She deserved to be humiliated. The absolute arrogance to put forward an economic plan without the OBR onside was moronic

Utterly humiliating for her. So is not being able to afford to feed yourself or losing your home. Having hospitals opening food banks to feed staff! I could go on and on and on. Good riddance to her and hopefully the rest of the ERG soon enough.

I admire Rory's capacity for empathy but for all the talk of Liz's health; what about the health of the citizens of this country that she inflicted her experiment on? I know I have been at my wits end over the last 8 weeks. Liz Truss truly was incubated and isolated from reality on Tufton Street and I don't think she will ever be able to come to terms with what she inflicted on the country in her short term. Agree with the wider analysis on Brexit and its now time to get in a government with a clean slate and fresh mandate to actually move forward with the mess and try to return us to a place of stability.

I don't feel sorry for her . She asked for the job

She even U turned on not being a quitter

On the BBC this morning they talked to a guy in Shropshire. "Everyone is sick to their back teeth of the Conservatives." "Would you vote Labour?" "No. I'd still vote Conservative." It's not just the politicians making us a laughing stock.

All hail the lettuce. May it's leaves be ever green 🍃

This is perfect background material to listen to. Super interesting and great quality of conversation. Thank you Alastair and Rory for providing first hand insight and opinions on our politics. Keep them coming! Tom

Watching people like Yvette Cooper, Ed Milliband, Lisa Nandy or David Lammy in parliamentry debate, in contrast to Tory ministers is like watching Shakespeare having a conversation with Enid Blyton

I do like the Rory summaries. Keep them up.

I really appreciate you guys having a sensible take on what is going on without having to veil it in nonsense. Politics and parliament has changed so much over the last couple of decades.

Welcome all to the longest running episode of ‘the thick of it’ watching this all through splayed fingers.

I think Alistair is orchestrating all of these crises to keep his podcast at number one

Truss wanted the top job, was never qualified to do so

I've been waiting for this all day

I have just watched a GB News discussion where brexit reared its head and the persisting conviction that brexit is a good thing is remarkable. I am increasingly coming to the view that Brexit has been a historical necessity and that it will persist as a wound until the English figure out what it really means to be a middling power in the world with few real (the jury is out ?!?) friends. I think that this country has so much potential, but not sure if it will be realised in my relatively limited (boomer) lifetime.

Erm….at the end of this process 2 of them did NOT go in front of the country Rory. They went in front of Tory party members - lots of whom do not even reside in the UK!

i stumbled across this podcast in the last 24 hours. KZfaq recommended it i think. It's brilliant, will listen to more

Boris is back......"Dear oh dear.....Ahhh well!" I mean this 'Bin liner filled with custard and a haystack on top' is still under investigation by a Parliamentary Committee, isn't he?

Humiliating for her no doubt, but spare a thought for the humiliation of those who will lose their homes! She deserves no sympathy.

I've been waiting for you guys!

With the Tories . The gene pool is just too small

I’d say Liz Truss’s problem is her extreme delusions of adequacy 😂

Sir Charles Walker was impressive

This week, MPs agreed that peaceful protesters, whether convicted of any crime or not, can be electronically tagged, forced to report to the police, forbidden to associate with others or to attend or encourage further protests. Somehow this passed almost all of you by.

As much as I enjoy Alistair digging into Rory for Googling, I have to admit that I prefer it when Rory does it. If Rory can Google things and add more facts to his argument without our ears noticing, I say go for it! More facts, the better.

The Truss smirk-laugh is a nervous affectation to shield 'pain and embarrassment. But looks awful!

There are more special editions than there are regular editions these days!

It is a real pleasure to listen to the French and Saunders of UK politics. 🇬🇧

This is one of those conversations where it's hard not to agree with all the points made, even though they're from traditional political opponents.

One thing Sunak has is he comes across as genuine, and down to earth, which is very rare amongst Tory MPs, btw Rory has it too. I'm a Labour voter, but for the good of the country, if we can't have a General election, then Rishi is best. Possible the only / last chance the Tories have.

Just go for a daily podcast for the next month!

Um… rightly humiliating. Let’s get it in perspective.

