Chopper's Political Podcast episode 92 - Vitalii Kim - WATCH IN FULL

I'll see you on Chopper's Political Podcast

Harvard, you're stirring here, aren't you? Because if he's listening in, this could be annoying to Richard Tice

Welcome back to Chopper's Political Podcast, where we bring you the best guest gossip news and stories

from GB News' studios in the heart of Westminster. My name is Christopher Hope and I'm GB News' political editor

Later, I'm joined by my colleague and deputy political editor, Tom Harwood

to chew over the political events of the week, looking particularly at reforms new, in quotes, shadow front bench, in close quotes

and what that might mean for the main parties. Also looking at the uncancellation of those local elections in England on Monday

and what that means for all the main parties and can they find those candidates in time to contest those council seats in May

But first, a real sober anniversary is approaching for the UK, and particularly for Ukraine

The war in Ukraine when Russia invaded started four years ago on Tuesday next week, the 24th of February

It's imprinted on our minds. I know where I was when I first saw those tanks trying to go through Ukraine and where would it end

There's a real sense of the world's order was shaking. And for people in Ukraine, the nightmare has not finished

It may be often used sometimes in the UK, but it is always front and centre for people living in Ukraine

And I'm very pleased to be joined now by Vitaly Kim, who's the governor of Mikhailov Oblast, one of those areas in Ukraine, near or on the front line in the war with Russia

Vitaly, welcome to Chopper's Political Podcast. Thank you for joining us. Hello, everybody. Thank you for inviting me

Thank you for coming on. What do you remember of that day, the 24th of February 2022

Where were you when you first heard about the Russian tanks approaching? I remember I was sleeping at home with the open window and the missiles hit the military squad near me

I think it's about 500 meters or something like this. And I woke up and went to my job place, to my work

And I was in the city of Mykolaiv at the beginning of the war

you you were there and then you caught an attack happened shortly after in in offices where you

were in the march we remember vividly those early attacks by russia when they're attacking

civilian offices and that was when i think many people in britain really were already in shock

from what happened but then to see the russians attacking civilian workplaces was was outrageous

to tell the truth i think that most of our people don't remember even how it was before the war

before the 24th of February, because everything has changed. We forgot peaceful life, everything that was important before the invasion

For now, we are living in a constant stress. So we are living in a moment and we're trying to survive

That's why it changed everything for majority of our citizens. so and we get used to i don't know to murders to blood to shelling for a big pity it's like

like a conversion some kind of because like a surgery he also gets used to the blood and to the

patients but to the clients when he is in surgery for five years or ten years we're now living in

the war for four years at least yes and i think even the mind is changed from our people had their

mind was has been changed already and the old life you had before is gone i remember vividly

when i was at the telegraph talking to um people who were farming uh down near odessa i mean you

know this was a functioning country which had farms it was europe's bread basket famously ukraine

wasn't it i mean all that's gone now all the old life has gone and now you're constantly on a war

footing yes you're absolutely right because formerly we was living in a european country

in the free european country we have we had plans uh for the future for our children and now we are

planning only i think for a year or something like this we have a new generation for example my son

is eight years old and he doesn't remember anything but the war and he didn't live in a peaceful

ukraine he can't remember this and for him it is normal life for a big pity and we need to change

it and we most of all we want to stop this war stop all these murders but we need it we cannot

do it by ourselves you know like one of my friends said that a small post-soviet army cannot win the

big post-soviet army so we for now we have absolutely different uh army and

it is more dynamic it is more um I don't know how..

