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| Daily Politics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Politics Current affairs |
| Directed by | Claire Bellis |
| Presented by | Andrew Neil (2003–2018) Daisy McAndrew (2003–2005) Jenny Scott (2005–2008) Anita Anand (2008–2011) Jo Coburn (2008–2018) Shelagh Fogarty (2010) |
| Theme music composer | Jim Meacock (2003–2011)[1] George Fenton (2012–2018)[2] |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 2700 (Daily Politics) 210 (Sunday Politics) |
| Production | |
| Production locations | BBC Millbank (Monday–Friday) Broadcasting House (Sunday) Palace of Westminster (Weds PMQs) |
| Editor | Robbie Gibb |
| Running time | 60 minutes (Mon–Fri) 90 minutes (Wed) 75 Minutes (Sunday) 25 Minutes (BBC World News) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two (Monday–Friday) BBC One (Sunday) BBC World News (Europe only) |
| Release | 8 January 2003 (2003-01-08) – 24 July 2018 (2018-07-24) |
| Related | |
Daily Politics is aBBC Television programme which aired between 6 January 2003 and 24 July 2018, presented byAndrew Neil andJo Coburn.Daily Politics took an in-depth review of the daily events in bothWestminster and other areas across Britain and abroad, and included interviews with leading politicians and political commentators.
The final episode ofDaily Politics broadcast was on 24 July 2018.[3][4] On 2 September 2018 it was replaced byBBC Politics Live. However, the regional opt-out edition,Sunday Politics, continued as aSunday morning talk show until 27 December 2020. TheSunday Politics brand continues to be used in Northern Ireland.
On 1 September 2000,Greg Dyke, thenDirector-General of the BBC, ordered a review of political output from the BBC, which was carried out byFran Unsworth.[5] This led to a major overhaul of political programming in 2003. Several flagship programmes were cancelled, includingOn the Record,Despatch Box andWestminster Live, and new programmes were launched, includingDaily Politics and thePolitics Show.[6]
Daily Politics first aired on Wednesday 8 January 2003, presented byAndrew Neil andDaisy Sampson.[7] The first show included coverage of the first 12:00 noon session ofPrime Minister's Questions in theHouse of Commons which later became standard in future.
In May 2008, the opening titles were revamped by Jonathan Spencer, the show's designer, usingAdobe Illustrator andCinema 4D.[8]
On 3 October 2011, it was announced that from 9 January 2012Daily Politics would be relaunched, broadcasting six days a week (Daily Politics – Monday to Friday andSunday Politics on Sundays). The duration ofDaily Politics was extended from 30 to 60 minutes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, remaining at 90 minutes on Wednesdays.Sunday Politics would become a weekend edition ofDaily Politics presented byAndrew Neil and replacingThe Politics Show, which ended in December 2011.[9]
On 9 January 2013, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary showing archive clips from theBlair,Brown andCameron years.[10][11] It celebrated its 15th anniversary in January 2018.[12]
Daily Politics was broadcast live at noon on weekdays onBBC Two when the House of Commons is sitting, lasting 60 minutes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays the programme was extended to 90 minutes from 11.30 am and included live coverage and analysis ofPrime Minister's Questions. Each show was repeated onBBC Parliament at midnight on the same day, and was available onBBC iPlayer for seven days. During party conference season, an additional programme covering the Party Leaders' speeches aired in the afternoons, and a highlights programme titledToday at Conference aired afterNewsnight onBBC Two. During the 2010 general election,BBC Two ran nine, 45-minuteDaily Politics election debates. These programmes were presented by Andrew Neil and a specialist BBC correspondent.
There was also a Northern Ireland version ofDaily Politics, broadcast asDaily Politics from Northern Ireland, to cover Northern Ireland Minister's Questions from Westminster; it opted out of the national programme for the first half-hour before Prime Minister's Questions on a Wednesday, and this was usually presented by Connor Bradford.
