Weekend at Rishi’s: Can anyone bring the Tories back from the dead?

Explicit content warning

02/03/23 • 68 min

2 Listeners

The Conservative Party is dying. Can anyone resurrect it? Our panel, begrudgingly, looks at the challenges they’ll have to face if they’re ever to become a functioning party again. Plus, we discuss the parlous state of the UK’s military capabilities. Can we defend ourselves? We wade through the news with an all-star panel of Oh God, What Now? regulars.

“Voters won’t pick the most interesting PM, they’ll pick the one who will save them.” – Alex Andreou
“It’s hard for someone to be better at being worse than Liz Truss.” – Arthur Snell
“The Conservative Party is now in the realm of religion, not evidence-based policy.” – Alex Andreou
“I’m certain that the bulgy eyed weirdos controlling the Tory party will be the first to grab it back and they'll lose another two elections badly.” – Arthur Snell

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Ros Taylor with Alex Andreou, Ahir Shah and Arthur Snell. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Alex Rees and Jet Gerbertson. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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“Voters won’t pick the most interesting PM, they’ll pick the one who will save them.” – Alex Andreou
“It’s hard for someone to be better at being worse than Liz Truss.” – Arthur Snell
“The Conservative Party is now in the realm of religion, not evidence-based policy.” – Alex Andreou
“I’m certain that the bulgy eyed weirdos controlling the Tory party will be the first to grab it back and they'll lose another two elections badly.” – Arthur Snell

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

Have the Tories Just Given Up?

With the PM and his party on the back foot – have they just given up? Our panel picks apart Sunak’s dither and delay in his sacking of Nadhim Zahawi. Plus, are we seeing a new, even more hostile, hostile environment? And we forcefully quit the anti-growth coalition as we discuss alternatives to Trussonomics. This week’s guest is Rachel Cunliffe, senior associate editor at New Statesman.

“If Rishi Sunak didn't know about this, what is the point of ministerial vetting processes? What is the point of saying you’re going to bring integrity back to Government?” – Rachel Cunliffe
“Even an experienced PM would struggle to put the box in what Johnson is doing.” – Ian Dunt
“All of the things you need to fix the problems that we have takes much longer than Sunak has.” – Ian Dunt
“The Tories have a talent pool problem and an exhaustion problem. That is really problematic because we need the best Government we can to weather the storm.” – Miatta Fahnbulleh

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ian Dunt and Miatta Fahnbulleh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Alex Rees. Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

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Next Episode

Lettuce Pray

Truss is back and Johnson never went away – what are they angling for? And can Sunak avoid these two figurative icebergs? Plus, the yob narrative is back on the agenda. Is Tory posturing on anti-social behaviour any more than pandering to curtain-twitchers? And with Australia choosing not to put Charles on its banknotes – who should we put on our money? The panel is joined by Geri Scott, political reporter for The Times.

Get your tickets for OGWN Live at the Leicester Square Theatre on Weds 15 Feb.

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“She sounded like somebody who had lost the ability to assess empirical reality... if you were a close friend of hers you’d want to sit down and have a chat.” – Ian Dunt
“Boris Johnson could be moulded into any political position he finds useful.” – Ian Dunt
“There used to be these big debates: Heath vs Thatcher, Europhile vs Eurosceptic - where are those big debates within the Tory Party now?” – Ian Dunt
“I really don’t think [Liz Truss] has got many friends left, and that’s why she’s doing this kind of legacy making” – Geri Scott

www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow

Presented by Andrew Harrison with Ian Dunt and Marie Le Conte. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jet Gerbertson and Alex Rees. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz Audio production by Alex Rees. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices