Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast
Oct 1, 2026 · 2 hr 6 min · 10 segments
In this emergency podcast, Alan Finlayson and Jeremy Gilbert analyse the key speeches at this year’s Labour Party…
Alan FinlaysonHostWell, very briefly, Burnham did not row back at all, it seems, from the other speeches of his we talked about in the past few weeks, where he said he was going to make a historic break with the legacy of Thatcherism.
If anything, he, you know, he leaned into that and set out a, some very ambitious, uh, policy agendas such as, uh, significant building of council housing, social housing, and a new national care service, and a bill to make possible taking back water into public ownership, although whether that will actually happen, we still don't know.
He, he presented all this in a manner which very much seemed to convince most people listening that this was a guy who was quite serious about making a historic break with Thatcherism and neoliberalism, and in a very self-consciously social democratic direction.
I mean, we, and we can talk a bit about the ways in which he's actually done exactly the thing I've been writing articles saying a Labour leader should do for the past 10 years, but I think I've already talked enough.
So I'd, I'd like to hear your initial responses to this speech before we get any further.
Yeah, so with my, with my, with my rhetorical political analysis hat on, I'm not gonna give it, I'm not gonna give it the full treatment.
He was very competent, very good at it, right? He spoke without notes, as far as I could tell.
So I think he was speaking without notes, moving around, um, quite confidently mostly.
I thought perhaps he'd forgotten his words, but it looked like he was more overcome, genuinely overcome emotionally 'cause he was about to say something about, uh, the recent death of his father.
So it was very much a speech that centered on him as the person articulating his character and his vision.
He was cultivating his own character as both man of the people, as both person who w- who is, uh, resonates with Labor Party culture and with a certain idea of the country, which we'll talk about more in a bit.
Um, but crucially also resonating, um, with, uh, the party particularly, I think.
Well, very briefly, Burnham did not row back at all, it seems, from the other speeches of his we talked about in the past few weeks, where he said he was going to make a historic break with the legacy of Thatcherism.
If anything, he, you know, he leaned into that and set out a, some very ambitious, uh, policy agendas such as, uh, significant building of council housing, social housing, and a new national care service, and a bill to make possible taking back water into public ownership, although whether that will actually happen, we still don't know.
He, he presented all this in a manner which very much seemed to convince most people listening that this was a guy who was quite serious about making a historic break with Thatcherism and neoliberalism, and in a very self-consciously social democratic direction.
I mean, we, and we can talk a bit about the ways in which he's actually done exactly the thing I've been writing articles saying a Labour leader should do for the past 10 years, but I think I've already talked enough.
So I'd, I'd like to hear your initial responses to this speech before we get any further.
Yeah, so with my, with my, with my rhetorical political analysis hat on, I'm not gonna give it, I'm not gonna give it the full treatment.
He was very competent, very good at it, right? He spoke without notes, as far as I could tell.
So I think he was speaking without notes, moving around, um, quite confidently mostly.
I thought perhaps he'd forgotten his words, but it looked like he was more overcome, genuinely overcome emotionally 'cause he was about to say something about, uh, the recent death of his father.
So it was very much a speech that centered on him as the person articulating his character and his vision.
He was cultivating his own character as both man of the people, as both person who w- who is, uh, resonates with Labor Party culture and with a certain idea of the country, which we'll talk about more in a bit.
Um, but crucially also resonating, um, with, uh, the party particularly, I think.
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