Chopper's Political Podcast episode 112: Reform has ‘one chance’ to turn Britain around - Robert Jenrick’s warning

Welcome back to Chopper's Political Podcast where I bring you the best guest gossip, news and stories normally from our studios in Westminster. Today we're at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham at the Reform UK Conference. I hope you had a great summer. I did. It got rained on a bit during my staycation but I love meeting viewers and listeners who love GB News. We really appreciate you tuning in. Thank you. Today I'm speaking to two figures in Reform UK, Robert Jenrick, the party's economic spokesman and also Nigel Farage of the party's leader. They both spoke to me for the podcast. First up though we have Robert Jenrick, fresh from being on stage here in the NEC. He came to join me on GB News's stand. Here's what he told me. Robert Jenrick, welcome to Chopper's Political Podcast live. Yeah, now I've been to a few of these conferences. This is my third one for this iteration of a Farage party. It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You just come off the stage speaking to, I would say about 2,000 people in that hall. It can be four and a half thousand and that's huge. I mean where were you with the Tory party? Oh my goodness. I mean the Tories would never get anywhere near these numbers. No, I mean the scale of it is bigger. There were some poor old cabinet ministers under the last government who'd have 50 people in the room and it was dire. So the support from the members here is absolutely phenomenal. They are wonderful people from all parts of the country, all backgrounds, in a way. I don't think any other party has this mix of people where, you know, last night I spoke to a farmer, a window cleaner, a hedge fund manager and a small business person. The mix of people is phenomenal. It is the people's army. It does feel that way to be honest with you and people paying their own way. It's at the NEC because it's good for cars. Other parties have their events in cities because that suits lobbyists and journalists and others but this is really done here to suit people. They're paying to be here and you have to respect them for that and we certainly respect them at GB News. They want change. Can you deliver it? Because in the recent days there's been problems with this sting by Channel 4 News, concerns about funding. I've covered endless funding scandals with the Tory party, Lib Dems, Labour and now it's your party and I think you are meant to be a different standard and you're letting them down. Yeah, I was disappointed to hear the comments that were on that video like everybody else. Nigel's taken swift action. He's booted these two people out and suspended them. He's got rid of them and we move on now as a party. Are there lessons to be learned? Yes, absolutely. We don't think any rules were broken but as you say that's kind of beside the point. We want to be the best version of ourselves. If you're talking about the members and the country. But by the account of the programme they were directing donor money towards polling work which was then reformed when mentioned when it was offered to newspapers. That's pretty bad, isn't it? Well, that particular practice I think happens actually all the time. There's tons of political parties that do that. I certainly knew people doing it. Benefiting kinds, I didn't know. We're doing it in the Tory party. It's not to defend it but it's not an unusual practice. But the party, Reform, did not commission these polls. They were commissioned by individuals working with the pollster. Working with Reform at the time. That is entirely within the rules. But no, the broader point you make though is we want this party to be the best version of itself because everybody who's joined this party shares the same fundamental conviction that the country's in a mess. The next election may be the last chance to turn it around and we don't want to muck it up. Silly mistakes and I think the risk is you might muck it up frankly because it might put off not these people here. They believe the wavering voters who want to give you a chance. Why are you different? You're falling to the same mistakes the other parties made. Sure, although I wouldn't get too tied up in these things. What are people really worried about out there in the real world? The energy bills going up. We've said Richard Tice will cut 250 quid off the energy bill or he will actually resign if he doesn't manage to do it. Well come on, it's your imagination isn't it? That's an important pledge. That will jeopardy not just politicians failing upwards which is what seems to happen these days. We've said that we will stop the boats and they've delivered I think it's quite a remarkable diplomatic triumph where Jordan Bardella, the likely next Prime Minister of France, has signed an agreement to say Royal Marines can pick up the illegals in the Channel, drop them off in France. Something that has eluded previous Prime Ministers Tory and Labour. It's certainly a statement of intent because if nothing else it'll kick off a diplomatic row. If the National Rally don't win power next year Nigel Farage will carry on with that policy and simply take on the French. To put it in historical perspective, the last senior French politician I could think of who did something like that, stuck their neck out to try and resolve this problem, was