The Palace of Westminster is one of the world's most famous buildings: 'the mother of parliaments'. Since the days of Simon de Montfort parliaments having been meeting at this location in the heart of London. Though plagued by controversy and destruction over its long history the site's significa...

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was also the longest serving Labour Prime Minister, spoke to Dan about the nature of political power - within party politics, government policy and Britain's role in the world stage. He also discusses the major challenges Britain faces in a changing world ...

Tensions were high in England in late October 1605, when a Catholic English nobleman, Lord Monteagle, received a mysterious letter telling him to avoid the opening of Parliament in a few days time. The letter would come to foil the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the Protestant ...

Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister of Great Britain and its empire during the Second World War, is one of the most recognisable figures of world history. The man dominated Whitehall and Westminster, but many of his most vital decisions during the war years were taken away from the public e...

Most history is hierarchical: it’s about popes, presidents and prime ministers. A very small section of society has wielded very great power. But what if that’s simply because they are responsible for creating the historical archives? What if we are missing out on understanding equally powerful b...

It was a moment of mortal peril. Britain reeled from a series of devastating military defeats. Its politicians faced one of the most monumental decisions in 20th century history. Faced with a rampant Germany on the continent led by the fascist dictator Adolf Hitler, should Britain fight? Or make ...

We're heading back to the Eighteenth century as 300 years ago Sir Robert Walpole became the first prime minister. In this first episode of our Prime Minister's season, Dan is Joined by Dr Hannah Grieg for a whirlwind tour of the eighteenth century's many Prime Ministers. From Sir Robert Walpole t...

Continuing our series looking at British Prime Ministers this episode tackles the period following the Battle of Waterloo all the way up to Winston Churchill. The brilliant Robert Saunders joins us to guide us through the nineteenth century and to discuss some of the most remarkable parliamentari...

In the third episode of our series chronicling the history of British Prime Ministers, we travel from one of the most famous occupants of the office, Winston Churchill, right through to the current incumbent Boris Johnson and everyone in-between. For that Dan is joined by Iain Dale a well-known b...

It's been an extraordinary day in British politics with dozens of Conservative MPs handing in their resignations and expressing a lack of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It feels like this could be the end of his premiership. Johnson has clung to power despite scandal after scandal, i...

In this emergency podcast, Dan talks to Dr Andrew Blick about Boris Johnson's accession to the role of Prime Minister, the history of the UK's electoral system, and the role the monarchy has to play in the constitutional system. Producer: Peter Curry

On 19 December 1644 the English Parliament banned Christmas. EXACTLY 376 years later to the day, Boris Johnson announced that this year the celebration of Christmas would be radically curtailed due to the upsurge in Covid infections. This might be the only thing that Boris Johnson and the 17th Ce...

The summer of 1911 was a hot one. Massive strikes took place across the country, including seamen, railwaymen, coal miners, women working in food processing and garment-making and even school children. That, combined with record-breaking temperatures made Britain a constitutional, industrial and ...

Gordon Brown stood at the pinnacle of UK politics for 13 years first as Chancellor of the Exchequer and the as Prime Minister but it is as a private citizen that he now seeks to set out and help solve some of the world's most pressing problems. In this episode, Dan speaks to Gordon Brown about hi...

Andrew Blick is Director of History & Policy and Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, King's College London. He is the co-author of Premiership: The Development, Nature and Power of the Office of the British Prime Minister.

Dr Andrew Blick is Director of History & Policy and Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, King's College London. He is the co-author of Premiership: The Development, Nature and Power of the Office of the British Prime Minister.

Ben Gummer @ben4ipswich was Member of Parliament for Ipswich, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General. The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 21 cabinet minis...

In September 1918 David Lloyd George, the charismatic wartime Prime Minister, visited the city of Manchester, attended a vast public gathering and then collapsed. He spent the next week and a half confined to the Manchester Town Hall in a hastily assembled private hospital ward. He needed assista...

Dan sits down with John Bew to talk about Clement Attlee, the British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. Guest appearance by Anna Whitelock