion and also after
after prayer.
>> And it'll be an interesting one that
Hannah, won't it? Because I remember
when Trump came on his his holiday visit
earlier in the summer to go to his golf
courses. I thought, well, you know what?
He's here to play golf. He's not
actually going to be doing that much
business. We might not see very much of
him. How wrong I was. I mean we he was
on 24/7 doing press conferences there
sitting taking questions for an hour
with urser on line standing there with
Kar at one point standing there with
Mrs. Lady Starmer,
>> stop the windmills. You're ruining your
countries. I really mean it. It's so
sad. You fly over and you see these
windmills all over the place, ruining
your beautiful fields and valleys. But
then I wonder though if if you flip that
around the state visit, it's so
ceremonial. There's lots of like
standing around and looking at troops
with the king, which is very different
from sitting there and just doing 50
questions on Ukraine, the Middle East,
domestic politics in America.
>> Yeah. I mean I think Donald Trump is
never averse to a press conference but I
think it will be a more structured
program. Um and I think you know in in
some ways that is why it seems Ed Davies
made this decision that actually you
know this is a formal dinner to which
he's been invited and Trump's been
invited which is sort of honoring Trump
and and he thinks that the the way to
make you know a serious political point
at this point is is not to attend
whether or not that is something that
Mr. Trump will actually notice. So
that's an American coming here. Kier
Star will be going to America in
September for the United Nations General
Assembly where basically like all the
world leaders converge on New York for
for a couple of mad days of diplomacy.
Um that's the point at which Kristar has
said he will or will not recognize a
Palestinian state. Um he gave a set of
conditions for that to happen. What do
we think about the state of the
conditions?
Well, the the conditions included a
ceasefire in Gaza and Israel reviving
the prospect of a two-state solution.
So, it seems likely that the UK will go
ahead alongside Canada and France um
with recognition. I suppose that was a
decision prompted both by what we have
all seen on our TV screens in terms of
the humanitarian
crisis in the Middle East, but also
quite clear change in public opinion.
And of course, those two things are
linked. It was a deadline that Karmama
set as some other world leaders did, but
it doesn't seem like um it has
necessarily changed anything. And this
move arguably will be symbolic, but uh
symbolism is important. The view of
Israel immediately after Kama's
announcement was that the UK is
effectively rewarding Hamas terrorism by
putting this prospect out there.
>> And I should say I kind of got the
chronology the wrong way around there
because the UN General Assembly is on
the 9th of September and then Trump's
state visit is on the 17th of September.
So, but I think Kistama will still go to
New York after because the UN General
Assembly goes on and on and on and
there's only four days.
>> No, it's uh there's the high level.
>> Yes. The the leaders come for just a
couple.
>> I mean, I've never been invited or asked
to go and cover it. So,
>> that is in late September. But I do
think it clashes, I'm told, with Liberal
Democrat Conference. So, I mean
>> I mean it won't be a problem for Eddie.
Oh, no. That's the state visit. Um Joe,
we could talk about all the other
political parties and we've sort of
also Joe in terms of the other political
parties. Some people might not have
noticed this, but the people involved in
it definitely will have done. There is a
leadership contest, a quite heated
leadership contest going on in one of
the political parties right now in the
Green Party in England and Wales, but
also, unless I'm very much mistaken, I
think there's a a leadership contest in
the Green Party in in Scotland, too. I
mean England and Wales one is
significant because you have two MPs who
are running as uh possible co-leaders.
One who is already the co-leader Adrien
Ramsey and Ellie Chs uh Heraffordshire
MP newish uh Green MP who are sort of
continuity Green Party. Yes, maybe they
would they would find that offensive,
but but they argue that they have
developed the party to a stage where it
has a a clutch of MPs in in parliament
and is increasingly influential. Them as
a a pair versus Zack Palansky who is
deputy leader of the party, a member of
the London Assembly and considers
himself an eco populist. his uh campaign
has seemingly done very well on social
media. And there are also questions
around the possible dynamics between a
Green Party under Zach Palansky and
whatever Jeremy Corbyn and Zara
Sultana's your party ends up being and
whether they could somehow work
together. Um it's all it's all up for
debate, but it is really interesting.
>> And the big moment for Jeremy Corbin and
Zara Sultana will be when they have
their party. What were they calling it?
convention congress meeting where one of
the first things they'll have to do is
choose a name because your party is just
sort of holding name and they've
crowdsourced the name from everyone
haven't they anyway they've not crowd
sourced it from us because we wouldn't
have a role in doing that um Hannah any
other things any other pointers you want
to give us before we end this episode
>> uh I guess we could talk about this as
to dying bill
>> oh well actually yeah because my
conversation with Lucy Powell leader of
the House of Commons on five live I said
to her oh a longer session does that
mean more chance of assisted dying
getting through all its stages because
there had been speculation that they
just run out of time and then it would
just potentially disappear forever.
>> I think that's exactly what it means. I
think that uh one of the key weapons uh
if you like uh for anyone wanting to uh
see any private members bill not pass is
always time. And so for for those who
were hoping that that uh the assisted
dying bill would get to the lords, the
lords would rightly want to uh conduct
significant scrutiny because of the
difficult technical and ethical issues
uh and that it would just run out and it
would come back too late to the commons.
Those people will be disappointed now. I
mean I think it's it's increased the
chances of getting through. But whether
or not it gets through the point is
there will be more debate. There will be
more discussion. there will be more
testing and that can only be a good
thing.
>> Well, great discussion here today,
Hannah. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
>> And Joe, thanks to you too. Thanks,
Adam.