‘This Changed Nothing’ | Andrew Neil Presses Labour MP Over Starmer’s King’s Speech

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]I am sure the speech was written uh more than two days ago, Andrew. So I fully expect that there was absolutely nothing that the king said this morning that was not written for him two days ago by government ministers. And I I I would very much hope and expect that we're not doing this on the fly, that that people weren't up until 2:00 this morning putting the final touches to the King's speech and that we we're prepared to run a country and run a government in a proper fashion rather than on the very very last minute like you seem to be suggesting we should.

[00:00:34]>> No, no, I'm not actually. In fact, the the opposite. I went out of my way to point out that what happened last Thursday was a long time coming. As the starburst soap opera continues to consume Westminster, it's not clear who's running the country. Ministers would have us believe they are. We're just getting on with the job, they insist, though in truth, much of their time is spent hatching the next twists and turns in the soap opera saga. Can't be said that their attention is fully on the day job. Perhaps the civil service is getting on with it, I hear you say.

[00:01:05]And maybe it is, but much of Whiteall still spends a lot of time, 2, three days a week, working from home. So, it's hard to tell. Even though the government constantly reminds us that we're in the midst of two major wars, I'm told that some days there's tumble weed blowing through even the Ministry of Defense.

[00:01:23]Well, if the missiles start incoming, even the Ministry of Defense has failed to provide us with any kind of missile defense in that circumstance. So it's probably safer being in Worththing than Whiteall. So cue much commentator hand ringing about the country being ruddless because of the self-indulgence of politicians and the media of course more concerned with who's up and who's down than the governance of the nation. I'm not so sure it's such a bad thing. We live in an age in which governments try to do far too much and do most of it badly. Today we had a king's speech a wash with yet more government activity.

[00:01:58]most of it quitian, some of it downright benile. I remember not long ago in the aftermath of an election, Belgium's multiple parties took even longer than usual to rearrange the deck chairs and form a new government. Seemed, if I remember, around 300 days or so, there was effectively no government. The economy boomed. I fear we will have no such respite. neither from the government whose modus operandi of incrementalism is as strong as ever judging from the king's speech despite Starmer saying incrementalism just didn't cut it only two days ago and neither from the Star soap opera which might well run longer than the mouse trap. West Streeting got to see the prime minister this morning. More a driveby than a meeting lasting less than 16 minutes. Not long enough to finish a cup of dining streets undrinkable coffee. We don't yet know what was said, though clearly not a lot. But we don't know because there's meant to be an unofficial ceasefire in soap opera hostilities on the day of the queen's king's speech. We'll see if it holds better than Donald Trump in the Gulf.

[00:03:05]The ball is certainly in the health secretary's court. either streeting musters his courage and mounts a leadership challenge or he bottles it.

[00:03:12]Neither is an easy option for him. If he challenges, which he looks like he will, he'll need to be sure he has the required 81 MPs to back his bid. Now, he's a playright in an increasingly tribunite PLP. So, he just can't take that for granted. If he does trigger a contest, it will likely be a three-way fight. Starmer Streeting and Ed Milliband. Yeah, Ed Milliband. An early contest leaves Andy Burnham stuck without a seat in the Commons and Angela Raina with her HMRC issues unresolved.

[00:03:43]So Milliban would likely be the left champion. He's also likely to win. The energy secretary may still be regarded as something of a joke by voters after his last disastrous foray as Labour leader, but labor activists love him.

[00:03:58]Nope. I don't know why either. Then the gulf between labor opinion and the country's opinion is one of the party's systemic problems. If streeting bottles it then star stumbles on a lame duck leading the walking wounded and the timetable for his departure switches dramatically in Andy Burnham's favor. He will aim to be back in the House of Commons in time for the Labour Party conference in late September, conveniently in his old Liverpool stomping ground. What better venue for the king of the north to go for it? Of course, a lot can go wrong for everybody between then and now. Nothing is certain. No streaming running, no star surviving, not Burnham winning a bi-election. So, this soap is set to run and run. As for the country, don't fret.

