00:00Let's talk about the weekend, because Donald Trump, you know, in true Donald Trump style,
00:05and I've said before I don't agree with everything, and there are people in this country, in fact,
00:09a majority who don't think he was right to say don't join the initial strikes,
00:13but the man is just incapable of sticking to anything.
00:16Donald Trump put out, the UK, our once great ally, maybe the greatest of them all,
00:21is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
00:25That's OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer,
00:28but we will remember, we don't need people that join wars after we've already won.
00:33Now, if I was Starmer, Isabel, right, and I had a different view to Trump,
00:37leadership is about sticking to your guns, excuse the pun, not him.
00:41Every single newspaper reporting that he got on his hands and knees and phoned up the President
00:46and basically apologised for 20 minutes over the weekend,
00:49which is why people think he's spineless and incapable of being in the position he is, right?
00:55I mean, the thing is, this is the worst of all worlds, isn't it?
00:58You know, you're right that the polling, I haven't actually examined the polling,
01:02but I understand that the polling is pretty heavily in favour of the UK not being involved,
01:09but you would expect that, wouldn't you?
01:11I mean, whoever really votes for war?
01:13Sure.
01:13You know, nobody wants wars, and unfortunately, it is at times like these that leaders lead,
01:22and the rest of us have to go along with that.
01:25And we don't necessarily get to choose whether we're involved in wars or not.
01:30And as the world gets smaller and more interconnected,
01:33you are pulled into a war whether you like it or not.
01:36So, in a sense, I totally respect the polling and respect that people don't want to be part of this.
01:43And I believe that Starmer instinctively is a peacenik.
01:47He doesn't want to be part of this either.
01:49And so, as it happens, that is the popular position, but it doesn't mean it's the right position.
01:57It's interesting for me because I think what's caused over the weekend that poll,
02:02and I can only give you my opinion, is that Donald Trump said everybody assumed it would be like Venezuela.
02:08No, it's not going to be.
02:09It's day 10, and this is going to drag on and on, and other people are going to be drawn
02:13in.
02:13I'm with you.
02:14I think we should have stood shoulder to shoulder with America.
02:18But here's the really interesting thing.
02:20My point today is Starmer doesn't get anything right.
02:24Stick up for what you believe in.
02:25He had a great opportunity.
02:27You're a political animal.
02:28He had a great opportunity this weekend with his comms team when Tony Blair came out and said,
02:34I would have turned around and gone, yeah, and look where it got you, mate,
02:38which is why I'm sticking to what I stick to.
02:40But he doesn't say that.
02:41He says, oh, Tony's got his opinion, and Donald's got...
02:43There's nothing about him that makes me think, yeah, stick up for what you think, mate,
02:47and I'd respect you more.
02:49It's just completely insufficiently robust on every level, isn't it?
02:53You know, take a position, articulate it, and bring people with you.
02:58And he's done, as always, the worst of all worlds, which has been a bit on the one hand,
03:03but on the other.
03:04Our relationships are across the Gulf and, of course, in the U.S., are seriously damaged.
03:13Now, I don't think they're destroyed, those relationships with different leaders.
03:18They can easily be put on a new footing.
03:20But it has done tremendous damage.
03:23The U.S. now knows that we're not a reliable ally,
03:27and they are just going to plough on without us.
03:29That's the reality.
03:31I couldn't agree more.
03:32I'm interested.
03:32I mean, obviously, you're in Dubai.
03:34The Gulf states.
03:35I mean, you know, I can sit here every morning and rail against the fact
03:39that we can't seem to get a boat there, HMS Dragon,
03:41and when we do want to send an aircraft carrier that Trump doesn't want,
03:45that needs a bloody French escort because apparently it's not operationally ready.
03:50The whole thing, whether it's Starmer's performance or the state of our armed forces
03:55or how we work diplomatically, is hugely embarrassing, isn't it?
04:00Really embarrassing.
04:01It is.
04:02So here in Dubai, my partner Richard Tice, the deputy leader of reform,
04:07flew out here on Friday.
