The Rest Is Politics – Episode 478

Title: Farage’s Crypto Megadonor and the Graduate Jobs Disaster (Question Time)
Hosts: Alastair Campbell & Rory Stewart
Date: December 11, 2025

Overview

In this episode of The Rest Is Politics, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart dive into some of the most current and contentious issues in UK and international politics, with their signature blend of inside knowledge, sharp analysis, and a commitment to civil debate.

The primary topics addressed include:

• The £9 million crypto windfall for Reform UK and the troubling landscape of UK political donations
• The graduate jobs crisis and growing economic anxieties for young people
• The continuing fallout from the Zach Polanski interview and debates about economic orthodoxy
• The Gaza ceasefire, Middle East chaos, and the diplomatic circus that is international peacemaking today
• The bizarre spectacle of the FIFA World Cup draw, the Trump ‘Peace Prize’, and politics in sport.

Below, find an in-depth breakdown of key segments, memorable quotes, and notable moments.

1. The Farage Crypto Donation & The State of UK Political Funding

Timestamps: 03:00 – 13:00

Discussion points:

• Reform UK received £9 million from a Thailand-based crypto trader—second largest political donation in UK history.
• Comparison with US political donations (“peanuts” by US standards, but massive in the UK context).
• Concentration of Reform/Brexit Party funding from just three major donors.
• The lack of regulation on donation size, but strict rules on electoral spending.
• Concerns about the loopholes and perception of foreign influence.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Why would a multi-million cryptocurrency dealer based in Thailand want Nigel Farage in power, I wonder?” – Alastair Campbell [04:55]
• “Nigel Farage parades as a man of the people…75% of the donations…have come from three men.” – Alastair Campbell [05:06]
• “Parties spending millions upon millions.… If you replace that with limits on spending and then state funding… it's much more likely to reduce the influence.” – Rory Stewart [10:08]

Proposals/Solutions:

• Ban foreign donations (anyone living outside the UK).
• End peerages and honours for donors.
• More radical: ban all private political funding, introduce state funding on the Australian model (as implemented in South Australia by Peter Malinauskas).

Notable Moment:
Campbell and Stewart both agree the UK system is “rotten to the core” [09:54]; Stewart shares first-hand experience of being reliant on large donors when running for London mayor.

2. The Graduate Jobs Crisis & Intergenerational Anxiety

Timestamps: 13:00 – 32:00

Student and listener questions tackled:

• Are older, privileged commentators blind to the scale of challenges facing young people?
• Is there hope for graduates in a world of declining vacancies, fierce competition, and AI job displacement?

Key themes:

• Over 1.2 million applications for 17,000 UK graduate jobs in 2023–24 (around 80 per job). [27:30]
• Graduate vacancies down 33% on the year, 60% down from 2016. [28:21]
• Young people, per Campbell, feel the political class doesn't “get it.”
• AI is the central force transforming the job landscape and threatening entry-level roles.

Expert analysis:

• Stewart’s new AI miniseries with Matt Clifford looks at geopolitics, employment, threats, and innovation via AI, warning AI is “the single most important issue for our economy, our politics, our security over the next 10 years.” [23:37]
• Stewart cautions against the search for “astonishing new ideas”—dangerous when basic economic realities and technological disruption are at play.

Memorable Quotes:

• “I think AI is the single most important issue for our economy, our politics and our security over the next 10 years.” – Rory Stewart [23:37]
• “Our job is to call people out… we were the first media organization to actually try to ask [Zach Polanski] basic questions about his economic understanding and data. And I was shocked.” – Rory Stewart [31:32]
• “Where are the new ideas coming from?” – Alastair Campbell [23:11]

Hopeful notes:
Praise for Labour’s increased focus on apprenticeships, with hints at “meat behind this now” in policy, offering some hope [31:12].

3. The Zach Polanski Fallout, Class, and Economic Debate

Timestamps: 14:51 – 32:30

Key discussion points:

• Drama surrounding the interview with Green Party’s Zach Polanski and subsequent backlash, especially from Gary Stevenson (“city trader turned wealth tax campaigner”).
• Rory Stewart’s apology for dismissing Stevenson’s credentials, conceding he should have engaged on the ideas, not qualifications.
• The intersection of class and expertise in political and media discourse.

Quotes:

• “We should have played the ideas, not the men.” – Rory Stewart [18:45]
• “I was wrong to put the focus on qualifications, I think he's wrong to put the focus on class. Let's keep this on ideas.” – Rory Stewart [20:43]
• “Making the state ever larger… has not actually contributed to a growing economy. The thing that's driving the problem… is technology. AI is making it much, much worse.” – Rory Stewart [21:12]
• “That's what the criticism of us... we don't have an alternative view to an economic system that is actually failing.” – Alastair Campbell [22:25]

4. Middle East Chaos: Gaza, Peacemaking, and Geopolitical Drift

Timestamps: 38:38 – 59:23

On Gaza and the Peace Process:

• Official ceasefire is “holding in name only”; humanitarian crisis continues.
• Only a fraction of aid promised is getting in (1,000 out of 4,200 trucks per week) [42:00].
• Israeli occupation continues in large “Green Zone” areas; displaced Palestinians crammed into diminishing safe territory.
• The so-called international peace plan and deployment of third parties (e.g., Egypt, Jordan) is stalled and nobody wants to take on the thankless task.

Broader regional instability:

• Syria remains fractured; US/NATO involvement is distracted/disengaged.
• Yemen suffering “new military moves” with scant media attention.
• Libya is divided and fueling wars in Sudan and beyond.
• Extreme chaos across the Sahel (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso); American power is less focused, with foreign policy going through “individuals” rather than systems.

Memorable Quotes:

• “This is a situation that actually suits both of them. Netanyahu… wants to keep this general sense of crisis going and on Hamas' part, so long as this situation continues, Hamas have a breathing space.” – Rory Stewart [49:26]
• “Trump is creating a world in which more and more disturbing things are just going below the radar.” – Rory Stewart [52:07]
• “If you’re Kuwaiti, you’re saying, why is nobody talking about Kuwait?… This is the violent, chaotic world that is beginning to accelerate. This is the acceleration of chaos.” – Rory Stewart [53:13]
• “If they were actually allowed to do and deliver… what the ceasefire agreement says they should, they’d be able to alleviate a lot of the suffering fairly quickly.” – Alastair Campbell [54:21]

5. The FIFA World Cup Draw, Trump’s ‘Peace Prize’, and Politics in Sport

Timestamps: 61:03 – 64:19

Key moments:

• The FIFA 2026 World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, themed as a “show for Trump.”
• Donald Trump awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by Gianni Infantino, to universal online derision.
• Audience of football dignitaries forced to watch a spectacle more concerned with politics than football.

Quotes:

• “It was utterly revolting. It was absolutely revolting… If there is a prize for global sycophancy and the selling of a soul of a great global sport, then Infantino has got it.” – Alastair Campbell [61:05]
• “Trump won the FIFA Peace Prize, but if there is a prize for global sycophancy… Infantino has got it.” – Alastair Campbell [62:31]
• “It’s like the kid who never gets anything being given a prize for trying really, really hard.” – Alastair Campbell [62:51]
• On football: “Scotland's not going to beat Brazil, is it?” – Rory Stewart [64:06]

Further Notable Moments & Quotes

• Stewart recounts Qatari mediation efforts and diverse conference guests, noting, “Qatar really stepping up and getting an extraordinary range of people there” [55:09].
• Blunt look at US international development funding: “Nobody has any idea dealing with the American government, how you get funding… It’s all MAGA.” – Rory Stewart [58:40]
• Campbell ribs Stewart for conference name-dropping and pushes for big future podcast guests [56:49].

Episode Tone & Conclusion

Despite the gravity of the topics, Campbell and Stewart retain their conversational, sometimes teasing style, deliberate but affable even when disagreeing. They show a mixture of frustration and hope—frustration with systemic inertia, growing inequality, and international chaos; hope in grassroots change, new policy moves (apprenticeships), and the determination to hold those in power to account.

Final note: A closing plug for The Rest Is Politics Plus—book discounts, ad-free episodes, and, per Campbell, a “civilized gift to allow families to disagree agreeably over Christmas.” [65:23]

Quick Reference Timeline

• 03:00 Political donation scandal – Farage’s £9M and funding reform ideas
• 13:00 Fallout from Polanski interview, class and economic debate
• 18:49 Stewart’s apology to Gary Stevenson (“play the ideas, not the men”)
• 23:37 The era-defining impact of AI on jobs and politics
• 27:30 Graduate job stats—scale of crisis
• 38:38 Gaza, Middle East, international peace plans
• 61:03 FIFA World Cup draw, Trump’s ‘Peace Prize’, sport meets politics

For further exploration:
Members can access Rory Stewart’s AI miniseries and more on the Rest Is Politics Plus platform.