July 7, 2024 • 14 mins
The UK is undergoing a historic political change - leaving other parts of the world wondering what comes next.
The win for Labour marks the end of the Conservative's 14 years in power.
With this comes new Ministers, such as the Minister for Business and Trade as well as Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Former High Commissioner to the UK, Lockwood Smith, says he believes the only policy change that'll come with this will be domestic.
"I don't think we'll see a big shift in the trade policy or their foreign policy - except for, I think, an attempt to warm up the relationship with the EU, which is needed."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News talks'd
be Politics Central.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So yes, big, big election of course. Well there's another
one unfolding, of course in France. But we've seen the
result in the UK election. Sir Kias Starmer is the
new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Labor earned four
hundred and twelve seats, sixty four percent of the seats
in yesterday's election. Mind you, they only gained thirty This
is a shocker, isn't it? Not a shocker, but it's startling.
(00:35):
Thirty four percent of the votes earned them, so basically
almost double the percentage in seats the Conservatives, who got
nineteen percent share of the seats. They got about twenty
four percent of the votes. There was a there are
a few other disparities anyway, there's debate in the UK
about whether the first pass this post system is outdated
(00:55):
or not. Anyway, it's a landslide victory for Labor. It
boils down to and to discuss all of this and more,
I'm joined by the former Speaker of the House in
New Zealand and also former High Commission of the United Kingdom.
So lock with Smith joins me. Good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Afternoon to you, hey.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But first things first, did you watch the rugby?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah? I watched most of it, Tim, It was it
was it was a tough game. It was a tight game,
and to me, it wasn't the moment you know, I
enjoy seeing more, you know, open enterprising rugby. It was
fairly door affair. But my goodness, the English certainly put
the All Blacks under pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, I love was just disappointed we didn't wallop them,
but there we go. Now in terms of other things
you might have closely followed, How closely did you follow
the UK election?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Pretty closely because obviously I'm still involved up there, Tim.
I know the Conservative government it was back when Boris
was Prime Minister appointed me to their Trade and Agriculture
Commission and so in the first eighteen months that commission
I was advising them on their trade and agriculture policy.
(02:02):
And then they that commission reported and they set up
to their law a new commission to advise them on
their free trade agreements. So I've been advising the coming
up there on trust, the Australian FTA, the New Zealand one.
Did you see me? And of course sorry you carry
on their accession to CPTPP, you know, the Transpecific Coaction.
That's the last big trade agreement they've joined, and so
(02:24):
I've been involved in advising them on that, even appeared
in front of their parliament on both their Parliamentary committee,
I should say, on both the Australia and the New
Zealand free trade agreements. Did you see what heavily involved
up there?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, well that's that's that's good. That's actually why I
wanted to talk to you about it. Did you see
it going so poorly for the Conservatives? Any surprises?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I suppose that's what the polls were all saying
to me. I know, so in that regard, no surprise.
I think there were some people who thought, maybe, you know,
at the last minute, there might be a bit of
a swing back to the Conservatives, that some people might
be too embarrassed to tell the polsters that they were
voting Tory if you like, this time around, and there
(03:05):
was no swing back. It was exactly, basically exactly as
the polls predicted that the Reform Party, you know, Nigel
Farage's Reform Party, really did the damage to the Conservatives, because,
as I think you've just commented, Labor didn't actually get
a hugely higher and then got any higher share of
the vote at all. Has just reform. It took a
(03:27):
whole lot of votes off the Conservatives, which meant a
whole lot of seats switched to Labor.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I mean, does it mean anything in terms of
change in the UK from the right to the left
or is it just the fact as they were been
incumbent for fourteen years, life was not so great. A
lot of people were very dissatisfied and so basically they
were always going to be out on the air whether
the opposition happened to be left right or I don't know,
in the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
There's truth in what you say. I mean, Kirstein has
been very careful, you know, to neutralize any concerns about
a labor government. You know, he's been very careful to
say that and raise taxes, you know, the ordinary tax
is like income tax and the at and that sort
of thing that they may it's something the Jews album
where they might be something about wealth tax, but you know,
(04:13):
they were very careful to try and neutralize those concerns.
