Starmer Resigns! Listen up, Labour: Lessons learned from the Trump trap w/ Ben Rhodes

As Ben Rhodes says on this week’s episode, “we’re in a revolutionary moment globally”. Joining Nish and Coco from sister show Pod Save the World, Ben shares (and despairs) about the state of UK and US politics, and tells us what we can take from the Democrats’ disaster of 2024. Isn’t it time that progressives got their own populist?

Plus, we hear about Ben’s new book, ‘All We Say’, tracing American history through some of its most famous–and infamous–speeches. We talk to him about the similarities between Britain and America both losing their way when it comes to national identity, and how our leaders need to tell it like it is. We can handle the truth!

Also on the show: New Statesman Editor Tom McTague dissects Starmer’s swan song, explains his last minute decision not to challenge Burnham for leadership, and sets out why it all went wrong for a man who won a landslide victory less than two years ago.

USEFUL LINKS Grab a copy of Ben’s new book, All We Say: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/470622/all-we-say-by-rhodes-ben/9781847928887

Ailbhe Rea’s recent piece in the New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2026/06/what-happens-now

Tom McTague’s interview with Keir Starmer: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2025/06/what-keir-starmer-cant-say

GUESTS Ben Rhodes Tom McTague

CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS

SAILY: https://www.saily.com/podsave HRF Power Plays: Search Power Plays wherever you get your podcasts. VANTA: https://www.vanta.com/PSTUK WISE: https://www.wise.com BT: Search ‘Why BT’ to find out more.

Pod Save the UK is an Intelligence Squared production for Crooked Media.

Get in touch - contact us via email: podsavetheuk@crooked.com we’d love to hear from you as we plan to do a mailbag episode soon: end any questions, thoughts, or musings our way!

Like and follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodSavetheUK Instagram: https://instagram.com/podsavetheuk TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheuk BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/podsavetheuk.crooked.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheuk X: https://x.com/podsavetheuk