Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello. Slightly longer episode of Newscast than usual, and that's because the second half of the pod is going to be a big look back at the events of the week, which we normally do every week, but most weeks aren't like this one's been. And the first half will be Daniela Ralph, senior royal correspondent, talking about what we've gleaned about King Charles's finances.
So those are the two things coming your way on a bumper edition of Newscast. Newscast.
Newscast from the BBC.
I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
And what will you do?
Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast Studio. And first of all, we're going to focus on Matters Royal because the royal accounts have come out. And actually, there are quite a few news stories in there. Not least the fact the king, for the first time ever, has revealed how much tax he has paid. A thing that he does on a voluntary basis since his mother started doing that in the 1990s.
The person who can bring us all the details because she's been peering into the spreadsheets is senior royal correspondent, Daniela Ralph. Hi, Daniela.
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Chapter 2: What did King Charles reveal about his finances?
And is that perhaps lost when you know that the monarch isn't going to live there? Maybe a little bit, but ultimately, It was a very personal decision from the King and Queen. They wanted to stay at Clarence House. It's where they've lived for more than 20 years. You've got to remember as well, there are two people in their late 70s.
The King is living with cancer and the bottom line is they didn't want to live above the shop and they didn't want the upheaval of moving themselves and their staff to Buckingham Palace. So they have chosen to stay living at Clarence House. But Buckingham Palace has still been described by the King's team as monarchy HQ. It's an operational base. of the royal family.
We're still going to see garden parties, state banquets, big events. And there is this chance now that without a monarch in residence on a long-term basis, that the palace could be opened up to the public more often for longer periods of the year, therefore generating more income.
And actually linked to the story about money, a lot of money has been spent over the last few years on the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace. And I suppose this reinforces the fact that that wasn't a glow up for the King's flat. It was getting a public building, which is used for public purposes, up to scratch as opposed to some kind of vanity project like gold wallpaper.
Yeah, exactly. It was not a gold wallpaper and a bit of a zhuzh up for the King's private apartments that would have been there. It was a much bigger project, almost £370 million of public money spent on the 10-year refurbishment, the resurfacing, as the palace call it, of Buckingham Palace. That is now nearly complete.
And, you know, there are some that might say, well, if the King's not even going to be living there, wasn't that a whole waste of money? But it was a really big project. We're talking rewiring, changing the plumbing, there were asbestos issues and The King's team say, look, this is a 300-year-old building. It needed attention.
And the work that has been done, regardless of who's living in it, will make the building more usable for decades to come.
Right. Let's open the spreadsheets then. And give us the backstory, first of all. Why is the King revealing how much tax he's paid?
Well, these are the publication of the royal accounts. They're an important part of the royal year. They happen around this time every year. The difference this year is there has just been this real scrutiny on the family finances, the fallout after the whole situation with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his accommodation and who's paying for what.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of King Charles not living in Buckingham Palace?
The two of us went together to Hampden Park for the warm-up match Scotland versus Curacao at the end of May and had a great time. I might not be from there myself, but I'm proud of what the blue wave has done as by far the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup. Best wishes, Martin Katz.
Martin, thank you so much for your message and from your extended family as well, who are kind of in there too. Thank you for getting in touch. And I'm gladly willing to bestow on you the title of newscast supporter reporter from Curacao via Scotland and the Netherlands. So you've got a few claims in there as well, but your main one is Curacao. So consider that bestowed.
I'm Krasivonova Twig from the Global Jigsaw podcast from the BBC, where we ask, has the UK replaced the US as Russia's enemy number one? Kremlin propagandists have been trying to outdo each other with ever more extravagant insults aimed at Britain. What does this say about Russia's strategic intentions? The Global Jigsaw looks at the world through the lens of its media.
Find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
Klaas Olsson's customer service. Important information for all summer fixers. Will you count the days until you can... Or... Curve us first. From us you'll find everything for traveling and packing. Welcome to Klaas Olsson.
Klaas Olsson.
Now, normally at this time of the week, we do a bit of a look back about what's been happening in politics. So this week, that's going to take us about 17 hours. But don't worry, we've got two people who are very, very good at talking about what we've learned this week from observing what's going on at Westminster.
Returning to the Newscast studio, political editor of the New Statesman magazine, it's Alva Ray. Hello, Alva.
Hello.
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Chapter 4: How much tax did King Charles pay and why is it significant?
Now that's something that he initially suspended MPs over before having to let them back in because they U-turned on it. There was the employment rights and obviously lots of trade union people were going, cannot believe that he just cited that because he watered it down and it was such a fight and a struggle and we still need to have part two for the rest of it.
So it was kind of actually a bit of a list of the struggles that he's had in government and the problems that people have had with him.
And can I just clarify, when I use the word softy, I'm not using that in a derogatory term. I'm using that as a label for a man of a certain age who's quite open to talk about his family and his feelings. Because not all men of a certain age are willing to do that. And also, it's not necessarily a huge part of our political culture for men to do that. That's just before I get any complaints.
Then Alva, what I've been really struck by is when Helen McNamara, the Deputy Cabinet Secretary formerly, was on Newscast on Wednesday. She said the alarm bells started ringing for her with the selfie in Westminster Hall when Andy Burnham arrived. And there was hundreds and hundreds of Labour MPs there to welcome him. And we posted that on Instagram.
And I haven't had an Instagram story that's had such a divided response since. as that one for ages. That moment, whether you agree with it or disagree with it, has turned into quite a powerful moment
Yes, but I guess I would add a little bit of context to what Helen McNamara said because I've seen, I don't know if it was on Newscast or on her own podcast. Everyone's got a podcast. But she was saying about how, you know, she'd never seen this before and it seemed completely unprecedented. It actually isn't. It does happen. Every time.
