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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Westminster Hour with me, Ian Watson, and my panel.

After a difficult first anniversary in power, with a major rebellion over welfare reform,

how can Sir Kier Stammer turn things around as he starts his second year in Downing Street?

We'll be discussing that and asking,

with its poor ratings sinking, how perilous is the Labour Party's position? Could a potential

new party, to its left, appeal to voters? And we'll talk about the state visit to the UK by

the President of France. Will there be a deal over asylum seekers and tackling the small boats?

And how might this visit differ from that other one by the US President coming up in the autumn? We hear from our former ambassador in Paris. That's all coming up, but first, let's meet my guests.

Dame Chavonne McDonough is a Labour MP for Mitchum &auden, a constituency she's represented since the last Labour landslide of 1997. She also sits in the Treasury Select Committee.

Now, Chavon, when you were serving under a serious but some would say uncharismatic Labour Prime Minister who is plummeting the polls,

you called for a leadership contest to clear the air.

I was just wondering if there's any lessons from history you wanted to share with us tonight.

Yeah, it doesn't work.

Apart from that, I don't think and I don't sense any attempt to unseat Keir, move on from Keir. I think it would be fair to say

the parliamentary Labour Party is probably in a state of shock after last week and some of the

things that happened. And, you know, it's just something we have to recover from and

consider there's so many brand new MPs who come from seats that we would never have

anticipated of winning. And there just needs to be much more discussions about what do you do when you inherit a government

where you're borrowing 100% GDP?

Well, you've inherited that government from Alex Burkart.

He represents Brentwood-Donger for the Conservatives.

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