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slows. Full terms at mintmobile.com. Hello

0:42

and welcome to

0:45

the special polling day edition of

0:47

this election 24 series. That's

0:49

right, today is the day we all get to go out

0:51

and vote, unless you voted by post. But

0:54

if you haven't posted it yet, you can walk it to

0:56

a polling station. Don't forget to take

0:58

photo ID. But my word, here we

1:00

are. Here we are. And

1:03

tomorrow, we will learn

1:06

what government we have, what House of

1:08

Commons we have, and how many of

1:10

the people featured on this series will

1:12

be taking their seats on the green

1:14

benches. Thanks to everyone who came on,

1:16

but the election isn't over yet. And

1:19

today in this polling day bumper edition,

1:21

six candidates. Not

1:23

the 500 odd I needed, but nevertheless. At

1:26

the start of today's show, 523 candidates remained. And

1:31

by the end, 517. So

1:34

I made a sizable dent in that 650 number

1:36

and I will find a way to hit 650. I

1:40

really will. The other side of this

1:42

election, I'm going to figure something out. But

1:44

my word, what a way to enjoy the election. And

1:46

today, oh my word, some

1:49

fantastic political talent. Please

1:52

keep sharing it. Keep talking about

1:55

it. Obviously, the show continues after

1:57

the election and I will keep

1:59

covering. politics in this way as I have done for many,

2:01

many years. But I think

2:04

I'm going to try and just interview every MP

2:06

before the next election and give myself a bit

2:08

more time. But that will still mean a highly

2:10

regular service. But

2:12

here we go. Six candidates today,

2:14

all into the country, all different

2:17

parties. So let's start off

2:19

in Scotland in Edinburgh.

2:21

For a long time, he was Labour's only MP

2:24

in Scotland, which is an incredible thing to say.

2:27

But let's start off. This battle bus, one

2:29

last leg around this election, but the

2:31

battle bus stays in commission afterwards. But

2:34

this is the last one of the

2:36

election. We're going to go to Edinburgh

2:38

South, to that amazing city, to meet Ian

2:41

Murray, Labour's candidate. Ian,

2:46

you're the Labour candidate in Edinburgh South. It's

2:48

a seat that you've held since

2:50

2010. For a

2:53

while, you've been the only Labour MP in Scotland.

2:55

And that changed, of course, with

2:57

the Hamilton and Ruther Glen by-election. So

3:00

just before polling day, there were two of you. Let's

3:04

just talk about your seat first, before we talk

3:06

about the likelihood of maybe there being three or

3:08

more in a few days' time. For

3:11

people who haven't been to Edinburgh South, describe

3:13

the seat to us. Is it predominantly

3:16

urban and suburban, or are there rural

3:18

bits as well? Yeah,

3:20

it's definitely urban and suburban. It's

3:23

probably a mega-cosm of the whole of Scotland, actually. It

3:26

was a conservative seat up until 87. Michael

3:29

Ancrum, Lord Ancrum, had held the

3:31

seat to 87. Then it was won by my predecessor, Nigel

3:34

Griffiths, in 87, and he held it till 2010. And

3:37

I've held it since. And I suppose

3:39

it's got the leafy suburbs of Morningside,

3:41

Fair Mel Head, but it's also got

3:43

the traditional Scottish housing estates

3:46

of South House, Buddy House, Grace Mount,

3:48

Morden, high-rise flats. So it's

3:50

got significant wealth here, but it's

3:52

also got significant poverty. And

3:56

on that basis, it's got a really, really

3:58

strong mix that really reflects. essentially the whole

4:00

of Scotland. And as well as the

4:03

national issues that will affect cost of

4:05

living, etc. Are there big specific local

4:07

issues as well? Yeah, I mean,

4:09

the biggest one is essentially the

4:11

city is expanding south because it can't go east

4:14

or it would fall into the water and it

4:16

can't go north. It would fall into the first

4:18

or fourth. So actually, it's expanding the south. But

4:20

we've got no new infrastructure for new and existing

4:22

residents. I mean, the biggest one is GP Places.

4:26

NHS Lothian, the local health board

4:28

around here says that NHS

4:31

GP Places would fail and GP services would

4:33

fail. That was in 2022. Been

4:36

working very hard on that for the local with the

4:38

local community to try and get new GP practices. But

4:40

the Scottish government pulled all the funding for them. So

4:42

it could be 20,000 places short by

4:45

this time next year. And houses are still being

4:47

built. So it's OK building new houses and we

4:49

want new houses. We want new communities built. But

4:51

actually, they're only building houses and building nothing else.

4:53

And that's a real frustration. But

4:55

in all this, you know, all you're doing is talking

4:57

in Scotland down because, you

4:59

know, the SMP tell us that the

5:01

NHS in Scotland is is performing

5:04

better than any other part of the UK. So

5:07

what more do you want? Yes,

5:10

well, I'd like I'd like the one in six of my

5:12

fellow Scots that are on waiting lists not to be on

5:14

them and I'd like a GP

5:16

practice or two in South Edinburgh and across the

5:18

Scotland, I would like in

5:21

terms of the NHS, I would like 40

5:23

percent of my constituents not to have to pay to

5:25

go private when they should be getting on the NHS.

5:28

And that's people who can't afford it. They're borrowing,

5:31

they're taking out loans, they're borrowing family or friends

5:33

because it's private or pain. And

5:35

most people having to go private to get rid of

5:38

the pain. So, you know, these are big, big problems.

5:40

And the 14 years of Tory government that we've had

5:42

that completely failed, you know, the 17 years we've had

5:44

of SMP government is hold my beer. We will fail

5:46

more. So

5:49

talking of holding beer, are you

5:51

allowing yourself a tipple during the

5:53

campaign or are you

5:56

being just completely healthy and trying to

5:59

power on through on a drink? I'm

6:01

powering through on petrol

6:03

station sandwiches and

6:05

too many pints after the last

6:07

door knocking session of the day.

6:09

So yes, the Euros have been

6:12

a great distraction on one hand from politics but it's

6:14

also been a great puller into

6:16

the pub post door knocking to drink too

6:18

many pints while watching the late night games.

6:20

So you know, very happy. Very

6:23

happy the Euros are on. I've really enjoyed it

6:25

but actually it's not done anything for the alcohol

6:27

consumption. No, same. So

6:30

you're at a petrol station. What's your first choice

6:32

of sandwich? What are you ideally hoping to find in

6:35

there? Anything

6:38

that doesn't have E. coli. And

6:41

is that possible locally? I

6:45

mean petrol station sandwiches are something else

6:47

really. I mean, there are great British

6:49

tradition as the petrol station sandwich.

6:52

And yeah, I mean, the diet, there's

6:55

not a candidate out there that's got a good diet

6:57

during a general election campaign. They're not doing it properly.

7:00

Totally agree. But they're all losing

7:02

weight because they're walking so much. But do you

7:04

think, right, well, I hope it's got tuna cucumber

7:07

or a fancy roast chicken salad or a ham

7:09

and cheese. Yeah, a ham and

7:11

cheese. The rule of thumb from you to never eat fish at

7:13

a petrol station would be my

7:15

view. That's just a great life lesson.

7:17

I think that goes beyond the selection

7:19

campaign. Don't eat fish at a petrol

7:21

station. Particularly

7:24

if it's just been caught out the pummels. That

7:28

is a very good. I've been on the battle

7:30

bus actually. It's got a Labour Party. I've

7:32

got a battle bus and I've been all over

7:35

the country in that. I've been on it more

7:37

than anyone else. I actually have claimed it as

7:39

my own. And it's been great, you know, sitting

7:41

in the battle bus with a nice table. It's

7:43

the old Rangers Football Club bus actually that they

7:45

use for Rangers Football Club from Parks of Hamilton.

7:47

So it's livery dapp as Scottish Labour, but it's

7:49

quite luxurious. So I've been enjoying that. It's got

7:51

its own coffee machine. It's on kitchen. It's on

7:53

microwave. It's got fridges. It's even got

7:55

a toilet you can use. So it's been luxurious enjoying

7:57

it. Yes. you

8:00

can use I'm sure within certain

8:02

parameters. Yes. Liquid time. You don't

8:05

you know. Yes. Cause

8:07

and incident on a bad life. Yes that's why we don't

8:09

eat fish from petrol stations. So

8:13

Ian as we said you were

8:15

the only Labour MP. Now there's two

8:17

of you. How many do you think

8:19

you'll have in a couple of days time? Well

8:23

you know the polls are looking good. We're

8:26

working very hard. I don't think you would expect me to give you a

8:28

number. But we want to

8:30

our target right at the start of this

8:32

was to do well and our target

8:34

is to we want to be the largest party. So

8:36

I don't know what number that gives us because it

8:38

depends on how all the other parties do. But that's

8:41

the target now. And you know the key

8:44

said in April 2020 when we became leader

8:46

of the Labour Party that has rooted down

8:48

the street runs through Scotland and it still

8:50

does. And hopefully we'll see that route being

8:53

paved come Thursday night. But

8:55

yeah we're doing really well. And just

8:58

we're doing well because the message is landing. People won't change.

