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Chopper's Politics
by The Telegraph
The Telegraph's weekly politics podcast, presented by Christopher "Chopper" Hope. The podcast has interviews with top politicians and commentators and analysis from the Telegraph’s Westminster team. Chopper's Politics is a must listen for those who want to understand British politics, delving into various aspects of policy, key players, and the internal movements of Westminster’s political parties. With a focus on the Conservative Party (Tories), the podcast examines the party’s policies, strategies, and ideologies. The podcast offers insights into prominent figures within the party, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. With a keen eye on the ever-evolving political landscape, the podcast explores the impact of the Red Wall - the traditionally Labour-supporting areas in the North of England that shifted allegiance to the Conservatives in recent elections - and the dynamics between the Conservatives and the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer.
Episodes
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 6, The Forgotten Victims
In January 2021, the first Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines made their way into people’s arms. By mid-march, 11 million people had received the jab. After successive lockdowns, it felt like a way out. But now, more than two years on, storm clouds are gathering. Today, 80 of them are preparing to sue...
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 5, The Fallout
In the face of major disasters, it is perhaps inevitable that there will be missteps. And when the dust settles, people are asked to account for their actions. How is history going to judge the government’s response to COVID? In this last episode of the Lockdown Files podcast, the investigations...
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 4, Project Fear
Is it ever ok to scare the public? In this episode, the reporters dig into leaked messages which show a discussion between Matt Hancock and one of his team. They say “We frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain” and “When do we deploy the new variant”. The exchanges speak to a…
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 3, The Case on Care Homes
Tens of thousands of care home residents died during the pandemic. Many people see it as the government’s biggest failure. Matt Hancock’s Whatsapp messages lifted the lid on conversations behind key decisions. But it wasn’t just the messages which were revealing… The team behind the Lockdown…
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 2, The Road to Lockdown
The Investigations team looks back on the early days of the pandemic. How prepared was the government? Was lockdown inevitable? But they hit a stumbling block - they may have 100,000 messages, but there’s a gap in March. So the team decide that if they can’t read where those key decisions were...
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The Lockdown Files: Episode 1, The Leak
In January 2023, reporters at the Telegraph are called into a meeting. The newspaper has got something big. Matt Hancock’s Whatsapps from when he was the Health Secretary, during the pandemic: 100,000 messages. The reporters start digging. Rate and Review the Lockdown Files podcast here:...
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BONUS: Richard Sharp's Exclusive Exit Interview from the BBC
In this bonus episode of Chopper's politics, former BBC chairman Richard Sharp joins Chris for his 'exit interview' to discuss the controversial events surrounding his departure. Over a round of black velvets they discuss his opinions on former PM Boris Johnson, why he's in favour of a charter...
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Cheerio... with Gove, Rees Mogg, Forde and Cox
Over 360 episodes, 8.2 million listens and one Red Lion Pub, welcome to the last edition of Choppers Politics Podcast. Joining the Telegraph's legendary political journalist Chris Hope in Westminster's finest drinking hole is star of Spitting Image: Idiots Assemble, comedian Matt Forde…
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School children identifying as Lions & Tigers & Bears, oh my!
It’s been a week when the economic picture has worsened for millions of us and to discuss the government wrestling with the problem - and how Liz Truss was right - is Ranil Jayawardena, a former Tory Cabinet minister in Truss’s administration. As Labour surge ahead in the polls, MP Rosie Duffield…
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Banks, Boris and the "blob"
Treasury minister Andrew Griffith MP hot-foots it across the road to the Red Lion pub to tell Christopher Hope that he thinks banks should help families who are seeing their mortgage costs spiral, and face the awkward question of how he'd deal with a business that had three CEOs in the space of a...
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Boris blames kangaroo court: has Johnson gone "full Trump"?
On the day the former PM faces having his parliamentary pass removed after being found to have “deliberately” misled MPs over partygate, Christopher Hope is joined in the Red Lion by Boris Johnson's long-time pal, legendary pollster Frank Luntz. Frank thinks comparisons to Trump are unfair on...
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"Disinformation" with David Davis
Finally the Covid inquiry starts next week - and the Government is in a right old tangle over what to do about it. Veteran Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister David Davis joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to voice his concerns about the shadowy Government body called the Counter...