Sarkozy when he was the Interior Minister and he cleared the Songhat camp and he put fences around Eurotunnel to stop some of the people climbing onto the lorries and that did fix the problem. But since then I can't think of any French politician who treated us badly. Brexit got in the way really and since then Brexit happened. I remember seeing one of the French Ministers and they said what part of North do you not understand? And that gives you a sense of their understanding. That's when your Home Office Minister in charge of the policy. So I would not underestimate what happened yesterday, I know it's very important. And then today we've announced a massive tax cut for working people. Well come on to that, so you'll resign if you can't get this £15,000 increase in the tax-free threshold. That will cost £17.1 billion first year, £20 billion in year five. You're raising money by cutting benefits. That is a challenge to Labour and the Tory party. It is. Andy Burnham when he was on the campaign trail over in Makefield said that this was the number one thing people raised on the doorstep. People were feeling hard up, they wanted to keep a bit more of their own money and they couldn't believe that the tax-free personal allowance had been frozen since 2021. It was due to be frozen to 2031 and more and more people were getting sucked into paying tax as a result. So we've said no, we're going to do things differently. We can afford this with the welfare savings. We're going to ensure that three million people don't pay any tax at all. Pensioners don't pay any tax on the state pension and 40 million people generally get tax cut, which will be between 500 quid. Anyone working. There's a lot of money and for the Tories, well I don't know exactly what their view would be but I hear that they're considering doing something for people much, much better off like a cut in inheritance tax for example. And you've ignored that haven't you? Why is that? That is double taxation. I don't like the inheritance tax. I dislike it as much as the next person but I just say if you're a Chancellor and you choose to privilege 36,000 families, which is the number of estates every year on which inheritance tax is levied, instead of 40 million people, I mean I just don't know what's going on there. You need to give your head a rubble and it feels to me as if people are so hard up right now that any money that we manage to save has to go straight back to working people or indeed pensioners. And that's who you're targeting, that's why you're saying it. It does set up a very clear divide where the Tories are for better off people, top end of the spectrum. Labour, well they're still trying to look after people on Benefit Street plus the kind of luxury belief class that back them nonetheless with the 80% in the middle. And we'll wait and see what happens in the budget next month. Funding it is very expensive. If you won't take a big knife to the benefits bill then it'll be difficult to fund it for Labour I'd imagine. I think it's impossible for them because the choices for them are the same as for us. The only way we could afford this is by reducing the ballooning benefits bill, which clearly Rachel Rees tried to do and failed, and I'd suspect Andy Burnham will not do either, by scrapping foreign aid to rich countries, not giving benefits to foreign citizens, not doing the net zero subsidies. What's the chances Andy Burnham does any of these? Well Andy Burnham, I mean I was in the street in Downing Street, I was also at Ashton Town Football Club when he, the day after the Mayfield by-election, he talked about this issue with threshold. He's walked that back but they want to look at it again. We'll see how that plays out. His idea of taxing benefits is to build more council houses. The idea being then that any housing benefit goes towards the state rather than the private landlords. That's if you look at that kind of circular way of collecting money. In fact Richard Tyson said something similar, actually more ambitious than what he said, but that's a very long-term thing. We can all imagine, you know, building council houses takes years and years. Building them at anything like the scale that we need takes years and years. I would just say that 80% of the deficit of new housing in this country is because of the amount of people who've come in in recent years. So if you don't fix mass migration, you don't fix the housing crisis. But the point we're making today is it's not about 10 years, it's about now. Yeah. We've changed now. So we're going to say first 100 days, I will hold the budget, I will cut taxes or I'll resign. Or you'll, and will you resign? Now I've been, I was there when Rory Stewart was business minister. He would resign if the prison numbers didn't, I think it would come down and do something. And then he was sacked anyway, or resign for different reasons. I mean, I've been here before. I wouldn't say you've been sacked, I'm not sure if you've been sacked. It never came to pass. It never came to pass. I just made a pledge in front of thousands of people, millions of people at home. And I think that kind of jeopardy is important. Because that's what happens in the real world. In politics, you know, you get knighted, you get a peerage, when things go wrong, you fail upwards. Whilst in the real world, you're out. And that creates a sense of jeopardy, doesn't it? Yes. I