Yes, you're describing... I acknowledge, yes. But we need support of Europe

We need support of our partners because we cannot do it by ourselves

No. We will kill us. I think Europe appears to be in a forward leaning

into what you need now in a way it wasn't. And, of course, there's been disputes

with Donald Trump and NATO. So we might touch on that briefly

Can I just ask about where you represent? You're the governor there of Mikuliv Oblast

How near are you to the front line? Now it is about 40 kilometers

but we have three occupied villages still. So near the sea, it is up to two kilometers

And we have occupied territory. It is 0.05% of our territory, but still three villages are under occupation now

Have you seen any Russian troops? Have you come across them? I mean, have you encountered anything

because they're so near to where you're living? You've heard the fighting, I suppose

Yes, of course, because Russia invaded in the first weeks in 2022

They occupied about 30% of Nikolaev oblast. And there was 70 kilometers upper to the north to the Kiev

And we were almost surrounded in Nikolaev city, just one bridge left, free to go

And yes, of course, I see and I was involved in processes

In fact, I was with my rifle at least a year. And for now, it is much more safer

We get used for it. But on the first year of war, eight months at least

when we deoccupied Kershona region closer to Crimea We were living with our weapons every day yeah we was sleeping with weapons we was moving on a armored vehicles so and i saw a lot of russian

and dead russian also and and you were fighting russians with your rifle

yeah yeah i have a sniper rifle i'm a hunter so i i can use it extraordinary it's it's not the life

you thought you'd be taking on, you know, as the governor of your area

and now you're this local, frankly, leading your local people in this fight against the Russians

Yes, we had some squads. I have my personal security, and we was, lots of time

we was on the front line because we need to, we didn't have a communication in 2022 like now we had

with Starlink, with Internet, something we did. by ourselves sometimes we was over the front lines because it was like a chaos

in the region we didn't know all the routes so sometimes we was too close sometimes there was 100

meters so you've you've learned to learn to live with it and the threat of drones all the time

even now you're worrying about drones coming in drones appeared in a year of the first year

of war there was no drones there was mines planes aircraft missiles and tanks so it was close combat

for now this kill zone it was about two kilometers on the beginning of the war of the kill zone and

now it is more than 30 kilometers of kill zone because nobody can move free walk free on the

30 kilometers zone because drones are very highly effective on the battlefield now and

the doctrine of war is changed like it was recently it was in litua i think uh

military games and ukrainian squad 10 people it was on drones and they destroyed two battalions

because the old doctrine is not working on the battlefield now. No

So when you say the kill zone, is that an area, we might call it no man's land maybe

where no one goes into because you will be hit by drones

You're absolutely right, yes. I mean exactly this. The public face of your country in this country is President Zelensky

I mean, do you know him personally? Yeah, of course. and how is how is he bearing up uh he put on all his health and all his free time to our country

he became older for this year so i remember him when it was when he was in 2019 and now

he is much more smarter much more experienced and he raised the

line for the president of ukraine to a very high level yeah if election will be in the future

doesn't matter who will be the president of ukraine who will be elected by our people

but the level of the president is very high now because lensky raises playing this line up

well yeah we know him very well here and of course he's to address both houses of parliament

in our country and he of course went to the Oval Office famously last year had that dispute with

Donald Trump I mean he's he's he is the the forward-facing representative of your country

trying to bring about this peace deal where are we where are we with that it seems that Russia

want to try and take control of land they don't actually occupy at the moment what does Ukraine

want from those peace talks in Geneva I don't know what there was there was discussing in Geneva

I know that they wanted, they always wanted to have the territory of Ukraine

I don't believe Russians that they have good intentions some way. So I think that they're trying to get land and the territory that doesn't belong to Russia and never been

