Best political podcasts in the UK to help you navigate the general election

Binge-listen these hit political shows ahead of the election on Thursday 
Prime minister Boris Johnson trying to keep up with all the political podcasts ahead of the election this week
Hannah McKay-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Amelia Heathman9 December 2019

Christmas celebrations are on pause as we enter the final week of campaigning for the 2019 UK general election.

There's only a few days to decide who you are going to vote for this year: are you ready to Get Brexit Done or does your affliction swing to For the Many, Not the Few?

With the deadline for choosing the direction of UK politics for the next five years coming up, it’s the perfect opportunity to binge-listen some of the UK’s best political podcasts that will give you all the details and drama ahead of judgement day on Thursday.

BBC Radio 4 Friday Night Comedy: The Now Show

If your feelings towards the political situation are more keep laughing to stop from crying, than this season of The Now Show, currently available in the Friday Night Comedy podcast feed, is the one for you.

Hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, as well as various guests, The Now Show offers a satirical look at the week’s new, in the form of stand-up sketches and songs.

General Election 2019 - In pictures

1/83

Electioncast

Previously Brexitcast, the BBC Politics team have taken a break from usual Brexit-related podcast programming to showcase the essential news of the upcoming election. From breaking down the party manifestos, to crossovers with other shows such as The Receipts, and a special Dead Ringers episode, you should feel informed and entertained after each show.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Ed Miliband pulled off perhaps one of the greatest pivots of all time when he stepped down as Labour party leader and rebranded as a podcast host alongside radio host Geoff Lloyd.

The hour-long episodes focus on a particular policy idea, this week’s takes a look at compulsory voting, and features interviews from specialists on the subject, before finishing up with a comedian who offers their reasons to be cheerful.

Overall, it offers some light in the dark political world.

The Leader

The daily podcast trend has really taken off in 2019, from the rise and rise of The Daily, to new entrants such as Parcast’s daily horoscope show. The Leader, from the Evening Standard, features a mixture of news and opinion, taking in the headlines of the day and offering the paper’s slant on the matter. As the election heats up this week, it’s a must-listen and at only 15 minutes long, it’s easy to stay informed on the go. On December 13, we'll be running an election special, with members of the paper's senior editorial team dissecting the result of the election as soon as the results are in.

The Political Party

Comedian and former political adviser Matt Ford has upped the production of his hit political show The Political Party by turning it from a monthly show to a daily one. For the past few weeks, he has been publishing daily interviews with politicians, advisers and experts from across the spectrum to keep you in the know during the campaign madness.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in