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How to get tickets for The Rest is Politics Live Tour in the UK, including price

Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell’s hit podcast is touring the country

2024 is shaping up to be a pretty big year for gigs in the UK. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour , Liam Gallagher celebrating 30 years of ‘Definitely Maybe’ , and now rock ‘n’ roll podcast stars Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell are joining those ranks – The Rest is Politics is coming to a city near you.

The duo, who both have experience being at the centre of government, have amassed a vast listener base and are consistently in the top ten most listened to podcasts in the UK. They discuss current issues from ‘across the divide’, Stewart being a former Tory cabinet minster and Campbell having been a strategist for Blair’s government.

Whether you’re left or right wing, or just interested in the inner workings of Westminster, the duo can certainly be insightful. H ere’s everything you need to know about the podcast’s live shows in the UK, from dates to ticket prices and availability. 

When is The Rest Is Politics going on a UK tour in 2024?

The boys will head to six different locations across the UK in October, including:

• Brighton Centre, Brighton: Oct 6
• Utilita Arena, Birmingham: Oct 9
• O2 Apollo Manchester: Oct 11 (Two shows, one matinee and one evening show)
• SEC Armadillo, Glasgow: Oct 12
• Utilita Arena, Cardiff: Oct 14
• The O2, London: Oct 15

When do tickets go on sale? 

General sale is this Friday (February 16). You don’t need to sign up beforehand, just have Ticketmaster/AXS ready to go at 10am. Each venue will have slightly different details on how to get tickets, which you can find out here .

How much will tickets cost?

Tickets will start at around £39.50, but expect a slight variation between venues. 

If you miss the lads on their tour, don’t fret. The Rest is Politics post weekly wherever you get your podcasts, so you can always enjoy Rory Stewart’s dulcet tones from the comfort of your home.

Did you see that  this glam hotel has been named the most romantic in the UK ?

Stay in the loop: sign up to our  free Time Out UK newsletter  for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.  

• Annie McNamee Contributor, Time Out London and UK

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Rory Stewart still doesn’t know who he is

The politician-turned-podcaster is paying the price for his illusions.

By Will Lloyd

Late in the Seventies, Rory Stewart was taken by his godfather, the journalist John Tusa, to the Royal Albert Hall. On show that day was a Chinese acrobatic troupe. They performed scarcely credible physical stunts, balancing acts, dances. The six-year-old Stewart turned to Tusa and said: “I can do that.”

In the 44 years since, Stewart, a politician, traveller and writer, has done just about everything – short of becoming a Chinese acrobat, or the prime minister. His life is more compellingly patterned, more theatrically retold, and perhaps more consciously shaped than any other in our public life.

Stewart has a new book out – a political memoir – but he has been working on the record of his life for years. A Wikipedia account, Chezza88 – named after a bulldog his mother owned – was set up in 2016 to write an entry for his father, Brian, a soldier, colonial officer and, between 1974 and 1979, the second-most powerful man in MI6.

In September 2020, almost a year to the day that he lost the whip along with 20 other Conservative MPs, Chezza88 turned to his own entry, which was updated for the next two years. Details were clarified. The history and seniority of Rory Stewart’s government roles became more pronounced. A section on his podcast, The Rest is Politics, appeared. 

When I emailed Stewart about the account, after spending a significant time with him in September for this profile, he replied: “That account has sometimes been used by me – I wrote my father’s entry – and inserted recent stuff about Rest Is Politics – it was however also heavily used by parliamentary office, leadership and London Campaign teams (and also at one point by mother!).”

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Stewart quit the Conservative Party on 3 October 2019. He announced his candidacy for the London mayoralty the next day. That campaign ended on 6 May 2020, when Stewart withdrew due to the constraints imposed on him by the Covid-19 pandemic . The editing of his Wikipedia page began four months later.

When we spoke on the phone he wanted to clarify that the account had not been doing anything mischievous. He sounded a bit rattled: “I hope there’s nothing really weird or horrible there.” There wasn’t – but the details appeared to contradict the version of the story Stewart had emailed me. He no longer had an MP’s staff when Chezza88 began editing his page.

It was an unusually confusing story. But this was an unusually confusing time for Stewart.

[See also: The progressive dilemma ]

At Eton Rory Stewart was felt to be exotic, unembarrassable and ambitious even by the school’s infinite standards. Stephen Brown, a playwright who has known him since childhood, said that “older boys were not very nice to him”. Another Eton friend, the academic Edward Skidelsky, remembers a “somewhat ridiculous character, very flamboyant”. If Stewart was bullied it seems to have had little effect on him. Stewart told me that he had “no teenage angst”. He wondered if he even had a soul.

Most Eton boys, like the literary critic James Wood, understood as they left the school that, as Wood wrote in 2019, “if we weren’t exactly managing decline, we would certainly not be pioneers of expansion. We inhabited a different world from that of our parents and grandparents.” But the teenage Stewart had no conception of decline. Instead he made up his mind to be a giant. John Tusa remembers his godson walking around his house in the holidays, “reading from great 19th-century political speeches” – practising for the future. Stewart told me that as a young man he had “prepared himself to do something completely astonishing, something that people would talk about for hundreds of years afterwards”. Anything less than greatness seemed unthinkable; in the end, Stewart was an MP for just short of a decade, and a cabinet minister for three months. 

By the time he arrived at Balliol College, Oxford, he was viewed by others there as a creature “from a different galaxy”. He tutored the King’s sons in the holidays. He supposedly spoke more languages than there were terrestrial television channels. He joined the Foreign Office after university. On a sabbatical from diplomatic work he walked for 18 months across Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Afghanistan. Stewart is not good at explaining why he walked across Afghanistan. He did it because he could do it, and maybe because Babur the first emperor of Mughal India had made the same journey. Stewart nearly perished somewhere in the high snowdrifts between Band-e-Amir and Ghorak. He had severe dysentery – he thinks his stomach was never quite the same thereafter – then produced a travelogue that still outsells the other books he later wrote.

The Places in Between was where Stewart developed the precisely tuned voice he uses to describe his accomplishments. First, he would do something that by contemporary standards was romantic, audacious, even deranged: walk solo from Herat to Kabul just after 9/11, or, as he did after the 2003 invasion, agree to be appointed the Coalition Provisional Authority deputy governorate coordinator in Maysan Province in southern Iraq. 

Then, unlike a tub-thumping Victorian gentleman-adventurer writing up his feats in a maximalist style, Stewart repackaged them as bitter failures, in cold, caveated prose that warned its readers that “I have tried not to record what I know to be false”. His friend, the Yale academic and contemporary in Iraq, Emma Sky said that Stewart reworked his experiences into those of a “tragic hero”.

As the 2000s closed the self-styled tragic hero decided to become a Conservative MP. He was profiled by the New Yorker before he even entered the House of Commons.

A powerful, schmaltzy cliché developed. Stewart had fallen through a trapdoor in History. He was a living reminder of grander, more glorious days, when British heroes were players on the stage of empire. Stewart, they all wrote or said, was a “man out of time”; “a character from another century”; “a figure from a bygone age”; “not quite in the 21st century”. The only thing missing from these portraits was a powdered wig, a spaniel and a musket.

Something else clung to Stewart as he was elected MP for Penrith and the Border in 2010. He had followers in the media and academia, and few in the Conservative Party, but it was felt by commentators like Matthew Parris that he might eventually become prime minister. (Sky thinks Stewart “always had his eye on the big prize”, while Skidelsky said the young Stewart was “sure of himself and his destiny”.) It made narrative sense; it was a climax that fulfilled his questing behaviour. It was exactly the sort of thing that would happen to someone like him, just as it had to David Cameron , and would eventually to Boris Johnson . 

Except that was 13 years ago. Stewart is no longer a politician, and no longer a member of the Conservative Party. When I travelled north from Edinburgh in early September to Stewart’s family home, he had become the most modern thing a person could be. Rory Stewart was a podcaster.

[See also: Rory Stewart on what it’s like to run for prime minister ]

Broich House lies on the left bank of the River Earn, just south of Crieff, a Scottish town overlooked by blank brown hills, full of birdsong and empty churches. Before it was owned by the Stewarts, the mansion passed between Highland Scots who supported Bonnie Prince Charlie, Highland Scots who became district officers on the North-West Frontier Province of the Raj, and Highland Scots who made their actual homes in Kolkata. The wide, squat, grey Georgian building passed from the McLaurin-Monteaths to the Murrays, and then to the Stewarts.

