Is Tony Blair the Logan Roy of Britain?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The battle for Makerfield is on, so this week Ed Balls and George Osborne dig into this consequential by-election’s frontrunners. Andy Burnham is radical in tone, but are his policies more conservative when you dig in? Reform’s Robert Kenyon has lost his shine as sexist and remain leaning views have been dug up but a spokesperson for the party said they "fully back" him and added that the "comments were made before he was in politics". The fringe right party Restore has picked up momentum, will this damage Nigel Farage’s grip on the right of British politics?
Tony Blair’s scathing essay on the state of British politics has ignited a new debate in the Labour leadership dilemma, but is this the argument for the moment? Ed agrees with the diagnosis, but thinks Blair is stuck in 2006 and not meeting the moment for 2026. George argues the case for Blair, citing the inability of governments to tackle the major issues he highlights.
Finally, the pair zero in on one issue that may define a Burnham premiership: social care. As health secretary Burnham tried to forge a national care service, but 16 years on no progress has been made in this area. Why are successive governments stunted on this? Are unwanted tax rises the only solution? Could this be the issue that undoes the King of the North should he make it to Downing Street?
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello podcast listener. |
| 0:01.6 | Hello you. |
| 0:02.4 | It's me, Greg James. |
| 0:03.8 | And me, Alice Levine. |
| 0:05.3 | Now, look, I know that you're very much enjoying this podcast that you're listening to. |
| 0:10.1 | And we're sorry to interrupt. We really are. |
| 0:12.4 | And it genuinely might not be our place to say, but is it time to try something new? |
| 0:17.9 | We would like to steal you for our new podcast. It's called Bad Chat. And it sounds a bit |
| 0:22.4 | like this. This one goes out to the walkers and the talkers and the late night. Stalkers. |
| 0:27.1 | Maybe not that one. Alice is my best friend. I am not Alice's best friend. Do you know that |
| 0:32.4 | horses' legs are their fingers? That is a bit of bad chat. From me, Greg James. |
| 0:38.6 | And me, famously, Alice Levine. |
| 0:40.6 | Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:29.7 | Music This is political currency with Ed Come here, George? Yes. Well, you say, week. Parliament is not sitting. We've both spent a bit of time in sunnier climbs this week, |
| 1:35.1 | haven't we, George? Yes. Well, you say sunnier climbs. Actually, I went to Washington, |
| 1:40.2 | where it was pouring with rain the entire time I was there. But I went for a flying visit with my four-year-old son Bo to go to the swearing in of Kevin Warsh as chair of the |
| 1:47.6 | Federal Reserve at the White House. We've talked about him before on the podcast. He is the godfather |
| 1:53.2 | to Bo. It wasn't completely random that I took my four-year-old on this trip. But when we got the |
| 1:58.6 | invite with 48 hours notice, literally I got in my inbox, |
| 2:02.8 | like the President of the United States invites you to the White House. |
| 2:05.3 | My first instinct was, well, I can't do that. |
| 2:07.2 | And then I was like, no, you've got to do something like that. |
... |
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