YouSaid · the spoken record

Gavin Williamson

lines on the record: 48
first: 2019-03-08
most recent: 2019-03-08
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I've got the most amazing job in the world as Defence Secretary, and frankly, I just very much hope I carry on doing this for a very, very, very long time because there's so much to do”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm still in this place where I just hope she keeps going on and on and on. So I hope she revisits that decision. But when we look at the next general election, it's going to be about the issues that concern people. And that's the worries and concerns that people always think have when they're thinking about their children, about the school that they go to, making sure that they have the best type of school, about the strength of where we take the economy here, about giving them the confidence to buy a new car, move house, making sure that our hospitals have the very best of what we can deliver. These are all the issues that people will be focused on, those of the messages that we have to be delivering.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just need to deliver it, and then we need to be focused on all the issues that are going to be what determines the next general election.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Conservative Party is a party that always adapts and always changes and it listens and adapts to the mood of the country and we are committed to delivering Brexit. That's what we're going to do.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That was such disdain. Such disappointment. Your listeners are just wanting to talk about football, which I know you want to do.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wherever we are, and I very much hope that we land it with a deal, but if we don't get a deal and we exit without a deal, Britain will succeed, Britain will thrive. I have not a moment's doubt on that. But we need to deliver Brexit. We need to ensure that Brexit is done. I personally believe 29th of March is the best day for making sure that that is delivered upon. And we need to be focused on all the other issues that the British people care about, whether it's schools, whether it's cost of living, whether making sure people understand that they're going to be better off next year than they are this year.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't believe Jeremy Corbyn is going to be doing that, but I believe there's a lot of Labour MPs who represent constituencies not dissimilar to mine in the Midlands. Many constituencies in the north who know their constituents voted to leave the European Union want to deliver that, want that to be delivered swiftly on the 29th of March and it's about time that they got behind the Prime Minister voted for this deal, delivered what the constituents want.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not, but insuring, making it clear that labour has a choice here. Labour says that they want a deal. Now is the time for them to get behind the Prime Minister and vote for the deal that's on the table. You don't want to give it.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's best to concentrate and delivering this next vote, making sure Get Overline, make sure the Democratic Unionist Party are voting with us, Brian Board Tory colleagues, but”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Democratic Union's party here, people that believe in the union of the United Kingdom, have a real pride in that and have a real pride of the contribution that Northern Ireland makes to the whole United Kingdom. And they've been one of the most reliable partners that government could ask. And my experience as Chief Whit, both before the general election and after, was that we have a really strong and good relationship and I believe one that will last long after we've concluded what's needed to be concluded in terms of Brexit.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My clear view has always been the Democratic Unionist Party really want to work to get the right deal with a government. And when we did the confidence and supply agreement, one of the key things that was part of that is about delivering Brexit, but delivering a deal that works for the whole of the United Kingdom. And that commitment to deliver that for the DUP, I very much see as still clearly there. I think there's a real opportunity to do something to bring them on board, which, as you rightly say, will also bring many Conservative MPs on board as well.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In 2017 flew off on the Friday after the Thursday on the general election. So we spent a bit of time in Northern Ireland. A couple of weeks. Bus of time over in Northern Ireland, bits of time over in London as well. So it's a couple of weeks we were in discussions.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We just, quite simply, that we're always there to help and support any department, any ministry across government who asks for support from the armed forces, we are always there ready to help, always ready to look at how we can deploy. That's what people expect of the armed forces. So many times when Britain feels as if it's facing the biggest challenges, who do we turn to? We turn to the army, the navy and the air force, and they're the ones who always deliver. And that's what we're always happy to do.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that when we look at what I have been saying in terms of Russia, the threats and challenges that Russia plays have become very clear and very obvious to everyone. When we look at some of the threats and challenges that we look around the world, I think that most people will accept when they look at it that what I've been demonstrating and talking about is a very clear and obvious thing that's done. And when we look at some of the challenges that government faces, our armed forces are always the ones that are willing to step up, always the ones who are willing to plug the gap, always the ones who make the difference.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that it's really important that when you're in politics and the thing that I've always say can the view, and maybe it's been a Yorkshireman, we tend to speak plainly and we tend to speak bluntly, but we also tend to speak the truth. And I think it's important that we be very honest and we be very plain. And sometimes there can be a tendency for people to shy away from that. When I'm back home up in Wolverhampton, you tend to find that more people value the fact that you speak clearly.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where his officials seem perfectly happy with it. So when I look at the Pacific region, this is an area with a second largest investor, inward investor into Southeast Asia. We have many alliances and friends with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, where we have strong military ties. We shouldn't be ignoring this whole region. We want to have a positive relationship with China. You mentioned I used to be in the ceramics trade. I worked a lot in China selling ceramics in China, working with Chinese businesses, and a great deal of opportunity. But we also have to be aware of some of the challenges as well.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, no, of course not, because I'd been very surprised because this was a speech that had been seen by Treasury, been seen by Cabinet's office, been seen by number 10. So I would imagine that he was completely happy with it. And when we look...”