The Times Red Box Podcast

Matt Chorley asks Francis Elliott, Times political editor, Steven Swinford, deputy political editor, and Lucy Fisher, defence editor, what the new year will bring for the Tories, Labour, and everybody else.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did Matt Chorley end up embarking on a political stand-up tour? The tables are turned as he is interviewed by Alex Jacques about satire, reading an audience and the Two Ronnies.Matt Chorley is performing This. Is. Not. Normal. at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London on January 25 2020.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Forget the election, this is the big political battle of the year. Part two of the Red Box podcast 2019 Quiz of the Year.Will Patrick Kidd and Esther Webber make it four years in a row for the reporters' team? Can Daniel Finkelstein and Rachel Sylvester avoid the usual fate of the columnists coming last?Can MP Tom Tugendhat remember the names of his own colleagues and can Angela Rayner remember why Boris Johnson last used the NHS?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As another bizarre year in politics comes to an end, Matt Chorley poses the questions to see who has been paying most attention.The MP team has Tom Tugendhat, one of the only Tories not to run for leader this year, and Angela Rayner, one of the only Labour MPs left in Britain.Patrick Kidd, Times diary editor, and Esther Webber, Red Box reporter, return to see if the reporters’ team can win for a fourth year in a row.Daniel Finkelstein is joined by Rachel Sylvester on the columnists’ team.Let’s start as the PM would, by pulling a cracker...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the full scale of the election result became clear, Red Box assembled a stellar line-up of Times and Sunday Times reporters and columnists to explain what happened and why, and what happens next.Henry Zeffman talks through the key seats and swings.Columnists Camilla Long, Daniel Finkelstein, Alice Thomson and Matthew Parris discuss what kind of prime minister Boris Johnson will be now.Red Box reporter Esther Webber, Times deputy editor Emma Tucker, columnist David Aaronvitch and Henry Zeffman on an existentialist crisis in the Labour Party.And Tim Shipman, political editors of The Sunday Times, on Boris Johnson plans and the role of Dominic Cummings.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley brings you everything you need to know, with Esther Webber’s guide to the key seats to stay up for, TV reviewer Hugo Rifkind on what to watch, Tony Turnbull on what to eat, and former May spokesman Paul Harrison and ex-Miliband aide Stuart Wood on what to do if you lose on the night.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Times invited people from swing seats across England and Wales to talk parties, policies and polls. Matt Chorley speaks to Emma Tucker, Oliver Wright and Ben Macintyre about what they said, and what it means for politics and the way we report on it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley speaks to Times writers Janice Turner, Patrick Kidd and Robert Crampton about what they found during their election road trips, discuss voters really think of the party leaders, and reveal the secrets of the successful vox-pop.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley chats to Philip Bowern and Keith Rossiter from the Western Morning News about election prospects in Cornwali and Devon, then Kieran Andrews, Scottish political editors of The Times, reveals the seats to watch north of the border.Plus Esther Webber helps to round up the week  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As YouGov releases its seat-by-seat forecast for the election, Matt Chorley speaks to pollster Chris Curtis about how it works, and what could change.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After Red Box listeners sent in questions about the election, Matt Chorley assembles a stellar panel to answer them. Henry Zeffman, The Times’ political correspondent, Katie Perrior, a former adviser to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, and pollster Matt Singh to explain the polls, Northern Ireland, the Queen and rosettes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley meets Alan “Howling Laud” Hope, leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party and veteran of eight general elections, and asks: what’s the point?PLUS: Esther Webber rounds up the week, including TV debates, manifesto muddles and an “impromptu rally”.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley takes you behind-the-scenes with three people who know what it is really like trying to win the nation's vote.Polly Mackenzie was a policy adviser to Nick Clegg, and now runs the Demos think tank. She explains how a manifesto is written, and the pitfalls of party democracy.James Johnson was Theresa May’s Downing Street pollster and now runs JL Partners. He will explain what campaign bosses look out for in the polls, and how messages are tested before voters ever see them.And Theo Bertram, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, discusses how things go wrong, from Bigotgate to a blue lizard riding a bicycle.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley talks to polling guru Sir John Curtice about where the polls went wrong, whether they are right now, and how his election night exit poll works.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley examines what a Labour government would do. He speaks to Andrew Gwynne, the party's election co-ordinator, about what sort of PM Jeremy Corbyn would be. Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester unpick the policy programme on offer, and David Aaronovitch and Henry Zeffman examine the personnel who would be lurking in the corridors of power.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley heads to Leeds, where Yorkshire Post political editor Rob Parsons and ITV Political Correspondent Joe Pike warn it will be harder for the Tories to make gains in the north than they think.Plus Esther Webber casts a critical eye over the chaotically bad first week of the election campaign.Jacob Rees-Mogg clip courtesy of LBC  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

And they're off! MPs are leaving in Westminster, back to their constituencies in search of re-election. But not all of them: dozens of MPs of all parties and all ages are standing down, saying goodbye at this election.Matt Chorley speaks to three of them about their reasons for quitting, and the highs and lows of life as a politician.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the country gears up for some festive political fun, Matt Chorley asks YouGov's Anthony Wells what could go wrong for the Tories, Rachel Sylvester discusses the tensions in Team Corbyn, and Gabriel Milland explains whether Dominic Cummings is a genius or a menace..  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Westminster in turmoil Matt Chorley heads back to his hometown to talk shops, Brexit and the long-trailed Lib Dem fightback.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined in parliament by Henry Zeffman, Tim Shipman, Esther Webber, Iain Martin, Francis Elliott and Steven Swinford to watch Brexit history not unfold during the first sitting of parliament for almost 40 years.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.