'Keir Starmer implicitly reminded his audience, that Keir Starmer appears not to be the answer to the question, a question he himself put.' 'He *is* the leader of incremental change, and today reminded us that that will not change, even incrementally.' Lewis on form with a short, sharp piece.

The problem for Starmer is that Starmer is right. The era of managerialism is dead. But he can't move Labour beyond it. Piece from me on today's speech. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Starmer set himself a hostage to fortune. These make or break speeches can almost never make, unless there is a genuinely surprising proposal. There wasn’t one in there- as is evidenced by fact all the Qs instantly return to leadership process questions.

Starmer on Farage: “He’s not just a grifter. He’s a chancer.”

@lewisgoodall.com when you are mullered from last night, send messages to you during show, get told just now they were actually sent to the wife 🤣🤣 great show today. 🫡

Starmer on Farage: “He’s not just a grifter. He’s a chancer.”

Brown and Harman (rightly) deeply respected across Labour movement. Strategy clear-use grandees to cement PM in place. But risks clear too. If this is extent of reset it hardly reeks of change/adverts to Starmer’s lack of authority. Can’t do full reshuffle so stuck with this.

Plaid source: “We are confident that there has been a huge shift from Labour towards Plaid. Looking positive across much of Wales.”

NEW: Green Party wins Hackney Mayoralty. First time Hackney Mayor hasn’t been Labour.

For all the talk of revival the Conservatives are today more or less where UKIP were 12 years ago. Largely a regional party of the south east.

Several things true at once 1) Labour losing to everyone in every direction. Reform (with Green assistance eating into Lab vote) wiping Labour out in places Lab has always dominated 2) They’re often doing so on small %es of vote, rewarded by highly fragmented electorate. FPTPdoing the rest…

Off air after 8 hours. Long way to go but long story short- Reform and to a lesser extent Greens are finally making real something long promised: the dismantling of the two party system across much of England.

@lewisgoodall.com did what he had to do, shows how thin skinned and unfit these two are! Shame to see what took place in my city, but credit for the journalism. And of the day if anybody enters politics, they have to be scrutinized, it does feel populism has a very thin skin!

"Mainstream politicians – from Starmer down – have little to say, and in that vacuum, we see Akhmed Yaqoob." Lewis Goodall clashes with a controversial Birmingham campaigner. Is the city a 'microcosm' for the state of UK politics? www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/bann...

ELECTION NIGHT TONIGHT 🗳️ Join us for @lbc.co.uk’s special results show Watch from 10

Just watched BBC News have to spool through 17 party politicians from England, Scotland and Wales on election eve. Not the fault of my old colleagues but the antiquated Ofcom rules around election coverage- at a time when online is a wild west- have never seemed more ridiculous.

Looking forward to this a week today! Whatever will we talk about Last few tickets here ticketing.nimaxtheatres.com/shop/tickets...

Very excited to say I’ll be hosting @lbc.co.uk election night coverage from 10pm on Thursday. Streamed live on @globalplayer.com, YouTube and of course on the 📻 Join us for what could be a very important night in British politics!

NEW: Weekend News Agents A story which hasn’t had as much attention as it should. How did Reform become so financially dependent on one Thailand based crypto billionaire? And why did that donor personally gift Farage £5m? Listen now podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The King has done as well as anybody could in Washington. But we're kidding ourselves if we think the visit will make any difference to anything. Most of it will have gone above Trump's head. If he does notice the rebukes, he'll be annoyed. Most likely, he basically forgets any of it even happened.

Take a look at a State Dept design for new American passports. Banana republic stuff. Genuinely tragic to see.

There will (rightly) be huge focus on Scotland and Wales. But terrible London results possibly most dangerous for PM in aftermath. London delivers massive numbers of party members/MPs.… www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

Lots of great feedback on this political book and ideas series we’re occasionally doing on Fridays! If there are any political authors/writers (and their books) you’d like us to have on let me know.

Fascinating interview with Adrian Wooldridge. Compulsive listening. Many thanks @lewisgoodall.com

SUNDAY WITH LEWIS GOODALL STARTING NOW @LBC Latest from Washington with a massive week in Westminster to come. Join us now…

Exactly.

