GD POLITICS Podcast Summary

Episode: How The UK Became Ungovernable
Host: Galen Druke
Guests: David Runciman (Honorary Professor, Cambridge; Host, Past, Present, Future) & Helen Thompson (Professor of Political Economy, Cambridge; Author)
Date: December 8, 2025

Main Theme

This episode grapples with why British politics seems increasingly chaotic, unstable, and structurally challenged—even more so than American politics. Galen Druke, on a reporting trip in London, is joined by political thinkers Helen Thompson and David Runciman to analyze the roots of Britain’s ungovernability, contrasting it with parallel crises across Europe and in the U.S. The discussion covers economic stagnation, public disillusionment, the collapse of traditional parties, the rise of the populist right, connections to Brexit, and the broader sense of political drift.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Britain’s “Stagnant” Economy and Financial Precarity

• Helen Thompson describes hope for post-Brexit dynamism as entirely unfulfilled:

  "The British economy is in a worse position now than it was back in 2016... not really a function of leaving the EU, but about the UK’s fiscal position and high energy costs." (03:27)

• UK government’s ambition to pivot to AI is constrained by uniquely high energy costs, undermining hopes for technological revival.
• The financial system's fragility—highlighted by the Liz Truss mini-budget crash and the anxieties around bond/foreign exchange markets—makes for an ever-looming crisis atmosphere.
• Runciman points out,

  “There’s a slow burn decline and a feeling that day to day, hour to hour, something could happen that could tip [the system].” (05:40)

2. The Divided State of the UK: London vs. “The Rest”

• For years, UK political strategy has tried, and largely failed, to “reindustrialize” beyond London.
• Regional infrastructure inequality (especially public transport) feeds resentment and underpins the North-South divide.

• “The politics of place… has got legs… this country against London in some respects, even though that massively simplifies what the reality is.” – Helen Thompson (09:45)

• There's an enduring narrative (in both the UK and US media) about the capital being both privileged and dysfunctional:

  “People both saying London is an absolute cesspit and also complaining that London has all the advantages… Cities are often terrible places to live at the same time as being the engines of economic growth.” – David Runciman (13:32)

3. Party System Breakdown & Comparison with US Politics

• Despite Labour’s landslide victory, authoritarian stability is a mirage. “Neither [major party] was fit for governing,” says Thompson. (14:54)
• Both Labour and Conservatives are polling under 20% in some surveys, leading to multi-party splits and making for profound political instability.
• First-past-the-post amplifies tiny polling shifts into existential risks for the main parties:

  “2, 3, 4% movement between the different parties could be the difference between oblivion and being in government. We’ve never been there before.” – Runciman (17:42)

• Unlike the US system, where Democrats and Republicans are not seriously threatened, UK parties face plausible extinction scenarios.

4. Why is Keir Starmer So Unpopular?

• “He’s a terrible politician... remarkably indifferent to the truth… He’s willing to say whatever he thinks needs to be said in any particular moment.” – Helen Thompson (21:53)

• Starmer’s reputation for opportunism is provoking anger from across the spectrum and destabilizes party unity.

• “Almost everybody seems to find something in Keir Starmer that they really detest... there’s an emptiness to the way in which he communicates.” – David Runciman (25:25)

• Labour’s budget flip-flop—raising taxes after promising not to—has compounded the sense of betrayal and cynicism.

5. The Labour Budget & Political Crisis

• Labour campaigned on not raising taxes, but immediately did so in office (echoing “Read my lips: no new taxes”).

• “It’s very transparent that they have [betrayed voters]… The impression is of people interested in themselves, not in the major problems Britain faces.” – Thompson (28:26)

• Much of the Starmer government’s positioning is being driven by job survival, rather than a coherent economic plan, furthering public disillusionment.

• “It was presented as being a budget framed by the markets… it turned out to be a budget in hock to the Parliamentary Labour Party… their jobs before country.” – Runciman (31:28; 33:40)

6. Shaky Prospects for Labour & What Comes Next

• Mechanically, getting rid of Starmer as leader is challenging, but both guests suspect his tenure is “on borrowed time.”

• "If it was just a straight in or out, surely someone could do better than this guy. He would be gone tomorrow." – Runciman (40:01)

• Labour’s collapse is feeding the populist right (Reform party), mirroring populist surges across Europe.

