Alex Chalk, Lord Chancellor: How To Fix Britain's Prisons?

What are the powers of the Lord Chancellor? How important are friendships in politics? What needs to change to solve the prison crisis in the UK?

Rory and Alastair are joined by Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Alex Chalk to answer all these questions and more.

This was recorded before the general election.

00:00 intro
01:33 Friendship in politics
04:00 Principles in politics
04:51 The Volatility of politics
06:07 Time management as an MP
07:38 Divisiveness of Brexit
09:59 Lack of Brexit debate in the current campaign
11:13 What do you make of Nigel Farage?
11:42 What is populism?
13:59 Populism and Brexit
15:43 Could you envisage a day where Nigel Farage leads the Conservative Party?
16:53 Childhood and why are you a Tory?
19:23 Rory climbing across window ledges in the Houses of Parliament
19:55 What were you like as a child?
20:41 Head-boy at Winchester College with Rishi Sunak
21:15 Privilege and its downsides
23:09 Do you think that Class is still a big thing in our society?
24:34 The importance of the rule of law and Rwanda
26:20 Leaving the ECHR
27:47 Your journey with prisons, from lawyer to Prisons Minister
29:10 Responsibilities of the State in prisons
31:02 Prisons in the wider political debate
32:22 Labour's prison plans
33:17 A different approach to prisons
36:17 Removing shorter sentences
37:59 Prisons during COVID
39:58 Legal aid budget cuts
41:44 Wider problems with the legal system
43:10 (No) tax increases
45:50 20-points behind in the polls
48:29 Rishi Sunak
49:48 What you’ve learned about politics that surprises you
51:26 Kier Starmer’s time as a lawyer
52:47 Debrief

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