Delusional Starmer doubles down as Burnham backpedals on Brexit
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Despite the Makerfield by-election not even having been officially announced, and despite the fact Andy Burnham is not yet officially standing, the campaign has begun and Labour figures are already kicking lumps out of each other.
In a soft launch of his own leadership campaign,Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, announced he wanted Britain to rejoin the EU. Mr Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has now backtracked on his support for the idea two days after saying that “one day” Britain should indeed be a part of the bloc again. Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, is pretending nothing is happening.
Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley speak to Matt Goodwin, Reform’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, who says this is an absolute gift for his party. He says that Labour is “self-indulgent and self-absorbed” with “no serious interest in its heartlands” and is heading for electoral disaster in Makerfield.
We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X
► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor
Producer: Georgia Coan
Social Media Producer: Conor Clark
Senior Producer: John Cadigan
Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman
Video Producer: Will Walters
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle
Editor: Camilla Tominey
Highlights
- Matt Goodwin says Labour are "self-indulgent and self-absorbed"
- The Makerfield by-election is on a knife-edge for Reform
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.8 | It's the most important by-election either of us can remember. |
| 0:13.5 | Makerfield gets to pick a PM. |
| 0:15.9 | Andy Burnham and West Streeting are already tearing lumps out of each other over the EU, |
| 0:20.5 | and Kirstama, |
| 0:22.2 | as ever, is digging in. |
| 0:24.0 | As reforms, Matt Goodwin tells us, it is a gift from heaven for Nigel Farage. |
| 0:29.5 | Welcome to the Daily Team with me, Camilla Tomini, and me, Tim Stanley. |
| 0:32.9 | Thank you. Tim, I've finally emerged from my anaesthetic-induced fog. |
| 0:49.8 | I had a tricky weekend. |
| 0:51.8 | Right. |
| 0:52.8 | I tried to play tennis on Saturday. It went very badly wrong. At one point between sets, I wondered if I could just lie down on the court. My opponent was like, are you all right? I said, I think I'm still suffering the effects of very serious fentanyl drugs. Yes. I tried to get through my GB News show, went okay, then had to rest again. And today I feel back to normal. Right. When you were doing the show, did you think you sounded like Oscar Wilde? Full of wit and wisdom and actually on air, it was la la la la la. I think I was just slurring in talking complete nonsense, but some might say no change there. And you've revealed in your column that you've made a little discovery about your furry friend Bertie. |
| 1:29.7 | My dog is deaf. |
| 1:31.7 | And I was mortified because I hadn't noticed. |
| 1:34.5 | I think his hearing has been declining for about six months. |
| 1:37.2 | And the penny dropped a few nights ago when I came home and walked in the front room. |
| 1:41.7 | And he just didn't know I was there. |
| 1:43.7 | So I did some tests, some clinical trials, which include waving his box of biscuits behind |
| 1:49.6 | his ear and he didn't respond. |
| 1:52.4 | And the next day I took him to the lovely people who look after him when I'm at work and |
| 1:56.4 | I said, I'm concerned that Bertie's hearing is going and they said, oh, he's deaf. Didn't you know? |
| 2:02.9 | They thought I knew. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 11 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Telegraph, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Telegraph and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.