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Hello and welcome to Political Thinking. I'm Nick Robinson. It is the tidest, most miserable

cliche of them all, a week is a long time in politics. But boy, few weeks were longer

than this one. And what it reminded me of was the sheer ruthless desire to stay in power

of Boris Johnson. A man who could convert a much worse result than he expected into

something that he publicly declared to be a triumph. A man willing to threaten those

who were not on side with being thrown overboard or facing the electorate within months and losing

their seat. A man simply prepared to plow on and to defy those who insisted that one

more blow would bring down the great wounded beast. Boris Johnson doesn't believe in the

rules of politics, doesn't believe that history has to be a guide, and despite the conventional

wisdom that he will still be brought low, he may yet prove to be right. Which is not

good news for my guest on Political Thinking this week. She is a symbol of the tale of

the modern Labour Party. In truth, the tale of two parties, 13 years in power, followed

by 12 years of powerlessness. If Ecobo was one of the young rising stars of the new Labour

of the Blair Brown years, a young adviser who soon became a cabinet minister. What followed

for her was the wilderness years of opposition, summed up for many by the night her husband,

Ed Bulls, a neighbouring MP, was defeated at the hands of the electorate.

If Ecobo ran to be Labour leader and lost to Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer persuaded her

to return to the front bench and share their home secretary.

If Ecobo welcomed to Political Thinking. Good to be here, Nick.

No, I'm sorry to mention the powerlessness. When you watch the Tory infighting this week,

who's going to be leader? Nobody says Keir Starmer is, will it be Jeremy Hunt? Boris

...