A triple lock, a care service and Rory Stewart's Newsnight stare
Rory and Alastair's reaction to Andy Burnham's speech passed 400,000 views, and Rory gave the meme from his television appearance a video of its own.
The Rest Is PoliticsStory of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
"It Was Powerful" | Rory and Alastair React To Andy Burnham's Speech.
"It Was Powerful" | Rory and Alastair React To Andy Burnham's Speech. is the video that set the tone on The Rest Is Politics, the podcast where Alastair Campbell, once Tony Blair's communications chief, and the former Conservative cabinet minister Rory Stewart argue across the old divide. It picked up more than 200,000 views on its first day and has since doubled that, the biggest upload of a ten-video week.
The pair weigh whether scrapping the pension triple lock in favor of a national care service is a risk Burnham can survive, and whether his years as Mayor of Greater Manchester made him a better speaker. The comments read like a phone-in on the speech itself, with retirees and care workers talking through what the triple lock trade would mean for them.
There was a lighter thread too. The description promised Rory's explanation for his viral Newsnight stare, and a day later he answered it properly in "Rory finally addresses THAT MEME." Some of the most liked replies under the Burnham video ask him not to tone down his expressions.
The busiest video right now is the Question Time episode, "Does Xi Jinping Have Trump In A Chokehold?", which moves from the Trump-Xi summit to the Orange Order standoff in Northern Ireland and violence in Ethiopia. Gordon Brown dropped in to explain the global appetite for nuclear weapons, and an interview with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has just arrived.
The channel ran well below its usual daily pace, though it still drew about two million views over the week, mid-table among political channels of its size. TYT Investigates and Harry Sisson were both running above their usual levels.
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- Channel
- The Rest Is Politics
- Subscribers
- 688,000 ▲ 2,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 2,101,148
- Videos published this week
- 10
- Video published
- September 29, 2026
- Video views so far
- 409,791
- Views on its first day
- 213,825
The numbers
Here is how The Rest Is Politics moved over the past seven days.
💡 Test your knowledge
Gordon Brown, a guest this week, served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under which prime minister?
Brown was Blair's Chancellor from 1997 until he succeeded him as prime minister in 2007.
