YouSaid · the spoken record

George Freeman

lines on the record: 39
first: 2023-06-23
most recent: 2023-06-23
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

“Because I'd like to sort of, I'm driven by this very strong sense of there isn't much time. If you don't keep driving on and keep pushing for change, give yourself no comfort, then you will end up stasis is dangerous And I think I would say to my younger self, you have more time than you think. And, you know, I think certainly in my case, and I think in lots of people, the perspective that drives you when you're young can, as you get older and you see how the world works, you realize some things are safer than you think and other things are less safe. And I would hope the case fact would be very short, then we could have a beer.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Genuinely, the reason I'm so energized by Rishis Enak's leadership is that I think they can see in him a sort of Joe Root of politics. He walks to the crease and he is diligent, careful, can absolutely own his space. He's set out the right standards. He's repairing the damage of the last two or three years, rebuilding trust, and setting us on the path.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We need to look at this, and historians will look back and say, I think this was the culmination of a kind of 45-year service economy, boom and bust economics, volatility, not enough trickle down, London doing well, but much of the country left behind. That fuels a Brexit referendum that's incredibly disruptive, Parliament disrupted for a few years, then there's a pandemic. 20,000 people die. The biggest economic scarrings for 350 years. And then just as you're recovering, boom, a war in Europe, and Putin turns the gas taps off and triggers a recession.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that's overly pessimistic. It is totally true that we've been through the most extraordinary period of political and economic rupture. I mean, 13 years ago, we were reeling from the crash of 2007-08. We had to repair that coalition government I served in. We had to repair the public finances. Very tough yards. I happened to think that partly led to some of the anger that drove then a Brexit referendum, huge disruption, then a pandemic, and then a war.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And we have a plan, which I put together if the EU hesitate, then we will crack on with our pioneer plan to do much more globally.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and the negotiations are very close to completion. And if we can't get a decent price, I mean, basically it's a seven-course restaurant, and we were locked out of the restaurant for the first two or three courses, so we need to not be charged for that that we've missed, basically.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We were stuck because of the Northern Ireland Protocol. We negotiated to be in Horizon. The EU said not while the Northern Ireland Protocol is in play. I mean, it was pretty weaponized. The Prime Ministers unlocked that through the Windsor Framework. We've gone back and said, we want to come back in. We just need to agree a fair price.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, I think two points. Firstly, we do need scientists in Parliament. And actually, I think in our government, we're very lucky. We have a chief scientist in every department. Churchill put this structure in place. He appointed the first science minister, Lord Cherwell, back in the war. We're known around the world at the G7 last week and the G20 in a couple of weeks. We're really known as a country that takes science seriously. And we have distinguished scientists in the House of Lords, not enough in the Commons. There's a few. But actually, I think my case is one in point. We don't just need scientists. You need people who get the science research, technology, and innovation economy. You need people who know how to harness it, invest in it, grow companies in it.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's a good question. No, I mean fifteen years of working in the science research and technology sector, funding starting founding companies four or five years in early stage startup finance, four years running an AI toxicology software business. And then seven years I work around the UK hospitals, universities with industry putting together research institutes”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, and it's a very interesting domain space because we're emerging out of and from a sort of vertical sovereign Cold War military space landscape, sort of China, Russia or the US, into a commercial domain where China is building huge commercial and constellation satellites, America, the same NASA's outsourced it all to Elon Musk. And OneWeb is a global constellation that we help put together that's commercial and open. And we've now got real issues about debris, about management of space traffic control, and making sure that we're not cluttering the low orbits with so much metal that it's a danger, risk, and interferes with science. And I'm delighted that we are leading on that, and this year working on putting together the world's first industry-led kite mark.