It's nowhere near as left wing a labor party, if
you like, as that one under Jeremy Corman at the
previous election, and that was that was really left wing stuff,
and of course they suffered accordingly, but the result was
quite staggering. You know, four former prime minister's seats are
gone too later from the Conservatives, Boris's seat, there's trust
(04:36):
a seat, you know, David Cameron's seat, and threesa a
seed all two went to Labor. And you know, some
outstanding members lost their seats. Penny Mordan, you may she
was the leader at the House of course, and you
may recollect she was the person who held the sword
at the King Charles times. Yeah, I mean she's a
very impressive person and she lost her seat, and the
(04:59):
sective State for Defense Grant Shaps lost his and he's
a pretty good guy. And so you know, I think
all together about iron Capamanus has lost his seat. So
it's going to be some building rebuilding for the Conservatives.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Because yesterday we're in our panel, we were talking about
I sort of might have mentioned something about Keir Starmer,
and Simon Wilson, who was on there, said what do
we actually know about He said, we don't read know
much about him because he seems to have been the
sort of an offensive face of change. But what are
you do you know at all? What do you know
about what he's axmittering to the game?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
No, I don't know him personally at all, because he's
really risen to the top since I left the UK.
He will be a pretty sensible sort of a person.
I mean, he's had a mixed background. He was once
a very staunch left winger, you know, even dabbled in
Marxism for a while, I think, But then as he
(05:51):
got involved in the law, he was a very successful lawyer,
and I think he became much more balanced in his views,
if you like. And so you're right, he's been very
careful how he's positioned at how he's shifted the Labor
Party back to the center from the extreme left days
of the ship previous fellow.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Does it make you sorry?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Sorry?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I jumped onto New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
The key figures for New Zealand are really the new
Secretary of State for Department of Business and Trade and
the new Sector of State, and that's Jonathan Reynolds. The
new secret of State for what they call defor at
the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs called Steve Reid,
and of course the new Sector of State for the
Foreign Wealth, Foreign com Wealth and Development Office, David Lammy.
(06:41):
And because they matter for us, because our trading relationship
is so important with the UK. You know, under that
last government. People might sling off at that last government,
but they did a tremendous job post Brexit and positioning
the UK better on global trade. The New Zealand Free
(07:01):
Trade Agreement is an outstandingly good free trade agreement. They've
joined CPTPP, which is the most dynamic trade agreement in
the world. They've got the Australian Free Trade Agreement, which
is also a very very good free trade agreement. They
did a great job on that and actually New Zealand
had some great friends in that last government. Boris Johnson
(07:22):
again much criticized, great friend of New Zealand. I know, Liz,
trust you. It was Prime Minister only for a few
weeks and very heavily criticized, but she really helped us
get our free trade agreement. I know because I was
right involved in her. When Labour toss in the chapter
on the Treaty of Vitang, some of the cabinet in
the UK thought what the hell does this mean? And
(07:43):
it was Liz Trust who actually helped us. She said, look,
this is not a big deal, and she was very
supportive and getting that critically important free trade agreement. So
those are the three people that really are going to
have the biggest impact in terms of New Zealand's relationship.
Of course it part from the Primers himself.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So what's going to happen with the relationship? Do we
have any on how what's going to happen now that
there's been a change of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I mean another I serve on another international body, an
advisory council to an international trade consultancy based in London
and the US, and that consultancy has been doing so.
