Power Play

Amid the 50,000-odd delegates attending this year’s sprawling COP29 UN climate conference in Azerbaijan, you can hear the wheels of climate diplomacy turning. But even 6,000 miles from Washington, D.C., you don’t have to go far before Donald Trump intrudes on the conversation. Will he follow through on plans to dilute or abandon the climate initiatives of the incumbent Biden administration? Host Anne McElvoy begins Power Play’s coverage of the talks in Baku by chatting with Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of the environment and climate change, about how Canada and the rest of the world are preparing for Trump’s next presidency. She also talks with climate campaigner Paul Polman — a former Unilever CEO — on his serious concerns about the Azerbaijani hosts of COP29 and about his encounter with Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

remarkable comeback to the White House. By any standards, his victory over Kamala Harris was historic. What does it mean for the U.S. and its place in the world? Host Anne McElvoy was in POLITICO's Washington, D.C. newsroom to see how the election unfolded. She talks to John Harris, global editor-in-chief — a veteran of many races for the White House — and in Philadelphia, to Senior Political Columnist Jonathan Martin. Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter, also joins to discuss the president-elect's various legal battles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Britain’s Conservative Party chooses their new leader in a few days. Kemi Badenoch has emerged as the favorite to win, but her combative style and a number of bruising exchanges with her rival, Robert Jenrick, have prompted questions about the breadth of her appeal. Power Play host Anne McElvoy talks to Badenoch about whether she can restore her party’s fortunes after Rishi Sunak’s last few troubled years in office, culminating in the heaviest election defeat in their history. What is her final pitch to party members in the last days of the contest, and might she struggle to be heard just days after Sir Keir Starmer’s government delivered its keynote budget? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.K. and Germany have signed a defense deal to bolster NATO and European security. But will it do anything to meet their immediate needs and alter the course of the war in Ukraine? Host Anne McElvoy talks to John Healey, the U.K. Defence Secretary — one of the most senior jobs in PM Keir Starmer’s government, which has just passed its first 100 days in office. She sat down with Healey at London’s historic Trinity House, where his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, came to sign a deal to strengthen co-operation between Europe two biggest defense spenders and donors to Ukraine’s war effort. Despite the glad-handing, is there any room for optimism as the war enters another long winter and Americans head to the polls in an election that could have a decisive impact on the outcome? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices