YouSaid · the spoken record

Jonathan Reynolds

lines on the record: 43
first: 2021-04-30
most recent: 2021-04-30
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 hope so. I mean, people will know that Sunderland's record at Wembley was one of the worst of any team. We finally actually won at Wembley. It was the year no one could actually go and watch the team. So yes, I can't wait to get in there. We may hopefully arrest the recent decline still end up in the playoffs in League One. So if we could get to that at Wembley again, that would be fantastic. But look, compared to the other hardships people have had in this pandemic, that's a minor concern.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If I could pick any job Run Sunderland Football Club. In fact, I think, to be honest, if you offer me that or being the Prime Minister, I couldn't tell you exactly which job I'd like to do. Once, of course, I would have said I'd like to play for Sunderland. So it's a sign of how we're getting older that you dream instead of administering the club. But I'd love football. I love in particular Sunday. I honestly, I probably think about Sunday football club at some point in every working day. I just can't help it. So that will be really my dream job. If it wasn't that, I don't know. I mean, I think it's a bit dull to say I'd go back to trying to be a solicitor. Might maybe take the faith route and retrain as a vicar or something like that. So there's a few varied options there anyway, depending how that works out.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think hold your nerve, but also all we can say right now is say a contest like Hartley Pool, that's clearly going to be close either way. And actually whether you win a seat by a few thousand or you lose a seat by a few thousand, it can feel a huge difference. Winning or losing is clearly important, but actually the lessons would be the same, wouldn't they? We're not where we need to be. I mean, that's what we should be able to agree on. And actually, you know, I think sometimes these will be a challenging set of elections for all the reasons that we know about the pandemic and the vaccine balance and so forth. But the question is going to be, are we heading in the right direction? I'm absolutely certain to keep here that we are.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, absolutely fair. I mean, that is absolutely fair. I mean, I love most MPs. I'm on social media. I'm on all the different platforms. But I do sometimes I look at Twitter and I think the gulf between this and the discourse here, I'm talking to people about my constituency is just so different. I mean, the gulf is absolutely enormous. I know one of the lessons from the Joe Biden campaign was they felt platforms like Twitter were just not worth the effort. And I wouldn't go that far, but I think you've got to You've got to understand that, you know, politics can't just be talking to each other about things we all broadly agree with and have these internal disagreements. And when I see some of the criticism at times, for instance, of someone like Kia, and then you go out and talk to people and you see those opinion polls that say, yeah, most people think he's doing a good job. They think he is a potential prime minister, something we haven't had, to be honest, for quite a while in terms of public opinion. I think he's improved the Labour Party. And that is what people in my constituency tell me. It isn't always reflected sometimes.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think What's with the two major parties, the Conservative Labour Party, they're very different cultures, very different backgrounds. I mean, I perceive having been in the House of Commons for 10 years, it seems to be much easier for the Conservative Party just to pick people who have no real prior involvement with them and put them into Parliament as to conservative MPs. Whereas, you know, in the Labour Party, you probably wouldn't get selected unless you talked about how you've done your time, you've been a branch secretary, you've been in a union branch. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but those are two really different cultures. And I think to be honest, they come from the fact that historically the Lead Party kind of grew up, a movement grew outside of Parliament and then tried to get people in Parliament, whereas the Conservatives did the opposite. They were in Parliament. They had to then build a kind of national political grassroots party around that.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think actually on the conservative side, they seem to have a much easier position of looking off to agree with everything we're about. But with this big tendent. And political bodies have to be a big tent. And I think we've got to be cautious about that.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think you have to do that as a politician, but I'm always, I mean, look, my constituency, I'm talking to you from now in Steeling Bridge and Hyde, Labour's held the seat since 1945. But despite that, at each election, there will have been a substantial conservative vote, 20 or 30% or something like that, even in good years for Labour. And so you have to understand that your job is to talk to people who you might disagree with. And actually, I love that bit of it. I've never found a problem with that. I was the shadow city minister in the Treasury team under Jeremy's leadership, and you might think that would be a difficult gig at times. But honestly, I had no problem at all. Great relationships with people. Found it very easy to talk to them about what we were about, what they were about, and find that. So for me, that's the basis of politics. And I worry, to be honest, on the labor side, increasingly, I see people who almost, they're almost kind of saying, we should only engage with people who we broadly agree with on most.