Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Thanks very much, Kate. Still to come this morning, what's the word from Cape Verde? An Irish woman on how World Cup excitement is lifting the island nation. Plus, optimisation culture is your fitness tracker, wrecking your buzz. And what makes a summer blockbuster? Crossy is here to tell us all. You can get in touch by WhatsApp on 0870 32 32 32, text 51551 or email todaydmc at rte.ie.
But first, let's go back to that emotional announcement in the last half hour. by the UK's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, that he is to stand down. I'm joined on the line by Oliver Wright, Policy Editor with The Times, and by Lucy Fisher, Whitehall Editor with The Financial Times. Thank you both very much indeed for joining us. Oliver, it was quite emotional.
Is he putting party before his own personal interests? Is it as simple as that?
think it's um accepting the inevitable he has done as much as he possibly could uh to fight this to fight on but i think it became really clear on friday that he had lost the support not only of a majority of his mps but also um of his cabinet and in such circumstances it really is impossible uh for a prime minister to go on i mean you know listeners will have
Seen this story before, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, you know, when the party moves against the prime minister, really, you know, political gravity intervenes and they have no choice.
Yeah, Lucy, he did show some emotion there. We heard the clip on the news when he referred to his wife and his family. And he wasn't very good at doing that in general as prime minister, was he?
I think that's true. There was a sense he lacked a sort of human element and tended to be quite robotic in front of the cameras. And beyond the sort of the simple comment about his style, there was this sense he couldn't infuse the country with a message of hope and change in the same way that we've seen Andy Burnham do in Makerfield.
So I think there will be hopes for his successor that there's an ability more to set out a vision and bring the country with him.
Yeah.
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Chapter 2: What prompted Keir Starmer's resignation announcement?
Oliver, you alluded to the succession of prime ministers you've had in Britain in recent years. You look at this a number of ways. I mean, we will have the seventh British prime minister in a decade. But if you look at it another way, you've had five prime ministers, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, in 10 years, an average term of two years each.
If you look at the previous five, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major, Thatcher, average term more than seven years each. Is Britain becoming ungovernable? accountable.
That's the question, isn't it? I think Britain is becoming increasingly hard to govern. Absolutely. You know, the succession of problems that have faced British prime ministers really sort of stemming back to the 2008 financial crash. Then you had Brexit. Then you had COVID and the Ukraine war.
All of those have become sort of existential problems, one on top of the other, that have made it very hard for, you know, prime ministers to sort of do what voters want, because frankly, there isn't much money.
Chapter 3: How did political dynamics lead to Starmer's decision?
Just by way of comparison, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney, is coming up on four years in power. So no more jokes about, Lucy, no more jokes about Italian governments being shaky.
No, that's right.
Chapter 4: What emotions did Starmer express during his resignation?
You know, I think it's the UK that's now become a byword for instability in Europe. And I agree with Ollie that, you know, the sluggish economic growth has been a factor, pretty much a level living standards, no growth there. Also, perhaps the frenetic pace and environment of social media that means that politicians are reach saturation point with the public quicker.
And while Keir Starmer has only been prime minister for two years, we shouldn't forget that he led the Labour Party for four years before that. So six years in charge of Labour might also contribute to the public feeling they've had enough of him.
OK, it might contribute to Keir Starmer feeling he's had enough of the Labour Party as well. Oliver, what's the timeline now? If Andy Burnham will be a candidate, if he's unopposed, he should be in Downing Street by the end of July. If there's an election by the end of August, is that it?
Yeah, that's right. Nominations will open on the 9th of July. They'll close around the 15th, which is when Parliament rises. Now, if no one stands, if West Street does a deal with Andy Burden or decides he doesn't want to stand. And if nobody else stands, then you could expect Burnham to be in Downing Street by the time of summer recess.
But if there is a contest, it will be quite a swift contest. And Starmer has indicated it will be over by really the start of September when Parliament returns. So whatever happens, a reasonably swift transition of power.
What's your expectation, Oliver? Do you think Streeting will challenge Andy Burnham or will he, a bit like Keira Starmer, recognise the inevitable?
