Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice & MP for Cheltenham is a busy man. Since becoming the minister for Justice in April of this year (2023) it has been full on. As a qualified barrister and born in Cheltenham he is a passionate man and on a mission.

Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen has launched a new Punchline Talks! series - Punchline Talks! POLITICS - the idea is to have an open discussion once a month with our elected leaders (county and national) in a series of 15 minute interviews to cover a broad spectrum of topics. Because - lets be honest no one else is bothering to ask the difficult questions - and it takes two to tango. This is the second in the series.

Mark caught up with Alex on the eve of his 48th birthday to discuss a wide of topics including: Child poverty in Cheltenham, the Golden Valley development, support for the victims of rape and sexual violence, the massive back log of legal cases to go to court, the legality and fairness of the Bibby Stockholm barge and finally as Cheltenham celebrates it's paint festival - how to tackle the scourge of graffiti in our town centres.

There is a lot to cover in a short space of time. If your company is interested in sponsoring the series, please get in touch with Mark Owen via LinkedIn, DM Mark Moose Owen.