9:00

They want rid of this Tory government and they're fed up

9:02

with the SMP's failure. So if you if

9:04

you line all that up it means that people are going to

9:06

vote Labour to get rid of the Tories and to make sure

9:09

that they've got a strong voice in government. This

9:11

is an audio medium but we can see

9:13

each other over this. And I can see

9:15

that you've got a Taylor Swift style friendship

9:17

bracelet on your right arm which I can't

9:19

tell it's hearts colours or labour colours. It

9:22

says change on it. Do you want

9:24

to know the story is that we did our

9:26

manifesto launch at Murrayfield where Taylor Swift had just

9:28

played Four Nights in Edinburgh. And

9:31

we gave all the journalists and everyone

9:33

who's participating a handmade Taylor

9:36

Swift bracelet with change on it. So I've kept

9:38

mine on. How many

9:40

activists were diverted from doorsteps to

9:43

make those friendship bracelets? I

9:46

think it was actually made they were all

9:48

made overnight by Anast Sauer's Chief of Staff's

9:50

mother. She got no

9:52

sleep. 8am she was making

9:54

them for the manifesto launch. That's the

9:56

commitment of Labour Party members at this

9:58

election. on

10:04

in there, and obviously you've been personally

10:06

successful every time you stood in

10:09

the constituency. Do

10:11

you still get the nerves? Do you

10:13

still get a flutter of nerves? Or

10:15

at this stage, or do you think

10:18

based on the returns, based on the

10:20

national politics, based on the Scottish politics,

10:22

you're probably fine? How do you manage

10:24

your emotions going into the final day?

10:26

There's this undiagnosed and under-researched disease

10:29

called candidateitis, and

10:32

nobody really knows what candidateitis is until you've

10:34

been a candidate, and it

10:36

hits you pretty hard in waves. Sometimes you think you're going

10:38

to win, sometimes you think you're going to lose, but

10:41

when the candidateitis hit, there's no remedy for

10:43

it, apart from getting back out in the

10:45

doors and having a look at the figures

10:48

again, and I suspect every single candidate of

10:50

any party who's currently standing for election will

10:52

be suffering from certain degrees of candidateitis. If

10:54

they haven't suffered from it already, then they're

10:56

probably not a candidate, but they'll certainly be

10:58

suffering from it in the next 48 hours,

11:00

and that journey to the count, the

11:03

bus, the taxi, or the car to the count,

11:05

that's when your candidateitis hits maximum. That's where most

11:07

of the research should be done in terms of

11:09

what it does to you. And

11:12

have you ever thought? I'm quietly

11:14

confident, but not complacent. We've done a big campaign

11:16

here again in Edinburgh South, as we always do,

11:18

because it is a traditionally a marginal seat. The

11:20

figures show it's not really been a marginal seat

11:22

for the last two elections, but that's an anomaly

11:24

in history, so we need to keep working very

11:26

hard. So talk us through

11:28

your routine then, because you're a football fan,

11:31

I think football fans maybe are more likely

11:33

to do this sort of thing, but obviously

11:35

10 o'clock, the polls close.

11:37

You've then got a few hours before you're going

11:39

to get your result at the count. Do

11:42

you have a particular routine? Are you a bit of

11:44

a footballer about it? Do you go home and listen

11:47

to the same bit of music or have the same

11:49

meal or put your shoes on in a different order?

11:52

Yeah, well, this election would be different because I think

11:54

I'm on the media duty, but in terms of what

11:56

would normally happen, I think I've done a lot of

11:59

work on it. I've got a family, I think I've

12:01

got a wife and a daughter that I need to

12:03

sort of reshape myself with. So I'll

12:05

probably, you know, we'll go right up to the

12:07

close of polls. Ordinarily,

12:09

if I wasn't doing media, I would come home,

12:12

spend a couple of hours just watching the TV

12:14

and watching unfold, watch the exit poll coming in.

12:18

And we've got a hotel room and

12:20

a hotel next to the account center.

12:22

So my wife, my mother and father-in-law

12:24

will look after my daughter. My

12:27

wife and I will go out to the hotel, just spend a couple

12:29

of hours there. And then we'll get the nod from somebody in the

12:31

count to go maybe 1.30. And

12:34

we're not Sunderland here in Edinburgh. So, you know,

12:36

we count very slowly and very methodically. So it'll

12:39

be 4am before we get all the results through

12:41

for certain. But the way this works, I don't

12:43

know if you've covered this in any of your

12:45

previous podcasts, but we'll

12:47

have talliers there who'll be looking at the ballots

12:49

being opened. So statistically, we should

12:52

have a result within about an hour and

12:54

a half in terms of our own numbers.

12:57

And that becomes very difficult to judge, of course,

12:59

if it's close. And

13:02

then you're just there in

13:04

a rosette, trolling the... Yeah, just

13:06

one old looking for something to do,

13:09

wondering whether or not the tuna

13:12

and cucumber sandwich in the canteen at

13:14

Ingleson count center is worth its while

13:16

with a long day ahead. But, you

13:18

know, all that kind of stuff. And

13:20

obviously, everyone looking each other to work

13:22

out who snuck the booze in when

13:24

you're not supposed to. Everyone's

13:28

getting each other's suspicions. Well,

13:31

enjoy the final few days. Try

13:34

and eat as best as you can. Try

13:37

and get some sleep. Although you seem... I mean,

13:39

I'm saying this to everyone, but everyone seems so

13:41

alive and perky. No candidate yet that I've spoken

13:43

to seems broken by it. Well,

13:46

from a Labour Party perspective, this is the

13:48

first general election I've been involved in as

13:50

a candidate. We might actually win. It's

13:54

a slightly uncomfortable position to be in. It's

13:56

normally, you know, it's normally how many seats you think you'll

13:58

lose is normally the case. question I would have got from

14:00

journalists, now it's how many you think you're going to win.

14:03

That's a slightly different position, which makes you a little bit

14:05

perkier. It means you can sleep at

14:07

night slightly easier, but you know, it's a long way

14:09

to go till Thursday. And I mean,

14:11

it is now the message of the campaign

14:13

because it's just a truism of mathematics. If

14:15

people want what they want to deliver, they've

14:17

got to vote for it. And

14:20

then not only that, but on

14:22

the 5th of July, you could be in the Cabinet,

14:24

a Secretary of State of Scotland. Well,

14:27

my only view at the moment is

14:29

to get to 10pm on Thursday and

14:31

then see what happens after that. But

14:34

it's a hugely exciting time if we can change

14:36

the government and get the opportunity to serve. That's

14:38

why we came into politics. I think here's constantly

14:40

said, you know, he didn't come

14:42

into politics to sit in the opposition benches,

14:44

losing votes by 100. He came into politics,

14:46

changed lives and that's why we're all doing

14:49

this. That's also why we're perkier because we've

14:51

got this potentially huge opportunity to serve and

14:53

try and turn the country around. And all our candidates are

14:55

having those conversations on the doorstep and they're really excited by

14:57

it. Ian, enjoy the final

14:59

few days. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank

15:02

you very much indeed. There

15:08

you go. Ian Murray, Labour's candidate in

15:10

Edinburgh South. Also, Shadow Secretary of State

15:12

for Scotland could be in

15:15

government, could be in Cabinet

15:17

by the time you listen to this. It

15:20

could be in Cabinet tomorrow or

15:22

the day after. Amazing how to go

15:24

from being the only Labour MP in

15:26

Scotland, thinking that your party has basically

15:29

been wiped out to then

15:31

just a few years later being, obviously

15:33

in his case, hopefully delivered to the

15:36

Cabinet table is incredible and just shows

15:41

how quickly politics can change and how

15:43

brutally it can as well. And a

15:46

lovely Taylor Swift

15:48

style friendship bracelet he had on.

15:50

Very, very cool. Okay, let's head

15:53

South now to Tombridge to another.

15:55

I mean, Ian has been on

15:57

the show a couple of times before and it's always brilliant. It's

16:00

time now to introduce someone who's been

16:02

on the show a couple of times

16:04

and again, he's always brilliant. He is

16:06

one of the leading lights of the

16:08

Conservative Party and someone that many people

16:10

hope will eventually lead the Tory Party,

16:12

perhaps in the coming weeks, who knows.

16:14

But let's for now go to Tumbridge

16:17

to meet the Conservative candidate down there,

16:19

Tom Tugan. Tom,

16:25

as well as being the Security Minister,

16:27

you're also the MP for, well, were

16:29

the MP for Tumbridge and Malling? Is

16:32

it Malling or Malling? Malling. Malling. You

16:34

are the candidate for Tumbridge and Malling.

16:36

No, I'm the candidate for Tumbridge. I

16:39

was the MP for Tumbridge and Malling. Do you want

16:41

to start again? No, I'm happy to

16:43

just, I think, I think, I

16:45

think let's not waste any precious time. So

16:48

it's another seat that's been redrawn. It's been

16:50

redrawn and East and West Malling,

16:52

Kings Hill, fantastic communities are now part

16:54

of Maidstone and the Mallings. So Helen

16:56

Grant is fighting that seat and I'm

17:00

fighting this one. And does that make it any

17:02

more or less winnable for you? I

17:04

mean, it changes. It means that, you know, I don't

17:06

have quite the same record. I've got really great

17:08

friends in Kings Hill and West Malling and East

17:10

Malling. And it means, you know, I'm not fighting

17:12

on that basis. You know, there's some fantastic things

17:14

we've achieved there. I mean, apart

17:17

from anything, one of the

17:19

things I'm proudest of in Parliament, which is passing Tony's

17:21

law, is named after Tony

17:23

Hudgel, who lives in Kings Hill

17:25

and his parents, Paula and Michael.

17:27

Absolutely fantastic, really good friends and

17:30

have been and been really, you know, very, very

17:32

kind over many years. So it does. It

17:34

changes because you don't you don't have that personal

17:36

connection to the newer bits.