When it became obvious that it was going to be
a change of government in the UK a few months back,
done some outreach to reaching out towards to Jonathan Reynolds,
(08:32):
the new basically new Trade Minister, and also David Lammy,
the new Foreign Commualt Office Minister, to make sure we've
got a feel for where they might head. And I
think I think while kir Starmer is talking about change,
a lot of change, it's really domestic policy change. I
don't think we'll see a big shift in their trade
(08:53):
policy or their foreign policy, except for I think an
attempt to warm up the relationship with the EU, which
is needed, you know, the one they won't try to
get back into all. They'd be crazy if they've tried
to get back to joining the europinion. They can't do that, really,
it's all changed too much now. But I think that
a warmer relationship, a better relationship with the EU, would
(09:14):
be good. And I think we'll see you, David Lammy
in particular, you know, try to achieve that. But it's
so important for us that they keep their focus on
pursuing free and open global trade that we've worked so
hard to get them supporting.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
What do you think means for Ukraine and the support
because the UK has been a staunch supporter of their
efforts to defend themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
David Lammie, the new Foreign minist is basically saying that
they intend to, you know, to continue to support NATO
and the Ukraine, which is so critically important. I think
in that area, the bigger worry is what happens in
the United States, you know, because Donald Trump when's there,
(09:56):
goodness knows what might happen in that regard. But I
think we'll see foreign policy essentially stay pretty similar a
little like New Zealand. You know, our foreign policy tends
to not swing too much with you part with changes
of government. I think in the UK you'll see same thing,
except for that attempt to freshen the to rewarm the
(10:19):
relationship with Europe.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Did all this make you nostalgic for first plast the post?
Because it really, I mean, the anomalies are quite stark
in terms of the percentage of the vote that Labor
gets thirty four. Of course people vote differently under MMP,
but thirty four percent of the vote got them sixty
four percent of the seats, whereas old Nigel Faras what
did fourteen percent vote and one percent of seats. Not
(10:41):
that I'm complaining about that. I'm not a huge fan
of his, but what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
That's really interesting, Tim, It's really really interesting. You imagine
what might have happened if they had MMP and the
disruption and the and the and the dissension and the
division that that might Because I think New Zealand one
day is going to have to revisit our system. We
should never forget. Modern democracy re evolved in England and
(11:05):
they went through a Civil War. It's fascinating to read
some of the history around that and how they tried
every form you could imagine to elect to parliament during
and after the Civil War, and they finally settled on
first past the posts and it evolved because it was
the best system. And here a bunch of people set
up in a Royal commission recommended the German system for
(11:26):
New Zealand. There was a design to stop Germany ever
causing a problem again after the Second World War. And
I think one day in New Zealand will find that
while we've been able to coast on the coattails of
the major reforms of the late eighties early nineties in
New Zealand, that luxury is not with us anymore. And
I think New Zealand's going to find it quite a
(11:48):
challenge under MMP to keep the New Zealand economy really
tracking the way it had. We were in twenty sixteen
regarda menstudent in London ranked New Zealand the most prosperous
country in the world. Look where we are now.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I wasn't quite anticipating your answer on that, But because
there's a part of me that I couse, I can't
put my hand on it. But because logically m MP
seems you know proportion and all that, but I do.
There's something about the fact of having every MP accountable
to an electorate and then we here we have a
let's trust you vote.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You've got it because being accountable to a constituency means
you have to help local people, and you have to
help local people grapple with what your government is doing
to them or what that government is doing to them.
And you learn so much about policy from helping your
local people. You know, I was both a listen I
(12:47):
was only a listen member for a short period of time,
but while I was speaker that I as a constituency
member for basically twenty four twenty seven, twenty seven years.
And you learned so much from helping people. I would
never clue who the people I helped voted for, but
from helping them you learn so much about the problems
(13:09):
of various government policies. You're pursuing the fish hooks in
them all and how to make them better policies, if
you like. And half almost half our parliament now of
course he doesn't have that constituency work.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, actually it's just before we go out the thing
that's sort of reminded me of the strength of the
electric MP is actually the postmaster's case. And Lord Arbuthnot
who the Postmaster's order. He's not going to be for
us because he's a Tory, but because he is, he
wants to help his electorate and he's been a hero
for those postmasters. And I wonder if the MMP would
have delivered that.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Sorry, it wasn't that a staggering thing, that whole episode.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I tell you what I keep I just watch it
on YouTube all the time. Anyway, Hey, Lockwood, thank you
so much for your insights on that. I think you've
given me my talkback for the for the next next
part of the show, if PP versus MMP. Anyway, I
really appreciate your time this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Seems very great to talk to you. There we go.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
That's still Locket Smith, former London Commissioner, High Commissioner to
the UK and former Speaker of the House, and as
he also described us, he's intricately involved in dealings in
the UK.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Ongoing For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to
news Talks it'd be weekends from three pm, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News talks'd
be Politics Central.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So yes, big, big election of course. Well there's another
one unfolding, of course in France. But we've seen the
result in the UK election. Sir Kias Starmer is the
new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Labor earned four
hundred and twelve seats, sixty four percent of the seats
in yesterday's election. Mind you, they only gained thirty This
is a shocker, isn't it? Not a shocker, but it's startling.