04:10No problems getting here.
04:12He's just left.
04:13No problems getting back on a commercial flight, by the way.
04:17All this nonsense about people needing private jets to get out.
04:21It's complete and utter twaddle.
04:23Emirates and Etihad, the two UAE national carriers, are flying a proper schedule now.
04:29I mean, of course, there's a little bit of disruption here and there,
04:32but no one needs to be getting private jets out of Dubai.
04:36Nobody needs to be leaving in some kind of incredibly complex arrangement.
04:41Frankly, I'm not even sure there's any need for any repatriation flights.
04:46You know, you can, I guess there will be a number of people
04:48whose flights were cancelled and they can't afford to buy another flight.
04:53I get that.
04:54And in times of so-called war, insurance policies get invalidated.
04:59But I don't see any need for any kind of panicked arrangements right now.
05:05It's very calm here indeed.
05:07But the point I was going to make is that Richard had a meeting here in the UAE
05:13with one of the Emirati ministers here.
05:17And, you know, she didn't hold back.
05:19It wasn't privately.
05:21I mean, I think she would be very happy for us to say, you know, that they are deeply dismayed
05:26by the fall of the United Kingdom
05:30and our place in the world and the lack of leadership shown.
05:34I couldn't agree more.
05:36I keep coming back to, I don't have to agree with your politics, but I want a leader to lead.
05:42I'm not interested in you trying to be, at such a crucial time, all things to all people, which sums
05:48up everything.
05:49Whether it's standing in Westminster saying to the Muslims supporting Ramadan, that's fine.
05:54I didn't do it to get a round of applause.
05:57Whether it's then saying to his Labour backbenchers, I'm not doing it.
06:00Oh, I am.
06:01Oh, Trump, I'm not.
06:02Oh, I am.
06:03Trump, dithering, just dithering, and no, we've said it on so many cases.
06:07I mean, how embarrassing is the state of the...
06:09I mean, you know, HMS Dragon and now that aircraft carrier.
06:13The Gulf states and our American allies just must laugh at our incapabilities.
06:17And by the way, I don't hold Starmer fully responsible for that.
06:20We've been cutting defence for years.
06:21One of the things that surely, whatever the next government is, reform or any other ilk, right,
06:26they need to understand we need to have a defence capability that looks after our interests.
06:33Don't we?
06:34Well, we also need to look as if we can at least match what our other European allies are doing.
06:41And these are countries whose economies are certainly no stronger than ours.
06:46You know, how come the French are able to get off the...
06:50get their assets off the ground, get to be part of a response to this crisis?
06:56How come other countries, the Italians, the Greeks are all over this?
07:01And we're just kind of whimpering on the sidelines.
07:04It is completely embarrassing.
07:06And we none of us yet know how this is going to play out.
07:09You know, it is quiet here this morning in the UAE.
07:13But, you know, I'm only in one part of this huge crisis.
07:18I don't know how it is in the other Gulf states this morning.
07:21And we're a long way from any resolution.
07:25You know, Trump said he's not interested in Britain turning up after the war is already won.
07:32I mean, it isn't won, is it?
07:34You know, that is...
07:35Well, that's the criticism.
07:36And that's why you'll end up with that poll here, which needs to be given attention to genuinely,
07:41because, you know, the assumption was...
07:44Assumption's probably the wrong word.
07:45Trump made a big thing.
07:46We're going to get in there.
07:47We're going to take out Khomeini.
07:49And the people will rise.
07:50That hasn't happened.
07:51It's day 10.
07:52There's no sign of people rising against authority.
07:56In fact, I was reading and watching some terrible footage where state television is saying,
08:00if you go outside and dare to do that, we'll shoot your children.
08:02That's the reality.
08:03But how you make that come through is incredibly difficult.
08:07However, I've got a little present for you for a Monday morning,
08:10because Richard's gone.
08:12I've got a little present for you.
08:14Starmer, improving his ability, has decided to make a TikTok video.
