Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Leader of the Labour Party and the opposition, former human rights lawyer and director of public prosecutions.
On the island
Eight records
reminds me when I'm on my island of my sort of early days in London with a group of friends in a really grotty flat above a sauna and massage parlour that kept interesting hours.
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 'Pastoral', Fifth Movement
this was one of my dad's favourite bits of music, and so it will remind me of him.
When we came home from school we'd arrive home and she would make us jam sandwiches and she would have Jim Reeves on in the background and that's an image of a mum that sticks with me forever.
I've held Orange Juice and Edwin Collins close for many, many years, still play this song, but this absolutely captures those early years at University and Beyond.
this is very much about Northern Ireland because there's an expression in Ireland used a lot which is happy days as an expression. It's a fantastic expression and it just reminds me of all the challenges we went through, the ups and downs and this song reminds me of that.
David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds
In order to really appreciate this song, you had to be in Wembley in the crowd. I was in the upper tier for the semi-final of Euro 96 when we're playing Germany and for the whole stadium to be jumping up and down, rocking to this.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor', Second MovementFavourite
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Swedish Chamber Orchestra
this is beautiful and it's the music that my wife walked in to at our wedding and she was beautiful as well.
Artists for Grenfell featuring Stormzy
it's a reflection on Grenfell and a reminder that for all the factional positions, party positions people take up, in the end politics is about people and Grenfell brought a shudder I think to everybody. So it is a reminder about what politics is really about. I chose Stormzy because my children love Stormzy and so it will remind me of my children in this beautiful song.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:57How much sympathy do you have for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet in their handling of the coronavirus pandemic?
Oh look, I think it's really difficult. I think any government would struggle with this pandemic. When I became leader, I made it clear that we would be constructive in the sense that where we thought the government was getting it right, we would support them in that. And so, for example, on the lockdowns, we've supported them on that. But where they're getting it wrong, we've got to challenge them. And they've got it wrong in quite a number of places, and we've had to challenge them hard. Now, it's hard to get it right. We discuss this on a daily basis, and in the end, the public will decide.
Presenter asks
3:35How different are the skills required of a politician from those of a barrister, and have you had to learn to let some emotion in?
Yeah, they're completely different. I mean, if you're a lawyer, it's based on the facts, there's proper argument, there's a judge that makes decisions. In politics, it's completely different because it's about a different art of persuasion.
Presenter asks
6:03How do you achieve a united Labour Party given the factionalism and the EHRC report on anti-Semitism?
The keepsakes
The book
A detailed atlas (with shipping lanes)
I'm going to take a detailed atlas, hopefully with shipping lanes in it, so I can get myself off this island.
My aim is a united Labour Party and we in the Labour Party have to learn that if we spend all of our time taking lumps out of each other we're never going to persuade anyone to vote for us. So I'm determined to unite the party. I'm equally determined that we will root out anti-Semitism in the party. The report we had last week from the Equality and Human Rights Commission was a damning verdict, a real day of shame. A commission that was set up by a Labour government found that the Labour Party had breached equality law. You can't get much lower than that and I'm absolutely committed to rooting out anti-Semitism and that means taking tough decisions.
Presenter asks
8:07How did you feel when you read the EHRC report, given your family's Jewish connections?
Well, the two were divorced in this sense, that it is perfectly true that my wife's father is Jewish, his family are Jewish, they came from Poland, and my wife's mum converted when they got married. So there is a long tradition, family religion and faith there. We observe some of the practices, for example, Friday night prayers, occasionally with my wife's father. Her mum sadly passed away earlier this year, because my wife in particular wants our children to know the faith of her family and her father's family. But that was far removed from my sort of in-principle decision to tackle anti-Semitism. For me, that's a matter of absolute values and principles.
Presenter asks
10:32Tell me a little bit more about your dad, Rodney.
I don't often talk about my dad. He was a difficult man, a complicated man. He kept himself to himself. He didn't particularly like to socialise, so he wouldn't really go out very much. But he was incredibly hardworking. He worked as a toolmaker on a factory floor all of his life, and my enduring memory as a child was him, as he did, go to work at 8 o'clock in the morning, came home at 5 o'clock for his tea, went back at 6 o'clock and worked through till 10 o'clock at night, and that was five days a week. But also, he had this utter devotion and commitment to my mum. My mum was very, very ill all of her life. And my dad knew exactly the symptoms of everything that might possibly go wrong with my mum. He knew exactly what drugs or combination of drugs or injection would be needed. He stopped drinking completely, just in case he ever needed to get to the hospital with her. And then on the many occasions that she was in hospital, he would stay with her the whole time. He wouldn't leave the hospital. He would sleep on any chair or whatever was available.
Presenter asks
14:32How do you think what your mum went through changed you?
I think it made me value determination and courage and to sort of see people for what they really are.
“I am who I am. I know what I am. I know what I believe in. And I know what I've got to do, and that's what I'm focused on.”
“He was a difficult man, a complicated man. He kept himself to himself.”
“My mum in the end couldn't talk, couldn't move. And so we've got two young children, but my mum had never spoken to my children.”
“I think it made me value determination and courage and to sort of see people for what they really are.”
“I started off as the radical who knew everything and I'm now much more open to ideas, much more questioning of ideas.”