Margaret McDonagh
Politics Unpacked
Anna Covell
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 June 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Baroness McDonagh, Labour's first female general secretary, was a key figure in the paty and was instrumental in Tony Blair's election victories in 1997 and 2001
Following her recent death, Matt revisits an interview she gave in 2017 when she talked about designing the pledge card to keep politicians on message, her trip to the cinema with John Prescott, and what happened when she realised the party had won a landslide.
Plus Columnists Patrick Maguire and Matthew Parris discuss whether the government's Rwanda plan is finished, claims that Boris Johnson's allies waged war on the Privileges Committee, and whether Angela Rayner and Lisa Nandy will keep their current shadow cabinet jobs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is the Red Box Podcast. I'm Matt Shawnee, being the best of my times radio show, |
| 0:04.1 | which has been on air for three years today. It's extraordinary. Still not been taken off air, |
| 0:09.8 | quite remarkable. You can listen live Monday to Friday, 10 till 1, but I always catch the best |
| 0:14.6 | bits here on the podcast. And today's podcast, as well as being the best of the times ready show, |
| 0:19.5 | is actually a bit of the best of the podcast as well. We're going back to an interview that I did |
| 0:24.2 | with Margaret Madonna back in 2017. She was the general secretary of first woman, |
| 0:29.1 | to lead the Labour Party's general secretary. She played a key role in the election victories |
| 0:34.0 | in New Labour in 1997 and 2001. She was one of the key players I interviewed about that campaign |
| 0:40.1 | in 2017. But the weekend we got the news that she died at the age of 61. So we thought we'd |
| 0:45.8 | revisit the interview because she's one of those people who actually didn't really seat the |
| 0:49.2 | limelight after leaving the party and she's got some really just great stories about what all |
| 0:53.6 | that was like. So that's coming up in just a moment. But first, as we always do, let's kick off |
| 0:58.2 | with a look at the news with today's columnists. The columnists on time's radio. |
| 1:11.5 | And normally on a Thursday, we're drawn by Manvin Rana, but we've lost her. We don't know where she is. |
| 1:15.2 | We have got Matthew Parris here. Morning, Matthew. Morning. I'm playing the part of Manvin Rana. It's |
| 1:20.1 | Patrick McGuire. Good morning. How are you? I'm delighted to be here, of course. |
| 1:24.4 | Well, happy birthday. Happy birthday to us. Happy, but yeah, happy birthday. Times radio, family. |
| 1:29.1 | Of which you are a key part, Patrick. Thank you very much. I'm like the, yeah, somebody's nephew, |
| 1:33.7 | maybe. We should dive straight in then to the big sort of political news in the morning. And |
| 1:38.9 | this ruling from the Court of Appeal, ruling that the government's plans to pull Simon |
| 1:44.0 | Sixth to Rana for processing is unlawful. This is what the judge had to say. |
| 1:47.4 | The deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda are such that there are substantial grounds for |
... |
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