The Earl of Bute

Iain Dale talks to Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator for The Times about the life and career of the UK’s current prime minister. 

Iain Dale talks to Sir Robert Buckland about the French Emperor who failed to live up to the reputation of his namesake predecessor. 

I talk to Liz Truss’s biographer, James Heale, about Britain’s 56th and shortest serving prime minister. 

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origin of this personification of the English everyman and his development as both British and Britain in the following centuries. He first appeared along with Lewis Baboon (French) and Nicholas Frog (Dutch) in 1712 in a pamphlet that satirised ... Show More

Iain Dale talks to veteran political journalist Donald Macintyre about his life and career as a Labour editor, political editor and foreign correspondent 

Daliso Chaponda, Ivo Graham & Jessica Fostekew discuss the man voted the Greatest Briton. Recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe. Producer Beth O'Dea 

Ben Hall, the FT’s Europe editor, talks to Dutch historian Luuk van Middelaar about Mark Rutte’s re-election as prime minister of the Netherlands and his country’s changing role within the EU. <em>Clips: Bloomberg, Reuters</em><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted ... Show More

James Stuart became king of Scotland at just 13 months old, and has since been known as 'the cradle king'. So, what was his childhood like? How did he come to the throne of England? And how much is known about his relationships with his famed favourites, as portrayed in new histo ... Show More

<p>It's 170 years since Gladstone commissioned the Northcote-Trevelyan review, which gave birth to the impartial civil service. Why has the system survived, and is it now under threat? Matt speaks to former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, who ran Whitehall under Thatcher, Major an ... Show More

Mark Carruthers discusses the current state of relations between the UK and the Republic with historian Diarmaid Ferriter and former Conservative Minister, Michael Portillo. 

In the second episode of our new series on the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most, Dominic Sandbrook champions Stanley Baldwin   In the second episode of our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 1 ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of David I of Scotland (c1084-1153) on his kingdom and on neighbouring lands. The youngest son of Malcolm III, he was raised in exile in the Anglo-Norman court and became Earl of Huntingdon and Prince of Cumbria before claiming the thron ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of David I of Scotland (c1084-1153) on his kingdom and on neighbouring lands. The youngest son of Malcolm III, he was raised in exile in the Anglo-Norman court and became Earl of Huntingdon and Prince of Cumbria before claiming the thron ... Show More