Reform and Farage smears only make the Party stronger
Planet Normal
Louisa Wells
4.7 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Co-Pilots Pearson and Halligan tackle a week of political and economic madness. Starmer is dismissed as a "caretaker Prime Minister" with a weak mandate, having been supported by only 20% of the electorate.
Your hosts dissect Chancellor Rachel Reeves' job tax hike and her "benefits street Budget" which funds the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap by ‘punishing 340,000 working people’ with frozen tax thresholds.
They confront the escalating migration crisis, discussing the rise of illegal arrivals and the national emergency posed by migrants linked to attacks on women.
Meanwhile Reform stowaway Zia Yusuf tells the co-pilots why the smear campaign against Party leader, Nigel Farage, is one of the most ‘ coordinated smear campaigns. I can remember in my lifetime’...
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor |
Read Allison ‘A comeback? What planet is vile Huw Edwards living on?’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/09/huw-edwards-allison-pearson-comeback/ |
Read Allison ‘Is this the scandal that will finally kill Strictly?’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2025/12/10/scandal-finally-kill-strictly-allison-pearson/ |
Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |
Read Liam ‘The ghost of economic meltdown hangs over this festive season’:
Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |
Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |
Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |
Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |
For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.0 | Rachel Reeves as well this week appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, |
| 0:15.6 | boldly claiming that my budget did not break any manifesto pledges. |
| 0:22.1 | Well, yeah, right. |
| 0:23.2 | Four. |
| 0:30.0 | The ghost of economic gloom hangs over this festive period. |
| 0:30.9 | Three. |
| 0:35.6 | No, he's a child. He's the same age as my eldest child. I can't possibly. |
| 0:41.9 | It's a highly coordinated smear campaign. One of the most coordinated smear campaigns. |
| 0:44.6 | I can remember in my lifetime in this country, actually. |
| 0:45.4 | One. |
| 0:50.2 | We have left off. |
| 0:54.7 | Welcome once again to Planet Normal, the Telegraph podcast with Alison Pearson. |
| 0:55.4 | Hello. |
| 0:57.4 | And me, Liam Halligan. |
| 1:01.1 | Kirstama's now just a caretaker Prime Minister. |
| 1:04.7 | That's what some ministers are anonymously telling newspapers. |
| 1:12.3 | And it was the theme used by Kemi Babnock when the Tory leader confronted Stama in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday. Yes, it was only in July 24 that Stama's party won a stonking |
| 1:19.7 | 170-odd seat majority at the last general election. But Labour took just 33% of the vote on a historically low 60% turnout. |
| 1:31.0 | Sastama's party has only ever been supported by 20% of the electorate, far from a strong |
| 1:37.2 | democratic mandate. And since they've been in office, Labour's presided over economic slowdown |
| 1:43.2 | and rising government borrowing costs, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Louisa Wells, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Louisa Wells and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.