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- [00:00]
Paddy O'Connell
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
- [00:06]
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- [01:38]
Paddy O'Connell
Who would have thought that the news would be asking if an Iranian missile could go nearly 4,000 kilometers towards Diego Garcia?
- [01:47]
Laura Kuenssberg
And who would have thought when what seemed like a very arcane debate about a British base that seems like in the middle of nowhere. Diego Garcia today is actually at the center of the headlines in the latest developments in the war in Iran.
- [02:02]
Paddy O'Connell
You have been talking to sources within the government and you will reveal all in Saturday's newscast.
- [02:07]
Laura Kuenssberg
Newscast, Newscast from the BBC.
- [02:10]
David Miliband
Fat boy slim and me in the classroom doing our violin lessons.
- [02:13]
Tristan Redman
I was the tattletale in the classroom.
- [02:14]
Paddy O'Connell
Can I have an apology, please? I trust almost nobody.
- [02:17]
David Miliband
Then daddy has to sometimes use strong language.
- [02:20]
Laura Kuenssberg
Next time in Moscow. I feel delulu with no salulu.
- [02:23]
David Miliband
Take me down the downy history. Let's go have a tour.
- [02:27]
Laura Kuenssberg
Blimey, it's Laura in the studio.
- [02:29]
Paddy O'Connell
Hello, it's Paddy in the studio.
- [02:30]
Laura Kuenssberg
So let's tell you what we know. So we know at the moment that Iran, as part of its retaliation for the war that was being waged on it by Israel and the US has attempted to fire missiles at Diego Garcia, which is a tiny island in the middle of nowhere that is the host to British and American military assets. Now, the missiles didn't make it. We know that the attack was in the last few days. We also know that the attack also was before the UK Said late on Friday that it would allow America to use British bases to protect the Straits of Hormuz, which Keir Summer's critics have seen as another step down the slippery slope in Trump's war. But crucially, that means that Iran had already tried to hit a British target many miles further than people might have thought Iran was capable of doing before Britain changed its position.
- [03:24]
Paddy O'Connell
Yes, and that is a reminder that the plans put in place for years by Iran, if attacked, were to weaponize the Straits of Hormuz, Strait of Hormuz, and to take on bases in the region and threaten oil production, and now, it seems, threaten military assets belonging to the United Kingdom used by the United States, as well as thousands of kilometers away. So it represents a reminder this is not Venezuela. President Trump and President Trump has been schooled publicly, along with Benjamin Netanyahu, who wanted this to happen before Donald Trump even came to the White House, has been schooled in what years and years of defensive planning looks like from the regime in Iran.
- [04:08]
Laura Kuenssberg
And we should say that a bit later in the podcast, we'll be hearing from David Miliband, of course, former Foreign Secretary, and, and we'll talk to him about the humanitarian impact on all of this. More than a million people on the move. But today, as we record at 10 1, and goodness knows what will have happened by the end of today, the focus of most of the headlines in the UK is on this attack on Diego Garcia.
- [04:30]
Paddy O'Connell
And can I ask you, do you think it's important, from the government's perspective, to get that timeline information briefed?
- [04:37]
Laura Kuenssberg
It's incredibly important to the government to get this timeline briefed, which is, I think, exactly why I was told about the timeline this morning. So what happened yesterday was the UK Said, sure, President Trump, who'd been calling NATO allies cowards and all sorts of things for not helping the US Protect the Straits of Hormuz in a military way. The UK and others said, okay, you can, you can use our bases to launch attacks on missile sites in Iran that have been chucking things at the Straits of Hormuz and clogging up the world's shipping with all the implications for the oil price. At the same time, Iran responded to that, essentially saying to the uk, ah, you're playing with fire. There was a very strong Iranian response to that UK decision. So Downing street does not want it to look like the attack on Diego Garcia was a direct response to the decision that they publicized yesterday. So if I'm explaining that in any way clearly, you've essentially got three things that happen here. Missiles try to fall on Diego Garcia, fired by Iran. They don't make it, but it's the first time we understand they've got an attack that far away. Second of all, the UK after that attack says to the us, yes, you can use our bases for what to some people looks like an escalation in the war. Third thing, Iran responds and says UK that means that you are going to be a target for us too. And that is a mistake. So you can see why with those three steps, Downing street does not want it to give the impression that the headlines today about Iranian missiles being thrown at a British base are a direct result of a decision that the Prime Minister and his colleagues took yesterday to give the US permission.
