Crony War

<p>Rachel Reeves, the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has made an intervention calling for an end to the government’s “outsourcing obsession”. She’s accused the government of handing £2bn of coronavirus contracts to Conservative friends and donors and wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on faulty equipment that can’t be used. Ailbhe has<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/02/comeback-rachel-reeves" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;interviewed Ms. Reeves</a>&nbsp;exclusively for the&nbsp;<em>New Statesman</em>, and on this episode of the podcast Ailbhe joins Stephen and Anoosh to discuss the cronyism controversy, and the former shadow work and pensions secretary's return to the front benches. Then, in You Ask Us, they clear up some of the confusion surrounding factionalism and in-fighting within the Scottish National Party.</p><br /><p><strong>Subscribing</strong> to the New Statesman helps us keep producing this podcast. You can now subscribe for 12 weeks for just £12. Visit <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/subscribe12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newstatesman.com/subscribe12</a>.</p><br /><p><strong>Read more on the New Statesman:</strong></p><p>Ailbhe's interview with <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/02/comeback-rachel-reeves" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rachel Reeves MP</a></p><p>Stephen argues&nbsp;that the apparent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/elections/2021/02/are-greens-surging-well-it-s-complicated" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">polling surge for the Green party</a>&nbsp;matters more for the Liberal Democrats than the Labour party.</p><p>James Meadway writes that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2021/02/why-long-term-covid-could-mean-long-term-conservative-rule" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">long-term Covid could mean long-term Conservative rule</a>.</p><br /><p><strong>We'd love to hear from you.</strong></p><p>Send us your You Ask Us questions at&nbsp;<a href="http://youaskus.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">youaskus.co.uk</a>.</p><p>You can follow Stephen Bush on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenkb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@stephenkb</a>. Anoosh Chakelian is <a href="https://twitter.com/Anoosh_C" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@Anoosh_C</a> and Ailbhe Rea is <a href="https://twitter.com/PronouncedAlva" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@PronouncedAlva</a>.</p><br /><p><strong>More audio</strong> from the New Statesman: listen to our weekly global affairs show <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/world-review/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>World Review</em></a></p><br /><p>If you are a&nbsp;New Statesman&nbsp;digital subscriber you can get ad-free access to this podcast by visiting&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/nssubscribers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newstatesman.com/nssubscribers</a>.</p><br /><p><strong>Topics in this episode:</strong></p><p>coronavirus</p><p>covid-19</p><p>government spending</p><p>outsourcing</p><p>government contracts</p><p>the labour party</p><p>the conservative party</p><p>Scotland</p><p>the SNP</p><br /><p><strong>People mentioned in this episode:</strong></p><p>Rachel Reeves</p><p>Boris Johnson</p><p>Keir Starmer</p><p>Michael Gove</p><p>Ed Miliband</p><p>David Cameron</p><p>Nicola Sturgeon</p><p>Alex Salmond</p><p><strong>LISTEN AD-FREE:</strong></p><p>📱<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2022/06/newapp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the New Statesman app</a></p><br /><p><strong>MORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:</strong></p><p>❓ <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/2022/10/you-ask-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ask a question</a> – we answer them every Friday</p><p>⏰ <a href="https://morningcall.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Get our daily politics newsletter</a> every morning</p><p>✍️ <a href="http://saturdayread.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enjoy the best of our writing</a> via email every Saturday</p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>