'We're cheering for ENGLAND!' Ex-Miami mayor BEAMS over Three Lions

Mr Suarez, thank you so much for speaking to GB News. You are of course the Mayor of Miami until last year, correct me if I'm wrong. Just tell us please, first of all, how excited you are to have the World Cup here in Miami and indeed England fans coming to your great city this weekend for our World Cup quarterfinal. We have a very famous English fan, a former player who is the owner of our inner Miami team, Sir David Beckham. So it's extremely exciting. I know he's going to be excited and we're cheering for England for sure, in part because he's done so much for our community and for our city. But it was an incredible endeavor to get the World Cup to the United States. Obviously, it's the U.S., Mexico and Canada. But then we are the World Cup headquarters for 2026. And so that was also a big achievement for the city of Miami, sort of being, in a sense, the epicenter of where the World Cup is. We have a fan fest in our major park, which has attracted millions of people, something that I funded under my administration. And, you know, in past World Cups, we could see the excitement, the energy. I remember watching one of the England games with Sir David Beckham four years ago. And, you know, but we can only watch it. We couldn't go to the games, right? They were not here. And so I think having a World Cup in your country, in your city, it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. We don't know. I don't know if I'm 48. I don't know if in my lifetime I will ever have another opportunity to go to a World Cup game in my city. So this is something that we look forward to and something that is unprecedented in our history. Yeah, well, America as a whole, you're doing a great job with this World Cup, the infrastructure, everything's been great so far. We just need England to go all the way. Has David Beckham spoken to you in recent days about this England match in Miami? It's our first fixture in this city. Has he told you what to expect from the 30,000 England fans making the journey? I saw him last at the Argentina game. As you can imagine, we have a player on our Inter-Miami team that plays for Argentina. You may have heard of him, Leo Messi, who's been lighting up the score charts with, I think, seven or eight goals, maybe nine goals at this point, and looks like a 20-year-old version of himself. That was the last time I saw him. So England at that point had not made this game, right? Because as you know, these games are based on who wins what game. So I haven't had a chance to talk to him since then. But I guarantee you, knowing him as well as I do, that he's going to be extremely excited. He's going to be there front and centre, and I'm sure he's going to really enjoy watching his team hopefully win. Yeah, Francis, if you don't mind, just explain to our British viewers who may not know, what impact has David Beckham had on Miami as a city? What did he do? What were his contributions? Just a really brief background for British viewers who don't know. He's had a tremendous contribution. He bought the Inter-Miami team while he was an MLS player. He got an option to buy it. He bought it. And then he stuck with Miami. It was a long, hard-fought road, many, many years, many failures. And he stuck with it. And when I became mayor, I made him a promise. I said, we're going to get this thing done. And we did. We got it done. The stadium is built. It was built in 18 months, basically a record time. It was one of the signature achievements of my administration. And it was a beautiful blessing for me to be able to go with my sons and daughter to the first game. And this has been, for Miami, it's been game-changing. Because before we were a football town with the Miami Dolphins, a basketball town with the Miami Heat, and a baseball town with the Marlins. And when Messi first came and kicked that first free kick in, that first game that he was here, he changed the dynamic. I mean, he has the highest-selling jersey, I think, in the world at this moment, that pink Inter-Miami jersey. So David, Sir David, has been so influential over even the brand, the colors, the way that everything is put together. He's such a great ambassador for the sport and ambassador for our city. And I'll tell you this, he's a phenomenal person. He's a great human being. And I think that, frankly, for me, is the most important thing. I mean, you can be great as a team manager, you can be a great player. But if you're a great person, it's wonderful to have you in our ecosystem, in our city. Great father, great husband, and a great contributor to our community. Yeah, even my two boys in the UK, my six- and three-year-old, they have a Messi Inter-Miami top. So you're quite right on that one. So it's fair to say, David Beckham, Sir David, he's a hero in Miami. And this game against Norway, England's clash in Miami on Saturday, it's fair to say that wouldn't even be happening if it wasn't for David Beckham. Oh, I think his contribution is enormous. I mean, he was the ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, if you remember, in Qatar. I saw him there in the semi-final and in the final game, which was one of the best games ever played. They say, you know, the Argentina-France game, which went into penalties, just an incredible game. And so, you know, I think, but for his contribution to the city, he was a major factor in Miami being positioned as a soccer city, right? And I think that's what helped us attract the World Cup headquarters. And certainly he has been a figure that I can call on, I could call on when I was mayor at any time. You know, he would donate things, he would get involved, and someone who I could rely on. That's great to hear. And Mr Suarez, just talking politically during your time as mayor, of course, you oversaw Inter-Miami with Sir David, but also you oversaw massive growth economically, low crime, thriving business. How did you do that? Have you got any tips for our leaders in the United Kingdom on how to turn a state or a country around like that? Yeah, it's very simple. You know, first of all, I was blessed because I was young enough to understand where the trends were going. In terms of where the economy was going, it was becoming a digital economy from an industrial economy. And I was old enough to do something about it, right? But our formula for success was very simple. We did three things, and only three things. We kept taxes low, we kept people safe, and we leaned to American innovation, right? So we kept taxes low. I lowered taxes to the lowest level ever. And we saw 362% growth in our tax base from when I started to when I ended. We kept people safe. The lowest homicide rate in history was in the 1950s. We had 24 in one year. The worst year was 220 in 1980. The year that I left, we were at 27. So three above the lowest record. And then we leaned into American innovation. We had the lowest unemployment in America. We had the highest median wage growth in America. And we attracted companies that managed $13 trillion in assets to locate an office in our ecosystem. So we completely transformed our image from a city that was just a place to vacation or retire into a place where you could do serious tech and finance business. Yeah, great stuff. Good to hear. Hopefully some of our political leaders in the UK are taking note. Just finally, Mr. Suarez, I take it you'll be watching the game tomorrow. What can England fans expect? They're all flying into Miami right now. They're on the planes. They're in the bars. They're on South Beach. What can they expect of Miami, those who haven't been to this great city before? They can expect to have a great time. They can expect to eat great food. They can expect to be treated with tremendous hospitality. They can expect to have fun. And it's a fun place, right? So Miami, the beauty of Miami is we also know how to have a good time, right? We have the most Super Bowls in history. So we know how to do big events safely. And they're going to have a great time. And we want them to have a great time where they're going to feel loved. They're going to feel appreciated. And they're going to feel like they can focus on the game and having fun and enjoying and having an experience that hopefully they'll never forget. And they'll want to come back either as a tourist or hopefully they'll want to invest second home. Or if they ever want to move to the US, they move to Miami. Yeah. And you'll be there tomorrow. Sorry, on Saturday. So David, I assume will be there as well. Score predictions. Finally, Mr. Suarez, what's the score going to be? I think it's going to be 2-1 England. That's my prediction. 2-1 England. So you can call me back after. Okay, great stuff. Mr. Suarez, thank you so much. Really appreciate you speaking to GB News. And thank you for welcoming the 30-odd thousand England fans into Miami. It's going to be a great game. Oh, they're going to have a blast. Enjoy.