Show 383. Tom McTague
Matt Forde's Political Party
The Political Party
4.7 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keynes. Woolf. Hitchens.
The New Statesman has an illustrious history and editor Tom McTague is the latest custodian of that grand tradition.
But how does a centre-left magazine pitch itself in the ferocious world of social media and hot takes?
What's its relationship with the Labour Party?
How does it handle disagreements on the Left?
And, more importantly, what does Labour need to do to win next time?
THE POLITICAL PARTY LIVE
26 January: Special VIP Guest
16 February: David Miliband
9 March: Zack Polanski
30 March: Lisa Nandy
https://nimaxtheatres.com/shows/the-political-party-with-matt-forde/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political party. |
| 0:11.6 | Today's guest is Tom McTagg, editor of the New Statesman, a magazine with a phenomenal history, |
| 0:17.0 | obviously home to phenomenal writers like Virginia Woolf and Christopher Hitchens. |
| 0:21.4 | John Maynard Keynes, it counts amongst its alumni. |
| 0:25.4 | And Tom is the editor who's been edited for about a year. |
| 0:28.0 | And it's fascinating talking to him about where the new statesman positions itself. |
| 0:31.9 | And what's its guiding ethos? |
| 0:33.1 | And how does the new statesman stand out in a world now where political commentary is so antagonistic, a lot of it? |
| 0:43.3 | You know, is the new statesman even trying to compete with what's happening online? |
| 0:46.1 | So we're talking about all that and just its relationship with the Labour Party, how it handles disagreements on the left, and what he thinks Labor needs to do better to win next time. I hope you |
| 0:56.5 | having a great Christmas. Obviously, depending on when you listen to this, not Christmas |
| 1:00.4 | day quite yet, but I just, from the 1st of December onwards, I just think the whole thing's |
| 1:03.9 | Christmas really, because it is, in it? So I hope you having a great Christmas week. |
| 1:08.8 | The political party returns to the stage on the 26th of January with a special VIP guest, who I will not be able to announce. On the 16th of February, my guest is David Miliband, the man who could have been Labour leader, could have been Prime Minister. On the 9th of March, a man trying to become Prime Minister. I'm one of those people really shaking up politics on the left, Zach Polanski, the new leader of the Greens. And on the 30th of March, my guess is Lisa Nandi, |
| 1:32.8 | Culture Media and Sport, um, Secretary of State. Secretary of Culture Media and Sport. That's how we tend to |
| 1:38.8 | say it. And so a fantastic line up in the new year. And hopefully I will see you down at the Dutch |
| 1:44.0 | theatre tickets for all those shows going very quickly. So don't hold off if you fantastic line-up in the new year and hopefully I will see you down at the Dutchie Theatre. |
| 1:44.4 | Tickets for all those shows are going very quickly so don't hold off if you want to go |
| 1:48.6 | and see one of those and my stand-up tour begins. Obviously I debuted the show in Edinburgh last |
| 1:53.7 | August but from the 28th of January until the end of June I'm on tour across the UK and I start |
| 1:59.6 | in Birmingham, then Dorking, Northampton, Lancaster, Brighton, |
| 2:02.9 | Tunbridge Wells, a few nights at the London |
... |
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