The Daily Politics

This article is about the British television show. For the New York political blog, see New York Daily News.

The Daily Politics
Genre	Current Affairs & Politics
Presented by	Andrew Neil Jo Coburn
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Original run	2003 (2003) – present
Chronology
Related shows	This Week Politics Show
External links
Website

The Daily Politics is a British television show launched by the BBC in 2003. Presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn, the programme takes an in-depth and sometimes irreverent look at the daily goings on in Westminster and other areas across Britain and the world, and includes interviews with leading politicians and political commentators. It replaced Westminster Live which ended in 2002.

Broadcast times

The Daily Politics is broadcast live on BBC Two at a running time of 30 minutes from 12:00-12:30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when Parliament is sitting. On Wednesdays the programme runs from 11:30 to 13:00 and includes live coverage of Prime Minister's Questions.

Each show is repeated on BBC Parliament at midnight on the same day, and is available on the BBC iPlayer for seven days.

During the party conference season the Daily Politics has extended programmes of 60-minutes long in the mornings, with an additional show covering the leaders' speech in the afternoon.

The Daily Politics team also produce a conference highlights pogramme called Today at Conference which goes out after Newsnight on BBC Two and is also presented by Andrew Neil.

During the 2010 General Election, BBC Two ran nine, 45-minute Daily Politics Election Debates. These programmes were presented by Andrew Neil and a specialist BBC correspondent.

From January 2012, the show will also broadcast a sunday edition presented by Andrew Neil as part of the relaunched six days a week format. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will also be extended to one hour. ^[1]

Presenters

Daisy Sampson was Neil's co-presenter until the summer of 2005 when she left to join ITV. Jenny Scott joined as her replacement. She left in June 2008 to join the Bank 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 with Jo Coburn presenting on Thursdays.

Shelagh Fogarty joined the team in January 2010 to co-host with 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

When the programme returns on on 5 September 2011, it will be presented by Andrew Neil on Mondays, Jo Coburn on Fridays, and the two of them together on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Jon Sopel and Eddie Mair have appeared as guest presenters in Andrew Neil's absence.

The regular reporters are Adam Fleming, Giles Dilnot, Max Cotton and David Thompson - a joint team with BBC1's Politics Show.

Other regular contributors to the show include the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson and his deputy James Landale - who help to review Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday's extended shows.

Daily Politics Debates

During the run up to the 2010 General Election The Daily Politics held a series of special editions of the programme featuring debates involving members of the incumbent Labour Cabinet and their Conservative and Liberal Democrat equivalents. These debates ran alongside the main 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.^[4]

Competition

Every Wednesday the programme features an e-mail competition where viewers answer a question for the chance to win a coveted Daily Politics mug. This competition was suspended as per BBC policy in the wake of the Blue Peter phone-in scandal. The competition returned in 2008 with entries picked out of a giant-sized Daily Politics mug instead of a normal mug (after initially using a Daily Politics bucket). Neither the enlarged mug nor the Daily Politics bucket have yet been made available as a prize. The design of the mug changed in September 2008, after a relaunch of the programme.

Trivia

The Daily Politics is produced at the BBC's Millbank studios just over the road from the Palace of Westminster but despite this convenient location it is not unknown for MPs and guests to arrive late for their interviews; a social gaffe which Andrew Neil frequently reminds them of on subsequent appearances. However on May 17th 2011 when the programme was re-scheduled to an earlier slot of 11:30 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. ^[5]

See also

• This Week

References

1. ^ http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48008&c=1
2. ^ "Changing faces at the Daily Politics". BBC Online. 17 December 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8416477.stm. Retrieved 8 January 2010. 
3. ^ "BBC News". BBC News. 12 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/13473851. 
4. ^ "Daily Politics Cabinet Contender Election Debates". BBC News. 22 March 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8579930.stm. Retrieved 16 April 2010. 
5. ^ ((cite url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011fwqg/The_Daily_Politics_17_05_2011/))

External links

• The Daily Politics at BBC Online
• The Daily Politics at the Internet Movie Database