David Starkey Talks

David Starkey
  • 4.8 (19)
  • Politics
  • Updated weekly

Every week on David Starkey Talks I talk to guests from across the spectrum of British politics and culture, all with the same goal in mind: how do we use the unique resources of talent and history that Britain has to reforge this country anew - stronger, smarter and more assured? You can also follow my YouTube channel on youtube.com/davidstarkeytalks

  1. 4 days ago

    "Burnham will CRASH and BURN - but the Right is in danger too" | David Starkey reacts to Makerfield

    As I often do after a significant electoral contest in this country, I turned to my trusted correspondent and political analyst Mark Littlewood to digest what has happened. The Makerfield by-election represents a huge setback for the political Right in this country in a number of ways. We have grown used to seeing Reform on the march since the election of 2024. Labour's collapsing polling and credibility has appeared for the last two years to play straight into the hands of Nigel Farage. But a confluence of factors has stalled that progress. First things first, Andy Burnham was always by far the most likely winner of this by-election. Many analysts with an axe to grind against Reform presented the Makerfield constituency as theirs to lose because of the friendly demographics, totally ignoring that it is slap bang in the middle of Burnham's home ground, where his popularity is (deservedly or not) stratospheric. Reform didn't help themselves by talking up their chances at the beginning of campaigning, like Gawain Towler did on this channel. It was only towards the end of campaigning that they began to recognise what they were up against in Burnham. Secondly, Reform's methods have been tested by this contest and found wanting. They relied once again on the unpopularity of Sir Keir Starmer, not considering that Andy Burnham was running on exactly the same message and providing a much quicker means of dispatching the Prime Minister. And they failed to articulate clearly and confidently what it was they stood for and how it is applicable to this constituency. Thirdly, though Restore performed very poorly and demonstrated that their online predictions were completely illusory, even the small fraction of votes they did pick up in this most favourable of regions is enough to deny any party of the Right many seats during a full general election. Supporters of the political Right in Britain are in danger of falling into the same trap of all disenfranchised peoples; that is voting for parties who are big on performative antics and emotionally satisfying bold statements, while totally ignoring the tactical reality they're facing. Let me be clear, Andy Burnham will fail as Prime Minister once he inevitably takes over from Starmer. He has no better answers to the problems facing this country than his soon-to-be predecessor. But that will not stop him doing enormous damage to this country, and potentially rigging the electoral system in his favour to further disenfranchise the political Right, who really do have the answers. We're entering dangerous times, and must choose our path with great care.

    46 min

  2. 30 May

    "Restore supporters are DELUDED!" | David Starkey Talks... to Jack Hadfield

    Having worked closely with both the Reform and Restore parties over the last few months, I find myself in a quandary over the goings on in Makerfield, where Reform have a good chance of winning the seat, but are seeing support slip away to the Restore candidate. I think it's time to examine this issue, motivated (as all subscribers to this channel should be) by the overriding concern of what's best for this country and the danger that Andy Burnham presents to its future. Let me make it clear to the complacent: if Andy Burnham wins in Makerfield, then he WILL become the next Prime Minister and he WILL drag this country further to the Left. For those who think doing so will automatically make Labour's chances of re-election even slimmer, I have grave news for you. Mr Burnham's personal popularity is real, if totally unmerited. There is every chance he might enjoy an unearned honeymoon period and bounce the country into an early election, clawing up enough of the vote to form some kind of monstrous coalition involving the Greens, Lib Dems and possibly the SNP. Burnham is also on the record as a keen advocate for proportional representation. If he is able to push through such a change to our electoral law then the chances of a right-wing government ever taking office again are slim to non-existent. The hard-Left will have a permanent whip hand over our politics, just as they do in Germany where attempts by Friedrich Merz to tackle the immigration issue are consistently thwarted by the socialist party. So when I say there's a lot riding on Makerfield, I'm not exaggerating. It is the worst possible occasion in which to indulge in petty factionalism. My guest this week makes no bones about his allegiances, he is backing Reform, and believes Restore supporters are deluded to imagine they can win the seat, rather than simply splitting the vote.

