Former UK Lord Chancellor - Lord Falconer
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
British politics is in full-on meltdown mode. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lost a series of key votes on Brexit, AND his parliamentary majority. He’s now seeking a general election in mid-October to let British voters decide whether Brexit should happen, come what may, at the end of next month. But will the Labour opposition agree to a snap poll? Stephen Sackur interviews former Labour cabinet minister Lord Falconer. Is Labour in any fit state to win an election amid Britain’s Brexit chaos?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.8 | This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker. |
| 0:06.6 | Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. |
| 0:09.3 | I do hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:10.8 | Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service, with me, Stephen Sacker. |
| 0:15.1 | My guest today was one of Tony Blair's closest friends and political allies. |
| 0:24.4 | Charlie, Lord Faulkner, was a barrister who became Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. But that, of course, was in a different |
| 0:29.7 | political age. Labor has been out of power for nine years. And for the last three years, |
| 0:35.1 | the country's been in the throes of a protracted political crisis, |
| 0:39.3 | triggered by the referendum decision to leave the European Union. Failure to deliver Brexit |
| 0:46.4 | killed off the premiership of Theresa May. And now her successor, Boris Johnson, is attempting to force a |
| 0:53.7 | resolution. He says Brexit will happen on October |
| 0:57.2 | the 31st deal or no deal. However, the British Parliament has other ideas, legislating to block a |
| 1:04.0 | no-deal Brexit, prompting the PM to demand a snap election. But even that can't be delivered |
| 1:10.5 | without the agreement of the opposition. |
| 1:13.7 | So what will Labor do? Is the party led by Jeremy Corbyn in any fit state to win an election? |
| 1:21.9 | Well, Lord Faulkner joins me now. Thank you. Prime Minister Boris Johnson right now is intent on ending the protracted |
| 1:30.5 | Brexit turmoil crisis, call it what you will, in Westminster. And your party, the Labour Party, |
| 1:37.6 | appears to be intent on drawing out, prolonging that crisis. Why? Well, I think the conflict between Boris, the Prime Minister |
| 1:46.5 | and Jeremy the leave of the opposition, is that before there is any election, the Labour Party is |
| 1:54.0 | keen to secure that there cannot be a crashing out of the European Union with no deal. Hence, |
| 2:04.5 | the need not just for this bill that is currently going through Parliament that requires the Prime Minister to ask for an extension, |
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