Reflecting on Past Prime Ministers

Everyone treats summer like it owes you happiness, long days, pool parties, your best life on a loop. So what does it mean when you feel worse? The summer blues are real. It's why summer is one of the busiest stretches of the year for people starting therapy. Grow Thrapy is here for all the moments when you decide you want more, more support support, more clarity, more tools. Gro connects you with thousands of high quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. The therapist you want takes your insurance on Gro. Gro accepts over one hundred twenty five insurance plans. Sessions average twenty one dollarars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growthapy dot com slash ACast today to get started. That's growtherraapy dot com slash Acast growrtherraapy. com slash ACast Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. At my bank, I was literally getting pennies using Wealthfront. Ching There's this much that I'm getting in interest and I didn't have to do anything. Clients like Angela earn up to four point two percent API on their cash with the Wealthront cash account. Get started at wealthfront dot com C cllients paid one thousand dollars for their testimonial creating a conflict of interest outcesary. three point three percent base API as of january thirtieth twenty six is represented viable and earned on funds sw to program bs. point six fivecent new clientsoos for three months and up to one hundred fifty thousand dollars. Directposit one thousand dollars month funded investing account for point five percent increaseash account offered by Wealthfr brokerage LLC member Fin ICn not a If a week is a long time in politics, then this past fortnight has felt like a lifetime Britain will soon have a new Prime Minister You burn them We know remarkably little about him When it comes to policy Mystical for We do know he wants more regional government as befits a man who was mayor of Greta Manchester for nine years and even plans to open a branch office of T Downing Street in Manchester thans to do with that Riby's a mystery, though it does look as if he's going to spend a long time, a lot of time train between London and Manchester. Now he inherits a defense investment plan from the outgoing Prime Minister Kiir Starmer, we understand that he approved the broad lined outlines of it, but We don't think he actually knew that it contained five billion pound funding. Black hole which you'll have to fill in his first budget later this year whoever he chooses is Chancellor we don't know who that's going to be either Today though, I'm going to take a step back from the Westminster Bubble and answer some of your questions. This is the Andrenew report Welcome to the show. I'm Andrew Neil, a reminder that the full podcast will be with you every Thursday, so make sure you listen. And following now in your podcast app So you never miss an episode And I'll also bring you video clips from the show throughout the week on YouTube Just search for the Andrew Neil report to subscribe. Now, it's been a strange old week in British politics It began U with us sitting and u listening to every word that a Cambridge literature graduate was telling us aboutove the British economy And we were listening intently because it was Andy Burnham He graduates in English from Cambridge University But as the Prime Minister in Wedding, he was now giving us an indication of how He intends to run the economy. Butough we actually didn't do much of that He told his more about how he was already missing Manchester ough he's only been going for a couple of days and seems to be back there as often he is in London. And talk more about devolution. which isn't really an economic policy, it's a way of governing the country. Now Everybody agrees that Britain is over centralized or at least ignrant is over centralized. We have devolution to Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland, though demolution in these three Nations. has resulted in ve had a lot of centralization in Edinburgh Cardiff and Belfast So it doesn't always lead to power getting that much closer to the people But Andy Burnham seems to think that there's a link between devolving power away from Westman's economic growth. So the argument runs that if we devolve more power, particularly to the Midlands in the North Within England, then the growth rate will be faster The government was better No. There is no question Britain is over centralized Too many decisions are taken in London, too much Park He's in London With it decentralizing or devolving that would make a difference to economic policy? Well, that's harder to find. I've been Trying all week to try and find a link between devolution. And you can only make gll. really hard to get one. You wouldn't say, for example that Scotland and Wales. had been growing faster because of devolution. you couldn't really argue that they're public services are much better because of it. But that was the theme of this first major policy speech by Andy Berham And as I say, it was very light on what I would call real economics He didn't tell us what his tax policies would be, what his approach to taxation would be He didn't tell us about his approach to fiscal policy. is indicated your stick within the existing fiscal rules, but that doesn't give as much of a clue as to what he would actually do his approach to interest rates, to borrowing tax and spend all the central parts of macroeconomic policy, we still don't know nor do we know if he has any Supply side economics in him. Do he think there are tax changes or other ways that the government could change the economy which would encourage growth, which would encourage more investment As I say, we remain in the dark about all of that. And it's quite strange you know, watching Andy Burnham deliver the speech from Manchester. So he was never in a dark t shirt prettytty scruffy jacket That seems to be his northern