Has Keir Starmer missed an opportunity on his visit to China?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s official: we are the champions. Fresh from two wins at last night’s Political Podcast Awards, a victorious Ed Balls and George Osborne look at two fairly drastic political recalibrations at home and abroad.
Keir Starmer flew to China this week, amidst renewed tensions over his leadership, marking the first prime minister to visit the country in 8 years. Ed and George question why Number 10 played down this significant geopolitical moment, and how it reflects the tension surrounding Starmer leadership. They also look at Andy Burnham’s failed return to Westminster and Kemi Badenoch’s threats to her left and right.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Donald Trump is forced to de-escalate his position on immigration following multiple fatal shootings on the streets of Minnesota. Has the White House lost control of the narrative? And if so, what does this tell us about the limits of a hardline on the politics of immigration?
Also, the pair highlight a new Institute for Fiscal Studies paper, which looks into how the house price boom and intergenerational wealth is affecting home ownership and social mobility in the UK today. What impact is this having on people’s life chances? And is the Labour government able to tackle it in light of its watered down planning reforms?
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Caitlin Hanrahan
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Political Coency with Ed Balls and George Osborne. |
| 0:35.2 | So we are remote and for the second week running, George Osborne has lost his voice. |
| 0:41.1 | Last week it was the late night Davos Lash that he was out on. But this week, |
| 0:47.0 | closer to home, last night, big celebrations, and you've lost your voice. Yeah, I think it must have been the after-parties at the Political Podcast Awards, which I didn't see you at the after-parties. |
| 0:53.4 | I don't know where you were |
| 0:54.2 | Emily Maitliss's after party or Alistair Campbell's after after party or Rory Stewart's breakfast |
| 1:00.2 | party. But we were the winners. Let's cut to the chase. I've got one here. The political |
| 1:06.1 | podcast of the year is political currency. Hold it up a bit so we can see it properly. |
| 1:11.6 | A bit more. |
| 1:12.6 | There you are. |
| 1:14.6 | But also, and in some ways I think even more satisfyingly, even more excitedly in the room for us, |
| 1:20.6 | our producer, Ellie Clifford won Producer of the Year. |
| 1:24.6 | So two awards and brilliant recognition. |
| 1:26.6 | Why have you got her trophy? Well, because I wanted |
| 1:29.8 | to show her award. You've nicked her award on the screen. So I said to her, let me take it home. |
| 1:35.7 | She is going to be able to put this on her mantle piece. I think you'll have to remember to |
| 1:39.2 | bring yours in to put in our studio in the future. But so we could say that Ellie and the whole Persephonic team made such a big difference. |
| 1:47.9 | And we wouldn't have won podcasts of the year if it wasn't for them. |
| 1:50.9 | I wanted to celebrate Ellie as well. |
| 1:52.7 | And we actually got to make a speech with Charles Brandreis and the mooch last night. |
| 1:57.2 | I said something very worthy about how our podcast was all about believing in politics |
| 2:02.9 | and inspiring the next generation and then you basically slagged me off. No, I was unbelievably nice |
... |
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