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10 October 2024updated 19 Sep 2025 11:27am

Nicola Sturgeon on Boris Johnson the “playground bully”

The former First Minister joins the New Statesman podcast.

On this episode of the New Statesman podcast: Power shifts inside Number 10, a Tory leadership shock twist, and Sturgeon reviews Johnson’s book.

Keir Starmer has made changes at the top of his Number 10 team. Sue Gray has been ousted as chief of staff and replaced by the Labour campaign supremo Morgan McSweeney. 

George Eaton and Rachel Cunliffe join Hannah Barnes to explore what this means – including what exactly a chief of staff does, and who Morgan McSweeney is.

A shock twist in the Tory leadership race saw James Cleverly defeated leaving Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick as front-runners to replace Rishi Sunak. Was this a disastrous miscalculation by “camp Cleverly”? 

Treat yourself or a friend this Christmas to a New Statesman subscription for just £2

And Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland, reviews Boris Johnson’s memoir, “Unleashed”, calling it “gut-wrenching” and “craven”.


Listen to the New Statesman podcast

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