clothes. When he comes to London, he is more of a Tailored suit sure to die Um Listening to them talk about these things Even though he has no particular expertise in them, he's an unknown quantity when it comes to the core issue of economic policy. His ideas have not been tested in public debate, they've not been tested in interviews on Television or radio So we're all waiting to see what happens? We don't even know who this Chancellor. is going to be which When he makes that choice, we'll give us a kind of indication pererhaps of what is economic policy would be What we have learned is that in keeping with Someone from the center of the Labour Party. is that he thinks government should be doing a lot more And he thinks government policy is the key to economic growth. So in that sense, he's not that different, in fact, from Ko Stima and Rachel Reeves, the Kstaras' Chancellor who're on their way out They also thought government was the key to economic growth. The only difference, perhaps with Andy Burnham is that he thinks government that is devoled away from London is the key to economic growth Kus Amer and Rachel Reeees found out the hard way that that isn't necessarily true. Maybe Andy Burnerham will find out the same that the government in its own isn't necessarily the key to economic growth. But all that is somethingomething that we're going to learn in the weeks, months ahead The other strange thing about British politics this week was K Starmer's announcement of the Defence Investment planlan. This is how Britain is going to spend more on defence in the months and years to come than it originally planned reacting to a strategic defence review of Britain's defence capabilities came out just over a year ago and this finally thirirty months later is the government's plan for answer. Now the argument was much Ver much around is the fifteen billion he's conjured up to be spent over the next four years. Is that enough, particularly since it includes quite a lot of what's called treasury trickery about defense spending. It isn't really a new fifteen billion And the more we learned that there was a lot of hidden stuff in it. it includes defense Eiciencies to be made worth about ten billion. we have no idea They are. And also There's this five billion unfunded defense commitment which will land on Andy Burnham's lap. No that was Strange enough. and what was strangeer was that he was a British prrime Minister outlining defense spending for the rest of the decade and into A bit of a next dayick again From a man who, although his P prime Minister will have no responsibility implementing this whatsoever U he'll be gone probablyrobably by the middle of this month or certainly by the third week of this month. and that was strange too because it meant that Although he's delivering it to the nation, He's not the one that will have to implement it. And that way explains. Why such a big amount? is given over to unspecified efficiency savings to provide ten billion and why he said Andy Brham Hey I couldn't find a way of funding this extra five billion But it's going to be your problem over to you So you can have it Two strange things. an incoming prime mininister talking about an economic policy, which we don't know what it's really going to be about and a Ogoing Prime Minister talking about defence on policy Wh won't be responsible? for implementing it. So you say, well All right, but Andy Burnham will be responsible for doing it and that's true Yeahet, just like economic policy. In fact, more than economic policy We have no clue. what Andy Burnham believes in. Defence. Does he really believe in a strong defense of the nation? If so, what type And we have even less of a clue of what he believes inform haveave surprised you Heo that Manchester doesn't have a foreign policy, doesn't even have a defense policy These are not things that Andy Berham has really ever talked about. He's been a very domestic oriented politician evenven if that still leaves us in the dark. when it comes to economic parts.ee we know he likes Europe at most Labor leaders these day. labour cabinetness is to light Europe. What that actually means in our relationship, we don't know Does he believe that Europe European NATO should have to look after its own defense now on Donald Trump's America anymore Again We don't know What's his attitude to Asia? hisis view of President Putin in Moscow H idea of relationship with China None of that Do we have the slightest clue And yet this is a man who will be Prime Minister in under three weeks time Now if you don't think that's strange, I don't know else be stranger. normally When someone becomes a prime minister, Even if they're shoehorned into ten Downing Street in the middle of a parliament, as Tsa May was Boris Johnson a little later towards the end of a Parliament But you through like two Normally we have an idea. of what their policies are going to be, both on the economy, defense, and foreign affairs. And of course, of They've had to undergo a general election Uh like u Cameron in twenty fifteen or Boris Johnson in december twenty nineteen or Kosama. In july twenty twenty four Then we have a much better idea because the election campaign Well, I've seen debates on economics, debates on defence debates on foreign policy this new Prime Minister straight in policy largely a blank sheet As far as we're concerned, the public He may himself know what he plans But he hasn't yet shared it with us. So we're In a waiting game for the next Three weeks And until he gets into Dining Street toill we know who is Chancellor is going to be And then he better be a quick learner. And he's going to have to appoint a cabinet quite quickly And he's going to have to mug up to do his homework during the summer recess Parliament won't be sitting Of course, even in the muggy days of Westminster, politics doesn't stop. The news cycle doesn't stop and he may have to take policy decisions. economy on