My first meeting with Stewart came several months before at a dinner in the bullseye centre of London. Its purpose was pre-publicity for the new book, Politics on the Edge . He was now less famous for his writing, or his attempt to win the Conservative leadership four years ago, than he was for the astonishingly successful and lucrative podcast he had presented since 2022 with Alastair Campbell , The Rest is Politics . Stewart spoke carefully at the dinner about his book and his prospects of a return to British politics. He took tentative sips from a glass of white wine, as the journalists at the table grew more and more drunk on free alcohol. We were asked if we had questions for Stewart. A senior editor from the London Review of Books began a long, meandering, hesitating, prattling anecdote, which eventually arrived at a destination. This person wanted to pass on a message to Stewart from a friend in the civil service who had worked with him: Rory, you were just, you know, well, simply, an awfully good minister. Stewart looked pained – as if he’d been kicked by a small and angry pony – thanked the writer, and slightly bowed his head.

Over the summer Stewart agreed to be accompanied by the New Statesman on the first leg of the publicity tour for the book. We would meet in Crieff, take the train to Manchester where he was due to speak at the Lowry theatre, and then proceed from there to London. But the trains were cancelled due to strike action. We would be spending much of the weekend together in a car.

Stewart’s mother, Sally, greeted me beneath Broich House’s jutting Doric-style portico. Stewart himself then appeared, looking pale and tired, wearing a blue-and-white-checked country shirt, a manager-class quarter-zip fleece, navy blue corduroys and brown Chelsea boots. He was ethereally thin. I followed him through the hallway into a narrow kitchen, past a truly enormous doll’s house that was an exact replica of the mansion it stood in; past boxes of silver cutlery, walking sticks and walls thickly hung with memories of how Stewart’s father and grandfather had lived, when a Scottish officer’s hobbies were shooting animals, and occasionally, men. An oblivious orange tabby sauntered around.

We walked around the gardens and grounds and fields of Broich House while we waited for the car. Stewart moved fast and changed direction abruptly, stamping on nettles as he strode. He was annoyed by a recent innuendo-studded interview he had given to the Times , in which the interviewer indicated – to Stewart’s incredulity – that he did not like women. He said he was not psychologically prepared to speak at length to the press again. Then he told me about the dream – a nightmare – he had the night before. He was waiting in a queue at airport security, with friends, and the historian Timothy Garton Ash. The line moved and the opaque logic of the dream became clearer. They were not in an airport. The queue was taking them towards a machine that would chop Rory Stewart’s head off. When he woke up, he realised that he was not ready to die.

Stewart wanted to show me something. We trudged through a stretch of Himalayan balsam, a pink orchid-resembling flower with bursting seeds. When we reached the front of Stewart’s land he pointed through a gap in a hedge. Look: a new housing estate was creeping over the field towards Broich House. It was the same on the other side of the path. The suburbs of Crieff were advancing, closer and closer, unstoppably closer towards his home in a pincer movement. He calculated that several thousand people would soon be his neighbours, bringing with them cars, animals, light and noise. Stewart, who was permanently moving to London, said he was fine with the development. He was resigned to Broich House becoming an island in the middle of a housing estate. His face was somewhere between a smile and a wince: “I can no longer live the life of a quixotic Scottish country gentleman.”

When we returned, a Mercedes with a driver was waiting for us outside the house. Stewart found his suitcase, kissed his mother goodbye, and we began the journey south.

[See also: Danny Kruger: “The moral condition of England is worse” ]

Politics on the Edge is a book of recrimination, anger, shame and oblivion. It is about the failures of the Conservative Party, the failures of Britain, and the failures of Rory Stewart. Stewart said “he kept coming back to Tacitus” as he wrote. The Roman historian’s Annals describe the eclipse of the senate: its powerlessness under successive emperors and its descent into servile degeneracy. Politics on the Edge has the same message: parliament once knew better days. Its members are squandering a precious inheritance. Their failures are moral. Stewart thinks it will “make a lot of people angry”.

I asked him why anybody would want to be an MP after reading his book. While Stewart still meets with prospective MPs, he describes being a politician as “brutal” and “enervating”: “I became a worse person doing it.” He seems to have experienced the past decade as one long insult. After speaking with Stephen Brown, I wondered if Stewart had managed to replicate the worst experiences of his school days in parliament. Were the older boys being mean to him again? Stewart told Brown that his experience of politics was one of “being publicly humiliated on an epic scale”. When friends tell him they might enter politics, Stewart offers them advice: “Don’t.”

He returned to Westminster briefly last month. Portcullis House was leaking. The potted Indonesian trees that used to line its lobby had been removed. “I found it very, very depressing,” Stewart said. “I walked past the door of a colleague of mine who is currently suspended for allegations of sexual misconduct. And then I walked past the door of another colleague, who is currently under investigation for taking corrupt money and not declaring it.” Nothing had changed since 2019.

In conversation, and in Politics on the Edge , Stewart makes the Commons sound worse than Iraq , where several attempts were made to kill him and his colleagues with mortars and rockets, during a siege of their compound in Nasiriyah by Sadrist militias in May 2004. He thinks it was “definitely” worse being an MP than being the deputy governor of an Iraqi province. “The people who were shooting at me in Iraq I felt much more respectful towards than some of the people I dealt with in parliament.”

Political memoirs are often packaged to further political careers. Stewart likes to toy with speculation that he will return, somehow, to power. This month he suggested one route back might be through the Scottish Parliament; then he told another journalist that he would still like to be prime minister. Last summer he was reportedly part of an advisory board on the “Britain Project”, a Tony Blair Institute initiative that some saw as an embryonic new centre party. Stewart’s independent run for the London mayoralty in 2020 – abandoned when Covid hit that March – was an attempt to win meaningful power from the centre ground. Now The Rest is Politics , which is downloaded six million times a month, makes Stewart look like one of the only popular politicians left in Britain.

But there is nothing about what politics ought to be in this memoir. The book is entirely destructive. And the longer I spent with him in the back of the Mercedes, talking about 12th-century monasticism or VS Naipaul’s writing, the less Stewart seemed like a politician. When he outlined Laurence Sterne’s life in Encyclopaedia Britannica -level detail, Stewart sounded wryly professorial. When he talked about the “odd job” of being an MP, or the madness of trying to fight Boko Haram through Department for International Development schemes in Nigeria, Stewart just sounded sad and lost.

Politics on the Edge confirms that. When old Tory colleagues read the book Stewart thinks they will see him as “vengeful, ungrateful, over-privileged”. (One Tory source said: “He comes across often in that book as if he thinks he’s cleverer than everyone else.”) “It may be subconsciously written to ensure I can never return,” he said. Stewart was warned by Campbell, and his friend Michael Ignatieff – a public intellectual who made his own disastrous foray into Canadian politics – about the likely impact of the book. “They were like, ‘Rory, do you really want to do this because if you’re gonna go back into this game, you don’t want to do this to your colleagues.’” Stewart ignored them. He also ignored the fact that when Tacitus damned the Roman senate for all time, the people he described were safely dead.

We were heading down the A74, towards Gretna Green and the border. Every so often Stewart flicked a smart, adhesive glance at my notebook, before looking back to the car window, and the green fields that passed silently by.

He admitted that he was “thin-skinned”. The New Yorker profile written about him 13 years ago still bothered Stewart: “We are incapable of taking anyone seriously, aren’t we?” He complained that Ian Parker, the writer who profiled him, “wanted… my turns of phrase, my body language, my comical interactions with people”. Parker did not write about the thing Stewart is proudest of, his time in the 2000s running Turquoise Mountain, an NGO in Kabul. “It would be nice for somebody to try to take seriously what I’ve done well and badly.”

“Yeah, but you’re a character Rory,” I said.

He laughed and compared himself to Uncle Toby, a figure from Tristram Shandy . Uncle Toby is gentle, gallant and mad. A soldier forced into retirement by a groin injury, he spends his twilight years obsessively building miniature fortifications in his garden. He refights youthful battles, with no prospect of ever being called to war again.

[See also: Rory Stewart’s lessons in arguing well ]

When we stopped at a motorway services in Gretna, people recognised Rory Stewart. They either scuttled away, or approached him to say how wonderful he was. He has this in common with Boris Johnson: ordinary people admire him and think he is their friend.

