86 - Oh-mio, oh-my-oh, Oh Cleveland Ohio!

About this episode

Nigel and Sarah discuss the upcoming by-election and draw lessons from political history while analyzing Andy Burnham's recent statements.

With just ten days to go before what we are obliged to call "the most important by-election in modern political history", Nigel and Sarah consider the lessons which Labour's Andy Burnham and Reform's Robert Kenyon might take from political history, with a look back at the Greenwich by-election of 1987. We also discuss Andy Burnham's stumbling answer to questions about the government's fiscal rules and why he wants to be Prime Minister, which reminded Nigel of a certain scene from The West Wing... Presented by Nigel Fletcher and Sarah Southern Produced by the Centre for Opposition Studies Theme Music by Tom Hector

People in this episode

Hosts: Nigel Fletcher, Sarah Southern

Topics covered

• by-elections
• political history
• Labour Party
• Reform Party
• fiscal policy
• leadership aspirations

Keywords

• by-election
• Andy Burnham
• Robert Kenyon
• Greenwich
• The West Wing
• politics
• fiscal rules

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The West Wing

Places: Cleveland Ohio

More episodes of OppositionCast

• 85 - Passing the vibe check · May 21, 2026 · 37 min
• 84 - Patchwork politics across the UK · May 11, 2026 · 34 min
• 83 - His Majesty's opposition... to Trump? · May 1, 2026 · 46 min
• 82 - What is a killer question? · April 24, 2026 · 43 min
• 81 - Reform vs the Greens: our new local politics? · April 10, 2026 · 1h 2m
• 80 - Pre-election preview · March 27, 2026 · 26 min