defence, on foreign policy They preferred to wait. till the return of normal party politics In September, time doesn't wait even for the novice ime Mister. So it's going to be a Tough summer for us And interesting someone for the rest of us As we try to get to grips, we've put the shape of the Burnham Prime Ministership is going to be It is A waiting game The waning game was some trepidation Because if Kir Stammer was not prepared or well prepared to be Prime Minister Let me assure you that Andy Berham is even less bad Kestama be a pretty rough start The honeymoon. could be very short indeed Everyone treats summer like it owes you happiness, long days, pool parties, your best life on a loop. So what does it mean when you feel worse? The summer blues are real. It's why summer is one of the busiest stretches of the year for people starting therapy. Grow Thrapy is here for all the moments when you decide you want more, more support support, more clarity, more tools. Gro connects you with thousands of high quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. The therapist you want takes your insurance on Gro. Gro accepts over one hundred twenty five insurance plans. Sessions average twenty one dollars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growthapy d. com slash Acast today to get started. That's growtherraapy d. com slash Acast Gthapy d. com slash ACast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan But rather than speculate or try to work out what it might be on ery flimsy knowledge. I thought today We' get to some of your questions. They've been coming in We've had a lot of responses Since we started the Andrew Nil report, only A couple of weeks ago almost to coincide with the arrival of Andy Burnham and the demise of Kistama Don't be disheartened if we don't get round to U today. We're to be doing a lot more of this in the future and you can get in touch with us through X former ofly Twitter YouTube in which the Andonneal repeport has its own channel and email What's the email address I hear you say We tell you. It is the Andrew Neil report. O one word, N as N E I L It's the Andreonw report at news d. co d. com So there we are Let's go ont to your questions and see if I can answer someone First one comes from an account named not the dried you're looking for And we got this on X And Dry's question is how can we improve e quality of our politicians. It's a very good question There's general agreement that the quality on both sides of the House of Cons these days is not that high Certainly not as high as it was in years gone by How we put that right I'm not so sure Part of the problem is Politicians come from quite a narrow band of society. For example, in current Parliament with the new labor MPs and there are a lot because G Iam a oneon by a landslide. two hundred and twenty four out of two hundred and fifty seven of these new labor MPs came either from charities or communications and lobbying agencies in other words, the PR world or where c. formererly political employees And that's been a problem because our Holounes have now become increasingly professional in the sense that They started their careers out of university and it's usually out of university. In politics, they went straight from university into politics, into a think tank. into becoming a special advisor into even looking for a seat quite early on And this professionalization of politics in some ways is not character, not the substance out of a lot of our. pololiticians, you get generations gone by post war generation, of course, well they fought war I Dennis Healley, Major Heay turned up at the Labor Conference in nineteen forty five in his major's army uniform others even down to the Thatcher government. like Willy White Law had been in the Second World War Other labor leaders had been in the trade unions organizing. doing things for Tories and a fair smattering of businessmen. had Kers prior to that These days though pololitics has become professional, more careerist Progress advancement Pomotion has gone to those with what I would call. First mover advantage those that get on to the game quickly. I did a documentary for the BBC about ten, twelve years ago and this it was called Potion Posher And it was about how the main leaders of the coalition government, David Camero George Osborne, both Tours, Nick Cleig I don't come out of Oaksbridge and gone straight into politics and worked their way up the greasy poll inside Westminster in think tanks Beoming special advisors Stuggling to become MPs making it Junior ministers and then working there up to the cabinet and then into running the government. And this makes it more difficult. people to come in later in life. becausecause these guys have already picked up all the juicy jobs And you see that in the public sector too, so many now on the labor side coming through the public sector jobs plan for this. they know how politics works and the chance of an outsider of someone who's built a career, some success, maybe even someome wealth from being outside politics, that just doesn't happen anymore. Now in the end, it's down to who the constituencies parties chooses their candidates And a lot of them don't like to take a risk these days Tickorisk with a character. Take a risk with someone who is not perfectly groomed. PR men and women who isn't trained say, o, thank you for having me on this program which they're all told to do PR guys U and that kind of sense of professionalism makes for bolddom, makes for identicate politicians on the left and the right. now how we get out of this I don't know because It's increasingly the case on all in all of our democracies now they go through this and the chance of the the kind of the buccaneer, the outsider, the person who says what they think and to hang were the consequences People don't like taking a risk with that anymore. Of course you do end up with the Boris Johnson case cases and that is a risk