mean, yes, it does. It's human nature. And we'll make sure we hold it. If your neck is on the block. Yeah. Then of course, you're absolutely busted. And we'll make sure we hold you to it. Now the real world will say, the Office for Budget Responsibility needs 10 weeks to review your plans. You come into power, do you wait 10 weeks or do you go earlier than that? 10 weeks is going towards 100 days, you need to do it. Well, I'm sure we can work with the OBR to resolve that. But if you think of previous governments that have come in, Gordon Brown did an emergency budget in 1997. George Osborne did an emergency budget in 2010. Rachel Reeves was actually an outlier in choosing not to do this. Because of the OBR. Well, that was really a big mistake, wasn't it? Because then speculation ran riot. They waited 100 days. Exactly. It was bad for the government. It was very bad for the economy as well, because everybody was speculating on which tax would go up. And as a result of that, investment left the country. A lot of people were very worried as a result. I want to get on with the emergency budget quickly. And I'm certain the OBR would cooperate with us. You've been in this party eight, nine months. Of course, this time last year, you were preparing to speak at the Conservative Party Conference. Is this party ready for government? Yes. It could be as soon as next May, by the way. Well, it could even be sooner than that, couldn't it? Who knows? You think so? There's no health spokesman, defense spokesman, foreign affairs spokesman. How long are we going to wait until today? You will hear a policy on the NHS that Sweller is going to set up. I don't want to steal her thumbnail. We're talking on the Saturday of your conference. So by Monday, when this is here, they'll know what it is. We'll know all about it. Danny Kruger is preparing for government. We're building the team. Is that worrying you, though, that there's no defense spokesman? I mean, that's the biggest single threat to this country is our security now, isn't it? Well, does Wes Streeting reassure you as our defense secretary? Well, there's someone there in charge. Whatever you think of his record, I mean, he's yet to be tested. He's talking the right game and he's yet to be tested fully in that job. But I mean, he's doing the job, sure. But does that worry you? Well, I would like to get those positions filled and I do believe that they will be very soon. How soon? Within a matter of months. I know that Nigel is speaking to people and having those conversations, as indeed have I. And there are very talented people who are willing to do this for us. Andy Burnham bounced. That's worrying you, is it? Well, it's sort of turned out to be a small hop, hasn't it? Is it slow then? It feels like it. When I watched PMQs the other day, I thought, well, is that it? You tell me about what your viewers think. But it feels to me there's a creeping sense in the country that it's all just really more of the same. It's a sort of thought experiment. Can you have exactly the same government, but led by somebody who's just a bit more personable? Will that make it any different? I don't think it will. They're having both ways. He came in saying it's the biggest change in 40 years. And then the Chancellor says it's more of the same. It's costing more labour. So I think you can't have it both ways. They're trying to, I think. No, and also the reality of the public finance is very bleak. We've seen what happened last week with the bond markets, where they were taking fright internationally. But our position was weaker than almost any other country. So unless you're prepared to cut spending on a big scale, tens of billions of pounds, you've got no room for manoeuvre at all. And it seems that Andy Bowman is not prepared to do that. All we can assume is that he's going to keep on rising taxes here and there. But his big ambitions, social care, whatever it might be, they're going nowhere. You're targeting benefits. Why not target pensions too? I was with Akemi Bainock's speech earlier this week, and she said we'll save billions spent on defence. You're saving billions and spending it on a tax cut for working people. Why not look at the idea of that triple lock? Make it a double lock, and that would also save you money too. Maybe pensions may feel we've had it quite well. Many of them are asset rich. Assets have gone up by quite a lot during their lifetime. Why not give some more money back to working people? Well, we did give this a lot of thought at the beginning of the year. Nigel and I, as was reported. But we both concluded that we couldn't take away from pensioners, people who had worked hard their whole lives. That's always the argument. Who has always the argument. And are relying on this when there's so much waste elsewhere. I mean, how could I, as Chancellor, look a pensioner in the eye in my constituency when there's still £10 billion being wasted on Ed Miliband's projects? There's still hotels full of illegal migrants costing billions of pounds. HMOs now. You know, come back to me if we've resolved all those problems. It feels like a very Westminster kind of SW1 argument for people saying, oh, just take the triple lock away from these pensioners. A lot of pensioners are very hard up at the moment. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's not as easy as it seems being a pensioner. The idea that there's loads and loads of rich pensioners out there. Well, there'll be some obviously, but come on. Okay. These people are finding life tough and we need to look after them. Andy Burnham. The polling, I would say, interestingly, shows that young people support it as well. Because young people have parents. They've got grandparents. They care about the next, you know, the older generation as well. And so it has broad public support. Andy Burnham. He's got a bit of a Thatcher obsession, hasn't he? He thinks it's a dirty word. Your daughter's middle name is Thatcher. What do you make of that? I admire Margaret Thatcher, as you can tell. However, I think it's very odd, actually, that Andy Burnham is so obsessed by her. To my kids, Margaret Thatcher is as distant a cultural reference as Winston Churchill was. Yeah. When I was growing up. So I'd much rather our politicians actually focused on the future. And what are the solutions to the challenges that we face today? Is his reading wrong? Rather than reheating the politics of the past. Is his reading wrong? Was Thatcherism all bad in the 80s as he makes out? I think he has some good arguments. I mean, I grew up not far from where we are in Birmingham, in the black country. In a place that was going through rapid deindustrialization at the time. I now represent a place that had a similar experience in Nottinghamshire. I represent a lot of old pit villages, which have completely changed in my lifetime. And I still meet every day miners and their families who tell me stories about that period. So I do understand that the change that happened during that period led to hardship in some parts of the country. And reform isn't encumbered with all of the history of the Tory party. And so we want to ensure that, yes, we bring about transformative change. Yes, we believe in free markets and the good stuff that came with Margaret Thatcher. But we also want to protect people in parts of the country who've not been so lucky. And not lay waste to industries. That's the big complaint in the coal fields in Nottinghamshire. I think of Liverpool and parts of Liverpool. And it's a divide in politics. If you look at the Tory party, and I suspect this will accentuate in the future under Kemey and now Andrew Griffiths as their shadow chancellor. There's an attitude there where, you know, maybe the steel industry could just be allowed to wither away. Or maybe we'll allow the car industry to collapse because we don't want to put tariffs. But you like this intervention, don't you? Well, judiciously, yes, I think we should do. I do want there to be a car industry in this country. I'm not embarrassed to say that. I do think that we should have a steel industry. We're not the only developed country in the world that doesn't have a virgin steel industry. So that will be a divide. You've thought that. Kerryn Bader not worth you here will be saying that's why you're a socialist party. Well, that's a bit silly, I think. Because what we're saying, you know, actually, it's just a more modern view of economics. It's a position that Donald Trump would support. It's a position that even, dare I say it, Mark Carney would support in Canada. There are some people in the Tory party, I feel sometimes, wrap themselves in the Thatcher legacy too much. And don't move on to that. Final question on Thatcher. Of course, she defended and won back the Falcons in 1982. Would Andy Burnham have the same steel in him to do that? I don't think so. No, I think they're very worrying them. He is. Millet is weak in Argentina. And he's looking to something to improve his position in the polls. And he looks at our country and sees us totally defenseless because successive governments have run down our armed forces. We look at our navy the other day, where we couldn't get a single trigger out into the Mediterranean. And he looks at Andy Burnham and West Streeting and sees people who he suspects just don't have the courage, the determination to stand up to them. And the Chagos Islands being let go. There's a leadership sovereignty there. International law over the interests of our own people and our sovereignty. Would things be different under Prime Minister Nigel Farage? You bet. Your first time on this podcast since you stopped being a Tory MP. Any regrets at all? No. Just you and me chatting. We're not listening now. No, I've always said, and I mean this, it's short of marrying my wife, who you know, is probably listening to this podcast, is the best decision I've made. I'm very happy to have done it. And I think reform has a very, very bright future ahead of it. And you'll get on, do you? Who would you have a drink with? Lianna or Zia Youssef, if you had it? Well, I think a drink I'd go for Lee. I'm not sure that Zia does drink. So I think you've answered my question there. But no, we all get on very well. I always said in the Tory party, it was like a broad church, but without any religion. The good thing in reform is we do all agree with each other. And that actually means something in politics. Because, I mean, look at these disputes that you've probably covered over the years between the Chancellor and Home Secretary. One wants to, you know, juice up the GDP figures with more migrants. The other wants to secure the borders. Are those disputes going to happen between me and Zia? I very much doubt it. And just finally, yourself? Do you want to be leader? That's what everyone