184: Coup What A Scorcher
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Page 94, the Private Eye podcast.
Hello and welcome to Page 94. Do not adjust your set. This is a special one-off podcast because of the big news this week. Andy is away because he's preparing to run for the Manchester mayoralty on a platform known as Hunter Murrayism. More details on that as we get it. But for now, Britain has a new prime minister in waiting. Andy Burnham, who won a resounding victory in the Mayfield by-election and has caused Keir Starmer to resign. I am joined, as ever, by Adam McQueen, Ian Hislop and guest star Matt Muir to talk over the big events of the week. Ian, I want to start with you. You watched Keir Starmer's resignation speech. On a scale of 1 to 10, how moved were you?
Well, I was very moved because it was Monday morning and we get to press Monday afternoon.
Not only did he time it in time for Private Eye Press Day, he actually timed it in the middle of the Private Eye editorial meeting. So there was a pause as we all went and watched it on our telly and then sort of reunited tearfully to say, right, what the hell are we going to do now?
We're recording one day in advance of it landing on newsstands. Did he get the cover?
He did get the cover, but only in the picture of a gilded coach coming into London with the headline, Andy Burnham travels to London. It was a coronation joke, which we were lucky to get. And then underneath it, it said Britain sheds a cure. Surely tear.
But it was an incredible thing because I'm still scarred by the day in 2017 that we went to press on a Monday and Theresa May chose nine o'clock the next morning, the Tuesday, before we were even out on the newsstands to call a general election. So for one thing, I will pay tribute to Sakhir for that one.
Yes, his inadvertent humour will always win. He actually said, without the slightest pause, he said, I've spoken to the king and I thought, what, Andy?
LAUGHTER
And I couldn't help myself. And we had a long list of the thing that he's achieved. And he just wanted to say, then why are you going? It didn't make any sense to me.
What are the implications of Keir Starmer's resignation?
I thought the best thing that he said was when he went, I've spoken to the parliamentary party about whether or not they want me to lead them into the next election. And I've accepted their answer with good grace.
All 400 of them spoke with one voice. So he said in his speech, the hard work of change was with a singular purpose, not power for power's sake, but to change Britain for the better. So the hard work of change was with a purpose which was change, which sort of tells you everything about the past two years, really. This lack of there's no there there, fundamentally speaking.
It was a noun soup, but I, in a way, I think it maybe was the best speech he's ever given. Not least, it was blessedly short. It had three main points, right? Basically, you've all told me to sod off and I'm in fact sodding off. I would ideally like there to be a contest, not a coronation. Yes. He won't get that one. And the other thing was, he both did a sort of forward jab at Andy Burnham by saying he sort of essentially was opening nominations for this long period.
Yeah.
But also there was a backwards jab as well at I was the one who transformed the Labour Party. Mm-hmm. It was, what was it, electorally, financially and morally bankrupt. Given that so much of his rhetoric during his time in office has been about putting party behind country, country first. It was a very Labour-y speech. It was, I changed the Labour Party and now maybe Labour will go on and win a second election.
But that was the bit he was good at.
How did Andy Burnham's victory affect the political landscape?
That's the strange thing about it. He was a very good leader of the opposition and he did sort out the party, which was in a terrible state. And then he sort of got into power and didn't seem to know what he wanted to do with it.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:33
2
What are the implications of Keir Starmer's resignation?
2:33–3:50
3
How did Andy Burnham's victory affect the political landscape?
3:50–4:19
4
What were the reactions to Keir Starmer's resignation speech?
4:19–14:51
5
What are the main criticisms of Keir Starmer's leadership?
14:51–15:02
6
How does the political class view campaigning versus governing?
15:02–15:24
7
What role does Nigel Farage play in current political dynamics?
15:24–44:03