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, look, I think there's a bit of alarmism, there's a bit of kind of look at us, but there's something also much more serious, which is the serious people are saying, look, regenerative AI, the AI that has an ability to develop and grow its own faculty, regardless of how you programmed it, opens a new box. But we've been here before, and that is Siris, Prime Minister signaled that we intend to lead in helping to frame those global regulations. But we have been here before. We were here with embryology. Baroness Warnock ended up doing that big commission, Royal Commission work, set out an intellectual, political legal framework, which we led, and it's worked. And everyone works on embryology for medical research, but there's no concern at the moment about that getting out of hand. And we've done it with other technologies. And I think the Prime Minister's right to signal that we have a big role to play in setting those frameworks.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, but it's easier because it's quicker, it's faster, it's more intelligent, and it's better measured. So I go around the world signing science and technology agreements with nations, and I'm always looking for the thing they really need from us. And with two of the world's top three universities, we have an incredible research base, entrepreneurial culture, and all of that. And they know the government support. The thing that a lot of innovators really need is somewhere they can get their thing tested proven to work. And if it's not working quite right yet, get the data so they can develop it. So take autonomous vehicles in the Milton Keynes, Northampton Corridor. We've got the world's first proper testbed for doing all sorts of autonomous vehicles. I'd like us to designate it, make it, brand it, shape it, and make it a place where everyone around the world brings their AV. So I think there's a big opportunity for us. It's not deregulation. It's leadership in setting the regulation in these new sectors, including AI, actually.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, let me come to the score, but I think the first point is there are challenges and opportunities. And I think people have been quite surprised by how strongly I've insisted that, look, the people have voted, we now have to grip the levers of opportunity that we now have that we didn't have before, even if you didn't vote for this freedom. So in my sector of science research, technology innovation, we now have regulation and procurement freedoms, which we didn't have. And given the pace at which these technologies are moving, we have an opportunity which I'm working on and delivering, to make the UK the world's testbed, sandboxed regulatory testbed for technologies for more autonomous vehicles, to drones to AI, to bioengineered crops by creating designated places where we lay the foundations, we digitally measure the impact, we do the science of regular...”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's always a balance. I think when you've been prime minister, it's the highest office in the land and you will be controversial. Many will disagree with you. You will be opposed at every moment. So I don't think one can set quite the same bar for a prime minister as a business leader”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There are various conventions, and I think the fact that if you served as Prime Minister, I think whether or not you agree with them, whether or not there are some conventions that just stand, I think it is pretty important, and all parties have respected this convention. I think the bigger challenge is that we have to address.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think it is in the same way, actually, at all. Now, I mean, Rishi Sunak, I think, is very clearly setting us on a different path, a very responsible, diligent statesman-like path of repair, renewal, of rebuilding the bridges through Brexit. I think the Windsor Framework was a mastership of statecraft that he hasn't really had the credit for yet. I think the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the prism through which Europe works. So I think we've moved on a lot.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To be clear, I was warning that we were in danger of drifting into that situation by default and that post-Brexit, it seemed to me I had been a loud remainer, but I'm also a Democrat. My constituency voted 62% to leave, and May was very quick to say, all of us now own this decision, and we've got to shape it in the spirit of a generous one-nation conservatism, not in the spirit of a 4852 narrow marginal victory. And I was trying to warn that if we didn't act in that spirit, that's where we'd end up drifting to.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know what Boris is doing. I think he's such a high energy character that he will always, I think, sort of project out and beam out a sort of Durasel energy of possibilities to keep everyone on their toes. But I think everyone is focused now. The Prime Minister is focused. I'm focused as a minister, the government and the whole parliamentary party. I was very struck actually. I came back into parliament on that Monday thinking there might be quite a schism. There really wasn't. I could hardly find an MP, even particularly people who'd supported Boris very strongly, who didn't feel we have to move on, we have to signal that this is all over.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think, I mean, legitimate views. I think many felt that. Been a bit of a kind of anti Boris backlatch. Many feel it was a bit of a stitch up, foregone conclusion. I don't share those views. It was a parliamentary committee. It was cross-party. We had our own colleagues on it. And I thought their report was very clear. And I thought it was a moment for us to stand behind parliamentary process.