Transcripts For GBN Farage 20240703

Damages by four british women who claim he raped and assaulted them. Three of the women reported. The social Media Influencer to police over allegations in 2015. But the Crown Prosecution Service investigated and then decided not to prosecute four years later. It comes as 37 year old and his brother are currently in romania , waiting to stand trial romania, waiting to stand trial on rape and trafficking charges , on rape and trafficking charges, their representative says both their representative says both the brothers unequivocally deny all allegations. And finally, some royal news prince harry has been celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games with friends, family and veterans at saint pauls cathedral. This afternoon, the cathedral. This afternoon, the duke of sussex gave a reading in front of representatives from various participating nations and sick and injured Service Personnel and veterans. Two, meanwhile , though less than two meanwhile, though less than two miles away, the king was holding his First Garden Party of the season at Buckingham Palace. And season at Buckingham Palace. And we were told by a spokesperson for prince harry yesterday that the monarchs full program meant the monarchs full program meant the pair wont be seeing each other during his short return to the uk. For the latest stories, the uk. For the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to our website gb news. Common alerts. News. Common alerts. Well, two weeks ago it was doctor dan poulter who left the conservative party as a member of parliament, has joined the labour party but will not be standing for re. Election standing for re. Election defections do happen occasionally , but today was an occasionally, but today was an absolute bolt from the blue. The conservative member of parliament, with a 12,000 majority from dover and deal and remember , dover, of course, is remember, dover, of course, is there on the front lines. Thats where the small boats come in. Thats where the people first get processed. And in an issue that initially was a constituency and county issue, but is now a Massive National issue and the local mp, Natalie Elphicke, has been deeply critical of the fact she doesnt think labour really have a plan to deal with the boats problem in any way at all. I think shes also quite sceptical about the conservatives plan. She is very, very much on the right wing of the party and i can tell you, having spoken to local people, that the local labour party absolutely hate her. So how bizarre that Prime Ministers questions begins at midday and there Natalie Elphicke is sitting in the row behind keir starmer. No sitting in the row behind keir starmer. No one quite knew really what was going on. But later on, after pmqs in an interview, she gave her reasons for now, joining the labour party. Well, in 2019, the conservative stood on a manifesto that was very much Centre Ground. But under rishi sunak theyve abandoned the Centre Ground and broken many election promises. Meanwhile, under keir starmer, labour have changed and i think that change is going to bring a much Better Future for our country. And thats why im so country. And thats why im so keen to join the labour party and play my part in bringing that important future forward. Okay that is all complete and utter rubbish. Dont believe a single word of it. She is opposed to virtually everything that labour stands for, and has been for all of her relatively short time in parliament. So whats going on here . Well if you go back to the last years of the major government , there were government, there were defections. Conservative mps joining the labour party. Do you know something . Every single one of them got looked after. Yep. They all went to the house of lords and id be very surprised if poulter and elphicke didnt go to the house of lords. She wont be standing for labour in that constituency at the next election. Mr tapp , who is the election. Mr tapp, who is the already adopted labour prospective parliamentary candidate, will continue. So she hasnt done it for money. Whether she thinks keir starmer can give her some kind of broader protection , i just dont broader protection, i just dont know. But i think this really raises a lot more questions than it answers. I wouldnt be surprised. Used to see quite surprised. Used to see quite a few more defections to the labour party, especially in seats where it appears the conservatives are doomed. But conservatives are doomed. But this really is a funny one, and at the heart of it, as i say, its her criticism of the labour party for its approach to small boats, let alone to legal migration. So today the centre for policy studies has had to get together. They produced a report and theyre questioning publicly whether large Scale Migration has delivered economic benefits. And this is interesting because the narrative from all of the think tanks, from all of our leading politicians has always been, especially the bbc has always been , that immigration is good been, that immigration is good for the economy. Well, the cps for the economy. Well, the cps are challenging that today theyre even saying its putting pressure on housing. Who knew . Pressure on housing. Who knew . And of course, their star turn was the former immigration minister jenrick, was the former immigration ministerjenrick, robert minister jenrick, Robert Jenrick. But ministerjenrick, Robert Jenrick. But here he was on with nick ferrari of lbc this morning. Require nigel farage with a blue rosette. Is it time to have him back into the party . Well i would not, oppose nigel farage coming back into the party, but thats not our priority. He hes associated with a Different Political Party today. What we should be doing is tackling the issues that the pubuc is tackling the issues that the public care about and which are leading some former conservative voters to look elsewhere. And as i say, legal migration seems to be absolutely top of the list. Its funny, whenever it comes to this issue of immigration, be it legal or illegal, my name always seems to crop up. And always seems to crop up. And here he was later on at the centre for policy studies. Centre for policy studies. Could the consequences for be the conservative party if it does not bring nigel farage and his, fellow travellers back into the fold . Well, well, firstly , ive well, well, firstly, ive been clear that this is