So our soldiers, I was a week ago on Donbass, on the east of our country, to our brigades

was visiting our brigades and they're tired they were exhausted but still they're ready to fight

in the future they do not want to leave because they spent four years to tell the truth 10 years

more than 10 years already from 2014 but yeah full invasion started it was in 2022 and they're ready

to fight in the future and they're asking just to have a rest and they are asking for people to

defend our country it is very exhausting war and it's very difficult for us what what what do you

want from the uk we know about the weapons supplies we've been hundreds of millions of uk pounds

on supplying weaponry to your to your forces do you want british troops on the ground too in ukraine

to tell the truth i won from uk that you realize that we are a shield of europe now and we have

the best army now and we are defending the europe because russia will never stop and we need

communication and cooperation not only support we need cooperation in our economy we need

cooperation with our people we need uh we we need your experience because it is the com it is it's

common problem for now because it is like the first time that rules of the whole world are

has been changed it is like right or if you are stronger that you have

have another rights and other possibilities this is not right because there are lots of

small countries democratic countries with heavy people and someone can came to your house any

any time now because if it will end and russia will capture the ukraine it will end but it will

be a situation that anybody could repeat it yeah and that's why it matters because poland

or other Eastern European countries could be next. And that's why it matters for all of Europe what you're doing

Yes. And we need to be strong like economy because we need our economy to work

We need cooperation in Miltec. We need all your experience, all your NATO experience

And it's a two-way road. We need to learn from you how to create a system

an operatable system and a controllable system. and your soldiers maybe will be learning from us how to operate in a modern war

So we need very close and deep cooperation in all spheres. And I guess in a UK context, you want to see us increasing spending on defense like all European countries

because America can't guarantee the safety of Europe anymore. You right And you know this is my personal opinion again we have something in common in our characters I been in UK for a couple of times so I know how you are working

that you like beer like we do, and you are ready to fight for your own to the last

And this is in common with us. That's why I think that UK is one of the best friends of Ukraine

because we don't want to lose our property, our territory, our people

So that's why I think that you can be the best friends of us

because you can understand us. Yeah. Well, no question. How long do you think the war might carry on for

I mean, it's four years now. Think of the Second World War

That lasted for six years. And that was obviously set the tone for the following 50, 60 years in terms of European politics

How long? I mean, I know peace talks are carrying on, but will it go on for many more years, do you think, of the war

I think that we cannot compare the war now and the war, World War II, because it was a different type of war, different logistics

Now everything is very dynamic. So comparing the amount of battles and vehicles, it's not comparable. I think that now the Ukrainian-Russian war is much longer than World War II, according to the time speeding

And from my opinion, it will be lasting till the Russia economy will collapse

Only in such a way, if Russia will not be able to fight, the war will stop

We are ready to stop the war. I know that everybody is ready

We don't have enough forces. We need, we have a lot of problems

We have children that are not attending schools in proper way. But Russia is escalating further because they can do it only because they can do it

And they don't want to stop because all their propaganda was based on a new territory that they are very strong and they will receive the results

They cannot explain to their people why Russian people are dying in Ukraine

That's why, from my opinion, they don't want to stop. We need to freeze the economy of Russia and cut off the possibilities

How long before you think the Russian economy will collapse? Russia's economy is not integrated in the world economy for 100%, I think

They have inside opportunities at least for a couple of years. But still, we have an example of Iran and other countries that are living under sanctions for 70 years and more

So I think that it should be very difficult for Russia to export their gas and oil

So this is the most and major problem of Russia is the price and exporting of oil

and just finally Vitaly Kim it seems to me you're saying that the the spirit of Ukrainians

isn't broken the the troops you went to see in the Donbass will keep fighting

they will but we are planning and we wish to recover Ukraine to live in peaceful Ukraine

under free sky and to recover ukraine to invest in our people we need we want to have highly

technological country with good payments and i think we deserve it and we are planning to recover

our country we are inviting our investors already so we are fighting with one hand but with another

hand we are preparing for recovering our country and this is the topic why we need cooperation

because if we will have more close connections will you will understand that in ukraine you can

earn money and uh supporting ukraine in such a way helping ukraine and earning money at the same time

so it is possible for now because we are working on a platform that will give the opportunities to

foreign investors and we there are lots of free markets now because russian destroyed lots of

companies the logistics has changed and many many other things i think that it will be very

interesting for foreign investors to came to come and for now for us like a south we are planning to

