Decency Politics

As a journalist, historian, constitutional scholar and member of the House of Lords, Peter Hennessy has been observing British public and political life for more than 50 years. But now he's retiring from the House of Lords, and as he does he's struck by the rancour that is corroding our politics. What, he has been asking himself, can we do to restore decency to the heart of political conversation?

In this programme Peter has been putting that question to people who have thought about decency and how we might encourage it. And he's invited them to do it at his house over a cup of tea. From former Prime Minister John Major to Whitehall Fixer Louise Casey, Reform MP Danny Kruger to National Education Union leader Daniel Kebede, the doorbell has rung with its jaunty tune and Peter has sat down to hear what has gone wrong, how a decency economy has emerged on YouTube, and how we might encourage what he calls a 'decency bias' in public life.

Producer: Giles Edwards.