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Back to work, back to Boris, and the Taxing Tories
With the advent of AI and concerns over 8 million 'economically inactive' people in Britain, we thought it was high time we asked Mel Stride MP, Work and Pensions Secretary, back to the Red Lion pub for a chinwag. Hot off his heels and hot off the press was Onward think-tank Director Sebastian...
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Borders, bonking and Liam Byrne
Immigration. The issue which drove so many people to vote to leave the EU before the 2016 EU referendum is back in the news and rising as an issue. Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch, popped by the Red Lion pub to discuss the newest immigration figures of 606,000 net. It’s also been a big…
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Hope, charity and "lying bastards"
Olympian James Cracknell joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to explain why he hopes become a Tory MP, appropriately in Henley on Thames, and how he would react if a certain blonde, former PM tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to step aside... Also on the podcast, Culture Secretary Lucy...
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"We are slipping into authoritarianism"
Sir Charles Walker MP joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion this week to express his fears that we are descending into authoritarianism, after arrests of protestors this weekend at the Coronation. Plus as the MP for Broxbourne is not seeking re-election, he gets a few more things off his chest,...
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Local Elections: Tories take a battering but can Labour claim victory?
Sir Keir Starmer claims that Labour is on course to win a majority at the next general election, after the party made gains and the Tories suffered heavy losses at local elections across England. But is claiming a Conservative crumbling to be a Labour win correct? Electoral Calculus's Martin…
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Bring back campaigner Boris says Greg Hands
Christopher Hope gets a field trip this week, leaving the Red Lion behind for Lewes in Sussex. Chopper is joined by Conservative Party Chairman, Greg Hands and mental health minister and local MP Maria Caulfield, as they went out knocking on doors ahead of next week's local elections. Hands is...
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Could the Conservatives claw back into the election race?
Tory grandee Sir Robert Syms makes a startling prediction to Christopher Hope in the Red Lion this week - he thinks his party can win the next election. The MP for Poole Symes thinks that people's political views are not as fixed as they used to be, and once the ship has steadied, Sunak can give...
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A deep dive into Britain's newest trade deal - the CPTPP
Chopper is off frolicking in the sun so this week Dia Chakravarty is in the podcast hotseat for an in-depth look at a subject that saw Conservative MPs starting their Easter holidays with a spring in their step - the CPTPP, or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific...
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What can the current crop of Conservatives learn from Lawson?
It’s been a week of reflection, and so we brought quiet contemplation to the Red Lion pub this week. With the death of Nigel Lawson earlier this week reminding Tories of a time when the Government was bold about tax cuts, Sir John Redwood MP joins Christopher Hope to talk about what the current...
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Peter Mandelson: ‘I’ve yet to meet a Tory who says they are going to win’
It's a bumper episode for Chopper's Politics listeners this week, don't say we don't treat you. Lord Mandelson joins Christopher Hope on the week that former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was barred from standing as Labour candidate. He muses on whether Sir Keir Starmer might actually want Corbyn…
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Can Labour capitalise on SNP chaos post-Sturgeon?
Note: this episode was recorded before Humza Yousaf was announced as the new leader of the SNP on Monday 27th March 2023. Ahead of the SNP leadership contest result, Christopher Hope brings you a Scotland special edition of Chopper's Politics. The Telegraph's Scottish Political Editor, Simon...
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A brief Brexit rebellion and a bleak week for Boris
This week two of the Conservative Party's obsessions reared their head yet again: Boris Johnson and Brexit. You may think you've everything there is to know about either subject but no, there's more, so Christopher Hope has invited a cavalcade of distinguished guests to the Red Lion pub to chew…
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The winners and losers of Jeremy Hunt's Budget
Taxes, childcare and Brexit beer boost: The Telegraph's Camilla Tominey and Gordon Rayner join Christopher Hope to give us the top lines of Jeremy Hunt's Budget. Will the Chancellor keep the promise he made to Chopper on this podcast in January that his priority will be bringing down business...
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Managing migration and Macron
Yvette Cooper MP joins Christopher Hope on the week that Rishi Sunak unveiled his plans to tackle illegal immigration. Conservatives think that illegal migration is the one policy area where the party can beat Labour, but the Shadow Home Secretary unsurprisingly disagrees. She tells Chopper that...