17:38

But, you know, over the last year and a half

17:40

since I've been the candidate for that bit,

17:43

clearly, I've been going out meeting people. In fact, last

17:45

time you'll like this story for your kind of a

17:47

podcast. Last time I went to a craft fair. And

17:50

as we were as we were walking

17:53

around, getting chatting to this fantastic lady

17:55

who runs it, she introduced me

17:57

to the other organizers, one of the other organizers. also

18:00

worked in Lebanon. And so we get

18:02

chatting about Lebanon. And turns

18:05

out she was in the IDF. Oh my

18:07

god. 1980s. And

18:09

we go outside, there's a guy selling Salatals,

18:11

a really nice guy, we get chatting in

18:14

Arabic, obviously, and, and

18:16

he's Lebanese as well. So the three of us

18:18

are speaking Arabic about Lebanon in the 1980s. There

18:20

you go. So that's, that's a new Ash Green

18:23

story for you there. And just by the way,

18:25

if you get the chance, Mr. Falafel, he does

18:27

make genuinely the best falafels I've had in, I

18:30

mean, forever. They're wonderful. Because

18:32

eating falafel, I mean, that sounds like the

18:34

sort of thing that could have been added

18:36

to Liz Truss's list of the tofu eating

18:39

woke RRT who get taxes from the BBC

18:41

to do podcasts. I mean, is falafel woke

18:43

food? Well, or Ed Miliband's

18:45

high danger, high risk electoral contact sport,

18:47

right? I mean, you know, if a

18:49

bacon sandwich is tough, I mean, what

18:51

would he do with a falafel? Right? I mean, it, it

18:54

brings all number of different challenges. Well,

18:56

that's right. And obviously, you approach these things

18:58

in a military way. Do you do you

19:01

have, do you have any advice for listeners

19:03

on how to eat falafel without getting it

19:05

all down your tunic? I

19:07

think I think it's do whatever you don't do

19:09

Matt, I think that's the that's the watch

19:12

Matt forward, do the opposite. That's my

19:14

idea on eating falafel. Okay, so chew

19:16

it. Yeah. Chew it

19:18

would be a big tip. And so for

19:20

people who haven't been to Tom Bridge, Matt

19:23

is the labrador of eaters man can wolf

19:25

down in. Oh my god, it's bad for

19:27

me. It's bad. I need to I do

19:29

chew more now. Oh, that's good.

19:32

You're more of a twirl than a labrador now.

19:36

Like, I'm always having to go

19:38

bigger dogs. Yeah, exactly. Nightmare. So

19:42

Tom Bridge, as people will know, it's near

19:44

Tom Bridge Wells. So what's the

19:46

constituency like? Is it? Is it

19:48

rural with a few towns and villages?

19:50

It's fantastic. Look, it's near

19:53

Tom Bridge Wells. Tom Bridge Wells is near

19:55

us. Tom Bridge is the old town and

19:57

you know, it's where you could cross the

20:00

the Medway, that's why there's a castle there that's been there

20:02

since the Norman times. And

20:05

it's a railway town as well, a very

20:07

famous railway town from the late

20:09

1800s. And so there's a lot of there's

20:11

a lot of labour boat here and always

20:14

has been a very strong labour community. And

20:17

there's a lot of rural areas as well. You know,

20:20

you've heard of the milk train, the commuter train that

20:22

takes you to work in the morning. It's called the

20:24

milk train because the industrialization of the countryside took milk

20:26

into the city from communities like mine. So it stopped

20:28

at every farm, effectively. Well, not

20:30

quite, but you know what I mean. And

20:33

so this is a very industrial area. It's

20:36

also part of the part

20:38

of the country that was very quick to

20:40

import ideas from the continent in various

20:43

ways. So the Reformation started in Kent

20:46

and it's always had a very separate identity. And

20:48

for those of you who are listening

20:50

from a history perspective, this is a

20:53

Jewish kingdom, not a Saxon kingdom. So

20:55

we were settled by Vikings who came from Denmark,

20:57

not from Northern Germany. So there's a different tradition

20:59

there as well, including in things like inheritance law

21:02

and all the rest of it, which means that

21:04

we have much smaller farms, much smaller property holdings.

21:07

And what does that mean for the politics of the place then?

21:09

Are people... It's much more

21:11

rebellious. No, much more

21:13

rebellious. The peasants' revolts of the

21:15

1200s came out of Kent. You

21:17

know, rebellions and uprisings do

21:20

tend to come out of Kent. Does this make you

21:22

feel nervous as we... I mean,

21:24

I love it actually. It's a

21:27

place of ideas and you

21:29

may not think of it. Kent

21:33

isn't quite like the other home counties in that sense.

21:37

It's got a rawness to it. It's got an honesty to it.

21:39

I love it. I mean, I'm from East Kent

21:41

really, but

21:45

it's a fantastic community and there are many, many people

21:48

doing incredibly interesting things. I mean, one of the things

21:50

I love about being MP here is you'll

21:52

go and see somebody for a reason, something

21:55

particularly not particularly exciting. You'll say, oh, what

21:58

do you do for your business? whatever. And

22:00

this happened to me the other day, where

22:03

the guy said, Oh, yeah, I've got a problem with

22:05

this. I'm making cob nut oil for

22:07

you know, and I've got a problem with the standard. So

22:09

go and see him and he's basically squeezing a kind of

22:11

hazelnut to make an oil out of it. And it's a

22:13

very good oil. It's really good for you. And,

22:16

and cob nuts are particularly Kentish nut.

22:19

So I went to help him out with that. And I said, this

22:21

is, you know, this is a business. No, no, it's more

22:24

of a hobby. All right, what did you do for business?

22:26

Oh, I make grand pianos. And

22:28

in the barn next door, he

22:30

made grand pianos and he developed this extraordinary

22:33

way of making them, which

22:35

you know, kept them stable

22:37

in different atmospheric conditions. So pretty

22:39

much every cruise ship piano

22:41

or piano in an area where the weather

22:44

changes a lot. So places like, you

22:46

know, they get hot or cold quite dramatically

22:49

will be made in this barn in Kent,

22:51

my God, you know, and you're constantly meeting

22:53

people who are doing extraordinary things, genuinely extraordinary

22:55

things like that. And they were stood around

22:58

squeezing this guy's nuts. Having

23:00

this that that wasn't necessary. You must

23:02

have been tempted to someone must have

23:04

made a joke. No, you are the

23:06

first you are the first you are

23:09

a natural comedian. So so

23:12

when people listen to this time, it's gonna be polling day. So

23:15

go there in your mind, what is your routine on polling

23:17

day? What will what will you be doing as people listen

23:19

to this? I will be early I

23:22

will be reminding people to vote.

23:24

And I will be hoping that we

23:26

get the result that's right for the

23:29

country. I mean, it's it's, you

23:32

know, it's a big it's a big responsibility. I,

23:34

in fact, going back to what I was

23:36

saying earlier, you know, when what

23:38

Tyler marched on London, the only way to change the king

23:41

was to kill him. You

23:43

know, now we change the king every four

23:46

or five years or so

23:48

incredibly peacefully and the old

23:51

king or Prime Minister in this case, you know,

23:54

can retire off and nobody's gonna hurt him

23:56

right. And that's a remarkable achievement. And so

23:58

whoever you're going to vote for whatever you're

24:00

going to choose. I mean, obviously, you know,

24:03

if you're wise, you

24:05

know, look, I hope you're going to vote conservative.

24:07

Of course I did. But the I'm saying

24:10

that, you know, this is a plug, I'm afraid.

24:12

I'm just going to say, you've got to say

24:14

this is the platform. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Do please

24:16

do vote conservative. There are so many good reasons

24:18

to do so, including making sure that we continue

24:20

the economic growth that we've had over the last few

24:22

years. But look, the whatever

24:25

you do choose to do, this

24:27

is a remarkable expression of trust

24:30

in our fellow citizens,

24:32

our friends, our neighbors, but also trust in the

24:34

future, that we can make dramatic changes. I mean,

24:36

I remember when I was working in Afghanistan

24:39

or Iraq, nobody would ever hand over power. So if you

24:42

were the Minister of Defense, you stayed the Minister of Defense

24:44

for as long as you could. Or if you were commanding

24:46

a regiment, you commanded the regiment for as long as you

24:48

could and whatever it was. And the

24:50

reason was if you didn't keep command of all

24:52

these armed people, the next

24:54

bloke who did would kill you or

24:57

would have a good go at it. Right. Unless of course

24:59

you fled the country with you and all your family. Now,

25:01

you know, we hand over command of

25:03

military units with a letter from somebody you've

25:05

never met before. We agree to step down

25:07

from some of the most powerful positions the

25:09

world has ever known on

25:12

the basis of votes that we trust people

25:14

in village halls around the country to count

25:16

honestly and honorably. And they do. You know,

25:19

this is a remarkable demonstration of trust

25:21

in this amazing country. It's

25:23

a huge success and it's something I'm

25:25

really deeply proud of. So however the

25:27

result goes, I'll be really

25:30

proud of the United Kingdom on polling day because we would

25:32

have done something that very few can achieve and that's I

25:34

think it's something to be deeply proud of. I

25:36

totally agree. And people, regular listeners

25:38

to the show will know that you like

25:40

jellies, that you like Haribo. As

25:43

well as that

25:46

guy's nut juice. What else? Matt,

25:49

you really, just

25:53

for wider context, Matt

25:55

is actually my Haribo dealer. didn't

26:00

realize such a position existed until

26:02

until until Matt got me onto

26:04

the strong stuff that tanked plastics.