But I think what the political parties need to notice and it would result in a higher calibate is the voters like authenticity. They don't like people being perfectly groomed into things that they're not comoming on to radio shows, TV shows, the Andrew Nal report with a talking points that they've been briefed on They like people who say what they think. They like people who are not afraid to go off peace. And although it's risky It is also more authentic lic spot of phony And they like authenticity I think it's why for a long while they actually did quite like Borris Johnson because like them, I love them He was what he was didn't end in any great success But they don't like the controll, the robotic.'s why I KS arma never cut through Theresa May never cut through at all I don't know Andy Burnham is quite authentic even if the Northern Stick is already getting a bit wearing He may have a better chance of doing it of my fearies It wouldon't be long. before PR people, the spin doctors get a hold of him. So there we are dried Not a real answer to your question, but I think discussion of the of the some of the forces that are in play that produce The care careerist politicians we have today. This question is from Petrol motion It says again on X. Do we have any pos as yet as to Andy Burnham's foreign policy approach alsoso from Les Kirkam, also on Twitter Andrew, in my opinion, one of the biggest problems of any of today's world leaders is how to deal W they increasingly Irati Donald Ch Trump I'd like to ask Mr. Burnham How you'd approach this So would I I think I've already said that We know very little about Andy Berham's approach to foreign policy. Ieed We know next to nothing But the second question is quite right That how you handle Donald Trump is important I would also say that the evidence from Kustama is you can put too much effort into it. Kissama. put a lot, lot of effort into it. He had early success. At one st he began to fancy himself as the Trump whisperer. It even led him be so keen to put Peter Mandelson into our embassy in Washington because he thought there was a touch of the Trump whisperer about Peter Mandelsen too and look where not just Panderson But Starma in factight Kstama. would still be Prime Minister come to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool in September if he hadn't tried to get if he hadn't made U Peter Mandelerson. Oh man in Washington And the reason why I say you can put too much effort into it is that Mr. Trump is such a mercurial, unpredictable. narcissistic, self regarding, solipsistic is a good word. huge self regard character that you can invest so much time and effort trying to keep him on side. But in the end, win It just follows apart K summer. found to his cost. So my Advice Andy Burnham Given that he doesn't yet have a foreign policy and we don't know what it is You know it comes to Donald Trump, and it is very important relationship. dealing with the presresident of the United States is probably the most important international relationship any British Prime mininister can have My advice would be By all means attempt to be friendly. tryry to avoid anything that's going rub them up the wrong way or unnecessarily. rile him But don't put too much hope in good relations because You just can't count on it He can turn on a d as the Americans would say M. And you think you might have him on side and for his own interests his own sense of what is best for him discard you in a moment If that's in his interests So Try, as I say, not to do things that will annoyem I wouldn't Sarm uppton Because in the end he gets you know whereere he doesn't like weakness that much either He knows when people are smiling to him and tryry and keep it an even keel and Try to get your government to build relations with the administration. and with Washington and with a decent ambassador there because I think we have now then you can get that done Don't put all your eggs in too much of a basket. Now Andy Burnham is a liable chap. Donald Trump is a kind of people person. You probably like the Northern accent as well. you will find that As the Americans say Mhm. He likes a newcomer, but let's just be honest here Donald Trump is a right wing mega populist Andy Burnham is on the left believes a lot of things that Donald Trump doesn't believe leans a lot more to Europe than he does to the United States. Indeed Unlike many previous British prime Ministers, I'm not aware of any track record that he has in the United States, normally But this wasn't the case with KSama Prime mininisters are pretty well versed in America Hm true of Tony Blair. true of u Boris Johnon, Streuvversy Sulak too, He'd worked in America for a while I don't thinky Buram knows anything about America really So you should take it slowly Keep a low profile The Trump whisperer on that. Okay, let's go to Jeremy Smithers from Suffon. On an email. I would be interested in your thoughts regarding this imminent threat of war from Russia The economy is smaller than Italy'. Yet we' are constantly told that Russia poses a genuine threat of what all of Europe in the coming years I'm afraid I just don't see how that can be credible You Italy the Italian economy is bigger than the Russian economy Rushes only eleventh globally on GDP. And its economy is not that strong. So It's a very important question. number of things I would say on this journey First of all I don't think There's an imminent threat. I don't think Russia is about to invade a NATO country on its western flank The Baltic states would be an obvious target. They're pretty small, but they're all members of NATO Uh, Poland On the border, Nepapoland is a much bigger country with formidable armed forces No And of course Scandinavia are the Finns, the Swedes, Norwegians they're pretty tough. They're also all in Natative these days I don't think that's a danger But I think it won't be long before Putin has the capability T do so If you want it which is why NATO has to stay united has to rearm as most NATO members are, particularly those in Eastern Europe who see the danger better than anybody else And how are the days of talking with peace dividend Along over. And it's why Kia Starma's defefense investment plan is so disappointing in these difficult times. So We should hope for the best and prepare for the worst and rearming our continent. And we may have to do it with a lot less help from America than before indndeed, in worst case Perhaps almost no help from America. Rearming that Um is the best way in which you can avoid war because President Putin, or whoever succeeds him She's a well armed, united Uh, Europe which has rebuilt its military which has got far better state of thet weapons state of the art weapons than he has on land and air and sea He's going to think twice about that after all He didn't think Ukraine had any of that evoluably be a pushover. So we invaded And he still hasn't won. Nothing like it in fact So he knows it's difficult And to be up against a well armed, well trained well equipped. State of the art Natal. is far tougher than taking Ukraine and he hasn't even managed to do that Now It is true that By some measures, the Russian economy is smaller than the Italian economy U and it's not that Powerful it's not an economic bar h I would just caution a little care on that because these comparisons involve using Current exchange rates Oh. what is known as nominal GDP Turn GDP. not setting it at any on Fixed price from years gone by and not using a basket of exchange currencies or of using currencies over a period of time. I don't want to get too technical here, so I won't. But there's a better measure, it's called purchasing power parity to measure GP and to compare other countries and this measure is a better measure because it tells you Oh A rubble By in Russia versus for a euro to buy in Italy pound Britain And it gives you a better size. of the scale of the economy. And when you use purchasing power, parity this measure D't worry too much about the details Take my word for it. The Russian economy looks a lot more formidable And this plays into defense and into its military. Because what it means is They a ruble in Russia Fies you a lot more military hardware that a eo in Europe and not just military hardware. Troops in Russia, it will not surprise you to know. aren't that well paid Whereas for NATO countries to be able to attract We have to pay more. Now we don't still pay nearly enough U which is why our armed forces are undermand. we pay a lot more than Russia. So terms of bang for the buck Russia can just get a lot M. And it can also get a lot more because of the scale You know, Russia is able to build all the same tanks all the same fighter jets that it needs. All the same guns, the artillery, the drones because it's a single unitit arm NATO is bedeviled by endless weapons systems that the individual countries can can have differentiffere jets, different tanks. We're still building different tanks. there isn't a NATO tank U different artillery So even struggling even to get the millimeter the of the muzzles the same. So again, that's expensive. that means duplication It means that even when you spend like a hundred million euros or dollars on something in Europe You get nothing like a hundred million rubelles a hundred million dollars would get in Russia So that means that Russia simply gets a much bigger bang for its buck Sothough As Ukraine has shown Russiain't ten feet tall. comes to is military It can't just roll over anything It wants by any means NATO has a lot more going for than is often said we have a lot more fighter jets combined than Russia has with a lot more tanks even than Russia has Don't underestimate Russia is still a formidable military power. It spends ten percent. of his GDP now on u The military, unlike, say in Britain, two point seven Even Germany which is growing B still around free And so it has begun a process of rearming as l a lot of stuff in Ukraine But it's got the military industrial complex to rebuild And it's starting to do so And at some stage at some point It may find a way to extricate itself out of Ukraine Not giving up everything, I can assure you. but gets to move on or simply consolidates what it has and draws a line And then it may start to look at these Baltic states, Scandinavia, are even Poland That is why Western Europe and Eastern Europe I hope still with the help of America to continue to reng Let's go to D day UK, which is an account on X Who's supposed to blame for the Iran warar for fiasco? Trump for vetoing BB and Mosi planl to use the curds to overfrow the moolas. Noope, I don't agree that was the case Hexith, as's Pete Hexays, the defense sectary being overc confident and ignorant. He certainly confident I'm As events have proved, the Pentagon Not properly advising Trump? Well, Hexeth was the one. doing the advising, willill Trump fire Hexeth? I don't know, he might Trump will fire anybody If you think it's In his interest, he's already fired a couple from his administration. Look We Blame if you want to assign it For the Iran warar Be of the Iran warar is down to two words, Donald Trump If you think it was a mistake as I do then Donald Trump is to blame. Not the Pentagon, not Pete Hagsetith, not even B Net and Yahoo, not unleashing the Kurds, which if if that had been a low would simply have unleashed Oh there. phys superiious tendencies in a ram By that I mean old that differently ethnic groups. are held together by a strong central government, whether it was under the shah Now under the Mlas and the IRGC generenals They would all start to break up. There's a lot of ethnic groups in Iran So I don't think that was the way that could have led to chaos Chaos we solw the Sunni Shia case in Iraq after the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in two thousand three the decision to launch this war was Donald Trump's Phobe