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The Journalist and the Whistleblower: The inside story of the Lockdown Files
More than 100,000 WhatsApp messages. 2.3 million words - the equivalent of three copies of the King James Bible. You’ve read the headlines about the Telegraph’s extraordinary examination of the Lockdown Files - and now you can hear from some of the journalists behind it. Christopher Hope is…
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Has Brexit finally been done?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, alongside the European Union president Ursula von der Leyen, announced details of the Windsor Framework this week, a deal he's hoping will put an end to the past six and a half years of wrangling to an end. So is the Brexit hurly-burly done? Has the battle been finally...
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Will no one rid me of this troublesome former PM?
Boris Johnson is turning into one regular headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. So this week Christopher Hope is looking at three spheres where the former PM is intent on sticking his oar in. First, the Brexit impasse in Northern Ireland. The DUP's Sammy Wilson joins Chopper to discuss whether...
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Sturgeon says goodbye and what it means for Scotland
Well, if there was any danger of recess getting boring, Nicola Sturgeon had other ideas. Just as Chopper was taking a well-earned holiday, the First Minister shocked Scotland and the United Kingdom by resigning after eight years in the job. So where does this leave Scotland and the future of the...
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Capital punishment, pitiful polling and pogo sticks
New deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Nickie Aiken MP joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion this week to vigorously defend her co-chair Lee Anderson, after he got into hot water this week for his views on hanging. The MP for Cities of London and Westminster blames the coverage of her...
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Happy Birthday Brexit?
This week, Christopher Hope returns to his spiritual home, the Red Lion pub, to discuss, you guessed it, Brexit. Three years on from leaving the E.U., many grumblings rumble on. So joining Chris to discuss the Northern Ireland protocol, the Union and more, David Jones (Deputy Chairman of the...
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Talking taxes with Jeremy Hunt
Christopher Hope swaps the Red Lion for Number 11 Downing Street this week, as he sits down with Jeremy Hunt. The Chancellor tells Chopper that he and the Prime Minister are committed to cutting taxes, but won't be drawn on when, and that his focus this year will be on business and taking…
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Let them eat cake
The last of the Hope family's Christmas cake joins the guests in the Red Lion this week, and Wes Streeting is the first to take Christopher Hope up on the offer of having a slice. The Shadow Health Secretary insists that Labour wouldn't be the "fun police" to ban cakes in offices following…
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Cash for litter
Rebecca Pow joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion for some coffee in a china mug, as the Environment minister talks about the announcement that plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups will soon be banned. She also reveals that a 'cash for trash' scheme looks set to get the green light, so…
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Take Back Control
On the week that the Prime Minister announced his 5 promises to voters, Science Minister George Freeman joins Christopher Hope to give his suggestions for 5 reasons to be cheerful, including getting rid of EU red tape, focusing on the "10% daft regulations" first. Also on the podcast, Shadow...
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2022 in Review
2023 is almost upon us, so join Christopher Hope, Gordon Rayner and Camilla Tominey to reflect on the wacky year just gone in Westminster. We've had four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers, two different monarchs and one 'tractor' watching MP, so plenty to discuss, plus a look ahead to what might...
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Strikes, sexism and why MPs' second jobs are OK
Twas the strike before Christmas... on this week's festive edition of Choppers' Politics: Frances O'Grady gives her final interview as the General Secretary of the TUC, discussing strikes and the current gridlock between union leaders and the government. Robert Halfon MP, previously an outspoken...
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Small boats and the silver exodus
Sir Robert Buckland KC and Jonathan Gullis bring their views on how to tackle the migrant crisis to the Red Lion this week. Robert Buckland calls talk of withdrawing from the European Convention of Human Rights "a red herring" fuelled by the fact the word Europe is "catnip" for some of his...
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Further strikes, fewer houses, and Farage
James Sunderland, former Colonel in the Royal Logistics Corps, joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion to talk about why the MP for Bracknell thinks the government needs to stop relying on the armed forces to step in over strike action and suggests that "Mr Lynch and his cronies" should perhaps…
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A leap of faith
All of Christopher Hope's guests this week are encouraging or have taken a leap of faith. Former Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke, now in the freedom of the backbenches, joins Chopper in the Red Lion to urge his fellow conservatives to rethink onshore windfarms and central housing targets and...