- [06:22]
Paddy O'Connell
Also, as we sat down, I was reading from the BBC's defense correspondent. There is chatter in the military expert circles about whether Iran does possess a missile that can travel that far. So people have been naming the individual missiles that they know Iran has, the ballistic missiles and then questioning what we know about their technical specifications and if they could even reach, in which case you'd have to wait a bit to know more. But you could say that the targeting is a message in itself.
- [06:52]
Laura Kuenssberg
I think that's absolutely right. But it reminds me of what you've said every week in this short war. You've said every weekend. This is about two things. It's about the map and it's about the clock. And this is about the map of how far Iran, that regime that we know represses its own people, we know it wants to destroy Israel. You know, it sees the UK as an enemy. Can they file missiles that could actually be successfully targeted as far as 4,000km away? That has not been the assumption of the sort of defense establishment so far. Just to use the numbers, it was previously thought Iran's missiles had a range of about 2,000 kilometers. Diego Garcia is nearly 4,000 kilometers from Iran. So if it has secretly developed missiles that can go that far, the potentially frightening consequence of that is it means that Iran, in that scenario, would have the hypothetical ability to go for targets far beyond where this war is right now being conducted. Now, let's say take a breath. As you've importantly told us, we don't know how close these missiles got, we don't know exactly what they were. Hopefully that will all become clearer in the next couple of days. But that's why this attempted attack on Diego Garcia has lit up the headlines this morning. It's not just because it was a British US joint base. The Iranians have already been going after British assets since this war began. We know that already. We know at the beginning there was a strike that went into the side of a hangar, an RAFA criteria in Cyprus. But the Diego Garcia attempted attack has lit up the headlines because it suggests that Iran might have better military capability than was previously thought.
- [08:40]
Paddy O'Connell
A question for the youngest newscaster, which I think you can probably answer, is when was a man called David Miliband the UK Foreign Secretary?
- [08:49]
Laura Kuenssberg
He was the Foreign Secretary in the latter years of the new Labour administration. So I think from 2007 all the way up until the end of that period under Gordon Brown, 2010.
- [08:59]
Paddy O'Connell
Because the youngest newscaster might say, who is David Miliband? Many news hungry newscasters will know whatever their age is.
- [09:05]
Laura Kuenssberg
Yes.
- [09:06]
Paddy O'Connell
He is the brother, of course, of Ed Miliband, who's on the left of the Labour government and is also, of course, someone who wants us to get off our fossil fuel addiction.
- [09:15]
Laura Kuenssberg
Correct. His brother David Miliband is a little degree towards the right of the Labour Party. And that's why also for some people still in the Labour Party, David Milband is this sort of positry of some of their unfulfilled dreams that if his brother hadn't narrowly beaten him in the leadership contest in 2010, then maybe the world would have been different and he would have been able to beat David Cameron and everything that happened since then would never have happened. However, skeptics might say, well, David Milban couldn't win a leadership contest in his own party and he remains therefore somebody who is the kind of unfulfilled prince of across the water, but this time he's across the Atlantic because he's been in America for a long time where the job he's now doing is as boss of an international rescue committee.
- [10:02]
Paddy O'Connell
Yes, the irc. But also there's big news from the current Foreign Secretary.
