Show 386. George Finch
Matt Forde's Political Party
The Political Party
4.7 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
George became a national political sensation in 2025 when he became the leader of Warwickshire County Council at the age of 18.
The Reform councillor is now 19 and shares his experience of leadership.
This is a fascinating insight into Reform as a party, to the realignment on the right and about the impact of defections like Robert Jenrick's.
But it's also about the values that underpin George's thinking and about how you get things done in politics.
Who is really in charge? And who should be?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political party. |
| 0:12.5 | Today's guest is George Finch, the 19-year-old leader of Warwickshire County Council, |
| 0:17.4 | the reform leader of Warwickshire County Council. |
| 0:20.4 | And this is a fascinating conversation at first, really, just about, not just what it's like to run a council at that age, we get on to that. |
| 0:29.2 | But just about the reality of who is responsible in local government and what supports your politicians have. |
| 0:35.7 | Now, I worked in local government, and I was a political assistant in local government. So I totally understand the need for, I don't want to |
| 0:44.7 | step on what we're about to talk about, but it's really interesting hearing someone from a different |
| 0:49.0 | political tradition, describe just the problems in local government that I also experienced. So |
| 0:53.5 | there's just a really interesting stuff there. |
| 0:57.7 | Also, he's 19. |
| 0:58.6 | He doesn't feel it. |
| 0:59.8 | And I remember at the time him getting elected, becoming leader at 18, and just thinking, |
| 1:04.3 | oh, my word, you can see why he's become leader. |
| 1:07.8 | And in a way, the age thing slightly melts away because, as you're now having |
| 1:15.1 | encountered people in local and national politics, some people are either impressive or not |
| 1:19.8 | impressive regardless of how old they are. And George is somebody who is just intensely political, |
| 1:24.9 | and I think that really comes across, is even though his and my politics are different, |
| 1:30.8 | he has a sort of drive for politics and for local democracy that I think people from all |
| 1:37.7 | political parties who really identify with. |
| 1:39.3 | We got on to more ideological stuff. |
| 1:40.7 | We talk about Robert Jenrick. |
| 1:41.8 | We talk about reform and their future direction and |
... |
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