Daisy McAndrew (née Sampson) was Neil's co-presenter until the summer of 2005 when she left to joinITV.Jenny Scott joined as her replacement; she left in June 2008 to join theBank of England.Sally Magnusson joined briefly in 2005 as the sole presenter on Friday's episode.Anita Anand joined the programme as Jenny Scott's replacement in September 2008 withJo Coburn presenting on Thursdays.
Shelagh Fogarty joined the team in January 2010 to co-host with Andrew Neil on Thursdays for three months after Anita Anand began maternity leave, while Jo Coburn took on Anita Anand's role presenting four days a week.[13] At the beginning of April 2010, Jo Coburn went full-time presenting the programme every day. Anita Anand returned on 6 September 2010 and left the programme in July 2011.[14]
When the programme returned on 5 September 2011, it was presented by Andrew Neil on Mondays, Jo Coburn on Fridays, and both together on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. As of January 2012, following the creation ofSunday Politics, Coburn presented Monday to Thursday and Neil presented Wednesday to Friday. Following the break for Easter 2017, Coburn took over as the sole presenter on Thursdays and Fridays and Neil presented the Wednesday programme.
The regular reporters wereEllie Price, Elizabeth Glinka and Greg Dawson.Adam Fleming contributed regularly as a correspondent for the EU political situation in Brussels, having previously been a regular reporter for the programme at home. Other regular contributors to the show included either the BBC's Political EditorLaura Kuenssberg, her deputyJohn Pienaar or the BBC's Assistant Political EditorNorman Smith – who either helped to reviewPrime Minister's Questions on Wednesday's extended shows or contributed as correspondents for the programme.
Daily Politics was produced at the BBC's Millbank studios near the Palace of Westminster, but despite this convenient location, it was not unknown for MPs and guests to arrive late for their interviews; a social gaffe which Andrew Neil frequently reminded them of on subsequent appearances. However, on 17 May 2011, when the programme was rescheduled to an earlier slot of 11.30 am, Neil himself was caught in traffic and missed the entire programme, which had to be introduced solo by Anita Anand, with an empty chair alongside her.[15] For a while from 1 September 2014, the programme was moved to Broadcasting House while the Westminster studio was renovated.
On 4 January 2016, Laura Kuenssberg arranged forLabour MPStephen Doughty to announce his resignation on the show. This led to formal complaints.[16]
Every Wednesday the programme featured an email competition where viewers answered a question for the chance to win a covetedDaily Politicsmug. This competition was suspended as per BBC policy in the wake of theBlue Peterphone-in scandal. The competition returned in 2008 with entries picked out of a giant-sizedDaily Politics mug instead of a normal mug (after initially using aDaily Politicsbucket). Neither the enlarged mug nor theDaily Politics bucket were made available as a prize. The design of the mug changed in September 2008, after a relaunch of the programme. A new electronic method for choosing the winner was introduced in April 2012.
This programme was launched on 15 January 2012 to replace thePolitics Show and was presented by Andrew Neil until 2017. The network part ofSunday Politics was presented bySarah Smith from 4 September 2017 until the final programme on 22 July 2018. It is currently continuing as a regional programme, without the networked coverage.
Sunday Politics was divided into a number of clearly defined sections. The programme usually starts with a short interview on a topical subject making the news that day. This section is branded the Top Story. The main programme interview (the Sunday Interview) is introduced by a short graphic and normally lasts between 10 and 15 minutes. The next section is Head to Head which is introduced by a short film and consists of a debate between two people on a political issue in the news that week. At this point the programme opted to 11 English regional segments, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each opt-out lasted 23 minutes apart from Scotland (see below). Following the opt-outs the programme returned with a final section called The Week Ahead featuring three political journalists – regularlyJanan Ganesh (Financial Times),Isabel Oakeshott (Sunday Times),Helen Lewis (New Statesman) andNick Watt (The Guardian) who later joined BBC'sNewsnight.[citation needed]
On 6 November 2016, Neil presented fromWashington with Coburn in London ahead of the2016 US Presidential Election. On 23 August 2017, Neil announced he was standing down and that BBC Scotland Editor Sarah Smith would take over as the main presenter.[17]
There were 11 English regional editions (formerly opt-outs) onSunday Politics. Each region followed a similar format, consisting of two political figures, normally MPs or MEPs, appearing for the whole 29 minutes; this is extended from 23 minutes when the programme was merely an opt-out. In addition, each regional segment had topical interviews and discussions, short films and a review of the political week in 60 seconds.
