Why do we keep ditching PMs?
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges of UK governance and the frequent changes in Prime Ministers over the past decade.
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 here Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Ewan Cameron and Lulu Goad for Podot
People in this episode
Host: Alain Tolhurst
Guests: Caroline Slocock, Joe Hill, Hannah Keenan
Topics covered
- UK politics
- government stability
- Prime Ministers
- political leadership
- trust in government
- political analysis
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Bad Government
More episodes of The Rundown by PoliticsHome
- What will Andy Burnham's first few hours in Downing Street be like?
- What happens inside No10 after a PM resigns?
- What's the mood of the nation as Burnham takes over?
- A Burnham landslide - what next? Plus: Brexit 10 years on
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