7. The Rise of the Populist Right in the UK & Europe

• “The running thread through each case is the migration issue… and the serious economic problems that European economies have faced since the crash.” – Thompson (43:02)

• Populist right wing parties are leading in national polls in the UK, Germany (AfD), France (National Rally), and Italy (Brothers of Italy).
• In Britain, Reform / Farage’s surge is less a gradual rise, more the aftermath of rapid party system breakdown.
• Systemic factors (first-past-the-post) have failed to freeze out Farage as previously thought.

• “Once you get to 30%, depending on how things pan out, you could do incredibly well.” – Runciman (45:19)

8. Prospects and Limits for Nigel Farage and Reform

• Both Farage and rising Conservative contender Kemi Badenoch have clear ceilings—Farage due to his personality and lack of team, Badenoch for needing to bridge economic and cultural divides.

• “It’s very easy to see an election where there’s constant questioning who is going to be Nigel Farage’s chancellor... you do that against febrile bond markets and it could get messy.” – Thompson (52:10)

• Surfaces of recent political success for both are viewed with skepticism.

9. Transatlantic Relations: The UK, Trump, and China

• UK is struggling to develop a coherent strategy vis-à-vis a Trump-led US, especially on defense and China.
• There’s performative rhetoric but little real action:

  “Actually, there’s no mention of defence in the budget… If you’re just making speeches that don’t have anything behind them… Trump's going to see straight through that.” – Thompson (54:34)

• Europe (and the UK) are structurally stuck between US demands and the impossibility of greater alignment with China, which is both a crucial economic partner and a source of vulnerability.

• “Europe is just stuck and in the sense that there are just no good options… To get closer to China is to accept dependency on China at the very time when… what Europe needs is to be less dependent.” – Thompson (58:56)

• “Europe, Britain, these are societies in decline. And I think the prevailing mood is fatalism… We have an acute version of that in Britain at the moment. It is performative, our politics.” – Runciman (61:10)

10. Outlook: Are There Silver Linings?

• “In a way I am optimistic that the Labour government is such a disaster—it speeds up the moment. Everything’s about the acceleration. Everybody knows things can't continue as they are, but nobody knows how to get to what comes next except by letting crisis play out.” – Thompson (63:06)

• A “fatalistic, performative” phase prevails, with society waiting for an external jolt—be it technological, geopolitical, or otherwise—to force real decisions.

• “The transformations we’re going through have good and bad aspects... energy transition, AI—these are not going to be utopia or dystopia, there will be elements of both.” – Runciman (65:38)

• Demographics and nuclear weapons remain underlying existential worries.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Runciman on the precarious role of markets in government stability:

  “Imagine being Prime Minister of Great Britain and not thinking that your first concern should be the bond markets.” (05:40)

• Thompson on Starmer’s cynicism:

  “There was no more cynical politician through the Brexit years than Keir Starmer in terms of how he used the issue for his own personal advantage.” (28:26)

• Runciman on performative politics:

  “We have an acute version of that in Britain at the moment. It is performative, our politics. People are waiting to see what is the thing that will determine our futures... what's the point of taking the really tough decisions before we have to?” (61:10)

• Thompson on hope through crisis:

  “I’m optimistic that the Labour government is such a disaster… it speeds up the moment… in which we stop being performative about these questions and start being serious.” (63:06)

• Runciman’s foundational fear:

  “What keeps me up at night is the thing that kept me up at night when I was 8 years old, and that's nuclear weapons.” (67:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:50 – Host’s overview of UK trip, Labour’s woes, Starmer’s polling
• 03:27 – Helen Thompson evaluates the British economy post-Brexit
• 05:40 – David Runciman on markets, financial crisis as political specter
• 09:45 – “The rest” vs. London & deindustrialization
• 14:54 – UK/US political parallels & collapse of party systems
• 21:53 – Starmer’s unpopularity dissected
• 28:26 – Labour’s budget about-face & political consequences
• 39:45 – The AI & energy dead-end
• 43:02 – Rise of the populist right in UK/EU
• 54:34 – UK’s awkward pivot between US and China
• 63:06 – Silver linings and existential worries

Tone and Language

The conversation is wryly British, direct, and often darkly funny, blending intellectual rigor with open expressions of despair, fatalism, and gallows humor about the future of both British democracy and the West more broadly.

This summary aims to capture not just the facts but the intellectual and emotional undercurrents of a candid, searching analysis of why Britain is in political crisis—and why no one knows what happens next.