Enda Brady: UK Correspondent on the England v Argentina FIFA World Cup Match, Sir Keir Starmer's final speech as Prime Minister

Sir Keir Starmer has delivered his final goodbye to Parliament as British Prime Minister. 

Speaking during an emotional final Question time, Starmer declared it the end of his political journey.  

He announced his resignation last month after mounting pressure from within his Labour government. 

UK Correspondent Enda Brady told Mike Hosking that Andy Burnham, Starmer’s replacement, will need to hit the ground running on Monday. 

He says there will be huge expectations on him. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's starmer saying goodbye.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the end of my political journey. In six years,
went from historic defeat in twenty nineteen to historic victory
in twenty twenty four, and in two years in government,
I leave the country in better shape than I found it.
I'm proud of everything that we have achieved. To my

(00:23):
wife and children. I love you. Goodbye.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Int Briety's with us morning mate.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, good morning, Mike. Great to speak to you.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm gonna have to I can't do anything, but I'll
give you a look. We'll give you time and a
half on this because interrupting the football. Interrupting the football
for this, it's like, honestly, I mean, now, look, just
to update me, I'm if Argentina don't score shortly, something's wrong.
I mean the game's turned, hasn't it.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Argentina are getting closer and closer. They're knocking on the
door just to set the scene. And watching this with
my English wife and Irish England well as an irishman.
I just it's gonna be epic England reaching a World
Cup final if twelve minutes twelve minutes to hold out.
Argentina are getting closer and closer but England are playing
so well and I think I think their name is

(01:18):
on it this year, I do fair enough?

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Would you, because I have not watched the game, would
would you describe this as a well deserved victory if
that's what it turns out to be, And would you
have genuine hope for Spain?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yes? If England can be Argentina, they can beat Spain. Now, Argentina,
this is a really aggressive, niggly you can hear my
wife in the background here, niggly, aggressive, unpleasant Argentinian team.
England are in again here blocked. I really hope England
beat them because for a team that can actually play football,
Argentina are just fouling, being needlessly aggressive, pleading with the referee,

(01:57):
everything everything we knew was gonna happen. I still a
flash backs to ninety eight and that awful night, the
penalty shootout, Beckham getting himself sent off like an idiot.
So let's hope England can kind of bury some ghosts tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Oh right, very good, Astarma, it was. It's a funny thing,
isn't it, Because what I mean you hard him a
couple of moms ago. He got the Legion of Honor
from Macron the other day. But I mean he's hardly
going down in there as one of the British greats,
is he he's been there three months.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
No he's not. No, he's going to be instantly forgettable.
The country has so many problems. Then a new guy
needs to come in. Monday Andy Barnham hit the ground
running first hour and come out and say what he's
going to do. I felt a little bit sorry for
Starmer today making a fantastic speech in front of a
load of people who've knifed him in the back. A

(02:44):
part of me was thinking, go on, say they're going
to stay on until after the World Cup final, because
if England win the World Cup Final on Sunday, I
think a thousands political sins would be forgiven and I'd
write it out, you know. I was just thinking, go on,
say say you're just going to hang in the next
Monday and he'll make a statement Monday nine am. But
he didn't.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
So what's the vibe Monday and Burnham turns up. I
mean the expectation must be gagantuan, mustn't.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
It It is and a lot of the opposition are saying, well,
hang on, who put you in as Prime Minister. We
need an election immediately. There will be huge expectation. Now.
The newspapers here, the right wing media in particular, are
portraying Andy Burnham as this kind of left of Jeremy
Corbin type figure. I saw headline in the Daily Mail
last week saying hang on, saying that he was mediocracy

(03:32):
in a suit. England have got away with one again there,
mediocracy in a suit. He is far from mediocre. So
this guy Burnham, I've known him a long time. He
turned Manchester around. My daughter's at the university there, the
transport system, the infrastructure, the lack of litter. It's a bouncing,
buzzing city. Because they've had leadership for a decade. Now

(03:54):
running the country is a lot more of a challenge.
I think there's huge expectation on his shoulders. But he
can communicate. He's a very smart guy. He's ambitious and
he can work a room well.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I guess we wish him all the bits of speaking
of which the security review comes out of whittick him
of course, in Faraj and the seemingly nibber ending series
of death threats he received. Something has to be done, though,
doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yes, I genuinely don't know what. There are six hundred
and fifty MP's in Parliament now they can't give police
protection to all of them. I mean we're running out
of police protection for the number of ex prime ministers
that are floating around Starmar. Soon to be one of them,
he will have police protection for life. I don't know
what can be done. We need to soften the public

(04:40):
but debate. We need to be talking to social media companies.
I see tonight a guy in his twenties has been
arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Nigel Faraj on social media.
So these platforms that are allowing people to spew bile
and make poisonous threats and make profit off the back
of these people being on them, they need seriously to

(05:01):
be looked at. So I don't know what the answer is,
but it's shameful and now I knew Anne Wickum I
first interviewed her in nineteen ninety six. She scared the
life out of me. She was very blunt and very brusque,
and it was quite a car crash of an introduction
into covering politics for me as a young journalist starting out.
But everyone liked her because that was the way she.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Was exactly, who are these blokes tootles bringing on any good.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
They will be. I'm just gonna have a look at
the screen now, so yeah, okay, who's that coming on?
My wife will just update me. Nick o'reiley and Dan Barnes,
she calls him Big Dan Byrne.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
She loved so well, yeah, big name.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah. Look, look, I think this is the final roll
of the roll of the dice for England to just
kind of up the defense, hang in there and then,
you know what, it'd be amazing if England reached the
World Cup final. Honestly, Mike, the country just needs this
so badly.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, it does. What it actually needs is the World Cup.
I'm just wondering if you get to the World Cup
final and then don't go out the final hurdle, will
that's just a bigger day, you know what I mean.
It's just it's this is almost the anti climax before
what could be history.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
It is, but look, they've waited sixty years to reach
a final and I was actually at the last semi final.
I was behind the goal in Moscow in twenty eighteen
when England won the up and I said to my
mate who's English my best friend, and I said to him,
I said, we are going to be like those annoying
old people in the pub who was like, oh was
there Winningland won the World Cup and sixty six mine

(06:28):
and then Croatia went and then destroyed that dream.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So hang in there, Mic, come on, oh no, honestly
for a person who couldn't give a monkey, so you
dragged me and screaming here, it's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
You're you're a Warriors fan this morning as well. I'm
loving it.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Oh no, I've been a Warrior fans for even anyway.
Asked to see you might you go well, get back
to the television. Appreciated very much. Into Brady, who's in
Britain for us this morning.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
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