- [10:07]
Laura Kuenssberg
That's right. So in order to try to find more money for Defense, Yvette Cooper, the Foreign secretary is cutting 6 billion pounds from the budget for overseas aid. That's the budget that does precisely the kind of thing that David Miliband organizes and runs now. It gives money to aid agencies around the world. But what it also does, and this is one of the reasons why there's such pressure on that budget, it also goes towards paying for asylum seekers here in the uk. So there's been a controversy about whether that budget is being well spent. The original conception of overseas development under Tony Blair, the Department for International Development, was it was much better to pump money in to conflict torn or poverty striction countries around the world to tackle problems at source, to help people in need. And that would be a help for peace and stability around the world, rather than just putting a sticking plaster on in the form of eventually trying to help deal with the products of conflicts, if you like. But given the world we now live in, the government has again cut the aid budget, which is an interesting tension, therefore, between someone like David Milan, who's a former colleague of aet, Cooper, former Labor politician, but who's now dealing with the consequences of decisions that have been made by the people who are now in power here.
- [11:30]
Paddy O'Connell
So there you have it. We have set out the reasons why you might want to listen, we hope you will, to David MILBAND ON NEWSCAST and here's our chat.
- [11:45]
David Miliband
Hello, Paddy. Hello, Laura.
- [11:47]
Paddy O'Connell
David, the war which everyone is very anxious to see end. As Foreign Secretary, you had problems with a nuclear armed Iran yourself. It's not as though Trump's wrong to say that the world's worried about a nuclear Iran.
- [12:04]
David Miliband
Well, you're right that the Iranian nuclear issue is a long standing one. We didn't have a problem with a nuclear Iran in the sense that it hadn't gone nuclear, and they always insisted that they never would. But you'll remember that we discovered a secret site of military development in Iran in the course of my tenure as Foreign sec. And so the Iranian nuclear issue, the danger that Iran would become a nuclear weapons state was certainly a very big issue. We were, I always said, 100% committed to the diplomatic political track to resolve the nuclear issue. We didn't get there. It took another five years and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015 before a nuclear agreement was agreed. But of course, the American authorities, in my time and before they all looked at the military options, they all heard what the Iranians were saying about what they would do if there was any military action, and they steered away from it precisely because they thought, A, the military options were very unappealing and B, the political track had some way to run.
- [13:15]
Paddy O'Connell
Let's look at the Second front, which is Lebanon, you have workers on the ground there, or you have programs on the ground there with the International Rescue Committee.
- [13:25]
David Miliband
It's interesting, you describe Lebanon as the second front. We certainly see with a thousand people killed, a million or 1.2 million. I saw 1.2 million people displaced in a population of, of just five, five and a half million. You can see one in four, one in five people in the country are being forced to flee. We're facing a humanitarian emergency there. We have about 100 staff members working there, sadly reduced from over 200 because of aid cuts, because that's the other side of this equation. And we face a really striking situation. I would describe it as a humanitarian triple whammy. You've got, one, the direct impact of the war in places like Lebanon. Two, you've got the economic consequences for some of the poorest people in the world from the blockage in the straits of Hormuz. 20% of the world's fertilizer goes through the Straits of Hormuz. And so that has a direct impact on global food supplies. The World Food program says that 45 million people are going to be pushed to catastrophic levels, emergency levels of food insecurity. And then thirdly, the third element of the triple whammy is obviously the geopolitics that splays out from this. We're very worried that in places like Ukraine, the war gets lengthened by this because of the stronger Russian position. But also wars in places like Sudan don't get the diplomatic and political bandwidth they need. So I think that Lebanon is the second front. It's not the only further front in this conflict.
- [14:49]
Laura Kuenssberg
And David, it's just extraordinary hearing you use those numbers there. And if people missed it. Earlier in the week, we spoke actually to President Zelenskyy about his conviction that the war in Ukraine is going to be hard to maintain and harder to push Russia back because of the war in Iran, not least because America is distracted. But I just wanted to emphasize the numbers that you gave us there. 1.2 million people just in one country, Lebanon, on the move because of this conflict. And then the further numbers who might be at risk of not having enough to eat because of the blockages in the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, the last couple of weeks have been so frantic. People have been all watching glued to their screens on these sort of extraordinary pictures of gas facilities on fire and the White House pumping out these sort of meme style videos of warfare mixed up with video games, even in that social media content. But we are. What you're suggesting is we're not remotely yet understanding the true human cost of this war.
