risky interview coming up soon, but 1st, you know, if a message is in a form, so i show last week on to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. teddy says, great to hear alex calling an injection, a jag, it was always a jog in scotland and not a job. i seem to remember. well, who do i another great issue, cheers. your brain says, i'm no longer responsible for a child. my approach would be to ask my son for his unwillingness or otherwise i checked with his d. p. re any contact indications, assuming all clear and sun willing it would be a big green light for me. gordon mckenzie says, indeed the g. c. b, i have got this totally all protect the teenagers, their parents and grandparents by getting corporate jobs to 12 plus immediately and possibly younger ages, later tissue and mice and says, very much looking forward to hearing from professor, how do you balance right this pandemic? he's only one, it seems to talk any sense to me. and finally, gordon says, everyone who can get box needed should get vaccinated. trust adopters on the site.

now steve, richard bit fin tv. see this and this versus prime minister puts him in a great position to judge the tenure of british prime ministers. so where sons johnson 2 years died, but it's later than you think the rentals. thank you for joining again. malik simon show off of the prime minister. so, you know, very good place to tell us how much trouble is johnson low and quite a lot, but the opinion polls suggest he and the conservative policy are still ahead of les, but the main opposition. so that gives him a certain orthography, still as long as a prime minister is ahead in the polls in british politics. they become very authoritative, omnipotent, within a government and a party. if, if labor go ahead in the polls this autumn, i think he's in deep trouble. because the efforts,

the essence of johnson's command is his perceived folk winning quality. there isn't a clear idea, logical direction as the was on the factor. and she was many times miles behind in the polls, but there was an ideological mission. he's not great with policy detail. he doesn't really understand how to manage teams. but as long as he was seen as this folk, when he was mighty within the party in the government, if that were to go, i think he would be in real trouble because that great asset would be in doubt. so this james, in the weather will seen over the, the, some of quite quickly labor. i'm the little democrats, davis daughter was in the both one off a by election unexpectedly to losses for the tories. adjust upon lands dropped 50

points in the conservative home popularity. states, this is pretty dramatic stuff. is it just a blip of some a blip? or will it continue for the autumn? with the joy of politics is at some predictability. and we don't know. i can explain what's happening in the sense that his soaring popularity admits quite a lot of chaos within the government could be put down to the success of the vaccine roll out across the u. k. and the pandemic has dominated british politics and the sense of liberation. i think actually a more direct connection with government. we've had so many years, you know, people were getting techs in england, telling them to get back to it. i think people of us all that sparse johnson texting me, or indeed is scotland. that's nicholas's. just tell you, go off and be liberated from this nightmare. and that explains the soaring popularity. and the chaos of recent weeks where boris

johnson tried to get out of self isolating, for example, after a resignation of the health after the resignation of the health secretary, the chaos over travel plans and sol. that now means there is a sort of growing sense of k awesome incompetence to counter the near you fauria. you could almost feel it of the vaccine rollout. so i think a lot of politics at the moment remains pandemic driven. that won't last much longer. if we are through the west of it. so that is an extraordinary thing in a, by any independent analysis. the performance of policy performance during the pandemic has been lamentable. it's been very poor been from national standards. and yet the single success of the vaccine rule seems to overcome everything. not just

for bonus johnson but nicholas stoughton for the welsh plus minister as well. would that be a fantasy? yes. yeah. yeah, i think the, we're seeing in the u. k. after years, basically since $979.00 of a perception of the state being sinister. and you know, the great stature crusade was, get the state of people set people free, a completely new perception, in which it becomes the benevolent liberator from the pandemic. i do think it is such a direct connection, you know, the n a chess, and then these techs to go and get a vaccine, that it has changed the perception of those in government across the u. k. now that could well be flex. public opinion is all over the place at the moment. and you'll write the morris johnson early on a made a series. you can see it. i mean,

his old special advisor dominic coming says, don't thing about tweeting about this all the time. you could see the mistakes, parable mistakes, and yet johnson, one of his all skills is to sort of the public according to wholesale, we're being the same with anyone. now that is not the case. but there is, you know, the default position for a lot of politicians is disillusionment and betrayal. according to voters. it's taking a long time with him. the default position with him test be sympathy and empathy rather than that. now that might be changing, as you suggest, with the dramatic narrowing of the opinion. polls even declined in his personal right. and so much of a problem is dominant coming the better form are very special adviser, want to see a real danger to the prime minister. well,