be like an engine of recovering yeah yeah and i truly believe i have a plan how to do it so

and we will be investing in our people in our territories to recover our and that's your message

if you were talking now to sir kia starma our prime minister through this podcast you'd be saying

yes we need weapons we also need investment technological investment money to invest and

grow the economy in ukraine you're absolutely right and i know like money works yes money

company likes quiet and they are calculated all the risks but this is uh the time to

pre-project for pre-projecting because you you cannot start investment in one day you need time

you need to prepare to to calculate to yze the markets you know all other things and I uh

asking let's start now because our people are very dynamic they are all entrepreneurs and

Europe is working on the traditions. Yes, it is business for not slow business, but concrete business

Yes. And you need time to yze the market, to calculate everything

I ask him start now because in the future you will be ready to cooperate with Ukraine

Yes. Well, Vitaly Kim, thank you for joining us today on Chopper's political podcast

sending you best regards from GB News to where you are now

Hello, I'm Bev Turner. Now, it can feel like the money in our bank accounts at the moment

does not keep up with the cost of living, and maybe there's a solution

I'm here today with the CEO of Tally Money, Cameron Parry. Cameron, what is Tally Money

Well, Bev, with telemoney, you get a current account and a debit card, but instead of pounds, you use milligrams of gold as your everyday money

So why gold? Gold traditionally is a great store of value. It has, on average, gone up at over 11% per annum for the last 25 years against the pound

It's tripled in value in the last decade. And in the last two years alone, it's increased by 50% against the pound

Banks' savings products just can't compete with that level of growth. But this isn't just about gold

This is about a currency that you guys have created at Tally Money

Explain it to me as though I'm an idiot. So, look, people need to be able to hold their earnings

and build their savings in a money that retains its value and remains in their legal control and remains theirs to access away from government control Great You had me at not exposed to government control

You should feel safe and happy with your money. You should have peace of mind. The more money you

see in your bank balance, and that's the type of thing we're trying to deliver, and give people choice in the type of money they get to use every day

Brilliant. Thank you so much, Cameron. Thank you. Thank you

on increasing defence spending, isn't it? I mean, this is a year when things start to move on the Ukraine story

with, I think, Britain facing choices about boots on the ground, maybe aid spending, investing more heavily in Ukraine

And is the country ready for it? And can we afford it? It's astonishing to look at the amount of money

that has been going to Ukraine, but also, quite frankly, the amount of money

that stopped going to Ukraine from the United States of America. They used to provide about half of the support

both military and non-military, And that has basically been completely eliminated. Big questions now, because ultimately, Europeans have relied on Americans for collective defence since the foundation of NATO, since Britain's retreat from being the world's superpower, from Britain's retreat from being the world's policeman in many parts of the world

and ultimately we've lived off this American peace dividend that we can no longer rely upon

But there's a big question now because we've depleted our own stores of ammunition

We've depleted our own military. It's going to take a hell of a lot to build that back up again

And that's money. That's 3% of GDP by the end of the decade, we're told

from the Munich Security Conference last week. Vitaly Kim there, the governor of Mikhailovit Oblast

he is saying we need the support of the UK They also need investment money

They want to turn into it. They've got two things happening here. They've got war on the eastern front

But in the west, they want to be a thriving business. Their life has stopped for four years and the anniversary is next Tuesday

Well, there are huge opportunities to invest in Ukraine. I mean, once this war is over, there is going to be a tidal wave of investment coming in from the west

There's going to be a lot of growth. There's going to be a lot of opportunities, frankly, for British businesses to make connections here

Investment's probably a very, very wise thing to do, I think. But ultimately, there's also an opportunity in terms of building up our own military

We've been helping train Ukrainians since the start of this war, since before the war even

But ultimately, war is changing. We've seen this on the front lines in Ukraine, the way that asymmetric warfare, drone warfare, all of these things are now so much more important than they were before

