political appointments

The week started with Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary calling out the BBC for bias and a failure of impartiality.

She struggled to give many examples of either.

Today, Prospect magazine has done a deep dive into what it calls ‘the right-wing cabal waging war on the principles of our public broadcaster‘.

Is the BBC in thrall to the government? Or is it another institution the government is fighting?

Later, What was Sir Simon Clarke hoping to achieve by calling for the PM to go?

And is the rebellion now dead - or just getting going.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon & Arvind Badewal

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Former prime minister David Cameron is back in the government after Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle. Pressure had been mounting on Sunak to sack Suella Braverman after a controversial opinion piece in The Times last week. So why is Cameron back? And what do the appointments mean for the Conservatives and their election strategy?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Steven Swinford, Political Editor, The Times.

Host: Luke Jones. 

Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk 

Music: 'Fantasy on David Cameron (Cameron's lament in C minor)' courtesy of Thomas Hewitt Jones. Follow Thomas at @thewittjones on Twitter and @thomashewittjonesmusic on Facebook. And you can hear the full track here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyORjJ00Rk 

Clips: Sky News, Times Radio, BBC News, BBC Radio 4, TalkTV.

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Boris Johnson is not a man who has much care for institutions or conventions. So what does his forthcoming resignations honours list mean for the future of the House of Lords?

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Is Boris Johnson’s dad going to receive a knighthood? Is anyone else in the Johnson family? We speak to Rachel Johnson who opens up about family relationships and how it works if your brother is Prime Minister.

We also ask why Keir Starmer seems to be unwilling or unable to answer a simple question: when did he first appoint Sue Gray? Does this all go back to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case?

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