Election announcement special
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called an election on July 4th. But why did he choose today to do it and what can we expect in the coming weeks?
Amol and Nick consider the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s calculation on an announcement that took both of them by surprise.
Episodes of The Today Podcast usually land on Thursdays. Subscribe on BBC Sounds to get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme. If you would like a question answering, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producers are Hatty Nash and Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Daffyd Evans.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Right, it's happening. |
| 0:06.7 | July the 4th, a general election here in the United Kingdom. |
| 0:10.2 | Boy, that took me by surprise. |
| 0:12.5 | It pretty much took everybody I know by surprise. |
| 0:15.4 | Just how much I might confess a bit later on. |
| 0:19.3 | This is in effect an emergency podcast, |
| 0:21.6 | so we're going to ask a few and answer a few key questions. |
| 0:24.8 | Why now? |
| 0:25.5 | And what are the arguments going to be in the coming campaign? |
| 0:28.1 | Yeah, we'll talk about the battle of the narratives that began already |
| 0:31.5 | with those two statements, one outside Downing Street, |
| 0:35.0 | one by the man who wants to move into Downing Street. |
| 0:39.5 | Before we do, though, let's just remember one thing. |
| 0:42.9 | You may think you know what's going to happen. |
| 0:45.6 | You don't. |
| 0:46.6 | What we do know is that in my adult lifetime, only three times has there been a change of government. |
| 0:53.8 | Thatcher, Blair and Cameron, |
| 0:56.8 | if it is to happen this year, |
| 0:58.5 | if it is to happen on July 4th, |
| 1:00.9 | this is a very big moment indeed. |
| 1:02.9 | This is the Today Podcast election announcement special. |
... |
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