Political Fix

The Mandelson Starmer saga stumbles on

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The rolling drama over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador is eating the government alive, with more committee hearings coming ne...

Labour lambasted over defence

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s not just the Trump administration attacking the UK’s defence capabilities. Now a Labour grandee and former head of Nato, Lord George Robertso...

Squeezed Britain: student loans, salaries and strikes

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer had promised 2026 would be the year the UK economy and household finances would finally “turn the corner”. But the Iran war has n...

Trump taunts drive Starmer into EU’s arms

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has heaped insults on Sir Keir Starmer in recent weeks over his stance on the Iran war. The US president labelled the UK prime minister “...

The case for keeping Starmer

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer’s authority is slipping and Westminster is alive with speculation about potential successors. But chief political commentator Rober...

Introducing Untold: Opus Dei

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controver...

Angela’s ambitions

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Angela Rayner heaped scorn on Sir Keir Starmer’s administration this week, fuelling fresh scrutiny of her ambitions. Does she want to return to cabi...

Mandelson mess and Middle East U-turns

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It has been a week of red faces for party leaders. On Thursday, Keir Starmer apologised and took personal responsibility for the appointment of Peter ...

Iran shock for Starmer

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A week into the Iran war and Sir Keir Starmer is scrambling to defend the UK’s position on the conflict. Criticised by Donald Trump over blocking th...

Green grief for Starmer: by-election special

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Gorton and Denton by-election was supposedly a three-horse race, but on polling day the Green Party stormed to victory by a vast margin. It was a ...

Farage against the machine

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage unveiled his ‘shadow cabinet’ at a glitzy event in London this week, with a newly bespectacled Robert Jenrick announ...

Mandarin mayhem

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After another torrid week for the prime minister, the focus has shifted from No 10 to Whitehall as the UK’s top civil servant is shown the door. Cab...

Mandelson, money - and the risk to the prime minister

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fresh revelations about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked a political explosion in Westmin...

Chinese whispers - at home and abroad

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer is 5,000 miles away in China, meeting President Xi Jinping to drum up investment and deepen relations, but back on the home front the...

When the ‘special relationship’ isn’t so special

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From ‘brilliant ally’ to ‘weak and stupid’ within the same paragraph, it’s hard to know how to handle the impulsive outbursts from America’...

Disloyalty and defection: the Tory-Reform psychodrama

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Just five days after discussing strategy with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick was sacked for plotting a def...

Trump trouble: Starmer's tricky start to 2026

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had wanted to kick off the new year with a strong domestic start, tackling the cost of living crisis head on, in the h...

Swamp Notes: Is the US economy really K-shaped?

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a graph with one line going up over time. Below it, another line does just the opposite. It kind of looks like the letter K. On the FT's Swamp...

Quizmas special: Political Fix’s 2025 nerd-out!

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you name all the Labour frontbenchers who resigned or were sacked during the past year? Why was Peter Mandelson delayed from returning to the UK a...

Political Fix Live: Labour’s year in review

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been another turbulent year in politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced down rebellions from within his own party, overseen scandals and...

Deals, donations and damage limitation

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer started the week with not one but two speeches defending his party’s Budget decisions in the wake of claims that chancellor Rachel ...

Bonus: What does the 2025 Budget mean for your money?

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a rollercoaster week for both UK politics and our personal finances, with chancellor Rachel Reeves setting out tens of billions of pounds ...

Budget bonanza: tax highs and growth lows

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After months of speculation, predictions and U-turns, Rachel Reeves finally announced her Budget this week. And, symptomatic of the chaos this Budget ...

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Defying death

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes...

Boats and the Budget: the battlelines are drawn

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a tough set of measures overhauling immigration policy this week, in a bid to deter illegal boat crossings an...

Is Starmer’s leadership on the line?

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It has been a whirlwind week in Westminster with the BBC in crisis and a supposed challenge to the prime minister’s leadership. So, was there a puta...

