The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #1121

00:00:00.000 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the podcast of the Lotus Eaters for Friday,

00:00:03.780 the 14th of March, 2025. Yes, it's Friday. Best day of the week. You've made it. I'm joined by

00:00:10.380 Harry. Hello there. Andrew Bridgen. Hi there. And we are going to be talking about the drawn lines

00:00:16.440 in the reformed civil war, how we are turning into a total Blairite state. So don't take the

00:00:22.540 abolition of NHS England too literally. It's not going to be as good as you think. And how the

00:00:27.380 consequences of their own woke actions are coming to bite them. Because if we end up going to war

00:00:32.340 with Russia, we don't have any soldiers. So how interesting is that? Anyway, let's begin. So

00:00:38.400 the reformed civil war has been raging all week. It's now been a week. In fact, it was Friday

00:00:44.440 in which they launched their what seemed to be unnecessary attack on Rupert Lowe for making

00:00:53.320 sensible, sensible suggestions as to what reform ought to do, which is nominate a shadow cabinet

00:00:58.840 and perhaps incorporate the party into a more democratic framework rather than relying on this

00:01:05.960 kind of messiah style politics that Nigel Farage has done. And that's when they decided to make a

00:01:12.460 bunch of allegations against him, kick him out of the party, and then the next day report him to the

00:01:16.180 police. Which is not exactly very nice and very kind. And this has led to a week's worth of

00:01:25.580 raging, mostly online, that's true, but some not, about whether Nigel Farage is in fact the right

00:01:31.700 person to lead the right going into 2029. And there are many divided opinions on this. But before we

00:01:38.840 begin, Islander 3 is of course still on sale. There's another week left, so get it while you can,

00:01:42.820 because when it's gone, it's gone forever. We won't be reprinting it. This is a moment in time,

00:01:47.800 so get it while it's available. So let's talk about some of the narratives that have been

00:01:52.860 swirling around. Because of course, when you have a large number of people attacking a very small

00:01:58.620 number of people, the small number of people feel they have to come up with some quite decisive

00:02:02.140 arguments. And these decisive arguments have been poor, say the least. And one of those arguments is,

00:02:07.640 well, reform would be nowhere if it wasn't for Nigel Farage. And that's not true.

00:02:12.820 In fact, it was reform success that encouraged Nigel Farage to come back. As you may remember,

00:02:18.200 back in May, the end of May, just before the polling results came out of Clacton, Nigel Farage

00:02:25.280 said, no, I'm not going to stand in the UK election. I'm going to go and help Donald Trump in the US.

00:02:29.540 Okay, fair enough. Makes sense. Good enough. And then this servation poll came out,

00:02:34.760 in which Clacton turns out 37% were going to vote for the Reform Party. Oh. And so that very day,

00:02:45.340 Nigel Farage entered the race as the Reform UK candidate. So it wasn't that Nigel Farage was

00:02:51.540 leading from the front, because he has never led from the front, as we all know. And this is a

00:02:56.600 perennial problem with Nigel Farage. It's that he saw that something useful was happening that he

00:03:01.680 could take advantage of. And so he did. And Reform did get a bump in the polls after that. That's

00:03:07.940 true. And you can see here where it's about, let's just zoom in here. As you can see, Reform were

00:03:15.000 already doing quite well in the polls at 17%. Then Nigel joins and actually went down a bit because he

00:03:20.580 started talking about Ukraine in a way that the public won't be fans of. But then Keir Starmer

00:03:26.420 got in and people decided actually they hate Keir Starmer, they hate the Labour Party, and Reform went

00:03:31.120 up. So we could possibly ascribe this sort of seven-point bump to Nigel, but I don't think it's

00:03:36.660 exclusively him. I think that the general trend was towards Reform. I think Keir Starmer is a bit like

00:03:44.780 Jeremy Corbyn before him. You know, the Conservative landslide victory in 2019 wasn't down to Boris

00:03:52.320 Johnson. It was more down to Jeremy Corbyn. And that bounce is due to Keir Starmer and his policies.

00:04:00.880 Yes. And the way that he just treats the general public is it's awful. But yeah, no, I think so.

00:04:08.540 Any disagreements there, Harry?

00:04:09.640 No, this is slightly off topic, but something that's been troubling my mind for a little bit

00:04:15.040 regarding Nigel Farage was, do you remember, I think it was in December or January, right before

00:04:20.620 the sentencing of Axel Rudakabana. I think it was as part of a Winston Marshall interview. He stated

00:04:25.980 that there was going to be some, if it went to trial, there was going to be some kind of revelation

00:04:30.580 that would absolutely rock Keir Starmer's government and the British state. Has he said anything regarding

00:04:37.520 that since then? Or was it just to gin up publicity? Because as far as I'm aware, there would be no kind

00:04:44.020 of laws preventing him because it wouldn't be biasing the court anymore because there's no trial.

00:04:49.240 He already admitted, he said, I'm guilty to all of these charges that I'm presented with.

00:04:54.200 So does Nigel know anything? Was he just trying to get publicity? Was it just that Prevent already knew

00:05:00.260 about Rudakabana? Because that, I mean, we, that's happened multiple times where Prevent have known

00:05:06.320 about a terrorist attack or, well, not necessarily, a potential terrorist attack before it happened.

00:05:12.760 So that's not enough to rock the state. So what was it, Nigel? Are you actually going to say anything

00:05:17.260 or you just, or was it just for the sake of, let's, oh, I feel like being in the news today.

00:05:22.480 Yeah. Remember when he said that Keir Starmer had revoked his parliamentary privilege as well,

00:05:26.580 didn't he? So Keir Starmer had muzzled him. So that's a great point, actually. I forgot.

00:05:32.180 It's something that's been troubling my mind for the past few weeks because I've been considering,

00:05:36.680 like, why haven't you said anything? If you're trying to gain electoral ground in the lead up

00:05:43.860 to 2029, do something that will absolutely rock Labour right now. Start early. Yeah.

00:05:49.460 Instead of just making videos of yourself eating sandwiches.

00:05:52.840 Didn't Nigel Farage say that reform are going to have their own inquiry into,

00:05:56.580 the Muslim rape gangs. He did. He says a lot, doesn't he, Arnold?

00:06:01.140 He does say a lot of things. In politics, it's not what people say, it's what they do.

00:06:06.820 And you're right, Nigel, but most politicians are not intrinsically brave. They're very risk-averse.

00:06:12.440 And there's no doubt, Nigel does not make the political wind. He follows it.

00:06:17.240 He's the sort of person who will let the battle happen. And while all the bodies are writhing

00:06:22.800 on the floor, he'll stride across the battlefield with the flag and say, haven't I done well?

00:06:29.520 You know what, let's have a look at one of those writhing bodies, in fact, because Nigel

00:06:32.980 Farage didn't do the groundwork in Clacton. Other people have done the groundwork in Clacton.

00:06:37.860 And in this particular case, it was one Mr. Anthony Mack, who was a, you know, good old

00:06:42.840 local person, who was a taxi driver and things like this. And he was the one who was the

00:06:48.820 candidate when reform was on 37%. And so Nigel Farage had a phone call with him, and he promised

00:06:55.880 him that he would pay him back every penny that he'd spent on his campaign, which was

00:06:58.980 £8,500, and that he would get a paid position in Nigel's staff. Neither of those things happened.

00:07:07.820 So, Nigel's...

00:07:09.080 That was before the election, though, those promises were made. That's like a sort of manifesto,

00:07:12.440 isn't it?

00:07:12.900 That's a great point. Yes, that's a great point.

00:07:13.920 Now, you know, we've won, so...

00:07:15.960 Now, yeah, so, um, Tony Mack was just, uh, cast out on his ear.

00:07:21.060 Collateral damage to the greater good.

00:07:23.420 Exactly, for the cause, Tony. You know, it's your money that Nigel spent, and your seat that

00:07:28.280 he's taken, and you're getting nothing out of it. And, uh, he, Anthony Mack, after not being able

00:07:34.600 to get any, uh, recompense in July, decided to deliver a bill to Farage. I don't know whether it

00:07:41.860 was paid or not, because I couldn't find anything further on it. But, uh, Anthony says, um, I fear

00:07:47.140 for the future of reform unless it is democratized. Uh, I fear for the future of a movement like that

00:07:52.240 when it is led by a man who cannot keep his promises. Where does that leave his constituents or

00:07:56.400 supporters who have invested their faith in reform to deliver the kind of change that is

00:07:59.960 needed? And he, uh, accused Reform UK of having a, of creating a fascistic atmosphere in the

00:08:06.820 constituency. Well, I'll let you into a couple of, uh, inside bits of knowledge. So when I was

00:08:13.180 speaking out in November, December 22 to stop the government from, as a Conservative, uh, to stop

00:08:20.080 the government from vaccinating the under fives, when I'd exhausted going around all my colleagues,

00:08:26.280 I thought would have been helpful in, in Parliament, including all of those who admitted to me they'd

00:08:31.060 had heart attacks after the second Pfizer jab, but still, obviously, there's so much compromise on

00:08:36.680 them, they couldn't speak out about something affecting babies. Uh, I actually was desperate

00:08:42.100 enough to go to Nigel Farage, and I had a, an hour and a half with him, and in front of witnesses

00:08:48.000 at the end, when I presented all my thoughts about why the vaccines were neither safe nor

00:08:52.500 effective, and should certainly never be used on healthy small children at no risk from the

00:08:57.780 virus, uh, Nigel turned to me at the end and said, Andrew, I'm not going to be speaking about

00:09:03.660 the vaccine. This is in January 23. I'm not going to be speaking about the vaccines, and

00:09:07.640 if you know what's good for you, you won't either. And also, I'd been to him and asked him

00:09:12.920 to come out with me and go against, uh, Starmer's obvious plans to take the UK into the European

00:09:21.120 Defence and Securities Union, which will end up giving the EU full control of our Army,

00:09:26.900 Navy, Air Force, MI5, MI6, GCHQ, our nuclear deterrent, and our local police force. It's the

00:09:35.040 only security pact on, on offer, is the European Defence and Securities Union. And Nigel said,

00:09:41.700 I'm not talking about that, Andrew. Brexit's done as far as I'm concerned. Um, and those

00:09:48.060 two things back in 23 were huge red flags, to the point where, uh, before the general

00:09:54.020 election, uh, last July, um, I had told both Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe, who I've known Rupert

00:10:03.960 for a couple of years, good guy, um, I told them, you realise that it's only a matter of time

00:10:09.060 before Nigel's going to come for you. And it was. And I did remind them both of it last

00:10:14.260 week, uh, and give him his due. Ben Habib texted me straight back and said, so you did, Andrew.

00:10:19.840 So let's in fact talk about what's happening with reform itself, because a lot of people

00:10:23.340 are saying, well, hang on a second, Nigel Farage has given up control of the party and

00:10:26.080 has democratised it. No, uh, they've given over reform, uh, the, what is now called reform,

00:10:32.320 but was called the Brexit party to a company called reform 2025 LTD. So what was a private

00:10:39.020 company is now owned by another private company. Now, Richard Tice and Catherine Blakelock and

00:10:44.340 many, and six other people were the directors of the original Brexit party company that

00:10:50.100 became renamed reform. Uh, who do you think are the directors of reform 2025 LTD?

00:10:56.840 I imagine Nigel Farage is there.

00:10:58.760 He is definitely on there, but the only other person is Muhammad Ziyadin Yusuf. So even Richard

00:11:05.000 Tice has been sidelined now. He was at least an owner of the Brexit party slash reform. Not

00:11:11.560 anymore. Um, well, Nigel originally said that he, to, to Ben Habib, that he didn't want to

00:11:18.840 come back into politics. All he wanted to do was make money. Do you think he's found a

00:11:22.580 way of combining the two?

00:11:24.140 Well, I mean, he hasn't given up his position at GB news, has he? No. Still a million pounds

00:11:29.080 a year from that, but you know what? I'm not against people making money. I'm against

00:11:31.800 people stabbing people in the back.

00:11:35.960 Well, in politics, I always stab them in the front.

00:11:38.240 Well, that's the, where they're, you know, that's the honourable way to fight.

00:11:40.820 I remember that was my quote when David Cameron had to go. Yeah.

00:11:44.560 It's in the Daily Mail. Andrew Bridgen said, I'm not going to stab David Cameron in the back.

00:11:48.280 I'm going to stab him in the front because I want to see the look in his eye when I stick

00:11:52.300 the knife in, but I'm going to have to twist it because I need it back for George.

00:11:55.900 Yes, Phillips said the same about Jeremy Corbyn and everyone got on her back about this,

00:11:58.620 but I actually thought that was respectful. No, yeah. Come out and, you know, attack them

00:12:01.920 in the front rather than from behind. But anyway, as we, we know, of course, Rupert Lowe got

00:12:06.680 suspended and Rupert Lowe then put out a last ditch effort to Nigel Farage and a letter

00:12:12.400 requesting reconciliation. A million people have seen this on Twitter. Nigel Farage has

00:12:17.400 not responded to this. And so the question is, well, how is the war going? Well, no

00:12:22.280 salutation there, is there? No, just Nigel. It was good. Well observed, actually. But

00:12:29.560 yes, you could. But this is like the third or fourth attempt that Rupert Lowe has made

00:12:33.640 to try and get Nigel to come to the table. When Tice was on TV a few days ago and said

00:12:38.740 it basically, we're not interested. It doesn't matter what what comes out of any

00:12:41.960 investigation. Rupert's not coming. Isn't that a bit of predetermination? Yes. I mean,

00:12:46.940 you could have just dropped the false threats that you've ginned up. You should say we just

00:12:51.020 don't want to. Yeah. I mean, forget all this. He's not coming back. Yeah. Doubt. And let's

00:12:55.820 dispense with the charade. We don't need this. Okay. You're not doing it. Fine. You don't

00:12:59.980 want him. That's fine. Just be honest. Yes. And try and invent some mental health problems.

00:13:05.300 I mean. Insufferable. I mean, you saw him on Dan Wootten the other day. He's obviously

00:13:10.980 he's one of the most complimentous politicians I've ever heard. Like, I wish our politicians

00:13:16.180 were as lucid as Rupert Lowe was. Anyway, so this is taking attack with Nigel Farage. So

00:13:23.140 of course, Nigel Farage had a sort of 90% approval rating with reformed voters. And that's down 73%.

00:13:28.340 And this was from three days ago. So I don't know exactly what it's going to be today, but

00:13:34.260 I can't imagine it's getting any better. And as you can see, this has been something that

00:13:37.920 has affected Nigel's credibility. Reform voters themselves are kind of annoyed by this. And

00:13:43.920 that's interesting because the response of reform has been to crack down on their own

00:13:49.340 members. So apparently, according to LBC, if Reform UK organisers and members speak to the

00:13:55.340 media, they will be dismissed, just like Rupert Lowe was. So it was a bit bizarre when

00:13:59.820 Lee Anderson said, no, this isn't true. This isn't true. But it's we've already seen this

00:14:03.320 happen, Lee.

00:14:04.560 This is exactly what happened.

00:14:04.820 Well, no, they've also, I mean, anyone who any time in the last 20 years has on social

00:14:11.220 media made any hints that they were supportive of anything that Tommy Robinson has done, that's

00:14:16.960 been used to hoof people out.