not an issue of any one individual or political party. I think that politicians and governments have made promises and been unable to keep them for the last 30 years, and we have to end that. One of the reasons i ultimately chose to leave the government was i didnt want to be just another politician who made promises on immigration and broke them. Some politicians are more culpable than others. I mean, i think, for example, theresa may as home secretary, worked very hard to bnng secretary, worked very hard to bring down levels of net migration and deserves credit for the work that she did. There were mistakes made in the immediate aftermath of brexit and the system that was designed was a very liberal one, which has had a number of negative consequences. Negative consequences. Well, negative consequences. Well, as i said here in 2021, what bons as i said here in 2021, what Boris Johnson effectively did was open up the borders to the whole of the world, not just the European Union as it was pre brexit what im pleased that people are finally catching up with the fact that this is having a massive impact on peoples quality of life. I peoples quality of life. I dont even think this is about economics. This is what i said on question time back in 2016. Look, whichever way you cut this, immigration is the number one issue in british politics. It has been for some years. People are very upset. Theyre very unhappy. Theyre seeing the impact on local schools. Theyre seeing the impact on gp services. Theyre seeing the impact on housing or the inability of young people to get on the housing ladder. So thats why its the number one issue. There are reports that say that were better off with Mass Immigration. There are some reports that say were slightly worse off economically with Mass Immigration. But to me theres an issue called the quality of life. And i and i think that life. And i and i think that matters more than money. Its about thinking our kids and grandkids can have what weve had in terms of access to local health care in terms of our kids getting into local primary schools, in terms of our overall quality of life. And that, david, i think , matters more david, i think, matters more than gdp rising by 1 per annum. No doubt well be. No doubt well be. And this whole debate and yes, ive been very much at the forefront of this for many, many years. This debate will intensify on the 23rd of may. Yes, in a few days time, because we will get the annual immigration figures. I have no immigration figures. I have no doubt they will be staggering in their size of numbers. Let me ask you, because pollsters ask, well, what is the number one issue in british politics . And i put it to you that its immigration because it isnt just about the numbers coming in. Its about the impact on whether you can get your kid into a local primary school. Its about whether you can get onto the housing ladder. It is actually about whether you can go and meet a relation and know whether the journey will take 2 hours or 4 hours, because our population has risen by 10 million since tony blair came to power , and over 85 of that is power, and over 85 of that is directly because of immigration. Your thoughts please. Is it the number one issue or has farage got this wrong . Farage gbnews. Com. Well, carl williams, the Research Director of the centre for policy studies, joins me. Carl, it seems that you guys are actually catching up. Actually catching up. Well, i think the facts speak for themselves. And if you care for themselves. And if you care about that then lets do the economics of this. I made that point in 2016. I often think with economics that, you know, its rather like the referendum on brexit. You know, people sit at home and one person says youll be rich, or one person says, youll be poorer. And the voters left confused. But we have i mean, virtually everything thats existed for years has told us theres a great economic benefit. So let me ask you the question directly. Does question directly. Does immigration does Mass Immigration does Mass Immigration make us richer . Some forms of immigration can help the economy , some mass help the economy, some Mass Immigration . No, i think its very clearly the case that its not, and the common argument is it will be amazing. Itll be rocket fuel for the economy, and yet, since the era of Mass Immigration started 25 years ago, gdp per capita growth has been half what it was over the previous 50 years. Yeah, this is the point, isnt it . Gdp is the size of the overall economy. And if the population goes up massively, the gdp grows. And this is what politicians tell us. But its gdp per head that really counts. Gdp per head that really counts. Yes, its about living standards, about peoples quality of life. Its about cost of living pressures and housing. Housing is of itself rising up. The housing is of itself rising up. The issues that all the politicians contesting this years general election have to talk about. Its a its a source of endless rows about where we can buy build houses and whether theyre affordable and, you know, a lot of people are the Younger Generation not having the same aspirations that their parents and grandparents had. Its just beyond their reach. How big a impact do you think at the cps immigration has had on our housing prices . So weve done a lot of calculations around this. And if you look at the increasing the housing deficit over the last ten years, how much weve not built enough homes by migration accounts for about 90 of that 90. Yeah. So weve under built by about 1. 3 million homes in england. Migration is about 1. 1 1. 