Will the welfare rebellion be the end of Starmer?

Political Currency

Persephonica

Business, Economy, George Osborne, Westminster, Politics, News, Money, Ed Balls

4 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Daddy’s back in the (White) House! Ed Balls and George Osborne go over the major event of the week - starting with the NATO meeting in The Hague. Allies have agreed to up defence spending to 5 percent, but that’s not what’s grabbing the headlines. More attention has been on new Secretary General Mark Rutte referring to Donald Trump as “Daddy.” The pair consider what’s really at play here, and what Trump’s return to the world stage could mean for the UK.

Back home, the government is refusing to say whether the US bombing of Iran violated international law. What’s the strategy in dodging the question? And how long can they keep it up?

But it’s not the only issue on their plate. Labour’s big majority is looking a bit shakier as over 120 MPs line up to rebel over welfare reform. Is this Starmer’s first real test? And what does it tell us about who’s really in charge?

Plus, Glastonbury gets dragged into the headlines again - this time over Irish rap group Kneecap. Are we in for another culture war summer?

To get episodes early and ad-free, join Political Currency Gold or the Kitchen Cabinet:

👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency

👉 Apple Podcasts

Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Silvia Maresca

Video Editor: Oliver Geraghty

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Caroline Hepka. And I'm Stephen Carroll. Every weekday morning, we bring you the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast. It's 15 minutes to get your day started. All the top global news stories, how they affect the economy and your finances. We have to understand the changing world when it comes to trade. White growth is still really, really high. The disinflation process is well on track. These
0:23.0	days a lot can change overnight, so we're here first thing every morning to bring you up to date.
0:28.3	We have 3,000 journalists around the world to tell you what happened and why it matters.
0:34.1	US exceptionism is being questioned. He questionivity. Some damage is done.
0:38.5	Tariffs are bad for growth.
0:40.7	Economic stability is non-negotiable.
0:43.8	At Bloomberg, we say that context changes everything.
0:50.2	That means the data and expertise to help you understand a world that's changing at breakneck speed. So join us every weekday morning for the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast.
0:55.2	Subscribe today to get us in your feed by 7 a.m.
1:20.3	Thank you. This is Political Coency with Ed Balls and George Osborne. So welcome to this week's political currency.
1:32.9	We are remote.
1:34.5	I wondered whether this was because George had dashed down to Somerset to beat the crowds on the way to Glastonbury.
1:42.8	But I'm not sure you're going.
1:44.9	No, I'm in my house down there is only about 15 minutes away from the Glastonbury site.
1:51.0	And I have been to see some great acts there, like Paul McCartney,
1:54.8	when he brought on Bruce Springsteen as his surprise act and Billy Elish and Oasis.
2:01.4	Normally standing next to someone where they kind of screw the Tories, that's a polite way of
2:05.9	putting it sign and not noticing that they're standing next to me.
2:08.7	So I've enjoyed Glassroom Pass, but not this week.
2:11.9	No.
2:12.7	In fact, I've done the opposite.
2:13.8	I've fled to London.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Persephonica, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Persephonica and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.