Up next in 10
Following Keir Starmer's resignation, Andy Burnham could still face hurdles in his path to No 10 with two potential rivals for the Labour leadership considering their next moves. James O'Brien explains why he is not more excited for this Labour leadership battle. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #jamesobrien #andyburnham #keirstarmer #news #politics #ukpolitics #uknews #debate #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Good morning! It's three minutes after ten and you're listening to James O'Brien on LBC
0:05
Would you like a little... Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I think we're going to have to interrupt this programme because Nigel Farage is due to make an emergency address
0:13
about the conviction of the ex-DUP leader Geoffrey Donaldson on 18 child sexual offence
0:21
Oh no, I'm terribly sorry. He's white. So we won't be getting that emergency address after all
0:26
Just a little bit of a snafu there in the communications here at LBC Towers
0:32
I don't imagine he will mention it at all. But for people who care about such things, a former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
0:39
who, of course, propped up Theresa May's government and subsequently went into a sort of form of pact
0:45
with whatever Farage's party was called at the time, showed no visible emotion yesterday
0:50
after a jury at Nuri Crown Court convicted him of rape, indecent assault and gross indecency
0:56
against two victims between 1985 and 2008. I mean, one never wants to see riots or civil disobedience on our streets, ever, actually
1:12
Not in the current political climate, I suppose, that if the fascists were in charge
1:16
then many people would feel they had little choice but to take up their cudgels
1:20
But to riot over crimes that had absolutely nothing to do with the people that you're trying to hurt and to say nothing or have nothing to contribute to a conversation about one of the most senior politicians in the north of Ireland being a paedophile rapist just seems a little strange and illustrative perhaps of a deeper, darker truth
1:42
But anyway, as I said, no emergency address from Nigel Farage. Directly going against the wishes of any of the victims' families
1:52
because on this occasion, the rapist, the paedophile rapist, no less, is a very right-wing elderly white man
2:01
Two-tier outrage, perhaps. Five minutes after ten is the time. Can I tell you a secret
2:09
Are you interested in a little glimpse of what goes on in the murky depths of my mind
2:15
I'd like to do a phone-in towards the end of the show today that is linked to the heat
2:21
And I've just got this fond memory of once having a brilliant phone-in
2:26
about what the worst job is to do when things are getting this hot
2:31
Do you remember that, Keith? We did, didn't we? But it only happened once. It was like lightning striking once
2:37
and I think the winner was a bloke in a bell suit
2:41
Is that what they're called? Like, not a wetsuit, but a sort of diving suit
2:44
but the big ones. And he was welding something underwater. I don't... I mean, my memory's not what it was
2:52
He was welding... Because the obvious answer, I think, is insulating roofs
2:57
If you're in an attic today putting down insulation, do you know that there are laws governing the temperatures
3:03
at which cattle can be transported by roads, but there are no laws governing the temperature in the classroom
3:09
that your children may be compelled to attend today. Many schools, of course, are closing
3:17
but I'm just giving you a heads up on that because I really want to have a crack at it
3:21
towards the end of the programme. Something linked to the heat. But I've got a feeling it only really worked once, that topic
3:29
Or maybe it wasn't hot enough all the other times we did it. Maybe it needs to be really, really hot
3:34
for me to get you to focus your mind on the question of how hot it is
3:41
I'm going to pepper today's programme because it is a wonderful day
3:45
Keith, do we have any rousing music? Perhaps the Ode to Joy. That seems to be topical at the moment
3:50
Do you know the bloke that was playing the Ode to Joy yesterday, Steve Bray, blamed it on me
3:56
Listen, I try not to be too self-referential. I don't often succeed, but I get blamed for everything in this country
4:02
I get blamed for Brexit being bad. I get blamed for the music playing out in Downing Street yesterday
4:10
Well, Kirsten, he literally blamed it on me by name. Eleanor couldn't wait to tell me when I got into work this morning
4:14
all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, getting ready to sit down with Michel Barnier, former French Prime Minister and Brexit negotiator
4:20
for a quick chat. I invited him to my Brexit party. He's the only one that turned up