2 million of that. Wow. Wow. Wow. And youre saying this youre doing this as a cps. And youre saying this youre doing this as a cps. You had doing this as a cps. You had Robert Jenrick there who has become, you know, quite a campaigner on these issues. How how widespread do you think this view is in the conservative party today. Or would they mostly try and ignore it . Its hard to speak to the politics of it, but i feel broadly these issues are gaining traction now, both within the conservative party, but also in sort of voting groups who traditionally might be seen as more pro migration. So young people, for example, if you look at the polling today, 45 to 50 of young people say migration has been too high over the last ten years. Its a massive change. Its a massive change. Its a big change. And only 5 say too low, so this isnt just an issue that affects leave voters or conservative voters or older voters. This is this view older voters. This is this view is held right across the political spectrum. Really interesting. As i say, ive been doing it for years, but im pleased that people are catching up and making the point now. Gb news Eamonn Patrick christys has an exclusive interview tonight with illegal immigrants. Patrick, what on earth are they going to tell us . Yes, indeed. Well, look, ive been saying and know youve been saying for a while that with the rapid rate of Asylum Seekers and the rejections and the loss of Asylum Seekers from various databases, were going to end up with tent cities in various different towns and cities across the uk. Well, i went to one of these tent encampments today and i spoke to a couple of them, one chap from sudan, one chap from kuwait. They told us a variety of different things. Variety of different things. Firstly was that one individual was rejected and there was absolutely no attempt to get him out of the country. Theyve just told him to leave the migrant hotel, which he has now done, and another individual as well shed some light on exactly how they feel. These Illegal Migrants about the rwanda plan. Ive got a little clip for you now, rather, you would rather go to sudan than rwanda. To sudan than rwanda. Rwanda . Rwanda . Sudan . Sudanese. Go sudan. Yeah. No. Go rwanda. Rwanda. One yeah. No. Go rwanda. Rwanda. One country. Why do you go rwanda . Yeah yes. Everybody is scared about rwanda. Everybody is not right about this. Everybody say that its not right. If i come from my country, your country, why you send me another country, another country, different language , different legend, language, different legend, different everything. Why yeah. This clip sheds a huge amount of light on the journeys that these people take, why theyve come here and whats happened to them since theyve come here as well. Nigel, its very, very eye opening and were going to be seeing a heck of a lot more of this because this problem is not going away anytime soon, is it . But it was nice. Can i just say quickly, it was nice to actually talk to these people without some middle class fake communists shouting at me to stop me from talking to them, right . Because they do actually want to talk to you. They dont mind. So we actually get to hear from them now. But patrick, that last interviewee, his sense of entitlement. Yeah, ive come here illegally. Why cant i stay . I mean, its got my blood boiling already. Ill be watching you later on this evening. Thank you very much indeed. Patrick christys carl williams, thank you for joining me on this segment. In a moment, im joined by rob gifford, tom bower and we ask, whats going on . Is it the king that is refusing to meet the wayward prince harry because he is in london today . Well, i asked you the question. Is immigration. Given the number of errors that it affects, this countrys number one issue. One viewer says its not the small boats coming in. Its our border force taxes. Yeah, i was asking a broader question. Never mind. Natalie elphicke defects to laboun Natalie Elphicke defects to labour, citing, amongst other reasons, that immigration is part of it. Sure, the tories are woeful, but labour are worse. And david says of course its the number one issue and it will be all the time. We have this government in charge. David, youre absolutely right. No evidence , no evidence that evidence, no evidence that labour will be any better at all. So i was going past Buckingham Palace in a car earlier on. Its the first Big Garden Party of the year and arguably the first nice spring day of the year. The queues to go into the garden party were there. The ladies were all dressed up as if it was royal ascot, and a very jolly afternoon. It will be not so far away, i guess about a mile and a half away at saint pauls cathedral was one prince harry. Yeah, absolutely. And he was yeah, absolutely. And he was there for a service celebrating ten years of the Invictus Games. I think probably wed all give him great credit for that. But the king is not going to meet his son. Why . Whats going on . Lots of gossip, lots of rumours. I dont know the answer, but one man that just might is tom bower, royal biographer and journalist, of course. Tom, youve written books about harry and meghan and about the king. So the garden party is over at about 6 00. I was 5 or 6 00, the Saint Paul Service is over at about the same time, and theyre not going to meet what is going on. On. On. Well, i think finally the king has got and his advisors have seen since i think the whole of this invictus celebration at saint pauls, the service , i mean, invictus people service, i mean, invictus people are terrific. I mean, the Great Service to the country and all the rest of it. But harry is milking it for the brand, harry and her services and pauls of thanksgiving. Come on. Hes not a great christian, thats for sure. But what is really important in all this is that hes going from here to nigeria. And whats really all this is aboutis and whats really all this is about is that meghan is going to nigeria because she says her mothers family originally was from nigeria , and shes looking from nigeria, and shes looking at her roots. Is that really is that true . Could be. Who knows. That true . Could be. Who knows. But what really is important is that shes going to play the duchess there. Shes going to play duchess there. Shes going to play the royal family, the woman who fled to california for her privacy and who cant do too much with the royals, is going to play the royal card. And the king and his advisers have seen for all this what it really is, this trip to london for saint paups this trip to london for saint pauls and the trip to nigeria is all about picking up the brand, boosting the brand which is, after all, suffering terribly. Perhaps shell take terribly. Perhaps shell take some strawberry jam with her to castit some strawberry jam with her to cast it out to the locals. But cast it out to the locals. But the key is here that harry was desperate for a photo opportunity with the king. So when he gets to nigeria, he can say, i come as a member of the royal family and the king denied him that opportunity. Rightly so. Very interesting. We always think of charles as being a bit of a softie. Is this a sign that of a softie. Is this a sign that hes actually toughening up . I think its a sign that