“No Winston Churchill”: is the special relationship over?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Pod Save the UK. I'm Coco Kahn. And I'm Sophie Duker. So attentive listeners and watchers will notice that Sophie is not in fact Nish Kumar. No, but I am still a black slash brown person that makes bigots angry. We didn't want to lower the diversity count, you see. Oh, no, of course. Yeah. No. Curly hair. Big thoughts. Sophie is stepping in the hot seat this week while Nish is off having a break, which is good because he doesn't take breaks. That's an aside. Sophie is a comedian and writer. She's performed at the likes of Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, and she's actually won both Taskmaster and Celebrity Mastermind. Here's a taster of Sophie at work. I know some people don't like it when you talk about identities.
They don't like it when gay comedians talk about gay stuff or women comics talk about girl stuff or Croatian comedians. Bang on about Croatia. But if I don't talk about my pain on stage, how else will I make my therapy tax deductible? What a little cutie, monetize the trauma. Right, so Sophie, brace yourself. It is not a light week to be cutting your teeth on a politics podcast. On the show today, we're asking, genuinely asking, is this World War III as conflict escalates across the Middle East? Yes, it's bleak. And as oil prices surge because of this conflict, inflation will too, which is bad news for a chancellor who has just delivered her spring statement on the economy. Okay, so first up, the small task of catching you all up on World War III.
So on Saturday, all eyes turned to Iran after the United States and Israel launched a full-blown attack on the country. The Ayatollah Khomeini, that's Iran's supreme leader for the last 37 years, was killed along with senior figures from the regime. And before the world had time to absorb that shock, Iran retaliated, launching a barrage of strikes targeting Israeli and American bases across the Gulf, including Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain, as well as some civilian locations like hotels. So far, the Iranian Red Crescent Society has estimated that more than 1,000 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began. Among them were 165 schoolgirls and staff after a primary school was bombed, the worst mass casualty so far.
Meanwhile, influences in Doha and Dubai turned war correspondents, capturing bombs raining down over luxury skylines. This situation is moving extremely quickly. As we record on Wednesday, there are overnight reports of explosions across Iran and Lebanon from Israeli strikes, and Iran has continued to carry out drone attacks. An emergency evacuation flight is due to leave from Amman tonight, but thousands of Britons are thought to be stuck in the region. And, as we'll discuss later, the economic consequences of this war are already being felt globally. So initially, Keir Starmer had refused to let the US use British bases to bomb Iran. But on Sunday, the Prime Minister changed tack, posting this recorded statement saying that there would be some support, but only in a limited way.
The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request. My God. I mean, it's like describing specific, defensive, limited. I was like, are you talking about how you speak? You speak to us, the public. Specific and very precisely. And extremely defensive because you know this is very bad, what you're doing. I mean, it's him doing a U-turn and being like, yeah, well, we will actually. Yeah, well, yeah. Now they've asked twice, we'll just allow them to use British bases. God. I mean, obviously this is something that pleases no one, but he's just... He's not managing to stand strong against Trump. He's not fulfilling... Like, Trump's disappointed with him because he's not, you know, out to destroy all of the Middle East and giving him carte blanche and everything.
It just feels like... sort of tell between his legs admission that he's essentially being pressured into something that is abhorrent.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–5:35
2
What recent events have escalated tensions in the Middle East?
5:35–7:55
3
How did the assassination of Iran's leader impact the conflict?
7:55–11:41
4
What are the economic consequences of the ongoing conflict?
11:41–12:04
5
What role does the UK play in the US-Israel conflict?
12:04–21:02
6
How is the UK government responding to the crisis?
21:02–22:34
7
Who is Sanam Naraghi Anderlini and what insights does she provide?
22:34–53:14
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