00:14:19.020 Yes.

00:14:19.700 After decades.

00:14:20.580 Yes.

00:14:20.740 So that all fits in line.

00:14:24.380 Yep. And again, that's not true. But we've seen you do this to one of your own MPs. You

00:14:30.780 knocked out a fifth of your parliamentary party on this very basis. So I don't know if

00:14:36.040 I believe that, actually, Lee. So the response to all of this has been to debate who should

00:14:44.260 be the leader of reform. And this is a debate they've been having. It's not a debate we've

00:14:48.820 been having. Because Rupert Lowe has not actually made a bid for the leadership of reform, because

00:14:53.120 of course there's no avenue for him to do so. There's not a democratic party.

00:14:56.720 And he's actually out of the party now.

00:14:58.180 And he's out of the party now. And no, I have not once seen Rupert Lowe even mention the

00:15:03.600 term becoming party leader. This has been about making sure the party is in a fit state

00:15:08.440 to properly govern, as in we need a shadow cabinet of heavy hitters. And this was treated

00:15:15.580 as a leadership challenge.

00:15:16.500 Oh, they certainly hit Rupert rather heavy.

00:15:18.020 They certainly did. And so the common response has been, well, 86% of the public failed to

00:15:24.860 identify a photo of Rupert Lowe. So he's not famous enough to lead the party. Right. But

00:15:30.860 that's not how anyone has ever been chosen for the leader of any party, is it?

00:15:36.160 Well, ask anybody, any man in the street in 2020, who is Keir Starmer?

00:15:42.600 Precisely.

00:15:43.040 Would anybody have known? People wouldn't have been able to go, oh, he was that evil

00:15:47.040 human rights lawyer that got the death penalty banned in the Caribbean, wasn't he? No, they

00:15:51.900 wouldn't have been able to do that. They would have gone, who? Who's that?

00:15:55.020 This is the NPC meme. I don't know what you're...

00:15:57.140 Yeah.

00:15:58.060 But that's the point. I mean, Kemi Badenock, was she well known before she was made Conservative

00:16:02.240 Party leader? No, of course not.

00:16:03.540 She's not very well known now.

00:16:04.720 Exactly. Nobody knows who she is now. But then conversely, hang on a second, 14% of the

00:16:10.260 public can actually identify a backbench MP who's been there for six months in a non-governing

00:16:17.760 party. That's actually remarkable. That's incredible. I don't even know who my North Swindon MP is.

00:16:24.280 Like, I don't know who it is. But the fact that 14% of the public can identify it implies

00:16:30.400 that in six months, Rupert's actually really made his star rise. And who knows where he'll

00:16:35.220 be in another six months. So that's actually quite impressive.

00:16:38.480 I must say, I did defend Rupert this week. And I have considerable sympathy for what he's

00:16:44.480 going through. I mean, you know, being expelled from your own political party on spurious grounds,

00:16:53.100 smeared, vilified, attacked in the media, cancelled, attempt to cancel you. Yeah, I mean, I can

00:16:59.160 understand all of that. And by fate, one of my former parliamentary assistants ended up

00:17:09.520 taking a position with Rupert. She's one of the people supposedly implicated in the

00:17:14.940 bullying. Apparently she was. And she contacted me and said, but it wasn't Rupert that I was

00:17:21.860 complaining about. It was somebody else who works in the office. And she said that was

00:17:26.240 the same for the other person who complained of the bullying culture. And that was someone

00:17:31.200 in the constituency office, but they were complaining about another member of staff, not Rupert.

00:17:36.020 And that was conflated. And if you actually listen to what... Deliberately so, as well.

00:17:39.880 Yes, and listen to what Reform, Nigel and Tice have said, the wording is, you can tell

00:17:45.640 it's not actually about Rupert. Exactly. I went through that on the podcast when we first

00:17:48.680 covered it. Yeah, they knew. It was very slyly worded to make people think that it was

00:17:53.180 Rupert without actually accusing Rupert. Because, of course, it wasn't Rupert.

00:17:57.420 It wasn't. And then the number of character witnesses that came out and said, no, Rupert's

00:18:02.140 lovely. He's a teddy bear. What are you talking about? You can see that this

00:18:06.000 is... Honestly... So I felt obliged to defend him.

00:18:09.960 Oh, yeah. I was just saying that. Because it's right. Yes.

00:18:12.560 He's being smeared. Yeah. And he seems... Maliciously.

00:18:15.480 I'm tired of people of incredibly low character being able to get one over on people of good

00:18:19.880 character. I'm very tired of this paradigm, and I want it to change. But anyway, so Matt

00:18:24.620 Goodwin came out and said, well, look, let's look at the favourability. And actually, I'm

00:18:30.340 not sure this is as good as Matt interprets it as being. Because, yeah, a lot of people,

00:18:36.620 68% of people don't know who Rupert Lowe is in a different poll. And 9% find him favourable

00:18:42.960 and 16% find him unfavourable. But Nigel Farage, 67% of people find him unfavourable.

00:18:49.120 And they do know who he is, don't they?

00:18:50.400 And, yeah, they exactly know who he is.

00:18:52.000 Lowe's actually got the best ratio there of favourable to unfavourable, even if not as

00:18:56.000 many people know who he is.

00:18:57.560 He actually does, doesn't he? So, you know, if we're going to go by a net favourability

00:19:03.360 rating for reform UK politicians, well, Rupert Lowe's the most well-liked by the general

00:19:09.480 public, even if they know the least about him. I mean, look at Tice as well. Tice was

00:19:14.180 the party leader and 63% of people still don't know who he is. What an empty suit.

00:19:18.880 I mean, he is a very forgettable person.

00:19:20.280 Yes, he is. Yes, he is. But the point being, if Nigel Farage has only got 25% favourable,

00:19:25.400 well, that kind of explains why reform can't seem to break 25% of the polls, actually, doesn't

00:19:29.220 it? Because you've got 67% of people who don't like him and do know who he is.

00:19:33.920 And made their minds up.

00:19:35.020 They've made their minds up.

00:19:35.800 So Nigel's done all he can do for reform.

00:19:38.240 Yes.

00:19:38.480 He's carried it as far as it can go.

00:19:41.060 Yes.

00:19:41.720 Whereas Rupert Lowe has still got a huge amount of potential. And actually, Rupert Lowe is

00:19:46.620 not nearly as sort of chalk and cheese as Nigel is. Rupert's actually a much more sort

00:19:52.220 of conformable kind of guy when you hear him speak. He's not offensive in the way that Nigel

00:19:59.900 Farage can be.

00:20:00.640 He's not as confrontational.

00:20:02.340 Correct.

00:20:02.800 Except for when he's being attacked by Nigel.

00:20:06.200 And that's OK.

00:20:06.860 That's OK. I think you're allowed to defend yourself.

00:20:09.100 Yeah.

00:20:09.720 Are you?

00:20:10.680 Oh, I think you are. I think so.

00:20:12.360 He's a businessman. And didn't he used to manage Southampton as well?

00:20:17.080 He did.

00:20:17.300 Chairman. Not the manager, the chairman.

00:20:19.100 So clearly, he's had to develop great communication skills over the years.

00:20:22.280 And diplomatic skills as well, which Nigel Farage simply does now.

00:20:25.700 And they have to have a bit of rhino hide as well. It'd be in football, I'd imagine.

00:20:28.960 Oh, yeah. I'd imagine so. So I'm not sure that this actually makes the point that Matt

00:20:32.780 Goodwin thinks it does. And again, pure fame is just not how we choose party leaders anyway.

00:20:40.100 Because, I mean, Jeremy Corbyn was incredibly famous and he lost.

00:20:43.500 And again, Keir Starmer, he's Prime Minister now. If you'd asked 10 years ago, oh, do you

00:20:47.720 know who the last DPS was?

00:20:49.640 Yeah. No one would have known. No one would have known. Anyway.

00:20:53.080 Sorry, DPP. I keep getting that wrong.

00:20:55.260 So Matt...

00:20:55.880 Director of Public Prosecutions at the CPS.

00:20:58.540 Yeah.

00:20:59.180 I keep getting mixed up. Thank you, Andrew.

00:21:01.500 So Matt continues making the point that, well, I mean, Nigel Farage has got the name

00:21:06.160 recognition. Surely he can get the 32% required to win.

00:21:09.600 Yes, but 68% of people don't like him.

00:21:12.420 Exactly. It goes both ways. You know, being disliked by a large number of people.

00:21:17.260 They've sucked it and seen and spat it out.

00:21:19.880 Well, that's the thing. And this is the problem I think the Democrats had in the United States

00:21:24.000 with Kamala Harris. Everyone knew who Kamala Harris was. They just didn't like him.

00:21:27.820 They hated him.

00:21:28.420 And actually, an empty suit who started on zero favourability net, because people just didn't

00:21:33.000 know, would have been better.

00:21:33.860 Or should we call them a clean skin?

00:21:35.080 There we go. The proper term. A clean skin would have been a better choice because of

00:21:40.740 the baggage that that person comes with. And Rupert Lowe doesn't carry that baggage.

00:21:44.640 So anyway, you had people like Julia Hartley Brewer saying, well, look, you need to suck

00:21:49.880 it up and put egos aside. And it's like, well, hang on a second. The person you need to tell

00:21:54.300 to put their ego aside is Nigel Farage. Because what did Rupert Lowe do? He said, look, we need

00:21:59.720 a more democratic structure. And the same, the reason that Ben Habib got kicked out, we need

00:22:03.660 a more democratic structure. And we need a proper front bench that people can get behind,

00:22:07.600 as in other people outside of Nigel Farage who might be appealing to the public in the

00:22:11.760 sort of RFK Trump scenario. So there was about 5% of the American population that was backing

00:22:17.100 RFK, weren't backing Trump, probably wouldn't have backed Trump, but because RFK is a Democrat.

00:22:22.340 And when RFK goes over to Trump, those people also go over to Trump.

00:22:25.640 You know that when the Conservative Party actually announced, leaked out that expelled me, that was

00:22:31.660 so I couldn't appeal, because it has to be on the basis there's no publicity around

00:22:35.980 it. They already told me that. So then they leaked it, so I couldn't appeal. And I'd been

00:22:40.520 in Parliament sort of 12 and a half years, nearly 13 years. And one of my colleagues I'd served

00:22:48.300 with for all that time, text me, rang me to say, I'm very sorry you've been expelled from

00:22:53.580 the Conservative Party. But I did, within an hour, I got a phone call on my mobile from a US

00:23:00.160 presidential candidate called Robert Kennedy Jr. Really?

00:23:03.460 He said, it's a disgraceful, Andrew, and I'll back you.

00:23:06.420 And, you know?

00:23:08.080 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So anyway, this is the calibre of people who

00:23:13.700 are lining up to support Nigel Farage. And if there's one thing that we can say about

00:23:19.080 them, I think it's they're quite establishment. They're all people who are essentially still

00:23:24.040 part of the establishment. They are the kind of release valve for the establishment. And on

00:23:28.920 the other side, you've got basically everyone else. So I'm going to use Peter Lloyd as an

00:23:33.860 example of the online right-wing commentariat who used to like Farage. And Peter had dinner

00:23:40.400 with him. He said he was a nice chap. But Elon is right. He needs a new leadership. And

00:23:45.440 this goes for pretty much everyone. There are very, very few notable right-wing commentators

00:23:51.260 online who are backing Farage at this point. Everyone seems to be pro-Rupert Lowe, which is

00:23:56.060 good. Another... And Britain does love an underdog, don't they? And they don't like

00:23:59.940 bullying, do we? We don't like it. We don't, you know? Intrinsically. And why should we?

00:24:04.740 Well, exactly, because there's never a good reason for it. It's totally uncalled for,

00:24:09.420 especially in the case of Rupert Lowe. You have Sammy Woodhouse and various other rape

00:24:13.820 gang survivors who have said, no, Rupert Lowe, I would like to personally and publicly thank

00:24:17.840 Rupert Lowe for continuing to support me and highlight this issue. Nigel Farage, of course,

00:24:21.420 told Rupert Lowe to stop talking about it. So, we'll carry on. He told me to not talk about

00:24:27.980 the vaccine harms and excess deaths. Exactly. Constantly leading from the rear. The next one

00:24:33.000 that I found surprising was Douglas Murray. Why Nigel should listen to Rupert Lowe in The

00:24:38.500 Spectator, which was, of course, an excellent article. And Daniel Hannan is not necessarily

00:24:44.060 backing Rupert Lowe, but he did come out and reinforce the point that Rupert Lowe had made,

00:24:47.920 saying, look, reform does need to make the transition from protest to potential party

00:24:52.900 of government. So, verifying that Rupert Lowe was correct, it needs a shadow cabinet,

00:24:56.740 it needs dozens of big beasts, men and women with their own profiles. And that's obviously

00:25:01.160 true because they are extra percentage points where people would hold their nose because

00:25:05.180 they're like, I don't like Farage, but I will vote for that chap or that chap or that

00:25:08.720 chap. Or that woman.

00:25:09.900 That woman, yeah, whoever it is. And then get them on. Of course, we've established that

00:25:15.060 Nigel Farage's ego simply cannot... You're not saying that Nigel's not a team

00:25:18.740 player, are you? Then he accuses Rupert of not being a team player.

00:25:22.460 I am precisely saying that Nigel Farage is not a team player.

00:25:25.100 It is the breathtaking hypocrisy of politics, isn't it?

00:25:27.880 It is. It is. And so, finally, the person who also seems to be behind Rupert Lowe is

00:25:34.140 Elon Musk. Because this account posted, can we get Rupert Lowe's prime minister? And Elon

00:25:42.240 Musk replies with a couple of British flags. And of course, Elon Musk has previously said

00:25:46.920 that Farage is not up to the job and reform needs new leadership and he likes the cut of

00:25:50.960 Rupert Lowe's jib. So that's interesting. But so, to round this off...

00:25:55.020 I got some information on that. Oh, please. And I was told by a source from America before

00:26:01.660 Christmas, watch what Elon posts about Nigel before it came out.

00:26:07.580 Oh, really?

00:26:08.300 Yes. And allegedly, I was told that Elon Musk had been tipped off by the joint leader of

00:26:17.000 the AFD in Germany about things that had gone on in the European Parliament.

00:26:22.220 Oh. And that was why Musk had turned. And Musk was not also, that Musk was not speaking

00:26:28.960 as a loose cannon. It was all with the...

00:26:31.960 And it was all with the full knowledge of Donald.

00:26:37.480 Because, I mean, Nigel Farage has done nothing but just trash the European right-wing parties.

00:26:43.560 He's just constantly trying to distance himself from him, saying, no, they're evil and far right.

00:26:47.840 I'm Nigel Farage, a moderate centrist.

00:26:49.520 Well, that may well be what urged the AFD to put the poison down for Nigel.

00:26:55.120 Well, you know, you reap what you sow.

00:26:56.980 Those who live by the sword.

00:26:58.640 Exactly.

00:26:59.720 So, so far it's not affecting the polls, because this has only been a week.

00:27:05.060 For example, there's a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, which is in the north-west,

00:27:10.180 which is normally a strong Labour stronghold.