he realises finally that with the sussexes hes on a losing card. He can only suffer because he made a terrible mistake giving their children titles. Hes making mistake, not stripping them of their titles. The sussex title , and hes finally seeing title, and hes finally seeing that theyre exploiting the misery in london. After all, what theyre really doing is putting kate and william in a terrible light. I mean, there is poor kate suffering from her illnesses. They should be in nigeria , probably they should be nigeria, probably they should be doing the work. And now the sussexes have stepped in to embarrass the king, to embarrass the sussexes , and rightly the sussexes, and rightly Buckingham Palace decided, no, were not going to play their game on this occasion. Its harrys behaviour bordering on treachery. Oh, absolutely strong word. Oh, treachery is a strong, but he is a disloyal, treacherous man, son and brother and member of the British Public citizen. He has behaved appallingly. His book, the Oprah Winfrey film, all his conduct and supporting meghan in her bid for all this different branding. He all this different branding. He has really behaved appallingly towards his family and thankfully the king has finally seen it. My view is that the king was encouraged to take this position. Both by the queen and by william, who were badly maligned in the book and harrys book, and they said, enough is enough, weve got to cut them off. This looks like one of those rifts thats lifelong. I think it is. And all those people who speculate about reconciliation are just popping dreams. Its horrible. Its appalling situation to be in. But the thing is that harry cannot say, sorry, harry. He cannot say, sorry, harry. He cannot say, sorry, harry. He cannot say that hes done wrong. Meghan never says anything in any reconciliation. She also rarely tells the truth , rarely tells the truth, truth, rarely tells the truth, and got harry completely ensnared. Ensnared. And really, you cant underestimate what this trip to nigeria is all about. Its meghan playing the colour card. The race card, the royal card, everything to embarrass the royal family. This harry. You know, i remember when he was in his middle , late teens and i saw him middle, late teens and i saw him down in cornwall in the same pub as him in cornwall, and he was this enormously popular figure and i remember asking my daughters when they were youngen daughters when they were younger, what do they think of the royal family . One of them said, oh, theyre cool, theyre cool, daddy, theyre cool. I mean, prince harry, i mean, it was changing the brand of what the royal family meant to a lot of people who perhaps wouldnt have been traditional royalists. And then he goes out and does his bit more than his bit, some would argue, kills 25. I mean, its so stupid to talk about. It its so stupid to talk about. It is unbelievable, but he was i think he was the i mean, after his mother, the most, perhaps the most popular member of the royal family ive seen in my lifetime. In your view, is this lifetime. In your view, is this something thats happened inside his own mind . What . It is, of course. But is she the cause, or is it deeper than that . Oh, no. Shes definitely the cause. Oh, no. Shes definitely the cause. But he needed her. The cause. But he needed her. The problem is, he couldnt form relationships with other women. And meghan stepped into the role. Shes a great actress. She knew he was needy and she needed him to bolster her fading. If not terminal, career. And shes got what she wanted. Except she probably wanted to be queen rather rather than just the duchess. But now shes got the duchess. But now shes got the title, shes got the money, and he is just like a lap dog going behind her, forgetting his loyalty to the country and to his family and to his grandparents as well. And you know, these positions that he had, Lieutenant General of the Royal Marines and actually, you know, hed taken over from his grandfather. Absolutely. You know, at westminster abbey, the fields of remembrance every year , that big remembrance every year, that big link to the services and the services really respected him because he put his life in dangen yeah. He really has served the cause. And hes turned his back on all that. And i think back on all that. And i think king charles allowed a lot of time for him to reflect on it and think carefully and sort of the warning shot was to take away frogmore, his home, and then he carried on with his vindictive and nastiness , and so vindictive and nastiness, and so did she. And playing the royal card constantly in america, which is exactly the opposite of what the queen told them to do, she said. You cannot commercialise the royal family and theyve done exactly what theyre not meant to do. The nigeria angle on this is absolutely fascinating, tom. Thank you. As ever. There we are. Tom bower says that harrys behaviour is treacherous. Pick that up. Tabloids now one of my achievements i get some things right and some things wrong obviously, but one of my achievements in 2023 was to raise this whole issue of de banking king and of the damage that it does to individuals and indeed to businesses as well. I was so pleased that the Oxford English dictionary now have de banking in it. Well, Treasury Select Committee report today confirming that 140,000 businesses have been de banking in the course of the last year. Theyve made some very strong recommendations to the Financial Conduct Authority , and im going conduct authority, and im going to be joined very shortly by dame Harriet Baldwin. And were dame Harriet Baldwin. And were going to go through that report, and were going to ask if the fca dont act, will this government bring in some legislation between now and the next general election . Having raised the issue, im pleased theres a debate. What i now change. Lets get to it, shall we . Dame Harriet Baldwin , conservative Harriet Baldwin, conservative member of parliament for west worcestershire. And importantly , worcestershire. And importantly, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, joins me. We talked just a few weeks ago about the fact that its staggering 140,000 businesses extraordinary, had had their Bank Accounts closed in the last yeah Bank Accounts closed in the last year. We dont even know how many personal accounts have been closed. We will find that out at some point in the future. But lets stick to business for now. You know, ive always been a great believer that small business, new business, thats where growth comes from. Absolutely, at least two thirds ofjobs absolutely, at least two thirds of jobs in the private sector work for small companies. Of jobs in the private sector work for small companies. Your work for small companies. Your report out today and it seems to me there are two quite important categories here. One is the de banking and why its happening. And second is that regulation is holding us back. So lets deal with the de banking to begin with, youre telling the fca, the Financial Conduct Authority, to act. Are conduct authority, to act. Are they going to. Well it is such a crucial issue, isnt it . Because you know , small because you know, Small Businesses have had a torrid five years. They had to go through the pandemic. Theyve had to put up with these spike in energy costs. And now in our report today, weve really spelled out how the Banking Sector isnt really helping our Small Businesses to grow either, there was a lot of help during there was a lot of help during the pandemic for businesses of all sizes, but now that were back in more normal times , it back in more normal times, it appears as though in many cases, the Banking Sector has really sort of pulled the rug out of some excellent uk businesses. So the issue that we highlighted today was around businesses that are doing perfectly legal things. In fact , things that are things. In fact, things that are actually defending our country , actually defending our country, like being in the defence industry. And they sometimes struggle to get a bank account and they can have their bank account, oil and gas randomly closed, oil and gas is another example. Amusement arcades. You know, lots of things that are perfectly legitimate parts of the weft and weave of the uk economy are struggling to get banking facilities. So not just credit, but actual Bank Accounts. Now, you highlighted the issue around individual accounts. My understanding is that the government actually is the one which is going to act soonest. Were going to see some legislation. Legislation. Keep saying this, harry. Keep saying this, harry. Yeah, i keep hearing it. Yeah, i keep hearing it. And then i have a treasury minister that i can talk to. Who . And then hes gone and somebody else comes in. Yeah. I mean, i highlighted the personal also my business was closed as well, but it was more the personal side of things. But at least weve got a debate going on. This thing about the fca is they seem to be terribly keen to impose upon Financial Institutions a whole host of diversity rules. Quite what thats got to do with them as a regulator, i dont know, but it strikes me that they dont even seem to be interested in what youve been saying. Yeah, well , youve been saying. Yeah, well, i think wed all agree that we want our Financial Services sector to be the best in the world. That means its got to have the best people in it. So i think theres an issue around some of the cultural factors that weve discovered in some of our other work. But what i would agree with you completely on is actually, i think this is more serious than just the regulator. I think that this is that people up and down the country, some of your viewers will have ticked the box when they choose their pension fund option to invest in environmentally social and good governance, and it sounds like motherhood and apple pie, doesnt it . But actually what it can mean for if a lot of shareholders do that is and they are shareholders in a big bank, it can mean that that bank then implements policies that debunk a lot of things that you and i would think were absolutely essential parts of the uk economy. And i think thats economy. And i think thats whats going on. So actually theres two things here. Theres a theres an opportunity for a new bank in this country that perhaps doesnt have shareholders who do that kind of thing. Please so challenger banks are going to be a really good part of the solution here. Ones who can come in and say, look, well bank anybody whos doing something legal, and then i think theres also something that your viewers will have to think about, you know, when theyre making those investment choices, are they absolutely sure that when they choose that environmental, social and governance funds , that its not governance funds, that its not something thats going to be leading to de banking. I mean, and the returns on e56 i mean, and the returns on esg have been very, very poor actually, the last few years. Oils and tobaccos have been very good investments. So i think theres a move away from that. But generally your report also mentions the regulatory burden. Yes. Weve got a massive anti money laundering, eu regulations and directives incorporated into uk law. Nothing has changed. I mean, this is actually a brexit failure, isnt it . We have had the opportunity, harriet. No, come on, weve had the opportunity. A conservative government with an 80 seat majority could have simplified much of this. It hasnt done it. Well, interestingly, you know, in the alphabet soup that is financial regulation. One of the things we highlight in our report is not even from the Financial Conduct Authority. Its from the prudential regulation authority, something that was set up in the aftermath of the financial crash. And they are wanting to put much higher risk on lending to Small Businesses. So they want to and this is something that the Basel Committee nothing to do with eu, the Basel Committee is recommending. But the eu arent going to do it. The us arent going to do it. The us arent going to do it. The us arent going to do it. So i dont think the uk should be an outlier in putting much tighter Credit Conditions on Small Businesses. Thats another thing we highlight in our Business Report today. David carrick keep fighting unless we want some real change. Okay, now the what . The farage moment today. Theres a couple actually. One is that the astrazeneca the Oxford Astrazeneca the Oxford Astrazeneca Covid Vaccine is now being withdrawn worldwide. Now of course, this was hailed by bons of course, this was hailed by Boris Johnson, the pm at the time, as a triumph for british science. And i dont doubt for a moment that everybody was genuinely trying to do their best. What really, really hacks me off is weve known that this vaccine and others causes some very serious side effects, even deaths in some