William Hague on Boris Johnson, Blair, and Brexit

[@ginastagg4808]

Would love to hear from Ken Clarke and Mick Lynch. Please invite them. Love what you are doing!

[@karenmackay5133]

A winning duo and riveting listening ! Who needs Parliament when it is so abundantly clear that Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell are more than capable of running our entire country between them and 'The Rest' are simply not required ! I look forward to the two of you joining forces to create , 'The Best of British Party' . So eloquent , intelligent and clear thinking . We have never taken such a keen interest in Politics and eagerly await your next podcast. Simply Superb !

[@FRM101]

me, for one, I need parliament

[@edenmurphy4295]

Great guest.

[@SAGETHEOWL76]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this gentlemen , William Hague’s wit , wisdom and self depreciating humility is a joy to behold . It’s a bid sad he’s no longer in politics , as a Labour supporter I have great admiration and respect for him , glad to hear he is still using that great brain , on a personal level Alistair , I’ve long admired your work , and been inspired by your determination to reach soberity , the chemistry between you both is fabulous , much respect for you too Rory , imma great fan of the podcast , I’m a semi retired nurse , recovering from a triple heart by pass , thanks for inspiring me gents and keep up the shows , I’m working my way through them all , Ed .

[@martynwilliams8526]

Superb!

[@twocardtarot6479]

The great John Smith, Best PM that never was... was gutted when he died.

[@peterm8969]

Yes Blair would probably be remembered as his Home Secretary

[@MorningtonCrescent]

My second 'JFK moment', after Thatcher resigned in Nov 1990. My A-level politics teacher got pissed at college watching the newsfeed in the AV lab (Thatcher downfall, not Smith in the bath...)

[@yingyang1008]

suspicious timing

[@pickleson4573]

Alastair is truly revelling in reminding Hague of how useless of an opposition the Tories were back in the day

[@davidfelmingham2809]

So interesting - real political discussion! Thanks, my favourite podcast of 2022. Really enjoyed this one, thanks guys!

[@robertdarby6553]

I never rated Hague when he was in parliament. He was a poor Leader of the Opposition and out of his depth as Foreign Secretary. But now he is revealed as someone who really thinks about the country's problems and dares to provide some potential solutions. He is a world apart from the miserable shower that occupies the government benches.

[@TimLondonGuitarist]

Hague was as pathetic as the brexit popularists, with his "save the pound" slogan. Only difference is he failed.

[@ShaunieDale]

There are a great many previous ministers that I thought were pretty lacklustre in parliament that I would have back in a heartbeat to replace this utter shower of petulant schoolkids we have at the moment.

[@georgesdelatour]

@@TimLondonGuitarist Yet the UK did not join the Euro. Blair wanted to, Brown did not, and Brown won that battle. Maybe fear of validating Hague's attack was at least a background factor in all that.

[@TimLondonGuitarist]

@@georgesdelatour It's not clear joining would've been a mistake. Didn't work so well for Spain & Greece but UK is neither, more like France & Germany

[@TimLondonGuitarist]

@@ShaunieDale Hague was good for Dead Ringers: just slightly ridiculous sounding so plenty of space for exaggeration, unlike the current rabble esp Mogg and Bodger who are so extreme they make satire impossible.

[@rorykeegan1895]

You must talk with Ken Clarke, he's a delight and on the money most of the time.

[@kerryfry1857]

Get Mike Lynch on the podcast, or Eddie Dempsey. Great discussion as always.

[@qeitkas594]

Rory expressing his concerns for the next decade is one of the very very rare moments that you hear a current or ex-politician speak the truth about what is coming. Alastair and William made a joke about this so clearly they still have their political hat on.

[@dominicestebanrice7460]

Another really worthwhile listen. Thanks to all involved. I must take issue with Rory's point at the end about why science & technology is essentially absent from UK political discourse; it is NOT that people aren't interested, or that it's too hard, or that people find it tedious. The real reason is that British politics & media is dominated by old Etonians, Oxford PPE graduates and Oxbridge journos and, to be blunt, they can't handle the material. Compare the professional qualifications of politicians with important briefs in Germany for example to their British counterparts - it's shocking. As William Hague pointed out, the UK has fundamental, structural problems in certain key areas, and this is one of them. With this in mind, I was astonished to find that Eton ranks 40th in the nation (last time I looked) re; STEM outcomes....enough said!

[@stevejones7130]

So true. The covid vaccine success was a triumph of scientific, technological and regulatory endeavour. The government was smart enough to support and ride the wave, but I sense it was a one off because they were up against it and had no other choice. What the UK government have always been dreadful at is industrial strategy, they don't get active in the way that Japan, US, France, Germany, China, Ireland, South Korea and Singapore do. Instead we leave it to 'market forces', which of course means doing nothing, so instead investment flows to those countries that do have a well thought through industrial strategies. This is the root cause of our poor productivity. Just look at Ireland's transformation over the last 30 years; the IDA led the way and the governmental support was there to make it happen.

[@georgesdelatour]

Chancellor Olaf Scholz studied law at Hamburg University, but his entire life since the late 1970s has been as a full-time political activist. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck read Philosophy at Freiburg and Hamburg Universities. Before becoming a full-time Green Party activist, he wrote some children’s books with his wife. Neither of these people have science degrees, as Margaret Thatcher did.

[@0w784g]

You seem to indicate that the scholastic makeup of the German legislature is preferable to the UK. Given your admiration of the scientific, can you prove a legislature with a technocratic bent produce better outcomes in terms of governence? I'm guessing no.

[@phillipnash2843]

I agree but which school do you think Rory went to?

[@geraldbutler5484]

@@0w784gfar better than a parliament full of lawyers arguing both sides of a barbed wire fence. Or skivers working, or should I say milking, several jobs. Knowing what you are talking about with regard to science and technology is vital.