To tax, but who to tax, that is the question

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With just three weeks to go until the Budget, Rachel Reeves gave a surprise speech to reset expectations on who she’s planning to hit with more taxe...

Reeves’ £30bn treasure hunt

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With a month to go until the Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to find a projected £30bn to balance the books. And the forecasts are not in her ...

Budget, boats and a by-election

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chancellor Rachel Reeves received a rare bit of good news from lower inflation statistics this week, which could reduce government borrowing ahead of ...

Britain: a beacon of economic stability?

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The countdown is on: Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just six weeks to finalise her Autumn Budget before the November 26 deadline. This week, she was in ...

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You mig...

Has Kemi Badenoch silenced the critics?

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Conference season is over for another year and after a rousing speech from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to the party faithful, the Political Fix ...

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Mission to Mars

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars withi...

Labour’s conference comeback?

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Political Fix team comes to you from Liverpool — with all the news from the annual Labour Party Conference. Sir Keir Starmer struck a...

Does Starmer have a northern problem?

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the prime minister prepares for his annual party conference, the mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, seems to be mounting a thinly veiled b...

Trumpery, pageantry and the ‘special relationship’

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Donald Trump landed in Windsor this week for his historic second state visit to the UK. What ensued was a celebration of pomp and pageantry ...

Starmer in a spin as the ‘Dark Lord’ bites the dust

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After the toe-curling revelations about Lord Peter Mandelson’s connections with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the ambassador’s departu...

Bonus ep: How the UK is navigating the Trump era

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump is coming to the UK next week. What can we expect from his visit? And where do things stand between the US and the UK? ...

Rayner, Reeves and Reform

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It wasn’t the start to the new parliamentary term that Prime Minister Keir Starmer hoped for. His insistence that his focus is now on “delivery, d...

Farage, flags and the ghosts of Labour’s past

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Just as Sir Keir Starmer was stealing a few days' summer holiday, Reform unveiled its immigration policy, former Labour heavyweights called for a with...

The mess in the NHS

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

England’s NHS is in a ‘critical and deteriorating condition’ - those are the words of Lord Darzi who investigated the state of the NHS for the n...

Starmer's superpower: soft power?

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maga arrived in Chipping Norton this week, heralding an intense round of British diplomacy ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday. Ukrain...

Introducing Swamp Notes: The real cost of gutting USAID

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Political Fix is on a break this week. In its absence, we're taking the opportunity to introduce you to its sister podcast, Swamp Notes, the weekly US...

Why Starmer changed his mind about Palestinian statehood

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN General Assembly. The decision comes after some Labour MPs a...

One year in opposition

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As MPs head back to their constituencies for the summer, the Political Fix panel reflects on the year in opposition for Kemi Badenoch and her Conserva...

The Afghan Files: the inside story on the catastrophic leak

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the gravest security lapses in UK history came to light this week after a judge lifted a superinjunction on a catastrophic data leak that could...

Resetting Franco-British relations: the cross-channel contract

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Emmanuel Macron made his state visit to the UK this week – the first EU leader to do so since Brexit. It heralded a reset between France and Britain...

A year of Keir

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week marks a year of Keir Starmer’s government. But if Labour was expecting to celebrate the anniversary – it didn't pan out that way. Despit...

Starmer’s welfare woes

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer faced a huge rebellion from within his own party this week after scores of MPs opposed changes to make it tougher to c...

Starmer on standby

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Will he? Won’t he? President Donald Trump has given little indication as to whether America will join in the conflict between Israel and Iran. So wh...

Reeves sets Labour’s course – but what will it deliver?

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Labour’s long-awaited spending review dropped this week. Rachel Reeves unveiled funding settlements for government departments – and a newly upbea...

Facing down a fiscal firestorm

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has had an action-packed week. She made a U-turn on winter fuel payments, announced plans to spend billions of pounds on n...