(00:35):
Thirty four percent of the votes earned them, so basically
almost double the percentage in seats the Conservatives, who got
nineteen percent share of the seats. They got about twenty
four percent of the votes. There was a there are
a few other disparities anyway, there's debate in the UK
about whether the first pass this post system is outdated
(00:55):
or not. Anyway, it's a landslide victory for Labor. It
boils down to and to discuss all of this and more,
I'm joined by the former Speaker of the House in
New Zealand and also former High Commission of the United Kingdom.
So lock with Smith joins me. Good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Afternoon to you, hey.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But first things first, did you watch the rugby?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah? I watched most of it, Tim, It was it
was it was a tough game. It was a tight game,
and to me, it wasn't the moment you know, I
enjoy seeing more, you know, open enterprising rugby. It was
fairly door affair. But my goodness, the English certainly put
the All Blacks under pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, I love was just disappointed we didn't wallop them,
but there we go. Now in terms of other things
you might have closely followed, How closely did you follow
the UK election?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Pretty closely because obviously I'm still involved up there, Tim.
I know the Conservative government it was back when Boris
was Prime Minister appointed me to their Trade and Agriculture
Commission and so in the first eighteen months that commission
I was advising them on their trade and agriculture policy.
(02:02):
And then they that commission reported and they set up
to their law a new commission to advise them on
their free trade agreements. So I've been advising the coming
up there on trust, the Australian FTA, the New Zealand one.
Did you see me? And of course sorry you carry
on their accession to CPTPP, you know, the Transpecific Coaction.
That's the last big trade agreement they've joined, and so
(02:24):
I've been involved in advising them on that, even appeared
in front of their parliament on both their Parliamentary committee,
I should say, on both the Australia and the New
Zealand free trade agreements. Did you see what heavily involved
up there?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, well that's that's that's good. That's actually why I
wanted to talk to you about it. Did you see
it going so poorly for the Conservatives? Any surprises?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I suppose that's what the polls were all saying
to me. I know, so in that regard, no surprise.
I think there were some people who thought, maybe, you know,
at the last minute, there might be a bit of
a swing back to the Conservatives, that some people might
be too embarrassed to tell the polsters that they were
voting Tory if you like, this time around, and there
(03:05):
was no swing back. It was exactly, basically exactly as
the polls predicted that the Reform Party, you know, Nigel
Farage's Reform Party, really did the damage to the Conservatives, because,
as I think you've just commented, Labor didn't actually get
a hugely higher and then got any higher share of
the vote at all. Has just reform. It took a
(03:27):
whole lot of votes off the Conservatives, which meant a
whole lot of seats switched to Labor.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, I mean, does it mean anything in terms of
change in the UK from the right to the left
or is it just the fact as they were been
incumbent for fourteen years, life was not so great. A
lot of people were very dissatisfied and so basically they
were always going to be out on the air whether
the opposition happened to be left right or I don't know,
in the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
There's truth in what you say. I mean, Kirstein has
been very careful, you know, to neutralize any concerns about
a labor government. You know, he's been very careful to
say that and raise taxes, you know, the ordinary tax
is like income tax and the at and that sort
of thing that they may it's something the Jews album
where they might be something about wealth tax, but you know,
(04:13):
they were very careful to try and neutralize those concerns.