4:24
And that was because he didn't understand the invitation. I don't know where all the parties are
4:28
I thought we would be having street parties today. I thought the breakfast show would be sort of broadcasting live from Sunderland or something like that
4:35
Where's all the celebrations for Brexit now that we can all agree that it's all going so brilliantly
4:40
Absolutely nothing Damp squibs galore So I going to pepper today programme with some of the best calls I took in the years immediately after Brexit
4:50
Because someone's got to celebrate, right? Someone's got to have a party
4:55
Where's Jamie Vardy when you need him? And I've only got five on my list
5:00
Eleanor's not very pleased with me for suggesting that we may not have the best ones on our list
5:04
They may be the best ones. I can't remember what was going on in 2016 any more than you can
5:08
But if you've got any special requests for the classic call to this programme from some furiously hard of thinking Brexit supporter, because the poor souls don't ring me anymore
5:20
I miss you guys. I miss you guys. We should get the band back together. Seriously, ring me up
5:25
Tell me about all those laws that you can't wait not to have to obey anymore
5:31
Tell me about all the exciting improvements to your life. Just give me a call. Why don't you ring any? You never write. You never phone
5:37
Anyway, if you've got a particular favourite that you'd like to nominate
5:44
then you can do so by texting 84850 or whatsapping 03456060973. It would help if you could give us a date, but that's probably quite a big ask
5:54
We should be able to find it, shouldn't we? Just with a few details, like the thing that you remember most about it
6:01
034560... No, hang on. That's the WhatsApp, anyway. That's the WhatsApp. a few people claiming they can beat the loft insulation guys
6:09
if we were to turn our attention later to the programme to the question of who's got the worst job today
6:14
so I'm not doing that thing where I am reluctant to talk about
6:18
what I've decided we have to talk about in the first hour of the programme so I go around the houses before I actually get there
6:24
the weirdest thing or one of the weirdest things about this job
6:29
was, is, always will be the fact that I get excited about the news
6:37
Even when it's news that in my unprofessional life, in my civilian life, in my family life
6:43
I find very dispiriting. Even on days like this, ten years ago
6:48
when the referendum result was in or imminent, I couldn't wait to get to work to talk to you
6:54
If somebody obviously terrible becomes Prime Minister, like Boris Johnson, I can't wait to get to work
7:00
I know this is crushingly disappointing for anybody who sort of messages me on mornings like that
7:07
to say, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, I'm drinking your salty tears. And yes, you know, I'll be very sad off air
7:13
Of course I will, but on air, there are no better days than days when the news is big and the news is juicy
7:20
And that is what we do together, I think, in some ways. Those are the most memorable times that we spend together
7:27
And this is one of those times. I just, I'm not entirely sure that it feels like it at the moment
7:37
I'm not entirely sure that it feels like a momentous moment in UK political history
7:44
And yet it is. Someone told me a story yesterday. I can't tell you where I was yesterday because you wouldn't believe me
7:51
But somebody told me a story yesterday about, and I've forgotten it, unfortunately
7:55
it was about the number of prime ministers we had before the invention of the smartphone
8:04
versus the number of prime ministers we have had after the invention of the smartphone
8:09
the problem is i can't remember what the starting line was do you see what i mean i can't remember
8:13
where you count from but you can and there is an extraordinary gulf between the number of years
8:20
prior to us having smartphones and the number of prime ministers we had in that period
8:25
and the number of prime ministers that we had after the invention of the smartphone
8:31
And it did sort of occur to me that perhaps we are becoming fatigued with the flux
8:41
We have, and I have to be careful how I say this, I certainly have to make sure I've got my teeth in
8:45
we are all perhaps suffering from flux fatigue. my first band was no stop it flux fatigue i.e. what feels extraordinary when it happens very rarely
9:00
does not feel extraordinary when it happens very often i mean there's an ineluctable logic to that
9:06
isn't there there's an utter inevitability to that even if it's like a volcano erupting
9:10
if it erupts every other tuesday it's going to be a lot less momentous than if it erupts once
9:15
every hundred years so we established yesterday that um what's his chops ted heath was the last