Immense unease radiated from him, as unmistakable as the smell of burnt toast. Three hours into our journey, what surprised me most was how damaged Stewart was. In our conversations he described himself as “tortured”, “complicated” and “very, very different to the person who started in 2010”. Stewart seemed to be paying the price for not becoming the leader he thought he was.

How did it feel when the public saluted him? “It’s disturbing,” Stewart said. People felt like they knew him but they didn’t.

We sat on plastic chairs in the middle of a food court. Stewart ate a box of sushi dutifully, stabbing at the rolls, or shovelling them into his mouth with a fork. He ate like he hated food. The air was close. The noise – screaming children, yelling Burger King staff – was almost intolerable. We were not in the common room at Balliol, nor were we lounging in the library at White’s Club. We were far from the places and rewards Stewart was trained to inherit. We were a very long way from Westminster.

That night Stewart was interviewed on a stage at the Lowry theatre in Manchester by the Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins. The giant auditorium was filled with The Rest is Politics fans who cheered when Stewart arrived. It was a remarkable turnout for an ex-Tory cabinet minister in a northern city.

Earlier, Stewart told me that he had hoped to war-game the evening beforehand with Jenkins. Within minutes it was evident that no high-level strategy had been developed. Jenkins was incorrigible. He kept attacking Stewart’s podcast, which was, implicitly, an attack on everybody who had turned up to watch Stewart. The Rest is Politics , said Jenkins, was just a “cosy cluster in the middle”. When Jenkins listened to it, Stewart “seemed to be agreeing with him [Campbell] more than he agrees with you”. Discomfort bounced around the room. There was sparse coughing. Jenkins told Stewart he did not understand politics. Stewart told Jenkins that he had been a politician for a decade, and understood Westminster better than somebody who wrote columns about it.

At the interval, left-wing people told each other what a good bloke Stewart was. “What a different world we would live in if he had won,” one airily said. It was a strange kind of populism. They did not really understand that Stewart was a small-c conservative, a paternalist and a moralist. He venerates the past and sometimes thinks it was better than the present. He was “a believer in the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the Church of England”. The way they talked about him mirrored the way some Conservative Party members continue to speak about Johnson. They did not know, as Emma Sky later put it to me, that “Rory is not a man of the people”. Stewart’s fans believed he could recover from the disasters of politics by putting himself in the way of more. But when did another bottle ever cure an alcoholic?

The following morning another black Mercedes arrived to take us to London . Stewart said he’d had a better sleep. He was cheerful as we discussed the previous night’s event. I suggested it was dangerous for Stewart, if he really wanted to go back into politics, to become a commodified light entertainment product. 

He paused for a long time. Whenever he really stopped and thought, he chewed at his thumb or index finger. He said the podcast was an “amazing stroke of good fortune” (sources estimate Stewart’s earnings from the podcast at anywhere from £800,000 to £2.5m a year) but it still made him uneasy. “It cannot be the central meaning of my life.”

Later, he told me how ashamed he felt for being praised as a public speaker. “I feel like a sort of performing monkey. And that I’m doing something which is impressing people, but is a sort of trick.” Was it the same as a magic trick, in that the audience had to suspend their disbelief for the illusion to work? “I definitely have an element of vulgarity and the showman,” Stewart said. “I have knacks and tricks.”

A thread running through Stewart’s writing is a classically Tory distrust of abstract doctrine. In each of his four books there is a contest between theory and practice, fantasy and reality, the way things are and the way human beings wish them to be. These forces stretch a character called Rory Stewart in opposite directions, until he is pulled apart by them. The character goes looking for power, and finds that it doesn’t exist.

Stewart often says he is a realist. The novelists he loves – Graham Greene, James Salter, VS Naipaul, JM Coetzee – shared a similar worldview. When Stewart described the problems he had with being an MP, they often came down to a basic lack of knowledge. On The Rest is Politics he faces the same problem. “We can never really go into proper depth,” he said. “I mean, the embarrassment of it is that every episode I’m holding forth on things that I have a very general, pretty superficial knowledge of.” Stewart seems unhappy talking about, say, German politics in a way that Campbell does not. He wants to be more than a talking head.

The day before I had asked Stewart how he could bear to spend so much time with Campbell. How was Campbell a better man than Boris Johnson? How could Stewart think of Brexit as a worse mistake than the Iraq War? “I get that they made these catastrophic blunders,” Stewart said. “But I still can’t quite see… Alastair in the same way that I see Boris Johnson.”

Stewart hated Johnson. This hatred was not proportional, nor was it rational. He said that even his mother told him to “shut up about Boris”. But Stewart could not shut up; it was all too… intimate . Johnson was an apostate from Stewart’s class: the sons of Eton and Balliol, destined to govern Britain. At times it’s difficult for Stewart to talk about class . He acknowledged that it’s “weird” and “embarrassing”. He knew that it was possible to argue that the very notion of public service was a trick the upper classes have played on the lower orders for centuries.

[See also: We’re all working class now ]

Stewart and Johnson were taught by the same classics master at Eton, Martin Hammond, who compares the pair to Mark Antony (Boris) and Brutus (Rory). “I feel all the education he received,” said Stewart. “All the values he’s supposed to be living.” He thought that the “only thing going for the idea of privilege or the British gentleman, was supposed to be that they were reasonably honourable”. Johnson was Stewart’s shadow, a parody of the values he had dedicated his life to. They are back inside the school gates reliving schoolboy fantasies and humiliations. The rest of us are collateral.

Losing the leadership contest to Johnson in 2019 – a battle that Stewart had almost no chance at all of winning – continued to depress him. For years he released packs of rhetorical bloodhounds after Johnson, to no effect. (Despite being a major figure in the book, there was originally “much, much, much, much more; much, much more” about Johnson in Politics on the Edge .) The only person who could bring Johnson down in the end was Johnson himself. Both men had washed up in a strange place. Stewart was a podcaster tormented by a Daily Mail columnist. Only one had claimed the first prize. As far as I could tell, Johnson had never said anything in public that was critical of Stewart.

We spent a while going over the second television debate in the 2019 leadership contest. What could Stewart have done better? He was the most popular candidate in the race – with voters who did not vote Conservative. Even if, by some miracle, he had beaten Johnson, what then? He would have been up against Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party. The words didn’t seem to make Stewart feel better.

Did he want to be Brutus? No. “I’d like to be Cato the Younger,” Stewart said. “What I like about him was that he said ‘Caesar is disgusting’.” Stewart laughed. “Caesar is disgusting.” In Stewart’s mind, Johnson was now Julius Caesar. He was disgusting .

When Cato the Younger lost his battles against Caesar in 46 BC, he stabbed himself in the abdomen. According to Plutarch, the thrust did not cut deep enough to kill, but Cato would rather die than live under Caesar’s rule. So Cato “tore his bowels with his hands, rent the wound still more, and so died”. Cato’s was the kind of death Stewart admires most: violent, noble and pointless.

We were by now 400 miles away from his home in Scotland , travelling through London’s western outlands. The Mercedes sped along the M4.

How does Rory Stewart become Emmanuel Macron , the moderate leader of his own party or movement? I asked him what the routes were, and we went through them one by one. Well, he could return to the Conservative Party – but he thought Suella Braverman would be the next leader, and he would not want to work with her. Could he join Labour ? Wouldn’t it be a bit weird to pick the winning team again? And besides, nothing he said about Starmer – “nostalgic for the world of the 1990s” – made that seem likely. He could create his own party as Macron had: the Rory Stewart Party. It would swallow the next 15 years of his life. He sounded exhausted just talking about it. There was the mayoral option again… a city… but which party… when? We were silent for a while.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re going to go back to politics,” I said, towards the end of the journey. 

“No,” said Stewart. “It doesn’t feel like I’m going to.”

His wife, Shoshana, thought he would be “out of his mind” to make a comeback. His friend Matthew Parris told me that Stewart “has moved on” from Westminster. A return was ludicrous.

Stewart was only a “romantic” in the sense that he had a dream that failed him. Would life ever be as good to him as it was on some sunny June evening walking along the Eton Road in his tails, when his possibilities were endless? His experiences in politics had scratched something out of him. He had played a terrible trick on himself, and was now paying the price for it. The heroic vision of the world he once had, when he recited verses from Chapman’s Homer to himself, was gone.

He insisted that he no longer saw reality in those terms and sometimes I believed him. Rory Stewart was leaving a long hallucination behind, but he was still struggling to reconcile what he imagined he might have been with what he had become.

[See also: How the left forgot the petty bourgeoisie ]

Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape, Vintage .