26:06

Yeah, that's the real

26:08

good stuff. So have you been

26:11

having some of those? Or have you been very

26:13

healthy this campaign? I may I

26:15

may have had a few. Yeah, a few. I

26:17

mean, you know, it's not it's not an operational

26:19

engagement unless you got 10 fast x in your

26:22

cargo pockets. And

26:25

I guess it's quite hard to say because it's so close

26:27

now. Do you if you sounds

26:30

like you've enjoyed the campaign, obviously, the national

26:32

picture is what it is. But locally, it

26:35

feels like you've sort of a good time. Look,

26:37

I've had a great I

26:40

really enjoy elections, you get to meet really

26:42

interesting people, you get to see people. And you

26:44

know, you get to do something that, you

26:46

know, any other time of year would be

26:48

considered, I mean, just unbelievably odd,

26:50

you get to go around the country, knock

26:52

on somebody's door and say, hi, I'm

26:55

from, you know, I'm from the Conservative Party. And

26:58

I'd love to know what you think. And

27:00

it's just, it's a remarkable privilege to

27:02

have, you know, 20 seconds

27:04

or 10 minutes insight into somebody's life, and

27:06

them sharing with you the worries and fears

27:08

that they have for the future or the

27:10

anger they have for the past or, you

27:12

know, whatever it happens to be. And it's,

27:15

it's, it's a real opportunity to listen to

27:17

just the most extraordinary people. And behind

27:19

every door, there is somebody

27:21

who's got something that

27:24

worries them, or that inspires them. And,

27:26

and, you know, you meet, you just

27:29

meet the most wonderful bunch of people. And

27:31

that's, that's remarkable. This is an

27:33

extraordinary country, and we're blessed to have it. But the, you

27:36

know, the worst you get, worst you

27:38

get is no, not interested, occasionally, you'll

27:40

get the F off,

27:42

but, but it's so unusual that

27:45

actually, most people are incredibly polite. And

27:48

even if they're supporting, you know, what's that

27:50

wrong party or your labour? That's right. The

27:52

other plenty of wrong parties. No, that's true. That's true.

27:55

I'll give you that. But

27:57

the, you know, even if they're supporting another party, They'll

28:01

very often be polite

28:03

and tell you why. You

28:06

know, they're very often caveat with I don't obviously

28:08

not you but you know, well, kind of is

28:10

me but But

28:12

the, but, you know, the

28:15

conversations are normally pretty open

28:17

pretty frank. And, and again, I mean it

28:19

just demonstrates this extraordinary country where, you

28:22

know, I'll quite happily, and I do I quite happily

28:24

go up tower blocks or go to

28:26

rural communities where you're pretty much on your own.

28:30

And, you know,

28:32

you knock on doors you're not scared you're not, you know

28:34

what I mean and yeah gotta be careful right I mean

28:36

don't get canvassing without telling anybody

28:39

where you are or whatever I mean you know you

28:41

stuff, but, but Why would you do that. I just

28:43

thought I'd go out canvassing on my own for an

28:45

hour. Well I

28:47

would do that in my local area actually.

28:49

Okay, because I know people and, you know,

28:52

you know people, is that a threat. I

28:55

know my friends and neighbors. What are you

28:58

trying to do here trying to intimidate comedians

29:00

now is this right. You're intimidating me. About

29:07

threatening constituents know I knew it was easy.

29:09

I was only teasing you but I hope

29:11

you've enjoyed this campaign. I hope, hope

29:14

you. I mean, surely you're

29:16

safe. That's

29:19

again that's the beautiful thing nobody is right. I

29:21

mean, literally nobody is what he said I'm not

29:23

safe. You're not standing,

29:25

you, you by definition, completely

29:28

saving your seat because you've

29:30

got a you've got an entire run booked up for

29:32

the rest of the year so you know you know

29:34

you will say for the, for those of us who

29:36

are standing for office, nobody is and that

29:38

and that's, you know, you

29:40

know, that's really good that's really healthy that you

29:43

know anybody literally anybody who is

29:45

standing for election. Today

29:48

if this is going out on polling day. And,

29:50

you know, the result may not be what you

29:52

expected it to be. I mean, if everybody who,

29:54

you know, it's a bit of the hair and

29:56

the torses as well if you're if everybody's incredibly

29:58

confident that you're going to win. then

30:01

they don't turn up. Then, you

30:03

know, I've certainly been in council

30:05

elections where I've seen folk

30:08

running for council and, you know, not done

30:10

the work. And everybody said, oh

30:12

yeah, this is a safe, whatever labor Tory,

30:14

you know, whatever seat it might be. And

30:17

the other side wins because they managed to motivate people

30:19

to turn up and they win by a few hundred

30:21

votes or maybe even only by one vote. And you

30:25

get, get reversals and you know. You've

30:27

got to do the hard work, Tom. I'm sure you've done the hard work.

30:30

Well, we've been out a lot actually, not just over the last

30:32

six weeks, but we go out a lot over the last 10

30:34

years. So it's, it's great. And there's a lot, you

30:37

know, this is a wonderful community. There's a lot more than I still

30:39

want to do to help it. And I'm

30:41

sure that after the 4th of July, we'll have a wonderful

30:43

MP. I'm sure it will, whoever they

30:45

choose. Here's Tom. Thanks

30:47

mate. Tom

30:53

Tugenhatt, they're always great fun. And

30:55

obviously stood for the Tory leadership before.

31:00

And Maywell's done again, who knows?

31:03

But certainly one of the brightest

31:05

lights in parliament and just an

31:08

absolute defense of politics. And that's, that's

31:11

so important. And it's something that I know that he really

31:13

values is, obviously he wants

31:15

us to vote conservative today, but

31:18

he genuinely cares about democracy. And I think

31:20

that really came across. So

31:22

who knows where Tom will be. Maybe

31:25

he will be the leader of the opposition in a

31:27

few weeks, but let's see. We are now heading north

31:30

from Tumbridge to Stratford and Bow to

31:33

meet Labour's candidate, Uma Kumara.

31:41

Uma, you're the Labour candidate for Stratford and Bow.

31:43

It's a brand new seat. For

31:46

people who haven't been to that part of London, paint

31:49

a picture for us. What's it like? Hi,

31:52

Matt. It's great to be here. Stratford and

31:54

Bow is incredible. It is so vibrant.

31:58

To give you a bit of a glimpse of it, we've

32:00

got the... London Stadium, so

32:02

home of where the Olympics took place.

32:05

We've got Beau, Victoria Park,

32:09

you know, home of the Suffrage Jet

32:11

movement and the birthplace of the Parliamentary

32:14

Labour Party near West Ham. It

32:17

is an incredible seat, very diverse. It's

32:19

a big seat as well, it's a

32:21

big constituency if you look at it

32:23

on a map and it's a merger

32:25

of some of the

32:28

old West Ham seats, a little

32:30

bit of the

32:32

old Stepney seat and a tiny bit

32:34

of popular in Limehouse. So it's three

32:37

seats coming together to

32:39

one incredible brand new seat throughout for the room.

32:41

And what about the politics of it then?

32:43

Now on the face of it people would say well this is

32:45

just an easy Labour victory but is that how it feels? No,

32:49

no it's incredibly complex

32:52

politics. You know the

32:54

same issues, if you're looking at the top lines, the same

32:56

issues, it's the cost of living, it's housing, it's

32:59

the same things that we're talking to many

33:01

many people across the country and

33:03

London about. But if you dive a

33:05

little bit deeper, there's you know there's

33:08

the politics that you get from Newham

33:10

and there's politics that you get from

33:12

the Tower Hamlets and it's

33:14

incredibly diverse as I said to you. So

33:16

you have got some

33:19

interesting local politics as well. So we've got

33:21

a bit

33:23

of factionalism going on with some

33:26

local politics on the Newham side

33:29

and of course Tower Hamlets politics has

33:31

never been without some

33:35

drama shall I say so there's that

33:37

as well. But for the

33:39

general election you know everyone

33:41

I'm speaking to is speaking to us about the same

33:43

things that loads of my colleagues

33:46

and candidates are having up and down the country. And

33:49

what about you then? So you've had

33:51

an amazing life including time

33:53

as a hospital radio DJ? Yes,

33:57

absolutely loved being a hospital radio DJ.

33:59

I volunteer. volunteer posts. And

34:03

it was a Wednesday, I had the night,

34:05

it was the evening shift, so it was

34:07

the 10pm slot and it was a live

34:09

radio request show. And it's a volunteering service,

34:11

right, and it's a befriending service. And not

34:14

only did we run and produce our own radio show,

34:16

but we were actually going ward to ward

34:19

and speaking to patients and actually giving

34:22

a bit of companionship. And, you

34:24

know, you'd be surprised at the amount of people who

34:27

are lonely and loneliness is a big

34:30

problem throughout Britain and it's really sad.

34:32

We take it for granted, having

34:35

friends and family and people close

34:37

reach. But hospitals can be some

34:39

of the loneliest places that people are. And

34:41

we turn up and we had a

34:44

whole conversation with people, we asked them what

34:46

they're thinking about, we told them what the segments

34:48

of the day are, do they want to tell

34:50

us about anything in particular, give us a song

34:53

to request and then dedicate it to someone and

34:55

give us a little story. And there have

34:57

been some excellent moments there. I

34:59

won't forget, somebody dedicated Nellie's, it's

35:02

hot in here to their mum. And

35:04

that is just one thing I've never

35:06

forgotten. I didn't even want to ask

35:08

them anything else. You

35:12

know, I was in hospital

35:14

for a bit last year, you know, sometimes on

35:16

the hospital radio people would come around, it wasn't

35:18

always at the best moment, you know, you're there

35:20

often having been told terrible news. And

35:23

then someone like you, Uma comes down and says,

35:25

hi, can I play a request for you guys?