00:27:12.920 But it looks like reform may well win it.

00:27:16.580 I don't actually know who their candidate is going to be.

00:27:19.520 So this is from the World Ashcroft Polling.

00:27:20.980 So good luck to the candidate.

00:27:23.040 I hope you're in empty suit.

00:27:24.260 I hope you've not got any thoughts about politics of your own,

00:27:27.360 because otherwise you know exactly what's going to happen to you.

00:27:30.280 No strong beliefs.

00:27:31.520 No.

00:27:31.920 Don't think that illegal migrants should be deported, whatever they do.

00:27:36.260 Yeah, I mean, preferably you'll be in a coma, but just able to sign something, I don't know.

00:27:42.660 And so the question is, how is the Civil War going?

00:27:45.960 And the answer is, not brilliantly, actually.

00:27:49.060 So Isabel Oakeshott has been sweeping for this on Talk TV,

00:27:53.220 saying things like, well, it's always tremendously naive when people go off in a strop

00:27:56.340 as what happened with Rupert Lowe.

00:27:58.420 I don't think he went off.

00:27:59.680 I mean, he was just kicked out, stabbed in the back, bundled out.

00:28:03.980 Yeah, reported to the police you wanted him to be punished.

00:28:06.600 You wanted him to have a criminal record.

00:28:08.480 And it was all on fake accusations.

00:28:11.300 I mean, why do you hold that against somebody?

00:28:13.060 They report you to the police on spurious grounds?

00:28:15.260 Why are you going off the strop?

00:28:16.580 Yeah.

00:28:16.940 What's wrong with you, Rupert?

00:28:18.500 Like, but notice the framing.

00:28:20.580 Oh, well, reform are the victims of reform trying to frame Rupert Lowe

00:28:24.200 for something he didn't do and get him the criminal record.

00:28:27.120 Like, this is pathetic.

00:28:28.460 Absolutely pathetic.

00:28:29.720 It's like, oh, this is a horrible fight.

00:28:31.440 And then she came out and said, well, look, can we just stop the row?

00:28:37.080 In fact, well, let's play this clip because it's just gold.

00:28:40.520 A, that Rupert Lowe has done a really good job in some areas as an MP

00:28:44.640 and he works really hard and that's great.

00:28:46.940 But B, can we just end this stupid row?

00:28:50.320 You know, because there are so many big things that the Reform Party needs to do

00:28:55.360 to save the country and so many people are putting their greatest hopes

00:28:59.700 for saving the UK into reform and every day that this horrible fight goes on

00:29:07.740 is a day that is a distraction from the main business.

00:29:11.260 One week earlier.

00:29:13.140 Really sweet, isn't it?

00:29:15.060 What a Rupert.

00:29:15.960 He's quite new at politics.

00:29:17.840 He's really new in the House of Commons.

00:29:19.740 Fond ascending or what?

00:29:23.320 Oh, yeah.

00:29:24.000 But you can see that this civil war has not gone the way she expected.

00:29:27.600 Well, no, no, no.

00:29:28.380 She's almost saying now that she just wants, why doesn't Rupert just go away quietly?

00:29:32.420 Yes.

00:29:32.840 And, you know, suck it up for the team that have looked after him so well.

00:29:37.720 I think, I think, I think Nigel's outed himself

00:29:41.720 and confirmed my worst fears about him and to the country.

00:29:48.360 And it's best he does it now.

00:29:50.100 Yes.

00:29:50.320 Because we've got time to take steps.

00:29:52.280 And people who are saying, well, there's no alternative.

00:29:54.960 It's got to be, it's got to be Nigel.

00:29:57.520 Well, I mean, we can't, can't waste another five years.

00:30:00.140 This is going to be a very painful five years for the country.

00:30:03.360 We can't suffer another five years of decline without turning it around.

00:30:08.360 And Nigel, he hasn't got it.

00:30:09.980 So we need another alternative.

00:30:12.140 And people say, well, you're not going to get another party up in four years.

00:30:15.200 It's like, yeah, we've got to vote for reform.

00:30:16.880 The party that was officially incorporated in 2021.

00:30:20.120 Yes.

00:30:20.580 And now leading in the polls.

00:30:21.720 It's completely possible reform is the proof of it.

00:30:24.140 It's just look at the people controlling reform.

00:30:26.320 And there was actually a spectacular article.

00:30:28.020 And as you would say about Isabel Oakeshok, she would say that, wouldn't she?

00:30:30.880 Well, of course she would, yeah.

00:30:31.700 She's Tice's girlfriend.

00:30:33.160 And a good friend of, very good friends of Matt Hancock,

00:30:36.240 who I was in court with on Wednesday last week.

00:30:38.660 Bloody Matt Hancock.

00:30:39.360 So there was a superb article in The Spectator, actually, by Stephen here,

00:30:43.600 who points out what the actual civil war is about.

00:30:47.160 And the point is actually ideology.

00:30:49.060 He says,

00:30:49.820 Nationalism is a growing force among the millennial and Gen Z right.

00:30:52.720 A generation ago, young right-wingers were still reading Hayek, Friedman, and Sowell.

00:30:57.280 Myself, you know, I've read all those.

00:30:59.460 Today's up-and-coming reactionaries are devotees of Bronze Age pervert,

00:31:03.340 Druckberg-Cunnley, and the Lotus Eaters.

00:31:05.520 So we get a mention.

00:31:06.240 It's your fault, then, isn't it?

00:31:07.940 It is.

00:31:09.720 That's literally, this is not the first half.

00:31:11.580 You're being smeared there, aren't you?

00:31:13.120 No, no, I embrace that proudly.

00:31:15.380 Ironically enough, like you, I've read Hayek, I've read Freeman, I've read Sowell.

00:31:19.780 I quite like all three of them.

00:31:21.420 Sowell, especially.

00:31:22.160 I think it's got some excellent work.

00:31:23.240 The problem is that I don't agree with every single one of their conclusions,

00:31:27.900 and in fact have my own conclusions, which is what separates me out from those who apparently

00:31:33.200 used to just read them and just nod along and agree with everything that they said.

00:31:36.660 And so he carries on, because this is superb.

00:31:40.300 He says,

00:31:40.420 That's why Farage's party looks and sounds as it does.

00:31:58.780 This is Reform's core vote.

00:32:28.180 They have no ideology beyond objecting to the excesses and contradictions of the status

00:32:32.300 quo they otherwise accede to.

00:32:35.100 Brilliant summary there, Stephen.

00:32:36.120 That is scathing.

00:32:37.460 Yeah, absolutely scathing.

00:32:38.700 And that's not going to get you across the line, is it?

00:32:41.040 No.

00:32:41.500 That's not going to fix any of the problems.

00:32:43.240 No.

00:32:43.820 The problems come from the paradigm.

00:32:45.440 The paradigm has to change, as Stephen is...

00:32:47.780 I think it's too late for reform as well.

00:32:49.280 I think we need far more drastic change than just a bit of tinkering around the edges.

00:32:54.020 If we're going to pull the country and the nation back from the abyss...

00:32:57.220 We're going to leave the...

00:32:57.800 We're hanging over.

00:32:59.860 Yeah, no, you're...

00:33:00.620 I think, you know, if Nigel became the Prime Minister through reform in 2028 or 2029,

00:33:08.500 I think that the nation would be on a precipice and it would be a great step forward.

00:33:12.640 Yes.

00:33:13.820 Anyway, we'll leave it there.

00:33:17.020 We've got loads of comments here, by the way.

00:33:19.200 So I'm just going to...

00:33:19.940 Very, very generous rumble rounds right here.

00:33:22.440 Zanithium for $50.

00:33:24.300 Carl, congratulations on your appointment.

00:33:26.020 Here's enough for one pint in London.

00:33:27.700 Well, thank you.

00:33:28.160 I'll get two pints in Swindon with it.

00:33:29.540 But I've been appointed to the advisory board for Ben Habib's Great British Pack,

00:33:35.760 which is lovely, and I look forward to working with them.

00:33:39.340 If Wynar says, for another $50, very generous, thank you.

00:33:43.720 They say rule number one for being happy is be kind and generous.

00:33:48.160 So have a bit of money.

00:33:49.100 Listening is a great skill, too.

00:33:50.440 I'm a criminologist.

00:33:51.620 It's like watching a train wreck this week.

00:33:54.400 And it's definitely felt that way, but we're the ones on the right side of it.

00:33:58.680 So I appreciate that.

00:34:00.840 Nigel Farage is a modern-day Richard III.

00:34:02.600 Betrayals everywhere is his undoing.

00:34:04.520 You know what?

00:34:04.840 He actually feels a lot like King John to me.

00:34:07.060 It feels that he's pissed off all the barons,

00:34:10.140 and all of those people have been sort of kept out of his administration.

00:34:13.240 And it's like, okay, well, then we're in revolt now.

00:34:15.360 Except he's not even king yet.

00:34:16.640 No, exactly.

00:34:17.220 He's not even king.

00:34:18.720 Alex says, Nigel volunteers for the forlorn hope plays dead in a ditch

00:34:22.140 and then rises again after the breach has been stormed

00:34:24.140 to act like he took part in storming it.

00:34:25.680 That's good.

00:34:26.860 Sigil Stone says,

00:34:27.700 Farage is set to announce a new party,

00:34:29.580 the Gormus Muppet Party.

00:34:30.840 It's Farage with all the people that meet his stringent criteria.

00:34:33.700 A bunch of googly-eyed puppets on his hands.

00:34:36.160 I'm very sad that you didn't include the reform candidate who looked like a...

00:34:39.720 I didn't want to be mean.

00:34:40.780 I didn't want to be mean.

00:34:41.700 It was funny, though.

00:34:42.720 I know.

00:34:43.180 I'm sure he's a very friendly gentleman.

00:34:45.820 Exactly.

00:34:46.520 He was the spitting image of the glasses and moustache Guess Who character.

00:34:50.820 He was.

00:34:51.220 They announced a new candidate and he kind of looks like he's from the game Guess Who.

00:34:56.080 And it's a really easy joke.

00:34:57.980 But I didn't want to be mean because I'm sure he's a lovely guy.

00:34:59.880 Exactly.

00:35:00.300 I'm sure he's a lovely guy.

00:35:01.840 Anyway, let's carry on.

00:35:03.280 But anyway, yes.

00:35:03.980 Let's discuss the most recent announcements that will be careening us towards the absolute

00:35:09.000 totalitarianism of the complete Blairite state.

00:35:12.460 Blairite.

00:35:13.600 Blairism is only a semi-complete project at the moment.

00:35:17.360 Keir Starmer, being a Blairite himself, is pushing it through to the other edge.

00:35:22.440 And that is what he was discussing in his speech on public sector reform yesterday.

00:35:27.140 And it ties into a lot of the other changes that Labour are planning on making at the moment,

00:35:30.760 including their New Britain plan, where there's going to be a greater and greater centralisation

00:35:35.640 of the government, whilst also, and in an incredible level of doublespeak, bragging about

00:35:40.880 how it's actually a decentralisation of the government.

00:35:44.040 For instance, in the New Britain, a viewworm looked into those plans that they put forward.

00:35:48.560 I think it was originally written up by Brown and announced at the beginning or end of 2022.

00:35:54.100 And it seems that they're starting to move forward with these plans, where it's changes

00:35:57.660 the local council structures, where they're taking the...

00:36:01.540 The mayoral elections, which they're seeking to delay local elections this year in some

00:36:08.240 areas.

00:36:08.820 Yeah.

00:36:09.420 I mean, basically, that's the European boundaries that they were trying to bring in in the 70s.

00:36:14.900 It's the European boundaries.

00:36:16.840 Well, the project...

00:36:17.600 Mayoral areas.

00:36:18.960 It's all very interesting.

00:36:20.340 Well, the thing that they're trying to do is take a load of the separate councils in particular

00:36:25.340 counties and then just bungle them all together into more larger unitary regional councils,

00:36:32.420 which they're saying is a form of decentralisation, but sounds to me more like, well, you've got...

00:36:37.020 Well, these are the vehicles they'll bring in the 15-minute cities and the low-traffic neighbourhoods

00:36:42.800 and all the restrictions and say, oh, it's not us.

00:36:45.340 It's your locally elected mayoral candidate that's bringing these in, because that's how

00:36:50.500 they're going to get the money in.

00:36:51.660 Yeah, why?

00:36:52.440 Harry, you do...

00:36:53.500 As a...

00:36:54.360 You'll remember the first piece of legislation in 97 that the new Blairite government...

00:36:58.420 When I was one year old, yes.

00:37:00.220 Well, I expect you to remember.

00:37:01.440 I sometimes should have told you.

00:37:02.780 And if not, the first piece of legislation that Blair's government bought in 97, which

00:37:07.780 was not in their manifesto, nobody saw it coming.

00:37:10.360 And no one...

00:37:11.100 At the time, no one could understand it.

00:37:12.960 But it all makes great sense now.

00:37:16.140 They took the death penalty out of the Treason Act.

00:37:19.620 Ah.

00:37:21.220 I think they all...

00:37:21.780 What a strange thing.

00:37:22.400 What a strange thing.

00:37:23.340 They must get that through straight away.

00:37:25.000 As if they knew exactly what they were going to be doing.

00:37:27.900 They also took away the annual vote in Parliament on the death penalty after a few years, didn't

00:37:32.140 they?

00:37:32.840 Yes.

00:37:33.600 Yeah, that's interesting as well.

00:37:34.800 But I think it's still the death penalty for...

00:37:37.220 Can be for crimes against humanity, so we're OK.

00:37:40.900 Don't worry.

00:37:41.160 We're going to bring it back when we went.

00:37:43.720 That'll be our first move.

00:37:45.080 No, but what I expect with these unitary councils will be that, obviously, you'll get massive

00:37:49.220 central hubs looking after administering areas of...

00:37:52.300 Do you think that'll be lower local taxes or higher local taxes?

00:37:54.860 Oh, much higher, because what I expect is that instead of having, you know, accountable

00:37:59.860 local civil servants, they'll just be stuffed full of their own Labour Blairites who are

00:38:04.060 going to make whatever decision...

00:38:04.940 When I won the election in North West Leicestershire, against all the odds, and got my friends

00:38:12.440 in as the council, it had been always Labour, we put through the longest council tax freeze

00:38:19.440 in UK history.

00:38:20.300 Actually, 15 years, we never raised the council tax.

00:38:22.800 I swear.

00:38:23.480 How about putting that back?

00:38:25.100 Good man.

00:38:26.720 15 years.

00:38:27.680 We got a breakdown from the Swindon Council recently about, you know, what's your council

00:38:32.560 tax being spent on?

00:38:33.660 80% of it is redistributed.

00:38:35.940 80%.

00:38:36.940 80%.

00:38:37.740 So it's basically, you know, giving out free stuff to people.

00:38:41.160 Buying votes.

00:38:42.540 Fork barrel politics.

00:38:44.100 80%.

00:38:44.860 I covered the one that came through a few years ago when I was still living here.

00:38:48.340 I don't live here anymore, thank God.

00:38:50.320 And it was, I think at the time...

00:38:52.140 No one lives here.

00:38:53.540 They're existing.