tells me. Everyone tells you. Who tells you that? Lots of people think you want to be leader of this party. The good thing about reform is that those questions are not generally asked. We've put all that behind us. And they've been reformed. We've got a leader. And look, Nigel is our greatest asset. I mean, I think he's on. He's on stage as we speak behind you. Very soon. And people are. There he is. And people are cheering him. So he's the leader. And for now, until the election. He'll take you into the election, at least. May he reign over us. On that note, Robert Jenricks, thank you for joining us on Chop Us The Truth podcast. Thank you. See you next time. Thank you. Hello, I'm Bev Turner. Now, it can feel like the money in our bank accounts at the moment does not keep up with the cost of living. And maybe there's a solution. I'm here today with the CEO of Tally Money, Cameron Parry. Cameron, what is Tally Money? Well, Bev, with Tally Money, you get a current account and a debit card. But instead of pounds, you use milligrams of gold as your everyday money. So why gold? Gold traditionally is a great store of value. It has, on average, gone up at over 11 percent per annum for the last 25 years against the pound. It's tripled in value in the last decade. And in the last two years alone, it's increased by 50 percent against the pound. Banks' savings products just can't compete with that level of growth. But this isn't just about gold. This is about a currency that you guys have created at Tally Money. Explain it to me as though I'm an idiot. So, look, people need to be able to hold their earnings and build their savings in a money that retains its value and remains in their legal control and remains theirs to access away from government control. Great. You had me at not exposed to government control. You should feel safe and happy with your money. You should have peace of mind. The more money you see in your bank balance, and that's the type of thing we're trying to deliver and give people choice in the type of money they get to use every day. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Cameron. Thank you. Nigel Farage, thank you for joining us on GB News. I want to come to what you've been announcing in this conference later. I mean, it's been extraordinary to see four and a half thousand people listen to you as a politician's speech. I've never seen that before in my time covering politics. It was big yesterday. We had 6,800 through the doors. But in the hall. Oh, yeah, the hall was full. Yeah, that was extraordinary. That is unusual. These people, they want to believe in you. They are messianic in believing in you. Before we get to that, do you feel you're letting them down with these rows about spending and donations? They couldn't care less here, I get that. But the wider voters will look at that and think, you're just like all the other parties, that smell of money and investigations. And you're letting them down, I think. Well, I mean, those investigations will continue. There'll be more of them. It won't end. But this is a deliberate attempt. Since May the 8th, when everybody woke up and saw that reform wasn't a flash in the pan, it wasn't going away. There has been a heavy coordinated attempt by political parties, media outlets, to try and sully the name of reform. And I suspect it won't go away. Now, look, if we do wrong, we will hold our hands up and not run or hide from it. And I promise you that that is the case. And you know something? I asked the voters of Clacton a few weeks ago what they thought of all this, and they returned me with a massively increased majority. So yeah, I get it. There'll be some people in the middle out there who aren't quite sure, that will be worried by some of these allegations. That's what I'm thinking. And I do understand that. And that threatens your, what you want to be, you want to deliver yourself in number 10 for the 6,000 people. And you're risking that by, I would say- Oh no, we're not risking it. Mistakes. Mistakes in the top, rather than the money thing. Well, I'm not. Wherever that ends up, that's what I'd worry about. I mean, you say mistakes. I mean, clearly what happened ahead of this- That's contested, I guess. I mean, that is a mistake. On the other things, I wouldn't say they're mistakes. Yeah. I mean, look, if I report you to the police, I say Christopher Hope has done something beastly, you will be under investigation. I then tell the newspaper that Chris Hope's under investigation for some guy. You know, we're living in a complainant society. It's not easy. All I would say to those people out there who are currently unsure because of the noise that's been around- Yes, exactly. ... is just stick with it. Keep watching. It's a bumpy road. It's a very bumpy road. It'll be fine. You've gone from startup two years ago to PLC level now. Yeah. Do you need to improve your systems to be that bigger organization you are? I have spent most of my time, since May the 7th, restructuring the party. You're the CEO. I'm the CEO. One day, I won't be. I can't wait. But for the minute, I am. I'd always say, talk about professionalism. Look at this conference. Yeah, yeah. I mean, have a look at the stage set. Have a look at all the theatres. Have a look at the attendees. You know, we are very, very good at some things. There are other areas in which we need to do more. Do you feel let down by people you've