Laura Kuenssberg: State of Chaos is gruesome and gripping, and it does feel bad to be so gripped by it. The former political editor of the BBC, who stepped down from the position in 2022, uses her insider knowledge and chunky address book to examine why we have had five prime ministers in 10 years, and why this is “a norm-busting, convention-defying” period of political history. The programme starts in 2016, in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, and this episode, the first of three, ends with the arrival and early impact of Boris Johnson – and Dominic Cummings – at Number 10.
It certainly is depressing. It offers a portrait of baffled officials, from ministers to civil servants, splashing around in the muck, out of their depth, sometimes pointing a finger at somebody else. William Hague opines that we have seen “the end of normal”, which only adds to the bleakness. Jacob Rees-Mogg appears with an anecdote about the morning after the referendum, as his son tells him that they’ve won. Philip Hammond says one of his kids woke him up to say, “It looks like it’s gone the wrong way.” There is a great display of the BBC’s grand balancing act throughout, though notably, the only Labour figure interviewed in the opening episode is Hilary Benn. I suppose this is the story of the mess the Tories have made, and it’s more damning if they are the ones to tell it.