00:38:54.920 I suppose so.

00:38:56.000 What is living if you're in Swindon?

00:38:58.160 But it was 80% of it was going to, like, the health and social care, which was millions

00:39:03.040 and millions and millions of pounds, like tens of millions of pounds, for, I think it

00:39:07.640 was something less than a thousand people.

00:39:10.360 Yeah.

00:39:11.060 Unbelievable.

00:39:12.140 Which just sounded like a racketeer.

00:39:14.480 We're taking far too many children into care, off their parents.

00:39:18.280 I mean, in the country now, the people who are classed as poor, they're not really scared

00:39:25.780 of the police.

00:39:26.700 They are a bit, but they're more scared of social services, because social services take

00:39:30.800 your children away.

00:39:31.820 Yeah.

00:39:31.940 And that's a huge cost.

00:39:35.200 There's far too much of that.

00:39:36.660 And obviously, local councils have got the burden of looking after the elderly as well.

00:39:41.960 And since the COVID jab rollout, we've got a lot more people in long-term sick as well

00:39:45.860 who can't work.

00:39:47.120 But speaking of things that aren't a huge cost, you should buy Islander, which is available

00:39:52.420 on the website right now for £14.

00:39:55.140 Give this man a pay rise.

00:39:56.760 And it's only available for the next week.

00:39:59.620 We're coming up to the last week of it being available.

00:40:01.940 So get it whilst you still can.

00:40:04.100 And while you're on there as well, why not pick up a t-shirt?

00:40:06.660 We've got a new line of t-shirts and other merchandise available that you can get that's

00:40:11.200 been beautifully designed as ever by Rory.

00:40:13.620 And you can get that for the low, low price of £20.99.

00:40:17.380 And again, for the Redditors in the audience, we go all the way up to 5XL now.

00:40:21.340 So there you go.

00:40:22.680 So the speech that was given was an hour long and it was very dull and very boring, as you

00:40:29.400 would expect, as these things are basically designed to be.

00:40:32.400 It's almost as if he didn't want anyone to listen to the detail.

00:40:34.840 Well, that's always the case.

00:40:35.840 So the big announcement that came from the public sector reform, there are a few things

00:40:40.640 that he mentioned in it.

00:40:41.500 He wanted to do things that sound like they could be good, to be fair, which was the cutting

00:40:46.400 away of certain business regulations by 25%.

00:40:50.700 I don't know how exactly you figure out how much of the regulations equals 25%, but he

00:40:58.040 was saying he wanted to do things for good local businesses.

00:41:01.400 But the big one that came from this was...

00:41:04.360 And he'll pick the winners, will he?

00:41:06.020 He's going to pick the good local businesses?

00:41:07.820 Well, obviously.

00:41:09.600 Or maybe the Unitary Councils will.

00:41:11.840 The big thing that came from this was his announcement that he was going to abolish NHS

00:41:16.480 England, which on the government website has been now called the largest quango in the

00:41:22.200 world.

00:41:22.860 Now, it's interesting to me that when you are a Blairite heading a Blairite state, who

00:41:28.860 all agree with you, how things that were impossible under our previous government, suddenly can just

00:41:35.060 under the Conservatives, can just be done like that.

00:41:38.660 Can you imagine if the Conservatives, as Liz Truss was trying to do and she wanted to cut

00:41:44.720 away parts of the state, had tried to do something as significant as this, when the actual reforms

00:41:50.660 that were taken in 2012 are what set... under the Tories are what set up the NHS England

00:41:55.620 in the first place.

00:41:56.420 Could you ever imagine the last Tory administration trying to get... removing the old-age pensioners

00:42:03.360 winter fuel allowance through Parliament?

00:42:04.780 It never...

00:42:05.160 No, of course.

00:42:05.380 Could never have happened.

00:42:06.700 Of course not.

00:42:07.460 But Keir Starmer has just kind of got a bit of a free reign to do whatever he wants.

00:42:12.060 The institutions know the direction they're meant to be moving in.

00:42:15.800 Yeah, which certainly shows...

00:42:16.820 The anointed guy.

00:42:17.540 Certainly shows where the actual power centre of British politics is.

00:42:20.720 It's whoever's got Tony Blair's back.

00:42:25.280 But some of the other stuff that was going on with this was that in a brief before the

00:42:29.720 speech, but one that wasn't given in the speech, was that he wants a target for one in

00:42:34.560 ten civil servants to be working in a digital or data role by 2030, and 2,000 new digital

00:42:41.460 specialist apprentices by the same date.

00:42:44.280 And in the speech itself, he gave a new recommitment to further using AI and digital services for

00:42:52.580 a lot of this.

00:42:53.600 Now...

00:42:53.680 Is that to monitor all the extra data they're collecting on us all the time?

00:42:57.300 Well...

00:42:57.700 I mean...

00:42:57.940 Data's only any good if you've got all people monitoring it and AI.

00:43:01.740 It's a greater digital hub for them to collect all of our information.

00:43:05.880 Obviously, Tony Blair being behind a lot of this, he wanted the sort of digital passports.

00:43:12.780 He wants the large digital infrastructure, which on a certain level for most people, I'm

00:43:17.100 sure, will make many things more convenient on a day-to-day basis.

00:43:20.040 If you remember, Tony Blair tried to bring in physical ID cards when he was in government.

00:43:24.220 He's never let it go.

00:43:25.240 He's never let it go.

00:43:26.600 At least he's been consistent in many areas.

00:43:29.260 He's been consistently evil in many areas.

00:43:31.160 And also, doesn't he look now, in his face, it reminded me of a line from the Wilfred

00:43:37.500 Owen poem, the war poem, you know, Dulcet, a face like a devil sick of sin.

00:43:43.560 See, I'm always given to think of Gollum searching for the one ring, you know, and it turns him

00:43:48.520 into this hollow...

00:43:49.320 Oh, the longer he holds onto the ring of power, the more it corrupts him.

00:43:53.460 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:54.160 And so that's how I felt about Tony Blair.

00:43:55.980 But clearly the intention is to create a digital center hub for basically all of your government

00:44:02.980 documents, all of your government records on one single app, or maybe one or two apps

00:44:08.460 on your phone that the government can use to track everything for you.

00:44:12.040 And again, for many people...

00:44:13.540 This will be convenient.

00:44:14.360 Yeah, this will just be convenient.

00:44:16.420 But when you're talking about a government like, a prime minister like Keir Starmer, the

00:44:20.720 actions that he's already taken, I would be very, very hesitant to be able to give over

00:44:26.460 all of my information, access to all of these private records in one thing, especially when,

00:44:32.940 if we look back to COVID and the lockdowns, when they were trying to talk about things

00:44:36.860 like lockdown vaccine passports and such, you're handing over an immense amount of power

00:44:42.580 that the government does not yet already have.

00:44:45.420 They've already got an immense amount of power over you.

00:44:47.060 But they want more power to be able to continually track you, lock you down, censor you for

00:44:53.440 things.

00:44:53.940 There's a great saying, I think, from which we need to slightly amend from America that

00:44:57.540 you'll always be asked to give up your freedoms for security or convenience.

00:45:04.820 And if you're willing to give up your freedoms for security, you will end up with neither freedom

00:45:10.580 nor security.

00:45:11.760 And that's where we're heading very, very fast.

00:45:13.520 And also, what an opportunity for the Chinese or the North Koreans or anyone else to hack

00:45:18.380 that information.

00:45:19.880 It's assuming we don't just outsource it to them anyway.

00:45:22.020 We nearly sold the infrastructure of the...

00:45:23.720 It'll probably be done in India anyway, through Infosys, won't it?

00:45:25.840 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:45:26.400 But we nearly sold the communication infrastructure to China.

00:45:29.660 So what are we doing?

00:45:30.540 Well, I also, we've sold the Royal Mail to the Czech Republic, haven't we?

00:45:35.480 Yeah, there's nothing.

00:45:36.460 Well, I mean, we can't fall out with them now, can we?

00:45:40.180 Like, we're opening our mail.

00:45:43.620 Yeah, it's...

00:45:45.040 I bet we will just...

00:45:47.040 Another country we can't fall out with.

00:45:48.940 Yeah, I know.

00:45:49.580 Disagree with them.

00:45:50.820 Anyway, so I guarantee...

00:45:51.360 So to carry on with a little bit of this, again, to show just how easy it is for Keir Starmer

00:45:57.260 with his backing to just do this, they mention in this independent article that in a surprise

00:46:03.460 move, the leader of the party which founded the NHS announced he would abolish the independent

00:46:07.960 Quango, it was a surprise move that he announced it.

00:46:11.660 And in a statement that they gave to the independent, they basically said they had no idea.

00:46:20.460 Union bosses hit out of the way the PM announced the job losses with NHS England sources telling

00:46:25.020 the independent they were given no notice and that there were gasps in the office when

00:46:28.620 the news broke.

00:46:29.220 So presumably they just heard, oh, by the way, you're probably going to be fired.

00:46:32.200 Could you imagine any private sector employer treating their employees like that and where

00:46:39.160 Keir Starmer and his Labour Party?

00:46:41.780 It is, again, the rank hypocrisy, isn't it?

00:46:44.160 And, you know, sort of when they were against zero-hours contracts and it turned out that

00:46:47.580 most of them were in Labour head office, weren't they?

00:46:50.280 The people on zero-hours contracts.

00:46:51.080 Yeah, they were, yeah, yeah.

00:46:52.280 Yeah, you remember?

00:46:52.860 Yeah, I do, I do.

00:46:54.380 Rules for thee but not for me come to mind.

00:46:57.200 And funnily enough, the former Tory health minister, James Bethel, tweeted out after

00:47:02.680 this saying, I wish we'd had the guts to do this.

00:47:05.580 You mean Lord Bethel?

00:47:06.840 Yeah, Lord Bethel.

00:47:07.720 Well, why didn't you?

00:47:08.820 Yeah.

00:47:09.120 If you wanted to do this...

00:47:11.060 Fourteen years.

00:47:12.440 Well, yeah, but aren't we all seeing now a lot of former so-called Conservative advisors,

00:47:19.600 they're all, the policy is the same as under the Conservatives, they're moving straight

00:47:23.960 back into Starmer's government as advisors in exactly the same position, whether it was

00:47:29.780 advising Theresa May on her Brexit deal...

00:47:33.480 It's a continuation of the same agenda, just with a different mask over it.

00:47:38.000 Coming back to that Defence and Securities Union, was it Powell, who was under the Conservatives,

00:47:44.500 advisor, civil servant in... refused to come to the Defence Select Committee and answer

00:47:51.340 questions, said, I'm not coming.

00:47:52.440 You may?

00:47:54.100 OK.

00:47:54.660 Civil servant just refuses to come...

00:47:57.000 Who do you think you are?

00:47:58.120 Who do you think's running the...

00:47:59.220 You think you're running the country?

00:48:00.620 Well, they do think that.

00:48:02.080 They do think that.

00:48:02.920 Well, the MPs are clearly misguided if they think they're running the country, because

00:48:06.880 the civil servants are running it, and they are.

00:48:09.440 And even when it comes to things like the New Britain plans with the unitary authorities,

00:48:13.700 I believe it was the Tories who began to make changes and restructure the local council

00:48:18.900 layout, the way that they were structured, in 2022 or 2023, I forget exactly which year

00:48:26.780 it was, but they shut down a load of local councils and reformatted it so that there were

00:48:31.020 larger authorities that were more centralised as well.

00:48:33.720 So you are right.

00:48:34.500 It's absolutely the same agenda throughout these governments.

00:48:37.600 The thing is, you can see that this is just the system retrenching itself and creating

00:48:44.020 a more effective version of itself.

00:48:46.420 Well, it's just bureaucratic managerialism, where they're tinkering with the numbers and

00:48:50.260 the levers to see how efficient that they can be.

00:48:53.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:48:53.760 But ultimately, it's going to the same goal.

00:48:55.860 Hadn't Starmer's Labour government, they've been introducing a new quango a week?

00:49:00.920 Yeah, I think there have been 20 since they came into office.

00:49:05.320 Yeah, about, you know, nearly one a week.

00:49:08.620 I mean, these are, you know, NGO, effectively, non-quangos, quasi-autonomous, non-government

00:49:16.420 organization, they're there, whatever election results are, and he's doing exactly what Blair

00:49:22.560 did in embedding in the system things that can never be changed.

00:49:26.340 And they're going to go on with a budget, taking powers away from an elected parliament,

00:49:32.040 which has little enough power already.

00:49:34.660 And this is the point that Liz trusted me.

00:49:36.220 And it won't matter what happens at the next general election, because the direction of

00:49:40.020 travel has been set.

00:49:41.920 Or any government that came in would have to do something just absolutely, insanely radical.

00:49:47.160 I seem to remember that was Francis Moore, the bonfire of the quango.

00:49:50.980 Yes.

00:49:51.500 Remember that?

00:49:52.180 What happened?

00:49:52.600 It was more of a damp squib at the end, wasn't it?

00:49:54.560 No, no.

00:49:55.080 It wasn't even a barbecue.

00:49:56.840 I think that, you know, some senior civil servants were sat down, look, if you do this, this

00:50:00.360 is going to happen, this is going to happen, we're going to do all of these things, and

00:50:02.660 basically it would be the end of your career.

00:50:03.700 And you'll see some bad things about you in the paper.

00:50:06.080 Exactly.

00:50:06.500 Your reputation will be trashed, and so you're just not going to do it.

00:50:09.660 And they sit there and go, you know what, I'm probably not going to do it.

00:50:12.200 And that's it.

00:50:12.780 Well, I was told something very interesting by a former special brand shelf officer I was doing

00:50:16.900 some work with on the tracking down the child trafficking into the UK.

00:50:21.260 And he said, you know the bodyguards that the royals and the senior politicians get?

00:50:28.520 He said, they're not there just to protect them.

00:50:30.700 They're there to spy on them.

00:50:32.260 He said that every week you're on that duty.

00:50:35.320 You have to do a handwritten report of everywhere your target's been, and all the people they've

00:50:40.520 met, and any compromat.

00:50:41.440 And they're handwritten, they never go on computers, and they used to go in green files at the

00:50:46.700 end of the week, and they're called the confidential greens, and they go off to MI5 special branch,

00:50:51.000 and that's where the compromat comes on all the...

00:50:53.140 And I was thinking about, you know, Boris Johnson.

00:50:55.300 I mean, you wouldn't have a file, you'd have a whole library every week.

00:50:58.440 I can't imagine there's nothing on Boris.

00:51:00.300 I mean, by the end of the week, we've got him.

00:51:02.600 Yeah.

00:51:03.820 Unbelievable.

00:51:06.180 Sorry, carrying on with this.

00:51:08.020 So, yeah, for people watching who might not actually know what NHS England is, again,

00:51:13.240 it is a Quango, the quasi-autonomous, non-governmental organization.

00:51:20.260 And it was set up in, it says in this article, October 2013, since then, it and the Department

00:51:25.860 of Health and Social Care have contained many teams of officials who do basically the exact

00:51:30.200 same thing.

00:51:31.780 And, for example, each has a dedicated team covering different areas of care, such as GP

00:51:35.900 services, mental health, and urgent and emergency care.

00:51:39.500 Starmer said in his speech that, is it a good idea for the front line of the NHS to get rid

00:51:43.520 of two sets of comm teams, two sets of strategy teams, two sets of policy teams, where people

00:51:49.300 are basically doing the same thing?

00:51:51.100 Yes, it is.

00:51:51.780 So it does seem that this was just a big bureaucratic mess.

00:51:55.120 I think there's something a bit darker here.

00:51:57.880 I think there's a lot of people in NHS England who've had their fingers in the blood over the

00:52:03.960 COVID response, and I think a lot of them would be very glad to get out of that organization

00:52:07.660 and scatter.

00:52:08.660 Well, potentially, because up to 15,300 people are potentially going to be losing their jobs

00:52:13.560 over this.

00:52:14.600 And similarly, it just seems that it did cause...

00:52:17.840 Well, I mean, they are blaming the wait times, the waiting lists, the problems with the

00:52:23.460 NHS on the entrenched bureaucracy that existed within NHS England and bringing all of that

00:52:29.380 back under direct control of the Department of Health and Social Care.

00:52:33.100 I personally have a much more simple explanation for things like waiting lists, problems if

00:52:39.420 you're going to A&E, and other problems with the NHS, which is just simply there are too

00:52:43.480 many people in this country.

00:52:45.660 Yeah.

00:52:46.500 But they don't want to address that, so instead they're going to lay it all on this and abolish

00:52:50.760 this so they can further centralise again.

00:52:52.920 Not that I necessarily thought that some arm's length at Quango was a fantastic idea in the

00:52:57.280 first place, because I imagine it too got filled with Blair rights almost immediately.

00:53:02.320 What kind of person becomes a civil servant?

00:53:05.200 What kind of person joins a Quango?

00:53:07.540 It's always the same kind of person.

00:53:09.740 You're never going to get...

00:53:10.380 You would have to pay...

00:53:11.740 Like, if you wanted someone actually good in these things, you would have to pay them

00:53:15.060 a lot of money, and you would have to give them a kind of level of freedom, intellectual

00:53:19.380 freedom at the very least, and moral freedom that is going to dissuade them from ever

00:53:23.260 joining these things.

00:53:23.760 You're not going to get any many radical thinkers bringing revolutionary change to...

00:53:29.080 I mean, but in business, you're expected to improve your efficiency by 5% a year, or else

00:53:35.220 you're dead.

00:53:35.860 Yep.

00:53:36.340 You can't do what you did last year, and I think you're going to make the same money

00:53:39.820 next year because things have changed.

00:53:41.000 Exactly.

00:53:41.740 There is accountability.

00:53:42.960 There is a bottom line that you have to be held accountable to in business, whereas

00:53:46.320 in government, there's nothing.

00:53:47.560 So what kind of people does it attract?

00:53:49.140 I mean, the bureaucracy's ultimate goal always ends up being just ensuring the survival of

00:53:53.520 the bureaucracy.

00:53:54.080 And the civil servants always did that, that their first duty was to maintain themselves,

00:53:59.800 because you could have a radical government in for a while who might say, we want to reduce

00:54:04.400 the size of the civil, and they would resist that on the basis, well, the next government

00:54:08.420 might want us to be bigger, in which case we've got to be able to have that capacity, so we've

00:54:12.700 got to resist.

00:54:13.340 But I mean, I've had whistleblowers in the civil service come to me, which in various government

00:54:21.000 departments, and he said that when a policy comes down from the cabinet secretary, from

00:54:30.360 the government to the cabinet secretary, down to the department of civil servants, there

00:54:34.520 were what they called resistance meetings of how they were going to oppose it, and that

00:54:38.680 was at every single layer of the civil service, he said, the ministers didn't know about any

00:54:44.840 of these, and he went to some of these resistance meetings, and it was basically how the civil

00:54:49.540 servants were going to block and delay that policy.

00:54:53.520 It's got a will of its own.

00:54:55.300 And if I...

00:54:55.820 Well, I mean, that's the old saying, isn't it?

00:54:57.880 It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always get in, and they are the government,

00:55:01.220 aren't they?

00:55:01.640 They're always there.

00:55:02.480 No, that's exactly...

00:55:03.440 Yeah, that is the problem.

00:55:04.760 And the factory cat.

00:55:05.960 Yeah.

00:55:06.200 It's always there.

00:55:06.820 Ultimately, though, I do expect that what you're talking about there, which is the resistance

00:55:10.840 of the civil servants to wider changes, is why that they're trying to re-centralize

00:55:17.120 it under the Department of Health and Social Care, under West Streeting, anyway.

00:55:20.980 Because, of course, they, whether or not they are bureaucracy that does get in the way and

00:55:26.020 make things more inefficient, they also are presumably highly lazy and don't want things

00:55:31.340 to change, so getting them out of the way makes it easier to implement even more of

00:55:36.460 the centralised digital infrastructure.

00:55:39.180 Well, I'm all for, you know, governments around the world should share best practice,

00:55:44.060 and I think best practice is what Elon Musk is doing, a Department of Government Efficiency.

00:55:48.920 Who could possibly be against that?

00:55:51.380 But we're not going to do it in this country, because the absolutely outrageous spending waste

00:55:56.920 and corruption would be far greater in this country than we're seeing in America, and

00:56:01.220 it's almost unbelievable in America, isn't it, some of the things that the money was

00:56:05.000 going on.

00:56:05.360 Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:56:05.780 But I mean, surely...

00:56:06.720 It's going to be ten times worse here.

00:56:08.540 Yes.

00:56:09.540 But again...

00:56:10.180 Ten times worse, and they're not going to do it, are they?

00:56:12.600 And that's what would really upset the civil servants, and that shows you who's really

00:56:16.220 in control.

00:56:17.160 But I think, again, what this probably was, was NHS England, by kind of operating as its

00:56:22.800 own authority, a bureaucratic authority, when you want to push through these massive digital

00:56:30.060 infrastructure changes, might have caused a block to it, or at least a speed bump to it.

00:56:37.320 So you want to push it through as quickly as possible.

00:56:39.380 So you just get rid of it, put it all under the same centralised department, under Wes

00:56:43.340 Streeting, and then you start to push through things like this.

00:56:46.000 What could possibly go wrong?

00:56:47.220 It's all under Wes Streeting.

00:56:49.180 I know.

00:56:49.740 I know.

00:56:50.140 Well, and he's being advised by somebody very interesting.

00:56:52.920 But so what Tony Blair wants is he wants, similar to the Unitary Authorities, a new network

00:56:58.120 of super primary care centres serving up to 250,000 patients.

00:57:02.820 He said last year in a report for the Tony Blair Institute that current primary care networks

00:57:09.040 look after populations of between 30,000 and 50,000, but the NHS England should take steps

00:57:14.400 to increase that figure to 250,000.

00:57:17.040 That was coming through years ago.

00:57:19.860 So he was already influencing the previous Conservative government, because that was on

00:57:23.140 the cards, and that was the way it was going years ago.

00:57:26.580 That was the direction of travel.

00:57:27.580 Perhaps, given that they're named explicitly in this report, perhaps they were pushing

00:57:32.280 back, being lazy, saying, no, we don't want to do that.

00:57:35.280 That's a lot of work.

00:57:36.200 So they've just gone, fine, we'll abolish you then, and we'll get it straight under us,

00:57:39.860 and we'll push it through ourselves.

00:57:41.520 Having been in politics for 15 odd years, I mean, everything to do with NHS reform, it

00:57:47.920 just goes in cycles.

00:57:48.820 You get rid of one layer of bureaucracy, you bring in your new one, and then you have

00:57:54.220 a review, and then it fails, and then you go round again, and it's all about, well,

00:57:58.220 we're doing something.

00:57:59.600 We're doing something.

00:58:00.640 Well, this abolishing process could still, it said, take up to about two years, and even

00:58:07.480 then, Keir Starmer has given no concrete plan, no steps of how this is going to happen.

00:58:14.080 It'll be very good redundancy packages.

00:58:15.860 Oh, I'm sure, but there's no step-by-step process been given, no plan given for, okay,

00:58:21.800 how exactly will this improve hospital waiting times, waiting lists for surgeries, all of

00:58:27.460 the things that...

00:58:27.820 There's no targets, no targets or anything, or we have to achieve this by then.

00:58:33.040 Well, by the end of the speech, he was being asked by some of the journalists in the crowd,

00:58:36.860 okay, what processes will this free up that will improve the system, that will improve

00:58:43.020 waiting times?

00:58:43.700 And he was just saying, oh, you know, well, we'll get rid of the bureaucracy, and then

00:58:47.960 it'll shore up and allow working people more money in their pocket, because apparently it's

00:58:52.500 going to save 500 million pounds a year, which is just slightly less than one day's worth

00:58:56.900 of NHS spending anyway.

00:58:59.040 And also nowhere near the tax hikes that Rachel Reeves put upon us in the budget.

00:59:03.300 Well, remember, apparently, according to Rachel Reeves, the reason we've got no economic

00:59:06.660 growth is Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

00:59:08.600 Is that Rachel from accounts, or was it Rachel from complaints?

00:59:13.240 I think she flits between the two, wouldn't you say?

00:59:15.960 In the interest of time, though, I think we have to move on.

00:59:18.160 Oh, yeah, yeah, no, that's fine.

00:59:19.160 Just to point out as well that the person...

00:59:20.600 Only Keir Starmer would move on.

00:59:22.120 Yeah, the person who'd been pushing all of this behind the scene was Alan Milburn, the former

00:59:27.080 health secretary under Tony Blair, who was on Tony Blair's side, and he has been advising

00:59:32.980 Wes Streeting on this for a long time.

00:59:35.960 And everything that Wes Streeting is doing...

00:59:38.180 Is Blair the UK Obama, is he?

00:59:41.340 Yes.

00:59:41.680 He's the power behind the throne.

00:59:43.240 Yeah, he's the Dark Lord.

00:59:44.200 In the sort of online right circles, he's just called the Dark Lord, because his fingerprints

00:59:49.600 are on everything, he's behind everything.

00:59:51.820 As opposed to Mandelson, who was just the Prince of Darkness, wasn't he?

00:59:54.360 He is.

00:59:54.720 He is, indeed.

00:59:56.020 But again, I don't think it's a coincidence that Mandelson is the ambassador to Donald

01:00:00.640 Trump.

01:00:00.940 I thought the Americans weren't accepting his credentials.

01:00:04.080 They don't, but you know that Blair was like...

01:00:07.000 You know that they tried to make Obama the American ambassador in London, and we never

01:00:14.660 accepted.

01:00:15.340 Really?

01:00:16.200 Yes.

01:00:16.740 That's why we went so long with no ambassador under Biden.

01:00:22.000 Interesting.

01:00:22.440 Because we rejected.

01:00:24.120 Binary Surfer says, imagine if we had 650 or even half of that of MPs of Andrew and Rupert's

01:00:30.000 calibre, integrity and honesty, until we have more efficient and different set of incentives

01:00:34.100 in play.

01:00:35.220 Our politics, well, strap in and get out of the cities.

01:00:39.460 And Barnaby says, Andrew, I'd love to know where you think all of this ends.

01:00:43.420 My view is that David Betts, who's a professor who's been talking about civil war in Britain,

01:00:47.600 thinks is correct and thinks we're going to arrive at a sort of low-grade Latin American

01:00:52.080 style civil war faster than it can turn around.

01:00:54.280 Yeah, and what I do say to people is that the darker it gets, you've got to remember we're

01:00:59.200 nearer to the end.

01:01:00.300 It is going to get darker and worse.

01:01:02.440 But we are relying a lot on the Americans to help us out, even if it's only with a tsunami

01:01:08.800 of truth and justice coming across the Atlantic, which would sweep away self-serving politicians

01:01:15.080 that we've got in this country currently.

01:01:17.120 Take advantage of your First Amendment.

01:01:18.540 There'd only be Rupert left.

01:01:19.960 Yes.

01:01:21.560 And Eofwith says, Hubby is a doctor in Australia.

01:01:26.320 Luckily, he is married to a criminologist.

01:01:28.160 I had to do law and psychology.

01:01:29.320 He trained in the 90s for criminology was cool.

01:01:31.500 Medicare in Australia.

01:01:32.420 Admins aren't doctors.

01:01:33.760 Yeah, that's another point.

01:01:35.040 The admins are not doctors, are they?

01:01:36.900 Anyway, let's move on.

01:01:38.180 So, do you remember a little while ago when we were told, actually, the RAF doesn't need

01:01:44.620 useless white male pilots because we have impossible to hit diversity targets?

01:01:49.480 And good God, do we need those diversity targets?

01:01:52.700 So, this was only in June 2023.

01:01:55.420 So, it's not like this was ancient history.

01:01:57.500 And things have changed in the world since then.

01:02:00.120 But this is a fascinating thing that was just like, okay, well, can you give me an example

01:02:04.280 of institutional bias against straight white men?

01:02:06.440 And yes, from the RAF, from the, one of the three branches.

01:02:12.160 The new sentencing guidelines are pretty damning, aren't they?

01:02:15.040 They are.

01:02:15.520 But this is one of those ones where it's, this is a remarkable thing.

01:02:20.080 So, the selection boards were complaining in these leaked emails and documents that they

01:02:27.120 just couldn't get non-white people.

01:02:29.520 I passed that at Biggin Hill when I was 16.

01:02:32.380 Oh, really?

01:02:32.880 It's called Test in Advance.

01:02:34.260 It was for air crew.

01:02:35.540 Right, okay.

01:02:36.880 They say a number of selection boards to place recruits for courses were also cancelled

01:02:41.640 if they did not include women or ethnic minorities, according to these messages.

01:02:45.240 So, this is outright racial discrimination and gender discrimination, which theoretically

01:02:50.420 is illegal in this country.

01:02:52.140 This is...

01:02:52.880 Positive discrimination, still discrimination.

01:02:54.620 Just, you're not allowed to discriminate on protected characteristics.

01:02:58.300 Technically, this is a crime.

01:03:00.020 But, of course, this is never going to be prosecuted for anything.

01:03:02.600 And the Air Force had to pay out £5,000 each.

01:03:05.380 Wow.

01:03:05.620 31 different straight white men.

01:03:07.000 The admin cost more than that.

01:03:08.220 Yeah, it does.

01:03:09.040 But at least they got something.

01:03:10.260 Because it doesn't really matter the amount, to be honest.

01:03:12.520 The fact that they got paid £5,000 is proof you were in the wrong and you had to pay

01:03:16.740 compensation.

01:03:17.740 Yeah.

01:03:17.860 So, this is categorically, you have admitted through the payment of this conversation,

01:03:21.240 you were wrong, even if no one will actually be charged or anything for this.

01:03:25.960 And the Chief Air Marshal, Weekston, I don't know who he is, well, the Air Chief Marshal,

01:03:34.700 actually, said that, no, these were well-intentioned efforts to improve diversity and they didn't discriminate

01:03:39.940 against white men.

01:03:41.080 Illegal.

01:03:41.440 Yeah.

01:03:41.920 So, why are you paying out £5,000 for each one of them if they didn't-

01:03:45.360 May have hurt their feelings.

01:03:46.400 Yeah, well, yeah, exactly.

