YouSaid · the spoken record

Theresa May

lines on the record: 42
first: 2023-10-08
most recent: 2023-10-08
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

“So, Alistair, I was about to say, you know, we'd got two Tories and only one Labour, and then I suddenly thought maybe that's a rubbish thing to say, because actually there have been so many Tory prime ministers recently, it's absurd.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. Thank you so much, Prime Minister Theres May. That was very generous. You give an enormous amount of time. We've enjoyed an immensely and I hope we can get you back again someday. Thank you.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Edric against boycott question, one that keeps me up at night. You have some things you don't have in common. One thing you do have in common is you have a much more profound knowledge and interest in cricket than I've ever achieved. Well, that was because I was brought up with test match special.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Which was excellent net zero review that actually moving to net zero, developing the green economy, is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century. I would like to see the government embracing that rather more wholeheartedly than I think they have done at the moment”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That Rishi has kept the net zero in 2050, which is what I put into legislation. I think that's important. He and I also agree that you've got to take people with you. I mean, the way I put it is you can't wag your finger at people and say you can never fly again, you can never drive a car again, you can never eat meat again. You know, you've got to do all of these things. We won't get to net zero if people feel their lives have got to be completely upended. So you have to take people with you. And he's absolutely right about the national grid. I mean, we wait to see the detail at Jeremy Hugh.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, if I may just say a word on modern slavery, because obviously I write about that in the book as well, and I'm setting up a global commission on modern slavery and human trafficking, because I think it really is an issue that we've got to give more political momentum to across the world. The number of people in slavery has increased.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not a better experience, but more experience of how politics can be and how politicians can be. And then, well, I just think I'm a sort of, hopefully I'm just kind of a calm sort of person. And it doesn't mean I don't sort of think, why did they say that or why have they done that? But actually, at the end of the day, I always want to really want to focus more on what we're doing next and getting to the end goal. And just to respond to Alistair, of course, in his previous question, conservative government is always better than the Labour government. That's my view.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You've actually come out saying, I really believe in this, I want to encourage young people to go into this, I'm going to stay as a member of parliament, I'm going to keep going. And you're resisting the temptation to be drawn by Alistair into saying, what I imagine you may sometimes feel about Boris Johnson, but you're not saying on the podcast. What is it that allows you to avoid feeling that sense of rage and bitterness and keep going? Because that isn't true with many politicians we interview. It's interesting. I think maybe in your contrasting my approach to how you're feeling about some things, Rory, I suspect part of that is because of the length of time I've been in politics. I've been involved in the Conservative Party for, I won't say how many years, but many, many years as a local councillor, as involved in local associations, helping others to get elected and then standing myself. So I've seen politics for a long time and therefore perhaps coming into parliament and then into government.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And yet, somehow you emerge from it all, not in the state in which I emerge, thinking this is absolutely appalling. Terrible people in the House of Commons. They're treacherous, they're betrayal. What on earth's happened to my party?”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I look at the issues and there are a number of issues on which I disagreed with Boris, and I've made that clear in the House of Commons from time to time. I'm going to come in my final question. One of the things that strikes me is you are surprisingly lacking in bitterness. I mean, your experience was absolutely brutal. You had a moderate compromise Brexit deal through, and I think you've been vindicated because we ended up with a harder, nasty Brexit, but you were unable to persuade members of your own party, members of the Labour Party, so you would have been deeply disappointed in that. You were betrayed by intimate colleagues. I found it difficult enough trying to adjust to people who were deserting you and going over to Boris Johnson. And I wasn't Prime Minister. I still traumatized by some of these people that were some of your great champions and going over and giving hostage videos endorsing the other side. You then found yourself having to watch other prime ministers take over who you were opposed to in policy terms and in values terms.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would like to think, and I would hope, that in the number of prime ministers that we've had over recent years, that I actually did my best to make a good fist of it.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think one of the lessons is that it is about this sense of speaking when you have something to say. There are international fora where it's X speaks and then you speak and then somebody else speaks and so forth, but it's that sense of not just piling in there for the sake of it. And I think that is a female male thing. Men will often want to be sort of showing that they've got something. They want to say this. Whereas women are more willing perhaps to sit back and listen and judge the point at which we And I think learning that actually, if you pile in from the beginning, that doesn't necessarily make people respect you.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, yes. I think it's one of the challenges is resisting the temptation to try to respond to this clamour for information right up front and knowing the point at which you can give people information. I was very clear, and indeed the UK system was very clear, that we needed to have the evidence because we were going to be wanting to persuade other countries to follow us in taking action on the Russians as we did. It was the biggest ever expulsion of Russian intelligence officers across the world. We won the votes in the OPCW. That was because we were able to sit countries down and take them through the evidence that we had on this. So it was important that we didn't say too much until we could back that up.