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Rory Stewart

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Who gets to win power and how do they keep it – and lose it? Who is excluded from power? Does power always corrupt or are there examples of leaders who have maintained their integrity while in authority?

Join co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics , Rory Stewart – diplomat, explorer, cabinet minister and writer – for an evening of no-holds barred discussion on crisis, politics and the world order.

Following a number of sold-out 2023 events, Rory will be taking to the stage once more. Rory will reflect on how, over the course of a decade, he went from being a political outsider to standing in for the prime minister – before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise.

Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Stewart learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become.

On stage Rory will engage with populism, Brexit, global conflict and delve even deeper into the instant number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, Politics On The Edge .

With a chance to ask your own questions to the man himself, don’t miss the opportunity to hear Rory’s account of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life.

“This fine, perceptive book incisive, thoughtful … far more concerned with the business of

good government than with the small-time idiocies of party politics” — John Simpson

“One of the best books on politics our era will see… a book of astonishing literary quality” —

Matthew Parris ― Times Literary Supplement

“Intense, funny, savage and profound” – Michael Ignatieff

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Rory Stewart: Politics on the Edge

Join co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics , Rory Stewart - diplomat, explorer, cabinet minister and writer - for an evening of no-holds barred discussion on crisis, politics and the world order. 

Following sold-out 2023 events, Rory will be taking to the stage once more to reflect on how, over the course of a decade, he went from being a political outsider to standing in for the prime minister - before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise.  

Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Rory learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become. 

In conversation, Rory will engage with populism, Brexit and global conflict and delve even deeper into the instant number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, Politics On The Edge.  

With a chance to ask your own questions to the man himself, don’t miss the chance to hear Rory’s account of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life.  

For those who are unable to attend the live show, the event at The Forum, Bath on 15 June will be live streamed via Fane Online. Worldwide viewing is available and the stream will be available for one week on demand after the initial broadcast, so you can watch at anytime if the initial broadcast time doesn't suit your timezone. 

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Rory Stewart wins PSA Odense Open

March 07 2023

Rory Stewart claimed his 10th PSA World Tour career title with victory over Bernat Jaume of Spain in the final of the PSA Odense Open in Denmark. Following wins over Mohd Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia, fellow #teamunsquashable player Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland & England's Ben Coleman enroute to the final, Rory produced another stunning performance on the all-glass show court at Odense Squash Club to claim an impressive 11-4 11-8 10-12 11-6 victory over the 5th seeded Spaniard to win his third title of the 2022-23 season. A high quality & entertaining final played in a competitive but good spirit between both players, saw Rory lose the third game on a tie-break before securing a 57-minute. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Squash Center Denmark, Odense, Denmark Men’s Final: [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) 11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6 (57m) Semi-Finals: [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [1] Balázs Farkas (HUN) 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 (55m) [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 (53m) Quarter-Finals: [1] Balázs Farkas (HUN) bt [7] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 (31m) [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 (39m) [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (42m) [9/16] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [9/16] Owain Taylor (WAL) 10-12, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 (57m) 2nd Round: [1] Balázs Farkas (HUN) bt [9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL) 11-5, 13-11, 11-6 [7] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bt [9/16] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) 8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [9/16] Yannik Omlor (GER) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 [9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [4] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 (48m) [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 11-7, 11-4, 11-6 (29m) [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [8] Simon Herbert (ENG) 2-11, 14-12, 11-2, 11-9 (45m) [9/16] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [6] Mazen Gamal (EGY) 11-4, 6-11, 11-6, 11-1 [9/16] Owain Taylor (WAL) bt [2] Rui Soares (POR) 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 1st Round: [1] Balázs Farkas (HUN) bye [9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL) bt Valentin Rapp (GER) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (28m) [9/16] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) bt Mohamed Nasser (EGY) 8-11, 11-7, 15-13, 11-8 [7] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bye [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bye [9/16] Yannik Omlor (GER) bt Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 11-8, 13-11, 11-4 (37m) [9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt Joeri Hapers (BEL) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4 (25m) [4] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bye [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bye [9/16] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) bt [WC] Joakim Jepsen (DEN) 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 (23m) [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [WC] Marcus Søby Jepsen (DEN) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (26m) [8] Simon Herbert (ENG) bye [6] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bye [9/16] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [WC] Theis Houlberg (DEN) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6 (35m) [9/16] Owain Taylor (WAL) bt Andrés Herrera (COL) 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 14-12 (78m) [2] Rui Soares (POR) bye Rory Stewart reaches PSA Odense Open Final Rory Stewart of Scotland showed all his battling qualities & pure class to progress to the final of the PSA Odense Open in Denmark with an 11-6 11-8 11-9 victory over Ben Coleman of England. All three games of the 53-minute semi-final were competitive, but it was the Scot who showed a greater range of attacking weapons who advanced to the final. The 26-year-old Scot who is at a career-high No.55 in the PSA World Rankings will face fifth seed Bernat Jaume of Spain in the final on the all-glass show court at Odense Squash Club. Rory Stewart & Bernat Jaume have played twice before on the PSA World Tour with the Spaniard winning on both occasions, although their last meeting was an 86-minute, five-game battle at last year's PSA Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Squash Center Denmark, Odense, Denmark Men’s Semi-Final: [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-6 11-8 11-9 Rory Stewart wins all-UNSQUASHABLE quarter-final at PSA Odense Open Rory Stewart of Scotland defeated fellow #teamunsquashable player Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland 11-6 11-5 11-7 in a closely contested quarter-final of the PSA Odense Open in Denmark. The third seeded Scot will face Ben Coleman of England in the semi-final at the Odense Squash Club. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Squash Center Denmark, Odense, Denmark Men’s Quarter-Final: [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) 11-6 11-5 11-7 Yannick Wilhelmi to face Rory Stewart in PSA Odense Open quarter-fianls Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland will today face fellow #teamunsquashable player Rory Stewart of Scotland in the quarterfinals of the PSA Odense Open in Denmark. The 21-year old Swiss defeated 8th seed Simon Herbert of England 2-11 14-12 11-2 11-9 in 45-minutes whilst 3rd seed Rory Stewart beat Mohd Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia 11-7 11-4 11-6 in 29-minutes in his 2nd round match at the Odense Squash Club. Lwamba Chileshe of New Zealand & Danish No.1 Klara Møller were both denied quarter-final places with Lwamba beaten in five tightly contested games by 7th seed Addeen Idrakie of Malaysia & Klara beaten by 6th seed Kaitlyn Watts in an equally competitive four-game contest. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Squash Center Denmark , Odense , Denmark Men’s Quarter-Finals: [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) v [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) Men’s 2nd Round: [7] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bt [9/16] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) 8-11 11-3 8-11 11-7 11-7 [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [9/16] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 11-7 11-4 11-6 Women’s 2nd Round: [6] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bt Klara Møller (DEN) 11-4 11-13 11-8 11-9 Klara Møller, Lwamba Chileshe & Yannick Wilhelmi join Rory Stewart in 2nd round of PSA Odense Open Danish No.1 Klara Møller defeated Ali Loke of Wales 12-10 11-8 11-3 in 26 minutes on the opening day of the PSA Odense Open to book her place in the 2nd round where she will play Kaitlyn Watts of New Zealand. Fellow #teamunsquashable players Lwamba Chileshe of New Zealand & Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland both recorded 1st round victories at the Odense Squash Club in Denmark. Lwamba Chileshe beat Mohamed Nasser of Egypt 8-11 11-7 15-13 11-8 in 54-minutse, whilst Yannick Wilhelmi beat Wild Card Marcus Soby Jepsen of Denmark 11-5 11-3 11-7 in 26-minutres. Third seed Rory Stewart of Scotland received a bye in the 1st round & will today face Mohammad Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia. Lwamba Chileshe will face Malaysia Addeen Idrakie in his 2nd round match with Yannick Wilhelmi playing Simon Herbert of England. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Squash Center Denmark, Odense, Denmark Men’s 1st Round: Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) bt Mohamed Nasser (EGY) 8-11 11-7 15-13 11-8 Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [WC] Marcus Soby Jepsen (DEN) 11-5 11-3 11-7 Women’s 1st Round: Klara Møller (DEN) bt Ali Loke (WAL) 12-10 11-8 11-3 Klara Møller, Rory Stewart, Lwamba Chileshe & Yannick Wilhelmi to compete in PSA Odense Open in Denmark The PSA Odense Open gets underway today in Denmark & Danish No.1 Klara Møller is excited to be playing on home soil at the Odense Squash Club. 21-year-old Klara Møller is the Danish No.1 & having recently moved to Odense is looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd. “I think I’m playing well at the moment. I’m in a good place both physically & mentally. Training is going well & I can feel that I’m constantly improving, which really motivates me to keep training hard,” she explained. “I’ve been looking forward to this since March last year! I’m permanently living in Odense now, so it’s going to be even more special this year. “I spend some time training the juniors & I also practice with some of the men at the club & the atmosphere is just phenomenal. People are just so nice & I feel really welcome. Besides that, I have a lot of friends who are planning to come & cheer for me. Can’t wait!” Klara Møller made the 2nd round of last year’s PSA Odense Open & also won her maiden PSA World Tour event at the end of 2022 when she defeated compatriot Caroline Lyng in the final of the PSA Wake Up Squash Angers International in France. “It obviously felt so good claiming my first Tour title & it was definitely a bit of a confidence boost. I didn’t expect it to happen that soon & now I’m just hungry for more! “As I don’t play a lot of tournaments because of my studies, there’s still a long way to go. I don’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on myself. As long as I’m enjoying myself & my squash, I believe the results will come & eventually I’ll break into the world’s top 100.” Klara Møller will compete this week in Odense alongside #teamunsquashable players Rory Stewart of Scotland. Lwamba Chileshe of New Zealand & Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland. Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Men’s 1st Round Draw: [9/16] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) v Mohamed Nasser (EGY) [3] Rory Stewart (SCO) – [Bye] [9/16] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v [WC] Marcus Soby Jepsen (DEN) Professional Squash Association (PSA) Odense Squash Open Women’s 1st Round Draw: Klara Møller (DEN) v [9/16] Ali Loke (WAL)