This could be a real learning curve, because if we're going to pretend that wars are going to be fought like they were 10 or 20 years ago, they're just not

But there is pressure on the government to spend more money on defence. Now, inflation came down to 3%, 3.4%. That's good. But there's very serious bad news, I think, for this jobless crisis. I mean, Labour's frankly reaping what it's sown, isn't it? It's jacked up the cost of hiring someone. And it's jacked up the rights people have on almost six months after they arrive, they get all these rights that are costly to employers

The Chancellor is cheering this week about inflation coming down to just being 50% above target

I mean, that's still quite a long way off target. Target being 2%. Target being 2%. Let's remember, when that general election was called, it was at 2%. Correct

It was at 2%. Inflation took off again after the Labour Party got into power

It was around 2% for about three months. And then we got to the budget

What happened? Massive public sector pay awards. massive spending and £50 billion extra borrowing

And do you blame that for this increase in inflation? Absolutely. Or other macro global factors

No, inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. Always a monetary phenomenon. Too much money chasing too few goods and services

What you had was no productivity gains from a whole bunch of public sector workers

and yet they got more money. More money for the same amount of work, that's more money chasing the same number of goods and services

Those prices go up. Big week, though, for Reform UK. The Gang of Four unveiled

Now, this time last week, Catherine Forster was here with you. You were forecasting who would be the top team around Nigel Farrow

Let's look at the Tom Harwood guesses. Tom, who do you have for your Deputy PM on your list

Very briefly, remind me. Deputy PM, I gave as a consolation prize to Robert Genro

Ah, because he was your Chancellor? Because my Chancellor was Richard Tice

So you got that wrong, Tom, didn't you? I did, but I think... You're about to defend yourself

I think the Shopper's political podcast got it right. Because what we had was a debate around these two individuals

who we thought both would get some sort of economic portfolio. I think I mentioned energy for Tice as well

But ultimately, even though I came down on the other side of this finely balanced debate

You agreed corporately. We corporately, I think anyone listening to that podcast

would have been very well informed about the decisions that were going through Nigel Farage's mind

because ultimately there are two economic portfolios here. There is an economic super ministry for Richard Tice

that's a bit amorphous, but it's business, trade, energy, housing. And then there's planning

And then there's the trade. Sorry, then there's the treasury element for Robert Jenrick

their quote-unquote shadow chancellor. I'm not sure you can really have a shadow chancellor. I'm not saying that

We don't call the leader Dems, Daisy Cooper, shadow chancellor. So let's not call him shadow chancellor

I think Charlie Kennedy's tried to do that. in 2005 after the Lived Overs won all those extra seats

but I've never really stuck. So, yeah, the Treasury spokesman for reform

But ultimately, I think there's a bit of competition here. Listening to Robert Jennerick's speech this week

he spoke a lot about energy. He spoke a lot about housing. He spoke a lot about issues that actually, technically

if we're to believe Nigel Farage, are going to be Richard Tice. Howard, you're stirring here, aren't you

Because if he's listening in, this could be annoying to Richard Tice. Well, frankly, I think Richard Tice might be within his rights

to be a little bit annoyed. But ultimately, Richard Tice has had a big voice in the economic side of reform for a long time, and he still will

I wonder if this is sustainable. It was a question I put to Nigel Farage at the press conference. Let's hear what that was

Why no defence secretary? I can't win, really, can I? Well, no, but these are the most important issues facing this country, our protection

Why have you chosen these individuals for these jobs particularly? What about others

Lee Anderson, he's not here. Sarah Pochin, why have you chosen people who aren't MPs for jobs over MPs

And Richard Tice, are you happy you're not Shadow Chancellor? OK. I can't win

This time yesterday, we're a one-man band. I mean, now you want a bus full

I mean, what can I do? I've appointed four people that I think are ideally suited to those roles

