Why do we keep ditching PMs? episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 26, 2026 · 41 MIN

Why do we keep ditching PMs?

from The Rundown by PoliticsHome · host PoliticsHome

As the country hurtles towards appointing its seventh PM in a decade, this week The Rundown asks has the UK become ungovernable? And if so, why? And what can be done, if anything can be, to stop the rot and get back to a period of relative stability in our national politics.Joining host Alain Tolhurst in looking at where Keir Starmer failed, as Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron did before him, and whether Andy Burnham will end up going the same way, is Caroline Slocock, former Private Secretary to two Prime Ministers and a longtime senior civil servant, who has a new book out entitled ‘Bad Government’, going behind the famous black door of Number 10 to reveal why the ship of state is so hard to steer, and exploring why successive leaders have failed in their promises to reset government and rebuild trust.Alongside them are Joe Hill, director of strategy at the think tank Re:State, as well as Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Ewan Cameron and Lulu Goad for Podot

As the country hurtles towards appointing its seventh PM in a decade, this week The Rundown asks has the UK become ungovernable? And if so, why? And what can be done, if anything can be, to stop the rot and get back to a period of relative stability in our national politics.Joining host Alain Tolhurst in looking at where Keir Starmer failed, as Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron did before him, and whether Andy Burnham will end up going the same way, is Caroline Slocock, former Private Secretary to two Prime Ministers and a longtime senior civil servant, who has a new book out entitled ‘Bad Government’, going behind the famous black door of Number 10 to reveal why the ship of state is so hard to steer, and exploring why successive leaders have failed in their promises to reset government and rebuild trust.Alongside them are Joe Hill, director of strategy at the think tank Re:State, as well as Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced and edited by Ewan Cameron and Lulu Goad for Podot

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Why do we keep ditching PMs?

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This episode was published on June 26, 2026.

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As the country hurtles towards appointing its seventh PM in a decade, this week The Rundown asks has the UK become ungovernable? And if so, why? And what can be done, if anything can be, to stop the rot and get back to a period of relative stability...

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