00:01:30.440So here we find ourselves now in the undoing of the Voting Rights Act.
00:01:34.320Here we find ourselves now creating districts where the legislature says,
00:01:39.480I'm sorry if we want this community of African-American and Hispanics and others to have representation, to have their voice in the state legislature.
00:01:49.640That's now racist. That's somehow now just bad public policy.
00:01:56.300This is a blow. Obviously, a lot of effort went into this campaign to to win a vote of the people.
00:02:02.800And it has been set aside. And, you know, when you look at the whole board with Florida moving and these other states based on the Supreme Court Voting Rights Act decision, you know, Tennessee and Louisiana and now Alabama, maybe South Carolina, you know, the president is in terrible political shape.
00:02:24.440And on the natural, Republicans would lose the House.
00:02:28.020This gives them a little bit of more of a cushion, probably nine or 10 Democrats need to win to take the House other than rather than three.
00:02:36.920And so this was a bad day for Democrats, no doubt about it.
00:02:41.440I think the proof is in the pudding, right?
00:02:42.940Because why have we not had an Iranian response yet to the U.S. proposal that was given many days ago?
00:02:49.600Now, we were supposed to hear a response on Thursday.
00:02:52.020We didn't. We were then pretty confident we'd get a response yesterday. Marco Rubio said that he was expecting a response from the Iranians yesterday.
00:03:00.360We didn't get one. And so we're now in three days and Iran still hasn't replied to this U.S. proposal to bring a conclusive ending to this conflict.
00:03:09.980And I think the fact that we have seen fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, we have seen attacks onto the coastline of Iran over the last couple of days,
00:03:20.340and we've seen, obviously, an Iranian retaliation, not just to U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz, but to the UAE particularly as well,
00:03:30.320then that's why we're not moving forward in this peace proposal, in these negotiations.
00:03:35.720And remember this latest proposal that the U.S. has put forward, which essentially suggests that within 30 days, we will come to a conclusive ending of this conflict.
00:03:46.400In it, there is discussions around lifting the blockade gradually of the straight-up Hormuz.
00:03:51.680There will be discussions around how Iran's sanctions would be released and their assets unfrozen.
00:03:58.760There's also talk about how Iran would lift their blockade of the straight-up Hormuz.
00:04:03.860and critically as well about their nuclear program
00:04:07.680and very specific details about their nuclear program,
00:04:10.620which they'd all get into if the two sides actually get around the table.
00:04:14.560And that first will only be done if this initial pre-proposal gets agreed.
00:04:19.740And right now, Iran is pretty much staying quiet.
00:04:21.780In fact, due to the fighting that we've seen in the Strait of Hormuz,
00:04:25.500they said that Washington is a vermin-like nocturnal scheming.
00:04:31.460That was from Iran's foreign ministry, and they warned against adventurism and roguish behavior.
00:04:37.860This was after a U.S. jet fired on two oil tankers, which were heading towards an Iranian port in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:04:46.600And those two tankers were disabled as a result, as part of the U.S. blockade inside that waterway.
00:04:53.900So we're in a situation right now where all eyes are on Iran.
00:04:57.600The ball is seemingly in their courts to come back with a response to this deal.
00:05:03.900But I think this military action that we've seen extensively over the last few days now just doesn't help us getting to some form of peace proposal.
00:05:12.980And I just also must mention is that even if they do come back with a response, which won't be completely to apply with what the U.S. has said,
00:05:21.860this would just be the initial step to then getting to the table to then having
00:05:26.120negotiations that any sort of peace agreement and deal is still very far off
00:05:31.900this is the primal scream of a dying regime pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on
00:05:42.880these people here's not got a free shot all these networks lying about the people the people have
00:05:49.480had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you've tried to do everything
00:05:53.220in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen. And where do
00:05:56.600people like that go to share the big line? MAGA media. I wish in my soul, I wish that any of
00:06:04.180these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer
00:06:11.300is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room. Here's your host,
00:06:19.760saturday 9 may year of alert 2026 it's victory day in russia a little subdued today i think they're
00:06:30.260worried about uh ukrainian drones and let's give the ukrainians first of the ukrainian people are
00:06:36.040unbelievable the way they fought the russians and it's the courage and bravery and valor
00:06:39.540uh their leadership zelensky and the oligarchs are running at some of the worst people on earth
00:06:45.480but give the devil its due they've got the russian subdued kind of a very subdued victory
00:06:52.440day parade in moscow which normally has um you know they bring out the missiles everything so
00:06:58.200uh we'll talk about that a little bit later uh i i want bowling to start the show because i want
00:07:04.840to find out there we are right there pretty good we'll get it back up good going denver you're on
00:07:09.080the trigger today um and i do want to report no one on the denver staff was that guy on the runway
00:07:17.960last night what is that about a guy on a runway trying to flag down a jet about to take off
00:07:22.700these airports i'm telling you dangerous dangerous dangerous um eric bowling first off
00:07:29.020you used to have years ago didn't you have michael steel people i remember this is how
00:07:36.400When I say the Republican Party is controlled opposition and it's a new day for the grassroots, please always remember that Michael Steele was the head of the Republican Party.
