Which party will dominate 2026?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How has 2025 changed the outlook for Britain’s political parties? George Osborne and Ed Balls reflect on the events that have defined public opinion and led to unprecedented changes in the polls. What went wrong for Keir Starmer’s government? Why does Kemi Badenoch’s leadership now look more stable?
They also name what could potentially be the four most influential moments of 2026. Are losses in the Scottish, Welsh and local elections inevitable for Labour? Will the US mid-terms signal a resurgence or decline for Donald Trump? Could US-China state visits present an opportunity for a stronger relationship between the countries? And just how significant will the first OBR forecast since the Budget be, when it arrives in the spring?
Finally, Ed and George crown their Politicians of the Year, and take a look back at some of the best, worst, and most surprising political moments of 2025.
Don’t forget to vote for us as the Political Podcast Award’s People’s Choice of the year. Follow the link to vote: https://politicalpodcastawards.co.uk/the-peoples-choice-award/
And we love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Paige Reynolds and Eve Jones
Video Editor: Maha Al-Badrawi
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is political currency with Ed Balls and George Osborne. |
| 0:41.7 | Mike, what did I miss a chapel rowan concert there by the sounds of it? |
| 0:42.4 | What was that? You missed a sold-out centristad gig for crisis at Christmas, but the overwhelming view of the sold-out screaming audience was that that was the one number which was definitely better than |
| 0:55.8 | the original. We've waited till the 18th of December for you to make your most outrageous |
| 1:01.8 | claim the year that you and Robert Peston and co are better than Chaparone at her song, right? |
| 1:09.4 | Well, look, it was a great Chaparone song and she obviously sings it in a very special way. You're speaking in the past tense, like you've... This is now the cover. Look, I don't know if you could hear the voice of producer Ellie singing along. She was filming on her phone, but she couldn't stop herself from joining in. It was a fabulous night, |
| 1:28.7 | and we totally missed you. I mean, it was so full, only your pogoing would have been possible. |
| 1:34.6 | No other dancing fitted into this tight space at the Water Rats at Kingscross. |
| 1:38.5 | I'm actually really sorry I missed it, because I think it's the first of the gigs at the |
| 1:42.4 | water rats that I have missed. But unfortunately, I was |
| 1:45.3 | dealing with lots of inquiries about a new job I've got. Well, we have talked very many times |
| 1:51.6 | this year, sometimes tongue and cheek about your new jobs and are you getting another job |
| 1:57.3 | and are you applying for another job and how many jobs can one person have? |
| 2:03.8 | But this one does feel like quite a big deal. |
| 2:05.6 | Yeah, well, first of all, this is the big job. |
| 2:06.5 | This is the main job. |
| 2:08.4 | Yes, I'm very excited, actually. |
| 2:13.5 | I couldn't be more excited about a new chapter in my life, professional life, which is going to work for Open AI as head of their Open AI for Countries Program, |
| 2:18.5 | which is essentially working with countries across the world |
| 2:21.5 | to bring the benefits of artificial intelligence to those countries |
| 2:25.6 | and make sure it's appropriate for them. |
| 2:27.4 | For those people who are uneducated, you know, like me on AI now |
... |
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