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Starmer meets the students
Sir Keir Starmer comes to Telegraph Towers and Christopher Hope hands over the microphone, as the politics class of St George's School, Harpenden, grill the Labour Leader. Up for discussion: Unions and the Union, as Mr Starmer defends not standing on picket lines with striking works and discusses...
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Making a statement
Well, what a difference 7 weeks makes. The Telegraph's Camilla Tominey and Gordon Rayner join Christopher Hope to give us the top lines of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement, somewhat different in tone to his predecessors less than two months ago. Also on the podcast, David Jones, MP for...
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Is Reform UK coming for Conservative votes?
Leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, joins Christopher Hope for a wide ranging chat about tax cuts, new open cast coal mines and veterans running the police, amongst other subjects. The former Brexit Party leader claims that in the fortnight since Truss resigned 4,534 people have signed up to join...
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Stop the poppy shaming says Armed Forces Minister
James Heappey joins Christopher Hope in the Red Lion ahead of Remembrance Day. The Armed Forces Minister reflects on the wearing of the poppy, decrying poppy shaming saying that you should choose to commemorate in a considered way, not wear a poppy out of obligation. Plus he discusses pausing to...
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Small boats, Brexit and climate change - it's a 2016 kind of week
Political debate is running at a quieter pace after the breakneck speeds of the last few weeks, so here at Chopper's Politics we're serving you some red meat topics of discussion this week. Ed Miliband joins Christopher Hope to discuss the importance of COP and why climate change isn't just a…
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Rishi Sunak: the comeback kid
Sir Iain Duncan Smith joins Christopher Hope to talk about the Conservative's latest leader (third time lucky?) and the country's new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. The former party leader warns that a combination of "higher taxes and big, big sweeping cuts" could plunge the UK "into deep…
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Hasta la vista, baby - is Boris on his way back?
Jacob Rees-Mogg joins Christopher Hope to make his case for why Boris Johnson needs to take back the reins of the Tory party and the nation, following Liz Truss's shock resignation yesterday. He talks about the former PM's strong mandate and how the numbers already flocking to support him have…
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In office, but not in power
When the last episode of Chopper's Politics was published, we had a different Chancellor. By the time the next one comes out, we may well have another Prime Minister, the way this week is going. The Telegraph's own Ben Riley-Smith and Tony Diver join Christopher Hope to talk about burning the...
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Is Truss' time up?
Charles Lewington, a former Press Secretary when Sir John Major was Prime Minister, joins Christopher Hope to talk about why he thinks Liz Truss will have to trim more measures from her mini-Budget to save her premiership, and whether Ben Wallace or Rishi Sunak could be the installed alternatives...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Telegraph's weekly politics podcast, presented by Christopher "Chopper" Hope. The podcast has interviews with top politicians and commentators and analysis from the Telegraph’s Westminster team.
Chopper's Politics is a must listen for those who want to understand British politics, delving into various aspects of policy, key players, and the internal movements of Westminster’s political parties. With a focus on the Conservative Party (Tories), the podcast examines the party’s policies, strategies, and ideologies. The podcast offers insights into prominent figures within the party, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson.
With a keen eye on the ever-evolving political landscape, the podcast explores the impact of the Red Wall - the traditionally Labour-supporting areas in the North of England that shifted allegiance to the Conservatives in recent elections - and the dynamics between the Conservatives and the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer.
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The Telegraph
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Chopper's Politics have?
Chopper's Politics currently has 103 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Chopper's Politics about?
The Telegraph's weekly politics podcast, presented by Christopher "Chopper" Hope. The podcast has interviews with top politicians and commentators and analysis from the Telegraph’s Westminster team. Chopper's Politics is a must listen for those who want to understand British politics, delving into...
How often does Chopper's Politics release new episodes?
Chopper's Politics publishes regularly with 103 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Chopper's Politics?
You can listen to Chopper's Politics on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Chopper's Politics?
Chopper's Politics is created and hosted by The Telegraph.
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