Netany Yahu, Israel's Pime Minister had more than a walk on rope. He arrived the White House situation room in february thirteenth of this year. along with some of his senior Mosad Aids And in that situation room So Donald Trump A conerted attack by Israel and America on the Iranian regime, hitting their military, their intelligence, their security apparatus ly result in the regime collapsing Mr. Trump was advised by the CIA addvised by some people in the Pentic and not Pete Hegsith and by his national security advisors. this was to use a technical term bollocks. Mr. Tumpignore them. and decided to proceed with the war Bibi Netanyahu had told him turned out to be untrue The regime did not crumble Bloody ns We go somethingumed M l of his assets subiluteed, it's still there And Mr. Trump has sued for peace and is trying to find away of the war So if there's anybody to blame 's Dald Trum Dond Trump, above all else. Yes, he was misled. by BibB Netanyahu. But he should have listened J his advis us His wiser voices. and not proceeded. we're all now paying the price for Donald Trump Following BB Neted Yahu's invvice Why did he do so? Well, because course Israel's Intelligence services are all over ran like a rash I'm sure a lot of you've seen Tehran the The drama series, brilliant drama series. it's fiction But it ain't entirely untrue ensuring how embedded, how infiltrated Mossad is power centers in the Tehran regime Most side, of course, is legendary Trump loved The way they blew up the Hezbollah U u pages. And he has huge regard for them. He loves things I like that huge regard for the Israeli forces. He was high on the way he had rememove Maduro Venezuela. he was high on the Bomber a raid on Iran's nuclear facilities last June twenty twenty five as well. He was high on the way the Koma's regime on Cuba seemed to be crumbling. He felt hey Done all that Do all that. S that can take out this bunch of thugs intoran as well. After all, BB said I count. Pleas youure reliable that's why he went alone. It was a gross miscalculation from which he wants out and proving difficult But I doubt he'll go back in again in any big way unless the IRGC over plays's hand and Barry seees him too much by simply throwing this mem memorandum of understanding in his face Let's move on to Frankified Angels. who reaches through Twitter or X Andrew Do you think there's a chance Pelansky will form an official pact with Burnham landscape goes Mrter Blansky, the read of the Greens. No, I don't. Certainly not this side of any election. We're in a multi partarty system and who knows M What will happen if no one gets an overall majority and there are Five parties with a lot of seats in the House of Commons plus, of course Scottish nationalists as well But I think' interest first of all, Andy Burnham, I think he thinks he can win The next selection Ah for labour And at the very least, he think he can been the largest party And he will have other choices other than Mr. Polansky and the Greens before he goes that way I feel there's also something else at work here You're one of the defining features of recent British politics has been this move to a multi party system. in which we've seen the populace right in the form of reform and Nigel Farj And then the populace left in the form of Mr. Polansky and the Green Zach Polansky and the greens and they both got H hopes of doing will come the election But recent weeks, recent months have not been good to either Mr. Polansky or reform or Mr. Farage We've all seen Nijl Farage being a bit rattled by this five million pounds Lan from the Thaie or from the Thai based cryptocurrency billionaire. And now of course we've got this selling gold story that's come out, which has been Baking twenty two thousand five hundred pounds an hour is almost as much as I make on the engine new report twenty two thousand five hundred pounds a hour, notot badly Hh And the bloom has come off reform. It was over thirty percent. It's now slipped back down to the mid Now I'm not saying they're finished by any means where feebrow times that trend could quickly change and they could be back again. But they did lose two by elections in the Northwest Things have not been going entirely That way And Mr. Polansk's had his own troubles too U particularly since he was then subject He was fine until he was subject to the scrutiny of the national press Th it didn't look good. And a number of things that were embarrassing to him came out from his Housebought on the Tham somewhere other things. So is CV. and other things So the reform and the Greens haaven't had it all their way, all their own way People think things have been better for labour because they've got a new leader h in Andy Burnham And better for the conservatives ' Kemy Bid knuck has established herself as a proper leader of substance Now I'm not saying that the multip partarty system has already fizzled. I don't think it will But I don't think at this stage there's any need for Andy Bernon thinking. doing packs with Palansky or anybody else. And I don't think he will do packs with anybody else or Mr. Pelanskpe This size of the election Let's move on to an email. We got this from Mark Tarsetti Is the democratic deficit in the UK about to hit breaking point with Andy Berer They will only have the support of one in five voters In the Lveless landslide, you saw that back in july twenty fourth majority of polls support The right Um, Despite labor lives greens having almost seventy five percent of Parament. I think he's referring It if you have the Tory voting reform together I think if you add labor Lbed ends in green together. probably have a pull more at the moment And he says Now we have a cp orchestrated by someone who he says genuinely No legitimacy was an MP. didn't stand on the manifesto constantly critiqued elements of it Will this make Andy Burnham's tenure impossible It's a very good point. It's a fair point. I've touched on this on the