Very straightforward. Very simple. and I think if you listen to me carefully

at the end I said, this is just the beginning. And that's exactly what it is

OK, do you want to respond to that, Richard? Yeah, look, we're all delighted

We're getting on with the job and as shadow deputy prime minister

leading a huge debate... Department that meets my skills, doing things differently, that's who we are at reform

and this British sovereign wealth fund that I talk about next week, come along Chris to

the Midlands, I know it's a bit further north, but come along and you'll listen to the detail

Yeah, your question actually sums up in a way why we failed post-war and why Germany

didn't. They thought about economics and business differently to us and they outperformed us

decade after decade after decade, and we didn't. We left absolutely everything under the Treasury banner

and frankly, there's an awful lot more to do out there, out round the country, and I'm looking forward to Richard

I mean, we'll barely see him. He's going to be in Aberdeen, and he's going to be up

visiting what's left of our refineries, what's left of our manufacturing industry

So it's an absolutely vital job, given the dire economics we're currently in

Also in that question, Tom Harwood, we put to Nigel Farage, where is your

Foreign Secretary? Where's your Defence Secretary? Where's your Health Secretary? Can you give them the amount of money spent

in those areas and the importance of, as we've heard, on Foreign Affairs and Defence

He said more jobs are coming. Yes, he did and I suppose this makes sense because ultimately

you don't want to announce all 20-something Cabinet roles in one go. You want to stagger this

and reform is very, very good at creating a media moment. Are we going to

see another similar press conference like this in a week's time or two weeks' time

Well, very, very likely. In your book there, you went for Home Secretary. Who was that

For my Home Secretary, I put Suella Bravman. Yes, that was wrong as well, Tom. That was indeed

And actually, I put Sarah Poach in as Women in Equalities, but that's actually Suella Bravman

And I don't think any of us picked up on the fact that she's got a very keen interest in education

having co-founded the Michaela School, being an Ida Nishog Board of Governors

She sort of reported after the event. Zia Yusuf, of course, is now the Home Affairs spokesman

Which, to be fair to us last week, we were only going through the MPs

So we could very, we could slightly cheekily say that had the AUS have been on the list, we'd have got that one right

Yes, yes, yes. It's complicated. I mean, there were names who weren't on there

Andrew Rosnell wasn't there. Leigh Anderson wasn't there. He's used to call their chief whisper, such as it can be

Sarah Pochin wasn't there. There will be no Zahra joint, won't there

I mean, Nigel Farage said that he hadn't heard of any no Zahra joints when we were asked in that press conference

but I bet there are. Oh, I mean, certainly. I think Sue Ella Braverman, having served as Home Secretary

not once but twice, having been one of those holders of a great Office of State

is it a bit of a demotion for her? I mean, ultimately, would she have expected

a slightly bigger job than Education Secretary? I asked that question of Sue Ella Braverman

because it was Catherine's idea on one of our WhatsApp groups to ask her what's it like

having Robert Jenner as your boss when you were his boss. Hadn't thought of that, she said

I bet she has thought of that. Interesting. But we heard there from the Farage, there's no internal upset I know of

If there is tough, we are not here to muck about. And he thinks, of course, there's an election next year

He's selecting his candidates this year. Whether or not that happens, time will tell

But I think, you know, we'll wait and see how all that plays out. But they are getting their act together, aren't they

They are no longer the one-man show. They're the five, four men and one woman show, aren't they

Well, absolutely. They've got a leader in Scotland as well. They are ramping up elections in Wales, absolutely

And ultimately what they doing is trying to broaden out because let not forget whether or not there an election next year I don think there going to be an election next year You have to have turkeys voting for Christmas for that to happen

But there are elections this year. In May, there are really significant elections

And now... Hold your thought on that. We'll come to those in one second, because the idea of the election, the thesis is that there'll be a run on the pound later this year

caused by a sterling crisis, which triggers emergency spending, or austerity, I should say

in the November budget, which leads to a near collapse of the government next year. That is the Farage thesis

