The Times Red Box Podcast

Matt Chorley is joined by Senior Political Correspondent at The Times, Lucy Fisher, who contemplates the future of Labour's leadership. Columnist Tim Montgomerie also joins the panel to discuss political scoring following the tragic events in Orlando, plus Times reporter Lucy Bannerman talks about when interviews go wrong.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Amber Rudd, the pro-Remain energy secretary, on her relationship with junior energy minister Andrea Leadsom, who back Brexit. Recorded during the Red Box podcast on May 31. Listen to the full episode: https://soundcloud.com/times-comment/eu-referendum-the-debate-heats-up  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the EU referendum draws nearer, host Matt Chorley delves deeper into the analysis of the latest polls, betting odds and social media strategies. Panel: Michael Savage - Times' Chief Political Correspondent Claire Emes - IpsosMori Matthew Shaddick - Ladbrokes  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley talks to the former director of strategy for David Cameron, Steve Hilton, about his relationship with the Prime Minister, the practicalities of Governance, his stance on the EU referendum and his current business in California. www.thetimes.co.uk/redbox  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EU Referendum special: In the blue corner, representing Vote Remain, host Matt Chorley is joined by Conservative MP and Energy Secretary Amber Rudd. And in the red corner, Parliamentary spokesperson for Ukip, Suzanne Evans, speaks out for Vote Leave. Deputy Political Editor at The Times, Sam Coates, also joins proceedings.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by The Times' Head of News Fay Schlesinger, Anthony Wells from YouGov and Chief Political Correspondent for The Times, Michael Savage. Fay Schlesinger: A drive to weed out and punish Universities that deliver poor-quality teaching is a step forward as higher education becomes bigger and more expensive. But let’s not allow the system to become homogenised. Everyone remembers their scatty professor who dispensed with notes to launch into an off-topic spiel that left the hungover students enthralled and inspired. The Government’s University reforms must improve standards and choice, and allow bad institutions to fail… but let that professor survive. Anthony Wells: Young people, who don't vote, back Remain, old people, who do vote, back Leave. So If turnout is low, Leave stands a better chance with only the dedicated older voters turning out. Or so the consensus goes. Except it's more complicated than that: the middle classes and well-educated are also more likely to vote. And they...

In a Westminster special, Matt Chorley is joined by Stewart McDonald MP, former Labour Party advisor Ayesha Hazarika and political sketch-writer and diarist for The Times, Patrick Kidd. The panel answer questions from the public about working and living in Westminster. Plus additional contributions from Deputy Politics Editor Sam Coates and Business writer Callum Jones.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Times Deputy Editor Emma Tucker, Chief Leader writer Giles Whittell and columnist Phil Collins.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by columnist David Aaronovitch, Business reporter Callum Jones and Red Box writer Hannah McGrath. David Aaronovitch: The BMA say the strike is the government's fault and the government says it's the BMA's. As in the bad old days the sides - an particularly the doctors - have become polarised beyond the reach of reason. From having been a question of how to staff hospitals properly at weekends the dispute is now being framed as an existential one about the very future of the NHS. Of course people like doctors more than politicians - this is the bully point which has always aided the BMA. But an all-out strike makes patients wonder whose side the doctors are on. That's not something doctors should take lightly. Callum Jones: Having come under heavy fire for its confused response in the days after Tata Steel's decision to leave the UK, the government yesterday picked up its game in the hours after BHS collapsed into administration. As the EU referendum debate twists and turns each...

