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Hello and welcome to this edition of The Westminster Hour with me, Ben Wright, and my guests.

We'll be asking if industrial strife in the NHS is becoming a chronic condition

and whether the health secretary can do a deal with the doctor's Union to avert another round of strikes.

Rachel Reeves is banking on economic growth to lift the government's fortunes,

and we'll be making a big speech to bankers this week.

But with taxes likely to rise in the budget and Labour MPs bulking at cuts,

we'll talk about the Chancellor's difficult clutch of choices.

And whatever happened to the witty political put-down,

I have been discussing the art of political jokes with the comedian Matt Ford. That is all coming up,

but first, let's meet my guests. The Conservative MP, Sir Andrew Mitchell, was first elected to Parliament in 1987,

and he now represents Sutton Colfield

in the West Midlands. He's had several jobs at the top of government, including International

Development Secretary and Chief Whip under David Cameron and Deputy Foreign Secretary during

Rishi Sunak's premiership. Now, I don't know how you spent a sweltering Saturday evening, Andrew,

but I was watching Spandau Ballet and David Bowie on BBC 2's rerun of Live Aid,

which of course was 40 years ago.

And you're good pals with Bob Geldof, aren't you?

Yes, he's a very dear friend.

And I think if you look back at, because I've seen some of these things as well, they are very inspiring. But they also remind you, I'm afraid, of how the world has changed. Because what happened then in an era, in an era before globalisation, of course, was that Michael Burke's iconic television interview from a biblical famine

shocked the world. They didn't really know about it. And then it took someone of the sort of inspirational

insight and force Bob Gildoff to bring together the music community to do something about it.

...