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Making statements to Parliament, how much we're able to say to Parliament. Everybody is clamouring to know as much as possible. And that's when it's quite difficult in government, because sometimes you just have to be restrained on what you're saying for a variety of reasons.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And of course, I do write about this in the book, but it is, I mean, I remember I was sort of sat down. By my private secretary who dealt with home affairs and told about this couple who'd been found on this park bench in Salisbury. And there was a bit of concern about their state of health, obviously. But it was sort of, it might be perfectly innocent, was the sort of first message, it might be perfectly innocent. Then, of course, comes clear that he was a former Russian intelligence officer. And therefore you start to think, well, hang on a minute. This has probably got more to it than the recognition that it was the use of a chemical weapon. Novachok on the streets of a UK city. Thereafter, of course, it's all about how much you're able to say to”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, this is the UK and the United States, regardless of the personality who's the leader of the free world. And I think that it was important to, in a sense, reach out in that way. And partly, in short, about ensuring the relationship between the UK and the US.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I mean, I think slightly worried by your description of what the older ambassador said to you. Because we should have our own foreign policy. It might happen that it is very closely aligned to the American foreign policy. But we have to be able to be understand what we believe and what we think. And therefore, the direction we want to go. If all you're doing is saying, well, let's just follow them, then you do have a difficulty. You absolutely need to know where the UK stands on any particular aspect.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As I say, I genuinely don't know what lay behind that. But she did come under more attack from him than any of the rest of us. So I don't think it was just misogyny, which was your question, Alistair.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thought he was going to say, i.e., that he supported NATO. In fact, he did. So that was, but there was always that degree of uncertainty, which I think is problematic.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When you were in the room with him, and you know when I was I think the first leader to go and see him after he'd been inaugurated. And the aim of that was to get him to make a positive statement about NATO because he'd been a lukewarm at best about NATO and America's role in NATO. And we had the meeting. And, you know, normally what happens is, obviously, there's been some pre-work among your officials. You have the meeting, you agree, you go into the press conference, you know what's going to be said. When I walked into that press conference, you had no idea. I didn't know whether or not he was going to say”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fathers were priests. But I think also in terms of seriousness, it was perhaps more a sense of us both people who get really frustrated about some of the sort of responses to politicians about how do you feel about something?”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Their first question was about the health. Politics was going in that direction, that it was as much about communication and whether or not you got the headline rather than the substance of the issue. Now, I would argue, you know, obviously I served in David Cameron's government. We dealt with an awful lot of really substantive issues. And I like to think, I try to address some ofin the Home Office. But politics was going in that direction.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I honestly don't think it was. I think there are a number of journalists who might argue with you. Important. Anyway, so to come back to it, so”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Interesting because my first thought was about a negative rather than. Positive I think one of the things I found difficult, and obviously I was home secretary under David, but on opposition front bench when Tony and Gordon were in power. One of the things I found difficult was a sense that the first thing you had to consider was what the media headline was going to be. And I'm sorry to say this, Alistair, because obviously you were there helping to create the media headlines for Tony.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do think we deserve to win, but it's not going to be easy for us because, I mean, you can see the polls. I mean, I think they're narrowing a bit the most recent ones. But if you look at that, and we've been in a long time, but on the Labour Party side, you've got an awful lot of seats to win if the Labour Party is going to get into government.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Between us are such that I still believe. You see, I think conservatism is about giving people a sense of security, but also freedom and opportunity.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, come on, Alistair. You didn't expect me to come on this and suddenly say, oh, I think it should be Labour. Of course not. The fundamental differences.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because of my fundamental beefs in what conservatism is about, yes, I can say that, and I will be working hard to make sure that we are re-elected.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Gosh, that I think, I suppose my instant answer to that would be because I believe in people and I believe in the possibility of people being different. And I'm hopeful, I think, as we were saying earlier, I think we have to work at this. I think we have to work to encourage a wider variety of people to come into politics and to see politics as a career and as a way forward for them. I look around and there are some really good people in politics who are really genuinely trying to make the country a better place and ultimately in some senses the world a better place. So I suppose it's a belief in people ultimately that means that I think that all is not lost.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Recognize I mean, I hope that we're slightly talking about this earlier, weren't we, in terms of the cult of celebrity and so forth, that for me, politics is a very serious business. It is a job, but it is a job which is of service, and you're actually making decisions that affect people's lives. So you need to do that seriously and perhaps pay less attention, I suppose in my sense, less attention to what's going to hit the media than in what is actually going to have a real impact. And I think that's not always the case. And why did you not become...”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I suppose the thing about David was there was just this sense in the party when he came into Parliament that he was always going to be a leader and a Prime Minister. And I'm not quite sure where that arose. My first experience of David, actually, was when I was fighting the Barking by-election and they did this thing. There was three of us fighting by-elections at the time, including Philip Hammond in Newham. And they did a mock press conference, and some of the spads, and he was a spad to Michael Howard, came in. I had never met David before. And he sat there and asked me this really awkward question. And I remember saying afterwards, who was that? And it was David Cameron. Was that your first encounter?”