people. It has been the complete denial of that. The fact that nobody has been held to account, that makes me so angry. And this ridicule this. And yes, i banged on about this. And yes, i banged on about this before, but this ridiculous covid inquiry isnt even going to examine negative side effects until sometime next year , by until sometime next year, by which time there will probably be a different government and nobody will ever be held to account. Lets find something jolly to talk about, shall we, for a moment before the break. Well what about this . Pubs will be able to extend their Opening Hours to 1 am. If either scotland or england take it to the semi finals. So lets hope we have a good run in the football. We of course, did get rid of the final last year, which i know two years ago, which i know two years ago, which i know two years ago, which i attended. Sadly we saw some of the most disgraceful scenes outside wembley that weve ever seen at any sporting event. So yeah, keep the pubs open , have fun. But as ever, open, have fun. But as ever, with all of these things , try to with all of these things, try to keep it within sensible limits. Keep it within sensible limits. Yes. So the guardian exposed the fact that the garrick club only admitted male members. This was admitted male members. This was terrible. And once it was revealed, people whod been members for years resigned, one senior Civil Servant did. And others like stephen fry, who have been members for years, said, isnt it dreadful that its men only . Weve got to let women in. Well, last night at an agm they did. Is this somehow a great victory for diversity, or is it just waving the white flag of surrender to bullying from the guardian . Heated debate on this. Ive got very strong opinions myself, all in just a moment so so in 1831, david garrick, a very famous actor of the day, founded the garrick club. And unsurprisingly, it was in covent garden, very close to all of the big theatres. And its been for membership a men only club for, you know, ever since that time. Now actually, women go in as guests and if you go in in the evening, youll find plenty of women in there. But the membership is all men. Women in there. But the membership is all men. But the membership is all men. But the prejudice against mens clubs is so extraordinary that earlier this year, a High Court Judge was removed from overseeing a case involving an alleged rape victim because he was a member of the garrick. I mean, this is real, real prejudice. So the guardian exposed us, the names of people, senior figures, political figures, senior Civil Servants , members, of course, of servants, members, of course, of the arts and theyre exposed as being members of a mans club. And of course, they all go absolutely weak at the knees. And theyre terrified because theyre going to get abuse on twitter and facebook and whatever else it may be. And in an act of outright cowardice, in my view, as an extraordinary general meeting , they vote by general meeting, they vote by 60 to 40 to change the rules that have been there since 1831. And to admit women. Why does this matter . Look, im not a member of the garrick. But heres the point. I think freedom of association often comes just below free speech. I think it really matters. I have no objection to womens clubs. Ive no objection to any form of club provided the activities that go on are within the law. And i just think that this is an act of bullying by a left wing newspaper and very, very weak kneed people like stephen fry , kneed people like stephen fry, who was perfectly happy to be a member of the all male garrick , member of the all male garrick, said last night, unless we vote this way, then i will leave. Well, joining me to discuss this is lynn townley , barrister and is lynn townley, barrister and lecturer at city of London School , university of london. School, university of london. Now lynn, as you can tell, you know, im not a member of the garrick, but i absolutely support the right of individuals to form their own clubs and frankly, do what the hell they like. Whats wrong with that . Well there isnt anything wrong with that. If theres a legitimate aim. If theres a legitimate aim. And the garrick is quite a Different Club from single issue clubs , and as you pointed out, clubs, and as you pointed out, women have been going as guests. Women have been going as guests. So why cant women go in their own agency and go there as members . It was set up to deal members . It was set up to deal with performing arts, the liberal arts. Theres no reason liberal arts. Theres no reason why it needs to be a male only club anymore. There were reasons to do with logistics and the way that professions were made up. Historically. But now the position is different and its no longer tenable. I tell you what, theyve opened themselves up to a real disaster. And ill tell you why. Because the garrick club has the black bull rule someones put up for a member. Black bull rule someones put up for a member. And if another member of the club objects, they say to the chap , sorry, old boy, say to the chap, sorry, old boy, were not going to have you. And he disappears and thats the end of it. What happens when the first female member gets blackballed . Can you . I mean, can you imagine . Can you just imagine what the guardian headunes imagine what the guardian headlines are going to be . Well, it remains to be seen what way this moves forward. And its going to take a few years because as i understand it, theres a waiting list. And the process takes rather than months or weeks. It takes years. So so it will be interesting to see what happens in the future. But the members have spoken, the members have been bullied and theyre very, very weak men who were very happy to be a member for decades, some of them members of an all male club. Members of an all male club. Now here we go. We have the Allbright Club in mayfair. We have the University Womens club, we have the sorority club, the wing, the trouble, the merit club. In fact, we now have more women only clubs in london than we have all men clubs. Isnt there just rank hypocrisy here . I mean, who are you to judge what the garrick should or should not be . Well, im not judging them. No, no you are. Youre no, no you are. Youre saying the original aims of the garrick have changed. So you are judging . Well, im not saying the original aims have changed. The advice was that there was nothing