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I never feel that. I'm always happy to talk about it. I do feel that when you're a politician and you're asked about it, you've got to understand that, look, I mean, there are people whose lives have been really badly damaged by policies at various times in this country which were justified from a faith perspective. I mean, as a Christian, served on the same-sex marriage bill committee, you know, where you do the legislation line by line. And I think things would be different now. It doesn't seem that long ago, but obviously the majority of conservative MPs voted against that legislation. And some of the emails you'd receive from people who were saying themselves that they were Christians were appalling. I mean, it was discriminatory, abusive, language being used. So you've got to understand that if people's lives have been harmed, they might be skeptical of that and you maybe need to tell them what it means to you, why you reject the things that they may be worried about. But I mean, you can't, if you are a Christian, certainly you can't say.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hugely. I'm a Christian, I'm the chair of Christians on the left, which is the faith affiliate to the Labour Party. It used to be called the Christian Socialist Movement. It's something which has become a bigger thing whilst being an MP. So I would always have described myself as a Christian. I'm not sure in retrospect I could have really said I understood what I thought that meant, but it has become something much bigger part of my life over the last decade. I think it's a huge asset if you are in public life to have something that underpins that, to have something you draw strength from personally. I mean, I understand the skepticism people have about faith in politics because they perhaps look at American politics and some of those Republican candidates where they almost kind of use a, you know, I go to church to vote for me. I mean, that's not what it's about. And by the way, it's also not about the people who sometimes use faith to endorse discriminatory positions, particularly on LGBT plus issues.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This criticism of Kia as being centrist or too cautious, I mean people got to take a step back and actually put their perhaps prejudice to one side and look at it. We're not on the center. We're on the left. You know, we're on the left, on the economy, we're on the left in my agenda and social security. Of course, we recognize we've got to reach out and win support for that agenda. But the two things are not exclusive at all. And if anyone underestimates the will that Keya Starmer has to address the real problems this country has and produce something better not just go back to what we had before the pandemic, but produce something better. Well, honestly, they're really underestimating him. And if they give him some time when we're not in these pandemic conditions, when we've got a bit more scope and freedom to talk about the wider agenda, they're not going to be disappointed by that.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think we can be too worried about being credible because that is the challenge. I don't think credibility is a term only used on the center or the right of the Labour Party. I mean, I think everyone recognizes, and to be honest, go back to say that the 2017 manifesto under Jeremy, you know, very clear spending plans produced by the Treasury team. I was part of alongside that. So, you know, I think everyone recognizes that's the challenge. Joe Biden is an inspiration for progressives. There may be some lessons to learn. I mean, I remember some of the criticisms that Joe Biden got when he was yet to win the election, sometimes from the left, you know, too cautious, not radical enough, not offering enough. Now, he's actually shown the big differences, what you can do in power is tremendous. It doesn't mean it.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think it's just binary as that. I think people generally, when they look at the Labour Party, they know we have often the best intentions. They just want to know can we deliver it? Do we accept their restrictions on that? There's only so much we can do. And I think crucially we have to show that we can grow the overall economy as well as have a view on how it's divided up in terms of support for people, be that social security or any other aspect of policy. You can never underestimate as a politician how generally less engaged than you want them to be a lot of voters are. We have to work and it's quite right. We have to work and earn the right to cut through and get our message across to those people. And those simple caricatures are often the frame that people look at politics through. So it's a challenge on the Tory side for that. But for us, we've got to show not just that we have people will listen to me and think, well, he wants to tackle poverty, wants to tackle destitution. That's maybe what I expect from the Labour Party. I think the next stages showing you've really got to apply.