Is it risky for the Chancellor to attack Trump?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Middle East conflict raged on during our Easter break and George Osborne comes back to us with news from Washington and word from friends in high places, like incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. He and Ed Balls discuss the failed peace talks from George’s other mate, JD Vance, and where things go from here.
They then weigh in on the UK’s shifting tone towards the Trump administration, and why they’re becoming more critical. It’s aiding them for now, but will it come back to bite them? The ongoing defence spending dilemma also rears its head with Labour peer George Robertson openly critcising the Government. The pair predict this will come to be the biggest challenge for Rachel Reeves and the Treasury in this year’s budget.
Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund forecast that Britain would be one of the countries worst hit by the Iran war. Ed explains why he disagrees with this assessment, and how the Bank of England can avoid debilitating inflation. George cautions that Reeves is in a tough spot, and faces some unpopular choices should the IMF’s forecast come to fruition.
Finally, George sheds some light on emerging cybersecurity threats particularly Anthropic’s Mythos model. Alarms are ringing in Washington over this model, with the new threats of AI on defence and security becoming clear. George highlights the risk and opportunity inherent in these technological innovations, and they call for regulation as these models become more and more advanced.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is political currency with Ed Balls and George Osbourne. |
| 0:41.1 | So we are in our studio in Hoxton back together after two weeks off, although not off for the podcast, because we had our special Libya 2011 series, which I think has gone down well. |
| 0:43.7 | Yes, I've got also good reports about it. |
| 0:47.5 | And I noticed when we come back to our studio, someone has taken our tablecloth. |
| 0:48.3 | Have you noticed this? |
| 0:51.0 | We used to have a bright yellow tablecloth on this. |
| 0:53.3 | Now we've got a nice kind of wooden thing. |
| 1:11.4 | I don't think that's related to our Libya special episode. No, no, I just think things have changed since we've been away. Things change. Things stay the same. How's your week been? Well, so back in the GMB studio after a couple of weeks off, we had a really good shows this week. But actually I had one of those moments. I think you'll appreciate this. |
| 1:18.1 | Tuesday, a funeral for Phil Willis, Labor MP and the Immigration Minister, the guy who famously had the confrontation with Joanna Lumley about the Gurkhas when he was the immigration |
| 1:22.5 | minister. But he had brain cancer, just died beginning of this year. |
| 1:28.0 | His kids are the same age as ours. |
| 1:30.3 | They all grew up together. |
| 1:31.3 | One of those hugely poignant moments, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both spoke at the funeral in St. Margaret's Church. |
| 1:38.3 | He was somebody, for complicated reasons, I don't think he ever had the credit he deserved in his lifetime, but in his passing, the obituaries, those speeches, you know, the work he did in the 80s, tackling anti-Semitism through the National Union of students, the first people there, and then in the preparations for Tony Blair and then as a minister, the speeches by his sons, Jeddened Josh, were, I mean, so powerful. And our three kids sat there in the church with us and, you know. Everyone was in tears, yeah. Everyone was in tears. But, you know, Phil Willis, what a guy. Yeah, I remember him matchy and always had a very friendly relationship to him and I'm very sorry to hear he's passed, and much love to the family. His wife, Tracy, did a brilliant job organizing this funeral. And in life, you always wonder, you know, in my death, how will it be? And you'll never know. But if Phil could know, he'd be so proud. I did have a job in my early 20s of casting my eye over pre-written obituaries of famous people. They were occasionally passed to me by the times and I was asked to comment on them. So I did see other people's obituaries before they died. I used to go around and say, I've just read your obituary. The big mistake as an obituary writer is ever to show it to the person when it's pre-written before they died |
| 2:51.3 | because that gets you into deep deep hot water oh my goodness how about you i've been in |
| 2:55.5 | washington i've had a really interesting few days in washington i just got back seeing important |
| 2:59.5 | people seeing some of my friends in high places i think it's about as much as i can say |
| 3:05.5 | well so look to decode that for our listeners, that |
| 3:09.8 | means J.D. Bance, the vice president, I am sure. And let's be honest, J.D., he's had a complicated |
| 3:14.9 | week, talks in Pakistan to solve the war, which I don't think he ever agreed with in the first |
| 3:20.2 | place, not gone so well. And his endorsement of Victor Orban, the Hungarian leader, |
| 3:25.9 | pretty much the night before he lost his election. I mean, to see an American political leader |
... |
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