I think it's a bit hard to tell. There is certainly an element of the parliamentary party that feels that Burnham has not been tested, that they don't really know what he stands for. But on the other hand, you know, the polls of Labour members show that he is such an overwhelming favourite that anyone who goes up against him is taking a big risk and the chances are that they will not succeed.
So if you're aware of Streeting, you've got a hard call to make. Do you... Go for a campaign in the belief that you might be able to turn things around, or do you try and do a deal with Burnham, get a particular cabinet job, get jobs for your supporters in return for not challenging him? And those are the sort of calculations that he's going to have to make now.
You see, why is Andy Burnham in such a seemingly unassailable position? Because we remember he ran for the leadership twice before and didn't win. Is it the perception that he's been successful as mayor of Greater Manchester?
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Chapter 5: What does Starmer's resignation mean for the Labour Party?
So everything is extraordinarily unstable in terms of where public opinion is. So, you know, and the general election is probably, you know, two, three years away. So I think it's much, much too early to be making any kind of predictions.
OK, Oliver Wright, Policy Editor with The Times, and Lucy Fisher, Whitehall Editor with The Financial Times, thank you both so much for joining us on this very busy day for you. Now, after the warmest May ever recorded in Ireland, it looks like temperatures are set to soar once again.
Forecasters say parts of the country could reach 30 degrees by Thursday, while much of Europe is already sweltering. under an early summer heatwave with temperatures approaching 40 degrees in some areas. So how unusual is this spell of weather?
Chapter 6: How has the leadership landscape changed in the UK?
Where will be hottest and how long is it likely to last? Alan O'Reilly from Carlo Weather joins us now. Alan, good morning to you. Good morning, David.
Unusual for June? It is unusually warm. We do get hot spells in June that can happen, but they're rare and this one will be Quite rare as well for parts of Ireland, but especially for parts of Europe. Yeah. Is it actually a heatwave? Well, for Ireland, technically we need five days of 25 degrees or above.
So we may not actually reach that because temperatures will start to drop back on Friday, but it will get close to it.
OK.
And what's driving this warm weather? Well, we have a very hot air mass that has been sitting over Portugal, Spain and France. that is going to be pushed up towards Ireland and come over us then briefly for the next couple of days. And that's really a very warm air mass that has sat right over France and Spain. And really, we're just getting the edge of it.
Parts of the UK, England also, will see very intense temperatures from that air mass as it moves up.
OK. 30 degrees in Ireland is very warm.
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Chapter 7: Is Britain becoming ungovernable with frequent leadership changes?
And it's the Midlands, I think, that will be warmest, is it?
It's likely to be in the middle of the country, yes. And I think we actually will probably see 31, 32. We might even get close to 33 degrees. Temperatures, you know, will climb above 30 degrees for sure. How far above is a little bit uncertain. But I wouldn't be surprised, David, if we did get close to 33 degrees, especially Tuesday and Thursday.
OK, now you mentioned temperatures in Europe and obviously I think it's a much more serious situation there. I mean, 40 degrees in some places.
It's already hit 42 degrees in France yesterday, and yes, many parts of Spain have seen 40 degrees. Record night temperatures also in France last night, it didn't drop below 27.9 degrees in some parts of France last night. So you can imagine 27 degrees as a minimum, it makes it very uncomfortable.
And France is going to see, you know, continuously for the next few days, really, really warm temperatures. There are a number of red warnings issued today. for many parts of France and Germany today again as well, and also tomorrow.
Okay, we've had recent summers, we've had very, very hot weather in parts of Europe. Is this what we can expect going into the future, do you think?
Well, climate change means that when we get these weather events, they are becoming more extreme. So we will always get hot weather, we've got hot weather in the past, but the difference is that they've gone up a notch, and that's why we could potentially even see 40 degrees in some parts of England. in the next few days.
So yes, unfortunately, climate change means that the hot weather is that much hotter. But we're lucky in Ireland that we are escaping the worst of it.
OK, do we have any idea at this stage what the rest of the summer is likely to be looking like in Ireland?
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