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Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart review – blistering insider portrait of a nation in decline

The former Tory minister exposes the ‘shameful state’ of recent Conservative rule in this brilliantly frank account of dysfunctional government

S oon after he was elected as a Conservative MP, Rory Stewart tried to sit down next to a party colleague. “This seat is reserved,” the MP growled at him. Stewart pointed out there was no “prayer card” in the brass holder at the back of the seat, meaning it was free. The unnamed Tory glowered. “Why don’t you just fuck off,” he told Stewart. Subsequently, piqued by Stewart’s election to the foreign affairs select committee, the same MP threatened to punch him on the nose.

Stewart’s memoir of his nine years in British politics is filled with similarly grim and darkly amusing episodes. It is an excoriating account of a dysfunctional governing system. At every level – backbench MP, senior minister, permanent secretary – Stewart finds shallowness where there should be depth, vapidity instead of seriousness. His book is a brilliant insider portrait of a nation in decline, penned by an exasperated modern Boswell.

Educated at Eton, and the son of a British spook, Stewart governed an Iraqi province after the US-UK led invasion. He set up a charity in Kabul and took up a chair at Harvard. In 2009, filled with the idea of public service, he decided to stand for parliament. He was selected for the rural constituency of Penrith and the Border. The following year he was elected, a newbie politician with a closeup view of David Cameron’s coalition government.

Disillusionment was swift. MPs were uninterested in policy, he discovered. Instead they were obsessed with scandal. He found “impotence, suspicion, envy, resentment, claustrophobia and Schadenfreude ”. Cameron made speeches about diversity. But he filled his private office with white-shirted old Etonians, drawn “from an unimaginably narrow social group”. In one vote Stewart rebelled over an amendment on mountain rescue by hiding in the loo. No one noticed.

Stewart sympathised with some of the leadership’s causes, such as gay marriage and international development. In other respects, Cameron turned out to be a disappointment. Cabinet discussion was cursory. The prime minister was uninterested in Afghan strategy, and oblivious to looming populism. Stewart likens then chancellor George Osborne to an “18th-century cardinal”, “capable of breathtaking cynicism”, but also bright, engaged and self-mocking.

In an author’s note, Stewart acknowledges that his former top colleagues will be angry with him for revealing their private conversations. He justifies this betrayal by citing the “shameful state” to which parliament has fallen – a “horrifying decline”, as he puts it, which can only be fixed by transparency. He omits the names of junior civil servants and a few backbenchers. Most are easily guessable, with the reader invited to play a game of spot-the-bastard.

All of which makes for a superbly readable book. After his unexpected 2015 election victory, Cameron made Stewart a junior environment minister, serving under Liz Truss. Truss prized “exaggerated simplicity” above “critical thinking”, “power and manipulation” over “truth and reason”. Stewart observes that this “new politics” offered “untethered hope” and “vagueness” instead of accuracy. Truss was allergic to “caution and detail”, he adds.

Stewart is the author of three previous nonfiction works, including a bestselling travelogue, The Places in Between , about his journey through Afghanistan, part of a 6,000-mile solo walk across Asia. Here, he deploys his literary skills in the manner of a superior assassin. Truss is weird, Michael Gove silkily duplicitous, and Boris Johnson an “egotistical chancer”. Stewart recalls visiting Johnson in his foreign secretary’s lair – a red-cheeked figure whose eyes radiated “furtive cunning”.

He is kinder about Theresa May. After the Brexit vote and Cameron’s resignation, May made Stewart development minister, followed by prisons, and then promoted him to cabinet as secretary of state for international development. Unusually for a front-rank politician, she had a “private personality”. Stewart supported her EU withdrawal agreement, as hardline Brexiters plotted her overthrow, and the party lurched into magical thinking.

Stewart praises David Gauke, his justice secretary boss, as a person of moderation and decency. There was an “ironic, cavalier lift” to one of Gauke’s eyebrows. It hinted at a “warmth and irreverence unusual in our rickety political world”, Stewart writes. But the one-nation faction that both men represented failed to get its act together when May announced her departure. The Conservatives coalesced around Johnson. Sensible colleagues who despised him offered their endorsement.

The book has several moments of self-contempt. At one point Stewart thought about killing himself. He brooded in the middle of the night and often experienced disgust. Politics, he came to think, was a “rebarbative profession”. “In London, I felt increasingly exhausted and ashamed,” he admits. He developed migraines and kept going by taking painkillers. Despite all this, his idealism and love of country – his stated reason for joining the Tories – never quite left him.

Stewart relates his own doomed campaign to become Conservative party leader with brutal honesty. There were high points. He bypassed the rightwing pro-Johnson media by holding open meetings and walks – a strategy that saw his ratings rise with the public. He did well in the first Channel 4 debate. But in the next BBC encounter he bombed, crowded out by his more polished rivals. Exasperated, he took off his tie. “I felt like a satellite falling out of orbit,” he records.

Along the way there were compensations. Stewart enjoyed being a constituency MP. He writes with lyrical fondness about Cumbria and its rustic voters. Surprisingly, he relished his time as prisons minister, managing to reduce drug and violence figures in 10 jails. He got better at politics, and at overcoming the inertia of civil servants. They tended to view ministers as ignorant and ephemeral and often spoke in corporate jargon. His warnings about Johnson – the politician and the man – were right.

It is hard to disagree with any of Stewart’s conclusions, about the dire state of our politics, and the strange and empty character of its representatives. I was left wondering if he would have had a less bruising time as a Labour MP. In 2019 Johnson purged leading remainers and Stewart quit both the Tories and his seat. Last year he reinvented himself as one half of a hugely successful current affairs podcast, The Rest Is Politics , co-hosted with Alastair Campbell.

After a memoir of such blistering frankness, there is no way the Conservative party will have Stewart back. Westminster is poorer without him, a wanderer turned prime minister manqué . The world of ideas and letters is richer.

This article was amended on 5 September 2023. An earlier version said that Rory Stewart’s book The Places in Between was about his 6,000-mile solo walk across Asia. In fact it is about his journey through Afghanistan as part of that walk.

Luke Harding’s Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival , shortlisted for the Orwell prize, is published by Guardian Faber

Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within by Rory Stewart is published by Jonathan Cape (£22). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply

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Rory Stewart - Politics on the Edge

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• Jun 20 Thu Rory Stewart - Politics on the Edge @ 2:30PM ATG Tickets View Tickets
• Jun 20 Thu Rory Stewart - Politics on the Edge @ 7:30PM ATG Tickets View Tickets

Join co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics, Rory Stewart - diplomat, explorer, cabinet minister and writer-for an evening of no-holds barred discussion on crisis, politics and the world order.

