alastair campbell, the former communications director at number ten under the last labour governmentscalculation delaying get. do you think these figures back that up? there is a degree to which that is a fair point. it was certainly the case that the damaging uncertainty ahead of the budget, which was to do with the quantity of rumours swirling in the media, had a damaging effect on business confidence. fora damaging effect on business confidence. for a very lengthy period of time, and we saw this in our own data, we saw four months of declining confidence amongst our membership. so this is a reasonable point to make. i do understand why they did want to take their time, they wanted to be seen and indeed do a thoroughjob in addressing the original black hole in the public finances. and to really set themselves up as sort of the competent government that was going to do the right thing. 0n the economy. and then it did not want to be seen to be things, but it doesn't in retrospect feel like that struck quite right for them. if you were looking for evidence that it had unnerved consume

you know, if somebody is going to give keir starmer a christmas present, it ought to be alastair campbellmean, maybe not him, but i but but i was on question time the other week. well he thinks we are the, the but no, i mean you're right, blair had brilliant press operations. but there's one other point, joe, on this. you worked for paddy ashdown. paddy, you know, had distinguished himself in the royal marines in the sbs. he was a real personality, absolutely. very charming. yeah. the women certainly thought that, you know, i'm not going to comment on that one. but he was very charming. he was a big personality. take the politics out of it. does starmer have leadership qualities? >> i think, well, you and i were talking in the green room earlier about clement attlee, who had absolutely no charisma, you know, was as dull as ditchwater. and you can tell your quote to the audience if they don't know it. but i just think, no. keir starmer is not a natural communicator. no. there doesn't feel any empathy. and there also doesn't seem to be amongst quite a lot of his cabinet, what i would call a

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we have the leader of reform uk, nigel farage, along with tony blair�*s former spin doctor, alastair campbellce here in lincoln in the east midlands. we are on iplayerfrom 9pm and bbc one after the ten 0�*clock news. fiona, thank you. a medicine known as the "king kong" of weight loss jabs is to be prescribed on the nhs in england. but it could take 12 years for everyone to receive it. the healthcare watchdog, nice, says that length of time is necessary so health services aren�*t overwhelmed by demand for the drug. our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson reports. maya winter was turned down for nhs weight loss treatment, despite having severe obesity with a bmi ofjust over 53. she bought the weight loss drug mounjaro privately from an online pharmacy and has since lost five stone. it feels amazing. ifeel so, so, so much better, and my body, just had my six—monthly bloods done, and my body is coping a lot better, and all my bloods are looking very good. around 60% of adults are either overweight or obese in england, risking their health and putting pressure on the nhs. but only 40,000 are

so we don't want that just quickly. >> that was satirical content about alastair campbell.ase don't sue me alastair. it's christmas love the podcast. but yeah, i just wanted to say about mandelson, i knew a few. i'm not a genius, but i worked out a few weeks ago that mandelson was going to get this when he did this interview where he said, hey guys, we need to calm down about all this trump stuff. let's get more mature and let's stop. and i was like, oh, he's getting the ambassador job. because with labour it's just a choice of who's insulted trump the least egregiously. right. because it's like david lammy, all right. can't be him. but it's like there's a meeting anyone that hasn't called trump hitler, you know, keep your hands raised sort of thing. and then you have to get rid of everyone that's called him hitler. so mandelson is probably the least ridiculous choice, right.7 obviously be better if it was someone from reform or something. but that was never going to happen. >> somebody who could actually get something good to happen. and some people have criticised the cho

> meanwhile, farage clashed with labour minister jacqui smith, the presenter fiona bruce and alastair campbelln bbc last night. take a listen to him clashing with tory mp kevin hollinrake on immigration too. >> you haven't got a cat's chance in hell of winning the next general election. shame on you for what you've done. it was wilful , it was deceptive, it was wilful, it was deceptive, it was deliberate and it was wrong . deliberate and it was wrong. >> elsewhere, france in chaos. president emmanuel macron rejects calls to step down as president. as we say au revoir to prime minister michel barnier will have all the latest . will have all the latest. and i was just i was just asking , was just i was just asking, emma, how do you say a 50. >> so. >> meanwhile, farage clashed with labour minister jacqui smith, the presenter fiona bruce and alastair campbell on bbc last night. take a listen to him clashing with tory mp kevin hollinrake on immigration too. >> you haven't got a cat's chance in hell of winning the next general election. shame on you for what you've done. it was wilful , it was dece

