01/11/2025
The Week in Westminster
BBC
4.0 • 258 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Riley-Smith, the political editor of the Daily Telegraph, assesses the latest developments at Westminster.
Ben discusses the troubles at the Home Office with two former Home Secretaries: Alan Johnson, who served under Gordon Brown and Amber Rudd, who served during Theresa May's premiership.
Following the row over the China spying allegations, Ben discusses managing relations with China with Lord Sedwill, the former Cabinet Secretary and former National Security Adviser and Labour MP Matt Western who is the chair of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.
The 'Speaker's Conference' - which has been investigating abuse and intimidation towards politicians - published its final report this week. Ben discussed the findings of the report with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons.
And, in the week that the Prime Minister discussed his musical tastes on the Radio Three programme 'Private Passions', Ben spoke to two musical politicians about the power of music: Labour's Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, who was a professional cellist and the LIberal Democrat MP Anne Sabine, who plays the bassoon.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Ben Riley Smith of The Daily Telegraph with the week in Westminster. |
| 0:10.4 | This week, the two issues that voters most want addressed, if the polls are to be believed, |
| 0:15.4 | were making the headlines in Westminster. The economy was won. |
| 0:20.0 | Sakea Starman noticeably failed to stick by his manifesto promises on tax at Prime Minister's |
| 0:24.8 | questions, fuelling yet more budget speculation. The big reveal is still a month away. |
| 0:31.6 | Mounting interests may explain why Rachel Reeves' blunder of not getting a licence to rent |
| 0:35.9 | a home cause such a stir. |
| 0:38.7 | The Prime Minister's ethics adviser said he saw no evidence of bad faith by the Chancellor, |
| 0:43.5 | but the Ferroari only added to the political pressure on her. |
| 0:47.8 | And then there is that second area that voters are demanding action on, immigration. |
| 0:53.1 | So it was telling on Wednesday when a Labour MP, Graham Stringer, |
| 0:57.2 | rose to challenge Kirstama from his own party's benches at PMQs. |
| 1:01.2 | There have been 12 Home Secretary's over the last 30 years, some better than others, |
| 1:08.8 | but none have managed to get this department in order |
| 1:12.6 | to deliver the services that people should expect in this country. |
| 1:17.9 | Will the Prime Minister give the new Home Secretary the necessary resources and policy |
| 1:26.2 | interventions to make sure that she can be successful. |
| 1:31.0 | Yes, she's bearing down on the challenges the Home Office, most of them inherited from the last government. |
| 1:39.0 | The week had started with a damning committee report about how the Home Office had handled asylum hotels, |
| 1:45.1 | with claims of billions of pounds wasted and contracts botched. |
| 1:48.8 | The small boats issue also hung over the news agenda, |
| 1:52.1 | as the department struggled to deport a child sex offender who had arrived that way, |
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