2024 can't come sooner enough

I heard Rory Stewart interviewed about the unfunded tax cuts and "growf" plan, he thought such trickle down ideas had worked in the US but wouldn't in the UK. The reality is examining the US that economists don't regard it as working, they have had decades of real term wage stagnation and extreme concentration of wealth.

I love your shows. I believe we do need a General Election ASAP simply because I have zero faith in the Tory Party. As for Doris. If he stands again i'm leaving.

With the PM resigning, why is the deputy PM not in charge for the next week? Where is Therese Coffey when we need her?

@48:21 - it is interesting that, for most of the time, Stewart appears level-headed and reasonable, but then there is always that point where his Conservative roots burst through.

The only time I have supported a Conservative at a national British election was as a young pamphleteer during the 1964 campaign. So I can hardly be considered a Tory at heart as I joined the Young Liberals directly afterwards as a teenager, as I liked Jo Grimond. However, to have a General Election now would be a disaster. What would be best for the country would be an agreement by the Tories to chose Hunt as PM, on the condition that Sunak be Chancellor (or vice versa), Wallace as Foreign Sec, Mordaunt as Home Sec, and Tugendhat at Defence. Remember, often with much smaller majorities, the PM succession didn't have a General Election between: Churchill/Eden, Eden/MacMillan, MacMillan/Home, Wilson/Callaghan, Thatcher/Major, Blair/Brown, Cameron/May, or May/Johnson (at least straight away).

Ah, dunning kreuger - its a bit disproven these days, HOWEVER: Since Austerity, and accelerating since the referendum, the entire leadership in my bit of the public sector has been thoroughly infected with this. It's all about confident belief based on the flimsiest of "evidence" now, not planning, not skill. Go faster, don't go right, and so on. Leaders in every area picking a management ideology (Agile, mostly) that will magically solve absolutely everything and shoving it forward with absolute conviction without thinking any further about complexity, foundations, etc etc. And anyone who raises those things is 'slowing us down' (sick of experts!) or 'worrying unduly' (project fear!). It all flows from the top and the top of the government has been reeeeeally bad since Cameron resigned, and it was bad enough before that due to the cuts. We have been run into the ground - there's no capacity in the system to take a step back, think and redesign... and they just blew the economy up again. I am *very* worried for public services. Any more "efficiences" and all sorts of things are going to just collapse.

Dunning-Krueger is so three years ago. The idiom meme of the moment is Hanlon's Razor.

Michael Gove: problem with Rory's analysis is a good leader requires a good person not just an intelligent one.

Excellent podcast thank you

Sadly, we have a serious Dunning-Kruger effect going on here in the US....

You are my go to guys....have a peaceful and relaxing holiday...you deserve it!

I couldn't hear Rory eating crisps at all. If he did, I thought it would sound a lot more audible than many things he could have eaten.

John's is tipped at 10 to 1. That it's so likely as that is terrifying.

I just want to say what a brilliant performance Alastair gave on BBC Daily Politics today 👏 Has totally brightened my day. Please can Rory have a turn too and I hope that it’s the first of many appearances. Was literally shouting at the tv ‘You tell them Alastair!’

The number is 100 to stand.

Bring back Boris, he’s the only one who can (and will) slay the Tory vampire permanently!

Alistair, Will you never learn! We are not listeners, we are READERS!!

Driving back home tonight a thought occurred to me. There are many lamp posts on some roads. If the threat of blackouts turns out to be a reality, can we not help save power by turning one out of every two lights off, on certain roads. Do you have any thoughts?

_Sighs_ Somehow Boris Returned

@07:27 The Tories got a bigger third term majority under Thatcher in 1987 (102). However, the Tories had only been in 8 years by then, rather than 9. Also, there were only 3 general elections in those 8 years, rather than 3 in 4 years as we had 2015-2019.

UK is not Democracy ... Sad

"He's not a politician, he's a schemer" I thought those two words were synonymous!!

"Michael Gove is experienced, he has about 11 years around government".. Hasn't Truss been in govt for 10 years and should have that level of experience?

The rory mukbang was unexpected

The problem with politicians is far deeper than your both willing to admit, zero trust is in part as politicians see a successful career as being in power and holding a ministers post, irrelevant if they achieve anything for the good of the country.