to preclude membership. Nothing to preclude membership. And there is a division about about that legal advice. Some of about that legal advice. Some of the members agree, some dont. The vote was 60. But if you know, if someone tries to join, you know the trouble club. I like the sound of the trouble club, the all womens trouble club. I mean, if blake tries to join there, hes not going to be able to. If he tried to cause a stink with the press, it would be ignored. Theres a lot of anti male prejudice going on here, isnt there . Well, i think the garrick is very different to other clubs. It may be a victim of its own success. There are a lot of people want to join and there are a lot of influential people join. It looks extremely bad. The visuals are bad and why things have moved on. Why . Why are the visuals bad . Im sorry, i really dont get this. Its a private members club. They can do what they like. Its an exclusive organisation. It is, but its perceptions about what goes on there. But who cares about perception . Perception . Well, people who may be exclude people. Do people who are excluded from going into the club. Whatever goes on there, it may not be sinister at all. In fact, it probably isnt. Its whats its whats it got to do with anybody else. It doesnt look good, the optics look bad, and there are perceptions. So the optics dont look bad for all womens clubs , but look for all womens clubs, but look bad for all mens clubs. That actually, lets be frank about this, lynn. That is what youre saying. Well, i mean, again, it depends on what the aims of the club are. And as ive said, the garrick is slightly different because it was a liberal arts club. It still is a liberal arts club. It still is a liberal arts club. Theres no reason why women, shouldnt be members. It will strengthen the club. And im sure that the men will get overit im sure that the men will get over it eventually. Well, i dont know. Lets talk to a member of the garrick club, shall we . I know your father was a member. I had lunch with your father at the garrick club a long time ago, jacob. I mean, you probably werent there last night at this agm. I wasnt. You could attend online, so i was listening to it online. How did you vote . I im not going to say how i voted. Its a private vote and its a private club. Im fair enough. Im very relaxed about women joining, but i dont think theyve got any right to. I think were in completely entitled to mens clubs. One thing i wanted was that the club should be happy with the decision, because the club is a place you go for fun and you go for a nice lunch or a nice dinner. Im going into the garrick for dinner this evening. Im sure you are. Im sure you are. Im sure you and i think this row just became very disagreeable. And thats what i didnt like about it. Bullying. A lot of bullying going on, you know, the guardian name and shame people. And suddenly the online world starts to attack them. I thought the people who resigned, having suddenly discovered that the garrick didnt allow women to join, were particularly ridiculous. The particularly ridiculous. The head of m16 resigned, having been a member for some years. Been a member for some years. Suddenly. Oh oh dear, there are women not allowed to join. Im women not allowed to join. Im so upset and i cant cope. That was just pathetic. Was just pathetic. So youre quite relaxed in terms of the club. Youre a member of . Yes. Yes. But in general, this principle that im talking about, you know, i read out a list to lynn earlier of all womens clubs. Look, i belong to the garrick for quite a few years, and i was very happy for it to be an all male club. Im quite happy for it to be a mixed club. I belong to other all male clubs. I never joined any of my clubs to change them from the inside, which some old humbugs said they joined various clubs to do. Particularly the garrick clubs are for fun and for association and for not endless rows. There are quite enough rows in politics about how the countrys governed that matter. Whether a club takes women or men only, or takes people at 18, or takes them at 102, i really dont care. As long as the club is jolly. One of the worries ive got lynn about this is i worry , you lynn about this is i worry, you know, we had the equality act brought in in 2010 towards the end of the last labour government. There are some government. There are some people who take the view that to have an all male club is wrong. Its anti women. And are we its anti women. And are we heading down a route where we may even get legislation . Do you think on things like this . I dont know, i mean well have to see what what view other clubs take, because theres still quite a few other clubs that are single sex. As youve said, men and womens clubs. And its going to depend on what the aim of the particular clubs are. But youve judged that the i mean, youve judged that the garrick needed to be changed. What about other mens clubs . Well, again, it depends on what the aims are and it may well be that they will follow suit, but its a matter for the membership. I didnt judge it. It was the members. What about all male golf clubs . How would you feel about all male golf clubs . Well, again, i wouldnt. I mean, whats the aim of it to play mean, whats the aim of it to play golf . Well, why why should you exclude women . I dont understand that. Theres a legitimate reason why, but because its a private members club. And if women. Want to have an and if women. Want to have an all women golf course, they can buy one, set one up. Well, they could, but i mean, why would they necessarily want to . What would be the legitimate reason . Im not against single sex clubs. If there is a legitimate aim playing golf. Well, i dont see you really are a wolf in sheeps clothing, arent you . Are you sitting there being all reasonable . I mean, you basically would get rid of every mans club in the country, wouldnt you . Not necessarily. I think you would. I really do me is down to the club members. Lynn, youre a very good sport. Thank you forjoining me sport. Thank you for joining me this evening on gb news. Now, odd things happen in the house of commons from time to time, sir jacob. But 12 00 you walk in or a few minutes before to the chamber, and there is a conservative member of parliament considered more right wing than you are. I know. Well, i mean, sitting behind keir starmer i was watching this from my usual perch in the house of commons, and i saw in