- [15:51]
David Miliband
That's a really important. I'm relieved, frankly, that those numbers still have the capacity to shock, because the great danger is that the scale of humanitarian need around the world just gets normalized. I mean, the Council on Foreign Relations, which is an organization based here in New York, it calls the closure of the Straits of Hormuz the effective closure as a slow motion famine machine. And that's because you've got this constriction of fertilizer supplies, you've got the knock on effects and you've got the aid cuts that are taking place. And so thank you for retaining the ability to be shocked. We've warned of this triple whammy that's coming and we've called on governments around the world to recognise it before it's too late.
- [16:40]
Paddy O'Connell
Your former colleague in the Labour Party, Yvette Cooper, has said that there'll be a diversion of British aid funds towards our defence budget. Are you sad about that?
- [16:50]
David Miliband
Yes, I am. I mean, it leads to very difficult choices. The government, Yvette announced, by the way, former colleague in the Labor Party. I used to be her colleague. I'm still her friend and I'm still in the Labour Party. So the former applies to. I want to be clear about that.
- [17:07]
Paddy O'Connell
No, this is the sort of detail that Laura gets very excited about. So, I mean.
- [17:11]
Laura Kuenssberg
And they're not former friends, you're saying very carefully. So I can say, ah, you are still friends, but you are clearly unhappy about the decision she's made, which is the point of substance here.
- [17:22]
David Miliband
Look, when the UK is spending 0.3% of national income on overseas aid and about a quarter of that goes on is spent in the UK for refugees or who've arrived in the last year, it's impossible to make the money go round in the way that it needs to. And that's how you end up with the very difficult choices. Now, I think it's important to say that Yvette's statement, she prioritized fragile and conflict states like Lebanon. She said 70% of UK money will go towards fragile and conflict states. That's a good thing. She prioritized. Secondly, women and girls, they have multiple extra inequalities they face. It's very good that she's highlighted that. She said that there'd be no cuts in Sudan, which is the world's largest humanitarian emergency. But there's no denying it when you have to cut as they are, it ends up being very painful. Bilateral aid to Africa looks like it's going down very, very significantly. And my argument is that this is the time when there are very high levels and in fact rising levels of need around the world. It needs countries like Britain, but not only Britain, to stick with it. I'm very pleased. The European Union is not cutting its aid budget. In fact, its proposals are to increase its aid budget because it's needed.
- [18:37]
Laura Kuenssberg
Is it a mistake then and will Britain's decision, You say it'll mean difficult choices, but difficult choices in your line of work, meaning not enough food to go around.
- [18:46]
David Miliband
Yeah. And look, the government's saying it's going to continue its support for the multilateral agencies like the World Food Program, like Gavi, the Global alliance on Vaccines. That's very good. But I mean, Yvette herself said they didn't want to do it. They've been forced into it. And it will have consequences that are real for people around the world. Now, overall, just so you get a perspective on this, the total humanitarian budget, not just the British contribution, the total humanitarian budget in the last year has been halved. Halved. So 2 million clients of the International Rescue Committee no longer get services that they were getting at this time last year. That means a health center that we were running with US Money in South Sudan for people who'd fled from Sudan is closed. So that has real consequences. There's no denying it. And it's important to say that the Iran war has its own consequences and these knock on effects that I've described. There's a big story in the US now about this Strait of Hormuz and military action to open it. There's prior on this in the late 1980s in the Iran Iraq war when the US deployed there, they were able at that time to get two ships a day through the Straits of Hormuz and there's dozens backed up. But here there are two big differences that I think speak to the changing world we live in. One, the US was not a belligerent in the war in the 80s, it was the Iran Iraq War. But secondly, and most significantly, the weaponry has changed since then. So this whole drone warfare, that means you can send a drone for $40,000. It's changed warfare completely and it makes it far, far more difficult.