    46 min
  3. "Burnham is Labour's last trick" | Reform board member Gawain Towler speaks to David Starkey

    23 May

    "Burnham is Labour's last trick" | Reform board member Gawain Towler speaks to David Starkey

    This week I was rejoined by Reform board member Gawain Towler, who had spent the day before campaigning in Makerfield ahead of next month's by-election. It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Makerfield by-election. In Andy Burnham, Labour believes it has found their last hope of remaining in office beyond 2029. They're desperate to prove that voters have merely been hoodwinked by Reform and Nigel Farage, and that an "authentic" Labour voice can win them over again. It's funny really, because Burnham is in fact the most inauthentic candidate Labour could have chosen. Although he zealously cultivates the image of a working-class hero, Burnham is thoroughly middle-class, and went to the same Cambridge college that I did. Now, allow me to say that I firmly believe class should be irrelevant, but if one is going to play that card, please don't be dishonest about it. The Reform candidate, on the other hand, is as true to his Makerfield roots as it's possible to be. Robert Kenyon is a self-employed plumber who served as a reserve soldier and fiercely supports Wigan Warriors. His occasionally ribald contributions on social media only prove that he is, in fact, a real person, and not a shape-shifter like his Labour rival. I wish him all the best in this David versus Goliath fight.

    41 min
  4. "Starmer's attack just DOUBLED numbers for Saturday's march" | Tommy Robinson talks to David Starkey

    15 May

    "Starmer's attack just DOUBLED numbers for Saturday's march" | Tommy Robinson talks to David Starkey

    As the country watches the pitiful and inevitable collapse of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, one aspect of his paltry attempts to revive his leadership went unnoticed. Speaking on Monday in his last frenzied bid to turn things around, the Prime Minister singled out a particular event for opprobrium and a crackdown using the full force of the Home Office. The Unite the Kingdom march, an event organised by Tommy Robinson, stunned the establishment last year when it brought some 150,000 people onto the streets of London to call for a reclamation of and a renewed pride in our national identity. This Saturday the march returns to London for a second time. While the Metropolitan Police has decided it can go ahead, left-wing MPs have been clamouring for a harder line. Starmer, desperate to appease them after the drubbing he took in the local elections, has given it to them: banning several overseas activists from entering the country to attend the protest on the grounds that their presence in the UK is “not conducive to the public good”. These include members of the European Parliament. Today, I’m speaking to the event organiser Tommy Robinson to get his views about why he became the subject of the Prime Minister's attention, even amid the collapse of his entire government. It would appear that to his very last breath, the Prime Minister is determined to uphold the two-tier system he has been so instrumental in creating.

    1hr 26min
  5. "Reform are the only national party" | David Starkey & Mark Littlewood react to election results

    9 May

    "Reform are the only national party" | David Starkey & Mark Littlewood react to election results

    For all that they were unsurprising, the local results were a political revelation. Reform have continued to conquer the areas that began shifting away from Labour ever since the Brexit referendum of 2016. Reaching, as Nigel Farage said, far further into those regions than even Boris Johnson managed in 2019. If you break down the results in the Red Wall by ward level, you will see an even starker trend. The white working class is voting overwhelmingly for Reform, while the middle-class is largely sticking with Labour, the Lib Dems, or Greens. As well as capturing the traditional Conservative heartlands in the East of England, Reform also came in second in Wales and joint-second in Scotland from a standing start. Giving them a significant presence throughout the United Kingdom. If there is to be a vehicle to overturn the stifling uniparty consensus that has misruled this country for the last 30 years, and to prevent the maniac Greens from entering government, then it is increasingly clear that that vehicle is Reform. Others may wish it wasn't so, but we must deal with realities, not fantasies. All that being said, the Conservatives retain stubborn support among wealthier southern areas. And while Reform performed spectacularly, it still remains to be seen whether their projected national vote share would see them win a majority. The question of some kind of deal pre- or post-general election remains open. As ever, Mark Littlewood provides what I regard as the most acute analysis of the election results and what they mean. I hope you enjoy the episode! Thumbnail image credit: Owain Davies

    57 min
  6. "This is how Reform will SMASH the Blob" | David Starkey Talks... to Danny Kruger