35:27

No, we so we

35:29

there was specific wards, there was specific wards

35:31

that we weren't going into, we weren't going

35:33

into the ITU or anything

35:35

like that. It was sort of the

35:37

more long term illness forward. So was

35:41

broadcasting ever anything you consider then? I

35:44

absolutely loved being a radio presenter, but

35:49

it was just another part of kind

35:51

of life really, volunteering, but my heart's

35:53

always been in politics. You

35:55

work for the UN as well. So you've

35:57

done amazing things, local and international.

35:59

national level. So what

36:02

was the work you were doing for the UN? I

36:05

worked with the United Nations. I worked for

36:08

a global climate organization. And I

36:10

worked with nearly 100 mega city

36:12

mayors, as we call them. So the big cities,

36:14

London, New York, Dhaka,

36:16

Paris, Tokyo,

36:19

you know, 100 throughout the world, Freetown

36:21

and Sierra Leone. And

36:24

all of these mayors, whatever their political

36:26

persuasion, I worked collaboratively to tackle one

36:29

of the biggest issues of our time.

36:31

And that is the climate

36:33

crisis that we're facing and

36:35

sharing best practice, sharing their

36:37

policy solutions and

36:39

sharing sort of their

36:41

ambition for bolder action and knowledge. And

36:43

so we work really closely with the

36:47

UN Secretary General and his private office

36:49

and the climate action team within the

36:51

United Nations to really advocate

36:53

for bolder climate action around the world.

36:55

And it is absolutely incredible.

36:59

And it kind of restores your faith

37:01

in politics, actually, because

37:04

on the surface, you know, 100 mayors

37:08

from around the world, global

37:11

north to global south, as

37:13

it's called in the climate space. So those

37:15

of us in northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere. Really

37:18

facing different challenges across the board. So it

37:21

might be extreme heat and one flooding and

37:23

another, you

37:25

know, impacts of climate migration or

37:28

in London, you know, specifically on air

37:30

quality, all sorts of different things. But

37:32

everyone coming together to work

37:34

on a shared project for a better

37:36

future for our world and

37:38

actually acknowledging that this

37:41

is probably the biggest political

37:43

crisis of our time. And if we don't tackle

37:45

it together, what's the point? There

37:48

won't be a world for us to live in. And

37:52

it is really eye opening, actually, going from UK politics

37:55

and local politics. I worked quite extensively

37:57

in local government in Britain. to

38:00

look at the bigger picture. And for

38:02

me, I've always been a believer that all politics

38:04

is local. And then sort

38:07

of working internationally, you see that,

38:09

yeah, it is, everything begins, you

38:11

know, locally, but there are

38:13

shared challenges that we've got. And we

38:15

have to absolutely work collaboratively internationally to

38:17

tackle some of these problems. What

38:20

about this campaign then? Are you enjoying it? Are

38:23

you able to treat yourself a

38:25

little bit throughout it? I

38:28

think at this stage, with two days to go

38:30

to the election, I'm enjoying it,

38:32

is doing a stretch. But it has

38:34

been incredible. I have

38:36

loved meeting people. I'm a people

38:39

person. So getting out there, having the

38:41

conversations and the doorsteps, hearing

38:43

people's hopes and dreams for the future,

38:45

as well as their frustrations, is

38:47

really humbling as well. And, you know,

38:51

people, it's easy to

38:53

say all politicians are the same. But

38:56

actually, the conditions that I've been having with

38:58

people, people are really

39:00

kind, you know, really hopeful for

39:02

a change that Labour is

39:04

offering at the moment. And that's nice, that

39:07

feeling of hope. But,

39:09

you know, it's not all roses and it

39:11

has been a difficult campaign in

39:14

terms of what's happening in Stratford and

39:16

Bowe locally, but also nationally, it's been

39:18

really divisive. We can, you know, we

39:20

see quite a negative atmosphere being created

39:22

by the Tories at the moment. And,

39:25

you know, I've just seen this

39:27

morning that there's

39:29

an advert, the Tories have put out their

39:32

attack advert on

39:34

48 hours to go and it's all a

39:36

bit dystopian. And just this climate of fear

39:38

that they're creating is not right.

39:41

And, you know, we've got to come together on

39:43

the 5th of July and show that,

39:45

you know, the day after the election, hopefully after

39:47

everyone's voted Labour, we've got a Labour government. That

39:51

we've got to come back together. And,

39:53

you know, in Stratford and Bowe, we've had

39:56

some very divisive... individuals

40:00

standing who are absolutely doing

40:02

everything they can to

40:04

tear the local social fabric and

40:07

I've not even acknowledged it

40:11

publicly or socials

40:13

or anything like that because actually That's

40:16

not how that's not what I stand

40:18

for and that's not how we do politics in Britain and

40:21

I think upholding sort of compassion

40:24

and civility and democracy and in

40:26

politics to me really matters Well,

40:29

I mean it sounds like it's been that's quite

40:31

a ferocious experience. So it's it's it's

40:34

impressive that you can remain so positive and and

40:37

Stoic throughout what you know people should not underestimate what it's

40:39

like to be a candidate in the middle of something like

40:41

that I know exactly what you mean and it is it's

40:43

foul some of the stuff you'll be having to put up

40:45

with So I'm sorry that you haven't to go through that

40:47

but Are you looking forward to

40:49

the 5th of July? Do you think right? I get to the other side

40:51

of this I can put my feet

40:54

up a bit. I can I don't know

40:56

what your vices are I have an ice

40:58

cream or a glass of red or some

41:00

jelly tots or whatever. How are you

41:02

gonna treat yourself? all of the

41:04

above no, I got real sweet

41:06

tooth My I don't

41:09

I'm under no illusions that if the July

41:11

is I put your feet up moment and

41:13

we're working really hard for every single vote

41:16

I think the hard work really begins in

41:18

the 5th of July I've been

41:21

hearing rumors that we're gonna have to be in Parliament

41:23

that if we are elected if I'm elected and

41:25

if my colleagues are elected in we'll have to

41:27

be in Parliament on the Saturday and the Sunday

41:31

I Haven't seen most of

41:33

my friends for a long time. I

41:36

saw my parents last night after Probably

41:38

about two weeks. I haven't seen them and they were

41:40

ecstatic to see me I just had five minutes to

41:43

see them in their driveway and then I went I

41:47

am looking, you know Is

41:49

it yeah It

41:51

was it was an exchange of food actually. I had nothing

41:53

to give them. I just collected a food parcel and off

41:55

I went I

41:59

think there's a lot people who are absolutely

42:01

exhausted at the end of this and probably

42:03

are looking forward to spending some time with

42:05

their friends, their family, their pets, having

42:08

a breather and a bit of a mental

42:10

health break for people as well. But

42:13

there's a lot to do. There's a lot to do in this

42:15

country to bring us back together, as I said. And,

42:18

you know, we've had the Tories have been

42:22

on a prolonged holiday. Definitely doesn't feel like they've

42:24

been doing anything for a long time. Well,

42:27

Uma, good luck with the rest of the

42:29

campaign. I hope it's

42:32

not too stressful a final

42:34

few days and that whatever amazing food your

42:36

parents are cooking for you, they maintain

42:40

the supply of it. Yes, yes. Have

42:44

you ever had Tamil food? It's Sri Lankan

42:46

Tamil food. It's a nice thing I

42:48

have. Yes, I think maybe we'll do

42:50

a tour. Straft and Bow has got loads of

42:52

good places. Great idea. Okay. Well, let's do that.

42:54

You've got you've got yourself a deal on the

42:56

other side of the election. Thank you so much.

42:59

Brilliant. Thanks for having me. Hey,

43:12

I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint

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Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies

43:17

are allowed to raise prices due to

43:19

inflation. They said yes. And then when

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I asked if raising prices technically violates

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those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what

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the f*** are you talking about, you

43:27

insane Hollywood a*****e? So to recap, we're

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sponsorships with a cast head

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to go a cast

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comm slash closer to get

44:16

started Over

44:22

there one of many candidates I've spoken to

44:24

in their cars And

44:26

one of many new candidates this time and and

44:28

you really get the sense that there

44:30

is and I know I've said this on many

44:32

previous episodes but so much exciting

44:35

new political talent coming into

44:37

politics and Uma

44:40

maybe tomorrow a member of Parliament and what

44:44

a phenomenal candidate she's been and Just

44:48

so much energy and fuck you know when

44:50

people have that mixture of intellect and energy

44:52

and focus and personality There's

44:55

so many people I think of the numerous one

44:57

of those people Over the last

44:59

few weeks that I've spoken to that are

45:01

so highly impressive And

45:04

you in a way given what politics has been like

45:06

for so long you think how on

45:08

earth have you been attracted to it? but

45:11

thank God she has and What

45:13

what an impressive person and so

45:16

okay? We've got a few to

45:18

get around today So let's now

45:20

head from Stratford about East sort

45:22

of to Northwest Essex to meet

45:25

our final Independent candidate of the

45:27

series. This is Andrew David Green

45:34

Andrew you are the independent one

45:37

of the independent candidates for Northwest

45:39

Essex listeners with a familiarity

45:41

of the place will know that it is the seat

45:43

that can be bad and our curves been the MP

45:45

for For a while and so

45:48

why why stand against

45:50

Kemi Badanok and why standards and

45:52

independent? So

45:54

Matt I have because I grew

45:56

up in the area five generations

45:58

of farming family I

46:00

went off to work in the film,

46:03

music, television, theatre music industry. And

46:07

after 25 years of that, which I still do,

46:09

it's my day job, and

46:11

I like that a lot, but I had,

46:14

I wasn't very well quite

46:17

recently, and the NHS got

46:19

me out of that, a very big, what I

46:21

describe as a

46:24

pothole, big pothole on the road

46:26

of life. And, you know, I, the

46:28

politics have been simmering in the back of my mind for

46:30

a while, and I thought, you know what, this

46:33

might be the time to have a go, because

46:36

I thought it's a good way of giving something back

46:38

during COVID music industry practically

46:40

closed down as I'm sure you're probably aware.