It's nowhere near as left wing a labor party, if
you like, as that one under Jeremy Corman at the
previous election, and that was that was really left wing stuff,
and of course they suffered accordingly, but the result was
quite staggering. You know, four former prime minister's seats are
gone too later from the Conservatives, Boris's seat, there's trust
(04:36):
a seat, you know, David Cameron's seat, and threesa a
seed all two went to Labor. And you know, some
outstanding members lost their seats. Penny Mordan, you may she
was the leader at the House of course, and you
may recollect she was the person who held the sword
at the King Charles times. Yeah, I mean she's a
very impressive person and she lost her seat, and the
(04:59):
sective State for Defense Grant Shaps lost his and he's
a pretty good guy. And so you know, I think
all together about iron Capamanus has lost his seat. So
it's going to be some building rebuilding for the Conservatives.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Because yesterday we're in our panel, we were talking about
I sort of might have mentioned something about Keir Starmer,
and Simon Wilson, who was on there, said what do
we actually know about He said, we don't read know
much about him because he seems to have been the
sort of an offensive face of change. But what are
you do you know at all? What do you know
about what he's axmittering to the game?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
No, I don't know him personally at all, because he's
really risen to the top since I left the UK.
He will be a pretty sensible sort of a person.
I mean, he's had a mixed background. He was once
a very staunch left winger, you know, even dabbled in
Marxism for a while, I think, But then as he
(05:51):
got involved in the law, he was a very successful lawyer,
and I think he became much more balanced in his views,
if you like. And so you're right, he's been very
careful how he's positioned at how he's shifted the Labor
Party back to the center from the extreme left days
of the ship previous fellow.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Does it make you sorry?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Sorry?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I jumped onto New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
The key figures for New Zealand are really the new
Secretary of State for Department of Business and Trade and
the new Sector of State, and that's Jonathan Reynolds. The
new secret of State for what they call defor at
the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs called Steve Reid,
and of course the new Sector of State for the
Foreign Wealth, Foreign com Wealth and Development Office, David Lammy.
(06:41):
And because they matter for us, because our trading relationship
is so important with the UK. You know, under that
last government. People might sling off at that last government,
but they did a tremendous job post Brexit and positioning
the UK better on global trade. The New Zealand Free
(07:01):
Trade Agreement is an outstandingly good free trade agreement. They've
joined CPTPP, which is the most dynamic trade agreement in
the world. They've got the Australian Free Trade Agreement, which
is also a very very good free trade agreement. They
did a great job on that and actually New Zealand
had some great friends in that last government. Boris Johnson
(07:22):
again much criticized, great friend of New Zealand. I know, Liz,
trust you. It was Prime Minister only for a few
weeks and very heavily criticized, but she really helped us
get our free trade agreement. I know because I was
right involved in her. When Labour toss in the chapter
on the Treaty of Vitang, some of the cabinet in
the UK thought what the hell does this mean? And
(07:43):
it was Liz Trust who actually helped us. She said, look,
this is not a big deal, and she was very
supportive and getting that critically important free trade agreement. So
those are the three people that really are going to
have the biggest impact in terms of New Zealand's relationship.
Of course it part from the Primers himself.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So what's going to happen with the relationship? Do we
have any on how what's going to happen now that
there's been a change of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I mean another I serve on another international body, an
advisory council to an international trade consultancy based in London
and the US, and that consultancy has been doing so.
When it became obvious that it was going to be
a change of government in the UK a few months back,
done some outreach to reaching out towards to Jonathan Reynolds,
(08:32):
the new basically new Trade Minister, and also David Lammy,
the new Foreign Commualt Office Minister, to make sure we've
got a feel for where they might head. And I
think I think while kir Starmer is talking about change,
a lot of change, it's really domestic policy change. I
don't think we'll see a big shift in their trade
(08:53):
policy or their foreign policy, except for I think an
attempt to warm up the relationship with the EU, which
is needed, you know, the one they won't try to
get back into all. They'd be crazy if they've tried
to get back to joining the europinion. They can't do that, really,
it's all changed too much now. But I think that
a warmer relationship, a better relationship with the EU, would
(09:14):
be good. And I think we'll see you, David Lammy
in particular, you know, try to achieve that. But it's
so important for us that they keep their focus on
pursuing free and open global trade that we've worked so
hard to get them supporting.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
What do you think means for Ukraine and the support
because the UK has been a staunch supporter of their
efforts to defend themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
David Lammie, the new Foreign minist is basically saying that
they intend to, you know, to continue to support NATO
and the Ukraine, which is so critically important. I think
in that area, the bigger worry is what happens in
the United States, you know, because Donald Trump when's there,
(09:56):
goodness knows what might happen in that regard. But I
think we'll see foreign policy essentially stay pretty similar a
little like New Zealand. You know, our foreign policy tends
to not swing too much with you part with changes
of government. I think in the UK you'll see same thing,
except for that attempt to freshen the to rewarm the
(10:19):
relationship with Europe.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Did all this make you nostalgic for first plast the post?