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“UR Because in our system, it's a parliamentary system and it's really important that the executive does not control parliament. And I think he's absolutely right not to cross that line, give it a free vote and let people decide. And there are lots of views. But for me personally, and others will have a different view. That's a strength of our democracy. But for me, Responsibility is Line 1 of my Conservatism. So for me, it's particularly difficult to accept that people aren't taking responsibility. And I think that is line one of my conservatism. If you believe it, you have to say it and act on it”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, firstly, I think it was, the Prime Minister did the right thing to make clear this is Parliament is sovereign and it's not for the Prime Minister to tell Parliament how to behave and I think everyone knows that Rishi Sunak sets a very high bar and is you know I was very cheered when he came into number 10 and made very clear that he takes a very different view about standards so”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do. I think if you scratch beneath most politicians in Parliament, whether you agree with them or not, and of all persuasions, you have to be pretty driven to get there. And understanding that drive, what it is, and in my experience, it's very often more personal than is obvious, is a key part of it.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, a few things. One can never do enough, but I do support the National Association of Children of Alcoholics, NACOA, and the Michael Palin Institute. I stammered very, very badly and try and support those charities who are helping children who are struggling. And I think there's a lot of silent suffering and a lot of children who still, despite the great work, don't know that it's okay.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and I think a lot of children all around the country, I think, find themselves in this area. So I found myself taking a lot of responsibility at a rather young age. And I think in that situation, you sort of have a choice, which is well, anyway, I ended up developing a worldview that, ah, this is a test. If I pass this test, if I can handle this responsibility, and if I can show some enterprise, and if I can go with this, this will be the ultimate proving ground. This will be my dad's grand national for me. These will be the fences I have to jump to win the trophy. And I think it was a very powerful sort of combination”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I was staring at it, and he said, Stop dawdling for him and keep up, come along. And I said, sir, I want to know what, you said, don't touch, but people have been touching. He said, no, that's where the ministers touch it when they're answering questions. And that like a worm buried into my head, and I thought They're having to take responsibility How fantastic”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a clumsy process. But there is a place where someone's in charge here. How extraordinary. And then he said, don't touch anything. And I looked at the corner of the dispatch box, which was at my head height. And it had been touched, you know, rubbed hard, like Churchill's shoe outside.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, many people, including my mother actually, have asked me, when did you decide you wanted to do this? And I was very clear, age 10, coping with a whole bunch of difficult stuff at home. And anyone who's been in that situation with, you know, I think children often carry a lot of pressure in families that are broken and struggling and where there's drink and it's difficult. And certainly in my experience, you sort of keep it pretty private. You don't want to be disloyal. You don't reach out for much help. You just get on with it. And I walked into the House of Commons on a school trip, you know, one of those. I see them all the time now. Kids in little blazers. And I was at the back. And I remember him saying that the teacher, don't touch anything, don't sit down. And it's a pretty striking building. You walk into this chamber. What electrified me, I remember it, was, oh my God, there is a place where the nation takes responsibility. I mean, I now know.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, no. So I was, my mother's mother, Granny, Daphne Gladstone, and there's a huge family. There are lots of Gladstone was one of what? six, I think. I mean, there's a lot of cousins. And because of partly her marriage and our life, we didn't grow up knowing those cousins. And my grandmother died when I was two, I think. So I remember her as a very kindly intelligent, she was a very clever woman, a great sort of crossword doer. But I know I didn't know that family.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, I mean, if you, yeah, my sort of mission politics character was really shaped by... Three big things which you've sort of described a child of a pretty dysfunctional home, wondering if, as I think a lot of children in these situations, whatever their background do, is this what I'm kind of trapped in? And I looked up and saw sort of three inspiring things. I saw this distinguished political heritage, Gladstone and great uncles who'd been national liberal MPs in the Northeast. I saw this absent sporting hero father. I grew up in Newmarkets where everyone had known him. People used to say your dad was one of the greats. Others didn't because of the drinking and they were embarrassed. And a stepfather who said, look, I'm not your father, but you can achieve anything you want if you're prepared to work hard.