Following a number of sold-out 2023 events, Rory will be taking to the stage once more. Rory will reflect on how, over the course of a decade, he went from being a political outsider to standing in for the prime minister - before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise.

Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Stewart learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become.On stage Rory will engage with populism, Brexit, global conflict and delve even deeper into the instant number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, Politics On The Edge.

With a chance to ask your own questions to the man himself, don’t miss the opportunity to hear Rory’s account of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life.

Rory Stewart

Rory Stewart is a British academic, diplomat, explorer, author, former soldier, and former politician.

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on Thu 20th June 2024

70 episodes

Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, hosts of Britain's biggest podcast (The Rest Is Politics), have joined forces once again for their new interview podcast, ‘Leading’. Every Monday, Rory and Alastair interrogate, converse with, and interview some of the world's biggest names - from both inside and outside of politics - about life, leadership, or leading the way in their chosen field. Whether they're sports stars, thought-leaders, presidents or internationally-recognised religious figures, Alastair and Rory lift the lid on the motivation, philosophy and secrets behind their career. Tune in to 'Leading' now to hear essential conversation from some of the world's most enthralling individuals.  Goalhanger Podcasts

Leading The Rest Is Politics

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• 24 MAR 2024

Antony Gormley: Art, religion, and the battle for culture

Can Britain remain a cultural superpower post-Brexit? How does religion and philosophy inform creativity? How can we prevent arts from being cut from curriculums? Rory and Alastair are joined by Britain's leading sculptor, Antony Gormley, to answer all these questions and more. 🌏 Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ https://nordvpn.com/leadingvpn It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✅ 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 therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. TRIP ELECTION TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Election Tour, just head to www.therestispolitics.com Instagram: @restispolitics Twitter: @RestIsPolitics Email: [email protected] Producers: Dom Johnson + Nicole Maslen Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 17 MAR 2024

Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of Kosovo: Vladimir Putin, surviving prison, and Serbia

How did peace come to the Balkans? What was it like to be a political prisoner? Is Serbia more allied with the West, or with Putin? Rory and Alastair are joined by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to discuss all this and more. 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 therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. TRIP ELECTION TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Election Tour, just head to www.therestispolitics.com Instagram: @restispolitics Twitter: @RestIsPolitics Email: [email protected] Producers: Dom Johnson + Nicole Maslen Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 10 MAR 2024

Caroline Lucas: Leading the Green Party, leaving politics, and the importance of protest

How hard is it to be a one person party in parliament? What can the left learn from the populist right? Could electoral reform actually help Keir Starmer? On today's episode of Leading, Rory and Alastair are joined by the Green Party's Caroline Lucas to answer all these questions and more. Pre order Caroline's book, Another England, here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/another-england/caroline-lucas/2928377252441 🌏 Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ https://nordvpn.com/leadingvpn It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✅ TRIP ELECTION TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Election Tour, just head to 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 therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. Instagram: @restispolitics Twitter: @RestIsPolitics Email: [email protected] Producers: Dom Johnson + Nicole Maslen Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sajid Javid: Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Shamima Begum (Part 2)

What is Sajid's biggest regret from his time in politics? What barriers did he come up against in the Shamima Begum case during his time as Home Secretary? Will the NHS survive? Rory and Alastair are joined by Sajid Javid, former Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State for Health, and many more cabinet positions, to answer all these questions and more in part two of this two part interview. 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 therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. Instagram: @restispolitics Twitter: @RestIsPolitics Email: [email protected] Producers: Dom Johnson + Nicole Maslen Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Customer Reviews

2.2K Ratings

Great podcast, with great guests. However I have a request. When describing Brexit as a “tragedy” or other words to that effect, can you give concrete and practical examples of the impact? Too often it seems your position on Brexit (which I agree with, by the way) falls into simplistic rhetoric and dismissal. It would be really helpful to have you and your guests explain why it has been bad for their particular area of expertise, as this will help listeners understand the impacts beyond - Brexit = bad. Thanks and keep up the great work!!

The Two Spies

A very good listen. Informative and interesting. Not yet uploaded visually on YouTube. Long to see those facial expressions on offer.

Always a great listen

Having hosts from opposite sides of the political divide mean no guest gets an easy ride. It’s just a brilliant dynamic. It’s always a great listen but some of the recent interviews have been exceptional.

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Masters 2024 Leaderboard: Live updates, scores for golf leaders Thursday at Augusta

Follow  live updates from all the Masters action here or check out our  hole-by-hole analysis of Tiger Woods' first round  at Augusta National. 

The best golfers in the world have once again converged at Augusta National Golf Club in search of the coveted green jacket. This is the 88th edition of the annual Masters Tournament , so will we see a brand new winner or will one of the 18 former winners playing in this year's tournament claim the championship yet again?

The tournament will take place over the course of the next four days, with one round played each day. The cut will happen after Day 2, and only the top-50 players on the leaderboard will advance into Saturday and Sunday. It's unforgiving, but what else can you expect from a tournament as heralded as The Masters.

Join us for live coverage of Day 1 of the 2024 Masters Tournament.

Masters 2024 live updates: Leaderboard, Masters live stream, Tiger Woods tee time

Masters Leaderboard 2024:

Masters Leaderboard: Full updated scores for Augusta leaders

Weather in Augusta, Georgia delays Masters start

The start of the Masters' first round was delayed Thursday morning due to rainy and windy conditions.

Thunderstorms are likely to end around 10 a.m. ET, and the first round is now scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET.

2024 Masters Tournament morning tee times: Day 1 Thursday

Note: The start of the Masters' first round was delayed due to poor weather conditions. The following tee times have been updated accordingly.

10:30 a.m.: Erik van Rooyen, Jake Knapp

10:42 a.m.: Jose Maria Olazabal, Taylor Moore, Santiago de la Fuente (A)

10:54 a.m.: Danny Willett, Austin Eckroat, Stephan Jaeger

11:06 a.m.: Charl Schwartzel, Luke List, Christo Lamprecht (A)

11:18 a.m.: Gary Woodland, Thorbjorn Olesen, Bryson DeChambeau

11:30 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Corey Conners, Jasper Stubbs (A)

11:42 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Chris Kirk, Ryan Fox

11:54 a.m.: Lucas Glover, Byeong Hun An, Harris English

12:06 p.m.: Phil Mickelson, Sepp Straka, Tony Finau

12:18 p.m.: Nick Taylor, Joaquín Niemann, Russell Henley

12:36 p.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, Rickie Fowler

12:48 p.m.: Hideki Matsuyama, Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas

1 p.m.: Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nick Dunlap

1:12 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele

1:24 p.m.: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith

1:36 p.m.: Lee Hodges, Adrian Meronk, Grayson Murray

1:48 p.m. Camilo Villegas, Denny McCarthy, Cameron Davis

2 p.m.: Mike Weir, Ryo Hisatsune, Neal Shipley

2:12 p.m. Vijay Singh, Si Woo Kim, Emiliano Grillo

2:24 p.m.: Fred Couples, Adam Hadwin, Stewart Hagestad

2:42 p.m.: Justin Rose, Eric Cole, Peter Malnati

2:54 p.m.: Akshay Bhatia, J.T. Poston, Shane Lowry

2024 Masters Tournament schedule and how to watch

The Masters begins Thursday, April 11 and run through Sunday, April 14.

Round 1: Thursday, April 11

• Starting at 10:30 a.m. ET
• TV coverage: 3:00-7:30 p.m. ET
• Channel: ESPN
• Streaming: Masters.com (simulcast), CBSSports.com (desktop and mobile), CBS Sports App (desktop and mobile), ESPN+, Paramount+

How to watch: Catch Masters action with an ESPN+ subscription

Round 2: Friday, April 12

• Starting at 8:30 a.m. ET

Round 3: Saturday, April 13

• Starting at 10:00 a.m. ET
• TV coverage: 3:00-7:00 p.m. ET
• Channel: CBS
• Streaming: CBSSports.com (simulcast), Paramount+ (simulcast), CBS Sports app (simulcast)

Round 4: Sunday, April 14

• TV coverage: 2:00-7:00 p.m. ET

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Playing the Masters Is by Invitation Only. Here’s How Golfers Get One.

There’s a long list of possible ways, like being a past winner, but the creation of LIV Golf has complicated the process.

By Paul Sullivan

Despite a missed putt on the 18th hole at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Stephan Jaeger still punched his ticket to Augusta National Golf Club, where he will be playing in his first Masters Tournament this week.

