About this episode

The episode discusses Labour's failures on defence and critiques Keir Starmer's leadership while exploring the implications of net zero campaigns.

For this week’s  Edition , Lara Prendergast is joined by the  Spectator ’s deputy editor Freddy Gray, assistant content editor John Power and former Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt. This week: Labour’s lame duck period drags on, with Keir Starmer searching for a legacy before he leaves office. This week he has announced more money for Defence, though with several caveats, the biggest of which is unfunded billions left for the (presumably) incoming Burnham administration to fix. Penny Mordaunt, a former Conservative Defence Secretary, explains why Starmer has been a ‘total failure’ on Defence, saying Labour have failed to take Defence seriously and need to explain to the country that tough choices lie ahead. She argues Sir Keir is worse than Corbyn, who at least had a principled position on Defence. Her warning is stark: forget NATO targets of 3,4 or 5% of GDP – war would mean 50%, and the next few decades could be 'the worst humanity have ever lived through’.  Also: the ‘dark money’ secretly funding net zero campaigns. John Power explains the links between Ed Miliband, China and pro net zero campaign groups in the UK, arguing that while political…

People in this episode

Host: Lara Prendergast

Guests: Freddy Gray, John Power, Penny Mordaunt

Topics covered

• defence
• Labour Party
• political commentary
• NATO
• net zero campaigns

Keywords

• defence
• Labour
• Keir Starmer
• NATO
• net zero
• political transparency
• Penny Mordaunt
• Ed Miliband

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Labour, NATO, China, Spectator, Burnham administration

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