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In whether it's new submarines, whether it's new fighter jets, whether it's new technology in terms of heavy armor for the army, but also new technologies in terms of cyber and also space.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The challenge that we've got is the threats are just expanding and they have expanded. We spend the last almost 20 years dealing with non-state based threats. We saw that in terms of al-Qaeda, Daesh, and that's where so much of our resource has been. But while we've been focused on that, our adversaries have been investing in new technology. And of course, the technology that they're investing in is vastly more expensive than what non state based actors can do. And there's been a realization. It's not just with the UK, it's also in the US, it's also in France and Germany and all NATO allies that there has been this re-emergence of a new threat. We have to talk about it because if we don't talk about it, I think that the British people will be blind to it. And we've got to quite rightly make the arguments as to why we're investing.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sadly, I don't think thou would come in time. I think we have to ask a real question as to Northern Ireland has moved on. Northern Ireland has moved forward. There has been so much progress being made. We've got to be looking at the future of Northern Ireland, not at the past.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely, to ensure that we don't have spurious prosecutions. No one in the armed forces wants to have an immunity to be above the law. But what we do need to do is ensure that they have a protection so that they do not feel under threat as so many service personnel currently do. And it's not just about Northern Ireland. It's about Iraq and it's Afghanistan. conflicts before that and conflicts in the future as well.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Anything you can do in the short term is a manifesto commitment that we need to give those protections to those service personnel and we can do that we've been doing for work we've been putting the proposals in place to put those protections there”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We sit around that cabinet table and we ask our service men and women too. Things and protect us and to take actions that few other people would be able to do. And it is incumbent upon us to give them the protections that they deserve. And that is what I'm determined to do. And we look at Northern Ireland and we look at Look at how far Northern Ireland has moved forward over the last twenty years, and we need to be looking at the future and not at the past.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was something that I've always felt that we can really make a difference and we can really make a difference to Britain in terms of how people perceive Britain the role that Britain plays on the global stage. And having, you know, I've got my brother-in-law who's a chief petty officer in Royal Navy. My brother has served in the Royal Air Force. So every Sunday I usually get a phone call for them giving me advice. I've told the chief of the general staff for the Army that I'm going to have to sign my daughters up to the Army to sort of spread the range so they can give me army advice. So it's, but I know it's important to the country and the British people really haul the armed services close to their hearts. And I'm very conscious that... You're that custodian.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Really? Those 830 meetings, and I think it's when she feels she can trust you and knows you, and that for me was one of the most special parts of having had the opportunity to work side by side with two prime ministers.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I always find this very interesting because I find her such a witty and charming lady always willing to engage in a bit of banter, be willing to take Vermicia little bit. That's a real charming side of her that I feel privileged as I've been able to see. And you're probably right the public don't see it as much, but it's”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is almost a grieving period someone you'd work with so closely who had stepped down as a sense of shock and a real sense of sadness someone who contributed so much both to the country and to the party but to me it was clear that we needed someone of real strength, real determination and the prime minister just shone out as that and you'll probably recall number 10 in the home office sometimes had an interesting relationship between the two of them but I'd always found her as a woman that conducted herself with such dignity and there was a real inner strength and you've seen that and when I was fortunate enough to be her chief whip I saw that strength every day I saw that stoicism and it's a real privilege because a very different character to David when he was prime minister but it is great to see that contrast”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In an argument, but he'll be willing to shift his position if he recognize he had lost the argument, but it would be always difficult to beat David Cameron in argument.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You can always bash back, and it was a great experience. I was almost three years being David's parliamentary private secretary, being in those morning meetings at 8.30, working with some really brilliant people, people who had gone to Oxford and Cambridge, very different background to me. I always felt that I was fortunate that I'd had a different set of life experiences than they have. And I think that's important in politics. If we don't be able to draw from your background, your experiences and be willing to talk about them, you're at a bit of a loss. But seeing David operate, I mean, he's a brilliant Prime Minister. He would always take a position and you would have to argue against him and he could be, frankly, a bit bloody brutal. But it was a great way. Very confrontation.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, the great thing with being born a Yorkshireman, you always know you're right. So you can have those arguments. So you could back.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think for conservative parties, brilliant by the fact that it's got people from all backgrounds and who have come to be in the party and BMPs through lots of different routes. I just feel real sense I'm incredibly lucky. I had the best thing anyone can have. I had a loving family that gave me so much and gave me so much support. That is incredibly important and I wouldn't trade that for the world.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I had great opportunity to work in manufacturing, work in ceramics. It was a great thing to go into the factory every morning, have the opportunity to walk the factory floor. I've always taken the view you learn so much by walking the factory floor, talking to people, and politics is no different. The danger in politics is if you hold yourself aloof, you step away. I'm incredibly lucky, you know, when I go back up to Scarborough to see mates I went to school with, have a few beers with them, they're always the ones who tell it to you in the most blunt way. When I go back home, back to my constituency where I live up in Wolverhampton, the great thing about the folk of Staffordshire and Wolverhampton, they always tell it bluntly and they always tell it clearly it keeps you clearly, clearly grounded.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like to think that they feel a lot of pride because they understand as I do, if you do not have that argument, that debate, those people that oppose one another, then you don't have democracy.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was the local MP taking the cash off me to join me up to the party. That was probably the moment I needed to have to get on with.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, to a degree, but the real moment where instead of just thinking about politics was the moment to place my bet as to where I wanted to go. I'd had this interest and I was lucky enough when I was a I did work experience with a local MP and it was a guy called John Sykes who had been the MP for a few years and I had the opportunity to go out with him and see what it was like being a member of Parliament and you saw how he was really involved in the community. He was helping people at surgeries, how he was, you know, community groups and I thought this was really, really amazing. And at the end of the time, I was just about to go off to do my Saturdays job. I'd spent the morning with him just about to do the afternoon shift. And he said, so Gav, are you going to join the party? And I thought, wow, I suppose I might as well do. How much does it cost? He said, how much have you got? And I emptied my pockets. And he said, well, that'll do. And he took the cash. And that was my bus fare home. And I was a member of a Tory party. And I knew in my heart that that's where I wanted to be.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The values that I think of my granddad having and my grandparents having and my parents do, they're very much of the same values that course through my veins. I just have a different approach, a different thinking about how you deliver them. And I think the Conservative Party and how conservatives approach it is a much better way of delivering it than the Labour Party.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I always remember the ninety two election and sat there and you saw that Basledon resort come in and the real upset that my dad felt, the real sense of the victory being taken away from him that he was expecting Labour to have. But that passion that he has, and my family had for politics, equally inspired me to think realize how important it was and the sense of how it could change.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sense and importance that he put on his trade union about how that was protecting him and his friends, and that real sense of community and belonging, and that I think really infused me of the portance of politics.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, my mum and dad aren't conservatives. My grandparents weren't conservatives. But in many ways, I'm incredibly grateful to them because I think of the amount of times that we'd have political discussions for the fact that they really cared about politics. They weren't involved in politics. Many of my family were members of the Labour Party and met or are members of the Labour Party, but there was a real interest in having that discussion. I drew so much from them and I always remember with my granddad he was a man who from the age of fifteen to a day before he died he always worked in the quarries. I always remember him coming back home on a Friday and handing over his brown wage packet to my grand and she'd give him like there you go Frank there's some money for the week and put a real sense of providing for his family”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very much. My father's a Yorkshireman, my mother's from Derbyshire, and when my mother mum was pregnant, my dad thought, well, he weren't able to play for Yorkshire if he's born in Derbyshire, so he got a job in Yorkshire, they moved to Yorkshire, and I was born there, but sadly it's proved that Yorkshire changed its rules so anyone could play for them, and it wasn't actually that good at cricket. So I was a bit of a disappointment on that score.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You just love to talk about Brexit. You do realize you'll wipe out half your listenership as soon as you get onto the Brexit.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would always draw the comparison to being the regimental sergeant major. Yes, you're there to deliver for the government and for the Prime Minister, but equally you're there to protect the interests of the backbenchers as well. It's an interesting blend of the two.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People never believe this about whipping, the art of whipping is to listen. My granddad always used to say to me, you've got two ears and one mouth and you should use them in proportion. And there's a truth to that when you're whipping. You've got to listen as to what is happening in Parliament. You've got to be listening as to what people's concerns are. You've got to sometimes be trying to decipher as to what they're really meaning. There'll sometimes be a bit of a front as to they'll be raising a particular concern, but the concern may be slightly lies elsewhere. So it's having that knowledge and understanding of which way Parliament's shifting. And more often than not, you're trying to persuade government to change its mind and adapt in order to give back benches the opportunity to support government.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is what I shouldn't have been saying, but I've always been a lover of wildlife. Who does not love wildlife? And to be able to bring a little bit of nature into your office, though it must be said when I brought a tarantula back home, I think I'd have been much more popular if I brought back a puppy. So I live and learn, Nick. Next time it will be a puppy that I ring that cups.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nick, this is going to be the only interesting thing on my obituary. The Greek god Who usurped his father for them and Ace's children. But I don't want you to say... I was worried that”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm bound to say it's got to be hope, it's got to be charm. You've got to win over in terms of the arguments. Very rarely do people do things for you because they feel threatened. They more often than not do things for you because they like you, because you're helping them, you're putting the arguments forward, they're able to win you over. And I look at what Julian's doing, and of course Julian, the current chief whit was Murray Deputy Brilliant, brilliant guy, and he's having to juggle so many different things and Abyssami can never resist Parliament every morning I still go into the members' tea room, sniff the air, see how it's all going.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's fair to say, Nick, a little bit of both you sometimes think to yourself when you're chief whip you're right at the heart of everything. You're so often clearing things up, sorting things out, you are there being that fixer. So the political junkie, I think, that all politicians are. You occasionally wish you're there, but I think on balance I prefer being defence secretary. It feels a lot safer.”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The armed forces, the Ministry of Defence always stands ready to help any government if there are any issues that happen to come up. We've had no request through the military aid to civilian authorities, but we'd always be ready to respond”
2019-03-08 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Gavin Williamson One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source