Podcasting, political elites and the democratic crisis in the United Kingdom

This article unpacks two related trends witnessed in the UK election year of 2024: the ongoing crisis of democracy and political communications; and the emergence of podcasts fronted by members of the political elite as a leading media format. Democratic participation reached a nadir in 2024, with the general election seeing the lowest turnout, by share of population, of any British election since universal suffrage. Alongside this, 2024 was dubbed the ‘first podcast election’, embodied in the popularity and proliferation of podcasts fronted by members of the political elite, with senior figures from across the party political spectrum taking to ‘cosy’ careers in podcasting with their newfound political ‘frenemies’. At a time when trust in mainstream news media is low, the popularity of these podcasts could be seen as a positive development for media and democracy, providing the electorate with free access to information, via a medium that allows for more in-depth and expansive political commentary. In reality, podcasting has offered a major platform to members of the political elite, providing a poignant realisation of Herman and Chomsky’s assertion that the media will serve elite interests uncompromisingly. Through a thematic analysis of the tone, narrative and framings present across podcasts covering the 2024 election campaign ‐ including The Rest Is Politics hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, and Political Currency hosted by George Osborne and Ed Balls ‐ the article illustrates the use of podcasting as a means for political elites to rehabilitate and humanise their public image. Furthermore, such podcasts offer a framing of electoral politics that is barely ideological, or even that ‘political’ ‐ reflecting the tone of the wider election campaign, and representing a further development of political communications in an era of post-democracy. The article ends by positing what can be learnt from the success of these podcasts, which, in a fragmented digital media ecosystem, have found a captive audience through long-form political discussion.