The Conservative leadership contest limps towards its conclusion with Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak attending the final hustings this week. And as the country heads towards a difficult winter, raw sewage is being pumped into Britain’s waterways and the economy goes from bad to worse.
Anoosh Chakelian, Freddie Hayward and Rachel Cunliffe discuss the leadership hopefuls’ latest campaign pledges and the distinct lack of enthusiasm for them among Tory members and MPs. They also talk about Truss’s U-turn on her emergency cost-of-living budget and whether her free-market conservatism is out of step with the concerns of the general public.
Then in You Ask Us India Bourke, the New Statesman’s environment correspondent, joins to answer a listener’s question on what the sewage crisis means for the Conservative Party.
If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.
Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.
How to listen to the New Statesman Podcast
1. In your browser
You can use the player above to listen in your browser right now. The subscriber edition of the New Statesman Podcast is published here every Monday and Thursday. Why not bookmark this page? You can come back for new episodes twice a week.
2. In a podcast app
The public feed of the New Statesman Podcast is available on all major podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, Google Podcasts, and more. It publishes a day later than this subscriber edition. Search “New Statesman Podcast” in your favourite podcast app.
3. On your smart speaker
If you have an Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod smart speaker, ask it to “play the latest episode of the New Statesman Podcast“. This will play the latest episode in the public feed. The same command also works with virtual assistants on mobile devices.