01:03:47.540 So, you're admitting it, right?

01:03:48.860 And a spokesperson said, well, the selection standards were not and have not been altered

01:03:52.680 and there was no compromise of entry standards and no impact on frontline or operational

01:03:56.640 effectiveness.

01:03:57.180 Oh, really?

01:03:59.060 But quite an effect on morale.

01:04:00.640 Yes.

01:04:01.180 Well, no, no, no, no, they say no, no, there's no impact.

01:04:03.940 No, no, no, there's no impact.

01:04:05.200 We're absolutely certain.

01:04:06.440 No impact on operational effectiveness.

01:04:08.820 And we're going to see the-

01:04:10.880 So, how's the recruitment going then?

01:04:12.280 Yeah, exactly.

01:04:13.100 It's not going great.

01:04:14.260 So, for this, no one was punished.

01:04:17.320 Right.

01:04:17.620 No one was punished.

01:04:18.200 So, the Air Force just have to pay out £155,000 because they were being racist.

01:04:24.180 So, they were just actively discriminating.

01:04:26.060 No, no, no, they were sorry they got caught.

01:04:28.300 Yeah, that's-

01:04:28.680 That's what they were sorry about.

01:04:29.720 That's exactly it.

01:04:30.040 They got caught.

01:04:30.920 The service apologised, blamed incorrect legal advice, and said everyone had been acting

01:04:35.740 with the best of intent and no disciplinary action was recommended.

01:04:39.120 So, no one was punished.

01:04:39.960 No accountability.

01:04:41.480 Nothing-

01:04:42.000 No one gets canned for this.

01:04:44.660 No one's career is harmed over this.

01:04:46.400 No one loses their pension over this.

01:04:48.560 No one loses anything.

01:04:49.780 This gets to be just overtly discriminatory against straight white men, and nothing happens

01:04:55.180 other than the taxpayer has to pay £150,000.

01:04:59.880 This is how this country is run.

01:05:01.120 But the collateral damage is people are getting the message.

01:05:04.640 Well, yeah.

01:05:05.180 They're not welcome.

01:05:05.840 Yeah, no, no, that is.

01:05:07.320 So, Sky actually did a really good job on this, which is remarkable.

01:05:10.800 And they went and looked up, this was a period of time afterwards.

01:05:17.360 So, they looked up what happened to these people.

01:05:19.380 And so, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston retired, just no problem, at the end of his

01:05:25.300 tenure.

01:05:26.220 Air Vice Marshal Maria Byford retired.

01:05:29.660 Just, you know, so she's got her salary up until the point of retirement, £179,000 a year.

01:05:36.560 Air Commander Joe Lincoln just moved to a new post.

01:05:39.240 And Group Captain William Dole, who was then the Head of Recruitment, so you would think

01:05:43.360 that this would be his particular decision on who to hire and who not to, was promoted.

01:05:51.500 Good job.

01:05:52.740 Yeah, bravo.

01:05:53.860 Brilliant job.

01:05:55.080 Group Captain William Dole.

01:05:56.520 And so, okay, well, you know, it's just being racist to the straight white men who we expect

01:06:02.140 to defend the country.

01:06:03.600 They're surely signing up in their droves to defend the country now that things are going

01:06:07.180 south with Russia, aren't they?

01:06:09.040 Yeah.

01:06:09.680 No.

01:06:10.540 Oh, what a shock.

01:06:11.840 The RAF are...

01:06:12.620 What would we be fighting for?

01:06:14.260 I mean, what would we be defending?

01:06:16.080 What, freedom of speech?

01:06:17.740 You know, the rule of law?

01:06:19.900 Equality?

01:06:21.220 The country that belonged to your ancestors?

01:06:24.600 Even though we're giving that away to foreigners as well?

01:06:27.340 I mean, what are we fighting for?

01:06:29.040 Maybe if we said that we would...

01:06:30.220 Yeah.

01:06:30.680 And who would want us?

01:06:32.000 Yeah.

01:06:32.560 Who wants to invade us with all our problems?

01:06:34.740 Yeah, exactly.

01:06:35.780 Russia invades, takes over, is like...

01:06:37.380 Oh, you can have it back.

01:06:39.120 Yeah, exactly.

01:06:40.540 Thanks.

01:06:41.120 No thanks.

01:06:42.200 I was just going to say, maybe if we said we were going to go and fight and defend for

01:06:45.000 Palestine, then maybe we'd get a more diverse roster signing up.

01:06:48.480 You know what they would have done?

01:06:49.920 They absolutely would have.

01:06:50.740 But they wouldn't stop over there and fight for their own country, would they?

01:06:53.700 No.

01:06:54.460 Anyway, so the Telegraph here reports that the RAF is now facing a pilot shortage after

01:06:59.840 a diversity hiring scheme backfired.

01:07:01.360 An official document revealed that the Royal Air Force's need for a higher number of pilots

01:07:04.620 in training.

01:07:05.380 And they're so short-staffed that candidates who were previously rejected are being urged

01:07:10.140 to reapply.

01:07:11.200 Really, candidates that don't know, no, you're white.

01:07:13.600 We're not having you.

01:07:14.840 Actually, oh, white men, please come back.

01:07:17.420 Step this way.

01:07:18.100 Yeah, please reapply, because actually we need to go fight and die for, you know, the

01:07:22.540 multi-culti Britain against the Russia.

01:07:23.620 It reminds me of the poem, Thin Red Line of Heroes.

01:07:26.860 You'll be acquainted with that.

01:07:28.420 I know of it.

01:07:30.080 It's been a long time.

01:07:30.600 About how no one valued them as soldiers.

01:07:33.900 You know, I went into a public house to buy a pint of beer.

01:07:36.760 The landlady got up and said, we serve no redcoats here.

01:07:40.080 But it's step forward, Mr. Atkins, when the band begins to play.

01:07:43.780 Yes.

01:07:44.340 And the music, the band's warming up.

01:07:47.500 Yep.

01:07:48.060 And no one's in the crowd.

01:07:50.200 We may have racially discriminated against you, but please reapply, say the argument.

01:07:54.060 We really need you now.

01:07:55.100 Yeah.

01:07:55.540 Because you may have to die for your country.

01:07:57.820 Exactly.

01:07:58.040 We need you to die for the institutions.

01:08:00.660 And again, was anyone punished?

01:08:02.160 No.

01:08:02.440 They were all promoted.

01:08:03.220 They were retired.

01:08:03.660 They got everything they wanted.

01:08:04.940 Of course, what we have got in the military now is all the Blairite.

01:08:08.140 Yeah.

01:08:08.540 They're the people at the top now.

01:08:09.820 Yeah.

01:08:10.080 And also, what I need to share with you, Carl and Harry, is that you think that the MOD

01:08:15.160 is run by the military.

01:08:17.200 No.

01:08:17.320 Under Blair, it's run by civil servants.

01:08:20.160 Yeah.

01:08:20.680 It's not a military organisation anymore.

01:08:23.440 That's why you've got things like this going on.

01:08:25.640 Yeah.

01:08:25.900 Because the MOD is run by civil servants.

01:08:29.240 Yeah.

01:08:29.360 I mean, my dad was a sergeant at the RAF when he retired from the forces.

01:08:33.300 Wellington ran the British Army very successfully with 25 non-military.

01:08:38.600 Yeah.

01:08:39.040 I mean, the whole story of the British Empire is one of minimal administration as well.

01:08:44.380 It's so good.

01:08:45.380 Anyway, the point being on this is that they're begging for you to reapply.

01:08:50.740 Do you feel like it?

01:08:51.820 The Air Force is also short-staffed in various other ways as well.

01:08:57.920 And it's not just the Air Force.

01:08:59.020 They're trying to parachute people in.

01:09:00.340 It's not just the Air Force.

01:09:02.740 It's the Army as well.

01:09:05.160 Lord Hammond has come out and pointed out that, look, young people are totally unprepared

01:09:08.640 to fight a war for Britain.

01:09:10.140 Why would they want to?

01:09:11.940 Why would they want to defend the state of this country?

01:09:15.300 I don't know whether you've noticed, but this country is falling apart.

01:09:18.320 Our town centres are completely overrun by strangers who have just been allowed to come

01:09:21.840 here.

01:09:21.960 And we're paying for the privilege of them being here.

01:09:24.520 Who then bring more people in under skilled worker visa schemes for being kebab shop chefs.

01:09:32.560 A third of the people who are allowed to come here are just defendants.

01:09:34.880 Let me just fire one in there.

01:09:37.480 You know, why do we need to bring in?

01:09:39.260 Why would the establishment, it's clearly designed, bring in all these men of fighting

01:09:45.020 age between the age of...

01:09:46.100 And people are worried that they're going to do something.

01:09:48.080 Well, what if the plan has been for a very long time that a large number of our indigenous

01:09:53.300 men of 18 to 40 will be heading to the Eastern Front and won't be coming back?

01:09:59.180 What do you need in your country?

01:10:02.180 I don't even dare speculate on it.

01:10:05.060 But it's honestly...

01:10:06.740 The war's been...

01:10:07.600 The war...

01:10:08.360 It's a thought...

01:10:08.760 Two years ago, the civil servants knew the war was coming and morale went down.

01:10:13.320 They knew the war was coming.

01:10:15.340 The plan was for the war with Russia.

01:10:16.620 Honestly, though, it's too grim for me to ponder.

01:10:19.860 I don't want to think about it.

01:10:21.800 But the point being, of course, is that they know that there's no reason that a young person

01:10:27.980 would want to fight for Britain.

01:10:29.040 In fact, many of them are thinking, how can I get out of Britain?

01:10:32.300 Where can I go?

01:10:33.340 And lots of people are going to Australia because this country is going downhill.

01:10:37.260 And everyone knows it because everything we have is just being given away.

01:10:40.240 It's just been given away.

01:10:41.020 It's been taxed away.

01:10:41.800 It's been given away to foreigners.

01:10:42.740 And you are being treated like a cash cow that will be discriminated against as a second-class

01:10:46.900 citizen, as people were in the RAF.

01:10:50.480 And so Lord Hammond says, there's no point spending lots of money on defense equipment

01:10:54.640 if you haven't got any men to press the buttons.

01:10:56.300 And we are unable to recruit even a rather paltry-scale army that we currently have.

01:10:59.420 72,000 men.

01:11:00.820 We're always about 8,000 under recruitment.

01:11:02.760 Because what's the incentive?

01:11:04.660 What benefit?

01:11:05.520 What bonus?

01:11:06.520 What privilege will you be given in society if you fight for it?

01:11:10.020 No, you're a straight white man.

01:11:11.140 You're at the bottom of the hierarchy in this country.

01:11:14.440 You were treated with just open contempt by the institutions.

01:11:18.140 Why would you bother?

01:11:19.600 Why would you bother?

01:11:20.460 It's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy go away.

01:11:23.460 But a special train for Atkins when the band begins to play.

01:11:27.680 You know what?

01:11:28.680 I wish you were going to bring that up because I would have re-read it.

01:11:32.340 And then, yes.

01:11:33.640 I mean, I was literally in school.

01:11:34.500 It's all there.

01:11:35.180 It's all there.

01:11:35.940 They always treated the soldier badly, but it was a thin red line of heroes when the

01:11:40.060 band begins to play.

01:11:41.080 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:11:41.860 Well, they're a bit more educated now and they know what's going on.

01:11:45.860 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

01:11:47.180 So, Lord Hammond here says, and this is just fascinating, right?

01:11:51.220 We're not geared towards this, of course.

01:11:53.380 And if you stop random men in their 20s and 30s and ask them how ready they are to drop

01:11:56.800 their pens and computers and head off to the recruiting station, I think we'll get a pretty

01:12:00.840 clear answer.

01:12:01.420 There is a major societal shift going to be required.

01:12:05.320 Oh, is it required?

01:12:06.720 It's not just about money.

01:12:07.820 It's about the organisation, the economy and the orientation of society.

01:12:10.260 We'll follow Lord Hammond.

01:12:11.760 He'll be out there, surely.

01:12:12.880 Yeah, it's too late for that.

01:12:14.360 Right behind us.

01:12:15.200 Like 30 miles behind us.

01:12:16.860 But why is it that society is so geared against the native young man and in favour of every

01:12:23.780 kind of foreign or minority?

01:12:25.640 They've been denigrating him and calling him far right.

01:12:28.560 Exactly.

01:12:29.900 Scum.

01:12:30.800 Scum.

01:12:31.420 He's probably in jail right now because he posted something on Facebook because he

01:12:35.400 didn't like children being stabbed.

01:12:36.800 Yes.

01:12:37.500 Like, I'm sorry.

01:12:39.320 Something he would have stood up for.

01:12:40.940 Yeah, exactly.

01:12:41.680 You know, against children being stabbed.

01:12:43.940 Yes.

01:12:45.180 I'm having to laugh.

01:12:46.180 It's just like, this is where we are, you know.

01:12:48.140 And so it really does annoy me.

01:12:50.180 And they'll say, where are all the real men?

01:12:52.440 Yeah.

01:12:53.020 Why aren't they staying to our defence?

01:12:54.720 They are.

01:12:55.120 Why do you deserve it?

01:12:56.560 Toxic, you know, an element of toxic masculinity might be needed to defend the country.

01:13:01.420 Yeah.

01:13:02.040 And so one colonel was interviewed by the Mirror, who was talking of conscription.

01:13:08.600 It's like, well, are we going to have conscription?

01:13:09.940 It's like, no, you're going to have a civil war if you think you're going to conscript.

01:13:13.160 Like, I don't.

01:13:13.560 I think there'll be an awful lot of conscientious objectors this time.

01:13:16.460 Yeah.

01:13:16.860 Like, people...

01:13:17.500 Most people I know would rather go to prison.

01:13:19.200 Yeah, absolutely.

01:13:20.060 And die.

01:13:20.620 I did say there's probably a ditch in the Donbass with your name on it.

01:13:24.340 Yeah.

01:13:25.060 Yeah.

01:13:25.340 I would...

01:13:25.980 I mean, I would definitely advise anyone to be a conscientious objector, quote-unquote,

01:13:30.420 to any war that this state wished to fight.

01:13:33.820 Because look at what you'll be protecting.

01:13:35.340 Well, I did point out in the summer that we were heading, almost certainly for a war,

01:13:41.720 and that Rishi Sunak had let it be known to the generals in the MOD that he didn't want

01:13:45.800 to be a wartime prime minister.

01:13:48.000 And clearly that Starmer was up for it.

01:13:50.820 And he does like his khaki, doesn't he?

01:13:53.700 He does.

01:13:54.540 He's a lawyer.

01:13:55.300 So you saw him in the Ukraine outfit.

01:13:57.340 I mean, I nearly mistook him for Zelensky at once.

01:14:00.540 Yeah.

01:14:01.100 I mean, you can see a bit of that, can't you?

01:14:03.340 Yeah, he's very much a hawk, isn't he, with what's going on in the Ukraine?

01:14:07.760 And, you know, you just can't believe the politics that's going on and the transition.

01:14:12.580 You know, when you've got a Labour government now bringing in the other night that they're

01:14:16.300 going to cut benefits for the severely disabled.