There are many ways to get an invitation to the Masters, and Jaeger, 34, found one of them.

But first, he missed a putt that would have clinched a victory over the former Masters champion Scottie Scheffler . Then Scheffler missed a shorter putt that would have forced a playoff with Jaeger.

In the end what mattered was that Jaeger won the tournament, not how he did it, and in doing so he earned an invitation to the Masters.

“I couldn’t have thought, dreamed up a better week to do it,” he said after his victory.

The Masters, the season’s first major for men, is an invitational, which means it is up to the members of Augusta National to send invitations and create the field of men who will compete for the coveted green jacket. This is unique among the major championships.

This year extra attention has been paid to how players secure their invitation largely because of the rise of LIV Golf, the league that has poached a dozen top players. (More on that later.) But how players earn their Augusta invitations has been part of a bigger story around getting into the PGA Tour’s top tournaments, which have the strongest fields and high prize money.

Fair to say that some golf fans are confused, and that some players are upset about being excluded.

What drew new interest in the qualifying process was Joaquin Niemann ’s journey to play well, win and get the attention of Fred Ridley, Augusta National’s chairman, who could grant him a special invitation.

Niemann, 28, from Chile, had played in four Masters tournaments. His first invitation came in 2018 after he won the Latin American Amateur Championship, which Augusta supports and whose winner gets an invitation. Last year, he finished tied for 16th place, his best Masters finish.

Normally, a player like that would have enough world ranking points to qualify easily for a Masters invitation. But Niemann went to LIV in 2022, and his ranking fell from 18 in 2022 to 91 today. That put him outside the top 50 who get invitations.

Even though he has played well this year on LIV, the league does not qualify for world ranking points because of its staggered starts, shorter tournaments and team format. Other LIV players in the field have exemptions if they are past major champions or were in the top 50 at the end of last year.

These include Jon Rahm, the defending champion ; Phil Mickelson, a past champion who contended last year; and Brooks Koepka, who finished second last year before winning the P.G.A. Championship , which comes with five years of Masters invitations.

So Niemann, whose representative declined to make him available, took to the global road and played on various international tours to showcase himself to Augusta National. He won the Australian Open last year and notched top 10 finishes in three other international tournaments in Australia; Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and Oman. He also won two LIV events.

Augusta has a history of inviting the best international players. In the 1980s, it introduced Bernhard Langer of Germany, Greg Norman of Australia and Seve Ballesteros of Spain to the world of golf.

Neimann’s plan worked. He received one of three special invitations that went to international players not already in the tournament.

“The Masters Tournament has a longstanding tradition of inviting leading international players who are not otherwise qualified,” Ridley said in February in announcing the special exemptions. “Today’s announcement represents the tournament’s continued commitment towards developing interest in the game of golf across the world.”

Niemann was the only LIV player who wasn’t a former Masters or major champion to get a special invitation. Talor Gooch was ranked 58th in the world when he tied for 34th place at last year’s Masters. He received that invitation because he had been within the top 50 at the end of 2022, which is one of the criteria. He then went on to win three times on LIV that season en route to being named LIV’s player of the year.

Yet Gooch, who is ranked 550th in the world, did not receive an invitation this year and wasn’t happy about it.

“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his grand slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk,” he said. “It’s just the reality.” McIlroy has won three of the majors, but lacks the Masters.

Few agreed.

So what are the various ways into the Masters? The most coveted is as a past champion. They get a lifetime invitation, though they’re encouraged to stop when they’re not competitive. This year was supposed to be Langer’s final Masters at 66, before he was injured.

Next to that, winning one of the other three major championships gets a player five years of invitations, the Players Championship gets three, and an Olympic gold medal winner gets one invitation.

To honor the tournament’s amateur roots, invitations go to the winner and runner-up of the United States Amateur Championship and the winners of the British amateur, Asia-Pacific Amateur and the Latin America Amateur. The winner of the N.C.A.A. championship also receives an invitation.

Stewart Hagestad, the reigning United States Mid-Amateur champion and a Walker Cup stalwart, will be playing in the Masters for the third time, having won the Mid-Amateur in 2016, 2021 and 2023. He made the cut in 2017, his first year, and won the award for the low amateur.

The rest of the invitations are based on how people have played in recent major championships as well as anyone who won a PGA Tour event in the previous year.

This year it totals about 90 players, a small field for a major championship. The other three majors have qualifying processes. The United States and British Opens are for anyone who can play their way in. The PGA Championship creates its field from touring and club pros.

Yet the split between the PGA Tour and LIV has created a complex situation beyond the Masters: which players get to play into the new Signature Events on the PGA Tour. These events have large purses, limited fields and in some cases no cuts. They’re not majors, but they’re at top courses with stout competition.

Like the Masters, the top 50 in the world golf rankings get into the Signature Events. But then it’s a scramble to fill other, limited spots at some other events. And it’s all new this year.

So, the PGA Tour partnered with Aon, the risk management consultant, to brand the groups that swing into and out of contention, the so-called Aon Next 10, the players who have moved into spots 51 to 60, and the Aon Swing 5, those who do well in the tournaments leading up to the Signature Events.

It’s been even more confusing for fans, and a scramble for players, because who gets into what is a moving target.

Andy Weitz, chief marketing officer at Aon, who said the company brought the idea to the PGA Tour, sees it differently. That confusion is an opportunity to show how the best golfers in the world play over the season.

“We were impressed by the modeling that showed a lot of movement in the top 50 in the course of the year, particularly in numbers 30 to 50,” Weitz said. “It’s fluid in a meaningful way. It creates interesting moments.”

Paul Sullivan , the  Wealth Matters  columnist from 2008 to 2021, is the founder of  The Company of Dads , a work and parenting site aimed at fathers. He is also the author of  The Thin Green Line : The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy and  Clutch : Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t.  @sullivanpaul More about Paul Sullivan

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds  highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports.

New York’s Favorite Soccer Team: Some people splurge on vacations, fancy shoes and motorcycles. A group of dozens of friends, neighbors and co-workers decided to try something better (or maybe worse): They bought a middling soccer team in Denmark .

Here Comes Padel: The sport is played with a racket on a court with a net, but watch out for those bouncing shots from the back wall. Reporters take a look at the padel scene in New York City .

Have the Brands Gone Too Far?: Runners at the Boston Marathon are disappointed that the new finisher medals feature a large bank logo  across the bottom.

How Soccer Embraced Ramadan: In competitions like the Premier League, Muslim pros who once faced pressure to avoid daily fasts  during the monthlong holiday now benefit from custom diets and in-game breaks.

Here are the new 2024 Masters tee times for Thursday after the rain delay

T he Masters 2024 will get underway a little later than usual thanks to some rain , but fear not! The new tee times are here and they're not too bad.

Here's the full list (all times Eastern):

10:10 am: Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson will tee off  as honorary starters

10:30 am: Erik van Rooyen, Jake Knapp

10:42 am: Jose Maria Olazabal, Taylor Moore, Santiago de la Fuente

11:54 am: Danny Willett, Austin Eckroat, Stephan Jaeger

11:06 am: Charl Schwartzel, Luke List, Christo Lamprecht

11:18 am: Gary Woodland, Thorbjorn Olesen, Bryson DeChambeau

11:30 am: Zach Johnson, Corey Conners, Jasper Stubbs

11:42 am: Sergio Garcia, Chris Kirk, Ryan Fox

11:54 am: Lucas Glover, Byeong Hun An, Harris English

12:06 am: Phil Mickelson, Sepp Straka, Tony Finau

12:18 am: Nick Taylor, Joaquin Niemann, Russell Henley

12:36 am: Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, Rickie Fowler

12:48 am: Hideki Matsuyama, Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas

1:00 pm: Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nick Dunlap

1:12 pm: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele

1:24 pm: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith

1:36 pm: Lee Hodges, Adrian Meronk, Grayson Murray

1:48 pm: Camilo Villegas, Denny McCarthy, Cameron Davis

2:00 pm: Mike Weir, Ryo Hisatsune, Neal Shipley

2:12 pm: Vijay Singh, Si Woo Kim, Emiliano Grillo

2:24 pm: Fred Couples, Adam Hadwin, Stewart Hagestad

2:42 pm: Justin Rose, Eric Cole, Peter Malnati

2:54 pm: Akshay Bhatia, J.T. Poston, Shane Lowry

3:06 pm: Bubba Watson, Nicolai Hojgaard, Adam Schenk

3:18 pm: Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im, Kurt Kitayama

3:30 pm: Keegan Bradley, Matthieu Pavon, Tyrrell Hatton

3:42 pm: Adam Scott, Sam Burns, Cameron Young

3:54 pm: Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Max Homa

4:06 pm: Brian Harman, Brooks Koepka, Tom Kim

4:18 pm: Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg, Sahith Theegala

4:30 pm: Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Here are the new 2024 Masters tee times for Thursday after the rain delay

The Five: Can Rory McIlroy start strong, other pressing questions at Masters

Need to Know

Rory McIlroy ahead of the 2024 Masters. (David Cannon/Getty Images)

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It is said that whatever you think about last before going to bed is what you will dream about. It's why Xander Schauffele thinks about a Masters green jacket.

