| Political Currency | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Ed Balls George Osborne |
| Genre | talk |
| Format |
|
| Language | English |
| Length | c. 45 minutes |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 17, 25, 30  |
| Publication | |
| Original release | 14 September 2023 |
| Ratings | 3.7/5 |
| Related | |
| Website | https://www.persephonica.com/shows/political-currency |
Political Currency is a British podcast hosted by George Osborne and Ed Balls. [1] It launched on 14 September 2023 [1] and is produced by Persephonica. [2]
George Osborne is a former chancellor of the exchequer who served in David Cameron's Conservative government. He was fired as chancellor after Theresa May became prime minister in the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although tipped to be Cameron's successor as prime minister at one time, [3] [4] Osborne eventually left parliament in 2017. Subsequently, he was the editor of the Evening Standard and currently serves as the chair of the British Museum and joined coinbase as an advisor.
Ed Balls served in New Labour governments, first as Tony Blair's economic secretary to the treasury and later as Gordon Brown's secretary of state for children and families and served a more unoffical role as advisor both when Brown was chancellor and Prime minister. During Osborne's time in government, Balls was Ed Miliband's shadow chancellor shadowing Osborne. He lost his Morley and Outwood parliamentary seat in 2015 and retired from politics. He has since taught at Harvard and King's College, London, as well as taken part in reality TV shows. He also presents Good Morning Britain a morning talk show.
In June 2023, Persephonica announced that Osborne and Balls would host an economics-focused political podcast. [5]
Since it was announced and debuted, several commentators noted the podcast's similarity to The Rest is Politics , a successful podcast hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. [1] [6] [7] Like Balls and Osborne, Campbell and Stewart belong to the Labour and Conservative parties respectively.
Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman was critical of the podcast, calling it a "howl of nostalgia for a bygone era", where Osborne and Balls were seeking political relevancy after having had their political careers ended years back. [1] Nicholas Harris noted similarly on UnHerd , quipping that the podcast has an ironic name, "a resource of which these men are utterly spent". [7]
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, having won the 2019 general election, and has been the primary governing party in the United Kingdom since 2010. The party sits on the right-wing to centre-right of the political spectrum. It encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatives. The party holds the annual Conservative Party Conference, at which senior Conservative figures promote party policy.
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of the Napoleonic Wars. As prime minister, his most significant achievement was the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. However, his government failed to either make peace with France or to accomplish Catholic emancipation and it was dismissed in the same year.
Yvette Cooper is a British politician serving as Shadow Home Secretary under Keir Starmer since 2021, having also served in the position under Ed Miliband from 2011 to 2015. She previously served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2008 to 2009 and Work and Pensions Secretary from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, previously Pontefract and Castleford, since 1997.
David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton, is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since 2023. He previously served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016, as Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016, and as Leader of the Opposition from 2005 to 2010, while serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016. He identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been associated with both economically liberal and socially liberal policies.
George Gideon Oliver Osborne is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 2001 to 2017. He was editor of the Evening Standard from 2017 to 2020.
11 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 11, is the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The residence, in Downing Street in London, was built alongside the official residence of the Prime Minister at Number 10 in 1682.
The Conservative Research Department (CRD) is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Westminster.
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Chloe Rebecca Smith is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich North since 2009. A member of the Conservative Party, she previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from September to October 2022 and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from April to July 2023.
The term Notting Hill set refers to an informal group of young figures who were in prominent leadership positions in the Conservative Party, or close advisory positions around the former party leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron. Several of the group studied at Oxford University.
Edward Michael Balls is a British broadcaster, economist and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton and later for Morley and Outwood between 2005 and 2015.
Charles George Eustice is a British politician and former public relations executive who held office as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2020 and 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Camborne and Redruth since 2010.
Larry is a British domestic tabby cat who has served as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street since 2011. He is cared for by Downing Street staff and is not the personal property of the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Peter Andrew Cruddas, Baron Cruddas is an English banker and businessman. He is the founder of online trading company CMC Markets. In the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, he was named the richest man in the City of London, with an estimated fortune of £860 million. As of March 2012, Forbes estimated his wealth at $1.3 billion, equivalent to £830 million at the time.
Sarah Southern is a British businesswoman and former Conservative Party official and aide to Prime Minister David Cameron. In 2012, she became embroiled in the so-called "Cash for Access" controversy after undercover journalists from The Sunday Times filmed the Conservative co-treasurer Peter Cruddas apparently offering access to the Prime Minister and his Chancellor George Osborne for £250,000. Southern is alleged to have introduced the journalists to Cruddas, while boasting to friends she had made "a tidy sum" by introducing people to the Prime Minister.
Rupert Harrison CBE is a British economist and a portfolio manager at BlackRock. He was from 2006 to 2015 the chief of staff to George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the UK Treasury. He is currently a member of the Economic Advisory Council convened by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. In June 2023, he was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bicester and Woodstock at the next General Election.
The Fresh Start Project or Fresh Start Group, also known as EU Fresh Start, is a moderate eurosceptic pressure group formed in the UK to examine the options for a new UK-EU relationship. It should not be confused with a previous group, also called Fresh Start, of anti-European MPs during the premiership of John Major in the 1990s.
Oliver James Dowden is a British politician and the current Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A member of the Conservative Party, he is also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015.
British prime minister David Cameron conducted the first major reshuffle of his coalition government on 4 September 2012. The reshuffle, nearly two and a half years after the government was sworn in, was highly anticipated, and eschewed the trend of annual reshuffles which had become common under the governments of the 1990s and 2000s. As a result, many ministers had been in place not just since the government was elected in 2010, but had covered the portfolio in Cameron's shadow cabinet or even earlier; Andrew Lansley had covered the health brief since 2004, when Michael Howard led the Conservatives in opposition.
Nicholas James Timothy is a British former political adviser. He served as Joint Downing Street Chief of Staff, alongside Fiona Hill, to Prime Minister Theresa May, until his resignation in the wake of the 2017 general election. In July 2023, he was selected as the Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for the West Suffolk constituency.
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