46:44

And during that

46:46

time I volunteered with the

46:48

Royal Voluntary Service, and

46:50

I also volunteered as a John Ambulance as

46:53

a vaccinator trained to be a vaccinator actually, and

46:55

it was a wonderful thing to do. Public

46:58

service sort of runs in the blood a bit. My

47:00

father was in the Royal Navy, and then was,

47:05

he was Deputy Town Clerk in

47:07

Darmo, in Essex, which is

47:09

in this constituency, and he was also clark

47:12

to his parish council for 45 years. So

47:15

that sort of sense of duty runs

47:17

there. And as I

47:19

say, after I was ill, fortunately, he came out of

47:22

a very, very deep hole I thought, and probably never

47:24

would. I thought,

47:26

actually, no, there's something to be done here. And

47:29

the reason for standing as an independent,

47:31

I have no political, party political affiliation,

47:33

but I also know what I think,

47:35

I think. And

47:38

I also felt that the

47:40

constituency is very unusual. It's a

47:43

very, very rural constituency, but

47:45

it has an international airport at its heart.

47:47

It has a major motorway in the M11,

47:51

and it also

47:54

has the big rail link from

47:56

Cambridge down to London so situated

47:58

between a World Centre, of scientific

48:00

research and a world

48:03

capital. And yet you

48:05

move off that M11 corridor and it's it

48:07

is quite remote. It's

48:09

a very big constituency, it's 32 miles

48:11

top to bottom, that's Enfield to Croydon.

48:14

If you go from Enfield to Croydon you've passed through about

48:16

15, 12, 15 I should think, I've

48:18

encountered it, but it's something like that. Yet

48:21

this constituency, it's huge

48:23

actually if you look at the map. And

48:26

the reason I'm standing is because I don't

48:28

think people are being represented well.

48:31

I've got huge respect for anybody who puts

48:33

themselves forward for a position

48:35

in public life. I met

48:38

Kemi for the first time yesterday at Hustings

48:40

in Saffram Walden and

48:42

you know perfectly gone

48:45

perfectly well, perfectly civil. I disagree with

48:47

much of what she says or her

48:49

position on things and the conservative parties,

48:51

but however

48:54

I do think there is something about

48:56

the disconnect between the constituency

48:58

and Westminster. And I think that's

49:01

a common theme. I

49:03

think people feel everything is happening at

49:05

the top level and

49:07

not being represented from the bottom

49:09

up. Now my understanding of the

49:11

House of Commons, the origin of

49:13

it is a kind of House

49:15

of Communities where your representative goes

49:18

from the constituency to represent the

49:20

people in Parliament. And

49:22

I think there's been a professionalization of

49:24

that. It's become something only open

49:26

to those maybe who've studied PPE

49:29

from the law, from the traditional professions

49:31

to have the means and wherewithal to

49:33

do that. And

49:37

so I think the

49:39

people in the constituency feel unrepresented.

49:42

I don't think

49:47

politicians always spend an awful lot

49:49

of time in their constituencies sometimes

49:51

because they're focusing on not

49:53

only if they've got ministerial duties or

49:55

as Secretary of State Cemi has, but

49:58

also because there's the ambition to collect.

50:00

that pole and

50:02

to reach the top. And I think that takes

50:04

people away from their constituencies. And

50:06

also something that was mentioned last night at the

50:09

hustings, there's a sense of disconnect in that once

50:11

people enter the party system, they become part of

50:13

that party system

50:18

and that pulls them away. So what I

50:20

heard a lot of last night on the

50:22

party, those members of, you know, who

50:24

are party members, is that they are

50:26

kind of dragged into a very well drilled,

50:29

spout the line type approach. And

50:33

I just think we need something a bit more human, a bit

50:35

more responsive, a bit more agile. When

50:38

I thought about standing, I only thought about standing

50:41

when Rishi's seen that call the election. And

50:44

I put my campaign together in three

50:47

weeks, built a website,

50:49

all the material, I've got no backing, no funding,

50:52

it's still my own savings going into it.

50:55

And I've got a really flashy battle

50:57

yeti, I call it, with all the livery

50:59

on it. It's good fun. It's

51:01

about getting the word out there. And so

51:04

I've built that all from scratch. Battle

51:07

yeti? Yeah, my battle

51:09

yeti. What's a battle yeti? Oh,

51:12

well, it's a Skoda. Skoda yeti. Okay,

51:17

Skoda's come a long way, Matt. Jeremy

51:20

Clarkson said it's one of the best cars ever built,

51:23

and now they've decided not to produce it anymore. But

51:25

anyway, I think he landed a helicopter on top of

51:27

one. It's so robust. It had 43,719 leaflets in the

51:29

back of it, and

51:33

the suspension didn't give an inch. The Royal

51:35

Mail were very impressed. But

51:38

the yeti is covered in my

51:40

sort of livery, which I designed with

51:43

a company in Saffron-Warden, all local stuff. The

51:46

signwriters, everything's local to Saffron-Warden. So,

51:50

Andrew, are you trying to win, or

51:52

are you trying to make a

51:54

point and drag the other candidates and

51:57

maybe the winning candidate over to, you know, you

51:59

try to ensure that they're not going to win.

52:01

that say Kemi Badenok wins, she is more of

52:03

a local MP after this election than maybe she

52:05

was before. No,

52:07

I mean, it's a winner. There's no point otherwise.

52:10

You know, I think I've

52:12

been told that I'm splitting the vote from

52:14

people. Well, you know, there's

52:17

not a sense of entitlement as to who can

52:19

stand as an MP. Anybody can. This is kind

52:21

of the point. It

52:23

needs to be much more, I think,

52:25

as it probably was in

52:29

the early to mid 20th century,

52:31

possibly you'll know more about it than I do. But

52:34

the sense that people come

52:36

from their communities to represent

52:38

parliament, as I've said

52:40

before. And as I

52:43

say, I think this was the best opportunity there

52:45

was going to be because of the state of

52:47

flux in politics. And I

52:50

also think that the

52:52

major parties have misread the rules in this

52:54

constituency. Maybe they have in others and it

52:57

would be very interesting to see on Thursday.

52:59

I've heard on the ground, the

53:02

demographics changed. This constituency was

53:04

always regarded as very,

53:06

very safe conservative seat, which is,

53:09

I think, why Kemi came in

53:11

on the coattails of Sir Alan Hazelhurst,

53:13

who was the

53:15

constituency MP for a very long time,

53:18

very highly respected, built

53:20

up a big, big majority, not just

53:22

because he was a conservative, because he was

53:24

a very good constituency MP. My feeling is

53:26

the parties take these and it's not just

53:28

the conservatives here, but Labour in other seats

53:30

take it for granted. I

53:33

don't think that's right. I think there's more flux

53:35

than that. In this constituency,

53:37

I don't give away my strategy. But

53:40

it's certainly the case that with

53:43

the conservatives in the state that they are, this

53:45

constituency has never voted Labour. The

53:48

first Labour council has been elected to the town

53:50

council this year. Liberal

53:53

Democrats, they're not so

53:55

keen on and the Green Party, they

53:57

say a lot of good things, but I don't think they quite trust. and

54:00

reform, who

54:03

knows? But I'm not

54:05

saying that because I don't appreciate people

54:07

have issues that reform actually

54:09

articulates, but it's the way reform

54:11

articulate them. And I'm

54:13

afraid the answer to reform is they're

54:16

having the problems they're having because they

54:19

do attract the sort of people who hold those

54:21

views. It's as simple as that in my view.

54:23

So we've got a very interesting state of affairs

54:26

in this constituency. But you've

54:28

also got two or three other independents there. So

54:30

how do you fight it out with them? We

54:33

don't fight. Well, you're

54:35

fighting for each vote, aren't you? It's not. That's

54:38

true. OK, OK. We

54:40

put the arguments forward. Now,

54:43

the other two independents,

54:45

actually, Matt, there's

54:49

four of us altogether, aren't there? Yes, I

54:51

think there are four independents. OK. So

54:54

there's my second one. Three.

54:57

What about Nico Urbana? Yes,

54:59

so there's Eric Benigno. Yeah.

55:02

You. Nico.

55:05

Yeah. Who's the other independent? Grant

55:08

Sinclair Armstrong, because he had to resign from

55:10

the reform party because of things

55:12

he put on the website. Some years ago. In

55:14

case he got four. My word.