>> alastair campbell could be in huge trouble as his son's multi—million pound betting syndicate goeslastair is up to his eyeballs in it. what's going on? and does anyone else think that shoplifting is totally out of control? on my panel tonight it's political consultant suzanne evans, journalist benjamin butterworth and the founder of global britain, ammon bogle. oh, and can you guess what's so controversial about this? >> let's get a touch on that, jack. try a little foot. >> get ready. britain, here we go. labour has sold your children's education to race baiting lunatics. next. >> thank you and good evening. the top stories this hour. three afghan nationals who were convicted in belgium over their involvement in a major people smuggling ring, have been arrested whilst on the run in the uk. prosecutors in belgium say they were part of a gang involved in organising the transport of migrants from afghanistan through iran and the balkans into western europe. authorities say they were also part of a group who committed serious sexual offences, including rape, against male migrant minor

. >> i listened, i listened to rory stewart and alastair campbell on this because this is the stuff roryrt actually knows about, unlike america, which he gets horrifically wrong, and britain, but actually the middle east and the factions in islam and so on, it is an extraordinary country. i hadn't really quite grasped just 1526

i also didn't hear from the likes of tony blair sidekick alastair campbell complaining either.eted funny how the people who used to scream and bawl about george soros don't mind oligarchy when it helps them. yeah, it is funny isn't it, alasdair? it's funny how in that tweet alone you finally admit the hungarian billionaire george soros used his wealth to interfere in british politics because that idea used to be called a conspiracy theory by lazy commentators. but now elon musk is thinking about doing the same thing as soros. suddenly, now it's a problem to the likes of campbell and the electoral commission. oh, how the tables have turned. soros, of course, is the man who broke the bank of england, netting $1 billion by shorting the pound on black wednesday in 1992. this is a man who made his wealth off the back of britain's misery. i actually have no problem with that. i'm a capitalist, but i do have an issue with what soros went on to do with his fortune. in the uk, he funded anti—brexit campaigns, including calls for a second referendum. he explained in 2019. my contribution

. >> i listened, i listened to rory stewart and alastair campbell on this because this is the stuff roryrt actually knows about, unlike america, which he gets horrifically wrong, and britain, but actually the middle east and the factions in islam and so on, it is an extraordinary country. i hadn't really quite grasped just how divided , how tribal it is, how divided, how tribal it is, how many divisions there are. and as you say, this particular sect of islam, which the assad family represented, as he put it, they're like the mormons are to christianity, like really quite cuckoo even by islamic season, by islamic standards. but, you know, they believe in i think it's that one. they believe in reincarnation, including possibly as a plant. yeah. >> and well, i mean, that probably that maybe the people of this country would like probably that maybe the people of this

. >> remember sir keir starmer needs a peter mandelson, a john prescott and alastair campbell, peoplethat. >> yeah, i mean he's got 1 or 2 of them. he's got jonathan powell, he's the national security adviser . he's got security adviser. he's got morgan mcsweeney. morgan mcsweeney, i think is more of an election campaigner than a somebody who knows the workings of government. starmer is going to i mean , his ministerial team to i mean, his ministerial team is very weak. that's partly because the parliamentary labour party was very weak, because nobody wanted to be a labour mp in in the corbyn years, some very talented people came in at the election and starmer is clearly fast tracking them into high ministerial office. you saw that with heidi , heidi alexander that with heidi, heidi alexander this week. but it is, i think labouris this week. but it is, i think labour is going to find it really difficult to win a second term. >> fascinating. well, listen, earlier , gb news spoke to the earlier, gb news spoke to the chancellor of the duchy of lancaster, pat mcfadden, about how labour ar