What If: George was PM during Covid?
4/13/202637 min
In another special ‘What If’ edition of EMQs George Osborne and Ed Balls consider the would be worlds and outcomes, if just one historical event went another way. In a more theoretical ‘What If’ they consider what would happen if MPs couldn’t abstain and had to vote aye or nay on every bill. Ed believes this could lead to a breakdown in our system, while George thinks it could reprimand a mistake made by the recent Tory governments.
An anonymous question from someone in government poses a radical change to our recent history: What if Trump became a unifying anti-gun and violence figure after the attempted assassination in 2024? This would have had massive implications for our current world, but would it be believable? George is sceptical, while Ed wonders if Trump would have gone on to a greater landslide victory or if the MAGA movement would have turned on him.
Finally, a pair of EU related ‘What Ifs’. Had the Brexit results been flipped, who leads the country into 2020 and the pandemic? George? David Cameron? Or is it still Boris Johnson? Also, what if the Maastricht or Lisbon treaties had been put to the country as referendums? Would Brexit still have happened? Would we still be in the EU? Would it have saved or ended the premierships of John Major and Tony Blair?
We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.
Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today:
👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency
Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.
Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMohammed0:00
To support sustainable food production, BHP is building one of the world's largest potash mines in Canada. Essential resources, responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company If you're a business owner, then you know they call it running a business for a reason.
Speaker 10:20
EQ Bank knows it too. Knows you're running the team, running the show, and you're definitely running the numbers. EQ Bank's business account is built to help you make bank. It has no monthly fees and earns high interest, so you can keep running what really matters. Sign up today at eqbank.ca/business.
George Osborne· Host0:42
The Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Ed Balls· Host0:49
Getting a lesson from the Shadow Chancellor on how to balance the books is like getting a lesson from Dracula on how to look after a blood bank.
George Osborne· Host0:55
[laughing] Ed Balls.
Ed Balls· Host0:57
A steady as she goes budget. What kind of ship does he think he's on? The Titanic? The Marie Celeste?
George Osborne· Host1:04
[laughing] Welcome to EMQs from Political Currency.
Speaker 11:07
With Ed Balls and George Osborne.
Ed Balls· Host1:09
So hello and welcome to EMQs, Ex-Ministers Questions. This is a special what if EMQs coming out the weekend after Easter. So we hope you had a very restful Easter break and a break from Parliament,