Political Currency
Presentation
Hosted byEd Balls
George Osborne
Genretalk
Format
LanguageEnglish
Lengthc. 45 minutes
Production
No. of episodes17 Edit this on Wikidata
Publication
Original release14 September 2023 (14 September 2023)
Ratings3.7/5 Edit this on Wikidata
Related
Websitehttps://www.persephonica.com/shows/political-currency Edit this on Wikidata

Political Currency is a British podcast hosted by George Osborne and Ed Balls.[1] It launched on 14 September 2023[1] and is produced by Persephonica.[2]

Background

George Osborne is a former chancellor of the exchequer who served in David Cameron's Conservative government. He was fired as chancellor after Theresa May became prime minister in the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although tipped to be Cameron's successor as prime minister at one time,[3][4] Osborne eventually left parliament in 2017. Subsequently, he was the editor of the Evening Standard and currently serves as the chair of the British Museum.

Ed Balls served in New Labour governments, first as Tony Blair's economic secretary to the treasury and later as Gordon Brown's secretary of state for children and families. During Osborne's time in government, Balls was Ed Miliband's shadow chancellor shadowing Osborne. He lost his Morley and Outwood parliamentary seat in 2015 and retired from politics. He has since taught at Harvard and King's College, London, as well as taken part in reality TV shows.

In June 2023, Persephonica announced that Osborne and Balls would host an economics-focused political podcast.[5]

Reception

Since it was announced and debuted, several commentators noted the podcast's similarity to The Rest is Politics, a successful podcast hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.[1][6][7] Like Balls and Osborne, Campbell and Stewart belong to the Labour and Conservative parties respectively.

Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman was critical of the podcast, calling it a "howl of nostalgia for a bygone era", where Osborne and Balls were seeking political relevancy after having had their political careers ended years back.[1] Nicholas Harris noted similarly on UnHerd, quipping that the podcast has an ironic name, "a resource of which these men are utterly spent".[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rachel Cunliffe (15 September 2023). "Ed Balls and George Osborne's banal centrism". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. ↑ Reem Makari (11 September 2023). "Political Currency podcast with Ed Balls and George Osborne launches this week". PodPod. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Andrew Grice (29 September 2014). "Analysis: George Osborne inspired the Tory faithful, but will he ever be leader?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  4. ↑ "Tory leader race: Osborne's defeat boosts rival Boris". The Week. 1 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Jim Waterson (29 June 2023). "'We're frenemies': George Osborne and Ed Balls to launch economics podcast". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Chas Newkey-Burden (12 September 2023). "Best of frenemies: do centrist podcasts mark end of political divide?". The Week. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  7. 1 2 Nicholas Harris (15 September 2023). "George Osborne and Ed Balls have no political currency". UnHerd. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
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