Why 7 prime ministers in 10 years is nothing new for the UK | FourSight

Keir Starmer is gone and now Andy Burnham is moving into Downing Street. That makes it seven prime ministers in just ten years, which has convinced a lot of people that the United Kingdom is in an unprecedented mess when it comes to politics. But, the UK has seen situations like this before - in fact, there have been four other times in the last two centuries when this many leaders came and went just as regularly. In this episode of FourSight, Kiran Moodley looks back over 200 years of British history, to compare the chaos of the past to today's mess and look at what is genuinely new and what has all the hallmarks of political crises so often seen before. Speaking to historians Dr Robert Saunders from Queen Mary University of London and Professor Lucy Delap from University of Cambridge, Kiran reveals three forces that have helped drive Britain's revolving door at No.10 for two centuries. And with Catherine Haddon of the Institute for Government, he asks the question the historians won't touch: what might come next? Watch this to find out why our unprecedented ‘political crisis’ isn’t so unprecedented at all. ------- CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction: is the UK ungovernable? 01:08 - History says this is normal 01:44 - The 1920s vs. Today 02:40 - What's driving this? Reason 1 05:38 - What's driving this? Reason 2 09:37 - What's driving this? Reason 3 11:34 - Democracy and adaptation 12:18 - What comes next? 13:01 - Interview: Catherine Haddon 15:13 - Opinion polls and short-termism 16:01 - Brexit: the cause or symptom of realignment? 17:47 - Is the two-party era really over? 18:58 - Thanks for watching ------- Get more news at our site - https://www.channel4.com/news/ Subscribe to our Substack newsletter: https://channel4news.substack.com/sub... Follow us: TikTok -   / c4news   Instagram -   / channel4news   Twitter -   / channel4news   Facebook -   / channel4news