Host Matt Chorley is joined by ex-Blair spin doctor John McTernan, former Home Office advisor Fiona Hill and Red Box columnist Matt Smith.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Times columnist Jenni Russell who thinks we've missed the point on the Panama Papers, deputy political editor Sam Coates who warns we don't understand how Westminster works and Times political editor Francis Elliott who explains why Number 10 is banking on Jeremy Corbyn.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by a "denial" of Spin Doctors. Ayesha Hazarika - who had the unenviable task of trying to make Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman sound funny. Katie Perrior - whose PR magic helped get Boris Johnson into City Hall. Sean Kemp - who knows more about Nick Clegg and the inner workings of the Lib Dems than is healthy.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by columnist Rachel Sylvester on the fall out from Iain Duncan Smith's resignation, politics professor Matthew Goodwin on the EU referendum and columnist Hugo Rifkind on the boat on everyone's lips, 'Boaty McBoatface'.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Senior Political Correspondent Lucy Fisher, European Football Writer (and fellow Times podcast presenter) Gabriele Marcotti, plus Property Editor and Assistant Editor of The Times Anne Ashworth.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Deputy Editor of The Times, Emma Tucker, who examines the latest attempt to deal with the migrant crisis, columnist Daniel Finkelstein who says Junior Doctors must face realities and columnist Matthew Parris on the legacy of the recently deceased Nancy Reagan.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Political sketch-writer and diarist Patrick Kidd, columnist Jenni Russell and Assistant Editor of The Spectator, Isabel Hardman. Patrick Kidd: Marco Rubio is a big-eared sweaty robot with a water addiction, while Donald Trump is a stubby-fingered orange-faced pants-wetter with a dodgy hairdo. Meanwhile David Cameron makes "yer mum" jokes at Jeremy Corbyn, while Labour MPs still make piggy noises at the Prime Minister. Do playground insults demean politics or are they what's needed to get Joe Public interested? Jenni Russell In the last few days I've been struck by the number of people I've come across who say they want to understand the consequences of leaving or staying in Europe before they decide which way to vote. But those facts are hard to come by. There are plenty of grand assertions on both sides but their truth is hard to judge. The referendum will be won by the side that can make a complex question sound clear and plausible. Neither has managed that yet. Isabel...

Debating the UK's position in the EU: Matt Chorley is joined by Brussels Correspondent Bruno Waterfield, Columnist Melanie Phillips and the Times' Chief Political Correspondent Michael Savage.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Philip Aldrick: Global markets have been in meltdown but one man who may be smiling is the chancellor. Government borrowing costs have fallen to an all-time low, which make servicing the nation’s £1.5 trillion of debt cheaper. Over the next five years, Capital Economics estimates lower market interest rates and lower inflation will hand George Osborne a £20 billion windfall. He’s struggling to make the books balance through tax and spending policy. Instead, he’s getting a helping hand from the most unlikely of sources. Natasha Clark: The polls are all we have to try and figure out what's going to happen with the EU referendum. But the polls lately have been showing us drastically different answers; there have been 22 percentage points between some polls for results in support of Remain, and around 13 percentage points difference for Leave. Pollsters say that the phone and internet polling will show us different answers, possibly because people are more likely to want to say that they want to remain in... &

The Opinion podcast is now the Red Box Podcast from The Times. Columnist Robert Crampton, Media Editor Elizabeth Rigby and Deputy Political Editor Sam Coates joins host Matt Chorley. Robert Crampton: The Labour Party cannot achieve a coherent position on Trident while Jeremy Corbyn is leader. The moment he said he would never use the nuclear deterrent as a future PM was the moment Labour lost the next election. Party pragmatists should focus on toppling Corbyn, not cobbling together a futile compromise on Trident renewal. Elizabeth Rigby: Freedom of Information: Tony Blair [bitterly regretted] introducing FOI laws; Chris Grayling said FoI was being misused 'as a research tool to generate stories for the media' and now David Cameron is carrying out a review with one intention – to limit access to government information. Entirely antipathetic to voters’ demands for more openness not less, the backlash has been swift, ferocious and near universal. Will Cameron abandon the fight? Probably and so he...

Host Matt Chorley is joined by Chief Leader writer Giles Whittell and columnists Jenni Russell and Phil Collins. Giles Whittell: Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States. Of course a lot of people are going to spend a lot of time analysing this [Tuesday] morning's Iowa caucus results, but the facts are these: Trump and Cruz are unelectable in a national race. Only one mainstream Republican has a chance of squeezing past them. That is Marco Rubio. He has already torpedoed his image with Latinos by betraying them on immigration reform. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. Hillary beats Bernie, and then beats whoever the GOP puts up. Simple. Jenni Russell: Is David Cameron simply the luckiest prime minister ever, or is there an element of skill in his performance which we rarely credit? He beat the SNP and crushed the LibDems. Now Labour is distracted and divided and even the Eurosceptic threat is evaporating as they are consumed by vicious internal fights. With no coherent...