Was the Duke of Wellington not the shortest serving prime minister in his second term?

As most politicians are optimistic, when recession is upon us they under estimate the length and depth of recession, they over estimate the growth in recovery and always offer narrow area of uncertainty. I never see detailed plans with milestones and contingencies if milestones are not achieved. Zero transparency on the detail & calculations they used when creating policies they propose. This is because they never want to be held to account on the outcomes. We need truthful realistic open policies with politicians offering milestones and contingencies facts and figures before they are voted in. Held to account when policies fail , i.e that MP can no longer be a minister until the next general election, this will breed better competence in the job and more honest assessments in policy before taking the post.

I wish rory had become our prime minister I would have voted for him and we would have been a stable succesful country and may well have been able to heal our divisions in the UK

Yep, agree with Alistair: do NOT eat on mic

Truss, oh dear.

Since my last post, there are now 720,004 virtual protestors outside Westminster calling for an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government.

what are the twelve factions in the Tory party. I can only think of One Nation, English Nationalist, Libertarian, Brexiter, Social Conservative, Economic Liberal

I am slowly coming to a conclusion that just a few months ago I would have thought utterly rediculous. Initially, I thought that PR was the only way to rescue this country from the lunacy of the political extremes, and keep the Conservatives out of power to give ANY long-term chance of fixing our self-inflicted woes - those views regarding the long-term fixing have not changed, however, I am less certain about whether PR is now needed to keep a Conservatives Party for as long as it is wagged by the far right tail where it belongs. Ironically, and this has come as a bit of a surprise to me, I find myself thinking it probable that PR is now the ONLY way that the Conservatives can prevent, first a wipe out at the next General election, followed by the Conservatives starting an irreversible period of decline where they are very quickly the third, possibly fourth or even fifth largest party in the Chamber, a decline in the number of seats similar to that of the Liberals in the first half of the 20th Century. Regardless of what happens, the party membership will probably continue to move evermore to the Nationalistic right, to the extent that there will be an under-representation of the Centre-Right which will need to be filled, either by a break-away from the current Far-Right Nationalist hijacked Conservative Party or a new one which could appear. P. S. I also believe that the left of the Labour Party need to shoulder some of the Blame for our current woes for the electing and retaining of a leader who proved impossible to elect. A lesson which the right of the Conservative party should heed.

She wasn't humiliated enough to turn down all the perks of being an ex pm was she!

Cloughie, Leeds - 44 days. Truss, 'from Leeds' - 44 days (or was it 45?). Must mean something.

This talk of singapore on thames is an incorrect comparison. The economy is low tax indeed but this is a Big government set up. 30% of the economy is government driven (at a profit i might add)… thinking that small government will work is just wrong

Penny Mordant is daunting the ol' wren with a pen. When she says bilge pumps she means all hands to our main sails...

If Labour have a huge majority it is very likely that they will have a huge element of dross candidates which could open up similar problems that the Tories are suffering at the moment.

"Get Ursula Von Der Leyen on the phone...what chances of joining the European Union?" VOTE CAMPBELL!!

My favourite podcast but there’s far too many adverts on the You Tube version. Not only do they break the flow of your communication, they make it unlistenable.

The reverse impostor syndrome must have a collective element as well, because it must have applied not only to the likes of LT, but to all the people who voted for her both in and outside of parliament. A society produces its leaders. While the PM and other elected people have a much greater responsibility for events than the average person, it’s still at the end of the day collective failure.

Labour fell against Johnson because they didn't have their own angle apart from "yes we'll do it, and we'll do that, we'll do it all" Now Labour still lack direction whilst revelling in the new angle of "we're not them, we're us" People STILL don't know what Labour stand for. They STILL haven't set out their stand.

Wow. Two grown ups talking political sense. Am I dreaming ?

Ben Wallace just confirmed he won't be standing and "would lean towards" Boris Johnson. If I were a betting man, I reckon Boris is now a good bet..

Rory talks so much sense but I disagree slightly on his assertion that the public need to be sure that Labour have to demonstrate economic competence. I feel that this another Brexit moment. During Brexit there was a visceral need to 'poke the establishment in the eye, regardless of whether it was ultimately self defeating or not. I think the public feels the same again.

