Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - #Bridgwater： Politics is Backwards
Aired: 2019-05-04
Duration: 04:57


=== Leave Versus Remain (04:18) ===

[00:00:00]  My name's Thomas.
[00:00:00]  Nice to meet you, Thomas.
[00:00:01]  Mr. Minjvin.
[00:00:02]  Right.
[00:00:02]  And what can I do for you?
[00:00:04]  Well, I'm interested in your take, particularly on the Leave Zeitgeist in this country.
[00:00:08]  We've recently, I don't know you're aware, have had the local elections, and three parties had losses.
[00:00:14]  Yes.
[00:00:14]  Tories, Labour, and UKIP.
[00:00:18]  In an election that saw the minor parties having great increases.
[00:00:21]  Are you concerned that there could be a change in the country to a more Remainer approach and potentially stalling Brexit to no end?
[00:00:29]  Well, it's certainly a potential problem.
[00:00:32]  I mean, honestly, I wasn't a local campaigner, so I'm not sure what's happened on the ground there.
[00:00:36]  But honestly, I mean, I've been listening to a lot of the coverage, and it seems that nobody really understands what's happening.
[00:00:41]  As I understand it, the Liberal Democrats have very strong local branches that have done a huge amount of work, and you can see that this has paid off for them, you know.
[00:00:50]  But otherwise, I don't really know.
[00:00:53]  I mean, it seems that it was a protest vote from the Remain side, because I guess they don't feel listened to either, even though I can't see what they could have to complain about, really.
[00:01:02]  But yeah, it seems that the Leave voters think that we can just tell the government what to do and then hand it off and expect them to go on.
[00:01:12]  And this is what obviously happened with Nigel Farage.
[00:01:15]  Immediately after the referendum came back and we'd won, he resigned.
[00:01:19]  And it's like, well, that was optimistic, wasn't it?
[00:01:21]  You know, we have no choice but to keep going and to keep the pressure on.
[00:01:24]  Because as soon as we start taking the pressure off, they start thinking, well, we're not actually under any electoral threat here.
[00:01:31]  Whereas, I mean, you know, the Conservatives and Labour both took a battering.
[00:01:34]  So did UKIP in fairness, you know.
[00:01:36]  And maybe we were lazy on that regard as well.
[00:01:39]  Maybe we thought that, oh, well, you know, the country voted to leave, therefore we don't have to worry about that too much.
[00:01:44]  And I think that's the wrong approach.
[00:01:45]  I think we should be constantly marching forward and saying, no, we voted leave, we voted leave, we have to leave.
[00:01:52]  I mean, the issue of our time no longer seems to be left versus right, it's more of kind of a, it feels like a battle for the centre in terms of leave versus remain.
[00:02:00]  And with Vince Cable's announcement of a staunch Remainer party, is it possible they could prove a very viable threat to UKIP in future, not just local elections, but MPE elections and the like?
[00:02:11]  Well, it seems that the battle lines have been drawn on that regard, and I think that very few Liberal Democrat voters will be voting for any kind of Brexit parties, pro-Brexit parties.
[00:02:22]  If the Conservatives tomorrow could somehow find their resolution and say, well, hang on a second, we actually have a democratic mandate here.
[00:02:31]  There's an implicit assumption whenever you cast a ballot that the result will be abided by.
[00:02:37]  And if for some reason that they're not going to do it or they're not going to do it firmly, then what was the point in voting?
[00:02:42]  So the Conservatives could turn around and say, you know what, we don't have a choice at this point.
[00:02:45]  We have to deliver Brexit.
[00:02:47]  Even if it's on no deal to WTO terms, this is what we have to do.
[00:02:52]  We can't just allow the EU to string us along forever.
[00:02:55]  I don't think that any of the Liberal Democrat voters are going to be accepting that kind of line.
[00:03:00]  They seem to not care about the democratic mandate that the Brexit referendum gave the country.
[00:03:06]  And I mean, I don't really know what else.
[00:03:08]  It seems like it's every Britain's duty to support Brexit at this point.
[00:03:12]  You know, it's bad for the country.
[00:03:13]  It's making us weak in the international community.
[00:03:16]  And it's making the EU stronger.
[00:03:17]  It's making our bargaining position just nothing.
[00:03:20]  And we really have to start doing something about this.
[00:03:23]  I mean, you've done an awful lot so far, and I'm very grateful you for your candidacy for MEP.
[00:03:28]  But there has been some knock-on effect.
[00:03:31]  We can blame Dankyla if you like, but there has been some losses to your constituency.
[00:03:36]  Would you consider, if perish the thought, you don't make MEP, would you consider moving on into UKIP to have an MP position or trying to get other candidacies?
[00:03:45]  Well, I mean, to be honest with you, I really don't want to be involved in politics.
[00:03:49]  I was very happy being a commentator.
[00:03:52]  But they really have forced our hand here because we shouldn't be running MEP candidacies.
[00:03:58]  This is ridiculous.
[00:03:59]  And I mean, it's a farce on the face of it.
[00:04:02]  Three years ago, we voted to leave, and we're still here.

=== Running Late Comedian (00:54) ===

[00:04:05]  So what other choice do we have?
[00:04:07]  I mean, I'm really not the best person because I'm like an anti-political correctness entertainer.
[00:04:12]  So, you know, they can take any joke of mine and say, oh, look how offensive this joke was.
[00:04:15]  And I say, well, thank you very much.
[00:04:17]  That's my entire act.
[00:04:18]  So you're publicizing this very well for me.
[00:04:20]  But it's not generally what you want in politics.
[00:04:23]  And I think it speaks to the very strange times that we're in, that it's a person like myself who ends up running because I'm like a late-night comedian, basically.
[00:04:33]  I don't think I would want to be the kind of guy to have to run for office and have to win office.
[00:04:38]  But at the end of the day, if that's what it takes to send them a message, then I'm going to be out here campaigning as the politicians in Westminster simply aren't because they expect your votes.
[00:04:49]  We think we're here to earn it.
[00:04:52]  No, I'm glad that you are.
[00:04:54]  I'm glad to be here to see you.
[00:04:55]  And thank you very much for the conversation.
[00:04:56]  Thank you very much.
[00:04:57]  Thank you.