the views barry on this i'll give you mine, and the 2nd a lot of people think it's a minor irritant. that he is established as such, an unreliable narrator out for revenge, that his comments lack credibility. i take the opposite view. this is absolutely unique in 2 ways. first of all, his power with the number 10 was you need much more powerful than previous big names like alice to campbell who was with tony black. he had power over who was appointed, who was removed, including the chancellor of the exchequer, and so on. so he was incredibly powerful. and for more than a year. so boris johnson close up because his assessment rings true when you related to what we have all experience. seeing johnson an action. i think it's going to be damaging for her. i had

a discussion with some political commentators for a program the other day sort of spontaneously 2 of them cited coming and said as evidence to make sense of johnson. i think therefore the running commentary and it's about a tweet every hour long, long blog is going to be damaging to him. most re, voters will read them. but these things coming through and it is a condemnation that sort of makes sense. it's not outrageous what he's saying, it a cold with what everyone can see. and so i think it's going to be damaging to. and the seems to be fair volume of text messages between the prime minister and this is form a confidant. that could i could spell more trouble. yeah. and he's publishing the some of the that is, i mean a, it's extraordinary that he's doing that. bought it,

does me, this isn't his narrative. these are tax. this is sort of the stuff of history. you know that you people look at the evidence and this is actual tax, not cummings, writing a year later. at least. yeah. so i think these are damaging. i'd say all this, i don't think it will be, i've got a feeling it will be and that's quite different from the strange political opponent because usually that sort of stuff has to stay within some sort of bones because the embattled opponent wants to get back into the office perhaps, but with dominic cummings is quite different. he has no aspirations for office and therefore there is no, no holds bob. exactly. i mean, so partial has no leverage to pull in relation to coming up to you, right? you know, if you're a leader of a coffee, the power of patronage or the potential patronage, gives the lead

a considerable lever. johnson cummings doesn't want to go back to work with him, and therefore he doesn't want to go into those a lot. and he's not bothered about you about the lord. and he said, you won't be open to parish now. so there are, there is nothing in terms of what johnson can offer in the world that puts him in a more dangerous place. you say that if he sucks, a cabinet minister cabinet minister says, well, i might get back in. if i have myself that is not part of his thinking, and that makes it more dangerous. and one final question before i go into some of the bottom, johnson's background, if recently, because the people who nearly became prime minister, if we've been having less discussion a couple of years back, would bought us johnson to be than that book as opposed to big in the prime ministers, but yeah, in fact a couple years ago, i did a talk on the theme of prime ministers. we had a series actually of tools. it's now going to be

a book in september. and i then wrote an article for newspaper, saying on the basis of those that had just missed out in the past. johnson will not seize the crown. and i've been tormented about ever since, you know, with people tweeting. i'll look at him. he said, johnson would never get it. i said on the basis of the past, because if you look at the qualifications, those who were prime ministers on the whole, they tended to be loyal people. they tended to be people haven't got to much trouble. up until the point they seized the crown, they tend to be unify as rather than dividers. they could master policy detail and then sort of make it accessible to the wider electra and none of that he makes but i think breck fit was the different the tory party was in state of junk

said so existential crisis about its own future. and they turned to him for 2 reasons that he is a vocal, and that is his one big qualification for leadership. and he was the hard line breakfast here who could deal with the threats posed by the van bricks at party another. so, so that's how he got it. but he hasn't got many of the qualifications of leadership . we'll come back and we'll discuss how both johnson defy gravity and your prediction. join us after the break. when alex continues this conversation of a journalist and broadcaster steve richards was see then the. ah, the news.

the news so long ago humour was the domain of social fatigue and a means for us to laugh at ourselves. and the comic was the person who had the guts and skill to say what all of us might have been thinking. this is no longer the case, it would see now humour is just another political weapon. and you know, it's not very funny. welcome back. alex is in conversation with steve richards about the main thing,

political problems of the prime minister. so let's get back to the origins of bought us some in, alexander bought us the pestle. johnson not only is stanley johnson is known for having a good sense of humor, but it's not a name. you give somebody you expect to be prime minister, does it? well, no, i haven't done him any harm. i gather his family. don't even call him boris the name. very unusually, by the way. but a lot of voters refer to him as unusual in the sense the most prime ministers are referred to by that 1st. this is like the queen, there is a family name on this, the official, there's an official name and a family name. and yeah, it reflects a kind of show in this which is part of the family and the father is like him or he's like the father. they are performing the top family in different ways,