9:22
prime minister to both enter and leave downing street as a consequence of a general election that mad because because he entered Downing Street in 1970 and left in 1974
9:37
Every Prime Minister subsequently has either arrived as a consequence of an internal battle or a transition of power
9:48
or left as a consequence of an internal battle or a transition of power
9:53
I don't even think we've got any deaths on that list, have we, of prime ministers that passed away
9:58
In office, not since 1970, obviously. So they have either resigned, as Keir Starmer did yesterday, or they have always resigned
10:07
or they entered as a consequence of their predecessor's resignation. So you might have thought John Major was on that list, but he's not
10:15
because John Major entered Parliament, entered Downing Street as a consequence of Margaret Thatcher's resignation
10:20
He then went on to both win and lose a general election. But that's not the measure. That's not the metric
10:25
The metric is, very simply, that he both entered, or she both entered and left Downing Street
10:32
as a consequence of a general election. And it put me off my stride a bit yesterday when we worked that out
10:40
Because it sort of made me think, well, perhaps things aren't that extraordinary
10:44
But of course they are. Because of that other little nugget that I shared with you
10:49
The idea that if you were born on the right day in 1979, you could reach your 11th birthday having only known one prime minister
10:57
Whereas if you were born on the right day in 2006, you could reach your 11th birthday having known seven
11:03
by the time Burnham takes up, or whoever, because that's actually the first phone-in we're going to have
11:08
although you'd have done very well to have worked that out for yourself so far
11:13
It's not as if it's quarter past ten already or anything, and I haven't even told you what the phone-in is
11:16
That would be absolutely remiss and profoundly unprofessional. And that's the point, is that, yes
11:23
OK, the door may revolve, but it revolves incredibly slowly. Prime Ministers may be replaced at the whim of their own party
11:31
as opposed to the electorate, but it happens prior to 2016, certainly prior to 2019
11:37
It happens quite rarely. It is a moment, it is, if you like
11:42
a man-bites-dog moment of politics. And I just wonder whether it is becoming
11:49
a little bit dog-bites-man. that's not the phone. Well, I don't think that's the phone in
11:58
It's just not extraordinary anymore. It's not remarkable. I watch political journalists almost craving it
12:06
responding to it almost like a fix to which they have become addicted during the Brexit years
12:12
which I suppose technically we're still in, although the kind of people that used to use the phrase
12:16
Trump derangement syndrome, thinking that it was funny and clever, are probably still insisting
12:21
that we shouldn't be talking about Brexit anymore. even though it's the most significant reason, I think
12:25
for almost all of our ills and the ones that it didn't cause, it certainly made worse, as any fool know
12:31
But you have to reflect upon the amount of time that passed between prime ministers
12:37
not upon the fact that being removed is almost always, or more often than not
12:43
is a consequence of resignation rather than electoral defeat. It's the speed with which the door revolves now
12:50
It's the speed with which the door revolves that I find dispiriting
12:57
and with which I think I may have become fatigued. I don't think it's Andy Burnham's fault
13:03
that I'm not feeling that frisson of engagement that I would expect to feel on a morning like this
13:09
coming on air the day after a prime ministerial resignation, having a look, running the rule over what is likely to happen next
13:16
That's really exciting, usually. it's really exciting usually is it is it because we're all a bit hot is it because the football's
13:25
on is it because we were kind of expecting last week on people who actually bother putting together
13:31
programs um ahead of schedule which to be honest isn't our greatest strength on this program but
13:37
we did today we got some calls ready we thought we'd be talking about brexit i sat down for a
13:41
croissant with michelle barnier earlier and uh had a fast what a dignified man he is i wonder what
13:47
our equivalent would be. Hard to think, really. Is it just me? Or do you have a touch of flux
13:54
fatigue as well? Anyway, the question is this. I tried to ask you this yesterday, but I don't
14:01
really think you were in the mood. The simple question, really, of whether or not or what you
14:08
want The idea of Burnham being installed without challenge There not going to be a general election Fair play everybody can call for one Everybody else called for one when Johnson was handing over to Truss