- [20:25]
Paddy O'Connell
I want to ask you about allies and about friends because the strain on the Western alliance is growing. And as a former British Foreign Secretary living in the US you're uniquely placed to address this without the usa. Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social. NATO is A paper tiger. They didn't want to join the fight to stop a nuclear powered Iran. Now that fight is militarily won with very little danger for them. They complain about the high oil prices they're forced to pay, but don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do with so little risk. Cowards. We will remember, what is the chapter that's turning in the Western alliance as this war unfolds?
- [21:09]
David Miliband
Well, I think you're right to describe it as a chapter because obviously it follows on the election of President Trump where he was very clear that he wanted to lead a revolution in American foreign policy and he wanted to change the way in which it commits to alliances. So that was, if you like, chapter one. Chapter two is the whole Ukraine episode. There's then the Greenland chapter, which deserves a chapter all of its own. Now you've got this. I would say, though, Paddy, the US UK Relationship is a relationship between two countries, not just between two administrations. It's long term and it brings mutual benefit. I'd also point out, and I think this is really important, NATO is a defensive alliance. It springs into action when one NATO member is attacked. And of course, the most famous occasion when that's happened, in fact, the only occasion when that's happened is on 911 when NATO rallied to the US side and with all the consequences that we know. And so what I think that you're seeing there is that the campaign that the president has launched is called Epic Fury. That's the name of the military campaign. There's a lot of epic fury in Washington about the way in which this is going at the moment. But I would say that the relationship has strength that is institutional and that is country to country. That's very important. And the president, to be fair to him, made clear that he wants NATO to be stronger. And that depends on the Europeans stepping up, which of course we are.
- [22:42]
Laura Kuenssberg
But those personal leader to leader relationships, though, matter too. Whether that's for you as a former foreign secretary having relationships with your counterpart or whether it's between American presidents and British prime ministers. How can leaders in other democracies cope with an American president who every day is sitting either in this sort of golden brocade chair in the Oval Office being rude about them or seemingly late at night online calling them cowards or, you know, joking about how Keir Starmer isn't Churchill with the actual bust of Churchill over his shoulder in the Oval Office. I mean, how are they meant to cope with that?
- [23:22]
David Miliband
Well, I think that they have to focus on the substance because it's the substance that in the end matters. There's absolutely no value in getting into a tweet competition about this. And you've got to focus on the substance of what you're doing. And that is the route to really being a valuable partner. It's the route to serving your own national interest and to preserving the NATO alliance, which remains very important. I mean, President Trump is right to say that NATO depends very, very significantly on the United States. And I would argue it's very strongly in America's interest to have NATO. But it's also very important that the European end of NATO, the so called European pillar of NATO, is much stronger. I mean, we face the situation that the Russian threat is multi dimensional. It's not just a Ukraine threat. And I always say every country in Europe has a Ukraine policy. No serious country in Europe yet has a Russia strategy. And that is what we need because Russia is always going to be on the edge of Europe. And it's very, very important that we're able to recognize the diverse nature of the threats that it represents. For that, we've got to work much more closely together in Europe. It helps a lot to have the Americans there.
- [24:42]
Paddy O'Connell
One of the big impacts on diplomacy has been the Mandelson affairs and the Labour government run by Keir Starmer. And Keir Starmer's personal judgment in appointing him has been a big scandal here in the uk.
- [24:54]
David Miliband
Would you have advised, heard anything about that? I'm surprised. Well, I just. Well, this is all news to me. I hadn't, honestly, I hadn't crossed my desk.
- [25:03]
Paddy O'Connell
Well, let me ask you, if you had been asked, would you have said about your former Labour colleague Peter Mandelson, be careful if you appoint him? And were you asked to give advice?
- [25:13]
David Miliband
I wasn't asked to give advice. And so it's better not to deal in the hypotheticals, isn't it?
