EMQs: What's your most embarrassing moment as a politician?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What’s the most embarrassing moment you’ve ever had caught on camera? Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid asks George and Ed to walk down an excruciating memory lane. And she puts a question from ChatGPT to them, in light of George’s new gig. But which question is better?
George reveals William Hague’s incredible method for making sure meetings run on time and Ed helps a Gold listener finally understand the joke at the front of the show? Why on earth would George think he was on the Titanic?
A listener shares their experience as a Jewish person in the UK, after the attack on Bondi Beach.
And, Nick Thomas-Symonds, cabinet member and famed biographer of Harold Wilson compliments George on his impression of the former Prime Minister - though makes a slight correction. He wants to know when Ed and George think the leaders they served were most resilient.
Finally - seeing as it’s nearly Christmas - Ed and George muse on where Santa does his Christmas shopping…
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And we love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Paige Reynolds and Eve Jones
Video Editor: Maha Al-Badrawi
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Chancellor of the Exchequer. |
| 0:02.0 | Getting a lesson from the Shadow Chancellor in how to balance the books, |
| 0:05.0 | it's like getting a lesson from Dracula and how to look after a blood back. |
| 0:08.0 | Ed Balls. |
| 0:10.0 | As steady as she goes, budget. |
| 0:13.0 | What kind of ship does he think he's on, the Titanic? |
| 0:16.0 | Themary Celeste. |
| 0:17.0 | Welcome to EMQs from Political Currency. |
| 0:20.0 | With Ed Balls and George Osborne. |
| 0:26.5 | So hello and welcome to EMQ's ex-ministers questions. |
| 0:31.0 | Christmas is almost here. |
| 0:33.6 | It's last-minute Christmas shopping time. |
| 0:36.9 | I love going to Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve because I like the buzz and the challenge of last minute decision making. |
| 0:44.5 | Are you a late Christmas shopper? |
| 0:45.8 | Well, not as late as you. |
| 0:47.0 | That sounds a bit like supermarket sweep, to be honestly, running through the store. |
| 0:51.5 | No, I've basically done my Christmas shopping, so it's all... |
| 0:55.2 | You have not. Yeah. Oh, mine. Quite a lot. I haven't done any of mine yet, but that is, |
| 1:01.0 | that is, that's ridiculous. Oh, but before we get on to EMQ's, there's a bit of confusion |
| 1:05.4 | about your failure to remember who your politician of the year was, 2025, but producer |
| 1:09.5 | Eddie has looked it up and I'm, |
| 1:11.2 | I'm afraid George, it's good to be accountable and maybe there was some deep logic to this |
... |
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