Hello and welcome for the political party. This episode features former political editor of the independent on Sunday, Jane Merrick.

Jane is someone that I've got to know through social media and she recently set up her own news digest website called The Spoon, which gives you a high quality briefing in your inbox every morning in a digestible format and it's absolutely brilliant.

She's had a varied journalistic career working for PA, the Daily Mail and the independent on Sunday, now as a freelancer, as I say, she's going to set up her own news website.

She's also a fascinating political thinker and we talk about her own politics and the influencers on that and her upbringing.

And she's also time, she was a time person of the year in 2017, along with Taylor Swift, something that as we learn massively impressed her daughter.

But that was for her role in speaking out against sexual exploitation and Westminster, sexual harassment and Westminster and it led to the downfall of Michael Phannon.

We talk about that in some detail and we talk about a whole range of things.

You should be aware this episode was recorded, I think, during Labour Party conference week.

So if there are things we're talking about that happening this week or last week to use those phrases, that's when it took place.

If I've explained that possibly as poorly as I possibly could, but just so that you're aware of, for talking about the conference and things that have been said this week, it refers to a few weeks ago, the Labour Party conference of 2018.

So enjoy.

Jane Merrick, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much for having me.

It's a pleasure to have you here. I've had, I'm trying to think what other political journalists have had in Benet.

Yeah.

Was in and it just fascinating to get an insight into the life of a political reporter.

So you've had various political reporting roles and journalism roles in your career.

It's been five years at the Daily Mail.

Yes.

As a political correspondent. I mean that in itself. I'm sure we could talk about for hours.

I suppose the first thing anyone want to know is, how much content did you have with Paul Daycrim? What was he like?

I think in five years I never met him once.

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