- [25:18]
Paddy O'Connell
But what would you have said if, oh, we're going to appoint Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness, to be the emissary to the White House?
- [25:26]
David Miliband
I'm not gonna get into it. I mean, all of us, I think we saw Petyr's skills, intelligence when we worked with him. I think everyone, certainly speaking for myself, I'm shocked by what's come out since then or since over the last few months and obviously it's been searing because there's long term relationships that have all of us shaking our heads. But I don't want to say more because there's obviously investigations going on. It's not right for me to say more than that.
- [26:00]
Laura Kuenssberg
You were, though, also a candidate for that job. Several people have privately told me that you were being considered as the person who would have been an excellent ambassador and your name was very much on the list, particularly if Kamala Harris had won and held the White House for the Democrats. Your name was perhaps even at the top of the list. Do you wish that you'd got that job? Would you have taken it?
- [26:21]
David Miliband
I always say the same thing as you know, Laura, boringly consistent in saying that I always want to do a job that best advances the things I believe in. And I always say I'm going to do that consistent with my obligations to my family. I'm absolutely committed to the uk, I think it's my country. I always want to do things to support the UK in any way that I can. But I'm not going to get into the. One thing is people can describe you as a candidate for anything and you just did. Fortunately, it's not the sort of thing where you put in the job application. It doesn't work like that.
- [26:56]
Laura Kuenssberg
But there were conversations, though I do know that there's another sort of, you know, it doesn't Turn up on jobs.co.uk but you would, I think, correct us if we were wrong to say there were conversations at very high levels about you taking that job.
- [27:09]
David Miliband
Well, I think that the good thing about conversations at very high levels is that they stay at a very high
- [27:14]
Laura Kuenssberg
level, not always for very long.
- [27:18]
David Miliband
I know you've got ears everywhere. You're too good. You're too good in all sorts of ways.
- [27:24]
Paddy O'Connell
One of the British papers wrote that Keir Starmer surrendered to Ed Miliband and that the kind of pro climate side and the more leftist side of Labour is on the ascendant. But then Ed Miliband's facing the energy price shock. So is Ed Miliband in a stronger or weaker position than six months ago?
- [27:45]
David Miliband
Even if it hadn't been my brother, I wouldn't get into the semiotic. The semiotics of who? Look, it's a Labour government. It's not many Labour governments. They've got an enormously challenging set of tasks. They've got to go about it in a way that navigates the rapids of modern politics, which are very, very challenging. But it's not about. I'm definitely not going to go down the sort of the semiotics of the different strands of this. I Think, to be fair to Keir Starmer, he's always been very committed to the very simple proposition that getting Britain off fossil fuels is a national security imperative, not just an environmental imperative. And so I don't think there's a division there.
- [28:34]
Laura Kuenssberg
There is, though, a debate in which your style of thinking about the Labour Party and its role in the country and the way it should get things done is in conversation with the other side of the Labour Party. You know, there is a sort of soft left versus soft right conversation going on. And without asking you to either be disobliging or obliging about your own brother, is there, do you think, something for people to remember in that debate? One of your colleagues said to me, one of your former colleagues, I should say, is now in the Cabinet, said to me, look, just when you have a shock in politics, that doesn't mean that people are more progressive. Actually, people still want the fundamentals, which is the mainstream center ground politics, to work well for them. And they were essentially warning for a risk that if there is a big shock, if things all go awry, if inflation goes up again, it would be dangerous for any party on the center left to think that now is the time for them to be more radical. Would you agree with that?