the seat behind where keir starmer was about to go, somebody who i thought looked remarkably like Natalie Elphicke. I knew that the by election had been won by a chap who ive actually met and clearly wasnt him. So i thought, who is this . A labour mp who ive never seen before . I couldnt believe that natalie, who is a hard right, tough on migration. Im a member of the European Research group. Of the European Research group. I mean, i mean, im so liberal i could join the garrick, you know, compared to her most extraordinary thing for her most extraordinary thing for her to do, it doesnt make any sense at all. Well, what shes doing is shes giving the Prime Minister and the conservative party a very public kicking. Yeah , but she should have yeah, but she should have joined reform. I mean, if she joined reform. I mean, if she joined reform, there had been some logic to it. She might actually agree with reform. But if you look at all her statements over all the time shes been in parliament, she does not agree with the labour party. We had the same with doctor dan poulter. Yeah, but he a couple of he was a different wing of the party, a different wing of the party. Never really had very strong beliefs on anything, very much as far as one could tell. Nobody saw him again today. He hasnt been around a great deal. Hes one of those mps who is here today, gone tomorrow. Natalie has made quite a presence. Asphalt, really, but as a tough nosed right winger. And thats why its very odd. She should have joined the dup or reform. But theres not a labour party. Theres something here. We just dont know. I dont know what it is or whether well ever find out. No doubt, though, shell finish up in the house of lords because labour are very good at rewarding people. All sorts of people end up in the house of lords. Yeah, well, i know, i know, i know, it would be probably illegal to, you know, the Maundy Gregory stuff and all of that. The i think those rules are out of the window. I dont think anything i dont think standards when it comes to the appointment of peers count for much. Jacob apart from that, what are you talking im going to be talking about de banking, esg and how this has affected Defence Companies. So weve actually put National Security at risk because as the sort of people who de banking you have been de banking Defence Companies and this is really disgraceful. And its this takeover of the city by woolly liberal regulators , by woolly liberal regulators, rather than them being proper capitalists who are there to make money. Well the fca, the regulator, wants to impose upon Financial Services companies a whole series of quotas. Whole series of quotas. Yeah. Diversity quotas. Im sure lynn would be absolutely thrilled with all of this, and yet they havent lifted a finger to help anyone. Whats been debunked . The fca is completely pointless, as far as one can tell. It doesnt do its job properly, and it advocates these woke causes when its job is to make business better. Crackers . Absolutely. Crackers well, ill tell you what, folks. Thats enough. I cant cope with any more. Lets have a look at the weather. Looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of up. Boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello. Good evening. Its been another dry and fine day for many of us. And therell be more in the way of sunshine to come tomorrow. And it should be a warmer day for most of us. However, cloudier skies are starting to approach the northwest as this weather front moves in. Wont make too much progress overnight. Further progress overnight. Further elsewhere across the country as High Pressure is building in, so it should be a fairly clear and dry night for the bulk of england and wales. Cloudier skies will affect parts of northern england, Northern Ireland and in particular much of scotland, where the rain will turn quite persistent across the northwest overnight. So quite a damp night to come. Probably a damp night to come. Probably a damp start to the day, but elsewhere it should be a bright and mild start to the day quite widely. Temperatures will be in double digits by thursday morning. Any mist, a mist and fog that has formed overnight should clear quite readily. Its most likely across coastal areas across england and wales, and that will give way to another day of long lived sunny spells. And its going to feel warmer in that sunshine than today. And the sunshine should spread up and further north into northwestern areas of scotland, as that weather front pushes north. Highs of 2223, possibly 24 degrees across central areas of england on thursday. Again, theres a risk of mist and fog to start the day on friday. The sunshine could be a bit hazy first thing, but it should brighten up quite quickly through the day and i think most areas will see a day of long lived sunny spells and once again, its going to be feeling fairly warm, long lived sunshine to come on saturday. A risk of showers on sunday, but temperatures are climbing towards 25 or 26 degrees. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello. Good evening. Its me, hello. Good evening. Its me, Jacob Rees Mogg on state of the nation. Tonight the de banking scandal continues as santander and lloyds have closed 300 defence accounts over fears of ethical compliance. So not only has de banking threatened freedom of speech, but now its threatening National Security too. Natalie elphicke, who was too. Natalie elphicke, who was allegedly firmly on the right of politics and once mocked sir keir starmer as sir softy , has keir starmer as sir softy, has defected to labour. Ill be giving my view. Israel has launched its long expected rafa offensive and vowed to eliminate the remaining hamas battalions in the city. Ill be joined by an israeli mp who also attended the oxford pro palestine protests today and like the prodigal son, it seems the kings schedule is too busy. State of the nation starts now. Ill also be joined by a particularly pugnacious panel this evening historian and broadcaster doctor tessa dunlop and the founder of the new culture forum, peter whittle. As always, as you know, i want to hear from you. Its a crucial part of the programme. Email me mercy muroki gbnews. Com. But now its what youve all been waiting for. The news of the day with sam francis. Jacob, thank you very much and good evening to you. Its 8 00 and the headlines from the newsroom this hour. Another of rishi sunak mps has defected to laboun