When will Labour’s communication catastrophe end?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The drama rages on, one week after Chancellor Rachel Reeves stood at the dispatch box to deliver her second Budget. Richard Hughes has resigned as OBR chair following the catastrophic budget leak and calls for Rachel Reeves to do the same have not let up. Ed Balls and George Osborne look at the “shambolic” fallout of the budget, and how Labour have once again grasped defeat from the jaws of victory in yet another communications disaster for the party.
Then, the pair discuss David Lammy’s drastic measures to scrap juries for the majority of cases in England and Wales. Is this the biggest change to our justice system since the Magna Carta or a necessary step to solve the mounting backlog of cases, bringing the courts to the brink? And why on earth didn't anybody prepare the ground for it?
Finally, Ed and George look across the channel to the rise of the far right in Germany and France. With the AfD and National Rally looking on the cusp of electoral victory and Reform’s path to power looking inevitable, what lessons can Keir Starmer learn from his European allies to stop Nigel Farage securing the keys to No 10?
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Jack Boswell
Video Editor: Maha Al-Badrawi
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is political currency with Ed Bulls and George Osborne. |
| 0:27.7 | So we are in the studio in Hoxton. |
| 0:29.1 | It is December. |
| 0:30.6 | Advent is underway. |
| 0:32.4 | Christmas is coming. |
| 0:33.0 | I can't wait. |
| 0:35.7 | Yes, I went to the Nutcracker last night with Thea, |
| 0:38.3 | and it was a great production at the Opera House. |
| 0:42.2 | Massive night. Big Christmas tree on stage. Feeling very Christmassy. |
| 0:54.6 | I'm going to the Messiah tonight, St. George's Hanover Square, the Handel Society. Slightly more refined, but, you know, it's to be expected. Yeah, and we're not feeling we're missing out. I mean, I did wake up this morning and hear that the Prime Minister was up, you know, |
| 0:59.7 | in the north coast of Scotland with the Royal Navy and reminded me of a time when I was winched down in a helicopter to a Trident submarine that came out of the water to meet me. |
| 1:05.0 | Good job. It came out of the water. And now I'm just with you in a studio in Hoxton and it's raining outside. |
| 1:11.7 | But, you know, I'm handling my midlife crisis. |
| 1:14.5 | And talking about yours, Centri's Dad is sold out for its next gig. |
| 1:18.4 | Centress Dad, Water Rats are Christmas gig for Crisis at Christmas. |
| 1:22.7 | There's a wait list. |
| 1:23.9 | I mean, you know, this year's not midlife crisis at Christmas. |
| 1:27.2 | This is the charity. I think it's actually a later. A better cause. A much better cause. Middle life crisis at Christmas. Now, we're having the midlife crisis for crisis at Christmas. And I think next year we're going to have to book the O2. I think so. Of course, or at least a side-crop, this podcast or the band? Or both. |
| 1:44.9 | Oh, my God. |
| 1:45.6 | We could do it. |
| 1:46.5 | In that moment. |
| 1:47.1 | Combined. |
... |
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