00:07:49.080He didn't speak in ghetto like he does now on MSNBC.
00:08:03.000Tim Miller was the communications director of the Republican National Committee, and Michael Steele was the chairman.
00:08:12.800So when I say there was controlled opposition, because those guys are left-wing Democrats, and they show it every day on MSNBC, but they didn't really change.
00:08:21.140They just faked it, and this is what clowns the Republican Party are to kind of put them as the head guys.
00:08:27.140Did you ever have him on your show back in the old days, Eric, Michael Steele?
00:08:30.900Tons of times. I did a show where we would do a political panel before The Five on Fox Digital. Michael Steele was a regular Thursday guest. The guy was, you know, as convincing as could be.
00:08:45.100and I played a soundbite, I think it was maybe right before you came on last night on the 4 o'clock show,
00:08:51.400and he literally had the most African-American dialect I've ever heard,
00:08:55.960even worse than when Kamala brings it out or worse than when Hillary used to bring it out
00:09:01.160or when Biden says, in chain, it was the worst, and it just blows me.
00:09:06.000Steve, MSNBC is littered with former conservatives.
00:09:09.760You look at Nicole Wallace, one of their highest-rated shows, a former Bush press secretary.
00:09:16.560They like to pick up formers, especially when they like to do it.
00:09:19.100No, but it makes the point that they were never – it's why the Republican Party's controlled opposition.
00:10:59.540Yeah, first of all, Michael Steele was, I mean, I think it was Georgetown or Harvard, one of the one of the major universities. He was for 10 years, 15 years on TV. He never had this controlling without the G and white folk gonna really come on, Michael, what is this?
00:11:15.900As far as redistricting, you know, Politico had to come clean.
00:11:22.320And I think the headline, I'm pretty sure it's Politico or Axios, come clean and say it's a disaster for the Democrats, something they didn't see coming.
00:11:31.600They didn't see that the sand is down here in Florida pushing it forward quickly.
00:11:36.220And so there is a real feel that, you know, Caroline ran on your show yesterday talking about how we can get to 260.
00:11:44.680You just got to spend a lot of money. And as she pointed out, I hit her on also with your with your blessing, of course, she pointed out and asked her how much is for for one seat?
00:11:55.600I mean, I know every state is different. Everyone has different numbers.
00:11:59.280But when we came to a number, she said it could be upwards of, you know, 30, 35 million dollars for a seat.
00:12:05.120And she said, just think about that, though. One seat could make the difference between Hakeem Jeffries or whoever may be the Speaker of the House if we retain the House.
00:12:13.780So, because I'm not sure, I'm not sure Speaker Johnson or Thune should even be around after midterms, but whatever, that's my opinion.
00:12:21.580So, the redistricting thing that the Democrats thought they were so proud of with Hopkins Jeffries, you know, saying that the Republicans screwed up, I think they were a little, what does George Bush say, mission accomplished, just a smidge too early?
