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 TRIP ELECTION TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Election Tour, just head to https://www.therestispolitics.com/ TRIP Plus: Become a member of The Rest Is Politics Plus to support the podcast, receive our exclusive newsletter, enjoy ad-free listening to both TRIP and Leading, benefit from discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, join our Discord chatroom, and receive early access to live show tickets and Question Time episodes. Just head to https://www.therestispolitics.com/ to sign up. ✅ Subscribe Here: https://www.youtube.com/@restispolitics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 🎙️ Listen To The Podcast: https://lnk.to/TheRestIsPoliticsYT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 📱 Follow Us On Socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restispolitics/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restispolitics/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@restispolitics Twitter: https://twitter.com/RestIsPolitics