    2 May

    "This is how Reform will SMASH the Blob" | David Starkey Talks... to Danny Kruger

    The defection of Danny Kruger MP to Reform last year was one of the most significant political moments of this parliamentary term. Reform had been rising in the polls, appealing to those who felt utterly baffled and dispossessed by the failure of the 2010-2014 Conservative government. But they lacked intellectual heft and parliamentary knowledge. Kruger's brave decision to join this insurgent brand, the first sitting Conservative MP to do so, brought those things to Reform and also cleared a path for others to follow, which more will. I've been particularly interested in Danny's work because it coincides so closely with my own: it is he who is responsible for preparing Reform for the enormous challenges they will face if they win office, taking on the immense institutional opposition to nearly everything that the party will seek to do in government. In this conversation, I wanted to understand how he intends to achieve that, what he foresees as the main challenges, and whether he is fully cognisant of the difficulty of the task. I hope you find his answers interesting.

    43 min
  7. "Is Starmer a truthful man?" | David Starkey clashes with Labour's Peter Edwards

    26 Apr

    "Is Starmer a truthful man?" | David Starkey clashes with Labour's Peter Edwards

    Amid the ongoing collapse of Sir Keir Starmer's premiership, it occurred to me that the one person I hadn't discussed this with was somebody who actually believes the Prime Minister is doing a good job. I speak to Labour members frequently, but even they mostly concede that Starmer has been a disaster in office, and so we end up broadly agreeing with each other on the bigger points, if not the specifics. However my guest this week was bravely willing to stump up a defence of Sir Keir; and he is Labour through and through. Peter Edwards was an adviser to a former Labour Shadow Chancellor and for years edited the LabourList publication; the equivalent of ConservativeHome for the political Right, which tracks the party's people, policies and fortunes closely. His contacts inside the party are impeccable. I really wanted to pin him down on a specific point: that having ridden into office on a wave of sanctimonious outrage at Tory sleaze, Sir Keir Starmer has proven to be at least as mendacious as his Conservative rivals, but worse, cloaks his lies with piety. As you'll see, Peter was having none of it, and what struck me about the conversation is how two people, both reasonably intelligent and informed, can come to such wildly different conclusions about contemporary events. Enjoy the episode! Thumbnail credit: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Northern Ireland” by Number 10, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    43 min
  8. "Is this the end for Keir Starmer?" | David Starkey Talks... to Benedict Spence

    18 Apr

    "Is this the end for Keir Starmer?" | David Starkey Talks... to Benedict Spence

    Since he's entered office, every scandal that has lapped the ankles of Sir Keir Starmer has been responded to with a familiar refrain: "I wasn't to know!" The faintest whiff of moral reproach is frantically dispersed with a robust display of the former Director of Public Prosecution's moral rectitude. His righteous fury at being consistently kept in the dark knows no bounds. Cabinet ministers are wheeled out to repeat ad nauseam, "Keir Starmer is a good man!" The force of this claim has reduced with every use. By now, as it emerges that Starmer's pick for ambassador to the US, Petey Mandelson, actually failed security vetting, its potency has finally worn out completely. We are left with two possibilities. Either Sir Keir Starmer is lying, or he has so abdicated responsibility over his own government that his officials didn't see the point in informing him that the man whom he had installed in the most important diplomatic position of the British state, and on whom he expended huge political capital, was in fact a security risk. Either of these options reveals enormous character flaws in the Prime Minister that make him unfit for his office. He rose to power on the back of his sanctimonious denunciations of Boris Johnson, but at least Boris Johnson lied for a purpose, at least his government achieved something, at least he has a personality. As I discuss with Benedict Spence this week, Starmer is devoid of all these attributes. And so the British people are forced yet again to wait for their deliverance from the banality of the deep state, of which Starmer was the perfect expression, but with which even he cannot now co-exist.

    54 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Every week on David Starkey Talks I talk to guests from across the spectrum of British politics and culture, all with the same goal in mind: how do we use the unique resources of talent and history that Britain has to reforge this country anew - stronger, smarter and more assured? You can also follow my YouTube channel on youtube.com/davidstarkeytalks

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