Andrew Newell report four It doesn't make his tenure impossible. But it makes it difficult And it means the British public will not cut him a lot of slack They didn't choose ' them and that the Hman period would probably be small. So he has to start or slight or short He has to start getting things right very early on And that's difficult because I've said numerous times He's really not that well prepared Now as a parliamentary system, we're used to changing leaders in the middle of a parliament during the lifetime of aarliament We did it from David Cameron to Theresa May in twenty sixteen after the Brexit referendum. We did it from Thesa Nay to Boris Johnson in twenty nineteen after three disastrous years from Thesa Nay in the Bros post Brexit referendum period. We did it from Boris Johnson to Liz Trus. U in was it twenty twenty two, I think that was And then We did it After a whole forty nine days fromr Liz Truss to Richie Suax. I know we're doing it from Starmer that Mr. Burn Although it's parliamentary system and this is entirely constitutional. I think it does become grating. I think it begins to grate with voters if we do it too often. If you change prime ministers onnce in a while in the middle of a parliament particularly to someone who fought on the same manifesto, won the election you did, has been in your government, like Theresa May, for example then That's fine or Gordon Brown with Tony Blair in two thousand seven I think people kind of accept that and they'll have their say come the next election But if you do a lot in which the political class seems almost willy nilly change our Prime Mister will without ever consulting us I think that does annoy. It wears. it grs, makes some people angry And I think that's especially true because of the cururrent features in the change of power that Mark Taretti quite rightly points out The handy Bowlum That didn't even stand on the twenty twenty four Labor manifesto He wasn't part of Labour's pitch to the people to get rid of the Tories and bring in a Labour government. He isn't even being you know, this trust was elected by the rank and file of the Conservative partarty. Not a lot of them, I think it was under two hundred thousand But at least our own party got to vote. Labor isn isn't even getting to vote itself, there isn't a contest Andy Burnham has not been chosen in the general election, did not win a a coningency general election isn't winning an election even among his own party. As I see comes I think he becomes The seventh Prime Minister Since twenty sixteen or seven in ten years, I quite often refer to London now as Rome on the terms. th that's a bit unfair I think on the Italians who are a lot more stable in government than we are these days. So I think when you put all that together I think it is more difficult for and environment. Pe know his ideas. have not been tested they' So I think there raise a number of good points. Everyone treats summer like it owes you happiness, long days, pool parties, your best life on a loop. So what does it mean when you feel worse? The summer blues are real. It's why summer is one of the busiest stretches of the year for people starting therapy. Grow Thrapy is here for all the moments when you decide you want more more support support, more clarity, more tools GroO connects you with thousands of high quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. The therapist you want takes your insurance on G. Gro accepts over one hundred twenty five insurance plans. Sessions average twenty one dollars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growthapy d. com slash ACast today to get started. That's growthraapy dot com slash Acast growthapy d. com slash Acast Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plans Brian Smith also in an email saying Is it time to look at how democracy best be improved He thought that the regional devolution was a terrible idea from John Presscot in the day Now he's a little bit more sympathetic aboutove it Um And he says, should MPs be asked to stay and work in their region? so they're continuing in the front line the vn divisions by Zoom or whatever. Well Let me get some legs of Andy Burams up in Manchester all the time at number ten Nough I don't think though that gets the away. MPs are not there to be social workers. They're not there to do work on the ground in their constituencies. They're there to take decisions for a government and to vote policy and The idea they should by the way, they do G to the coningencies You know, Those of us who've worked in the Westminster bubble I' often told, ye, you don't really know what's going in the country. I would actually admit that's more true of journalists than it is of MPs. MPs do go back to the consistency pretty much every weekend They meet their constituents, they meet their local parties. they go to events in their constituencies. they're in touch Journalists don't do that. I would go home to South Kensington. I was a West Minster journalist so working at the BBC So I think they are more in touch and The problem with regional devolution, I think well there's two problems with it Why is that I am not convinced that it will lead to the economic growth that Andy Burnham thinks. Indeed, I see no connection between devolution and economic growth The second is that whereas in theory it sounds nice and in theory I'm actually in favor of it. I'd like a bit of decentralization. The danger as we've seen in Scotland and Wales is it produces What the Soviets called a nenlure It produces a new political class Politicians, bureaucrats, their aides and advisers Kangos The NGOs that suck at the teat of local government or devolved government Fine for them. They're being paid salaries they could never have dreamed of if they'd stayed in the private sector or being a local Counselllor in Swansea U or Aberdeen. And here they are loording it in Edinburgh and Cardiff and even in Belfast That doesn't necessarily