[@christianecoughlan7392]

Great podcast as usual!

[@nationharris]

It always pains me that Rory is a Tory :(

[@52robbo]

Excellent discussion, thanks. William Hague, and some others like him, are the reason why we should keep the House of Lords. Just have them appointed by a properly independent body.

[@neilsailing]

Let's just hope that Iain Duncan Smith's invite got lost in the post.

[@connortopping6943]

I mean u have interviewed 3 centrists, so u haven't really covered the whole spectrum. but great podcast as always

[@Gizo02]

Blair vs. Hague was the golden age of PMQs in my opinion. As Hague himself said he struggled with other areas of his leadership (and his 2001 election campaign was disastrous), but in the Commons it was the clash of the titans.

[@patrickmccutcheon9361]

I recall Hague regularly thrashing Blair at PMQ and wondering why Hague did not have more impact.

[@Gizo02]

@@patrickmccutcheon9361 to be fair I think he took over at the worst possible time, when the Tories were reduced to 165 seats, had no chance of winning the next election (in 1997 Labour didn’t just win that election but also guaranteed winning the one after that), and were up against Blair and Brown at their peak. He didn’t help himself by focusing so on ‘keeping the pound’ (when Brown had already stopped any prospects of joining the Euro) during the 2001 election though, ignoring the policies that really mattered at the time notably health and education.

[@pluckypanda9937]

Get Mick Lynch!

[@PeterOHara100]

Yeah he would pull in the listeners. But the podcast are not covering much of that rail strike issue. However it would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the topics they talk about.

[@MorningtonCrescent]

Worth checking the latest Full Disclosure podcast with JO'B for Mick Lynch.

[@kerryfry1857]

@@MorningtonCrescent yeah it's excellent.

[@rogerclark6605]

Listening one year after this was broadcast, Rory is spot on with his forecast of a ten year recession, but the UK will be out in front of the pack.

[@andrewgriffiths7754]

I really like all of you 3. Can you three just get back into Parliament ASAP .. you’re just so nice and a version of the UK I liked a lot. I don’t like the direction In The Uk is going right now .. sorry I don’t.. I’m Australian btw

[@windowman929]

Get Bertie Ahern on please, thank you.

[@garethyoung6067]

Working on the principal that, when politics and science fails, call an Engineer, I would love it if you would interview a great Engineer. Maybe someone from the HS2 team.

[@dosstramp]

Please don't use the flashing sound meter thingy. It's an annoying distraction. Similar to a dodgy florescent tube. Where's my migraine tablets

[@tomthumb2361]

The sad thing is that by contrast with the leaders since, Cameron does seem a reasonable leader, even if he did lead us down a plug-hole, which we may never get out of. A lot of leaders and managers across the country are now a bit like the Tories, scorning the detailed nitty-gritty.

[@annemoncrieff3875]

In little england but the Scottish govmt r tackling the big issues of the day that they r 'allowed' to and doing a very good job of it. Where figures r still not good, although better than lil engl, she will admit it unlike tories who admit nothing and constantly lie.

[@scroggins100]

Key moment there was strategic reliance. We must be able to look after ourselves without reliance on some very dodgy states.

[@JamalBrown-k1x]

Hague was very good at pmqs

[@Josoap69]

The phrase 'the devil is in the detail' springs to mind.

[@FRM101]

8:28 I feel that you felt that way, Rory, because you were so insufferably bad at PMQ's and parliamentary speak. I've witnessed it, and it was frightful.

[@roberta9833]

😊👏👏👍💐

[@diamon999]

I would argue that even after interviewing Hague, you still haven't covered the whole political spectrum. Where are your left-wing interviews? Neither Blair, Starmer or Hague represent any devaition from neo-liberalism.

[@rohitballal5654]

Keir Starmer and Tony Blair are socialists.

[@KokowaSarunoKuniDesu]

Mmm, but it is hard to get to the "long form debate" while tabloid media go for the emotive scare story, that usually doesn't get a sober, debunking response.

[@dwaynericketts882]

And what did you do with your 3 figure majority?

[@edenmurphy4295]

A million times more than Boris with his comparatively big majority. The late 90s early 2000s were the strongest economically Britain had ever been.

[@gunt8622]

Iraq.

[@enternamehere2222]

Certainly the sense is today that there mighta been a lot more reform that coulda been done. But hindsight is hindsight.

[@0w784g]

@@edenmurphy4295 Recent events have shown in a global world global events overtake domestic policy when it comes to the economy. An economy propped up by a global credit bubble during the Labour years is no accolade.

[@0w784g]

They invaded at least 4 countries, the legends.

[@petermanley7525]

Blair, even now continues to try and destroy Britain and his side-kick Campbell is equally to blame.

[@edenmurphy4295]

Move on mate it’s boring now it’s been tories for 12 years already surely they could have sorted whatever your gripes are out in that time frame ?

[@petermanley7525]

@@edenmurphy4295 ever heard of the WEF ‘mate’?

[@kerryfry1857]

@@petermanley7525 Blair was for me, the most dullest era of politics. I'm not a centralize. New Labour was tory light. However I'm a Marxist. I know my opinions aren't going to be mainstream. I would love workers controlling the means of production. I would love democracy at work. However, here's the thing. We on the left need to get rid of the tories. I must vote for the lesser of two evils. Keir Starmer isn't my choice by a country mile. But we on the left need Labour in power. Just to move thing's back to the centre. tories are going down the fascist rought. I hate the system. But Labour under Starmer is better than a wing-ding, Mis-trust.

[@Jack-yg7de]

Over a decade of the Tories has destroyed Britain. Pillock.

[@throwaways8621]

Campbell if you don't explain why your name was in Epstein's LBB people will draw their own conclusions.