The Centrist Podcast: Recent Episodes
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The Centrist Podcast is hosted by Will Barber – Taylor and it includes interviews with a wide variety of politicians, academics and activists.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to former Labour Leader, former Leader of the Opposition and Centre supporter Lord Neil Kinnock. The discussion covered his time in politics, devolution, Proportional Representation and he discussed the famous "My Guy" music video with Tracey Ullmam.
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In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Yair Zivan, former advisor to Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party. In this episode they discussed what centrism means and his new book “The Centre Must Hold”.
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In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to John Bowers KC and is Principal of Brasenose College at Oxford University. He speaks about standards in politics and his new book "Downward spiral, Collapsing public standards and how to restore them".
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In this episode our Director Torrin Wilkins speaks to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords Lord Dick Newby. He previously served as the National Secretary of the SDP. They spoke about the history of the SDP and how it has impacted politics today.
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In this episode Will Barber – Taylor speaks to the Head of policy at Sustrans Tim Burns. Sustrans focuses on encouraging walking, wheeling and cycling. They own and maintain part of the National Cycle Network.
They speak about creating a more accessible National Cycle Network, the impact of cuts to National Cycle Network funding and supporting moves to walking and cycling.
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In this episode Will Barber – Taylor speaks to former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones. They speak about the future of devolution within the UK and whether the UK needs a written constitution.
In this episode Will Barber – Taylor speaks to former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones. They speak about the future of devolution within the UK and whether the UK needs a written constitution.
In this episode Torrin Wilkins speaks to Tracey Crouch, the MP for Chatham and Aylesford. She was Minister for Sport, Civil Society and Loneliness between 2017 and 2018. Tracey also chaired the independent Fan-Led Review of Football Governance.
They spoke about football governance, fixed odds betting terminal and the recent local elections.
In this episode Will Barber – Taylor speaks to. Will Travers who is the president of the Born Free Foundation, Born Free USA and Species Survival Network.
They discuss rewilding, how we can protect animals and the work being done by the Born Free Foundation.
In this episode Torrin Wilkins spoke to former Member of Parliment Lord Dick Taverne. He was also the Founder and Leader of the Democratic Labour Party. He also helped to create the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
In this interview they discussed the history of the SDP, the formation of the Democratic Labour Party, our relationship with the EU and his role in the formation of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
In this podcast we talk to Nuala about selection at the age of 10, the party positions on grammar schools and how those who want a comprehensive future can win the argument. She is both the Chair of Comprehensive Future and a post doctorate research fellow at the Kings College London School of Education, Communication & Society.
In this episode Torrin speaks to Mattha Busby on drug laws. Mattha previously wrote 'should all drugs be legalized?' and has written for The Guardian, Vice and The Times.
In this episode of In Conversation our Director, Torrin Wilkins, speaks to Chris Daw QC. He wrote the book "Justice on Trial: Radical Solutions for a System at Breaking Point" and co-presented the TV series "Crime - Are We Tough Enough?". They spoke about our prison system in the UK, the Norwegian prison system and drug laws.
Mark Bray-Parry speaks to Torrin about the energy crisis. It includes discussions around the energy price cap, renewable energy investment, ownership of energy companies and moving away from fossil fuels.
In this episode of In Conversation Torrin Wilkins speaks to David Rudolf. He is a Criminal Défense and Civil Rights Attorney and was in the Netflix series The Staircase. He was also portrayed in the HBO series The Staircase and started a law firm in 1982.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to the Leader of the True and Fair Party and business owner Gina Miller. They spoke about closing tax loopholes, our relationship with the EU and Proportional Representation.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Lord David Owen. David currently sits as an Independent Social Democrat member of the House of Lords. He previously led the Social Democratic Party and was Foreign Secretary between 1977 and 1979.
They spoke about the Social Democratic Party, Proportional Representation, the EU referendum, there Ukrainian crisis and independence referendums.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Dr Somayeh Taheri, the CEO and Founder of UrbanChain. They spoke about how we can scale up renewables, whether nuclear power should be part of the move to net zero and how the government can encourage the use of renewables.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Wendy Chamberlain, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Member of Parliament for North East Fife. They spoke about the justice system including reforming prisoners, policing in Scotland, devolution in Scotland, housing and the independence debate in Scotland.
Penelope Hope, the former Co-Founder of renewable energy company Rebel Energy UK, spoke to Will Barber-Taylor. They spoke about the energy crisis and how we move towards renewable energy sources.
Heledd has been the Senedd Member for South Wales Central region since May 2021. She is also the Plaid Cymru spokesperson on culture, sport and international affairs.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Heledd about why local services are so important to communities, why Heledd became an MS, the argument for devolving justice in Wales, Brexit and Welsh independence along with promoting Wales abroad.
In this episode Will speaks to both Daud Khan and James Roxborough of the Big Issues Podcast.
Patrick English is an Associate Director in the YouGov Political and Social Research team and YouGov's spokesman on political research.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Patrick about the slump in Conservative party support, pacts between progressive parties, Proportional Representation, the record of centrist parties such as Change UK, grammar schools, how much support there is for the monarchy and Brexit.