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She kept the argument going about what was actually happening, what would. Have a negative or positive impact on Northern Ireland. And she did her best. But of course, the numbers were with the DUP. Let's take a step.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think the question was did we want to have aim to have a degree of stability in Parliament in terms of getting government votes through? Hence the confidence and supply agreement. So we weren't obviously in coalition with them. There were certain subjects on which they had agreed that they would support so that we could get budgets through and so forth. And that's about trying to ensure that government can operate. And that's why we looked for that agreement with them. And I still think it was the right thing to do. I mean, I think it was unfortunate in the Brexit debate that the only other Northern Ireland politician in Northern Ireland elected MP was Sylvia Herman, who tried her best.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They made the false move, if you like, in relation to that. There was a point where they were coming round and we were, you know, had we been able to have that debate, which at that point in time on the deal, which the Speaker John Burkow then said, we couldn't put that motion to the Commons. And we were sort of two to three days away from the DUP saying, yes, we're going to support this, which would have brought a lot of conservative colleagues behind us, and might then have brought, I don't know, but might have brought some of Labour if they saw we were going to win the vote. But we lost it as a result of that decision that we couldn't put that motion to the House. One of the things that drove the DUP is I think they like, if possible, to work as a collective to work together, never to have anybody voting a different way, and therefore we're driven by whoever was the most extreme, if you like, in their number.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What is going on? It was a paradox because often they would say to me when I was putting the deal to them which would have involved us legislating to help ensure that there wasn't the border down the Irish Sea, they would say, oh, well, that's only going to be national legislation. We can't trust who might come after you. Well, hey.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It became, if you like, in microcosm, what we have talked about previously in terms of world politics, it became so polarised. And it was almost, you had to be on the Brexiteer side, it was 100% the hardest possible Brexit. And on the Remainer side, it was 100% no Brexit. That's where it sort of came to in the end. And that's the problem. You couldn't get people trying to find the centre ground, if you like. And it was one of my deep frustrations was everybody kept talking about the past in a sense. So the Brexiteers were talking about how much we should be giving up. We don't want this from the EU. We don't want that from the EU. Some of the remainers on the other side were talking about how much can we keep. My point was, which I obviously didn't get across as well as I'd hoped, is we shouldn't be looking at it like that. We should be saying, what is our future relationship? How do we build a future relationship that is going to be the best for the UK? And actually, I thought that one that would be the best for the UK.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was a lie. As it happens, when I put the extra money into the NHS, I think I'm right in saying it was slightly more than was on the figure of the side of the bus. I did believe fundamentally that we should be. Delivering Brexit. I didn't see the referendum about an individual or, as I say, a particular figure. I think there was something more fundamental behind the referendum. Yes, it was about leaving the European Union, a simple thing on the face of it. I think for a lot of people in the country, they felt left behind. They felt the politicians weren't listening to them and they wanted change. And the referendum, the Brexit vote, was as much a vote for change as it was about the EU's.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think absolutely fundamentally that it was important to deliver Brexit because 52% of the population had voted for it. And when I look back at the referendum, I mean, you mentioned Boris Johnson as an individual who'd led the Brexit campaign. I don't see the vote so much as being about an individual or even about a figure on the side of a bus. And for, you know, that was obviously a figure that it was claimed that the extra money could go in the NHS if we left.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Citizen of nowhere was actually something slightly different. It wasn't about Brexit. But what I said when I said Brexit means Brexit was to get over my absolutely passionate belief that regardless of the fact that it was a close vote, we had to deliver on where the majority had voted. And that's why I find it so difficult where there were people wanting second referendums and so forth. And I'd always taken this view. So in previous years, when within the European Union some countries had treaty changes, had had referendums, they'd come out against the changes. And basically the politicians had kind of gone, oh, they're they're good people. You really don't know what you're doing.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think I think it took some time for me to perhaps come to the view that I now have that some of those who were certainly in Parliament who were Brexiteers found it difficult to comprehend that a Remainer could deliver a Brexit deal. I won't go into the details of deals and so forth, but I think there was that sort of, for some, there was just that fundamental feeling that it ought to be a Brexiteer. And I guess David probably felt a bit of that. I felt that it should be possible because it was so close, as you say, Rory 5248. It had to be a Brexit deal that actually recognised the concerns of the Remainers. And therefore, you had to bring both sides together and try and find a way of moving forward together.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, at the time I thought he should have stayed. I think looking back, probably he's right. I think he said that it would have been difficult for him to stay.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it was a different experience from some, although not all. Of course, what had happened was we'd had the referendum on Brexit, and David Cameron came virtually straight out and said that he was going to resign.”
2023-10-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 39. Theresa May: Donald Trump, David Cameron, and ‘Brexit means Brexit’ (Part 2) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source