Business
This week, Michael speaks to Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Duncan of Springbank. Before resigning from the Government in 2019, Lord Duncan served as the Minister for Climate Change in Boris Johnson's Government. Prior to this, he was both the Undersecretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland, the latter of which involved overseeing the Northern Ireland Protocol aspects of the Brexit negotiations; the introduction of gay marriage; and legalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. Before that, he began his ministerial position as Undersecretary of State for Wales. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2014-17, playing key roles in Fisheries and Energy. First, he began his career as an academic and has a PhD Palaeontology. As the window of opportunity to secure a Brexit deal gets smaller and smaller, Michael quizzes Lord Duncan on how we have got where we are on Brexit and the UK Government's strategy. They discuss how he feels about the Internal Market Bill dismantling his work in Northern Ireland; the other constitutional problems for the UK; and why reforming the House of Lords is like "juggling sh*t with white gloves"... You can follow Lord Duncan on Twitter @IanDuncanHMG. The podcast was recorded outside and socially distanced, so please excuse the occasional sound of wind and a screaming child.