The Week: How Did Labour Get Here And Where Do They Go Now?
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we’re looking back on a week of Keir Starmer fighting for his job as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party.
Will Andy Burnham win his Westminster seat? What’s going on behind the scenes in Number 10? And who are the other Labour hopefuls eyeing a place in an eventual leadership race?
Adam is joined by Ailbhe Rea, Political Editor at the New Statesmen, and Sienna Rodgers, Deputy Political Editor at the House Magazine, to look at how we got here and what might happen next.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | Hello, this is the episode of Newscast where we recap the news of the week. |
| 0:09.6 | But given that the news of the week has been moving so quickly this week, |
| 0:12.8 | we've had to record it on a Friday rather than on Thursday night. |
| 0:15.8 | So it's going to be an extremely interesting couple of weeks in the news |
| 0:19.7 | as we build up to the Makerfield |
| 0:21.7 | by-election and the Labour Leadership Challenge that we thought might happen this week, but might |
| 0:26.2 | happen in future months. So make sure you are subscribed to newscast, so you never miss a single |
| 0:32.1 | second of it. Just a reminder this week, along with all the political drama, we revealed Faisal Islam's |
| 0:38.6 | accidental Christmas socks, a product of him moving house this week. And we also revealed |
| 0:43.7 | Henry Zephman's political analysis, which was grounded in Spice Girls' lore. Newscast is the only |
| 0:50.3 | daily news podcast on any broadcaster, I think, where you would get that combination. |
| 0:55.2 | So press subscribe on BBC Sounds, and it will be your passport to episodes of Newscast like this. |
| 1:03.7 | Newscast. |
| 1:04.3 | Newscast from the BBC. |
| 1:06.0 | Humanity's next great voyage begins. |
| 1:08.4 | We are in the midst of a rupture. |
| 1:10.4 | Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. Six-seven. Yeah. It's supposed to be me as a doctor. Daddy has also a special connotation. Ooh-la-la-law. Thinking about it like a panto helped. Do we play music now? What do we do? Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio, and we're joined by some friends of the podcast this |
| 1:28.0 | Friday. |
| 1:43.4 | Cienna Rogers is deputy editor of the House magazine. Hello. Hello. What a busy week to be in the House. Yes, very, very busy. We've had to produce a magazine that really isn't properly a current affairs magazine while keeping up with all the live news is basically impossible. And how have you done that? Yeah. |
| 1:44.4 | Not much sleep or doing anything but work. Congratulations for getting it. Is it hot off the press? That just seems like something you'd say in a film rather than what actual journalists say. Anyway, and also here's Alva Ray, political editor of the new statesman. Hello, Alva. Hello. Lots of interesting things in the new statesmen this week, including Angela Rainer's pre-Tuff Mudder Breakfast menu. |
| 2:04.3 | Yes, I really... of the new statesman. Hello, Alva. Hello. Lots of interesting things of the new statesmen this week, including Angela Rainer's pre-Tuff Mudder breakfast menu. |
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