YouSaid · the spoken record

Rob Halfon

lines on the record: 32
first: 2017-10-27
most recent: 2017-10-27
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

“Momentum is not on the far left, but it's genius organisation. I don't agree with the politics, but it's a genius organization. We have to attract hundreds of thousands of young people to our cause. We need to persuade people to vote for us, not just with their heads reluctantly, because they think, oh, toys will sort out the economy, and they don't always think that, but they need to vote for us with a passion and with their hearts. And that is our problem, that people go into the polling booth, not everyone, and many millions of people vote conservative because they feel good about it, but on the whole, if you're talking about floating voters, people always vote conservatives because of the economy and not much else. And I think we need to inspire them and have a passion so they vote for us with their heart, not just their heads.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do think we haven't won a healthy majority since 1987, even after Gordon Brown, even after with Ed Miliband, we couldn't win healthy majorities in Parliament. Our membership is declining and ever elderly. We have no infrastructure around the country. None. In fact, it's so bad that I think that if health and safety were allowed, they probably closed us down. I've seen it as deputy chairman. I went round everywhere. There are some great isolated spots and wonderful things going on, but on the whole our infrastructure in marginal seats is collapsing and with labour it's complete opposite. And maybe don't listen to me, but whatever you do, be radical in your reforms of the Conservative Party as we had to do in the 19th century under Disraeli and other prime ministers whenever we've been in trouble because if we don't, I think that we will never we will not win a healthy majority.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that we're facing an existential crisis in our party. I'm not saying they should adopt my solution, but all I'm saying to them is adopt some radical solution and come up with a proper message narrative. Crudely, they're on death row.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But why not identify the problem and let's work out the way of dealing with it? If you just attack the solution, you're basically showing us, in my view, a sign of complacency and not acknowledging that there is a problem in the first place. And I think what David Lamy has done is brilliant because it shakes these institutions up and it shows that there is a significant problem. But it's not just Oxbridge. So it's true more people from disadvantaged backgrounds are going to university than ever before, but often they're not going to the Russell Group universities. And when they come out, they're not getting graduate paid jobs.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“David Lamy did a lot of research showing that people from disadvantaged backgrounds and people from ethnic groups are not getting into Oxbridge. And there's an example of one college that hasn't had a black member for five years. Now, the people who have criticised me for supporting him say, oh,”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, the cameras saw the Keep the Pound umbrellas and he decided to report it saying that it was mainly elderly conservatives. They were not in the room. In fact, what happened was when Cameron got in, there was genuine excitement in the country or genuine interest is probably a fair way of saying it. So loads of people came to that event and they may have asked sympathetic questions, one or two of them, but it had nothing to do with me. Far removed from being conservatives they possibly could be. It was clearly given you. Oh, right, good. I do not bear grudges after, when was it 2008? Yeah, so I let it go. But I remembered it.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, because genuine members of the public were to come along, and they did, and there were about three or four elderly conservatives who came along, a couple of whom were carrying Keep the Pound umbrellas. So what does Nick Robinson do? Turns up late for a start, again, which was annoying.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You really annoyed me. I mean, at that time, I thought, what a knob, excuse me, for saying that on podcasts. I should put that on my Twitter profile. We were the first ever Cameron Direct. We were very excited. The then chairman of my local party spent like a few days organising it, making sure that it was genuine members of the public, not conservatives. Yeah.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I also think that because people are struggling and because there is often moral uncertainty about things, when people think that people do something wrong, if you all get together and say hang the witch, he's terrible, kill him, execute him, what an evil person. It makes everyone feel good.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I wouldn't have written the letter in that way. I wouldn't have put it on House of Commons paper for a start. I don't think it was the crime of the century and the way it was reported was if he'd written a letter saying that he demands that no one teaches about anything, whatever it is. But again, I think there is an overreaction on social media and in the media because every week we seem to be looking for new villains to condemn.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we need to be clear. One, they need to get rid of the stupid 55P thing, which was just totally wrong. Thank goodness they got rid of that. They have got to do something about the six weeks and cut it down. But what the most important thing is they need to show people that they are actually going to be better off because that was the whole idea of supporting the thing in the first place.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it is a really important reform. I supported it because I thought it was about ending the poverty trap, so encouraging people into work. I think what has gone wrong with it's become bureaucratic. I think the six-week thing is very worrying. I had a recent email from a constituent who is working, a credible lady. I mean, I've sent this email to David Gork and to Damian Hines Ministers because she is doing all the right thing and is just in a spaghetti maze of bureaucracy, struggling and it was offered a job had to leave it because she would earn less money even under the universal credit and I think that is a tragedy.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do empathize with people who are struggling, but I also empathize with the argument that you don't want to create dependency.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He doesn't give his son a lift, so I had to work there in the summer. I didn't have to work there, but I wanted to, and I did filing for 50 quid a week, I might add. And he just said no one else gets a lift in, so why should you?”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think there were a lot of people who of any party would never clue this is the issues that so often all of us are in Westminster. As I said, this is why my constituents taught me why my politics have changed so much over the years because as a young person I was much more free market and libertarian.