24/02/2024
Following the chaotic scenes in Parliament on Wednesday Sonia Sodha of The Observer analyses the political week. Dr Ruth Fox of The Hansard Society explains why an opposition day debate about Gaza, and calls for a ceasefire, descended in to bitter arguments about parliamentary procedure. John Nicolson of the SNP discusses why his party thinks the Commons Speaker should resign over the issue. And, to reflect on the wider crisis, Sonia speaks to former Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood and the Chair of the International Development Select Committee, Sarah Champion, who has just returned from a trip to the Egypt-Gaza border. On Monday the Business Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, gave a robust response to claims made by the former Chairman of the Post Office who she had previously sacked over the Horizon scandal. Sonia speaks to two MPs who were in the chamber for that statement: Conservative Conor Burns and Labour's Kevan Jones, who has campaigned for many years on behalf of wrongly convicted sub-postmasters. And, after Keir Starmer's chief of staff suggested Labour could make use of citizens' assemblies to decide on contentious issues, Sonia brings together Louise Caldwell, who took part in the Irish citizens' assembly on abortion, and Joe Twyman of Deltapoll, who has helped run such assemblies in the past.