some more exuberant than others are fascinated by performance. and, you know, he, david cameron and others at e to i thought that i think were fascinated by the performance of politics, the game of politics. and to this very day, if you struggle to find clear definition about johnson's broad mission, there is no doubt that in the game of politics, he's proved to be a winner on his tongue. johnson, as a very unusual technique for a politician. it's also a decided he would continue with a fairly high risk, a lifestyle across a range of things to take risks. journalism you seemed a stranger to the child on various occasions would, would have the demeanor of saying all that stuff doesn't matter,

but this is really a very unusual, a position to take a model made. it's fascinating. i remember working on the program with him occasionally when he was a journalist and you said you want to go into politics and boys. he done it. and so you know, whatever the traits he has got away with. thanks so far. now that will come a point almost inevitably, when he doesn't, and there will be the, the full back of all full baths. but it hasn't happened yet. and have you been helped by the social media age, the transience of story to some and some of the things that could be penned on bought us with a, with a sunk a battleship. never mind a prime minister, but the social media age if, if it's just of the data to, to madison, to, to stand there them things that's, that's a very interesting observation, because i've heard the opposite. that has been a lot of activity around highlighting what johnson said in the house comment

wasn't true, has had millions of millions of views. but you know this up. so you know that if you look by the script editor of the spectator, foreign secretary, mayor of london wanted twice and now prime minister, that is a record which just so far he hasn't had to face the consequences of actions. and then a poem that is been a lucky, gentle, various key points and a car seem to fallen in this. his favor. he was lucky to face jeremy call been kind of very weak live dam leader in the december 2019 elections. but it was he with great chutzpah who's kind of there will be propelled what was then hung parliament towards an election at a time when he wanted all the rest of it. so yes, lock box. i mean it's not it's not a soul explanation of any successful leader. yeah. but the one thing you can be

lucky alicia to pull the december 2019 election. the greatest political christmas present of all. yeah. yeah. and they gave it to him. they didn't have to give him the election on that date and they did. well, that's the big question as the lunch about to run out. i mean, at the start of the summer, if you have mastered foley, surveyed big triumphantly and the local elections, england, a few passkey problems in northern ireland and scotland. but nonetheless, as far as english both are concerned, he was totally dominant now. and as we move into the, the high some of them through it think it's look a bit different. yeah, and i think we also will be an interesting test for him. and his main opponent the label to kill stormer because so far the test with system or is how he has on the whole managed politics with the time demick, which are unique and distinct. so how he manages the politics,

if it returns to normal ish in the autumn, is a big test for him, which will then have an impact on the face of forest job, some 2 bars johnson. it's very interesting and this a skill has really evaded scrutiny at every point. any great sense, you know, mayor of london's not huge job in british politics as foreign secretary, he was peripheral. theresa may deliberately made him peripheral during the tory leadership conference. there were so many candidates, but no one was really challenged. in the general election, he avoided big interviews. so it's the leader of the opposition's task really, to scrutinize. he's not used to that, so that will be an interesting and have a terminal challenges. i mean, some talk, some evidence of a rest every way between prime minister and miss chancellor. you know,

the classic demise of prime ministers often lives preceded by a rift between milk and sedona st. there's some evidence that i'm w companies of course, and said that they were the work, it was a conspiracy to replace them more or less as soon as he was reelected them in as dominant coming just for him, a mischief or other forces and the conservative party would quite like to see the back of both. i think the dominant cummings comments reflects the fact that after the december 2019 election, he and his boat leave entourage number $0.10 the power was waning for that. so loosing out to mrs. jones, she sent me is a, is a plan. it's people who see the prime minister along to a place she by definition sees and quite a lot. but the more interesting one in my view is the richie sumac chancellor bus is number 10 division because at times,

although johnson ideologically is all over the place. but at times, johnson has made speeches where he said, call me, roosevelt. even if you know president roosevelt, new deal, big spend a big span of a big sped and, and as evidence that he does believe a big spending as a way of driving the economy. the sooner is a self described fiscal conservatory. so there is potentially huge tension over johnson's ambitions by his so called leveling up program and of a kind of big spending items versus this fiscal conservative in the treasury, who pulse suggest is incredibly popular. and how that works itself out, i think will be one of the big themes this autumn and beyond. now it might go more smoothly because far, shelton is both the big spender, but he doesn't like tax rises quite likes, tax cuts,