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, that pretty much reduces me to tears every time I hear it. That's the commentary of Dad's Grand National. 1958, the last year before it was filmed on the BBC. So that wonderful path of, yes, Britain's won the war and 200,000 happy people are at Aintry. It's a great race. By legend, Little Irish horse and dad came from an old hunting family. I mean, they were fieldsmen. And the Grand National back in the day, huge fences. The old saying was, you know, hunt the first lap, race the second. He was actually last over the beaches and just gave his horse a very good ride, a proper hedgeman, knew how to get around the fences, and then he raced the second.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, he was never actually champion, but he was right up there. He had the great misfortune to be riding at the same time as the Tony McCoy of his day. So he was sort of second in the table over a 10-year period. And he rode in seven Grand Nationals. He rode four Peter Cazlet, who trained the Queen Mother Sauses. So, yeah, he rode for the Queen Mother's jump horses.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I'm poor guy. He lost his wife he loved, his three children, his livelihood, his reputation all gone, and he spent 20 years in Newmarket with a bottle of whiskey and a council flat. I was very lucky. I mean, my mother's family, we were materially well off, but so we were looked after. And then she remarried my stepfather. I was age two great man who was a great and still is my greatest friend.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“End of a career pulled out from under a ditch. No more riding offer, went into training brilliant horsemen, not a natural businessman. Dark dog, depression, addiction, drink, gambling, the usual. It happens to so many sporting greats. And I was born into the end game of that. And aged 11 months, it all went pear-shaped, divorce, bankruptcy, the bailiffs turned up. Police took me out of his arms and I was made a ward of court. The police. Yeah, he was drinking and didn't, I mean, poor man, his life was collapsing. You're not taking my children away from me.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, all my brothers, he finished his riding career with a bad head injury. I mean, those days, jockeys were wearing cork helmets. I mean, there's a professional jump jockey. You're banging your head. He was riding professionally 10, 15 years. And we now know a lot more about what that does.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think probably. I mean, I meet lots of people still who knew mum and dad. He's sadly no longer with us. Mum lives up in Norfolk and is magnificently indefatigable and resilient. And I meet lots of people who knew them when they were a young couple and say they were in the early 60s, they were incredibly glamorous and exciting couple. But it didn't work out for them.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, it is the key word. For me, it's about responsibility taken. By those who should, and given to those who can as a sort of civic virtue.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes and no. I think no in the sense that ultimately, like every technology, like every market, like every big societal change, in the end, it has to be got to grips with, and that will require both legislation, but also consent. And that will require parliaments, governments to do it. And I think what's interesting actually about this is that the tech leaders have been coming to politicians to say, please help us lay some tramlines for this. Help us carry public support by showing that we have got this under control, particularly the regenerative AI. So I think they're acknowledging they need us. And also, I think it's just the pace. This is all happening so fast. And there are a few other things going on in Parliament. We struggle at times, I think, to move at the pace that technologies do. But history suggests to me, whether it's the levellers or steam engine, railways, yes, it's all getting quicker. We will harness these for good.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“a bit of both, a bit more depressing than amusing, really, and I know I'm sort of famously earnest about these things. I think firstly it does illustrate a cultural difference between the UK and the US for all of our deep allegiances. And one of the things, it also highlights, is the power and the scale of these technologies we're now dealing with. And I, as Minister of State in the Department of Science and Technology, we are dealing with. How does Little Britain frame an approach to these technologies embedded in our values that the public, the citizens, the people we're here to serve feel confident that, as we've done with other technologies, they reflect their values. When at times I think it looks as though the big tech game is being run by a few people around the world who have very different values.”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a great story. My first reaction was presumably this is a metaphyte and it will be online and this is then I realize it's for real. They're talking about it's the tech bros getting down somewhere, I think, in some cage. I mean quite extraordinary. Do you find it?”
2023-06-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The George Freeman One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source