55:16

We've got four. But Matt, he's

55:19

so hard to cut through, though. Grant

55:22

is on the paper as reform. But he's actually,

55:24

if he got the seat, he'd

55:26

be independent. Yeah. Because

55:28

he had to resign. So,

55:31

yes, we've got four. Now, yeah, people say

55:33

about splitting the vote. Despite

55:35

all of those independents on there, there's

55:38

no reason why people can't have a go. You

55:40

know. Of course, I totally agree. But it must

55:43

be very hard for you to, you know, you've

55:45

got this sort of independent spirit brand. And then

55:47

there's three other people doing that at the same

55:49

time in the same seat. OK, Nico Urbana is

55:51

not a serious candidate. In fact, he's been barred

55:54

because he stood in about 12 other

55:57

constituencies. So he'll be out. fine

56:01

he's playing games, he's an internet prankster

56:03

or something, but it's not serious. Grant

56:06

is by default an independent because

56:09

he had to resign from reform. So

56:11

actually you've

56:14

got myself and Eric as the

56:16

two principal independents

56:19

if you like. We

56:21

come from very different backgrounds and yes, you know,

56:24

we bring different things to it so we make

56:26

our arguments personally, I think we all get on

56:29

really well. But

56:32

interestingly, the Green Party

56:37

candidate Edward, he

56:39

presents himself almost as an

56:41

independent because when you're asking questions about

56:43

the Green Party, he's not that keen

56:45

on answering questions about the party or

56:47

some of it's slightly

56:50

more questionable candidates of late. So

56:52

it's very interesting how people present.

56:55

So now we're in touch in

56:57

distance of polling day. How are

56:59

you managing your expectations about the

57:01

outcome? Good

57:04

question. I'm quite chipper about

57:06

it. I mean, why

57:08

here on the ground is lifelong

57:10

conservatives, members of the Conservative

57:13

Association of Saffron Walden will

57:15

not vote conservative. They

57:18

are appalled with the way the party

57:20

has conducted itself. They

57:22

are appalled at things

57:24

like the Prorogation, embarrassing the Queen. These

57:27

are things you just don't do. And

57:30

I think there's a lot of people out there who

57:32

don't have a sense of a

57:34

place of a party voice for themselves,

57:37

that they're thinking, I don't know where

57:39

to go, because nothing quite represents me.

57:41

There's no reason why independent people can't

57:44

go to parliament and represent their constituents

57:46

well. And then we see the fallout

57:48

from that in how the numbers fall

57:50

in parliament. And we

57:53

see what happens with how people sort of

57:55

join themselves up, as it were, and

57:57

move forward. So you can have

57:59

an intervented. it

1:02:00

feel like you're slightly swimming against the tide

1:02:02

or is this a

1:02:04

seat that could be winnable for the Conservatives? Yeah

1:02:08

you are right it's a new

1:02:10

seat it has taken some parts

1:02:12

out of Manchester Central and

1:02:15

Gorton and

1:02:18

it's a very competitive seat

1:02:20

but it's also my first seat

1:02:22

so I'm just taking in the

1:02:25

experience it's really great to be

1:02:27

out there speaking to residents. I

1:02:30

have received so many invitations

1:02:32

from charities, local businesses

1:02:34

and that's been really

1:02:38

a very interesting experience. I'm

1:02:40

almost sorry that the short campaign is

1:02:43

so short and I can't be everywhere

1:02:45

and meet everyone. Well that's

1:02:47

it I mean I think every candidate has

1:02:49

felt the same they've really relished the the

1:02:51

just the experience of standing for parliament whether

1:02:54

it's a winnable seat or not whichever party

1:02:56

they're standing for in whichever corner of the

1:02:58

United Kingdom. So when people listen to this

1:03:00

it'll be polling day so you'll

1:03:03

have a few hours left to convince people or

1:03:05

to get your vote out however it is you're

1:03:07

spending polling day and we'll come on to that.

1:03:09

But what got

1:03:11

you into politics? What and what made you

1:03:14

want to stand for parliament? Well

1:03:17

I would say my story into

1:03:19

politics is both long

1:03:21

and short so I

1:03:24

was actually born in December 1989

1:03:27

in Romania and if you're

1:03:29

familiar in any way with

1:03:31

Romania's history that was right

1:03:33

in the middle of the

1:03:35

anti-communist revolution so I was

1:03:39

very lucky in that regard to be born

1:03:41

in a free country but it

1:03:44

was also just some politics was also

1:03:46

something always in the back of my

1:03:48

mind so experiencing

1:03:51

a transition from communism

1:03:54

to democracy speaking

1:03:56

about politics was always a big topic at

1:03:58

the dinner table. where

1:18:00

we started winning locally, we started winning the

1:18:02

local wards and there was that movement towards

1:18:05

what same towards change to the belief that

1:18:07

your vote counts and it can make a

1:18:09

difference. And I think it's, I think it's

1:18:11

very similar here. It's not only

1:18:13

similar here. I think it's similar across

1:18:16

all sorts of constituencies. You know, you

1:18:18

look at places like Great Yarmouth, you

1:18:20

look at Kettering, you look at areas

1:18:22

that we haven't traditionally been seen as,

1:18:25

as challenging in and we're challenging. And it's

1:18:27

going to make a difference, not just in

1:18:29

the parliamentaries, but for counties and also what

1:18:32

local politicians can do for residents. I think

1:18:34

people are feeling that. I

1:18:36

think very similar from that point of view. Yes.

1:18:39

And obviously it must have been an amazing thing to be part of in

1:18:41

1997. Are you getting a

1:18:44

sense of the doorstep that you might get that sort of

1:18:46

result? Yeah, I mean, I

1:18:48

think that so on the doorstep, we've

1:18:50

got very, very positive responses. I think

1:18:53

the thing about 1997 that

1:18:55

I always remember is people running out to us

1:18:57

as we were coming and banging on

1:18:59

the door, which often felt for them the

1:19:02

first time asking for posters, asking

1:19:04

to meet the candidates saying they're going to vote

1:19:06

and that they'd never voted Labour before they were

1:19:08

Tories, they were going to vote for us. And

1:19:11

it feels very similar to here. And I

1:19:13

think if you ask other Labour activists,

1:19:15

they're going to areas where it feels similar. I'm

1:19:17

sure it feels as you know, I've got, I've

1:19:19

got friends who have been out in Harlow, Finchley

1:19:23

and Golders Green, you've got that move,

1:19:25

you've got that change, you've got that

1:19:27

energy. So yeah, it feels like that.

1:19:30

It feels very similar. I think there's

1:19:32

a difference in terms of character. I

1:19:34

think in 1997, there was a whole host of people

1:19:39

that the electorate were

1:19:41

looking at in their constituencies. You had not only

1:19:45

Michael Portillo, the issue with Portillo was clearly

1:19:47

he was anticipated to be the leader of

1:19:49

the party going forward. But

1:19:52

you had, you know, Malcolm Rifkin, you handed wean

1:19:54

a curry, I think you had Jerry Hayes, which

1:19:56

is why Harlow is going to be really interesting.

1:19:59

But you had Giles Bradley. I mean, I

1:20:01

think you can pick which one of those

1:20:03

that you were happiest to see go and

1:20:05

then clearly David Miller. So in the Portillo

1:20:07

moment, I think it was

1:20:09

different because it was about the impact on

1:20:12

the future of the right. I

1:20:14

think now it's probably slightly different. You know, if you

1:20:17

look at the people that we're hearing

1:20:19

of who are unlikely to win

1:20:21

this time, you know, even here

1:20:23

in the seat immediately below me

1:20:25

in southwest Norfolk, where

1:20:28

Terry Jeremy is challenging, Liz Truss

1:20:30

looks like she'll be unseated. You

1:20:33

know, and I think that's

1:20:35

almost like the Malcolm Rifkind

1:20:37

or the Charles Brown. Because

1:20:41

that's a former prime minister. That's

1:20:43

on a scale way, way bigger than even

1:20:45

Paul Tiller with Truss goes. Yeah, I think

1:20:47

it's different by nature. I

1:20:51

think the idea that because Truss is

1:20:55

it will be a question of someone

1:20:58

not being elected who people have tired,

1:21:00

tired of who they believe crashed the

1:21:02

economy and want to see the back

1:21:05

of. Whereas we had that, you

1:21:07

know, we thought we were going to give Portillo

1:21:09

a bloody nose. You know, we thought we'd, you

1:21:11

know, try and squeeze his majority in terms of

1:21:13

credibility and taking him out was was a delight

1:21:15

winning that election. And I think that

1:21:17

impacted where the Tory party would go. I

1:21:20

mean, I know Liz Truss has got, you

1:21:22

know, has got some ideas with

1:21:24

regard to where she goes. And I know

1:21:26

there are rumors about her meeting

1:21:28

with reform, oddly enough, in northwest

1:21:30

Norfolk, just to see whether they

1:21:32

can, I guess, cook up

1:21:35

a deal after the after the

1:21:37

election to galvanize the right. But

1:21:40

I think I don't think I think that it's

1:21:42

of a different nature. I think we might have

1:21:44

a trust moment. And I think

1:21:46

we will always have a Portillo moment because it's, you know,

1:21:48

I think that emblematic of the

1:21:50

change and emblematic of how

1:21:52

it allowed us, I think, to

1:21:54

galvanize that Blair government and possibly take us

1:21:57

through to that, you know, that that

1:21:59

second election. that we won in 2001.

1:22:03

I mean, so I think they're different and

1:22:05

I think they should be different as well because

1:22:07

I don't think we should be taking anything away

1:22:09

from all the people who are working hard in

1:22:12

those constituencies with,

1:22:16

pick your favorite Tory member that you would

1:22:18

like to see the back of really. And

1:22:20

I think that many of them will go

1:22:22

and I think there will be radical change.

1:22:24

So I think it's of itself and I

1:22:26

think it's probably nice to have several ways

1:22:28

of looking at political victory. Well,

1:22:31

I'm sure, I mean, the thought that this trust

1:22:33

might lose her seat will have sent electricity through

1:22:36

the ears of everyone listening to this. But

1:22:39

Tim, people will listen to this on polling

1:22:41

day. Obviously

1:22:43

you're coming to the end in one sense.