14:21
and when Truss was handing over to Sunak. It's what you do. When the other lot resign, you call for a general election
14:27
But no one ever calls one. No one ever really expects one. No one did it
14:31
Gordon Brown didn't do it and he probably should have done. Liz Truss didn't do it
14:35
And she almost certainly wouldn't have done even if she'd lasted more than five minutes
14:39
So we hand over power a succession a peaceful passage of power and this is a question of national interest so
14:49
i want you to take your scarf off all right i don't i don't think that if you're going to answer
14:54
this question in the style of a badenoc or a farage i don't think it's very interesting to
14:58
anybody because of course you were not clamoring for general elections when it was your lot that
15:03
were um just essentially handing over the car keys to to somebody else so whether there'd been
15:08
a leadership battle or not. We mentioned it. May gave the keys to Johnson, who didn't call an election
15:14
Johnson gave the keys to Truss, who didn't call an election. Truss gave the keys to Sunak, who didn't call an election
15:20
And Starmer is giving the keys to either Burnham or somebody else without calling an election
15:25
So you see what I mean about footballification. If you take your scarf off, you can see that all very, very clearly
15:30
and you can state it. There will be tweets galore from Labour figures
15:34
demanding that there's a general election when Trust took over from Johnson or when Sunak took over from Trust
15:39
But they all know it's not going to happen. And to be honest, I think it's probably poor journalism
15:43
to pretend that you don't understand that. Everybody, I'm not going to patronise you or condescend
15:48
by pretending that I don't understand that or indeed that you're too stupid to understand it yourself
15:54
I will leave the belief that you're stupid to people like Mr Farage
16:00
What do you want? And this is a really important question. This is where my flux fatigue will be abating
16:10
because you will say something thoughtful and intelligent to me, and it will get my little grey cells whirring
16:17
and I will start thinking about it in a way that reminds me why I find these moments exciting
16:22
Do you see what I mean? So, in a way, after all the years that I've come to your rescue
16:27
at 10 o'clock in the morning, and managed to invest you and inject you with a frisson of excitement
16:32
at the current affairs smorgasbord being laid out before us, Today, I'm asking you in a way to do it for me, to make this question really, really interesting
16:43
Because it is important, and what is important should be interesting. And when the important is not interesting, it's the fault of the observer
16:52
It's my fault that I'm not more excited by this question. And I want you to both be excited by it, and I want you, and please don't clip this up inappropriately, I want you to excite me
17:03
it feels wrong something about it feels at this point in proceedings
17:10
a bit wrong the idea that Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister unchallenged
17:17
despite not even having been in Parliament until two o'clock half past two yesterday
17:24
something about that feels a bit rum to me I could be wrong
17:29
but I'm being honest and as I read about the possibility of some senior figures
17:38
throwing their hat into the ring, I find myself, and forgive me for this because I'm not even joking
17:43
I find myself 52-48% thinking I wish they would, I hope they do
17:48
I would like to see some sort of contest because I would like to see the stalls set out
17:54
and even if Burnham were to romp home, I would then have a little bit more knowledge
17:59
of some of the other players in his party, some of the other runners and riders about whom I don't currently know an awful lot
18:05
like, for example, Darren Jones, who I understand has not ruled out a challenge
18:10
like, for example, Al Carnes, who is, it is reported this morning, weighing up whether to run
18:16
I wouldn't mind seeing Angela Rayner have a crack, but I think that's probably unlikely
18:20
As you know, I'm a big admirer of Dan Jarvis. So 03456060973 is the number you need to tell me
18:29
And remember, there's an argument for saying, no, God, no, no, no, no, let's have a coronation
18:34
The last thing we need is to air our dirty laundry in public or to invite into Nissan warfare
18:40
So what is your reason for wanting or not wanting a coronation
18:48
Coronation or contest? 03456060973. And because my introduction has been a little bit round the houses
18:56
I can state with some confidence that if you hit the numbers now, you will get through
#news