Emergency Podcast: Why Britain's Political Turmoil Will End In Crisis

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Merryn Talks Money 14 min 3 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 4 months ago
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What political turmoil is Britain currently facing?

Unknown 0:00
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Merryn Somerset Webb 0:48
Bloomberg Audio Studios.

Why is Keir Starmer's leadership being questioned?

Merryn Somerset Webb 0:50
Podcasts. Radio. News.
Merryn Somerset Webb 1:03
Welcome to the Merrin Talks Money Market Wrap, where we talk about the biggest moves in markets this week and what is driving them. I'm Merrin Somerset Webb, editor-at-large for Bloomberg UK Wealth's
John Stepek 1:13
And I'm John Steppe, senior reporter at Bloomberg and author of the Mindstilled newsletter. I was just carried away because this is an emergency podcast.
Merryn Somerset Webb 1:24
This is not an emergency podcast. This is a regular podcast just done slightly more quickly than usual.
John Stepek 1:29
That's it. Stop spoiling my fight.
Merryn Somerset Webb 1:32
All right. Now, come on, John. There's a lot going on. And we are speaking on the 13th of May, mid-afternoon. And normally I don't bother telling people exactly when we're speaking, but I'm telling them today because there is a lot going on. We're just sitting here, aren't we? We're waiting for a resignation from Keir Starmer or a mention of a resignation or a possibility of resignation. And at the moment, we are hearing that possibly he might announce a possible resignation tomorrow or something like that.

What potential crises could lead to political change in Britain?

Merryn Somerset Webb 1:56
Or maybe next week or maybe in a month or maybe in two months.
John Stepek 1:59
What I've heard is that Wes Streeton is considering resigning tomorrow and then launching a leadership battle. Just to be very clear, it may be completely wrong here. I'm not a political expert, but I don't think Keir Starmer's ever going to resign as involuntarily go. I think they will be dragging him out in number 10.
Merryn Somerset Webb 2:17
As I read somewhere this morning, he's giving all the kids a great lessons in resilience and grit and we're finally finding out what he's good at.
John Stepek 2:24
Yeah, and it was funny because... Hanging on in the face of adversity. Go Stormer. They all sort of tried to make this sort of like big thing of him being ruthless and then they're surprised when he is actually literally ruthless in terms of protecting his own position. But yes.
Merryn Somerset Webb 2:37
Anyway, listen, so he's not going to go by himself. Probably not. They need to push him. And even if he did, political uncertainty isn't going anywhere because who knows who comes next. And if it ends up with the party being shoved further left, even further left, then the bond market isn't going to like that. Either. So it's hard to see how his resignation or his forced resignation anyway would improve matters.
John Stepek 3:00
I mean, not from the bond market's point of view. It depends. I mean, I think that people object to this because, you know, they think, oh, gosh, it's more infighting. But at the end of the day, the country has actually given its verdict quite strongly in the local election. And if I'm honest, I don't really have a big issue with parties changing leaders. in the middle of the game if it is clear that the population is not happy with the way things are going. I think that's kind of clear. Yeah, and I don't think we need to necessarily have a general election to give them a mandate. But yeah, so we've got streeting. The candidates so far that we're aware of are streeting. Possibly Angela Rayner, although she seems to be falling in behind Andy Burnham.
John Stepek 3:40
So basically that's it. You get Andy Burnham, who isn't an MP, but they're all trying to find some convoluted way to let him stand.

How does the divided Labour Party impact leadership challenges?

John Stepek 3:48
And Streeting is regarded as being on the right of the Labour Party. To most listeners who may have a more kind of neutral political perspective, that doesn't mean he's right wing. It just means that he's less addicted to spending than the people on the left.
Merryn Somerset Webb 4:02
I mean, he's definitely a little bit more pro-market. You know, he's been more pro-market on public services. You know, he's been talking about using private sector in the NHS.

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