In this interview Will Barber-Taylor talks to Tobias Ellwood about our relationship with the EU, the possibility of a US free trade deal with the UK, the invasion of Ukraine, defence spending and the relationship of the UK with Africa and Asia.
Tobias is the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East, the Chair of the Defence Select Committee and is a member of the Privy Council. Tobias has also served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel and as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Middle East and North Africa. Before entering parliament Tobias was a soldier and in the Royal Green Jackets he reached the rank of captain.
Stephen Kinnock is the MP for Aberavon since 2015 and has been the Shadow Minister for Immigration since 2022. Stephen has also held the role of Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific and was also the Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces. He is also married to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former Prime Minister of Denmark, and he is the son of Neil and Glenys Kinnock.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor spoke to Stephen about his thoughts on centrism, how Labour can reconnect with voters, what rules we should have on immigration, devolution within the UK and the lessons we can learn from Denmark, especially their flexicurity model of getting people back into work.
In this interview Will Barber-Taylor talks to Chris Birks of Labour in Communications. They speak about how social media has changed political campaigning, the 1997 election and the work Labour in Communications is doing.
In this episode Will Barber-Taylor speaks to Sir David Hanson who was MP for Delyn from 1992-2019. During this time Sir David Hanson held a number of positions including as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Tony Blair, Minister of State for Justice from 2007-2009, Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office from 2005-2007 and Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing in the Home Office from 2009-2010. He is also a member of the Privy Council and received a knighthood in 2020.
This episode focuses on his time in office and a range of political issues. These include how we can reform prisoners, what the recent election results mean for Northern Ireland, those excluded from the income support schemes during the pandemic and David looks back at the cabinet in 1997.
In this episode Will talks to Councillor Alec Sandiford the Parliamentary candidate for Stone. They discuss why Centre opposes the abolition of Local Justice Areas, legal aid cuts, how we can create a fairer system to replace council tax, building more homes, the Rwanda plan put forwards by the government, "partygate" and Proportional Representation.
Centre supporter and former MP Stephen Lloyd talks to Will. They talk about why Stephen is a centrist, Brexit and how we can tackle loneliness after the pandemic.
This week Will Barber – Taylor interviews councillor and Centre supporter James Steel. They talk about the housing crisis and how we can increase the number of houses being built.
Melissa Benn is a writer, campaigner and journalist. She talks to Centre about the school system including comprehensives, grammar schools and secondary moderns.
Torrin Wilkins, Jasneet Samrai and Pushkin Defyer talk about education and specifically exams during COVID-19. This episode was recorded during the pandemic.
Torrin Wilkins, Jasneet Samrai and Pushkin Defyer talk about the impact of COVID-19 on exams. They also look at some of the ways the government could support students during this. This episode was recorded during the pandemic.
Torrin Wilkins, Jasneet Samrai and Pushkin Defyer talk about the issues with both grammar schools and the 11+ test. They also look at tutoring for the 11+ test and how selection at 10 impacts students. This episode was recorded during the pandemic.
Torrin interviews Layla Moran and talks about why she ran to be Lib Dem leader and what she would do in the role.
This interview was originally recorded during the 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election. Pushkin Defyer also gave his permission for this podcast to be released and he originally recorded the episode with Layla.
In this podcast we talk to Ed about his bid to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats. It includes discussions about academic selection at the age of 11, Academies, Brexit, electric cars and UBI. This interview was originally recorded during the 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
Correction: The number of grammar schools in England with at or above the average in terms of students with SEND/disabilities is just 4 out of the 163 schools. The rest were either below average or for a handful had no date.
Mathew Hulbert talks to Will Barber – Taylor about democracy. This episode looks at how we get to a fairer voting system, whether we should have a new election if the Prime Minister steps down, a written constitution, votes at 16, and whether we need an independent complaints body for political party complaints.
In this podcast episode Will talks to Lauren Davison about studying criminology and how we can improve the justice system within the UK.
Pushkin and Will discuss the new Centre paper "A second pandemic" and how we can improve mental health services within the UK.
In this episode Ryan and Torrin discuss the COP26 summit, how we fight climate change and what the net-zero target by 2050 means.
Will Barber - Taylor interviews Josiah Mortimer who is the Co-Editor of Left Foot Forwards and works in communications for the Electoral Reform Society. They speak about voter ID, proportional representation and shortlists.
Torrin Wilkins interviews Ryan Frendo who is a biodiversity and Nature Conservation assistant for Telford and Wrekin Council. He speaks to us about rewilding the UK and how we can convince the public on the issue.
Will Barber - Taylor interviews James Johnson, an ex pollster at number 10. They speak about how polling affects policy, how policies such as abolishing selection can be sold to voters and what it will require to implement ideas such as maglev which are seen as futuristic.
In this episode of the Centrist podcast Melanie Onn speaks to Will Barber – Taylor. They discuss the environment, Brexit and how we tackle sexual assault.
Music: 'Chasing Daylight' [Emotional Neoclassical CC-BY] - by Scott Buckley – www.scottbuckley.com.au