00:12:37.900no politico had the story i went back to my notes and they had a story i think it was the 27th or
00:12:44.36028th of how democrats had turned the tables and now they were ascended and this redistricting
00:12:49.760thing they were going to win and uh lo and behold uh you know reality hit what shocks me is they
00:12:55.740don't have a plan b i think it's going to be more than 30 or 35 million this is going to come down
00:12:59.740to a handful of seeds like for instance in virginia we're going to have uh a young man who's
00:13:04.220running for the state senate in the year after but they're getting ready for the ground game now
00:13:08.620you have to hold those four seats two of those seats are going to be tough right two of those
00:13:12.640seats are going to be tough in virginia but we got to hold them now that we got the structural part
00:13:16.120behind us you've got to actually hold them so it's going to be intense it will come down to
00:13:20.220seven or eight seats i think and i think you're going to see 50 million dollars because
00:13:24.560think about it the entire house of representatives which obviously has immense power particularly in
00:13:30.820disregard because they're coming for trump if they just take it by one seat they don't care
00:13:34.700the democrats play smash mouth they're not you know if they take it by one seat they're going
00:13:39.020to roll hard uh eric and so uh it this is going to be quite intense but and we still got a lot
00:13:44.560to go louisiana we still got one more to pick up uh alabama still one more to pick up south
00:13:49.480carolina so there's still seats in play like you said could get us to 216 south carolina scares me
00:13:55.360because i i lived there for three years very very red state and and with the chat with caroline
00:13:59.680yesterday she said there's there's a lot of you know folks who call themselves conservatives who
00:14:04.000may not be and that that i think is is fairly common especially you know state houses at least
00:14:08.960and possibly u.s representatives as well you know just to get to get elected so south carolina if
00:14:14.960you run as a d you're likely not going to get elected so you run as an art but you're really a
00:14:18.960d and that scares you know indiana mike pence had a lot of control over indiana and got those folks
00:14:25.440to push back but she did say well it's going to be another fight for indiana but it's going to
00:14:29.520happen after the midterms yeah no the uh south carolina georgia the establishment of those
00:14:34.880republican parties the grassroots will tell you this are infected with bushism the bushes the
00:14:40.960bush apparatus the carl roe bush apparatus has a lot of say so in the establishments in both south
00:14:45.360carolina and georgia that's why kemp is kemp is kind of a bush clone anyway short break eric
00:14:51.760Bowling. We're going to talk about do we have a deal, deal or no deal, next in The War Room.
00:15:00.160Everyone's focused on how the conflict in the Middle East is raising oil prices, but there's
00:15:04.240another grim reality to this contention. Oil isn't the only resource being constrained. About one
00:15:11.240third of global fertilizer trade happens through this region. And with spring planting season on
00:15:17.360top of us, American farmers are sounding the alarm, with some saying they can't afford to
00:15:22.060plant their fields. When one piece of the supply chain gets hit this hard, you know what comes
00:15:27.480next. Higher food prices, reduced availability, maybe even panic buying. That's why having an
00:15:33.860emergency food supply at home makes so much sense. And that's where our friends at MyPatriotSupply
00:15:40.720come in right now at preparewithbannon.com. That is preparewithbannon.com. We've set up an entire
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00:16:22.160do it today go check it out war room here's your host stephen k bann
00:16:28.420we had um let me cut that up and play that again on monday we had philip patrick last night
00:16:35.860talking about the structural changes he thinks
00:16:38.000and the Birch Gold guys think are coming to the gold market,
00:16:41.140the still massive purchase of gold by central banks.
00:16:45.180And he says they ain't buying it for yield.
00:16:47.120They're buying it just a hold, even at the prices, you know,
00:18:49.140President Trump said we gave the Iranians a love tap.
00:18:50.920This is a love tap to President Trump about the Brennan prosecution in South Florida.
00:18:56.260The deep state, they're Brennan's guys.
00:18:58.420That's the only reason they would leak this, right, is to put more pressure on the administration and make it look like Trump doesn't know what he's doing, right, and actually say, hey, this is going to last all the way to the midterms.
00:19:20.460Bannon calls him into his office and turns the lights off, put a light on his face, and said, what the hell did you leak for?
00:19:25.820Look, not only do we believe it, I think there's a concerted effort to undermine Trump and, as you point out, deep state.
00:19:34.000Faddis would know best about that, being a former CIA operative.
00:19:37.420He knows what – and I think you would agree that that was intentionally placed right now to give the Iranians some sort of wind in their sails, so to speak, so that they do last.
00:19:46.920Because the longer it lasts, the higher oil stays, higher oil stays, the higher gasoline stays, the closer you get to midterm elections is a definite drag on certainly independent voters, if not some weak, factless Republican voters.
00:20:01.600So, yeah, it's it's it feels like it's all intended to take Trump or MAGA down.