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Who shoved to jump through? I think there is an increasing awareness that the kind of targets for sanctions, so shocking things like a person who attends a job interview, an actual work interview and misses their interview with the job center, so they're sanctioned because of that. Now they'll win that on appeal, but the two weeks sanction where they lose their income will put them into a spiral of insecurity and difficulty, which clearly isn't right. So I think the argument has changed as the system has changed. And I do feel from the pandemic, not completely across the board, but the fact is we have had to introduce as a country, even the conservatives have had to introduce some major changes because what we had would not have got us through the pandemic. I mean, that is why furlough was created. That is why the Universal Credit Uplift happened, why other parts of the system, the sanctions and so forth, were suspended.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think the important thing to say is the welfare state inherited by the government in 1997 was a very different one to what we have today. I mean, there were issues then of, for instance, what age should your children be when you're expected to look for a job and things that maybe did cause resentment, but they've gone now. I mean, they're long gone. And the kind of argument, if you hear it like that, is often really a historical one. I mean, most people are shocked to find out just how much conditionality is in the system. I think increasingly people expect.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, you want to play the man, not the ball, but George Osborne is a person who was born into a level of wealth that meant he never had to work. And so I kind of resent the argument coming from someone like that, who frankly is using that for political ends rather than truly trying to reflect how people genuinely feel about that.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The kind of argument you've put, you do hear that, but it is much more nuanced than you would think. So for instance, things like the bedroom tax, incredibly unpopular. There is huge support here for keeping the universal credit uplift. So it can't just be put into that strong or weak line. And I've got to be honest, I really condemn the George Osborne rhetoric, the phrase that he introduced, I think, for the first time, a phrase like you just used, because it's led to some terrible policy.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Universe basically there was not a kind of pull the sleever here's the plan that you could do it but the reason people are interested in that debate around those points about a system that gives people real support and security that doesn't stigmatize people those reasons that people haven't why they're interested in that I absolutely share that I think those can become core elements of our system so I engage in this debate I don't think As I say there's a plan you can pick up and adopt i don't think anyone has ever thought that a system of ubi in any country would be an alternative to work that you could just pay people to the kind of you know median wage that would allow them not to do that”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not quite. I agree with the point on work, but the point that a lot of people are attracted to a UBI type approach is because that work seamlessly with work. You don't have any withdrawal from when you work more hours. And of course, that means you don't have the kind of poverty traps there sometimes are created. But it is about practicalities if you do my job because there isn't on the shelf a system of UBI that you can just pick up and say.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have been one of the Labour MPs, I think, most interested in this debate. I'm interested in ideas. You talk about UBI. I mean, the first thing to say is I've always said whilst I'm interested in it. Got to acknowledge the practical problems of this, and that is in particular how you would address housing costs and how you would deal with support for disabled people who quite rightly are worried that that would mean some sort of dilution of the support.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It should be all those things. I mean, that list you've just given, none of that is mutually exclusive. I mean, I feel that my mission in this job is to produce a package of policies that will address the destitution, the in-work poverty in particular that I think has become far too common a feature of this country over the last 10 years. I mean, you should not go to a supermarket with your children and have to explain no matter where you are in the country that just donating to the food bank is part and parcel of how we live in this country now. I mean, there's no reason that that should exist. And tackling poverty is not just about social security, it's also about work and the quality of work and jobs and wages and housing costs and other things like that. But social security should be a part of it.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think that is the question you've got to ask. And for me, you need a system of social security to ensure people against the risks that they cannot ensure themselves against. So that could be a major pandemic or a global financial crisis making them unemployed. It could be circumstances in their family perhaps with disability. And whatever way you look at it, the system that we have right now is not doing that.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And on disability, I think there's a huge amount that needs to do. I mean, I think we've been having this row since the pandemic began with the government that people who are on what we call legacy benefits, that's in the main employment support allowance or job seekers allowance, they're now getting far less money than people on universal credit because the ones hadn't uplifted and the other one hasn't. I mean, that should be a national scandal. The government just cannot defend it. And it does anger me. It does sort of make me very passionate that that isn't the bigger part of our national discourse. So I think there's a lot that needs to happen in policy terms, whether it's disabled people. And I can't do everything, but I know what I need to change.