Parliament has broken up for summer, but politics shows no sign of cooling down. Ed Balls and George Osborne run through the latest from every party - the Tories’ frontbench reshuffle, Labour’s mounting tensions over Gaza, Reform’s approach to protests worries - all while the Greens and Lib Democrats make their moves. What’s really going on as MPs head off for the break?

Meanwhile, the crisis in Gaza is becoming impossible to ignore across the country. With heartbreaking images and rising calls from Labour MPs to recognise Palestine, Ed and George ask how long Starmer can hold his ground - and whether the pressure will become so intense it will force a change.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is heading to Scotland to open a new golf course - but this visit isn’t just about sport. Scheduled private talks with Keir Starmer and John Swinney could have serious implications for trade and Middle East diplomacy. How should Starmer handle this high-stakes meeting?

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Credits:

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Silvia Maresca

Video Editors: Danny Pape & Maha Albadrawi

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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

What should the NHS pay for, and what should it not? In this week’s episode, Ed Balls and George Osborne tackle one of the toughest political questions: how do you decide what’s “reasonable” for the state to fund when it comes to healthcare? As medical advances multiply and the public expects more from the NHS, is a national conversation about rationing unavoidable?

Then, what happens when politicians leave office? A listener asks how Ed and George’s lives outside Westminster - from Wall Street and museums to breakfast TV and Strictly Come Dancing - have changed how they see politics. Would they govern differently if they ever returned?

Also this week: do the markets now have more power than elected governments? What should we expect from ministers on annual leave? And is there ever a good reason to read self-help books such as The 48 Laws of Power?

Plus, what really happened in that lift in China with George Osborne and Boris Johnson?

To get episodes early and ad-free, join Political Currency Gold or the Kitchen Cabinet:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Silvia Maresca

Video Editor: Danny Pape

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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

Donald Trump wants to know why everyone won’t just forget about the Epstein files already. As he keeps pointing out, the disgraced financier has been dead for years. But Trump himself stirred up fresh interest in a trove of documents that many hoped would reveal explosive new details. Now it looks like they won’t be released after all - and the MAGA world isn’t happy. Ed Balls and George Osborne ask: could this be the thing that finally turns Trump’s base against him?

And Andrew Bailey has sounded the alarm on banks issuing their own stablecoins. Is the UK risking being left behind on innovation in the financial services world? George doesn’t want the UK to risk falling behind, but Ed thinks George as Chancellor would have sounded a very different note on crypto.

And The UK and France have just signed the Northwood declaration, a new nuclear pact. So what does it signal about the state of French-British relations?

To get episodes early and ad-free, join Political Currency Gold or the Kitchen Cabinet:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Silvia Maresca

Video Editor: Danny Pape

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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