Sebastian Payne

Podcast: Comedy meets politics and Osborne’s 13 tests for No.10

Why has politics turned into stand-up comedy? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Andrew Watts and Jesse Norman MP discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on how these two worlds are colliding. What does the increased influence of comedy mean for our faith in politics? Aside from notably humorous politicians like Boris Johnson, how funny are MPs generally? And which member of the Labour shadow cabinet is deemed so funny he could be a professional stand-up?

James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also look at 13 tests to make it into Downing Street set by George Osborne — in 2004. Based on a Spectator piece he wrote earlier in his Parliamentary career, how many of these tests does his government pass? And by his own measures, will the Conservatives end up back in No.10 after May?

Plus, Mark Mason and Fraser Nelson discuss why they won’t necessarily push their children to attend university.

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