08:18Have you seen this, Isabel?
08:19This is about...
08:21This just about sums up our Prime Minister.
08:23Please enjoy, everybody.
08:24This is Starmer's latest offering.
08:26I'd like to point out the quality, the loud music and the nasal thing is nothing to do with talk.
08:33This is all to do with Labour HQ.
08:35Have a listen.
08:35Have a watch.
08:39Our number one priority is protecting our...
08:43And that's why, long before the U.S. and Israeli action last month, we had already recorded additional military capability
08:51to defend our...
08:59I'd just point out that basically Starmer was stood there watching a few helicopters take off and planes.
09:05Isabel, apart from the music, to me, that sums him up.
09:09That is him trying to say, well, I was ready.
09:12I sent out to...
09:13No, you didn't.
09:14Stop lying, man.
09:15Jeremy, there's no apart from the music.
09:18You do realise what that music is.
09:20Money for nothing.
09:22It's Dire Straits.
09:24It's for a video like that because Dire Straits is exactly what we're in.
09:29The headlines write themselves, don't they?
09:31I mean, I love the song, but, you know, Starmer's in Dire Straits.
09:36Come on, guys.
09:37The comms team, seriously.
09:40Something else, but not Dire Straits, really.
09:43Do you want, inappropriately, the best joke you'll ever hear about that?
09:48Go on, then.
09:49Dire Straits.
09:49Has anybody ever worked out what would have happened if Chris Rear had been their lead singer?
09:54Do you think he'd have been called Chris Straits or they'd have been called Dire...
09:57There you see?
09:59Oh, dear, oh, dear.
10:00Trust you to bring it down to the lowest common denominator.
10:05I'm being told off now.
10:06The other story that I want to do with you today, which has infuriated me and everybody
10:12who listens and watches this show.
10:14Ready for this?
10:15Flying the English, the Scottish or the Union flags on streets by this government has been
10:20linked to tools of hate.
10:22It's a leaked draft of the government's new social cohesion strategy.
10:25It warns that the flags were used to exclude or intimidate and that the extreme right
10:29has tried to turn symbols of pride into tools of hate.
10:33It comes as Labour also plan, Isabel, to appoint an anti-Muslim hostility czar.
10:40I've only got one thing to say to that.
10:42What about an anti-Semitism hostility czar?
10:45Are we ignoring Jews as usual in this country?
10:48I don't think we need any of these czars.
10:50What we need is to be proudly who we are, proudly British, and be sure of our identity.
10:57And the flag symbolises that.
10:58And if we can't any longer proudly fly our flags, then we are truly lost as a nation.
11:06And you know when this stuff really, really matters.
11:09It really matters at a time of war.
11:13When a country is under attack, luckily the UK is not at the moment.
11:17But if you don't have a shared identity, if you don't have clear rules about what is and what is
11:24not acceptable on our streets,
11:26then as a country you will fall apart and you will be completely exposed to the enemy.
11:32Whatever that enemy may be, you will be completely and utterly vulnerable and weak.
11:39And this is why the route that we're going down, allowing all this absolute nonsense to infect our public life,
11:47is really dangerous.
11:49I have to say, I am extremely concerned that we're actually allowing pro-Iranian regime marches on the streets of
11:59London, on the streets of the UK.
12:01People will take a different view of that.
12:03They will say, well, you know, it's freedom of protest.
12:06I think there's a line to be drawn.
12:08When the world teeters on the brink, there is a line to be drawn with these protests.
12:13It is time we re-establish who we are and what we allow.
12:17And some of that is uncomfortable.
12:20But in very dangerous times, I think there is a limit to what people should be allowed to do.
12:25And dividing the country by going out and championing a regime that is that murderous,
12:33that says something very, very worrying about the types of people that we have brought in
12:39or allowed to spread their ideology to our own people.
12:44I couldn't honestly brilliantly put, I completely agree with every single line, as I know many were.
12:50Thank you so much as ever.
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