The Rundown by PoliticsHome

As the country hurtles towards appointing its seventh PM in a decade, this week The Rundown asks has the UK become ungovernable? And if so, why? And what can be done, if anything can be, to stop the rot and get back to a period of relative stability in our national politics.Joining host Alain Tolhurst in looking at where Keir Starmer failed, as Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron did before him, and whether Andy Burnham will end up going the same way, is Caroline Slocock, former Private Secretary to two Prime Ministers and a longtime senior civil servant, who has a new book out entitled ‘Bad Government’, going behind the famous black door of Number 10 to reveal why the ship of state is so hard to steer, and exploring why successive leaders have failed in their promises to reset government and rebuild trust.Alongside them are Joe Hill, director of strategy at the think tank Re:State, as well as Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Ewan Cameron and Lulu Goad for Podot

This week PoliticsHome has once again teamed up with the pollsters at ThinksInsight, for a special episode looking at the Green Party, and those voters thinking of backing Zack Polanski at the next election.Like our previous episode on potential switchers to Reform, we’re going to look at the results of focus groups with former Labour voters flirting with the Greens, as well as those strongly thinking about backing them, and assess why they are having a moment within our new multi-party environment, ahead of their three-way fight with Labour and Reform in next week’s by-election in Gorton and Denton, and looking to May’s crucial local elections across the UK.Joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss the Greens current success is one of their MPs, Ellie Chowns - who won the North Herefordshire seat in 2024 - along with Allie Jennings, director at ThinksInsight and who conducted the focus groups and polling, and PolHome editor Adam Payne.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

This week we’re delving into the world of student finance, after a long-simmering row over the loan system for how graduates pay back the cost of their tuition exploded into the mainstream, with accusations successive governments had presided over a "scam" and a "mis-selling scandal".A growing cohort - including many new MPs - who went to university in the past decade are reckoning with the fact the plan two repayment scheme means they now owe more than they borrowed to go to university, despite years of regular payments.With host Alain Tolhurst to discuss what the government can do to mitigate this rising feeling of intergenerational unfairness, as some graduates face huge marginal tax rates, are the Labour MP Chris Curtis, alongside Kate Ogden, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Dani Payne, head of education and social policy at the Social Market Foundation, and Sienna Rodgers, deputy editor of The House magazine.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

After the PM’s chief secretary Darren Jones set out plans to ‘move fast and fix things’, we’re asking, is it too late for this government to try and rewire the state ahead of the next election? And how does wholesale transformation of public services and the way Whitehall operate fit together with getting the so-called ‘barnacles off the boat’ in a slimmed down operation meant to be laser-focused this year on improving the cost of living?To answer those questions and much more on Labour’s attempts at civil service reform, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government and lead author of their Whitehall Monitor 2026 reportAlongside her is Alexander Iosad, Director of Government Innovation at the Tony Blair Institute, and who co-wrote their recent paper on Public-Service Reform in the Age of AI, as well as Luke Sullivan, director at Headland Consultancy, who was Keir Starmer’s political director until the 2024 election, and a former special adviser in the Cabinet Office.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

Amid another row over whether ministers and their departments should stay on X, this week The Rundown takes a look at the role of social media in this government's communications.After AI tool Grok began creating non-consensual indecent images of women, and even child sexual abuse material, the long-running arguments over whether Downing Street should join the growing ranks of MPs and finally come off the website formerly known as Twitter were re-ignited, with the focus on what other methods they use to speak to people and get its messaging across.To discuss all that host Alain Tolhurst and PolHome reporter Zoe Crowther are joined by former Number 10 director of strategic communications, James Lyons, and later in the episode they talk to Labour MP Sarah Owen, chair of the Commons women and equalities committee.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot