Planet Normal: The general election will be battle of the Woodentops
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“Have we ever gone into a general election with two leaders who are so disliked by the public?”
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss the popularity, or unpopularity, of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer as we head towards a general election. And co-pilot Pearson has a very special interview with Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey.
Analysing the PM’s ‘cross roads’ speech on Monday, Allison believes Suank is drawing his battle lines and asking the country if they would trust Keir Starmer and a Labour government.
‘I think this was actually quite clever because it was moving the conversation away from how fed up all we with this government… which is clearly loathed and despised, as the most recent polls show, and now puts the spotlight on how good do we think this Labour government is actually going to be?’
Liam is quick to compare Starmer with Blair and the strength of their frontbenchers, saying ‘Starmer’s personal ratings are still woeful when you consider how much knocking copy there has been against the Tories and how chaotic the Tories have been, it’s astonishing that Starmer’s ratings are personally as low as they are.
‘Starmer’s frontbench is nothing compared to Blair’s frontbench. Blair’s frontbench had some really serious people on it. Whatever you thought of them and their politics, Robin Cook, Mo Mowlam, Jack Straw, Alistair Darling; these were really serious people coming into office. And yet, who could name almost any of Labour’s frontbench apart from the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves?’
Turning to matters in Hollywood, Allison was joined this week by actor Kevin Spacey, and she asked for his response to the Channel 4 documentary’ and the difficulties he had in his childhood. He explains why he found coming to terms with his sexuality difficult, saying ‘There were things in my family that taught me very early on that secrets kept me safe, so that was automatic for me. Now I realise it didn’t keep me safe.’
To watch the full interview with Allison and Kevin Spacey click here
Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app
