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Best of the Spectator

The Edition: Labour's Irish insurgent, Germany's 'firewall' falls & finding joy in obituaries

Best of the Spectator

The Spectator

News Commentary, News, Daily News, Society & Culture

4.4785 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As a man with the instincts of an insurgent, Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has found Labour’s first six months in office a frustrating time, writes The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove. ‘Many of his insights – those that made Labour electable – appeared to have been overlooked by the very ministers he propelled into power.’ McSweeney is trying to wrench the government away from complacent incumbency: there is a new emphasis on growth, a tougher line on borders, an impatience with establishment excuses for inertia. Will McSweeney win his battle? And what does this mean for figures in Starmer’s government, like Richard Hermer and Ed Miliband? Michael joined the podcast alongside Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin. (1:04)

Next: can the AfD be stopped?

Lisa Haseldine writes about an earthquake that hit German politics last week; the much feted ‘firewall’ – the agreement by mainstream political parties not to work with the far-right – appeared to fall. Freidrich Merz, tipped to be Chancellor after the upcoming German elections, relied upon the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) for two votes on immigration. Cue protests and denouncements; Merz’s most high-profile predecessor as CDU leader, Angela Merkel, even made a rare, political intervention to denounce the decision. Has the vote helped or hindered Merz? And has the German firewall fallen permanently? Lisa joined the podcast alongside Elisabeth Dampier. Elisabeth has interviewed the controversial AfD MEP Maximilian Krah for the magazine and writes about the man who calls himself ‘the German Donald Trump’. (21:02)

And finally: the curious life of an obituary writer

Mark Mason provides his notes on obituaries for the magazine this week, stating that ‘there’s nothing as inspiring or instructive or entertaining about reading a few hundred words about someone’s time on his planet’. What’s the process behind putting an obituary together? The Times' longest serving obituary writer Damian Arnold once said, ‘The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check to see who's dead.’ Mark and Damian joined the podcast to discuss who makes for the best obituary, if there is joy to be found in celebrating death, and whether they’ve ever published an obituary of someone who isn’t actually dead… (33:48)

Presented by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.

0:06.4

Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online,

0:11.7

along with a free £20 £10 £10 or Waitrose voucher.

0:15.3

Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.

0:29.9

Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator.

0:34.4

Each week we shared a little light on the thought process behind putting the world's oldest weekly magazine to bed.

0:36.8

I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor.

0:39.2

And I'm Laura Prendergast, the Spectator's executive editor.

0:42.9

In this week's episode,

0:44.4

who is the Irish insurgent behind Starman's premiership?

0:48.2

Can the rise and rise of Germany's AFD be stopped?

0:52.0

And is there joy to be found in the obituary's pages?

1:04.6

First up, the insurgent. That's the label our editor Michael Gove gives to the Prime Minister's

1:10.3

Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney

1:12.5

in his cover piece for the magazine this week.

1:15.5

McSweeney is widely credited as the mastermind behind Labour's landslide victory last year,

1:20.5

but who is he?

1:21.9

What's his driving philosophy behind his politics?

1:24.9

Michael writes that despite achieving such a historic victory, he has rumoured to be

1:28.8

frustrated with Labour's first six months in power. What's his relationship with Kirstearner really

1:34.7

like and are there signs of tension on the horizon? Michael joined me earlier to discuss, along with

1:40.6

Kirstarmer's biographer Tom Baldwin. For listeners who might not be aware of McSweeney,

...

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