Hello and welcome to the Red Box Politics Podcast in The Times I'm Matt Chorley and

welcome to Taunton birthplace of Dragons Den Star Deborah Meadon former

attorney general Jeremy Wright, Peter Andre's wife Emily, Andre, and me.

It's also where Benjamin Disraeli made his name of which more later.

Taunton is where I was born and grew up and while Westminster was convulsed with

in action I've come back to my hometown to see what if, people make of the state of British politics.

So this is Taunton. I'm standing outside of what was the offices of the Taun Times where I became my journalistic career

after finishing my A levels.

It was in this building, I learned the trip to the trade, met my now wife and, I'll be honest, and fell asleep in the toilet while amazingly hung over.

Just around the corner from here is the Montessori Carport barrier which hit me in the face

send me to hospital where while I was being checked out I missed a phone

interview with Fun Houses Pat Sharp. Never let it be said that local newspapers weren't

brilliant. Just down the high street from here is what was once Cafe Mamba, a nightclub where I spent those nights creating the

morning after hangovers. Occasionally I was deying often just standing outside in the

rain flying for band nights with my good friend Paul II so I

I'll hear from later on in this episode. Sometimes I was inside reviewing bands

like Kasabian who yes played Taunton before they were big or interviewing

stars like Koolio.

Koolio came to Taunton. I interviewed him and he basically sat mutely

reading a book for most of it and then asked me to source a scarlet for his Nintendo.

And just down the end of the high street is where I helped organize a student union march against tuition fees way back in 2000.

I was on the student union and we hired Timmy

...