{"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":"Inside The Room - The Libya Conflict: The Campaign (Part Two)","slug":"inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two","published_at":"2026-04-06T02:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276","url":"https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/69ce9f2b3a785fb94b891c37/media.mp3","summary":"Planes are in the air and the military intervention in Libya has now begun. But how does the operation progress from here? And what actually happens in a war room? In the second part of this mini series, Ed Balls and George Osborne ask Sir John Sawers about how MI6 gathered intelligence to guide the path forwards. He tells the story of leaving William Hague \"aghast\" by securing a visa for the Libyan foreign minister, who he then flattered with dinner at one of the service’s secure locations in return for crucial information…  The pair also speak to former deputy national security adviser Hugh Powell about why David Cameron always felt that action was better than inaction, and hear from Cathy Ashton about why the fall of Tripoli was a moment of success for the PM and Nicolas Sarkozy. However, with Gaddafi still alive and the UN mandate not accounting for regime change,  there was still reason to be apprehensive about the “huge challenge ahead”. Sawers and Powell discuss Gaddafi's skill of staying hidden, why MI6 doesn’t actually have a “license to kill”, and their approaches to negotiations with the dictator in his final weeks – including asking Tony Blair for help. Thanks for listening. In our third episode we take you right behind the scenes of the day Gaddafi was killed, and ask who was responsible for the post-war failures… Can’t wait? Subscribe now to get all three parts of Inside the Room: The Libya Conflict. You will also get access to our debrief episode The Inquiry, as well as early and ad-free access to our regular episodes of EMQs.  For even more perks, including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits:  Re…","meta_description":"Planes are in the air and the military intervention in Libya has now begun. But how does the operation progress from here? And what actually happens in a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2096,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two/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/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}