00:20:07.720What about your thoughts now? They're they're going through all kind of perturbation, a bunch of stories coming out.
00:20:13.800they leave in a couple of days for beijing your thoughts so how's how's the iranian situation in
00:20:20.180your mind going to play into these talks in beijing well so this is huge i'll get take you
00:20:24.540through the numbers i call the guys my trading guys and here are the latest three three vessels
00:20:28.700in the last 24 hours if you take the last few days a few days ago steve we talked there was
00:20:32.920four vessels then it jumped to 11 the very next day was zero two yesterday and three today so
00:20:38.900So the traffic is 95% below what it should be.
00:20:42.820Japan and South Korea remain the most critical countries with this oil really shortage on that part of the globe.
00:21:39.300Something very important with the Russia ceasefire or whatever this is, peace talk, whatever this is going to be, Russia produces 9 million barrels of oil per day.
00:21:47.600They use roughly half of it, but they export half of that as well.
00:21:51.800Right now, we're embargoing Russian oil in the world market the way we are with Iran.
00:21:56.180So you bring those barrels on, those would be very, very welcome relief to the general oil market.
00:22:02.600Again, Steve, we're not susceptible to the straight, but we're susceptible to the rising tide lifting all oil, crude oil barrel boats.
00:22:44.320It was pretty limited, but where the limit was, for me, was a very positive sign.
00:22:50.960Almost all the increase happened in the AI cap spending, capital spending on AI, which in a time where high energy prices are really strangling the AI development, people are making decisions where to go forward with data centers and such because of the high energy costs, rising energy costs, you know, the AI is draining energy resources.
00:23:13.600So even so, in the last month, we were fully in this war in the last month.
00:23:19.220CapEx spending on AI projects was most of the driver of the economic number.
00:23:23.800So yeah, you can say the headline was great.
00:30:12.540Is the Saturday morning show more casual to you now?
00:30:15.660this is uh this is on the road because i gotta go visit mama and tony for mother's day weekend
00:30:22.140okay great fantastic response thank you sir this these numbers talk to me about because i'm quite
00:30:29.480concerned we talk about content we've got structured content processed content uh issues
00:30:36.140we're facing besant uh navarro jason jameson greer the president everybody's focused on the
00:30:42.320economy. This is one of the reasons we want to wrap this thing up in the Persian Gulf and get
00:30:46.620back home. What warning signs do you see? Continue on with your issues about not the headline number,
00:30:54.640but the internals that are right below that. Absolutely. So Steve, what essentially I think
00:31:00.560this report is telling us, because look, you got to go through the data and you got to try to
00:31:05.300basically tell a story that fits every single data point, right? And I think what the data is
00:31:10.940telling us is that last month people were faced with exploding prices because of the war with
00:31:16.540Iran. There's just no other way to put it. And as a result, they went out and they got extra jobs.
00:31:22.780And look, this is something that we saw that happened under Biden, right? When all of his
00:31:26.800reckless government policies caused prices to go up. Right now, obviously, it's that oil has
00:31:32.180increased and that's what's causing the higher burdens on folks. So people went out and they
00:31:38.160got part-time jobs. This is why full-time employment went down, but part-time employment
00:31:43.180went up and accounted for all net job growth in April. Also with multiple job holders going up
00:31:49.060again, that's somebody who's already got a full-time job going out and getting another job,
00:31:53.780a part-time job to try to supplement their income. If you look at the credit data that we got
00:31:59.240most recently, it shows the exact same thing. People were able to increase their spending,
00:32:05.160mostly on things like gas and diesel, because they exploded how much they were putting on credit
00:32:11.700cards. So that's what the data is telling us here. So again, you get beyond the headline number
00:32:16.780and you see things are not that great. If you look at some of the areas that were good,
00:32:23.320you saw government jobs continuing to go down. So at least all net job growth is in the productive
00:32:28.420private sector, not the unproductive public sector. Additionally, we're continuing to see
00:32:33.620the construction boom. The CapEx spending that is coming in for AI is helping to, again, fuel that
00:32:41.500construction industry. You're helping to add blue collar jobs there. So good news, at least on that
00:32:47.840front. So it's not all bad. I don't want to make it sound like it's doom and gloom or anything like
00:32:52.420that. But I do at the same time want to be a realist. I want the war room posse here to be
00:32:57.260informed. I want them to know what's actually going on and not just get the rosy talking points.