Coming soon: The Wolf-Krugman Exchange

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a special six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugma...

Who’s afraid of Nigel Farage?

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Reform party leader Nigel Farage clashed on economic issues this week. Farage said his party was the champion of the w...

Is Labour’s post-Brexit reset a victory or a betrayal?

23 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The UK and EU announced a historic deal to ‘reset’ their relationship this week. Keir Starmer called the deal a “win-win”, while a “gobsmack...

Labour's immigration crackdown

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been another turbulent week for Labour after Keir Starmer announced a crackdown on legal migration. The prime minister gave what has since beco...

Ask Political Fix: Trade, tax and leftwing pacts

09 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our first Q&A special episode is finally here! You sent in questions, now our panel answers them. Is the UK-US trade deal worth the paper it’s s...

Local elections special: end of the two-party duopoly?

02 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we’ve seen Reform UK trounce Labour and the Conservatives across England in local elections. Nigel Farage’s party has secured a fi...

Reform on the march? Our local elections guide

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of England’s local elections next week, the Political Fix team pick the races to watch and what’s at stake for the main parties, as voters h...

What is a ‘woman’ in law? The Supreme Court ruling

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The UK Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling this week about the legal definition of a woman in equality legislation. Judges ruled that a woman is so...

Markets or Trump: who’s in charge?

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The markets have gone haywire since Donald Trump’s announcement — and then pause— of a host of new US tariffs. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by Pol...

Trump’s trade war: trouble ahead for Britain

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has shaken up the global economy with his seismic new tariffs this week. UK exports to the US will now face a 10 per cent levy – less t...

Doom, gloom and not much headroom: Spring Statement

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Reeves was forced to slash spending to balance the books in her Spring Statement this week. Welfare spending will be cut more deeply than initi...

Austerity redux? Spring Statement lookahead

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s crunch time for chancellor Rachel Reeves next Wednesday, when she will present her Spring Statement to parliament. Downgraded growth forecasts ...

Starmer’s ‘Project Chainsaw’: the NHS, Whitehall, welfare

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“The world’s largest quango is scrapped” – that’s how the government framed the abolition of the NHS management body this week. It was the l...

Will Starmer sink or swim in Trump’s world?

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer has won plaudits from across the political spectrum for his handling of the rapidly growing rift between the US, Europe and Ukraine –...

The Starmer-Trump love-in

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump showered praise on Keir Starmer during the UK prime minister’s visit to the White House this week, describing him as ‘special’, a ‘...

‘America is now an adversary’

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The future of Ukraine and the defence of Europe will dominate when Keir Starmer jets out to the White House for talks with Donald Trump next week. Can...

The right to die: who should have the final say?

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The bitter and emotional wrangling over the assisted dying bill reached new heights in parliament this week, following proposed changes to a key safeg...

Trump and Reform: Is US-style populism set to sweep the UK?

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has stunned the world with a raft of extraordinary interventions this week, prompting Keir Starmer to keep his head down. But what happen...

Growth – and damn the consequences?

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has sought to place rocket-boosters under the UK economy this week – with a vow to prioritise growth over the environment o...

Trump turbulence: How should Labour play it?

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump returned to the White House this week, with a host of radical plans that threaten to heavily affect the UK – spanning tariffs, the Ukra...

Reeves vs the markets

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Turmoil in the bond markets has caused turbulence for Rachel Reeves this month, with grumbles about her performance – and that of the UK economy –...

Musk and the new political playbook

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk’s hostility towards the UK government, and Sir Keir Starmer in particular, continues to escalate – prompting concerns he’s been radica...

2025: Labour’s year of pain?

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a rocky start in office for Labour, the next 12 months will prove pivotal for the UK government. Sir Keir Starmer must grapple with dismal popul...

Quizmas special: Political Fix’s nerd out!

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who threatened to launch an aquatic assault on the Dutch town of Leiden? And which political candidate pledged to force water bosses to take a dip in ...

