Hello and welcome to the Political Party. Today's guest is Alan Johnson, one of the greatest

politicians this country has ever produced, one of the most popular and there's a reason

for that as you will find out as you listen to this. He's a phenomenal man and just the

warmth as well as the searing political analysis and his wit. Just the warmth of the man comes

through so much. He's just a great person to spend time with and that really, really

shines through. Before I come on to Alan, I can announce a couple of guests for four

of coming shows. So as you know, if you listen to the show regularly, I'm going to the Edden

Refester. We can buy tickets for my stand-up show on the link that I've put in the show

notes. We'll just go to matford.com. I'm on every night from the 3rd to the 28th of August.

And as well as that, I'm doing three political party specials and the tickets for these,

I think the Gordon Brown one is all but sold out. So if you want to come to that, be quick.

That's on the 7th of August at the McEwan Hall. Then on the 15th of August, I'm interviewing

Anna Sarwa and on the 22nd of August, Joanna Cherry. Tickets for all those are going

very quickly, but I think the Gordon Brown one is all but sold out. I've put a link where

you can buy tickets for that in the blurb in the show notes. And then obviously we return

to the Duchess Theatre for the autumn winter run and guests for that include, and one

of these is a new name, on the 3rd of October, Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the RMT.

Arguably the biggest TV star of the year. He has outwitted. Pears Morgan, Kay Burley,

Chris Phillips, pretty much everyone on TV. He's been a real star. That is going to be

a very special night. That's on the 3rd of October. On the 17th of October, I'm joined by Matt

Hancock and on the 5th of December, Rachel Reeves. Obviously a lot more dates there and that I'm

very close to being able to announce the tickets for all those at mat4.com or go to the 9max

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