Is Starmer the biggest victim of the 'toxic culture'?
Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards
Podmasters
4.7 • 909 Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There's universal consensus that the briefings from Number 10, warning of a leadership challenge from Wes Streeting and the conduct of "feral" Labour MPs, have rebounded badly on Starmer and those involved. Yet the briefings against key Labour figures are part of a pattern under Keir Starmer's leadership… even if he is the biggest victim of these operations and is now in greater danger. Plus brilliant questions on the BBC and much more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics, the podcast with me, Steve Richards, the podcast where we delve deep and contextualize the various epic political dramas erupting around us. |
| 0:31.2 | And there is so much to choose from at the moment, isn't there? |
| 0:34.8 | Thank goodness we've started a second podcast in a week. I thought |
| 0:38.7 | we might be doing an interview today. We definitely will be next week. But I'm pleased, to be |
| 0:43.0 | honest, we got the space to delve deep, as we will do, partly with your many brilliant |
| 0:50.5 | questions, a lot on the BBC. One of the interesting things about the BBC for all its |
| 0:56.4 | epic flaws is that people feel clearly a sense of something, ownership almost. I've had as many |
| 1:07.5 | emails about the BBC as I do, you know, during moments of crisis in politics, |
| 1:13.1 | whether it's the government, the Tory party or whatever. And that's really just the last few |
| 1:17.8 | days. We'll read some of them out and a couple of other emails because the idea of the second |
| 1:22.6 | podcast is to use some of your questions to really kind of explore in greater depth some of the themes in British politics. |
| 1:34.5 | Before all of that, a couple of reminders next Tuesday, rock and roll politics, i.e. me, live at the legendary rope tackle art center on the south coast in |
| 1:48.1 | Shoreham, one of the great places to do live shows. Then on Thursday, November the 20th, for |
| 1:58.6 | Patreon subscribers, we have one of our live events. And here's a chart, |
| 2:04.3 | I mean, you know, it's up to you, really. I mean, the format is a few minutes from me and then |
| 2:09.6 | over to all of you on video screens or audible or sending messages in, presided over by the head of Podmasters, Andrew Harrison. |
| 2:21.0 | By the way, you still edit Q magazine. I kind of, I think that's cool. But Andrew said Q, cool. |
| 2:27.4 | Anyway, it would be a chance for us to sort of explore together some of the great epic themes of British politics. |
| 2:37.5 | Please do subscribe. You get the podcast today early ad free and loads of bonus podcasts and live |
| 2:47.0 | events and it enables this podcast to keep going on the road, so to speak, with Podmasters. |
| 2:54.6 | So, yeah, thank you for those who do. |
| 2:56.8 | And in anticipation, thank you for those couple of cappuccinos a month or whatever. |
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