01:14:18.900 As if giving them less money is going to make them able to work.

01:14:22.440 There's so much wrong with this country.

01:14:27.960 Everything's inverted, isn't it?

01:14:29.280 There's so much wrong with this country.

01:14:31.000 Anyway, so basically, if you're a young man in this country, I don't recommend you sign

01:14:35.960 up.

01:14:36.400 And I won't let my son sign up when they're old enough.

01:14:39.580 So, you know, things would have to be very dramatically different for me to want to defend

01:14:43.960 the current government of this country.

01:14:45.920 Anyway, let's...

01:14:46.780 I think we do have enemies, but I'm not convinced it's the people the government are pointing

01:14:50.180 us at, who are the real enemies who are perpetrating evil things against us.

01:14:54.600 No Russian ever called me a racist.

01:14:56.280 No.

01:14:57.900 Right, well, we'll skip the video comments today and we'll go straight to the written

01:15:00.860 comments.

01:15:01.400 So, lots of people are saying that their Islander copy has arrived already, which is superb.

01:15:05.320 Glad to hear it.

01:15:06.400 Thomas says, my Islander 3 arrived last night and upon opening, my wife became immediately

01:15:10.600 pregnant.

01:15:14.460 Which is great.

01:15:15.640 That's not how it works, as I understand...

01:15:17.160 As I remember.

01:15:18.040 Well, this is a very good magazine.

01:15:20.780 Well, there's a further twist in this tale, actually.

01:15:24.320 Yeah, yeah.

01:15:25.780 Yeah, his wife, they'd both...

01:15:28.160 He had had the snip five years ago.

01:15:31.020 Ron...

01:15:31.540 You might want a paternity test there, brother.

01:15:33.760 Yeah.

01:15:34.040 Ron says, great to see Andrew back on the show.

01:15:36.580 And Ron wants to know that if Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib did start a party, would you

01:15:40.540 join it?

01:15:43.260 I'd be very interested in being part of a solution.

01:15:45.600 I mean, we can all talk about the problems we've got in this country, and they are myriad,

01:15:50.100 but we now need to start working on solutions.

01:15:52.980 And yeah, I'd be proud to stand with people like Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib and Howard Cox.

01:15:58.820 Four years is a long time in politics.

01:16:01.260 Yeah, it is.

01:16:02.540 It is.

01:16:02.900 I mean, a week's a long time.

01:16:04.320 And then, it is.

01:16:06.840 Thomas says, Andrew Bridgen is a scholar and a patriot.

01:16:09.100 God bless you.

01:16:12.200 Hector says, Carl, congratulations on your appointment to the Great British Pack Advisory

01:16:15.280 Board.

01:16:16.140 Thank you.

01:16:16.700 I'll do whatever they ask me to do, really.

01:16:18.540 I'll just give any advice that I can give.

01:16:20.880 Matthew says, the first time I've caught the show live in a while, and by God, I was not

01:16:23.960 disappointed.

01:16:24.860 Good to see you guys further laying the boots into Farage after the revelation that he is

01:16:28.620 the little man that he talks about in his maiden parliamentary speech.

01:16:32.660 Lord Nerevar says, I would say, I don't care if Rupert Lowe wins.

01:16:36.480 I just need Isabel Oakeshott to lose.

01:16:38.500 But I also quite like Rupert to win as well.

01:16:41.600 Omar says, I have to praise Nigel Farage on having the great foresight to recognize he's

01:16:45.080 not Prime Minister material.

01:16:46.540 It's a shame that he used this acute self-awareness to become a better bully instead of a politician.

01:16:52.480 It shows that he's in it for the position of prestige rather than the movement itself.

01:16:55.540 And that really does, that is how it reads, isn't it?

01:16:58.400 It feels like it's about Nigel Farage.

01:16:59.920 And if Nigel's to be removed, in the old Macbeth, which is always best for politics,

01:17:05.380 tis to be done, tis best done quickly.

01:17:10.020 Paul says, make Jeremy Clarkson leader of reform.

01:17:13.120 Jeremy Clarkson, he was at the farmer's process.

01:17:15.700 He doesn't look very well.

01:17:16.700 He's had a heart attack.

01:17:17.700 Oh, has he?

01:17:18.400 Yes.

01:17:18.620 I didn't even know that.

01:17:19.340 He had a heart attack.

01:17:20.400 Right, right.

01:17:20.880 I think he was talking about it right before he went.

01:17:22.740 He looked very great.

01:17:23.640 I hope he's getting better.

01:17:24.940 Yeah, I hope he's all right.

01:17:26.200 He didn't look well.

01:17:27.140 No, I got to ask him one question.

01:17:28.980 He walked by.

01:17:29.360 I was like, are you going to go to politics?

01:17:30.380 He's like, no.

01:17:31.580 I don't think he wants to.

01:17:33.860 Economic Zone 17 says, I don't want supposed right-wing parties to surrender to Islam,

01:17:38.460 make questionable allegations of bullying to the police.

01:17:40.740 I'm just a purist, I guess.

01:17:42.020 So this is interesting.

01:17:43.160 You know, Nigel Farage said, well, if we...

01:17:46.260 We don't embrace Islam, alienate the Islamic vote, we're finished by 2050.

01:17:52.780 I mean, that is basically saying the nations, we're done.

01:17:55.740 Not only do I not agree with that, but he's been saying that since 2017.

01:17:59.860 I actually looked into this.

01:18:00.900 Basically, what he's talking about there is...

01:18:02.480 He's a cheese-eating surrender monkey to me.

01:18:04.580 He sounds like he's always rolled over.

01:18:05.940 Yeah.

01:18:06.540 And if the kind of demographic change that he's talking about by 2050 is complete by that

01:18:12.420 time and isn't stopped, then the country will just erupt into sectarian interests anyway.

01:18:17.940 The Americans were saying, we're going to be the first Islamic nuclear power, didn't

01:18:21.140 they?

01:18:21.460 Yeah, that was advanced, which is ironic considering...

01:18:23.600 Because Pakistan have already...

01:18:25.560 Yeah, I was going to say, Pakistan already have...

01:18:27.060 The Americans, I mean, they don't really know where anywhere is, do they?

01:18:29.360 No, no, they don't.

01:18:30.080 But also, the thing is, though, the Islamic population of Britain is massively overstated.

01:18:34.720 Our Islamic population at the last census was 6.5%.

01:18:37.280 Well, the legally known.

01:18:38.960 The legally known Islamic population.

01:18:41.900 But the...

01:18:42.940 Like, it's not...

01:18:43.540 600,000 illegals in London.

01:18:45.820 Yeah, I know.

01:18:46.220 And I'm not bothered whether they're...

01:18:47.360 What religion they are?

01:18:48.340 They're illegals, aren't they?

01:18:49.180 Sure, sure, sure.

01:18:49.620 And they should all go.

01:18:50.480 But it is overstated and can be reversed.

01:18:53.940 It's not like...

01:18:55.360 If there's a will.

01:18:56.880 Yeah, if there's a will, it absolutely can.

01:18:58.440 And it's just Nigel Farce, for some reason, has no will to do it.

01:19:01.420 It's like, OK, well, we're just going to let...

01:19:02.440 We're looking at probably going into a third world war with Russia over Ukraine's borders.

01:19:06.680 We can't defend our own borders, can we?

01:19:08.820 No.

01:19:09.140 And this, again, it's not like this is in any way controversial with the actual electorate, either.

01:19:14.520 No.

01:19:14.780 You'd have the public backing overwhelmingly.

01:19:17.080 Stop the immigration.

01:19:18.080 It's just easy.

01:19:19.000 I mean, I think somebody had said to me, and I think they were right,

01:19:22.640 that the first major politician to come out and say deportation is the answer,

01:19:28.400 they win the next general election.

01:19:29.840 I agree.

01:19:30.820 And it's such a...

01:19:32.140 I said it last June, but I didn't win my general election, but that's another story.

01:19:35.980 That's a different story.

01:19:36.760 But the thing is, we've got a great example in Trump and build the wall.

01:19:40.620 You know, that was a highly controversial statement,

01:19:43.200 but it reflected the majority opinion of the American public.

01:19:45.980 Beautiful wall.

01:19:46.800 Yeah.

01:19:47.300 Huge.

01:19:47.800 Mexico's going to pay for it.

01:19:49.440 What a wonderful phrase.

01:19:52.060 It's the same here, because all you need to do is polarize the issue.

01:19:54.740 So you turn it into a yes or no.

01:19:56.080 Are we going to deport the illegals or not?

01:19:58.020 Or are we going to surrender?

01:19:58.960 Or are we going to surrender?

01:19:59.860 And so you will just forcefully, yeah, okay, I'm on that side.

01:20:03.020 Even if I don't like that guy or this thing,

01:20:04.780 I've still got to come down to this side, because this is where my heart lies.

01:20:08.300 Roman Observer says,

01:20:09.280 If Farage is such a narcissist who only cares about being applauded by the media and the establishment,

01:20:13.880 why is he always working with minor parties pushing populist topics on the surface?

01:20:17.600 Instead of just joining the Tories and enjoying a comfy seat with them.

01:20:20.780 Yeah, Nigel Farage could be leader of the Tories by this point.

01:20:23.700 Just join with them.

01:20:24.680 What's his problem?

01:20:25.140 Well, he's got a former deputy chair of the Conservative Party in his MPs, nearly Anderson.

01:20:31.080 The inside track.

01:20:33.260 And what's happening on the ground, certainly in the Midlands, was rather reform.

01:20:37.960 They're hoofing out all the patriots, all the people of principle who fought for them at the last general election,

01:20:43.980 and they're bringing in defectors from the Conservative Party,

01:20:47.000 including former Conservative MPs who've never done anything remotely in line with what reform's principles are.

01:20:55.960 Notice how the...

01:20:56.860 They're sort of infiltrated.

01:20:57.760 And former Conservative area chairmen are now coming in.

01:21:02.900 Notice how he's brought in Tim Montgomery, who describes himself as a globalist liberal,

01:21:09.280 who was founder of Conservative Home.

01:21:10.720 And who's the Remainer, the hardcore Remainer?

01:21:16.320 Oh, Charlie Mullins.

01:21:17.680 That's it.

01:21:18.140 I mean, I mean...

01:21:18.860 Why would you want him?

01:21:19.940 No jab, no job Mullins.

01:21:21.480 Yeah.

01:21:21.980 I mean, yeah.

01:21:22.540 Why would you want him?

01:21:23.920 Like, Nigel Farage has kept every right-winger in this country out of reform,

01:21:28.500 and yet here's the no jab, no job Remainer comes in.

01:21:31.360 Why that guy?

01:21:33.420 What are you getting from him?

01:21:34.980 I don't know.

01:21:35.600 I mean, diversity.

01:21:36.440 It's a DEI appointment, isn't it?

01:21:39.240 We've got to have our diversity quotient of left-wing lunatics.

01:21:44.000 It's all I can only assume.

01:21:46.160 I can only assume.

01:21:47.200 Like, why are you getting these people, Nigel?

01:21:48.980 Like, there are loads of really great, you know, strong right-wing voices in this country,

01:21:52.440 and Nigel has blanked every single one of them.

01:21:54.580 And again, for the point that Roman Observer's making here,

01:21:57.040 where he says he's pushing populist topics on the surface,

01:22:00.480 I think on the surface is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there,

01:22:03.380 because the only real populist topic that he's ever pushed through on

01:22:08.280 has been his Euro-scepticism and Brexit.

01:22:10.740 Beyond that, the anti-immigration...

01:22:12.760 You know what?

01:22:13.240 Let me...

01:22:13.560 Sorry, let me...

01:22:14.300 Because I...

01:22:15.100 And you remember on polling day,

01:22:19.580 polling night,

01:22:20.920 before a vote had been counted,

01:22:24.520 Nigel conceded that we'd lost the referendum.

01:22:27.480 Yes, he did.

01:22:28.360 Yeah, he did.

01:22:28.820 I did not remember that.

01:22:30.420 You didn't remember that?

01:22:31.360 Well, I do, because I was at my count.

01:22:33.000 I was running leave for the East Midlands.

01:22:34.660 Yeah, he did.

01:22:35.280 And as soon as I saw the turnout at 79% in North West Leicestershire,

01:22:42.900 and I saw a few...

01:22:44.140 It was over 60% leave,

01:22:46.240 I got in the car,

01:22:47.220 because I knew we'd won nationally,

01:22:48.840 and the East Midlands was 59% for the East Midlands,

01:22:51.660 61% in North West Leicestershire.

01:22:52.740 I was heading down,

01:22:53.840 and then I heard on the radio,

01:22:54.980 and Nigel's just conceded that

01:22:56.740 leave of lost.

01:22:59.080 But it's like we didn't resolve.

01:23:00.540 Not where I was.

01:23:02.160 In his defence on that one,

01:23:03.800 I was as surprised as anyone as well.

01:23:05.620 I told Boris Johnson...

01:23:07.220 I was covering it live.

01:23:07.980 The day before the referendum,

01:23:09.620 they sent Boris Johnson up to the East Midlands,

01:23:11.620 to me,

01:23:12.460 in North West Leicestershire,

01:23:13.560 we went to Ashby de la Zouche,

01:23:14.740 it was all there on the cameras,

01:23:15.740 you can film it.

01:23:16.380 Boris and I were mic'd up.

01:23:18.120 We were also making a documentary called

01:23:21.520 Brexit, a very British coup,

01:23:23.420 or something,

01:23:23.700 or Brexit means Brexit.

01:23:24.700 And we got the radio mics on,

01:23:28.000 we were in the Royal Hotel Ashby de la Zouche car park,

01:23:30.900 60 metres from the cameras,

01:23:32.360 thought we were OK,

01:23:33.480 and I broke it to Boris

01:23:34.700 that we were definitely,

01:23:36.100 leave we're definitely going to win tomorrow,

01:23:38.080 at the referendum.

01:23:39.580 And his response was shocking.

01:23:41.540 No, no, no, no, no.

01:23:43.080 It'll be close,

01:23:43.860 but we're not going to win.

01:23:44.920 So Boris,

01:23:46.060 I guarantee you're going to win tomorrow.

01:23:47.880 His face,

01:23:48.380 that wasn't the plan.

01:23:50.280 Boris was not a leaver.

01:23:51.800 No, no, I agree.

01:23:52.600 I agree.

01:23:53.000 I don't think he was at all.

01:23:54.780 But, no, no,

01:23:55.560 I actually,

01:23:56.340 I looked into the Nigel on immigration thing,

01:23:58.480 right?

01:23:58.820 Yeah.

01:23:59.020 So when he came back,

01:24:00.480 because I was looking into Nigel coming back

01:24:02.640 to stand at Clacton,

01:24:03.940 he came out,

01:24:04.960 and the first speech he gave was,

01:24:06.580 the next election is going to be

01:24:08.920 an immigration referendum.

01:24:10.480 I'm going to make it a referendum on immigration.

01:24:12.860 So he's like,

01:24:13.400 you know,

01:24:13.540 we're going to stop immigration.

01:24:14.540 Now we know which side he's going to be.

01:24:15.940 Exactly.

01:24:16.340 Yeah.

01:24:16.560 Fooled you again.

01:24:19.840 Fooled you again.