trusted for a long time? Some of the- Two of the individuals, one of them you've known since he was very young, you feel let down by people around you. Do you know, one of the reasons I love broadcasting and the years I spent on LBC, and the years I spent with GB News, one thing I love about it is, it only goes wrong if I go wrong. Yeah, yeah. And it goes right if I go right. I see. The trouble with this game- I know. Is, you know, if a branch official in Huddersfield says something awful, suddenly it's all my fault. That was always the case when you were on YouTube. I know, I know. And that's why you quit YouTube. I know, I know. That's exactly why you quit YouTube. I know, I know. And it's happening again. I know. I'm not going to comment on the two individuals. Of course, I'm not asking you to. But are you too loyal to old friends sometimes? I'm very loyal to people, yes. Very loyal indeed. And there's reciprocity with that. And because of that tightness of team that I work with, we're able to produce Jordan Bardella. I know. Like a rabbit out of a hat. Well. Saying France would take boats back. Well, coming on to that, I mean, I have the documents here. I mean, this was a moment yesterday. I think it took everyone a bit by surprise by the scale of it. And that shows you I work with trusted people. Yeah. And our stuff doesn't leak. No, it didn't leak at all. Of course, it hinges on National Rally winning power next year in France. You winning power next year, the year after, the year after that in the UK. If National Rally don't win, should we rip it up? What happens next? Because it requires a government who will be willing to receive the Royal Navy carrying migrant boats. Well, it relies on a government willing to receive. Or we do it and have a bit of a row with the government. As it stands, and things can change, but as it stands, National Rally are odds on favourites to win. I believe they will win. And if they don't win, you'll have a set to with the French government who it is. Because this is your policy. We are going to stop the boats by whatever means it takes. We asked you about Dover today. It's been barricaded by hundreds of masked individuals. What do you make of that? What's going on? Disgusting. Nobody in any political protest, whether they're on the left or the right, should appear in balaclavas. It is wrong. It's sinister and worrying for people there. It's horrible. There's families in cars waiting on the M20 to get on holiday, and they see all this happening around them. Disgusting. And look, nobody feels more strongly about stopping the boats than me. Nobody has flown the flag to say this could be a disaster. You were the first out there on the channel. First out there. But also, in the last few months, it was me that exposed the Iranian regime, putting terrorist operatives into Britain. No one wants this stop more than me. But turning up in balaclavas is not the way to do it. OK. Big story today, this £15,000 allowance, which stopped paying income tax. Andy Burnham, when he fought the Mayfield by-election, said that was the single thing that came up on the doorstep. You're now taking it to him, aren't you? That's going to cost a lot of money. I have been arguing for raised allowances for 20 years. You scale back your plan for the election from £20,000 to £15,000. Why is that? Well, the general election pledge was a rather different party in those days. You've been in power, running it for six weeks by then. It was a different party. Is £20,000 an aspiration? Absolutely. But to get to £15,000, you would take nearly 3 million people out of tax altogether. And here's the thing. The next pension increase will take nearly 10 million pensioners into paying tax. Just think of the cost and bureaucracy of all of that. So it actually helps simplify the tax system, take 3 million out of tax. But also, it widens the gap between whether it's worth going to work or not going to work. And what Andy Burnham picked up on the door is what I've been picking up for ages. People say, I get up at half past 5, I go to work, the traffic's be awful, the job's hard, and I'm almost no better off than the people next door who sit around and smoke dope all day. To make work pay. Yeah, but there is a real sort of growth of a split in society here. Now, to get to £15,000, you know, Robert Jenner has got to make some big cuts in other areas. But I think it's absolutely vital. If we don't get Britain working again, if we don't increase our productivity, we are going bust. It's just as simple as that. Are you expecting a general election May next year? That's what you're planning for. I predicted it in September 24. I said spring 27 is when it's going to happen. I've also been the most bearish. On the bond markets. On the bond markets consistently. And I think what you've seen in the last couple of weeks, it's happening. Is your party election ready? That's the question. How many candidates have you chosen of the 650 you need? I was asked this about a year ago. Exactly a year ago. How ready were we? And I said we're 50% of the way there to being the convenient product. I put us at 80% now. I've still got to find some big spokesmen for areas like health, defence. And I'm working on that. As far as candidates are concerned, wow, four days a week, our parliamentary assessment centres are running up and down the country. I just spoke to Simon Danchuk, former Labour