I think that's the Ramsey-McDonald thesis. There's lots of ifs happening there, aren't there

But ultimately, I don't see it happening. The only way that you get an election called

is either the Prime Minister calls it, or there's a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons

So the Prime Minister to call it would have to ask the King to dissolve Parliament

Now, the Prime Minister, before he does that would likely be removed as prime minister

because the prime minister is only the guy that a majority of the House of Commons wants to be prime minister

And ultimately there were 411 Labour MPs out of 650 possible seats

that won their seats at the last election. That is a huge majority

And those people are not going to accept a prime minister calling an election

And they certainly aren't going to vote for no confidence in their own government

there is not going to be an election next year. The maths just simply doesn't work out for one

I was struck by a line you picked up, which I missed actually, in the speech from Robert Jenner

He made a point there that the way we protect jobs against AI

is making more stuff. That's really interesting. A lot of people in the sort of policy wonk world

have been very, very worried about the intersection of the British economy and large language models

in the form of chat GPT and Claude and Gemini and Grok

And these huge, very, very capable AI systems are getting much, much better at a very rapid..

But why is that bad for us, though, Tom? Particularly Britain, we've got a very, very service sector-led economy

Led, particularly... Toys, offshoring jobs all the time. You could say that the high price of energy

ever since the Climate Change Act, or even before then, when we started having a really high rise in our energy prices from around 2006

And from that point, prices have been inexorably rising. We've offshored lots more manufacturing

We actually had quite a lot of money. We were the fourth largest manufacturer in the world in the 1990s

as our energy prices were coming down through that decade. They subsequently went up in the 2000s

But ultimately, we have a lot of so-called email jobs, jobs where people just sit at a computer sending emails all day

these are going to be some of the most automatable jobs possible in perhaps the next couple of years

and i think it's really interesting to hear robert jenrich talk seriously i don't know if his

solution that we go into lots of manufacturing because heavy manufacturing is also quite automatable potentially but it takes more investment care work isn't all that kind of care

work isn't i mean ultimately there's got to be a big conversation around this i think a lot of

people in this policy space in Westminster are thinking about the budgets and the upside of it but ultimately we are not considering how

hugely the world will change in even the next 12 or 24 months. This government is

running a lot of growth 28 29 30 from AI aren they they are could happen efficiencies could happen but there could be a jobs price too for that But ultimately it not going to be sovereign AI right How many data centers do we actually have in this country

Data centers are hugely energy hungry. America is going to have lots of them

Elon Musk's talking about putting some in constellations in space so that they can suck up all that juicy fun energy

One of those four again? Those data centers are basically how AI trains and runs

Whenever we talk about the cloud, what are we actually talking about? A data center. Building

A building with lots and lots of processors in it, and GPUs, really, and all sort of linked together

They do the number crunching to make AI work. But ultimately, everyone in Silicon Valley

is talking about how AI is going to completely change the world

in very short order. And how AI will protect it. I remember vividly back in 2017, 2018 maybe

Jeremy Corwood talking about almost a robot's tax, which is what you're describing

So his response to what you're saying was tax AI somehow. You'd be against that, wouldn't you

I just don't see how that can possibly work. Well, this is quite a clever thing of generally spotted

And it wasn't clear when I was there on the event. It was so much happening

He was picking everything else up. But it was really astute. I wonder if that's where they're going to appeal to Labour voters at the election

by saying, we're going to reshore the jobs that your parents did

And the things you know that you know give you a... Yeah, manufacturing capability is going to be really, really important

I mean, frankly, just as we had a bunch of factories making cars

we still make quite a few cars in this country. We're going to be making robots. I mean, genuinely, Tesla, Elon Musk's company

has already turned one of its car-making factories into a robot-making factory

They're going to be producing a million Optimus 3 robots in a year

They are terrifying, if you see them on social media. But the thing is, if you talk about this stuff in Westminster

you sound like a crazy person. You sound like, oh, come on, you're talking about jobs going by the millions and robots walking our streets

