{"podcast":{"title":"Political Currency","slug":"political-currency-6989276","podcast_index_feed_id":6989276,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/politicalcurrency-1","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/1735495247634-23a6477e-89d6-4ff4-b529-bbb565f05da4.jpeg","author":"Persephonica","episode_count":292,"summary":"Ed Balls and George Osborne take us behind closed doors into the rooms where decisions are made. Having battled it out across the despatch box, the former Chancellor and shadow chancellor now meet in the studio to discuss the decisions that affect the nation’s pockets. Our frenemies have the knowledge and experience to explain how good politics follows the economics - and expose how the powerful become powerless when faced with market forces and political currents they can’t control. Join us every Thursday. Send your messages or voice notes to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk Find us on social media @polcurrency Political Currency is a Persephonica production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-26T06:17:12.365480+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276"},"episode":{"title":"EMQs: Keir Starmer’s problem with ministers","slug":"emqs-keir-starmer-s-problem-with-ministers","published_at":"2026-06-22T02:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-keir-starmer-s-problem-with-ministers","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276","url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/emqs-keir-starmers-problem-with-ministers","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/6a356af94a187774ac1651cd/media.mp3","summary":"Al Carns revealed in the wake of his resignation he only met Keir Starmer in an official capacity once. On this week’s EMQs, Ed Balls and George Osborne break down how unusual this is for a PM and why it may explain the problem at the heart of the Starmer operation.  Baroness Jan Royall, Chair of the Jo Cox Foundation asks what lessons have been learned in the decade since her tragic murder and what more needs to be done to protect MPs. The pair then tackle the big political debate: is ‘white van man’ always right? Ed recalls a near disaster for the treasury with ‘white man van’, while George offers politicians advice on how to balance their personal views with meeting the public where they are. Ed and George also answer ‘Emily’s’ question on free childcare benefits and whether it should be stopped completely when you earn over £100,000.  Ed and George bring their experience to the question and discuss the pros and cons of benefits tapering rather than ending on a salary cliff edge.    Plus a Canadian listener hits back at George’s recent derogatory comments on Ottawa and asks George and Ed for their predictions if significant election results had gone another way.  Don’t forget if you’re a Kitchen Cabinet member and want to win a chance to see Centrist Dad live at the Water Rats on the 2nd July make sure to send in an EMQ to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk with the subject ‘CENTRIST DAD’. If you have any other burning questions send them to questions@politicalcurrency.co.uk and make sure to include a voice note of your question or send a question to our social media handles: 👉 X 👉 Instagram 👉 TikTok Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks i…","meta_description":"Al Carns revealed in the wake of his resignation he only met Keir Starmer in an official capacity once. On this week’s EMQs, Ed Balls and George Osborne b…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2801,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/emqs-keir-starmer-s-problem-with-ministers/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/emqs-keir-starmer-s-problem-with-ministers.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}