Turncoats, opportunists … or just idealists whose bosses lost their way?
Defecting to a new party is one of the momentous decisions an MP could ever make. Years of loyalties, backroom deals and deep friendships are lost in an instant. Patrick Baker speaks to MPs who have wrestled with the decision to switch party, to discover what it is really like.
Shaun ... Show More
Feb 6
A handy guide to Labour regicide
After the most difficult week of Keir Starmer's premiership, with mounting speculation over how long he can last as Prime Minister, this week on Westminster Insider, host Patrick Baker explores Labour's long and not-too-illustrious history of failed coups and botched insurrection ... Show More
39m 8s
Oct 2025
On Politics: The Death of the Conservative Party?
In its nearly two hundred years of existence the Conservative Party has survived through a combination of protean adaptability and ruthlessness, not least in its willingness to change leaders. Yet under its present leader, Kemi Badenoch, the party often described (by itself, at l ... Show More
55m 22s
Jul 2024
After the ‘revenge’ election, what’s politics going to be like now?
Thursday’s election results have transformed Parliament. Not only do Labour have a huge majority but also the smaller parties, the Liberal Democrats, Reform and the Greens made big gains. <br /> <br />There is also now a record number of women MPs, and first time MPs, many of ... Show More
28m 53s
Jun 2024
Will Reform throw a brick in the Tories' red wall?
<p>In 2019, Boris Johnson’s Conservatives upended decades’ of traditional voting behaviour, as lifelong Labour seats in the north and midlands fell to the Tories. But with Brexit delivered and Johnson gone, the Tories are being challenged from the right by a resurgent Reform, as ... Show More
25m 54s
Feb 2025
Labour WhatsApps: "If you’ve got racist thoughts then you shouldn't be an MP!"
Do MPs say one thing in public, and another in private? This week, Beth Rigby, Harriet Harman and Ruth Davidson ask what’s been going on with the two MPs suspended from the Labour party over WhatsApps messages containing offensive comments. <br /><br />Andrew Gwynne and Oliver R ... Show More
40m 10s
Jul 2024
Labour's Landslide Shows Britain is Moving Right. Yes, Really. - Konstantin Kisin
Last Friday, British voters turned sharply against the Tories. Left-wing parties now control the overwhelming majority of Parliament, collectively holding nearly 500 of the 650 seats in Westminster. Labour secured a stunning 421 seats and Keir Starmer is our new prime minister. M ... Show More
10m 6s