- [29:30]
David Miliband
Look, it's very tough in government at the moment. I mean, the most striking thing about modern politics is how tough it is for governments to get reelected. And so that faces everyone. And it's obviously this Iran crisis is an avatar for how tough it is. I wrote about how I saw things in the New Statesman last week or the week before. I think every successful government defines its cause. Every successful government has signature policies that it doubles down on and delivers a dosage of change that really delivers for the country so that people remember it. And thirdly, every successful government is on a mission to explain, explain, explain. When I started in politics, people said, if you're explaining, you're losing. No, if you're not explaining, you're not on the pitch. That's, I think, the recipe for successful government. And you can then put it into a left, right, one strand, other strand, one bit of Miliband, other bit of Miliband. The truth is, that's the way in which you've got to get into the substance. And I think the message for the government is about defining its cause and finding its signature policies. For example, they're opening up more on Europe. I would argue they should go much further. That's where you've got real ability to make a difference on the Economic and other fronts. So I'm not going to get into the. What does it mean for different strands? I think all of the situation of modern politics is one where you've got to be clear about your cause and you've got to be clear about your signature policies. And I think that that's what we're hearing more of from the government, which is good.
- [31:05]
Laura Kuenssberg
What is their cause?
- [31:06]
David Miliband
I think their cause is to give more people in Britain more opportunities to enjoy the good things in life, to learn so that you can earn, to have a house that you either rent or own that's yours, to be able to have security and retirement. Our biggest challenge is that the opportunities of the few are not available to the many. And we need that shift more and more. And you can see that whether it's south versus the place I used to represent, South Shields, you can see that on different parts of the income spectrum, you can see that between young and old. I think the mission of a successful Labour government is always about fairness and it's always about the future and the opportunities that exist for people. That's its cause.
- [31:51]
Paddy O'Connell
Quick fire round now.
- [31:52]
David Miliband
Oh, my God.
- [31:53]
Paddy O'Connell
Are you looking forward to the King's visit in a few weeks to the usa? Do you think it's now more important than ever, or would you join voices saying, well, in this atmosphere it could go the wrong way?
- [32:04]
David Miliband
Yes, I think he should go. I think it's. I don't know about more important, but I think it's very good that he's coming. And it speaks to my point earlier about this being a relationship between two countries. He's the Head of state and he's becoming. Representing the uk and in these kind of times, it's especially important and so I am looking forward to it. I've not been invited to the. Whatever. I don't know what the events are, but. And I don't know if he's coming to New York, but he'd be very welcome for a cup of tea. Yeah.
- [32:36]
Paddy O'Connell
Your beloved Arsenal Football Club could win the League this time for the first time in 20 years. Would you come back from New York?
- [32:43]
David Miliband
It'll be a threat, but they're in four. They're in four competitions. Paddy, don't, don't. Don't jinx us. And we end up starting on Sunday, so fingers crossed.
- [32:53]
Laura Kuenssberg
David Miliband, great to have you with us on this weekend's newscast. Thanks so much and goodbye.
- [32:58]
David Miliband
Thanks very much, Laura. Thanks very much, Paddy. Great to be with you.
- [33:00]
Paddy O'Connell
Goodbye.
- [33:08]
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- [35:10]
Josh Spiegel
of the podcast Lunatic in the Newsroom. If you enjoy journalism that drifts into mild panic, wild overthinking, and a guaranteed nervous breakdown, Lunatic in the Newsroom is for you. It's news like you've never heard before. The only newsroom with a panic button. You'll laugh, you'll cry and gasp in horror as the show spirals completely out of control. It's not Just news. It's emotionally unstable lunatic in the newsroom.
- [35:37]
Tristan Redman
Listen today, have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans? You don't owe an unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own. If so, you might have been the target of a scam orchestrated by criminals thousands of miles away. I'm Tristan Redman, one of the hosts of the global story podcast and we're taking an inside look at the highly lucrative scam factories of southeast Asia. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [36:10]
Laura Kuenssberg
You can see there listening to David Milant. There are a lot of reasons why he was a top level politician at quite a young age. And his ability to make jokes and give very diplomatic answers was certainly one of them. You can hear his lines for stepping through controversy over whether or not he was ever going to be the pick for u. S. Ambassador. We know that he was on the list. If Kamala Harris had won the White House, you could hear there how carefully he was able to answer the questions about this saga and the embarrassment and appalling revelations around Peter Mandelson. You know, he was always somebody with quite a smooth line and he hasn't lost that ability.
