The Best Podcasts to Help You Understand the 2024 UK General Election
Disclaimer: I’m just going to say it upfront so that I can’t be accused of failing to disclose an obvious marketing tactic. I make some — but not all — of these shows. Just because I make them and am self-promoting, however, doesn’t mean they’re not absolutely excellent. They are, and I stand by the recommendation. Alright, read on.
Best for daily news
The Today Programme, on Radio 4, is an unbeatable way to start the day. They have some of the best presenters in the game — including Amol Rajan, Mishal Husain and Emma Barnett — and get the best guests. It is not, however, a podcast.
Most of the daily podcasts are pale facsimiles of Today, including The Today Podcast, which puts Rajan together with Nick Robinson but doesn’t provide the same granular news analysis. In the next few weeks, then, it’s probably over to the BBC’s Newscast (rebadged as Election Newscast) for the next few weeks to give you that daily dollop of what’s going on in the campaign trail.
Best for Labour
I’ve long been a fan of the New Statesman Podcast (which I also used to make). But with Stephen Bush departed for the FT and Anoosh Chakelian on leave, it’s not quite the same beast it used to be. So I’d like to recommend The Power Test, which is hosted by Ayesha Hazarika — newly elevated to the House of Lords — and Sam Freedman, one of the best policy analysts in the business.
The show is unashamedly Labour-focused and has been critically but supportively analysing the party’s policy position for the past couple of years. The show describes itself as a “critical friend” of Labour, but there’s no place better for helping you understand the currents of thought and politics that are driving Keir Starmer’s party.
Best for Tories
Another show I used to make but no longer do (so I definitely can’t be accused of bias): Coffee House Shots. The Spectator’s bitesized daily politics show has been a staple in Westminster since 2017 (if I recall correctly), providing the sort of espresso dose of analysis that Sabrina Carpenter would approve of.
The dynamics of the show have changed a little since James Forsyth, the previous Political Editor, went off to join Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street operation, but there’s still no better briefed show on the Right. Katy Balls is a really excellent addition to SW1’s punditry roster.
Best for Data
Professor Sir John Curtice has his own podcast, with Conservative political advisor Rachel Wolf, which is starting to find its feet. But Curtice will be off to run the BBC’s exit poll team shortly, so I’d like to recommend The Polling Station instead.
The Polling Station — which ran for a few years as Polling Politics — see Joe Twyman, co-founder of Deltapoll and the UK’s tallest pollster, and freelance journo Marie Le Conte chew the political data. But rather than being a dry excercise in number crunching — like eating cereal when there’s no milk in the fridge — the show is a lively, funny romp through the week’s news.
Best for Global
There aren’t many shows — either podcasts or radio — which place the UK election in a global context. The Election Tricycle is one of the few that does. Tom Hamilton, based in London, is one of the best analysts of political messaging and an essential follow for anyone tuning into the UK election.
Election Trike sees Hamilton joined by Emily Tamkin, in Washington, and Rohan Venkat, covering New Delhi, to cross-pollinate ideas from these three huge elections. It makes for a fascinating way of looking at the UK general election. Are the same currents repeating themselves across these three continents?
Best for Funny
I don’t find elections funny. Sorry, I’m just too jaded by the experience of following politics to succesfully derive much humour from it. All the same, if anyone can turn the shitshow that is British politics into something erudite and witty, it’s Private Eye.
Their Page 94 podcast, hosted by Andrew Hunter Murray of No Such Thing as a Fish fame, is casting its eye over the election in the way it deserves. There’s no feverish scrabbling to cover every photo op, no desperation to publish 10 episodes a week. Just calm, considered and witty analysis of how things are going — and where they’re going wrong.