00:33:02.200I want to actually continue to be a truth teller here, whether the truth looks good or not.
00:33:07.940The big, beautiful bill, particularly the supply side part of this of capital spending to expand plant and factory, the green shoots of that in manufacturing jobs.
00:33:19.720Because we were beginning to see some of that before the war.
00:33:42.340You're going to have to win all four of those to make sure that we retain the house.
00:33:47.220To do that, we have to have a robust economy.
00:33:49.720Are you seeing that right now as we sit here in the first week of May?
00:33:52.680well steve what i'm basically seeing is that we're just having to revise down a lot of our
00:33:59.460growth forecasts for the year because of high oil prices i mean look you know you can debate whether
00:34:05.020or not the war with iran was was worth it from a geopolitical you know geostrategic or a military
00:34:10.160point of view those are not my areas of expertise i i can't really give you yeah i can't comment on
00:34:15.380that all i can tell you is from an economic perspective the war is a massive drag on the
00:34:20.740economy because one of the cornerstones of the Trump economic boom for both in his first
00:34:26.160presidency and then also in his second term is low energy prices. Case in point, Steve,
00:34:32.240if you look at all of the data center projects that were actually started on January 1 of this
00:34:38.180year, fast forward to today, half of them have either been paused or canceled. Now,
00:34:43.840what's really amazing, and this goes back to something that Eric Bolling was saying earlier,
00:34:47.620is that the incredible amount of spending that we are still seeing, despite those high prices,
00:34:53.760I think is a result of the Trump economic boom. It is a result of the supply side effects of the
00:35:00.240investment credits that you see in things like the big, beautiful bill. It's a result of the
00:35:04.860reductions in regulatory burdens that are also decreasing costs that are allowing for these
00:35:10.340projects to continue to go forward, even in the face of those high energy prices.
00:35:16.280So again, you are seeing a construction boom, which will in the future then lead to a manufacturing boom because you have to actually build the factories first, right, before they can employ people and before they can actually start producing stuff.
00:35:29.180So you are setting yourself up for good growth in the future.
00:35:33.420But again, just the reality on the ground, Steve, I got to be a realist here.
00:35:37.640The reality on the ground is that these high energy prices are a big damper on the economy right now, and they are slowing things down.
00:35:45.140So again, you still do have growth. You are seeing some projects go forward, but we just have to acknowledge the fact that you've also seen a lot of projects either paused or canceled because of those high energy prices.
00:35:58.680And that's why the Persians are figuring out, calculating the pain they're taking.
00:36:03.100Obviously, a lot of pain militarily and politically.
00:36:08.060What they're going to force into the Persian people to stick it out with the pain they're going to try to put on President Trump and the administration.
00:36:14.880E.J., your analysis is always brilliant.
00:36:17.240Where do people go, particularly your Twitter feed?
00:37:12.180He's going to get us totally up to date on everything he's working on
00:37:15.240and talk about his new book that's coming out, The Persistence.
00:37:18.100I want to go now to the Commonwealth of Virginia, Scott Hamilton.
00:37:21.000Scott's running for a state Senate seat in the upcoming and really, I guess, the next cycle.
00:37:27.060Scott, tell me what has happened at the grassroots level about this, the decision by the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, the USA,
00:37:37.080but also this massive grassroots effort to keep this thing competitive.
00:37:40.500Are people fired up? Are you going to be able to hold all four of the seats that have basically been put back in play by the Supreme Court, sir?
00:37:50.280Well, God willing, hopefully we can hold the seats because the Supreme Court of Virginia has handed us a massive victory by keeping the congressional districts in place.
00:38:02.080And this was a power grab by Abigail Spanberger, Don Scott, and the criminal thug of Louise Lucas.
00:38:10.840They orchestrated a 10-1 map, and they violated the constitutional process not just once, not just twice, but in four separate occasions.
00:38:21.580But I read the entire opinion, and the court was spot on.
00:38:25.700And the main issue that the Virginia Supreme Court has is that early voting began and there was 1.3 million votes that were cast before the first passage of this constitutional amendment on Halloween of 2025.
00:38:42.800And there are 15 states that require the passage of an amendment in two separate General Assembly sessions.
