Is Labour working?
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2024
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week marks 100 days of Keir Starmer’s government. But the new Prime Minister has already faced several setbacks, with stories swirling of freebies, party infighting, and anger at the scrapping of the winter fuel payments scheme.
Nick and Amol sit down with Thangam Debbonaire, the former Labour MP and Shadow Culture Secretary, who lost her seat in the 2024 election. Is the negative media coverage of the new government unfair? Does Starmer have a ‘politics problem’? And what is it like to watch the drama unfold from the outside?
Plus, more from behind the scenes of Radio 4! Weather presenter and meteorologist Simon King is here to share the secrets of the Shipping Forecast.
If you have a question you’d like Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note on WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or send an email to today@bbc.co.uk.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme, subscribe to The Today Podcast on BBC Sounds so you don’t miss an episode.
You can also listen any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before and was also ITV’s political editor.
The senior producer is Lewis Vickers, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jeremy Morgan.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
| 0:06.9 | Which is where Newscast comes in. We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears. |
| 0:14.8 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. |
| 0:17.5 | Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:21.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:25.3 | Nick, you know what's happening on Saturday, don't you? |
| 0:27.2 | Saturday. |
| 0:27.9 | Come on, Nick. |
| 0:28.5 | You're meant to be, you know more about politics than anyone since Robert Peel. |
| 0:32.6 | It's 100 days of Kirstarmer's government, and the reason we talk about 100 days is, well, because |
| 0:38.3 | lots of people in politics have often referred to it. And it's been a rather tumultuous first |
| 0:42.7 | hundred days for the Stama government. Has it not? It has not gone perfectly to plan. Unless |
| 0:48.7 | you think, this is my own political judgment, the opinion polls are telling you this. There is an opinion poll that has spooked the Labour leadership, |
| 0:57.9 | done by more in common, where the Labour Party are now won the point ahead of the Conservatives. |
| 1:04.7 | Kyr Starma is now as popular as Rishi Sunak when he was Prime Minister and roughly as unpopular as Nigel Farage. |
| 1:12.9 | Not good. |
| 1:14.2 | Opinion polls are snapshots, not forecasts, and they vary enormously. |
| 1:18.7 | But by some measures, he has had the biggest fall in personal ratings of anyone who has just entered number 10. |
| 1:24.8 | And this week, things got particularly spicy because Sue Gray, |
| 1:28.2 | that former civil servant who is his chief of staff in charge of missions, |
| 1:32.6 | was out. |
| 1:33.2 | She lost her job. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.