It could only happen with a unassailable Conservative Majority.All this political ping pong by two teams from the Eton Swill. But in the meantime the UK falls apart and most of it’s people have to suffer with no chance of relief until 2025

At 17:08 you say "the only person who could survive is a mad, egotistical gambler". I'm not a mad, egotistical gambler, but I am working towards it. Can I be PM?

Rory, you speak like it is important that the leader should try to keep the tory party together AND rule the country is flawed. The party can go to hell, it can be replaced if it has to be, the country cannot. Get a grip, FFS

Given Alistair is so passionate in his campaigning on mental health I always find it odd that he seems to enjoy attacking some politicians on such a personal level.

Is it possible to have a two-way crush? You're BOTH adorable / clever / etc etc...

Romaine last dance at chuckout time Liz? Why she asks? Kos I was dared to, Misses Iceberg. 😎 (No tongues mind, maybe...)

Still have zero sympathy for Liz Truss.

Everybody talks about how Boris won by a huge majority. I am convinced it was more about Jeremy Corbyn being terminally unelectable? Now, with Kier Starmer in place, the Tories have lost their USP ie being “not Corbyn”. Kier may come over rather stilted, but dont you think the country is ready for a bit of boring but bright?

Give the man pasta. Crisps are too distracting ...

Dunning kruger effect is a fallacy based on a faulty interpretation of statistics. It is true that people who have studied a subject more have a better idea of how much they understand the subject, but people who know little are all over the show when it comes to estimating how much they know. Some will comically say they know more than they obviously do, but many others will be accurate or pessimistic. It is a bias to focus on the ones who overestimate their capability because they are more memorable or make you feel better about yourself.

Tory tofu comments I think did it, not Japanese Samurai heritage politics, methinks, Rory... HO! (bow)

Zero died in Dunblane,

Alastair and Rory, did a face palm chatty vid early this morning, well before this - hang on...

Start with a win fall tax on energy wholly to reduce deficit, zero aid to countries,. Ukraine aid recalculated to be part of defence spending, on energy ensure fracking has tax break with lock-in buy price for uk energy first 3yrs of production, exports at market price, invest in thorium modular reactors become world leaders in low cost modular reactors, detail financial planning with contingencies, at very least this will give confidence to the markets slow or minor reverse inflation offer energy security.

24:36 - are you excited, Rory? No Alastair, it is just the way I am standing... More tea Vicar? Chocolate finger with it?

the structural problem with both parties is...the electrorate vote the people in..? the only problem with THAT is people are politically illiterate - so sort out the lairs and teach people...never mind sorting out the "structural problems". Sort out the media lies and people will be able to understand what's actually happening.

To be honest broad church party's should end now. To often it leads to internecine war

Isn't it time for King Charles to step up and do whatever a monarch can do and fix things so that a there's a general election?

Hubris is a terrible thing, and I'm not just talking about Liz Truss. She and her crazies really haven't the humility, intelligence or knowledge - including self-knowledge - to avoid repeating the same pointless and destructive, because misguided, patterns of behaviour. They have taken a stand against reality on almost every aspect of policy, from the electoral system, through the way the economy works to the issue of the EU. In almost every case, you can see that they operate on false assumptions. Misplaced self-belief is just one of a virtually-endless list of self-deceptions. One reason for this is that ideological conviction and a number of 'faiths' - both shallow and callow - have replaced a grounded knowledge of history, economics and politics. This results in a predilection for pseudo-magical solutions such as 'Brexit' or a tax-reducing budget. What is opaque or nonsensical to everyone else is transparent and true to the devotee.

No way could Gove be prime minister. Rory does not understand charisma.

I think you're underestimating one thing. Boris had energy, he was confident. When people see that in a leader they feel it in themselves, and that drives our country forward. Obviously it's a balance and a PM needs restraint on important matters; but this idea that we need a nagging dried-out workbook of a PM, and that personal skills don't matter, is SO wrong. Inspire the country and it's people, let them feel hope, real or manufactured, and the economy will fix itself (and that's the only way it will).