[00:04:46]Somehow, I feel we'll survive, maybe even thrive the more their attention is less on us and the more on their own ambitions. Enjoy it while it lasts. This is the Times at One with Andrew Neil.

[00:05:01]So, the King's speech has been delivered with no surprises. It'll now be debated in the House of Commons starting this afternoon. It's all somewhat overshadowed by the ongoing Starap opera. Its latest episode features a short meeting between Health Secretary West Streeting and the Prime Minister.

[00:05:19]The King's Day ceasefire between the two is holding so far, though not off the record where some briefings are going on on. Neither has said anything about it in public. And as I say, behind the scenes, Team Streeting is briefing that he will resign within the next 24 hours.

[00:05:36]Whether he resigns and immediately announces a leadership challenge or announces and waits for other cabinet ministers also to rush for the exit.

[00:05:46]Well, like many things in this longunning story, that remains to be seen. Let's speak to Patrick Hurley, Labour MP for Southport. Now, Patrick Hurley, on Monday, Karma told us incrementalism just didn't cut it. But that was a king's speech packed with incrementalism, wasn't it?

[00:06:09]>> I think it was a king speech packed with good stuff for the country. Um, and it's interesting how you've been speaking for five minutes and you talked about the soap opera rather than what's actually in the king's speech. There's in the king's speech the things around northern powerhouse rail. There's and competition reform. There's energy independence.

[00:06:27]There's nuclear regulation bill that's packed chalk full of good stuff for the country. Andrew, >> it's not I'm not arguing whether these individual measures are good or bad.

[00:06:36]There's plenty of time to debate that.

[00:06:38]My point is that all of that was in the pipeline before Monday's speech. All of that was in the pipeline when the country went to the polls last Thursday.

[00:06:47]This changed nothing. There was no additions, no sign that what Starmer told us on Monday was now actually going to be part of the government going forward. That's my point.

[00:06:58]>> And I think the thing is is that you you've you've mentioned incrementalism and you said Mr. Armor did >> you said well you you've said that this is not this is an incremental >> um thing that that that the king has announced today and the reason you've said that is because nothing has changed since Thursday of last week now I understand that there's breathless commentary I understand that nothing is certain here but really incremental just because six days things have been in the pipeline for six days I think the king's speech I think it's written on vellum it actually takes more than six days to dry >> you You can't you can't criticize for incrementalism when the thing has to be written and prepared and >> I think I think it's eventually filed in vellum but I I think that the the government can change the king's speech as it feels right. The fact is, >> well, no, hold on. Let me put this.

[00:07:50]>> What do you think will turn to seeing really fastm moving >> well pacey bills that need to be brought?

[00:07:58]>> The thumping you got on Thursday was a long time coming. Everybody knew that was on the way, including the prime minister. He had plenty of time to think about how he would respond to it. The speech he gave on Monday went through seven different drafts that the work started on long before your defeats on Thursday. and and so you had plenty of time to get there. He was the one that attacked incrementalism, not me. I actually quite like some incrementalism myself, but I'm not the one doing it.

[00:08:26]And I'm simply saying this was a speech of incrementalism. What was in today's speech that wasn't in it before Monday?

[00:08:36]>> I am sure the speech was written uh more than two days ago, Andrew. So I fully expect that there was absolutely nothing that the king said this morning that was not written for him two days ago by government ministers. And I I I would very much hope and expect that we're not doing this on the fly, that that people weren't up until 2:00 this morning putting the final touches to the King's speech and that we we're prepared to run a country and run a government in a proper fashion rather than on the very very last minute like you seem to be suggesting we should.

[00:09:10]>> No, no, I'm not actually. In fact, the the opposite. I went out of my way to point out that what happened last Thursday was a long time coming. the prime minister and the government had plenty of time to prepare to reflect in the ke king's speech what he told the country on Monday that the old ways didn't cut it. He was going to do the the new ways. I mean I think the the problem for your side of the party and I know you are loyally sticking with Kio Star as I so far as I can see a majority of M MPs.

