Did Farage go too far or score political points this week?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
British politics has been dominated this week by the horrifying murder of student Henry Novak and the political storm that followed the release of police bodycam footage. Ed Balls and George Osborne examine the tragedy, the questions it raises around “two-tier policing” and the political firestorm it has ignited.
The pair analyse the contrasting responses from Nigel Farage, Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. Has Farage gone too far in his ‘emergency address to the nation’ in which he called for “cold rage”. Is this the path for someone who wants to be PM or a return to the political margins? And while Badenoch has found her strongest footing on such cultural issues, can the Conservatives afford to focus on them when the economy remains the central battleground?
They then turn to the Makerfield by-election, where Andy Burnham is navigating a local contest and a national movement. As questions grow about his leadership ambitions, can he campaign as both constituency candidate and potential prime minister? And what do the latest Mandelson files reveal about the state of Labour's government and the pressure building on Starmer?
Finally, Ed and George take a brief look at Germany where Chancellor Friedrich Merz is struggling in the polls just a year into office. With a popular regional leader already being discussed as a successor, are there lessons for Britain from Berlin's political troubles?
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Research: Sam Burton
Production: Sarah Beaumont & Nasreen Arain
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Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Political Coancy with Ed Bulls and George Osborne. |
| 0:40.0 | So it's a Thursday morning and of course, George Osborne has just landed at Heathrow from another, I mean, it's almost a weekly transatlantic flight as far as I can see, and just landed from America? Yes, I've just come back from Washington, a very sunny |
| 0:46.2 | Washington. It was very rainy when I was there about 10 days ago. And I was meeting various |
| 0:51.2 | congressional people, members of Congress, senators, had a pretty |
| 0:55.8 | splendid lunch in the Senate dining room, which was fun. |
| 1:00.0 | But they're all talking about an English guy. |
| 1:04.1 | Or they were at least all asking me about an English guy. |
| 1:07.1 | Steve Hilton. |
| 1:08.6 | Because while I was there, the results or the early results from the California |
| 1:13.1 | primary came through, the primary to choose the two people who are going to be on the ballot |
| 1:18.3 | paper in California this autumn to be the governor of California. And it looks like Steve has come |
| 1:23.4 | out top. And everyone was asking me, like, tell me about this guy. So he's, he's, |
| 1:29.4 | you know, obviously political aficionados in America had already sort of spotted. He was running. |
| 1:34.0 | But this was the moment he broke through into the sort of broader Washington, you know, |
| 1:40.4 | Beltway consciousness. Although as Katie Balls of the Times was reporting from, I think she was at the CPAC conference, |
| 1:50.4 | everybody there is convinced that Rupert Lowe is about to be the next prime minister, |
| 1:55.7 | because if you watch X and that's where you get your politics from, |
| 1:59.8 | the Elon Musk algorithm makes restore, |
| 2:02.5 | you know, the dominant figure of British politics these days. But to be fair to Steve Hilton, |
| 2:08.2 | Steve's your real note, said. Exactly, he is top, he is top. And although the question is, |
| 2:14.4 | I mean, look, Donald Trump has popped up this morning having endorsed Steve Hilton to say that it takes so long to count all these postal ballots because this is another election |
| 2:23.3 | which has been fixed by the Democrats. It's all a con. But it's a great achievement for Steve Hilton |
... |
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