lead to better Government And if we're short of talent in Westminster, which is By we began this Q and A short of towns in they. Just how much more do you think we're short of talent when it comes to the Parliaments in Edinurgh Card or even Belfast So I'm not sure It's a great idea, but if people want it They you have it. I would say And it's difficult to do in brick Is that Politicians want to spend money I think the more they're responsible for raising it, the better And if they run out of money, they should to live with the consequences of it And u I think if Andy Burnham really believes in devolution and he creates some northern powerhouses politicians with a lot of money to spend hisis message should be to them come running to me if you screw it up. becausecause I ain't gonna bill you out So there's a lot to be decided, a big debate to have on deviion Let's move on to Philip Hoall, which we got from YouTube. Philip says How close in terms of funding is the current labor farming policy to the rest of Europe No bluster, he says just the numbers. We give no bluster, Philip. hereere we just give you numbers. There's nobody more into numbers than me In fact, I' kindind of a number blusterer So here we go. Now Labor farming policy in terms of subsidies is not that different from what it inherited from the Conservatives In the current financial year, twenty six, twenty seven. the allocation for farming and nature because of the environment subsidies. is just shy of three billion pounds a year. It's about two point eight Billion That compares to Europe where the agricultural budget is still Thanks to the French is a huge part of still of the Brussels budget, huge partck and This year will be around forty five billionars a bit more than three billion. But of course that's got to go on ten million farmers. across to twenty seven nations, but forget Europe for a minute of what they do here Here's the crucial thing And it started under The Tories And that is when I first started Uh and political journalism and covering things like foreign policy. Farmers were giving subsidies to produce food Because leaving it just to the market alone, farming is a risky business You're at the mercy of the weather Crops can go bad. You're at the messy of diseases, your hes can die So they were they were subsidized to help them produce Regular crops uh and and to and to produce regular c Dairy herds andef hds and sheep and all the rest of it. It was basically a food policy But it was also to help relatively cheap and to produce more of it after the rationing of the post warar Ye of the war and the post war years Now you could argue about these subbsacces. Sometimes they were too big. In Europe we ended up with wine lakes and beef mountains Cn mounts and so on But it was fundamentally a food policy and it was also to increase domestic production. Starting with the Tories As so many problems we now have started with the Tories in their fourteen years in power. All labor's done is make them worse. is the top. Instead of subsidizing food, farming subsidies were used for environmental ends. They were used and environmental goals were set for farmers not food production. They had to feels in certain ways. they had to give over so much to things that were regarded as environ environmentally benign They were given over to things that would produce biodiversity. and all sorts of things that were environmental imperatives That's where the money now goes consequence of that Be. Then I go back to The early nineteen eighties When we as a nation produce almost eighty percent of our own demands We brought most of the stuff we brought in was stuff couldn't actually produce in the UK. Bananas stop And um, Today is closer to sixty percent So at a time when supply chains are dodgy When defense policy involves security of supply and investing in supply chains We have become Bigger food importers than ever And I think that's the problem with the subsidy regime We we're using the sustace not to produce good cheap food and abundance to reduce our imports but to follow an environmental policy that I believe Mistake But at the moment Neither Labor nor conservatives seem inclined to Do anything about it and at a time when Mark Carney, the Canadian Primeinister has warned us that we need to be able to be more self sufficient and these difficult times when the straight of Hz can be closed and A Royal Navy is a fraction of its former self. We cannot count on the sea lanes always being open seems to me. We should go back to a farm subsidy program that encourage our farmers produce Food. Domestically. Okay, let's go to the final question. Mark from Tyeside on YouTube He says, which Prime Minister disappointed you most in terms of that you had high hopes when we took office and they didn't deliver enough Well, the old Cynic enemy says I' very rarely at H horks ready here coming Prime Minister. So they're nearly old disappointed me. Sange enough, I have to go back into the miss of history. I did I was still at university just about to do my finals U And when Ted Heath came in in nineteen seventy, seems a young modern Try technocrat Um Quite high hopes of him that he would be a progressive successful Center right one nation Tory prrime Minister. cuse pretty much a disaster. have we ended up on the three day wait minor strikes and the return of a Wilson Labor government in nineteen seventy four So he definitely disappointed I didn't have very high hopes. for Ida Harold Wilson or his successor, Jim Callghan Um And u I wasn't disappointed s my hse went very high I didn't have very high hopes for Margaret Thatcher in nineteen seventy nine And in the early days, I thought the lack of high hotes were vindicated. But looking back She was a transformative prime Minister She didn't disappoint. She did what she intended to do Change the history of the country. I had high hopes for Tony Blair in nineteen ninety seven. I must start joining major