Show 398. Ben Judah
Matt Forde's Political Party
The Political Party
4.7 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is a top level briefing from one of the best minds in foreign policy.
Ben was Special Adviser to David Lammy when he was Foreign Secretary.
He's been in the room for some of the most important meetings of the last few years, including face-to-face meetings with JD Vance.
In this gripping episode he answers some of the biggest questions about global instability.
What should the UK do to mitigate the shift in American policy?
How terrifying is the future?
What do these changes mean for politics in the UK?
How can the British state be changed to work better?
How radical do we need to be when it comes to racial and religious integration at home?
Big questions with big answers from one of the most compelling voices in modern politics.
THE POLITICAL PARTY LIVE
20 April: Shabana Mahmood
11 May: Lewis Goodall
https://nimaxtheatres.com/shows/the-political-party-with-matt-forde/
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SEE Matt's brand new stand-up tour 'Defying Calamity' across the UK:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political party. |
| 0:11.3 | Today's guest is Ben Judah, who was special advisors to David Lamy when he was |
| 0:15.0 | Foreign Secretary. |
| 0:16.4 | And if you have been following him, and you really should, so look him out on social media and look for his fantastic articles and books, brilliant writer and talker about foreign policy, Britain's role in the world, but also the roots of these issues, and particularly America and how it is changing and what that means for the UK, what it means for our politics, |
| 0:39.0 | and we talk about not just the details of things like the Chegos deal, but the political |
| 0:45.5 | implications of them and of what's happening in Iran and Israel and Palestine and what it means |
| 0:52.3 | for politics here and what it means for the Labour Party. |
| 0:54.5 | But Ben is exceptionally bright and this is a real treat of a conversation. |
| 0:58.8 | So I've been following him and reading his articles in the Times. |
| 1:02.5 | It's just brilliant. |
| 1:03.5 | So I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed recording it because he's a phenomenal person to talk to. |
| 1:09.1 | The political party returns to the live stage at the |
| 1:12.4 | Duchess Theatre on the 20th April with Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary. Obviously, that's |
| 1:15.8 | midway through the local elections, a phenomenal time to be talking to her. Then on the 11th of May, |
| 1:21.4 | my guest is Louis Goodall, star of the newsagents, and obviously LBC News Night, Sky News, he's everywhere, is wonderful. That |
| 1:29.6 | will be such a good laugh and I'll be able to announce my guest for the 1st of June pretty |
| 1:33.3 | soon. My tour continues as well, Defying Calamity and thank you to everyone who's been to see me |
| 1:38.5 | so far and it goes to Worcester, Swansea, Monmouth. There's like about three tickets left for |
| 1:44.1 | the Bloomsbury Theatre on the 18th, |
| 1:45.5 | so I've added another date on the 16th of May, |
| 1:47.9 | and I'm doing two nights in Leeds, two nights in Salford, |
| 1:51.8 | two nights in Norwich. |
... |
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