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, all of it feels in many ways like my entire life experience. This is the perfect job for me to take that into. I mean, I'm not interested in finding the political battles of the 1980s again. I mean, you've always got to look to the future, but I look at that time of, you know, major economic change, whichever side you were on, the mines closing, the shipyards closing, unemployment in Tyne and Weir at the time, extraordinary compared to what we even think of as high. Today, And I think the government at the time didn't do enough to help people through that transition. I think that's a lesson we've got to learn when we look at automation or what the future will bring.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What is he talking I mean Politics isn't everything, you know. Korea isn't everything, the family environment and what that means, how you appreciate things. I mean, it's also partly... When you're an MP, people do come to you with quite difficult problems, and I just appreciate, despite the difficulties and challenges that I have in my life, just everything I have. And that is a part of it. But that said, there are things I wish I could do with Jack. I wish he could look to a future with his own family and things, or even just being able to take into a football match because, you know, the noise of a football crowd would always be too much sensory stimulation, Jack. There are things that you wish you could do and you can't have. So that is part of it. But within that overall feeling of feeling, you know, blessed to have him for that relationship, what that has meant for me personally. I grew up a huge amount being a young dad. I mean, I don't think I'd become an MPH 29 if I haven't had the experience of that and what that meant.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because that's the situation. There are things, I mean, I broadly feel, to be honest, that Jack is in a way given more to me than I can to him because of the things he has taught me and how I understand the world and, you know, where I've been at certain times in my life and what that's meant for the family, which is worked out personally for me.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's difficult to get the words right without inadvertently offending anybody. I mean, there are limitations on Jack's life that are really hard as a parent to see. And Ideally, obviously wish he wasn't constrained in that way. And that's maybe different to some other people's experiences because it's more about acceptance for them and education.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the nature of the spectrum and how different people are affected requires an understanding that policy or things we have in place cannot be one size fits all. And for some people, there are people on the spectrum who can not only work full-time but have incredible capabilities if the right support is given for them. There are other people and for me for my son this is the problem. It is to be honest quite hard to see how he will ever be able to live independently or work because that's just not the situation he's in. So I want the support tailored to people's individual circumstances. But I think there's a sort of...”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First of all, the spectrum, so there's no typical person with autism. I mean, a lot of people's experience of autism is the film Rainman. Everyone hasn't got a special talent. That isn't how it is. I think the treatment of disabled people generally by our society is very wanting at times. I think disabilities that are not always obvious, neurobehaviour rather than, you know, physical disability, there's not a lot of understanding, I think, about that. And I think this is a great country compared to many others on many different factors, but there is still a lot we need to do to make this country a place that is fit for people, for all disabled people.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're all in this position whether it's a personal and political interest, families get in touch from around the country with you, not constituents and they share stories and a lot of them are very challenging and there is still a lot that needs to happen, particularly people struggling to get diagnoses and education and healthcare plans in place. But I think things have improved. I mean, the late Cheryl Gillen in particular with her work on the Autism Act and the government having to have a strategy, the general awareness amongst parliamentarians that the National Autistic Society in particular have campaigned on. There's some good stuff that's happened definitely.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You realize quite early on that maybe something isn't entirely as it is, but especially when you have a split parenting situation, you wonder if it's just the adjustment to that. If it's your first child, I think with later children, you would know straight away, but with your first child, then you're quite young and naive. You didn't tell straight away. But I remember in particular going into a parent's evening and seeing the other children's work on the wall and realizing, you know, that the Jax was not just behind, but something entirely different altogether. And that realization, I could still feel that now really, really difficult. Because you don't know what to do. You don't know what to do that would be best for them and how to tackle that. That's a really difficult, really difficult moment.