The 1922 committee: inside the Conservatives’ assassination bureau | Audio Long Read

The New Statesman | UK politics and culture

The New Statesman

News & Politics, Society & Culture, News, Politics

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Conservative Private Members Committee, informally known as the 1922 Committee (or the ’22), is the Tory confessional, its trade union and backbenchers’ common room. If that makes it sound chaotic (and it sometimes is) it is also the assassination bureau that felled Margaret Thatcher, and, more recently, three prime ministers in four years: Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Will it come for Rishi Sunak before the next election?

In this week’s richly detailed and highly entertaining long read, magazine writer Tanya Gold reports on the secretive committee’s inner workings, hearing from decision-makers past and present about what happens when a leader loses the party’s confidence. “The ’22 can be turgid for months, even years,” she writes. “But people talk about Committee Room 14 during a leadership crisis as they might about seeing Bruce Springsteen, or a riot.” And over the next 18 months, they could be busy.

Written by Tanya Gold and read by Rachel Cunliffe.

This article originally appeared in the 21-27 July 2023 edition of the New Statesman, and you can read the text version here.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy The making of Prince William by Tanya Gold.

Download the New Statesman app:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US

Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:

https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer

Sign up to our weekly Saturday Read email

https://saturdayread.substack.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Imagine sweeping through green fields, floating five feet above ground, sun on your face as you slide by on track to your destination, not a car in the world as you simply lean back.
0:17.0	And before you know it, you're there.
0:20.0	This is how travel should feel, and on our trains, it does.
0:25.0	Avanti West Coast. Feel good travel.
0:32.0	This is a paid advert from BetterHelp.
0:35.0	At the New Statesman, I've been working with the data team to look into mental health in the UK.
0:39.0	We found something really shocking.
0:41.0	The number of people since before the pandemic, who say they suffer from mental health issues because of work, has almost doubled.
0:47.0	When work or anything else in life gets difficult, talking through our problems with a licensed therapist can really help with issues such as burnout, stress, depression,
0:54.0	or anxiety.
0:57.0	If you're thinking about giving therapy a try, BetterHelp is a great option.
1:01.0	It's therapy online that has served more than three million people around the world, and is now available in the UK to make therapy both affordable and accessible.
1:08.0	It's available via video, phone or even just message chat, so you don't need to see someone on camera if you don't want to.
1:14.0	No waiting rooms, no commutes.
1:17.0	BetterHelp is not an emergency service, but can help with the day-to-day issues we're talking to a trained person can make a big difference.
1:24.0	With over a thousand therapists in the UK already, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a wide variety of expertise.
1:31.0	The New Statesman podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp, and listeners can get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash New Statesman.
1:39.0	That's better H-E-L-P.com slash New Statesman.
1:44.0	The New Statesman
1:49.0	You're listening to audio-long reads from The New Statesman, the best of our reported features and essays read aloud.
1:57.0	In this episode, the 1922 Committee inside the assassination bureau, written by Tanya Gold, and read by Rachel Cunliffe.
2:08.0	It was first published on the 19th July 2023 on The New Statesman website, and in the 21st July issue of The New Statesman magazine.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Statesman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New Statesman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.