00:38:50.300And Virginia, of course, is one of those.
00:38:52.100And what happened is that you have 1.3 million Virginians who are essentially disenfranchised.
00:38:59.180They didn't have a chance to cast a vote, whether they support this amendment or not.
00:39:04.300And, of course, the second passage occurred January of this year.
00:39:08.200And none of the well, there were special elections for certain members of the House, the delegates and for Senate, particularly for Ghazala Hashmi.
00:39:16.900You know, we need to find a replacement for her because she left her sentencing serving as lieutenant governor.
00:39:23.780And, you know, the court ruled that we can't disenfranchise 1.3 million Virginians to pass a constitutional amendment.
00:39:36.120Talk to me about we haven't had time to cover Lucas.
00:39:39.920we've we've talked about spanberger and she's a ca operative that you know governs as an
00:39:46.360authoritarian thug tell me about lucas for a second our audience doesn't know much about her
00:39:50.780except for the fbi you know she's got a big mouth she's been uh very aggressive and going after
00:39:57.620trump and maga uh but the fbi raided uh i guess her house and her business who is she and what
00:40:04.620is she like well i've i've been bumping heads with louise lucas for a while now there was a
00:40:11.660senate hearing this is back in 2021 so we had former senator amanda chase who was there um and
00:40:20.440we had you know many other folks were affected by um you know the covid vaccine and and of course
00:40:27.460um the covid illness that was you know still around at the time we were pretty much in the
00:40:32.820height of the pandemic. And what the issue was at the time is that there was a bill that Senator
00:40:40.200Amanda Chase put forth to make it so that pharmacists could not deny ivermectin prescriptions
00:40:48.000to those who got them from their doctors in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now, Louise Lucas,
00:40:53.980instead of hearing those individuals who had lost family members due to the COVID,
00:41:00.560who did not have access to ivermectin, she was not concerned about any of those voices.
00:41:06.020What she did is that she shut down the hearing and said, well, we're just not going to do this
00:41:10.680anymore. And Amanda Chase had a press briefing. We have various reporters over there talking about
00:41:19.400how Louise Lucas was not interested in hearing about alternative ways to combat this COVID
00:41:26.540pandemic. And that's just one of the many issues where Louise Lukas has been wrong on. And of
00:41:31.660course, when Governor Youngkin was in office, you know, she said, oh, we're putting this effing bill
00:41:37.300in the trash. I mean, she's just a vulgar gangster. I mean, you see it from her demeanor,
00:41:42.460the way she speaks. And, you know, she even said it's Abigail Spanberger's inauguration party,
00:41:49.56010 effing one, 10 effing one. She was shouting it several times. And this is kind of woman that she
00:41:55.000is now um i wasn't surprised that the fbi invaded her um her places of business i mean there's
00:42:01.660allegations that uh she was selling untested uh marijuana and of course you know since biden's
00:42:08.920america we've had marijuana that's been laced with marijuana marijuana's been laced with fentanyl
00:42:15.440and it's caused uh you know deaths in america and to have untested marijuana yeah and you're
00:42:23.880selling it to people in the Commonwealth of Virginia? I mean, that's a serious problem.
00:42:28.040There's other issues. Is it Medicaid and Medicare fraud also, I think, potentially?
00:42:36.220Potentially, yes. Yeah, because she runs multiple senior homes, and that's another issue. And I've
00:42:42.240also heard, too, that she has had her employees register people with dementia and other severe
00:42:51.260cognitive disabilities inside of her senior homes.
00:46:32.120And it's significant. It's our first win of a borough in London.
00:46:36.780And that, in some ways, goes against the trend.
00:46:39.520Because the pattern that's emerging over the country
00:46:41.720is that Labour are being wiped out by reform in many of their most traditional areas.
00:46:48.460And what you're going to see later on today
00:46:50.980is the Conservative Party being wiped out in their heartlands, like Essex.
00:46:55.840So London goes a bit against the trend
00:46:57.580in that the Conservatives and Labour have held up in some of the other boroughs.
00:47:02.120But I think overall what's happened is a truly historic shift in British politics.
00:47:08.180We've been so used to thinking about politics in terms of left and right.
00:47:12.260And yet what reform are able to do is to win in areas that have always been conservative.
00:47:16.900But equally, we're proving in a big way we can win in areas that Labour have dominated, frankly, since the end of World War One.