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, that has been one of the biggest challenges of life, as well as Jack being diagnosed. He wasn't diagnosed particularly young, so we had the questions of not understanding really the situation he was in and myself and Jack's mum, you know, we didn't stay together. My wife now is Jack's stepmom and we shared parenting with his mom and ourselves and everything on that side is really good, but it's obviously difficult when you're young and you're trying to make all that work. But I mean, I'm always conscious of there are lots of families in a much more challenging position than mine. And even other families who have a young person with autism, it's a spectrum, so there's an even more challenging set of circumstances for some people than we have. But it has been, it's been difficult.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I graduated from Manchester. I was still obviously relatively young first class degree. I've been elected to the student union executive. All of those things. But I did, yeah, my girlfriend at the time was becoming pregnant and it changed things quite a lot. I wanted to go always wanted to become a solicitor. So I had to go as a mature student. So life changed quite a bit around that. I had to fit a lot of things in around that. I mean, I still people will notice I never intended to become an MP in the 2010 general election. I wanted to continue qualify as a solicitor and be a local councillor at the same time and have those two things. And obviously I was really into politics. I thought long term I'd try and stand for parliament at some point. But I only became an MP. I selected something like 30, 6 days before the 2010 election because James Fanella had quit as people might remember. So you have all the pressures of deciding. And it really turned things upside down. But absolutely becoming a dad really young. Not easy times. I mean, this was not.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think a lot of, I can understand why people feel at times there's been too much of a focus on young people going to university, but I think we should never forget the brilliant thing it can do for people like me from those working class backgrounds. And, you know, the way it opens your eyes, not just the opportunities and the learning you get, but that whole experience.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I had no experience of any sort of diversity. I mean, I come from, not just from Sunday, I come from a place called Hortonley Spring, which is a small mining town between Durham and Sunderland. For me, Sunderland was the big city. We'd call that going into town. So I remember, I mean, this is an absurd story, but I remember being at a bus stop on Oxford Road in Manchester, where my halls of residents were just down the road from Rusholm. And I thought there'd been some sort of explosion, something had gone on in Rush Holm. And it was Ed and it was just people driving down the road of fireworks and beeping their horns. And this woman at the bus stop said to me, have you never heard of Eid before? And I hadn't. I mean, I had never come across it. It seems a ridiculous thing to say now, but it was such a change. But Manchester, I mean, I just love everything about Manchester. I'm so proud of coming from the North East, but Manchester is a city and now being an MP for one of the constituencies in Greater Manchester. And this is such a brilliant place of opportunity. And it was the making of me.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I joined the Limb party when I was just finishing my A levels. Yeah, so again, I went to university to Manchester. My birthday is the end of August. I went very young. I mean, I can't possibly tell you how naive I was when I arrived in Manchester when I was 18.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I mean, it's interesting when you ask, did we talk about politics? Because I think like lots of families, certainly in the Northeast at the time, the default was we were a Labour family in terms of values. It's sort of not even an option, really, or certainly wasn't then to be anything else. So we would talk about issues, we would talk about things, but not really in a party political sense. I mean, I can't stress enough my parents didn't push me to do this. They didn't often when people have become members of parliament relatively young, it's because they've seen a direction and gone in. It happened kind of by accident, to be honest. And there were certainly some big influences of me when I did my A levels and people I met who were from the Labour Party. But it was a classic Labour background, but not in a pushy organized way. In fact, it was not until you...”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's absolutely right. I mean, I have a stereotypical group in the northeast. Dad's a fireman. Go to Fire Brigade Union Christmas parties. My granddad was a miner for 51 years. I can do all of those lines that you hear from Liverpoliticians time and time again. But I also think, actually, part of that classic Labour background is going to university. I mean, that is what working class people want for their children, certainly when I was growing up, not necessarily a university, but opportunity jobs at a different kind of career to what they had. And I think as labour politicians, we've got to talk more about that at times.