Can she fix it? Hannah the plumber and politician on tackling Reform
episodePreviously titled “142: Can she fix it? Hannah the plumber and politician on tackling Reform” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Pod Save the UK. I'm Coco Kahn.
And I'm Cody Darla.
So Cody is helping me out while Nish is away this week. He was so good when he joined us on the show a few weeks ago that, of course, our fans wanted to see more of him. And how better to introduce you than your very own hot take on Starmer's Woes.
So Keir's just about clinging on to the big wooden door. But it's only a matter of time before Rose starts hacking at his head with her heel and casts him off into the Atlantic. Because no matter how many people star Massax, he's never going to get around the fact that he chose to ignore all of the evidence of the horrific abuse that women, girls and children endured at the hands of Epstein because he thought PPP to Mandelson would be a good ambassador. It's going to be a tricky episode for people who aren't a fan of my content. It really will be. There's lots of clips. There's lots of me. There's lots of ads for me. Yeah. I'm so sorry about this. I'm so sorry.
Well, listen, we love, you know, you don't pull any punches and that's what we're here for.
Yes, well, we've also got more Starmer fun this week. He's been at the U-turns again and causing absolute havoc on the political M25. Other motorways are available. They are.
We don't want to be too London Century. On the M1?
M1.
Yeah, that's big.
That sounds foreign.
First up today, by-elections don't normally dominate the headlines, but the upcoming vote in Gorton and Denton next week is getting a lot of attention. It's being seen as a test of how badly Labour will lose and how effective reform support is. But someone is trying to challenge that.
Now, there's not been any reliable polling for the area, but the betting odds have Green candidate and plumber Hannah Spencer right at the top, above Reform in second and Labour in third. Just as important, perhaps, the Greens are also finding ways to cut through promising a different way of doing politics.
Hannah joins us now. Welcome to Pod Save the UK, Hannah. Hi, thank you so much for having me. So normally I co-host with the lovely Nish Kumar, who's away, hence the lovely Cody. And I was thinking to myself, it's probably good that Nish isn't here because he would almost certainly want to open this up with some turd-based humour, something to do with reform and flushing turds. You're a plumber, dirty bus. I'll just leave it there. I can get some in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I can get some in if that works. Excellent, excellent, excellent. But seriously, you know, being a plumber is a dirty business, I guess you could say. Not a match for Westminster, though. How are you finding the world of politics?
So, you know, I'm not new to it in many senses because I've been a local councillor for the last, three years and I lead the group of Greens on my council. So yeah, I'm sort of quite familiar with how things work a little bit. But this by-election, yeah, it's everything sort of ramped up a little bit, a lot. And yeah, I have seen much more of the sort of dirty, dirty politics, I think, in a really short space of time.
Yeah. I do want to talk to you more about that, but I also want to take the opportunity to just share how much you have risen above it. You're actually talking about a much more hopeful message. Let's take a look at your campaign video.
It was here that I got my first greyhound, Graham, the rescue dog who definitely rescued me. It's where I saw firsthand who gets hit the hardest when there's a cost of living crisis, who gets left behind when those in power forget who they're meant to represent, and how those at the top benefit while it's our housing costs that go up.
So it's a beautiful campaign video. It's honest about the problems that we face. Also, really great to see a pet named after a man. That's great. A greyhound called Graham. This is just a sidebar, but obviously Coco is a really popular name with really small dogs. Oh, really? Yeah, so just going to every park has been such a challenge for me in the last three years.
I see.
I'm just being summoned all the time.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–3:53
2
What is the significance of the Gorton and Denton by-election?
3:53–9:12
3
How does Hannah Spencer view her role as a plumber in politics?
9:12–19:40
4
What strategies are the Greens using to connect with voters?
19:40–22:17
5
How does Hannah address the criticism of splitting the left vote?
22:17–27:09
6
What challenges does Hannah face as a female politician?
27:09–53:51
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Pod Save the UK
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