What Next: The True Origins of the U.K.’s Political Mess

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The truth is, no one ever had a workable plan for Brexit. And as Liz Truss becomes the fourth Prime Minister to resign since the referendum and Rishi Sunak steps in as tribute, it’s an important lesson for voters on any side of the Atlantic: You can’t stake your party—or your country’s future—on a lie. Guest: Felix Salmon, host of Slate Money, chief financial correspondent at Axios. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So we are speaking on Tuesday morning and it sounds like you have a new prime minister.
0:13.8	Rishi Sunek.
0:15.8	Felix Salmon reports for Axios.
0:18.4	Yeah, how's it feel?
0:21.2	Probably the best prime minister we've had in a very long time, which isn't saying very
0:29.2	much. The bar is incredibly low.
0:33.3	I called up Felix to be my guide to this very strange moment in the UK. Rishi Sunek
0:38.8	is the third prime minister just this year.
0:43.8	The last prime minister, Liz Truss, resigned after just a few weeks. Her decision to slash
0:49.5	taxes caused financial markets to tank. That's when she lost the support of her party.
1:04.4	As an American, I can't help but focus on the absurdity of how Rishi Sunek was appointed,
1:11.3	like after Liz Truss announced her resignation, Sunek was simply agreed upon by the conservative
1:18.4	party. Right?
1:20.4	Correct. This is basically a coronation. It was a quasi-election.
1:26.7	What election among like a few people? An election among 349 people who are the members
1:32.9	of the parliamentary conservative party or all of the conservative members of parliament.
1:38.1	They basically got together and reached consensus that it should be Rishi.
1:42.5	Then Rishi went to Buckingham Palace and he went to this ceremony called Kissing Hands
1:49.3	with the King. It's so anachronistic and so dumb.
1:55.4	This is not what the people in England want necessarily, but it's what they've got.
2:00.5	If there was a general election tomorrow, the conservatives would end up with ten seats.
2:05.7	It would be a complete annihilation.
	...

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