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think when a politician is in that position, James kept his own counsel for really how he was feeling. And so I can't really speak for it for the personal relationships in that. But I think there is a lesson there as to you can only be in politics. You can only exist in politics, whatever you're doing in it, if you think what you're doing is genuinely right, even if that is at times controversial or will cause internal problems within the party. I think you have to do that. I mean, I've had things personally in my time as a member of parliament where some of my friends were really upset when I decided to go back on the front bench when Jeremy Corgan was leader. Some other friends were upset when I actually left well before the set of resignations that actually triggered the second leadership contest in the party. Because each time I felt there were things that was the right thing to do. I think a lot of people underestimate that being an MP or being anything in politics is so challenging that unless”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In a way that governments find quite hard when they've been in power. But I think there's a risk for them there as well, because if you base your entire government around one person, the leader, the prime minister, well, you better be sure that person is worthy of that. And I think we've seen perhaps in the last few weeks why that might become a bigger problem for them. But all we can do on the Labour side is start, frankly, stop talking to ourselves too much, stop having these internal rows, focus again on what matters to people. And I think whether people use the phrase red wall or talk about marginal seats, it's about work and wages and jobs and public services. And at length, I can have a really good message on that. And that's why I'm a huge supporter of Kiyas personally and politically in the shadow cabinet. I think he has started that process, but it's not going to be easy. And sometimes when we say things aren't going to be easy, people think we're just saying it clearly isn't. What we need to see on election day is have we started to get not to scale the mountain, but to, I think, get to base camp. And that's what I hope we'll get when the results come in.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a mixture of lots of things. I mean, you always find after a defeat there's a battle, isn't there, for defining that defeat? And some people want to say it's about the leaders and will want to say in 2019 it was about Brexit. The honest truth is there's a little bit of all that in it. I mean, I thought the Labour Together report, which talked about the long-term factors, the change in the economy and the kind of jobs people do and the links to organised labour, that has been a long-term factor. There was no doubt that Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn were big factors on the doorstep as well in 2019. We're seeing sort of that short-term and long-term challenge for us being very hard. And of course, at the same time, our position is always considered relative to that over the Conservative Party and vice versa. The fact is, I think on the government side, yes, this is a conservative government, but many people see it as a Boris Johnson government. You know, it's something a little bit different to what they've had. And actually, I think that's been a strength for them in the short term, that they've been able to reach.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's exactly what I thought. And the big surprise for me has been how keen people are to talk. I mean, you're always going to give them the option. Some people absolutely will say they'd rather not. But actually, I think maybe because interaction has been limited for everybody, maybe people are more willing to have a conversation with anyone, and that includes an MP or a counsellor calling around. So that has been lovely. The other thing, to be frank, is there's no denying that 2019 general election was a really hard time for any Labour candidate time of year and the political environment. So it's been genuinely warmer than that experience. And for that reason, I've enjoyed it. I actually wouldn't mind the election campaign going on for a bit longer to have some more of it, but that might not be everyone's taste.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I mean, that has been for politicians the nicest change of the last few weeks. So I've been able to obviously get around my own constituency. I've been up to the Hartleypool by-election. I've been to places like Crawley in the southeast and Bury, just up the road in Greater Manchester. And that's obviously what you want. You want to be talking to people, but you want to get a sense of what's going on in the country, in different parts of the country. And because we haven't had several months of doing that, it's quite hard to get a sense of where momentum is and how things have changed and what is really going on there. But it has been hugely welcome. I mean, for me, that bit of politics, that getting out and talking to people, of just being able to have that human connection to them is a really special bit of it.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you can call me Johnny, but people may know everyone to be frank calls me Johnny, my wife, friends, colleagues in Parliament, but my mum, who will almost certainly be one of the listeners to this, hates Johnny. So in print, I am always Jonathan in the house style of all major broadcasters. I have to be down as Jonathan and the leg party press office has to put it out in that way. But I don't mind you calling me Johnny, but in formal terms, I've always got to be Jonathan because everyone just wants to make their mum proud and I'm no different.”
2021-04-30 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Jonathan Reynolds One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source