MP. And I just spoke to David Jones, former Tory cabinet minister. They've both attended. They both say it is more rigorous and more professional than anything they went through in the other passes. If there's an election in May, we will be ready. David Jones told me the same thing when I bumped into him at your conference. How many have you selected of the 650 required or chosen? About half. We've interviewed, I'm a bit behind the clock, but I think we've interviewed about 1,400 so far. So this is cranking up by hundreds every week. How are you doing? Have you peaked? Are you up for it? How are you feeling? I've peaked so many times over the years, you wouldn't believe it. How close this summer did you come to quitting politics? I didn't come close to quitting, but I certainly had a very difficult time with my family, who have always supported me. And that was the passion when you stood down as an MP the first time and came back. I've known you for 20 years. You're quite near the edge, I think, to walking away from this project. I was pretty cheesed off. That's a polite way of putting it. And what brought you back from that point? I think there is a growing realisation that there is a serious security issue. It's not a joke. And I think that my family perhaps have just come to accept that that's the way it is. I just hate it when they get in the middle of it all. And that's what drove you mad when your family are brought into anything. It's always been my view. You can take the pressure. You've got the scars on your back going back 40 years. But the family is different. Yeah, so that really upset me over the summer. I just hope they come to terms with it. So you're going to stay for the next election, it sounds like to me. Yeah. Yeah, well, I'm pretty fit. Well, you're grinning away wearing a reform coloured suit, but you were quite close to stopping the project altogether, handing over. No, no, no, I didn't get that close. But I literally felt, I just felt it had become no fun. It had become no fun. And for me, yes, it's serious, but it has to be fun. And I found the by-election in Clacton enormous fun. I loved it. Yeah, Farrow's Fest afterwards. That was fun. Huge party. And now we have a, this is not a party conference. No. This is a festival. Boney M last night was fun. Exactly. Looking around here, you see the first 100 days. What comes after those 100 days? What's next? You want to go for five years. What is the following four and a half years? The point of the 100 days is to say to people, you will get what you vote for and we'll prove in the first 100 days, we can make the first significant steps. Our country is in decline. Everything about Britain is broken. Until you understand that and wake up to that, you can't begin to put the radical policies in place that are needed to change it. There is so much to do. There is so much that is wrong. But if in 100 days we can restore voters' trust, we'd have done a good job. And you can beat Berlin. The Berlin bounce has happened. You forecast it before you came in. It's now happening. How do you beat him? You had Keir Starmer licked, it seems. I did very much forecast the Burnham bounce. It was always going to happen. I'm just surprised it's not a bit bigger. It's not that big. And there's an odd thing here. Burnham almost was saying Britain is broken. Different analysis to me or causal factors to me. But now John Healy says, this is a continuity government with a change of leader. I suspect little is going to change. And he's been in 50 days and not done much yet. Do you know what? Look at your head for the next three months. I'm very bullish about our prospects. And just finally, the responsibility of the hope these people are investing in you, does that weigh heavily on you? And that's why I go back to the beginning points. You've got to be different to the other main parties. That's why it matters, I think. I know you might think it doesn't matter, but that's why the row about money is just, oh, they're all the same. And that's why I think you want a responsibility to deliver what you can offer to them. Well, I spoke to several hundred of our councillors last night and I said to them, I'm so pleased you're all elected because now the full weight of responsibility is not just on my shoulders. And this is a people's army and it's going forwards. And you know what? I love them. Nigel Farage, thank you for joining us today on GB News at your conference. Thank you. Nigel Farage there. And thank you earlier to Robert Jenrick, the party's economic spokesman, for joining me on Chopper's political podcast. Well, that's it from the Reform UK conference. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed it. If you can leave a five-star rating and review wherever you're hearing this podcast, that'll help other people to find it, listen to it. We do appreciate it. I tweet at Christopher Hope on Twitter, on X. Please let me know what you think about this podcast, how we can improve it. And also thank you to the team behind the podcast. Here in Reform UK's conference, Rebecca Nunes, the busy worker bee, Baggerface, Mick Booker, who's the Editorial Director of GB News, and also our editor, George McMillan. Without their work, this wouldn't happen. Well, next time I'll be speaking, hopefully, to the head of the TUC. Maybe. We'll see how that goes. But for me here at the Reform UK conference, it's cheerio.