MP hits out at 'CIRCUS' involving Keir Starmer, Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Quite a week in British politics. What did you make of that? Resignations, possible leadership challenge. Well, I think yeah, plenty going on last week.

[00:00:07]The reality is though, this is a government that is paralyzed. We've got a Prime Minister worried about how he keeps the keys to number 10. We've got the rest of the cabinet worrying how they are going to get the keys to number 10. They're not worried about the issues that are affecting real people out there. Their priorities are keeping hold of power, not worrying about the the cost of living, not worrying about the crime and antisocial behavior that's going on our streets, and not worried about those energy prices that are through the roof. This is not good for the country.

[00:00:30]And then this whole kind of labor psychodrama that's going on right now, it does have echoes of those Toryship constant leadership challenges that we saw in the last government. Do you think it's fair for you or your party to to comment and criticize on the government right now?

[00:00:44]>> Well, people will make their own assessments about the impact of the birthday cake and what went on there.

[00:00:49]And they'll put that against the fact that our Prime Minister, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, appointed to the most high, prestigious diplomatic post that this country has to offer, a man who was linked to one of the most vile pedophiles ever to walk the earth. They'll look back at almost record levels of employment when the last government left office to 17% more people unemployed. They'll look at the fact that businesses are going to the wall at the fastest rate since the world economic crash. This isn't an accident. It isn't a surprise. When you slam people with the jobs tax, when you slam businesses with increases to business rates, and when you hamper them with the employment rights bill, there are real consequences for people out there who want to get on with their lives and have a decent job to go to. And then if there was a leadership election, the the two frontrunners it seems are one of the two frontrunners are Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting.

[00:01:37]They were both asked about rejoining the EU.

[00:01:41]Wes Streeting said he'd be in favor of reversing Brexit. Andy was a bit less, he hasn't really made his position clear yet, but said there was a case for it.

[00:01:48]What did you make of that? Well, the problem isn't just Keir Starmer, it's the Labour Party. Having Andy Burnham at the helm, having Wes Streeting at the helm will not make a difference. The reality is they arrived in office without any sort of plan about how they're going to take on the challenges facing the country, and the consequences are there for all to see. They dolled out more union cash and benefits for the unions. They dolled out more in welfare.

[00:02:10]Anybody who's out there working hard, doing the right thing, is struggling to make ends meet as a result of the choices of this Labour government. Now, the star Now, the street in Starmer and Nandy Burnham have the answers.

[00:02:20]And then, just on that point of rejoining the EU, I mean, these chaps behind us, you know, there's clearly a lot of feeling about that.

[00:02:27]Do you think it would be fair for a new Prime Minister to come in and advocate rejoining the EU? Well, we talk about the Westminster bubble. This is the Westminster circus. It's not concentrating on the things that actually matter out there. People out there who are losing their jobs by the day now as a result of the decisions made by this government. They're not blaming the EU. They know that it's because of the jobs tax, it's because of the increases to business rates, because of the employment rights bill, and because families and businesses across the country are paying some of the highest prices for energy on the planet.

[00:02:55]And I just Just moving on slightly, it's been a week now since those local election results. So, what was your reflections on that, and how do you think the Conservatives did? Well, it's always devastating to lose hard-working councilors across the country. That has real consequences for communities as well as those individuals. But actually, when you compare it you I mean, many of these elections were last fought in 2021 when we had the vaccine bounce, when the Conservatives were polling at 43%.

[00:03:19]Actually, if you want to compare it to last year and how things have changed, Reform's share of the vote went backwards. Labour's vote the share share of the vote went seriously backwards.

[00:03:28]The Conservative share of the vote went forwards, but there's a long way to go.

[00:03:32]When I'm out there on the doorsteps, people are impressed by Kemi. They like what she's got to say. They're hearing a bit more from her. Even Nicki Minaj loves her. So, all to play for, a long way to go. And then, Kemi on on the morning after on the Friday, um I listened to her talk outside Westminster City Council. One of your gains where you regained it. Um if you heard her speak, it sounded a bit like a victory speech, where in reality uh you were going backwards, you were losing counselors. So, it feels like she's in denial about maybe how badly you actually did.

[00:04:00]>> Well, there was two factors there. You had uh many of those elections Those county council elections were last fought in 2021 when we had those uh record levels of support for the Conservative Party.

[00:04:09]Uh many people also talked about the fact that the council elections that were being fought were for administrations that were only going to last a year. They didn't consider it as serious as they might otherwise.

[00:04:19]In reality, the Liberal Democrats used to do very well in local elections. Uh they aren't a de facto uh vote for a general election. We're going to keep putting our real plan, considered plan forward. People are buying into Kemi.

[00:04:31]They like Kemi. They like what she stands for. They like the fact that she is a serious woman who can make the serious decisions needed to fix this country. A leader with a backbone is just what this country needs.