and he's described as 0. and so on. so he's not absolutely rooted in one spot. but if he decides he is roosevelt like i want to emerge from the pandemic as a big spend, that he will face resistance folks from the treasury culture of sound money and from richey soon. and that could be really titanic set of tensions, of public spending. tough in the coming years high. but other challenges. i mean, i'll be expecting a challenge from the north of the, quite surprised by how little constitutional family must been after the victory of the s. m. p in the scottish alexis, well i think that will be this will be a running theme. my view is that johnson will not grant referendum. he just won't do it. whatever the pressure set me before the next general

election. i'm understanding is that that might change if you have the support of kids dahmer and the westminster labor policy. so you can see this being a running theme. and without clear resolution, if he remains in that position, you will know more about what the options might be from the scottish position, but the westminster position mind sending, i think just not going to give it the side of an election. now that might change, but i think if it's howard stop and have it, but how to see is biggest danger of all that. some self. is he congenitally and capable of governing? what once they been demick subsides and people stop script in the nuts and bolts of government, it's going to be a general decision, as mine is not capable of being tremendous. well, i think you put it well,

people analyze over time, who's the biggest threat to bars? johnson, is it richie sue? not the popular chart for that? is it? the populace home secretary, and so i think the biggest danger to bars johnson is boris johnson. now one of the things that cummings is claimed, he said that the beginning of all of this is, you know, it's all, it's almost a joke that i'm big prime minister. but then he said, but then again say with cameron and osborne and all the rest of them. but he has shown no or little evidence of grasp of detail, a capacity to manage people, which is so important, especially in challenging times. his number 10 is a curious mix of p the cabinet was chosen partly because the best support for brett said, partly because none of them ready represents the threat to him. and so yeah,

the biggest threat subarus johnson as far as johnson, i think. so finally, steve went to the top of the prime minister's. you didn't think he would get there . can they stay there? yeah, i didn't think he would get that on the basis of others who hadn't, i saw him having some of those characteristics for those who haven't got the crown . so therefore, i'm not gonna make a prediction again, having be proven wrong about him before. what i will say is 2 things. one, a majority of ac is a pretty good. now i know margaret thatcher foul with a much bigger majority. and also for all the speculation about the term, all of his private life and all the rest of it. prime ministers very rarely go voluntarily . why in milton times is called voluntarily, and that was how wilson and nice and one way or another,

the eldest of all being forced out if he is to go before the next election, doubtless it will be voluntarily. so it would have to be through false. so there would be one heck of a drama to be played out if that were to happen. so i'm not going to say anything more. give that assessment. that will bring you back to, to talk about that drama for that. come you think it will be read so thank you so much for joining me once again on the silence for thank you. before last 6 recess, they don't bring round the palace of westminster. was it the prime minister? had described his education set, cuz he gavin williamson as unstoppable because he was the only cabinet secretary less popular than he was. perhaps things will look different company alton. but right now, the johnson government has become suddenly accident prone to lose one hail 60 as a misfortune to lose to by election. so as careless. what distinguishes johnson

from his tory periods. it's a real capacity for being elected. unfortunately for him, he also possesses talent. for blowing himself, there is no more expedient prime ministerial observer than steve richard. he sent to storm clouds forming. we'll be dining. but for now from alex, my cell phone, all that issue, it's good bye. stay safe. i hope to see you all again next week. ah, me soon ah, the british and american governments have often been accused of destroying lives in their own interest. while you see in this,

these techniques is the state devising message to end essentially destroy personality of an individual. lifetime means this is how one doctor's theories were allegedly used in psychological warfare against the prisoners deemed a danger to the state. that was the foundation for the method of psychological interrogation, psychological torture, disseminated within the us intelligence community, and worldwide among allies for the next 30 years. and how the victim say they still live with the consequences today. the media reflection of reality. the in a world transformed what will make you feel safer.

tyson lation community, are you going the right way or are you being direct? what is true? what is faith? in the world corrupted, you need to defend. ah, so join us in the depths or remain in the shallows. ah, ah, a new gold rush is underway, and gunner thousands of ill equipped workers flocking to the goldfields, hoping to strike it. rich children are torn between gold and education. my family was very poor. i thought i was doing my best to get back to school, which still it will have the strongest appeal. the,

the, the, the un announces an official intervention over claims of excessive force and retaliated by berlin, officers against on anti locked down protests for the police union says the demonstrators themselves were far from people. i am sure that my colleagues who is in accordance with the law in addition more than 60 police officers were injured. they clearly did not stumble but suffered during the protest. permission for coven vaccinated citizens of san marino to enter the block? leave most stock behind has they've received russia spoken agree, which is not yet approved. and the you, the microstates health minister sell a tells are key that the.