But I mean, it's really not a crazy thing, right? I understand. One of the interesting things about Robert Jenrick's speech, bringing it back to what has happened this week

is he's sort of intertwining it into the rest of what is being said

I think in five to ten years, we'll look back and sort of think, God, we were all asleep at the wheel for this time

We didn't realise how much the world is actually going to change. and interestingly

Robert Jenrick is one of the only senior figures I think in politics at the moment

who has his eyes wide open to this stuff so it's so interesting

so rather than trying to retrain people in mining communities to work in call centres

or computers call centres are going to be completely not exactly you just go back

to what you know what you like doing and then that is quite an appeal to the red wall

you know imagine reform saying that to them we're not going to make you do something you don't want to do

we're going to try and go back to what you used to do and that is really attractive absolutely sell

And it feels more real. I mean, looking through modern offices and just seeing people just sitting, sending emails or making PowerPoint presentations

It's not real work, is it? Not as we understand it. There's jobs that create more value and jobs that create less value

And there are jobs that are seen to be sort of, oh, you just sort of, I don't know

The jobs that end up as being punchlines for comedians. You know, what on earth is a management consultant

and ultimately perhaps we're going to have a greater rebalancing or a greater rebalancing

between making stuff and sending emails is going to be necessary in this country you mentioned the elections of course Kirsten Army been out and back in Wales this week and elsewhere but an absolutely massive win for Reform UK on Monday

Now, it really was. That was a wow, I called it on Twitter as a wow moment

because it really was. For their party, eight MPs, to force the government

to give the vote to 4.6 million people by challenging that decision to delay 30 council area elections

was a moment, wasn't it? and really astute of them to do that as well

I mean, let's not forget that Nigel Farage is often criticised as a man who's not big on detail

He's often criticised as sort of a down-the-pub, big-picture guy. A vibes politician

Vibes politician, whereas Keir Starmer, he's Mr Forensic. He's the senior lawyer who's on top of every crossed T and dotted I

of every single piece of legislation. Well, clearly not. I mean, the guy Farage down the pub has just defeated Sir Keir Lawyer Starmer

on an issue of legal detail. On his own game. I mean, how extraordinary is that

What am I saying? I mean, absolutely. I mean, I'm sure we talked on air about it

but a gift really for reform. And now Keir Starmer is paying Nigel Farage's legal costs

I know, I know. How embarrassing is that? What is Keir Starmer for if he can't do the legal side of the job

Well, it makes the May elections, the elections they didn't want you to have, send them a lesson

You can imagine these things. And this is in 30 councils across England

4.6 million people. Interestingly though, of course, Sir John Curtis told, actually me on GB News

when I was presenting this week, that he thinks the Tories are hit harder

because there are four council, county council areas that are Tory controlled

which could go reform. Yes. And these are the ones in Essex particularly

Yes. Essex, and yeah, along the south coast and east coast. I'm not sure to name them

but he said that weirdly, although there's three quarters of the council areas were Labour

and Tories could be hit harder. They could lose councils, but Labour will lose a lot of council laws

Council laws, yeah. And that's important because these are your round-the-clock foot soldiers

in terms of building bases and winning parliamentary seats. It's the Lib Dem strategy

that Nigel Farage talked about a year and a half ago when he first got into Parliament

And I think we've started to see that strategy play out. Tom Harwood, it's been great to have you here

I know you work very hard. You've been presenting all day on the G-Music

Paddington, you come here straight away to do this podcast with me. Thank you for coming on

I tweet at Chris and Hope on X. What's your handling? I never remember it

It's a weird one. Tom H F H. No one knows why that is. Oh, your initials

It's my initials. It's my name. Tweet at him and tell him how much you love him

Email me, chopper at gbnews.uk, tom.harwood at gbnews.uk. Talk to him too

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