Sunday Politics Scotland was presented byGordon Brewer orAndrew Kerr, and originally formed part of the networkedSunday Politics programme. Viewers in Scotland saw the first 37 minutes of the network programme (Top Story, Sunday Interview, and Head to Head) before opting to 38 minutes of analysis of the big political stories in Scotland. In its later years, the programme aired in a half-hour slot. The programme was replaced in February 2021 by "The Sunday Show", which is simulcast on bothBBC One Scotland andBBC Radio Scotland for 30 minutes, continuing until noon on radio.[18]
The Welsh segment ofSunday Politics lasted 29 minutes (increased from 23 when it formed part of the nationalSunday Politics programme). It follows a similar format to the English regional editions, with two political figures appearing for the whole 29 minutes and a weekly round up of the political week in 60 seconds.
The Northern Ireland segment ofSunday Politics normally lasts 28 minutes (23 when it formed part of the overallSunday Politics programme), but sometimes covers election debates and occasionally expanded to fill the wholeSunday Politics slot in Northern Ireland. In 2012, BBC NI put all its politics shows under the one production team, soStormont Today,The View andSunday Politics Northern Ireland are all presented by Mark Carruthers, who moved from Good Morning Ulster to be the face of politics on BBC NI, replacing Noel Thompson, who occupies Carruthers' former slot on Radio Ulster. Tara Mills hosts when Carruthers is unavailable. The Northern Ireland segment used to be repeated after the late night news on Sunday evenings, usually at 10.30 pm on BBC One NI, but from 2012 this has moved to BBC Two NI, at the same time as Match of the Day 2 is on BBC One.
During the run up to the2010 general electionDaily Politics held a series of debates involving members of the incumbent LabourCabinet and theirConservative andLiberal Democrat equivalents. These debates ran alongside themain leaders' debates held for the first time in 2010. Starting on Monday 19 April, there were nine debates held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the three weeks before 6 May. Andrew Neil acted as moderator, along with a specialist BBC correspondent.[19]
Again in the run up to the2015 general election, the programme again held a series of debates.[20]
| List of Debate episodes | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Date | Subject | Host | Correspondent | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dems | Green(E&W/SCO) | SNP | UKIP | Plaid Cymru |
| 2010 | 19 April | Foreign Affairs | Andrew Neil | Mark Urban | William Hague | David Miliband | Ed Davey | — | — | — | — |
| 20 April | Crime | Andrew Neil | Mark Easton | Chris Grayling | Alan Johnson | Chris Huhne | — | — | — | — | |
| 21 April | Chancellors | Andrew Neil | Stephanie Flanders | George Osborne | Alistair Darling | Vince Cable | — | — | — | — | |
| 26 April | Environment | Andrew Neil | Justin Rowlatt | Greg Clark | David Miliband | Simon Hughes | Darren Johnson | — | — | — | |
| 27 April | Business | Andrew Neil | Robert Peston | Ken Clarke | Peter Mandelson | John Thurso | — | John Swinney | — | — | |
| 28 April | Health | Andrew Neil | Branwen Jeffreys | Andrew Lansley | Andy Burnham | Norman Lamb | — | — | — | — | |
| 3 May | Education | Andrew Neil | Mike Baker | Michael Gove | Ed Balls | David Laws | — | — | — | — | |
| 4 May | Immigration | Andrew Neil | Mark Easton | Damian Green | Phil Woolas | Tom Brake | — | — | Lord Pearson | — | |
| 5 May | Trust | Andrew Neil | Jo Coburn | George Young | Harriet Harman | Lynne Featherstone | — | — | — | Adam Price | |
This was launched on 14 September 2012 to replaceThe Record Europe and aired onBBC Parliament andBBC World News in Europe presented by Andrew Neil, although Jo Coburn acted as a relief presenter.