Farage: more popular than the PM

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reform UK is now beating Labour in one pollster’s survey, while party leader Nigel Farage is Ladbrokes’ favourite to succeed Keir Starmer as the n...

Will Starmer’s new milestones become millstones?

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer unveiled six fresh pledges as part of a major government reset this week, which included diluting a green target and redefining his e...

Assisted dying: The vote

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

MPs will vote on assisted dying this week for the first time in almost a decade. There are ramifications for the NHS, questions over legal oversight, ...

Labour’s beef with farmers

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After winning swaths of rural seats in the general election, Labour’s relationship with the countryside has nosedived, amid a row over the governmen...

EU or US? UK plays piggy in the middle

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As Donald Trump makes his first appointments, speculation in Whitehall grows: will the UK move closer to the US or cosy back up with the EU?The FT’s...

The UK in Trump’s world

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite past criticism of Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer has sent ‘hearty’ praise to the president-elect for his victory this week. But what will ...

Live Budget special: How will the UK secure growth?

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been two days since chancellor Rachel Reeves put a £40bn tax increase at the heart of a plan to fix the country’s “broken” finances and ...

New chancellor, new rules

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Reeves has rewritten her fiscal rules on the eve of her seismic first Budget next week. She says her new borrowing rule will help get Britain b...

Cabinet fightback: the revolt over spending

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Reeves’s plans for a tough spending round later this month have sparked a fierce revolt among a raft of cabinet ministers. But will their pro...

Martin Wolf on the UK economy: ‘Why I’m worried’

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What kind of economy did Labour inherit this summer, and how does Britain measure up to international comparators? Political Fix host Lucy Fisher sits...

100 days of Labour: Starmer’s stuttering start

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As Labour reaches 100 days in government we take stock of how Sir Keir Starmer and his team have performed. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by Political Fi...

‘Let’s be more normal’ – and rival Tory strategies

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who’s up and who’s down in the Tory leadership race after the four-day beauty parade at the party’s conference in Birmingham? Host Lucy Fisher a...

Starmer’s ‘weird’ week: from Liverpool to New York

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Labour’s conference in Liverpool should have been a celebratory event after its landslide win in the July election. Political editor George Parker, ...

Is the shine coming off Saint Starmer?

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A growing controversy around Lord Waheed Alli’s donations to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria risks tarnishing the new governme...

A terminal diagnosis for the NHS?

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A government-commissioned review has found the NHS on life support. Can Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer succeed where his predecessors have failed in ...

Labour and business: friends or foes?

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With a planned overhaul of employment law imminent and moves to renationalise rail companies, we’re asking whether Labour has got it in for business...

Labour’s descent into ‘miserabilism’

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A 'painful' Budget awaits this autumn and things will get 'worse before they get better', Sir Keir Starmer warned this week. But is Labour taking a ri...

Swamp Notes: Democrats find a feeling at the DNC

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats from across the US gathered in Chicago for their presidential convention this week, promising to move past the Donald Trump-era of American ...

How do you solve a problem like Elon Musk?

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, has launched attacks on the UK government following the riots. So, how should Keir Starmer’s government deal ...

‘A fractious and divided country’

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer has told police to stay on ‘high alert’ for more disorder, as rafts of rioters receive lengthy jail sentences in Britain’s cour...

Is Labour facing a summer of unrest?

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer has announced a new national policing unit to tackle violent disorder as he vows to “put a stop” to unrest on British streets led...

Labour confronts £20bn black hole

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The chancellor Rachel Reeves is about to confront the British public with the size of the black hole in the country’s finances. A funding shortfall ...

The ‘bin fires’ setting Labour’s in-tray alight

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer plans to hand more powers to metro mayors in what has been dubbed a ‘devolution revolution’. Host Lucy Fisher speaks with politic...

Labour's growth fixation

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer took the chance to extend the hand of friendship to Britain’s neighbours when he hosted the European Political Community summit in ...