“As many dreams … as I can have wearing a green jacket or someone putting it on me on the 18th green, that's what I try and envision,” Schauffele said Monday.

Schauffele has come close. He finished runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2019, but Schauffele is still chasing that dream. It’s a universal feeling among those on the grounds at Augusta National. If you’re a professional golfer, you’ve most likely dreamed of a putt to win the Masters or contemplated what you’d put on your Champions Dinner menu. Schauffele is still waiting for a chance to play Augusta National with his dad, Stefan. Schauffele could likely make it happen, but his dad won’t allow it. Not yet.

“He told me a long time ago, ‘I'm only going to play when you're a member,’” Schauffele said.

Someone will realize those dreams this week. Schauffele is one of the favorites coming off a strong start to his season, highlighted by his T2 at THE PLAYERS Championship. But he isn’t one of our biggest storylines. That’s what The Five is dedicated to this week. As players refine their preparation before Thursday’s opening round, let’s take stock of what’s to come. The Five examines the must-follow storylines that set the stage for the year's first major championship.

1. Tiger Woods: Focus on the cut, not contention

When Tiger Woods tees it up on Thursday at the Masters, it will be just his third competitive round of 2024. If he finishes the round, it will be just his second completed round in an official PGA TOUR event since last year’s Masters.

It’s inarguable to say Woods can find magic at Augusta National. It’s also inarguable that Woods lacks the one thing he’s preached as necessary for much of his career: competitive reps. His only start of 2024 came at The Genesis Invitational in February, and he withdrew during his second round with flu-like symptoms.

So what will win out: experience or rust?

That sets up an exciting push-and-pull with history as its backdrop. Woods has made 23 consecutive cuts at the Masters, tied with Gary Player and Fred Couples for the longest streak in tournament history. He can take that record for himself this year.

“I think it's consistency, it's longevity and it's an understanding of how to play this golf course,” Woods said. “... And it means a lot.”

If there’s a place Woods can piece it together, it’s Augusta National. But to expect Woods to contend is difficult, particularly when some of the sport's other top stars are in top form. Woods’ fight to make the cut will still be plenty intriguing and realistic. Holding the consecutive cuts record at Augusta would be fitting for the man who owns the longest consecutive cuts made record on the PGA TOUR.

2. Is Scheffler’s putting fixed?

The saga that never ends. Scottie Scheffler enters the Masters as the heavy favorite to claim his second green jacket in three years. He put together a dominant month of March, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship. It looked like he had solved the putting woes that had plagued him from truly dominating the PGA TOUR over the last 24 months.

Then he pulled a 6-footer on the 72nd hole of the Texas Children’s Houston Open to miss a playoff and the possibility of his third consecutive win. Was it a simple misread? Or is it a sign that Scheffler still has some work to shore up the putter in the biggest moments? Remember, Scheffler famously four-putted on the final hole of the 2022 Masters, and the glassy greens of Augusta are no place to lose confidence in your flatstick.

It seems reductive to say the putting is the only thing that matters for Scheffler at Augusta, but he’s shown it to be true. His superb ball-striking has traveled to every event for the past two years. Whether Scheffler wins or loses falls solely on the one variable can’t seem to control: putting.

3. Approach play, fast start key to Rory McIlroy’s chances

Rory McIlroy’s quest for a Masters title is often considered a “matter of when.” Given his talent, stature and course fit, a green jacket is assumed to be inevitable. Yet the more years McIlroy leaves empty-handed, the more the pressure ramps up and the definitive proclamations begin to crack.

This Masters will be McIlroy’s 10th attempt at completing the career Grand Slam. This year also marks 10 years since his last major victory. McIlroy revealed it feels like he’s trying to win his first again. So as close as he’s come to achieving Masters glory, he’s in some ways no closer to it than when he made his debut at Augusta National in 2009.

But for all the consternation McIlroy has faced about his Masters shortcomings, it could all change in four days. To do it, McIlroy will need to improve his approach play, which has been his Achilles’ heel at Augusta National and for most of this season.

There were signs of life at last week’s Valero Texas Open. He finished third in Strokes Gained: Approach and notched his first top-10 on the PGA TOUR this season. That came a week after he sought advice from legendary swing coach Butch Harmon.

But it’s hard to say if that will continue this week. McIlroy has come to the Masters playing amazing and then missed the cut. He has nearly won the Masters after missing the cut the week prior.

The key will be his start. Over the last 10 years, McIlroy’s scoring average in the first and second rounds is 72.3. His weekend scoring average is 69.4, nearly three shots better.

Then there’s this stat: 36 of the last 37 Masters champions have been in the top 10 through two rounds, according to Justin Ray of Twenty First Group.

McIlroy starting slow is not an option. If McIlroy is finally going to get the monkey off his back , there will be signs. It starts with improved approach play and a fast start.

4. Best first-timers class since …

Every crop of Masters first-timers features a few studs. Last year showcased Tom Kim and Sahith Theegala alongside amateurs Sam Bennett and Gordon Sargent. The prior year included Sam Burns and Min Woo Lee.

I’d challenge someone to come up with a better first-timers class than this year’s, though. Among the players making their debut at the Masters are reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg and Nicolai Højgaard – two European Ryder Cuppers – and two PGA TOUR winners under age 23 in Nick Dunlap and Akshay Bhatia.

One swing from every first timer in the 2024 Masters field

The headliners are Clark and Åberg, who enter the week at Nos. 4 and 9 in the world, respectively. Clark, the rare major champion who has not yet played Augusta, might have three wins this season if not for Scottie Scheffler. He finished runner-up to Scheffler in back-to-back weeks at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship. He won the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He’s shown himself to be a big-game hunter and is arguably the second-best player in the world right now behind Scheffler. How he tackles Augusta National as a first-timer will be fascinating.

The context of Åberg’s debut might be even crazier. The 24-year-old played in a Ryder Cup, won PGA TOUR and DP World Tour events and cracked the top 10 in the world before playing a major championship. The Masters is not only his tournament debut but his major championship debut. His game is a fit at any course, Augusta National included, but this is a new stage for the Swede – who has handled everything else in his path.

Other first-timers include reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Eric Cole, current-season winners Jake Knapp, Matthieu Pavon, Austin Eckroat and Stephan Jaeger and world No. 1 amateur Christo Lamprecht.

They will all be chasing rarified air. Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 was the last Masters rookie to win the green jacket. If there was going to be a year to do it, it might be someone from this class of first-timers.

5. How will the weather affect the course?

One of the marvels of golf architecture, Augusta National has not had the opportunity to flex its full strength on the field in recent years as rainy conditions have softened what can be a firm and fiery test.

Given early feedback from the ground, that could change this year. Reports indicate the course is as firm and fast as it has been in several years.

“I mean, I was hitting 5-irons that were coming into par 5s that were bouncing, tomahawking over the green, and I was like, ‘This is pretty cool.’ It's been a while,” Schauffele said Monday.

Whether it stays that way will be the question. Current forecasts estimate more than an inch of rain could fall on Thursday, though any precipitation seems largely isolated to just Thursday. With windy and dry conditions expected to come through the Augusta area following the rain, the hope for a firm and fiery test over the weekend is still a strong possibility.

What the weather will do remains to be seen, but players have their preferences on how they would like it to play.

“If the course is playing hard and fast, it's more difficult. Winning score is usually … higher,” 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama said. “When it's wet, I mean, it can go to 20-under. I like both, but if it goes to 20-under, my chances … get slimmer. So, I would like a tougher setup where it plays drier, fast and hard.”

Added reigning Open Championship winner Brian Harman: “I prefer it to be hot and windy. I feel like that gives me the best opportunity. When it's cold and wet, that's kind of a tough row to hoe for me.”