Because it really, I mean, the anomalies are quite stark
in terms of the percentage of the vote that Labor
gets thirty four. Of course people vote differently under MMP,
but thirty four percent of the vote got them sixty
four percent of the seats, whereas old Nigel Faras what
did fourteen percent vote and one percent of seats. Not
(10:41):
that I'm complaining about that. I'm not a huge fan
of his, but what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
That's really interesting, Tim, It's really really interesting. You imagine
what might have happened if they had MMP and the
disruption and the and the and the dissension and the
division that that might Because I think New Zealand one
day is going to have to revisit our system. We
should never forget. Modern democracy re evolved in England and
(11:05):
they went through a Civil War. It's fascinating to read
some of the history around that and how they tried
every form you could imagine to elect to parliament during
and after the Civil War, and they finally settled on
first past the posts and it evolved because it was
the best system. And here a bunch of people set
up in a Royal commission recommended the German system for
(11:26):
New Zealand. There was a design to stop Germany ever
causing a problem again after the Second World War. And
I think one day in New Zealand will find that
while we've been able to coast on the coattails of
the major reforms of the late eighties early nineties in
New Zealand, that luxury is not with us anymore. And
I think New Zealand's going to find it quite a
(11:48):
challenge under MMP to keep the New Zealand economy really
tracking the way it had. We were in twenty sixteen
regarda menstudent in London ranked New Zealand the most prosperous
country in the world. Look where we are now.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I wasn't quite anticipating your answer on that, But because
there's a part of me that I couse, I can't
put my hand on it. But because logically m MP
seems you know proportion and all that, but I do.
There's something about the fact of having every MP accountable
to an electorate and then we here we have a
let's trust you vote.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You've got it because being accountable to a constituency means
you have to help local people, and you have to
help local people grapple with what your government is doing
to them or what that government is doing to them.
And you learn so much about policy from helping your
local people. You know, I was both a listen I
(12:47):
was only a listen member for a short period of time,
but while I was speaker that I as a constituency
member for basically twenty four twenty seven, twenty seven years.
And you learned so much from helping people. I would
never clue who the people I helped voted for, but
from helping them you learn so much about the problems
(13:09):
of various government policies. You're pursuing the fish hooks in
them all and how to make them better policies, if
you like. And half almost half our parliament now of
course he doesn't have that constituency work.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, actually it's just before we go out the thing
that's sort of reminded me of the strength of the
electric MP is actually the postmaster's case. And Lord Arbuthnot
who the Postmaster's order. He's not going to be for
us because he's a Tory, but because he is, he
wants to help his electorate and he's been a hero
for those postmasters. And I wonder if the MMP would
have delivered that.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Sorry, it wasn't that a staggering thing, that whole episode.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I tell you what I keep I just watch it
on YouTube all the time. Anyway, Hey, Lockwood, thank you
so much for your insights on that. I think you've
given me my talkback for the for the next next
part of the show, if PP versus MMP. Anyway, I
really appreciate your time this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Seems very great to talk to you. There we go.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
That's still Locket Smith, former London Commissioner, High Commissioner to
the UK and former Speaker of the House, and as
he also described us, he's intricately involved in dealings in
the UK.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Ongoing For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to
news Talks it'd be weekends from three pm, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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