1:22:45

You may be coming to the start of

1:22:48

something very new and exciting in another. Have

1:22:52

you enjoyed the campaign and have you been able

1:22:54

to have moments where, I know you will get

1:22:56

a lot of energy from speaking to people and

1:22:58

the campaigning and all the other stuff,

1:23:00

but have you been able to sort of

1:23:03

relax and enjoy it or has it

1:23:05

been one relentless adrenaline fueled ride? I

1:23:08

think it has been an adrenaline

1:23:11

fueled ride. I think it's been great

1:23:13

being supported by the local constituency here.

1:23:15

It's also been great helping out in

1:23:17

other seats as I think many people

1:23:19

do. But I think

1:23:21

that the, for

1:23:24

me, it's gonna be

1:23:27

radical. I think, well, I'm hoping that it's gonna be radical

1:23:29

change. Obviously we've got to get out there and vote for

1:23:31

it. There have been

1:23:33

moments in it that have been incredibly

1:23:35

humbling. And I think it's, I

1:23:38

mean, if I just draw on two of them, I

1:23:41

was fortunate enough to go to the

1:23:43

200th anniversary of

1:23:45

the Royal National Lifeboat Institute

1:23:47

at Hun Stanton, where we're

1:23:49

celebrating that great

1:23:52

organizer. And you're standing amongst heroes. These

1:23:54

are people who put themselves in danger

1:23:56

the moment they get the call. There's

1:23:58

no question they go out. You know,

1:24:00

we think we've got it tough as politicians,

1:24:02

you know, having interviews like this and talking

1:24:05

to the electorate. But, you know, these are

1:24:07

people who face danger. That was humbling. And

1:24:09

that really affects. And I was with the

1:24:12

the Western Offert Deaf Association yesterday.

1:24:15

And, you know, it's just

1:24:17

setting up a meeting where we've

1:24:19

got people who who who are

1:24:21

deaf, who are looking looking to

1:24:24

Steiners to to understand what

1:24:26

it is I'm saying. And I'm having that

1:24:28

play back and like this, you

1:24:30

know, a call where we can use

1:24:32

the latest technology and, you know, the

1:24:34

Internet doesn't work. And it's this is

1:24:36

a constant frustration. Yet they're still engaged

1:24:38

with politics. The issues we've got are

1:24:40

managed. And it's another one of

1:24:43

the groups that I think no political party has

1:24:45

reached out. You know, there's there's no British sign

1:24:48

version of any of the political manifestos,

1:24:50

not even the summaries. You know, there's

1:24:52

subtitles, but it's getting it right for

1:24:54

the electorate and getting our message through.

1:24:57

And that's certainly something that was humbling.

1:24:59

They've got the key issues that everybody

1:25:02

is aware of in the election, you

1:25:04

know, the hospitals, the cost of living

1:25:06

crisis, the chaos and so on. And

1:25:08

they're living it every day. And the

1:25:10

frustration. And it was I

1:25:13

I didn't have I think it

1:25:15

was probably the toughest, the

1:25:17

toughest meeting I've had because

1:25:19

there was it was a keen,

1:25:22

engaged group of people that

1:25:24

as politicians, you're hoping you're

1:25:26

communicating with and we're falling

1:25:28

so far short and we've got to do something

1:25:30

about that. So that's been really humbling. But they've

1:25:32

been, you know, the crazy moments. And I'm sure

1:25:35

every candidate of every party has gone

1:25:37

through those, you know, the funny moments where you've

1:25:39

spoken to people on the doorstep, the late nights

1:25:41

where you think whatever you're doing, because you've been

1:25:43

out campaigning so long, the next idea was a

1:25:46

really great idea. And then when you see it

1:25:48

in the cold light of day, for example, me,

1:25:50

I wondered why I was standing in Kingsland Town

1:25:52

Center with a with a poo emoji, you know,

1:25:54

full size one. And then to raise the issue

1:25:57

of the amount of sewage that's been dumped into

1:25:59

the. rivers and the effect on the coastline. So

1:26:03

we had that and it was very strange

1:26:05

because there's Festival

1:26:07

2 on at the same time in Kingsland which

1:26:09

is a free festival Kingsland have. And

1:26:12

we had people walking around in stilts and so

1:26:14

on and we thought well it'd be great to

1:26:16

talk to shoppers

1:26:19

and members of the public, we'll walk someone around

1:26:22

in a poo emoji suit. And

1:26:25

unfortunately or fortunately there was another

1:26:27

one coming in the opposite direction

1:26:30

raising the issue of bowel cancer

1:26:32

and it's like what are the odds of

1:26:35

us, we think we're original with this crazy

1:26:37

idea and we see yet another poo heading

1:26:39

towards us. So we had you know two

1:26:41

poos with Festival 2s

1:26:43

so you know we think it's funny late at

1:26:45

night when we come up with these things and

1:26:47

the cold light of day sometimes it isn't. You've

1:26:50

got to try that stuff, you've got to embrace

1:26:53

that stuff Tim. And it was to raise you

1:26:55

know an important point you know ours was about

1:26:58

pumping sewage into the rivers,

1:27:00

theirs was about raising the issue of bowel

1:27:02

cancer and you know sometimes humour opens the

1:27:04

door on people. It doesn't allow you

1:27:06

to get the message through. Tim thank

1:27:08

you so much for coming on, enjoy these

1:27:11

final moments of the campaign. Thank

1:27:13

you very much it's been great talking to you. My

1:27:19

god if Tim is right

1:27:22

and not only he wins North

1:27:24

West Norfolk but symbolically Liz Truss

1:27:27

loses her seat can you

1:27:29

imagine because we're all taking in these

1:27:31

polls and I think this podcast has

1:27:33

really helped give us all an insight

1:27:36

into how it feels on the ground and you

1:27:39

can tell the candidates who think like I'm standing

1:27:41

to uphold my party's vote

1:27:43

whether that's Labour Tour, he lived independent

1:27:45

or green or whatever. But

1:27:48

I think you do get a more definitely we've

1:27:50

had a more detailed view on this podcast than

1:27:52

you get from the national coverage and from mrp

1:27:55

polls and the like but

1:27:58

still you think we Well, some of

1:28:00

these people who think they're going to win are

1:28:02

going to lose and vice versa. So

1:28:05

we will all go through. I will update

1:28:07

us, by the way, on the other side,

1:28:09

on how every candidate did. Or

1:28:11

is that a bad idea? I mean, just reading results out.

1:28:15

I don't know. But I think it'd be nice to update.

1:28:17

It'd be nice to know, wouldn't it, who made it and

1:28:19

who didn't? And of course, you will know because you'll be

1:28:21

watching it wherever you are. Enjoy it. I hope if you're

1:28:24

not voted yet, you go and do it with some joy

1:28:26

in your heart. And

1:28:28

I think obviously when

1:28:30

people go into the ballot box, they have different

1:28:33

things on their mind. And

1:28:35

you think about your values. And if you're a soppy

1:28:38

git like me, sometimes

1:28:40

you think, oh, God, you know,

1:28:44

what would my granddad think or whatever, you know,

1:28:46

you think of that family history. But

1:28:48

it is about it's about the here and now. And

1:28:51

however you vote, do it with

1:28:53

joy in your heart if you can. And

1:28:55

if if you're thinking, all I

1:28:57

would say is this. If you're thinking, I

1:29:00

really don't like any of my local candidates. I really

1:29:02

don't like any of the national parties. Please

1:29:04

don't just stay at home. Go

1:29:07

and you can spoil your ballot in numerous ways.

1:29:09

You can just put in a blank ballot paper

1:29:12

and that says, I care about what

1:29:14

happens to my community, my country. But none

1:29:16

of these candidates or parties have

1:29:19

convinced me. They

1:29:21

these all get read out or you can spoil it.

1:29:23

You can write something on there. You can deface it.

1:29:26

And the agents, the

1:29:29

returning officer has to view them because the agents

1:29:31

and candidates have to agree that it is a

1:29:33

spoilt ballot. So you

1:29:36

could entertain yourself by imagining what the candidates

1:29:38

at your count will see should you choose

1:29:40

to deface it. But I would always

1:29:42

encourage that instead of just staying at home if you don't

1:29:44

want to. I imagine if

1:29:46

you listen to this, you're likely to vote. So

1:29:48

there you go. But enjoy these

1:29:50

final moments of the election campaign. I'll see you

1:29:52

on the other side when our

1:29:54

politics could be very different. But

1:29:57

thank you for listening to this series. I will. I'll

1:30:00

put out some sort of reaction episodes. So this won't be

1:30:03

the final. I don't want to get all emotional. We've

1:30:05

been doing this podcast for years. Of

1:30:07

course it's going to continue. I've really

1:30:09

enjoyed this project. So 517 remain. But

1:30:14

what an amazing, I've

1:30:17

just loved it. I've really, really loved it. And

1:30:19

thank you for all your emails encouraging me, all

1:30:21

your lovely reviews that encouraged me. Please

1:30:23

do keep leaving those reviews on

1:30:26

whatever podcast platform you listen to it on because it

1:30:29

helps other people find it. And

1:30:31

what an amazing profile of this election campaign

1:30:33

we've enjoyed together. So the battle bus is

1:30:35

dropping you off now. Dropping

1:30:38

you for the polling station so you can go and

1:30:40

vote for the pub. So you can go for a

1:30:42

beer or at home. So you can watch the election

1:30:44

results come in. I will

1:30:46

pick you up tomorrow for

1:30:48

a reaction to all this.

1:30:51

But for now, my word, enjoy

1:30:53

the final moments and the results

1:30:55

of this campaign. I will

1:30:58

see you tomorrow. Ta-ra. ["The

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