- [36:52]
Paddy O'Connell
Yeah.
- [36:52]
Laura Kuenssberg
Before we talk about tomorrow, there is more time still for another quiz. So I've got a quiz for you. By the end of the day on the 25th of April, what will you, Paddy O' Connell have in common with David Bowie, Adele, Amy Winehouse, radiohead, Nirvana and Dusty Springfield?
- [37:07]
Paddy O'Connell
Well, I mean, I haven't seen this question, but I can tell you the answer is certainly nothing at any time, but I ever have anything in common. I went to see an exhibition of David bowie's stage costume.
- [37:17]
Laura Kuenssberg
Did you get to try them on?
- [37:18]
Paddy O'Connell
Well, he had hips like a snake. Is so unbelievably pencil like half the
- [37:24]
Laura Kuenssberg
size that I am.
- [37:25]
Paddy O'Connell
Yeah, I was not prepared for that at all. So I can. I have to answer your quiz by saying the answer is nothing. This is a deliberate attempt by the editor, whose hip flask is even now emptying.
- [37:35]
Laura Kuenssberg
It is a deliberate attempt by the editor, but I know the answer. Yes, I know. Shameless. Shameless.
- [37:41]
Paddy O'Connell
What is the answer then?
- [37:42]
Laura Kuenssberg
So the answer is by the end of the 25th of April, you too will have performed at London's made avail studio.
- [37:51]
Paddy O'Connell
Okay, that is very exciting because that is where castfest is being held. Yes, there's a link at the end of my life, probably at the end. Where is the link? There's a link in the description of the podcast to Cast Fest.
- [38:09]
Laura Kuenssberg
See, now you're just using words that I don't know what they mean. And what is castfest for the uninitiated?
- [38:15]
Paddy O'Connell
So that is when the producers have brought together all the people who are in your earbuds with all of Newscast's family of podcasts.
- [38:25]
Laura Kuenssberg
Marvellous. What are you doing tomorrow morning?
- [38:26]
Paddy O'Connell
We're going to talk about voices from within Iran. We're going to listen to them and we're also going to look at the impact on the aviation industry and the chase for flight.
- [38:34]
Laura Kuenssberg
Yes, that could be one of the things that is quite seriously disrupted, possibly in the months ahead. We are going to speak to Steve Reed, who is the Community Secretary, about what's happening in the government, how the government is trying to grapple with this conflict. And we'll also be talking to Chris o', Shea, who's the boss of Centrica, which is one of the biggest energy companies. So that should hopefully be interesting because one of the possible worries for people at the moment is, of course, what's happening with their energy bills.
- [39:00]
Paddy O'Connell
The short answer to which is down then up, I would say.
- [39:03]
Laura Kuenssberg
I think that's right.
- [39:04]
Paddy O'Connell
Let's scamper away into the distance by saying thank you very much for listening.
- [39:08]
Laura Kuenssberg
Goodbye.
- [39:09]
Paddy O'Connell
Goodbye.
- [39:09]
David Miliband
Newscast.
- [39:10]
Laura Kuenssberg
Newscast from the BBC.
- [39:12]
Chris Mason
Thank you so much for making it to the end of Newscast. You clearly copyright Chris Mason Ooze Stamina. Can I gently encourage you to subscribe to us on BBC Sounds? Don't forget, you can email us anytime. It's newscastbc.co.uk and if you would like to join our Discord community to talk about everything Newscast related, there is a link in the description of this podcast. And don't be scared. It's super easy to click on it and then get set up. Or you can WhatsApp us on 033-01-239480 and I promise you we read and listen to every single message. Thanks for listening to this podcast.
- [39:52]
Tristan Redman
Bye. Have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans? You don't owe an unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own. If so, you might have been the target of a scam orchestrated by criminals thousands of miles away. I'm Tristan Redman, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast and we're taking an inside look at the highly lucrative scam factories of Southeast Asia. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.