[00:09:41]Your problem I think is that a lot of his critics will see this as all right Starmer w talked the talk on Monday but he still hasn't shown us that he can walk the walk.

[00:09:54]You know if the if the worst that people say about Kmer is that he's a bit boring and managerialist and technocratic then I'll take that. Thanks. You know we we had charisma with Boris Johnson. We had chaos with Liz Truss. The last thing we need now is that all over again. Give me boring and steady as she goes any day of the week. You know that this is not a branch of the entertainment industry.

[00:10:16]This is not an actual soap opera here.

[00:10:18]This is running a country. This we are one of the most, you know, the the largest economies in the in the world.

[00:10:25]We are globally significant. The last thing we need is this sort of who's up and who's down. Yeah. Commentary from from the from the press and the media.

[00:10:33]And you know, I know you've got a job to do, Andrew, but I'm sure secretly you agree with >> I'm I'm looking not at the I am looking at the up and down, but I'm also looking at what are the what's the policy fallout from Starmer's speech on Monday.

[00:10:49]And I don't say, you know, you say, give me boring anytime, give me cautious, all the rest after the the the fireworks of Johnson and and the shortlived fireworks of Liz Trust. I get all that. But you can't say give me boring, give me caution, steady as she goes. But then say incrementalism doesn't cut it. I mean, you got to make up your mind as one or the other.

[00:11:10]>> Well, you know, we're going to be nationalizing the steel industry. We're going to be making sure that we've got firm foundations for the economic growth of the country in the years to come.

[00:11:20]We're going to be moving closer to our closest geographical neighbors on the European mainland. There's a like I said when I started, you know, there is a this is chalk full of good stuff for the country. When people get a chance to read it themselves, when people get a chance to see what those bills are going to be in fully formed formation and when they become acts in in due course over the next 12 months, they will make a meaningful and realistic and positive difference to people's lives. And the the the commentary about who was up on Wednesday the 13th of May and they were down again by nine o'clock the next morning and whose stock is high and whose stock is low makes no odds to my constituents. It makes no odds to people out there in the country and within weeks they'll have forgotten all about it.

[00:12:03]>> Oh, all right. Well, we'll keep an eye out for a change in policy direction coming off the back not of the king's speech but of Mr. Starmer's speech on Monday. Let's let's see what happens on the policy side there. I'll keep a lookout for that and we'll cover it here on Times Radio. But to come back to the up and down bit, uh the ceasefire doesn't seem to be holding today, at least not off the record. Team Streeting is briefing that their man is about to resign and that will now face a leadership contest. Do you expect uh the prime minister to win?

[00:12:35]>> Um I think Wes is a team player team. He knows that politics is a is a team sport and Wes is a very loyal team player.

[00:12:44]>> He's about to resign. Well, you said earlier nothing is certain and they haven't made any comments on the record and they haven't made any comments or you know they're Patrick they're briefing like mad that he's going to resign.

[00:12:56]>> I mean I mean they may well >> it's his people. It's his people.

[00:13:00]>> They may well be but they people brief like mad and then you know we've both been around long enough to realize that people brief like mad and then what they've been briefing doesn't actually end up happening. Well, I'm pretty sure >> I'm not holding my breath to wait for any resignations from the cabinet or or or the you know Wes is going to be anything more than having his constituents in the country's interests at heart.

[00:13:22]>> Does where treating have what it takes to be prime minister?

[00:13:25]>> You know, there are so many people across the PL and and beyond who've got a lot of what it takes to be prime minister. Probably in my view, just not yet. We need to make sure that we knuckle down, get on with the job. There will be time, plenty of time for people to put their hat in the ring in due course, just not right now.

[00:13:45]>> Okay. Well, I don't think you're going to get your way, but nevertheless, it's a point of view which you have explained very clearly to us today. Patrick Hurley there on Times Radio.