00:47:25.780At the moment, we're winning one in three of all the seats that are up.
00:47:29.860But I genuinely think the best is yet to come. I'm very excited about the Northeast results, the Yorkshire results, some more to come in the West Midlands. Essex, we're feeling supremely confident. And that's significant, given that half the shadow cabinet have seats in Essex. So it's a big, big day. It's a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.
00:47:57.840And it all goes to show that over the course of the last two years, since we made that breakthrough in the general election, we have professionalised the party.
00:48:08.360We've done it at a very, very rapid rate. I'm thrilled and delighted.
00:48:13.780Do you think reform can coral enough support from the electorate to actually get enough seats in the Commons to make Nigel Farage prime minister?
00:48:23.460That is a very, very good question. And then you go back sort of historically, the Liberal Democrats had exactly the same problem where they had they had that their voter support was very deep in specific areas, but did not translate across the country.
00:48:38.580and what we have here is the Farage support base is also, it's centred,
00:48:45.780although I would say that in his case it is centred,
00:48:48.680it is a broader swathe of areas in which it does have support
00:48:55.800which gives it a better chance, but I do take the point you're making
00:49:00.480and it is indeed an extremely valid one,
00:49:02.580which is that under our present first-past-the-post system,
00:49:05.660it is always it was always weighted towards keeping the big parties that say the Tories
00:49:12.060and the Labour Party in and everyone else out will that change again we have to wait to see
00:49:18.680there's nothing more divisive than treating the British people like second-class citizens in
00:49:22.620their own country there's nothing more divisive than what we've got with a policy of open borders
00:49:27.140a policy of mass uncontrolled immigration scrap trying to scrap jury trials trying to trying to
00:49:32.300shut down people's free speech. The reason that we at Reform are doing so well today,
00:49:37.100the reason that we are reshaping the map of British politics is because we've connected
00:49:41.740with the decent majority of hardworking, taxpaying, law-abiding British people who have had enough
00:49:48.220of being treated like second-class citizens in their own country. Labour have clearly become
00:49:54.760disconnected from Britain, Keir Starmer especially. The Conservative Party, the brand is visibly
00:50:01.040dying. And what's remarkable to me is the reach of reform. It's not just down the east coast of
00:50:08.760England, Essex and Kent anymore. It's into the northern Labour heartlands. It's into Wales.
00:50:14.300It's Angela Rayner watching all of those seats in Tameside go reform, where, of course, we ran the
00:50:19.900Gorton and Denton by-election. That's the legacy of that by-election. But also it's Lisa Nandy,
00:50:25.540who has been very critical of reform. You know, Lisa Nandy called reform a fascist party not that
00:50:29.940long ago. Well, Lisa Nandy just woke up and discovered that we just won every single seat
00:50:34.340but one in Wigan, one of the strongest Labour heartlands. So this is unprecedented stuff.
00:50:39.920If we're not there, then people are either going to simply stay home or vote for reform
00:50:44.460in the desperate attempt to get some change. So the idea that you can simply add up the Labour
00:50:50.760votes and the Green votes and assume that that would make some sort of total, it's just not
00:50:55.140actually the way that voters think, the way that voters act.
00:50:58.080But how desperate are you to keep Nigel Farage out of number 10?
00:51:02.520Well, I mean, we are aiming to keep building.
00:51:05.680We're seeing increasing number of seats where we are keeping reform out.
00:51:10.880I mean, we haven't yet mentioned the wonderful results in Wales
00:51:14.480where we've got our first Senate members,
00:51:16.020and the second one of those was elected by keeping out a reform potential Senate member.
00:51:21.460I mean, we're doing great guns. We still haven't got the final results.
00:51:24.020But in Scotland, we've just won our first constituency seat in Scotland, something we've never done before.
00:51:30.600And there's going to be some very good Scottish results that we haven't got yet.
00:51:33.980So our aim is to see, as people are increasingly seeing, that this next election is going to be a struggle between Green and reform.
00:51:41.820We're the party of hope. They're the party of fear.
00:51:44.280But the electoral system doesn't work in your favour for that, does it?
00:51:47.640I mean, you know, Nigel Farage and reform has reached a tipping point.
00:51:51.280So they're now benefiting from the first-past-the-post system.