Episodes

  • What would you do if you were Rachel Reeves?

    What would you do if you were Rachel Reeves?
    Oct 17 2025
    In a recording of a recent Rock & Roll Politics live show, the audience became Rachel Reeves… and I became Emma Barnett interviewing some of them. There were many ideas for the real Chancellor in advance of next month’s budget and some mighty dilemmas explored. Here it is! Rock &Roll Politics - The Christmas Special is live at Kings Place on the 8th of December. Tickets are available now at the Kings Place website here. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    56 mins
  • Why is Labour's deputy leadership contest more significant than it seems?

    Why is Labour's deputy leadership contest more significant than it seems?
    Oct 14 2025
    The post of deputy leader is ill-defined at best. Yet delving deep, and going back to contests in the 1970s, shows they change the course of Labour's history. The current one will also make waves when the result is declared. Plus Donald Trump.. the peacemaker. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 mins
  • Are the Conservatives doomed?

    Are the Conservatives doomed?
    Oct 7 2025
    The Conservative Party conference gathers with the party way behind in third place and being hit by defections to Reform, a threat from the right they have never faced before. Can they survive? Written and presented by Steve Richards. Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts including the latest on Labour's Deputy leadership contest, and to get the regular podcast a day early and ad free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • Can Starmer beat Farage?

    Can Starmer beat Farage?
    Sep 30 2025
    The Labour Party conference is in a febrile mood – there's much talk of leadership, and also of Farage. Can Starmer bring together those horrified by a Reform government? Or is he too unpopular, not least with those on the left? Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • Are the Liberal Democrats a centre-left party?

    Are the Liberal Democrats a centre-left party?
    Sep 23 2025
    Who are the Liberal Democrats? The coalition years exposed a deep split between social democrats and free market liberals. Are those divisions healed? Is Ed Davey right to party play for laughs? Is he making the correct pitch in the current multi-party mayhem? Tickets for Thursday's epic live show in the main concert hall at Kings Place are available here. Please subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • What are the lessons of the Mandelson saga?

    What are the lessons of the Mandelson saga?
    Sep 16 2025
    Predictably, Peter Mandelson's return to the centre of the political stage has ended in crisis. Mandelson's influence on Keir Starmer grew after Labour lost the Hartlepool by-election in the early days of Starmer's leadership. The fashionable narrative is that Starmer changed his strategy for the better after Hartlepool, but is that when the seeds were sown that have led to the current crisis around his leadership? • Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here. • Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • Will Keir Starmer's changes revive Labour?

    Will Keir Starmer's changes revive Labour?
    Sep 9 2025
    Keir Starmer has kept more or less the same Cabinet but given most of them new jobs. Will it work as Reform UK soars in the polls? Rock & Roll Politics is live in the main concert hall at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Tickets available here. https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics-6/ My biography of Tony Blair is published this Thursday and is available here. https://www.waterstones.com/book/tony-blair/steve-richards/9781800754409 Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. A bonus podcast is coming soon! https://www.patreon.com/RockNRollPolitics Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • Will Starmer's reset make a difference?

    Will Starmer's reset make a difference?
    Sep 2 2025
    With Labour languishing in the polls, Keir Starmer has reshuffled his top team… yet again. His leadership has been punctuated by changes in senior personnel, so does that tell us more about him or them? My book on Tony Blair is published next Thursday. You can pre-order it here. Rock & Roll Politics is live at Kings Place on Thursday September 25th at the end of the Labour Party Conference week! Subscribe to Patreon for bonus podcasts, the main podcast a day early and ad free… plus special exclusive live events. Written and presented by Steve Richards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    52 mins