Politics as theatre: City podcast counts down to the 2024 General Election

Is Conservative policy being made on the fly? Is a Labour win overstated, or are there echoes to the 1997 New Labour campaign?

Experts from City, University of London launched the new podcast City Politicos: Counting Down to the UK 2024 Election to answer these questions and more.

Its first episode went live following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprise snap election announcement.

With only six weeks to campaign and Labour tipped to win, electoral campaigns are moving fast ahead with voters preparing to head to the polls on Thursday 4 July.

“Electoral politics is a form of performance and theatre,” said Professor Ian Pace, who is producing the podcast. “This is not a podcast made by political pundits. It will take a broader view to bridge the gap between academia and current affairs and help listeners better understand the election campaigns.”

Professor Pace is one of the hosts on the podcast and is an expert in music, culture and society in the School of Policy & Global Affairs (SPGA). He is joined by fellow hosts and academics within the School:

• Professor Michael Ben-Gad is an expert in economics and a member of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)
• Dr Lise Butler, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, whose research area predominantly focuses on leftwing politics, activism and political thought
• Professor Charles Lees, Executive Dean of SPGA, researches comparative politics and policy, coalition governments and environmental politics
• Professor Chris Rojek, Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology, is an expert in the sociology of celebrity, culture and parasocial relationships
• Dr Konstantin Vossing, Reader in International Politics, researches political events, the ways in which people form opinions on controversial issues, and how elites shape opinion.

This election is about more than just capital ‘p’ Politics. There are also major questions to address about how wider social developments will inform the election, such as voting patterns and voter engagement.

At City, our academics have extensive knowledge and expertise about British and international political history, as well as the social and cultural aspects of elections. We hope to marry the cut and thrust of regular political debate to the deeper insights available to academics.

What we are certainly not trying to do is persuade listeners how to vote! We hope our listeners they will gain a deeper understanding of the workings and processes of the elections and indeed of the democratic process in general.

This election is not just a short affair which lasts six weeks and can then be forgotten. Our listeners will understand how the election campaign connects with day-to-day issues, and is an extension of much wider political, historical, social, cultural and economic processes.