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Going up all the time. People in my constituency were living in the constituency, but they were sleeping in McDonald's car parks because they couldn't afford to drive away from Harlow because they couldn't pay the fuel bills. That's why I started the fuel duty campaign.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wholesale, for example. Exactly. But it was up until the age of 20, pretty materially privileged background. And of course, I struggled with disability, having had a number of operations and so on. But actually what really has shaped my political views is my constituency of Harlowe and wasn't from Harlowe. I did have a member of the family who had a shop there for many years. I was brought up in North London. But it really showed me more than anything about how people who are working but are really struggling. The impact of the cost of living, the impact of the economy, you might have one couple. So let's say you take a couple that one might be working in the day, one might be working at night, and they're literally just to struggle to keep their head above water. And they want good.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mentioned to you I came from materially a privileged background. My father was self-made, sole, fruit and veg wholesale and did well, although really suffered in the recession in the 1990s.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I was a minister of education, I put the social justice as one of the rungs of the ladder and I was told I had to take it off and put social mobility.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hate the word social mobility. It implies that people, first of all, as I say, it sounds like a Vodafone television advert for a start. If you ask someone on the street, they have no idea what it means. It's just classic Westminster bubble word. But you were told you hadn't.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Meant a ladder of aspiration If it was just, well, it has to be a ladder with hands on it to show that government is there to help. But if it was just a ladder, of course it's not going to work. What you have to do is a series of things. You have to have the ladder to change your symbol, but you have to have a narrative of a message that we are the part of the ladder opportunities, that we are a genuine conservative workers' party. And you have to have policies that underpin that message. But the problem is all we have are policies, some which are good, some less so, and we often implement policies very badly. So then what happens is that we destroy any kind of, you know, the public just feel that we're not on their side.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that our party does have a message too, but we never talk about it. We announce a series of policies, clothes pegs without a washing line, without any story, anything about our values.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But the problem is with the Labour Party, they do have a moral message. And before the election I went round the country speaking to Conservative Association saying, don't underestimate Jeremy Corbyn, the 600,000 people who have joined the Labour Party, there will be some significant minority who may be from the hard left, but the vast majority of them are people who join the Labour Party because they have a romantic and moral message which is about helping the underdog.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly. In fact, they had to leave because they were both Italian and Jewish. So Gaddafi not only hated Italians, but he also hated Jews as well. So it wasn't the greatest thing to be. My grandfather loved Britain. And he said, he used to sell clothes to the British Army in Tripoli. And he said, my late grandfather, and he used to say the British were the only people who paid on time.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I am a conservative because I always believe that we are the party of the ladder of opportunity that you bring people to the ladder. Governors there to help people climb up, provide a social ambulance if people fall off. And I've always believed in lower taxes, predominantly I think we should do it for lower earners. But materially, I had a privileged upbringing. I went to a private school. My father was an immigrant here. He wanted to work day and night to send me to a private school.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And there are some terrible scenes where people are being kind of hanged or stamped on. And you have this crowd around it, screaming, you know, like just like with the French Revolution, where you had the old ladies knitting while people were being beheaded. And sometimes I think that every week or every couple of weeks we have a latest villain. And then whoever it is, now they've done the wrong thing. I'm not condoning anything that these people have done. But every week at the same time, social media has a kind of lust as if we are around the guillotine watching this individual being beheaded whilst people who have done wrong should be condemned. I think that we need to take a step back and perhaps look at what's this kind of society we're becoming.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well he said that he apologised for what he did a long time ago, and what he said was pretty grim, and he was an adult at the time. But I think the key thing with him is the later stuff that came out with some women alleging he'd done X, Y, and Z. The only issue I have with all this is, you know, I was watching Guy Forkes on the BBC and we binged the big new TV show.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I just said the supporters were XXX. But anyway, it was one of the stupidest tweets I've ever done. And you learn the hard way from it. One, don't do tweets at night and two, apologize.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it was just really idiotic tweet about some litter that had been left in London, and I got a big punishment for it over a fair few days and made an apology to a Sunderland blog. Actually, I've now named the team I now will be trolled. This is a”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, absolutely, I tweeted something stupid once about football supporters, and I'm reluctant to mention it again because I don't want to be trolled now for the next few days. How rude was it?”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“about Jared Amura, your Labour colleague who said some sexist and homophobic things in the past. He's resigned from the Equalities Committee. Are you happy to sit alongside him on the labour benches?”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Membership is declining and ever elderly. We have no infrastructure around the country, none. In fact, it's so bad that I think that if health and safety were allowed, they'd probably close us down.”
2017-10-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rob Halfon One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source