I have no idea how many times we have to dance this dance. It really isn’t high risk, high opportunity at all. Trump will probably be on his best behaviour. Everyone will gush. Praise as a triumph. Then a few days later Trump will forget about it. And go back to normal.

A fascinating and thought provoking listen on my training walk this morning. Bit worried that my liberal credentials are on shaky ground though as my taste is more ELO than ENO...

NEW: Weekend @thenewsagents.co.uk Has liberalism lost the battle for the 21st century? Is it the creed of a lost age? And does it matter? Can it, should it reinvent? Latest of our book series- with Adrian Wooldridge, author of The Lost Genius of Liberalism👇 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Two really thought-provoking pods this morning: ‘Berlin Briefing’ which looks at why Chancellor Merz is so unpopular (!) and @thenewsagents.co.uk on the death of liberalism. Another good weekend episode from @lewisgoodall.com

Great stuff from @lewisgoodall.com

"The civil service is effectively saying the appointment was politically questionable... Meanwhile, the Prime Minister appears to argue the reverse: that the appointment was defensible, but that officials should somehow have stopped it after the fact...An unrealistic expectation of officialdom..."👇

The Mandelson affair was survivable. Keir Starmer’s explanation for it may not be. It is a parable of his premiership and its wider problems- that the explanation is always process, not politics. Piece from me on the limits of process politics open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

If nothing else, the decision to sack Robbins, when he didn't need to, must rank as one of the most absurd acts of political self-harm any prime minister has yet committed. All of this eminently foreseeable.

Olly Robbins says No 10 wanted Mandelson in Washington as soon as possible and there was “constant pressure” to get him in place as soon as possible pre-inauguration He also says that Cabinet Office didn’t think vetting was even necessary for Mandelson But Robbins says the Foreign Office insisted

Trump weighs in on the Mandelson appointment and Keir Starmer’s performance in the Commons

🇱🇰

Govt line today is that they can’t believe how bad their own vetting process is, a vetting process they themselves repeatedly pointed to during the Mandelson affair, a process they’re now saying they were ignorant about. That they didn’t understand it, nor sought to. Suboptimal

🤯insane reach figures for the latest Sunday with Lewis Goodall @lbc.co.uk Total digital 📱 views across all platforms now over 6.35 million (!) Add in radio 📻 figs and we’re not far away from 7m total The Sunday political show reinvented for a new age Join us Sundays from 10!

A must listen.

Best thing I've heard from an Iranian perspective. Essential listening.

🆕 Ballistic missiles 🆕 Testing facilities 🆕 Guiding systems 🆕 Satellite integration Sir Ed Davey wants to separate our nuclear deterrent from the United States. @lewisgoodall.com wants to know how much all that will cost.

There’s much nonsense talked about Iran and its history with the US. As such, was a pleasure to sit down and talk with an actual authority, Ali Vaez for Friday’s News Agents about that lack of understanding- and how it’s led us to the moment we’re in. Listen 👇 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

"The country's had enough of chaos!" Wes Streeting rules out Scottish independence, telling @lewisgoodall.com that there will be no fresh referendum even if the SNP get a majority.

SUNDAY WITH LEWIS GOODALL getting underway NOW @lbc.co.uk The place for politics at the weekend

Excellent interview with a true Iran expert @alivaez.bsky.social @thenewsagents.co.uk @lewisgoodall.com open.spotify.com/episode/6P5k...

Usual really interesting stuff from @lewisgoodall.com 👇 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I knew it was bad but really didn’t appreciate it was quite this bad as.ft.com/r/db911dd6-f...

‘Until Israel actually does give peace a chance… we are not going to get anywhere, are we?’ @lewisgoodall.com and caller Sam disagree on whether Israel's strikes on Lebanon undermine the US-Iran peace deal.

Yesterday the US government told us the Iranians were “begging” for a ceasefire. A ceasefire the Iranians today, the Americans tell us, have immediately reneged on.