What If: George was PM during Covid?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In another special ‘What If’ edition of EMQs George Osborne and Ed Balls consider the would be worlds and outcomes, if just one historical event went another way. In a more theoretical ‘What If’ they consider what would happen if MPs couldn’t abstain and had to vote aye or nay on every bill. Ed believes this could lead to a breakdown in our system, while George thinks it could reprimand a mistake made by the recent Tory governments.
An anonymous question from someone in government poses a radical change to our recent history: What if Trump became a unifying anti-gun and violence figure after the attempted assassination in 2024? This would have had massive implications for our current world, but would it be believable? George is sceptical, while Ed wonders if Trump would have gone on to a greater landslide victory or if the MAGA movement would have turned on him.
Finally, a pair of EU related ‘What Ifs’. Had the Brexit results been flipped, who leads the country into 2020 and the pandemic? George? David Cameron? Or is it still Boris Johnson? Also, what if the Maastricht or Lisbon treaties had been put to the country as referendums? Would Brexit still have happened? Would we still be in the EU? Would it have saved or ended the premierships of John Major and Tony Blair?
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
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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 and how to balance the books, |
| 0:05.0 | it's like getting a lesson from Dracula and how to look after a blood pack. |
| 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. |
| 0:27.1 | So hello and welcome to EMQ's ex-minister's questions. |
| 0:31.8 | This is a special what-if EMQs coming out the weekend after Easter. |
| 0:38.0 | So we hope you had a very restful Easter break and a break from Parliament, |
| 0:42.7 | which has also been on recess. |
| 0:44.7 | And if you're following Ed's advice, |
| 0:46.6 | you've stolen all the chocolates from your kids that they didn't eat on the day |
| 0:51.5 | and eating them yourself. |
| 0:52.9 | I seem to remember it was the advice on one of our earlier episodes. |
| 0:55.8 | And thrown raw eggs over your house. |
| 0:57.9 | Yes. |
| 0:58.5 | If you want to carry on a vital British tradition. |
| 1:01.5 | Okay. |
| 1:02.2 | And we also hope that you've enjoyed our Inside the Room, |
... |
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