People seem to not believe this, but you can actually go and look up the photo of the by-election winner.
Helen's point was that you don't normally see that many Labour MPs and you maybe wouldn't see the Chancellor. Yeah.
But actually it is often in the hundreds. And so, you know, you can go and look at the photos and they are often, especially after a big by-election, that's hard one. They are huge moments. Often the prime minister goes. So actually that bit is normal. Andy Burnham wasn't breaking with precedent or doing anything unusual there. That's just like what the Labour Party does.
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Chapter 5: What are the sources of income for the royal family?
And you would think, why give him a backbench MP's office for three weeks when he's probably going to...
Sienna, I noticed something yesterday when the NEC, so the Labour National Executive Committee, published the timetable. There's a tiny moment of jeopardy for Andy Burnham, which is the hustings the week after the nominations open.
Now, because it's before the nominations close, presumably anyone who fancies just sharing a platform with Andy Burnham can apply to be in that hustings, which will be in front of Labour MPs. Am I right?
Well, yes. I mean, I think they would have to be in the process of trying to get nominations in order to do that.
Oh, yeah, not with someone like Catherine West, our old friends from the Stalking Horse days. Just a fancy ten minutes with the microphone.
Yeah, we need more Catherine West, don't we? Yeah, so they'd have to do that. And even that, I know that at the moment, everyone's ruled themselves out apart from Al Carnes. Mm-hmm. And I think he's, I mean, like everyone was assuming that anyone like Darren Jones, who still was having their kind of name floating around and not preventing that from happening.
It was about job negotiations, obviously, and getting that meeting with Andy Burnham so that they could have a discussion. Alcarnes, you know, he obviously wants a debate, but whether he'll actually go and seek nominations once the MP nomination window is open is a different matter, I think. I mean, we will see, but
I mean, nobody thinks that anyone but Burnham could get the 81 nominations required. Yes, they could take part in a debate just to make it more interesting.
But I just want to, because you do hear people saying we need to have a bit of a debate and we need to at least look like there is a process. And actually it would be good for Andy Burnham himself to have an opportunity to have an argument with somebody. So I just wonder if somebody would put themselves forward to sort of be kind of like super interviewer.
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Chapter 6: What is the public reaction to the royal financial disclosures?
But then actually, overwhelmingly, speaking to people this week, looking forward to an Andy Burnham premiership. Even people from parts of the party who wouldn't instinctively like Andy Burnham are quite impressed by this team of strong women he has around him. This what feels like a genuine cultural reset that Burnham is hoping to achieve.
You know, when I interviewed him, I asked who he was closest to in parliament and the whole list he gave was just women. All the people running his campaign were women.
Well, even though his right-hand man for decades has been the guy called Kevin Lee, the first person he's appointed to run his team is a man called James Brunel.
Chapter 7: What are the controversies surrounding the royal family's finances?
I think, though, looking at who's doing policy behind the scenes for him, for example, it's about... you know, five women. And, you know, the people who ran his campaign in Makerfield, it was all women. And so, obviously, we have to see the way it all shakes out and where the exact appointments are. But he talks about how proud he is of that.
And it's a thing that people are starting to remark upon that they haven't seen a prime minister or a male prime minister so comfortable with a team of mostly women and quite strong-minded, tough people
characters i have to say as well although the end of the starmer era dining street was quite female there was two joint chiefs of staff who were women one who went on maternity leave director of comms who was a woman
but still the key strategists were met in and, and actually, you know, he did get the, the old band back together to sing the old hits before he did that, that farewell speech. You know, people could hear the voice of Morgan McSweeney in it and Paul Ovenden, his former director of strategy was seen leaving and, Darning Street by the front door.
I think that the criticism was always that it wasn't that there were no women working for Keir Starmer or anything, but that just the culture felt blokey and macho, a bit patriarchal. All the men in it would say, but we have women in this team, but I think... But if you're having to say that...
And some of the women in the team also felt like the culture could be a bit blokey, but definitely it was just, you know, from outside, a lot of the women in the Labour Party felt uncomfortable with it.
And that women were repeatedly overlooked for jobs in Number 10 as well was a big theme. I think that, yeah... Sorry, carry on.
Well, I was going to say, lastly, I wondered if this period, these three weeks, was just going to be a bit of a kind of vacuum that was only filled with what's Andy Burnham doing today? What does it reveal about his premiership to come? But actually, there is some classic... sort of end of term political chaos happening right now.
And it's about the Home Office Minister, Mike Tapp, who wrote an article for The Times, Sienna, basically with a different position from his boss, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood. And it kicked off on Thursday night.
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Chapter 8: How will the royal funding change in the coming years?
I would imagine sort of the devolution of wealth and power. And, you know, he leaves the grid of Manchester Mail until he gets into number 10 and he immediately gives the power back to them.
Yeah. I will give you both a tenner each if it's not delivered, this speech, in a B Network bus garage or tram depot.
LAUGHTER
Or maybe he'll want to escape for that, actually, because it's becoming a bit of a cliche now, the B network in Manchester. So maybe he'll want to avoid that. I'll give you both a fiver. I'm lowering it down now. If it's not in front of a B network bus or tram.
I mean, I would be so surprised if it wasn't either in Manchester or just in the north. Something that underlines a sort of economic message that's far from London.
We'll see. And you can collect your winnings or not on the next time we meet on Newscast. Sienna, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Alva, thanks to you too.
Thanks for having me.
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