01:24:20.940 You've got to be nice.

01:24:22.300 Immigration rhetoric from Nigel

01:24:23.740 always just seems to be,

01:24:24.840 okay,

01:24:25.040 can I get votes with this?

01:24:26.400 Yes.

01:24:26.640 And if I can't get votes with it,

01:24:27.960 then I'm just going to back away from it.

01:24:29.660 That is precisely right.

01:24:30.680 I think you're exactly right.

01:24:32.000 Yeah,

01:24:32.080 now we know which side he'll be on.

01:24:34.500 Yeah.

01:24:35.260 And pointing out that the referendum,

01:24:36.760 it's easy to think that it was going to be

01:24:37.660 a referendum on immigration.

01:24:38.940 I think Nigel's got a sort of

01:24:41.020 reversible tab on,

01:24:42.820 hasn't he?

01:24:43.080 You know,

01:24:43.340 in the battle.

01:24:43.980 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

01:24:44.420 Always look at Big Grim.

01:24:45.700 Yeah, no,

01:24:46.300 he absolutely does.

01:24:47.060 Reversible rose out.

01:24:47.780 I can totally see why you

01:24:49.100 wouldn't have thought that was his position

01:24:51.520 because he's,

01:24:52.500 yeah,

01:24:52.640 he's basically reversed it completely.

01:24:54.440 You know,

01:24:54.620 so it's just,

01:24:55.560 you know,

01:24:56.120 changeable Nige,

01:24:56.980 isn't it?

01:24:57.620 And the flex assist.

01:24:58.840 Your flexible friend.

01:25:00.260 Yeah.

01:25:01.080 The flex assist says,

01:25:02.400 Farage broke the reform poles

01:25:03.940 out of the 10 point ceiling.

01:25:05.940 He has shown time and time again

01:25:07.000 he can deliver.

01:25:07.920 You need to back him

01:25:08.680 or die on your unelectical hill.

01:25:10.240 You've already seen,

01:25:10.440 you've already demonstrated

01:25:11.300 that when Nigel came in,

01:25:12.500 it was already,

01:25:13.280 17%.

01:25:14.160 So,

01:25:14.980 you know,

01:25:15.700 I,

01:25:15.920 I,

01:25:16.420 I'm not trying to be rude about it.

01:25:17.860 Except that was 70%

01:25:18.740 under Richard Tice.

01:25:19.880 Yeah,

01:25:20.020 I know,

01:25:20.300 yeah,

01:25:20.440 exactly.

01:25:20.640 Mr. Charisma.

01:25:21.720 Yeah,

01:25:21.920 exactly.

01:25:22.480 God,

01:25:22.800 if he.

01:25:22.940 Okay,

01:25:23.240 and this,

01:25:23.860 this like absolutism of

01:25:25.680 you need to back him,

01:25:26.960 you need to back him.

01:25:27.720 Okay.

01:25:28.000 There's no alternative.

01:25:29.120 Yeah,

01:25:29.260 say he does win in 2029.

01:25:31.740 Okay.

01:25:32.900 Now,

01:25:33.460 do I trust after everything

01:25:35.160 Nigel has done for him

01:25:36.300 to keep any of his promises

01:25:37.900 when he's come out

01:25:38.860 and made public statements

01:25:39.740 saying that I'm not going to,

01:25:40.940 I'm not going to do any,

01:25:42.180 and he's been,

01:25:43.440 you know,

01:25:43.780 a remarkably honest politician

01:25:45.020 saying all of that stuff

01:25:46.320 I told you I was going to do,

01:25:47.260 I was actually lying.

01:25:48.220 I think,

01:25:48.720 in fact,

01:25:49.160 I've been thinking about this

01:25:50.340 and manifesto pledges

01:25:51.880 are so discredited

01:25:53.080 with the public.

01:25:53.960 They count for nothing,

01:25:54.960 do they?

01:25:55.580 I mean,

01:25:55.780 I remember someone

01:25:56.660 took Brown to court

01:25:57.920 in 2005

01:25:59.420 over breaking his manifesto

01:26:01.640 and that a judge ruled

01:26:02.760 that manifesto commitments

01:26:04.020 were not,

01:26:04.780 should not be regarded

01:26:06.080 as legitimate expectation.

01:26:07.860 That's legal gobbledygook

01:26:10.220 saying you can't,

01:26:11.540 you can't put your hat

01:26:12.700 on any of it,

01:26:13.440 right?

01:26:14.320 I think I'd like to be part

01:26:16.400 of a political party

01:26:17.560 that made a legal contract.

01:26:19.800 Yeah.

01:26:20.580 No more manifesto.

01:26:21.500 Well,

01:26:21.640 that's how reform

01:26:22.340 branded it.

01:26:23.820 We want to have a legal contract

01:26:25.280 with the public

01:26:26.020 and you can legally take us

01:26:28.920 if we don't deliver.

01:26:30.500 I mean,

01:26:30.840 reform branded theirs

01:26:31.900 as a contract.

01:26:32.760 Here's our contract

01:26:33.540 to you,

01:26:34.300 the British people,

01:26:35.120 and already Nigel's

01:26:36.140 just walked back

01:26:37.220 all the immigration stuff.

01:26:38.860 Breach of contract.

01:26:39.640 The idea that

01:26:41.120 it's Nigel or nobody,

01:26:42.780 well,

01:26:43.080 I don't agree.

01:26:43.760 I think it's only Nigel

01:26:44.620 because he stabbed everyone.

01:26:46.140 That's what Nigel's told you.

01:26:47.400 Exactly,

01:26:47.820 that's what Nigel says.

01:26:48.600 And it's not that I'm trying

01:26:49.700 to be...

01:26:49.900 That's what he said to Rupert,

01:26:50.800 didn't he?

01:26:51.300 You wouldn't have had any votes

01:26:52.840 except for me.

01:26:53.940 That's not true.

01:26:54.300 If it wasn't for me,

01:26:54.900 you would have had no votes.

01:26:55.920 That's not true.

01:26:56.660 Again,

01:26:56.980 it's so insufferable.

01:26:58.900 But it,

01:26:59.800 you know,

01:27:00.060 I'm not trying to be

01:27:00.520 confrontational.

01:27:01.060 All he lacks is confidence.

01:27:03.600 Yeah.

01:27:05.120 Fuzzy Pirate says,

01:27:07.500 I'm unconvincing Nigel Farage

01:27:08.520 actually caused damage

01:27:09.440 to reform by joining.

01:27:10.740 There are a large number

01:27:11.360 of people who may have

01:27:12.060 voted Remain,

01:27:12.700 but they can't vote

01:27:13.440 Labour or Conservative

01:27:14.160 and can't bring themselves

01:27:15.140 to a vote for reform

01:27:15.960 because of Nigel.

01:27:17.400 Yeah,

01:27:17.600 I think that Nigel

01:27:18.520 actually represents

01:27:19.180 kind of hard cap

01:27:20.120 on reform's potential vote.

01:27:22.940 So,

01:27:23.880 you know,

01:27:24.720 swings and roundabouts

01:27:25.520 both sides.

01:27:27.420 That's why he would need

01:27:28.540 a sort of team around him

01:27:30.560 who bought their own

01:27:31.800 little voter bases

01:27:33.560 to broaden it

01:27:35.020 and he's not willing

01:27:35.720 to do that.

01:27:36.080 He's keeping the grass

01:27:36.860 mown very,

01:27:38.060 very short.

01:27:39.240 That's not a good leader.

01:27:40.500 He literally can't

01:27:41.240 build a coalition.

01:27:42.260 Not a confident leader.

01:27:44.340 Exactly,

01:27:44.800 because he's constantly

01:27:45.380 leading from the back.

01:27:46.260 If he was leading

01:27:46.700 from the front,

01:27:47.240 he'd be very confident

01:27:47.980 everyone would follow him.

01:27:49.180 But he's constantly

01:27:49.880 watching everyone else.

01:27:50.740 Oh,

01:27:50.820 he's getting a bit ahead,

01:27:51.540 right,

01:27:51.780 off with him.

01:27:53.040 Oh,

01:27:53.280 he's getting a bit ahead,

01:27:53.980 off with him.

01:27:54.980 It's like,

01:27:55.280 no,

01:27:55.500 that's not how this works,

01:27:56.500 Nigel.

01:27:56.800 That's how an evil

01:27:57.780 tyranny works,

01:27:59.040 actually.

01:27:59.720 And I don't want to be

01:28:00.640 partying.

01:28:00.660 We've had quite enough

01:28:01.140 of that for one lifetime.

01:28:02.320 Yeah,

01:28:02.600 exactly.

01:28:03.520 Yeah,

01:28:03.960 yeah,

01:28:04.380 we've had quite enough

01:28:06.260 of that.

01:28:07.620 Eloise says,

01:28:08.460 people were imported

01:28:09.440 to look after aging boomers

01:28:10.760 and fill NHS spots.

01:28:12.120 Then the boomers will go,

01:28:13.220 the state will shrink,

01:28:14.080 but the demography

01:28:14.780 has been changed

01:28:15.500 forever now.

01:28:16.960 It's absolutely true.

01:28:17.680 I think part of the

01:28:19.280 change of demography

01:28:20.340 will be a,

01:28:22.400 ensure that the state

01:28:23.720 can't shrink,

01:28:24.660 because eventually,

01:28:25.720 if things do become

01:28:26.700 just basically

01:28:27.360 sectarian,

01:28:28.660 ethnic enclaves,

01:28:29.580 it's all vying for things.

01:28:30.860 The state needs to be

01:28:31.760 bigger and bigger

01:28:32.340 and bigger

01:28:32.680 just to be able

01:28:33.240 to manage that

01:28:34.160 without it erupting

01:28:35.000 into violence anyway.

01:28:38.000 Lord Nerevar says,

01:28:39.060 I'm not dying

01:28:39.720 for a Labour government.

01:28:41.060 I will happily accept

01:28:41.920 prison for dodging

01:28:42.660 the draft.

01:28:43.040 Yeah,

01:28:43.200 same here.

01:28:44.240 I would just,

01:28:45.180 come on then,

01:28:46.360 just lock me up.

01:28:46.960 I don't care.

01:28:47.400 I'm not going.

01:28:49.020 You know,

01:28:49.360 if it was something

01:28:50.360 I believed in,

01:28:51.080 fine,

01:28:51.340 I would,

01:28:51.840 but not this country.

01:28:53.900 And in fact,

01:28:54.520 Eloise says,

01:28:55.180 I feel so bad

01:28:56.460 for everyone

01:28:56.840 when they go on

01:28:57.620 about how dire Swindon is.

01:28:58.780 Yes,

01:28:58.960 it's true.

01:28:59.180 Yeah,

01:28:59.460 like,

01:29:00.040 okay,

01:29:00.320 so the centre of Swindon

01:29:01.360 is the kind of

01:29:02.020 colonised bit of Swindon

01:29:03.460 where all of the

01:29:04.040 foreigners got dumped.

01:29:05.020 It's terrible.

01:29:05.680 It never used to be this bad.

01:29:06.820 It used to be nice.

01:29:07.800 I promise you,

01:29:08.460 it used to be quite nice.

01:29:09.460 You've told me that

01:29:10.020 as recent as 2019,

01:29:11.680 it was okay.

01:29:12.560 Carl,

01:29:12.940 you're giving your age away now.

01:29:14.440 I know.

01:29:15.180 But just,

01:29:15.860 no,

01:29:16.240 no,

01:29:16.260 but it was.

01:29:16.660 I wasn't around in 2019.

01:29:18.620 Just before the lockdowns,

01:29:20.420 it was still normal

01:29:21.400 and just a normal English town.

01:29:23.040 You know,

01:29:23.180 it was not remarkable.

01:29:24.520 It was okay,

01:29:25.620 but it's gone really downhill.

01:29:26.860 But outside of the town centre,

01:29:28.360 it's still nice.

01:29:29.340 I promise.

01:29:29.720 There are decent parts.

01:29:31.060 Yes.

01:29:32.040 Lydiard Park,

01:29:32.860 for instance,

01:29:33.380 is still very nice.

01:29:34.060 It's basically a corona

01:29:35.120 around the town centre

01:29:36.160 where it's,

01:29:36.560 I mean,

01:29:36.720 you've got some sort of,

01:29:37.600 you know,

01:29:37.980 working class areas.

01:29:39.480 So it's a bit cure-its-egg.

01:29:40.760 It's good in parts.

01:29:41.960 Yes.

01:29:42.620 North Swindon seems all right.

01:29:44.300 Yeah,

01:29:44.440 it's lovely.

01:29:45.320 And then as soon as you're

01:29:46.820 outside of Swindon

01:29:47.620 in the rest of Wiltshire,

01:29:48.540 it's gorgeous.

01:29:49.440 The old town is still nice as well.

01:29:51.500 Oh yeah,

01:29:52.000 old town is okay.

01:29:52.620 It's literally just

01:29:53.500 the very town centre of Swindon

01:29:55.060 that's just been bombed out

01:29:56.100 with changing demography.

01:29:58.660 And crackheads.

01:29:59.620 And crackheads,

01:30:00.240 yeah.

01:30:01.500 There are nice parts here.

01:30:03.580 Michael says,

01:30:04.420 so while the rest of us

01:30:05.220 have looked at

01:30:05.620 China's social credit system

01:30:06.680 and said,

01:30:07.020 wow,

01:30:07.200 that's frighteningly Orwellian,

01:30:08.720 we shouldn't do this,

01:30:09.920 queer Stalin

01:30:10.740 and his fellow units

01:30:12.780 were like,

01:30:13.400 that sounds awesome.

01:30:14.300 Unfortunately,

01:30:15.260 that is the case.

01:30:16.780 But right,

01:30:17.240 it is 2.30,

01:30:19.240 so we have run out of time.

01:30:20.780 So,

01:30:21.020 Andrew,

01:30:21.760 thank you so much

01:30:22.400 for joining us.

01:30:22.900 It's been a pleasure.

01:30:24.640 It's been a couple of years

01:30:25.340 since I've been on.

01:30:26.200 It has been.

01:30:26.680 I've missed you.

01:30:27.540 Thank you.

01:30:29.020 Excellent.

01:30:29.640 Well,

01:30:29.940 we've got lads hour

01:30:31.200 in half an hour.

01:30:32.200 Are you sticking around

01:30:33.000 or do you have to go?

01:30:36.340 You want to desperately...

01:30:37.740 I've got to do...

01:30:38.980 I've got to do a podcast

01:30:40.060 at seven somewhere

01:30:41.480 with Liz Gunn

01:30:43.580 and Christine Anderson.

01:30:45.080 Right,

01:30:45.360 OK.

01:30:45.560 Well,

01:30:45.700 we'll see.

01:30:46.300 We'll work out the details,

01:30:47.300 but we'll be back

01:30:47.980 in half an hour

01:30:48.440 for lads hour.

01:30:49.460 Andrew may or may not

01:30:50.320 be with us.

01:30:50.760 We'll see.

01:30:51.720 And we'll see you.

01:30:53.300 Have a great weekend otherwise

01:30:54.100 and we'll see you on Monday.

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - March 14, 2025

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #1121

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Misogynist Sentences

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript