YouSaid · the spoken record

Tony Danker

lines on the record: 42
first: 2023-01-27
most recent: 2023-01-27
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

“Yeah, so I do play in a band. You're not going to play a clip, are you? The Bar Mitzvah photo was enough, surely. I do play in a band, but I'm safe. I will say about my band, it's the same band that we had at university, right? We're now just a dad band, so we're all a bit grayer and larger. And we can't really get good gigs anymore, so we play at each other's birthday parties.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Again, I come back to it. This is me being nice to politicians. I don't think currently our political parties are being led by extremists. I think our political parties are being led by one nation politicians. So it may just be that actually that era is coming to an end. I really hope so, because I think that, look, I guess my experience of being the Jewish boy from Belfast amid the conflict is that conflict takes you to bad places. Working together takes you to good places. Prosperity takes you to good places. I realize we're going to have a general election next year, so we're probably going to kick the living hell out of each other. But I hope between now and then, actually, we can spend time working on what I think is an emerging consensus in Britain about the balance between inflation and growth, how you get growth, and that it has to be for everybody in society.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, if you look at some of the tragic events with members of parliament in the last few years, you would say so, wouldn't you? And I think if you read social media, every time I say the word Brexit. I mean wow it goes mad doesn't it and so yes to some degree yes the only ray of light if I might say”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wow, that's a really tough question. You want me to knock Friday golfers. You want me to launch an all-it attack on Friday golfers. Look, yeah, you might be right. I think the whole world of work has totally gone crazy. I just don't think that's going to happen overnight. So I think, look, we're all coping with this Nick. I haven't got, I mean, I've got some early thoughts, but we're going to be talking about this for a few years”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I don't. I think politicians might, but I don't. What I want to do is create the pathways that say, do you know what? You can come back to work part-time. We're not going to take away your universal credit. We are going to work with companies to make sure that they can bring you health support and wrap around care to absorb yourself back into work. I'm a bit carrot, not stick on this one, to be honest.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Helping them get back to work, being smart about how that happens. Yeah, look, I set out four bold ideas, three or four bold ideas. And actually most of them, I think the government believe in, I think they're deliberating about whether to go for them. So the first one is, let's have a tax system where companies that don't invest in Britain pay more tax, companies that do pay less. It was Rishi Sunak's idea. I'd love it to happen. The second one is, as you say, what do we do about economic inactivity in this country? What do we do about the fact that after COVID, lots of people are at home, either for reasons of choice or mental health or long-term health conditions? How on earth do we get them all back? Because by the way, this set of politicians don't want to use immigration to plug labor shortages. So we better think boldly about child care and all these policies. And then finally, the green economy, right? How on earth we were leading this, now we're behind how are we going to fight back? Those are the kinds of bold choices, none of which are inflationary.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, first of all, I'm a Jewish boy from Belfast. I would like us to move forward, not backwards, right? I don't want to go back to tribes, to the roundheads and cavaliers of 2016, number one. Number two, look, I've said before, to me, Brexit was about sovereignty, not the economy. The economy hasn't played out so well. I don't know why anybody's surprised. It wasn't an economic movement. It was a sovereignty movement.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, no, he went afterwards. We had a lovely chat beforehand, and then he was gone afterwards, perhaps not surprisingly. But I remember coming off stage and my WhatsApp, I had 83 messages, mostly filled with help that poor man. Help that do something. Do something. Anyway, I thought the Pepper Big stuff was bloody funny. And actually, his speech was quite good. I also made a really good speech. No one will ever, ever read it.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He lost his place, it felt like two R's. And I remember sitting there thinking, right, what if he has lost his place and isn't going to recover? Do I stand up and offer to help him? I mean, I was his host. And then I sort of, I remember sitting going, right, what do I do? Do I say something? And I thought to myself, God, if I got up and tried to help him, that's the worst thing ever. So I had no alternative but to sit on my hands and sort of smile, conscious that there was a bank of cameras. I came off stage, I must tell you.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, the honest, you know, this is a big revelation for the 200 people who think pepper pig is the most interesting thing that ever happened, my big revelation is number one, I thought the pepper pig stuff was very funny. I mean, I didn't agree with Boris Johnson about much. I always thought he was very funny. And I think if you replay that stuff, it's actually pretty funny. Now, the forgive me, forgive me stuff was terrible.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have to tell you something, the most famous thing I have ever done in my life is sit next to Boris Johnson when that happened. It is the thing I am most famous for”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, look, if the question is do I think workers should see cuts in wages? No, I think wages should grow. How do I think wages will grow? Because we have high productive, high-performing companies alongside a good, strong minimum wage. So I think we'd agree about more than we disagree, actually. I think there is definitely truth in saying one of the drivers of Brexit was that the economy did not work for everyone. That is absolutely right. I take that very, very seriously. And therefore, now that we are all post-Brexiteers, I'd like to suggest, we need to work out how the economy can work for everyone. And I don't want economic policy to be driven by an old Brexit debate about sovereignty and how we need to be endlessly, you know, get rid of any rule that has a sort of blue flag with golden stars from Brussels. I want the economy that works for everyone, creates opportunity for everyone. I think Boris Johnson was completely right to talk about it.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think look to be honest, I think we are currently led by a set of politicians on both sides of the house who think that actually business is part of the answer, not the problem.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I wish they weren't because I go on television the day after they do something bad. And it's very hard. But I just think that actually, and I remember having this conversation with Keir Starmer, and I said, look, labor need to make a choice about business, right? Is business the barrier to a fairer society, or is business the deliverer of a fairer society? My politics are 100% the latter.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh god, there's a lot there. Well, let me begin with the obvious rebuttal that I think if any politician was saying that Brexit was a vote against a big company rather than against Westminster, I think they doth protest too much. But coming back to the general point, yeah, look, I think I am a big supporter of what I call progressive capitalism. And it is a fundamental belief that, first of all, you need prosperity to give people life chances, right? Government doesn't give people life chances business firms, companies do. And secondly, that increasingly now, companies are doing that of their own volition. It is part of the corporate DNA, not brought about by regulators and politicians or Brexit voters, but because those are the contemporary values of people that work in our workplace and shape our companies. Now, is every company good? No, there are some bad companies in the world.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, this idea that business people are walking around moaning about they're moaning about the fact that it isn't Duddon, not the fact that it was done. It's kind of like let's get on with this”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I mean, I want to, I remember my very first conversation with Boris Johnson and I remember I tried this line on him, which was a bit ballsy of a new CBI Director General, but anyway, you could get away with it with Boris, I guess. I said to him, look, this whole Brexit thing, for us it was just business. For you it was bigger than that, right? It was personal, ideological. Sovereignty was a massively important idea that you'd worked your whole life for. For business people it was just business, right? An invitation, would you like to reduce free trade and do more paperwork, right? To which the answer was, no, why would we say yes to that? And actually, to my predecessor's credit and everybody at the CBI's credit, the moment the vote was over, they all said, okay, let's get the best Brexit.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had to run the international newspaper businesses of The Guardian. I spent all of my time at Be the Business where I worked for the CBI, helping small businesses. But no, none of that's a proper job in your dad's language, is it, really?”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You are definitely a GoBon stink. Yeah, I am a little bit as well. I worked in loads of businesses as a management consultant”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I'm really glad for that experience. And also, by the way, I know Liam wrote a note, but I tell you something about Liam. He's also written some bloody good books. And one of the most interesting things about Liam is he was one of very few cabinet ministers in the Labour Party who had ever worked in a business. And I think, I still think of that, really, which is, you know, I'm sure we'll get on to talk about a bit about politics. But any politician that's worked in a business, I think, is in a really good place to shape economic policy.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I didn't write the note. I think not even Liam would try and throw me under that bus. But I think that, I'll tell you what's interesting about... The note the note was sort of, it embodies that time in the British economy, and it's all back again, really, where, you know, the right relationship between debt and spending and tax, you know, that's what we did. I remember you were political editor of the BBC. You may not remember this, and I remember texting you and calling you from the treasury to say, Nick, you've got to get the balance right in bringing down the deficit. Some of it's got to be done through cuts. Some of it's got to be done through tax, and some of it's got to be done through growth.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and introduced me to Gordon. And then I think Jackie Smith was, you know, and all of it, and Alistair was there, and obviously Liam was there. And I just remember, wow, overnight I was inside the door, not outside the door. That was thrilling. And then I also remember I had lots of friends that had been conservative special advisors or MPs in the dying days of the major years. And they told me, you know, we sat around for two years knowing we were going to lose. It just didn't feel like that. I mean, because it was such a mega crisis, I think everybody felt, God, you know, not we're doing quite doing God's work. I had literally done some of God's work. But we were, you know, we were doing incredibly important things. And it felt very serious and very unpolitical. I mean, obviously, two years later we'd go on to try and find an election. What this is the period, of course.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I remember very clearly this Lion the Witch in the wardrobe moment where I walked in the front door of number 10 having been a management consultant for 10 years and all of a sudden everybody was there Jeremy Haywood greeted me”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I remember one of my early jobs working for Jonathan Sachs was I had to edit some of his articles or review his speeches, which of course was entirely ludicrous because he would hand me this perfect bit of prose and say, how can it be improved? And I was like 23. I don't think I ever improved anything. I tell you something. He called me the summer I had just got this job and he was ill but not yet seriously ill and he called me to tell me how important the job was and how in the job how I knew.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I suppose I don't know we take all these things for granted, don't we? I mean, I had a really wonderful family life that brought me all those things and maybe I take that for granted. I grew up in Northern Ireland surrounded by war and maybe I take that for granted, but I, yeah, I don't know. I think I struggled to answer that one. But I tell you, you mentioned Jonathan Sachs. I tell you one of the things that I really learned from Jonathan Sachs was Jonathan Sachs used to talk a lot about simple acts of family love and faith and how they were the antidote to today's world. And I always find that very powerful. I always find that very powerful”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mean definitely family. And love, I'd like to bring love to Westminster, Nick. What do you think my chances are? Probably better. Don't give it discipline. Don't”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How to answer that question? That's like when you ask Michael Portello, did he take drugs at university? No, it doesn't mean that. No, I don't know what LSD is. I've never heard of it.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, yeah, y Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I tell you, when you talk about lessons I take from growing up in Belfast, you know, I grew up in Belfast in 19, I was born in 1971, and it wasn't a good era for Catholics in terms of economic emancipation. By the time I left in 1990, that had changed. I always say there was peace in Northern Ireland for one reason, because finally there was prosperity. And I'm convinced about that. And that idea about what prosperity brings and how people doing well in life, not wanting to fight anymore. Big thing for me.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I try. Yeah, it's an old joke, isn't it? Because I've heard various people. Michael Grade once did a joke with me about, you know, are you a Protestant Jew or a Catholic Jew? And I did have this. I did have, I think twice I had a gang of schoolboys come up to me and go, you're Protestant or Catholic. And I would say Jewish. And the face of complete confusion, giving me the two second gap I needed to run like hell. So I did get that. But I guess the thing about Belfast Walls, I became very politicized and engaged in politics, but I was never tribal. I'm not a tribal”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, of course, you know, friends of mine engaged in the troubles, two men I knew very well lost their lives, men I knew who I went to school with, who joined the police and were injured or maimed. So the troubles was everywhere, but that doesn't mean that everybody was political. In fact, the great thing about Northern Ireland in the 70s and 80s, and you'll know because you'll have visited, is that actually despite it all, Belfast was a happy place where people like to go drinking and go to the Giants Causeway and go to the beach in 15 degrees centigrade.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I felt non-tribal. I mean, look, I didn't feel apart from it in the sense that look, what was the family conversation every night? How did you get home tonight? Did you miss the riots on Dunkair and Gardens? Did you hear the bomb scare? Did that affect your drive home, right? Where are you going out tonight? Be careful. That's a bad area. That is the everyday conversation of anybody in Northern Ireland growing up in the 70s and 80s. Now, is that a political conversation? Some people might think, oh, gosh, that's very political.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, I so look, so I always remember the news, the six o'clock news every night in Belfast in the 70s and 80s was gripping, thrilling, terrifying. Heartbreaking Be political change once a week. There'd be bombs and murders. There'd be London's involved and Dublin's involved. There'd be leaders of political parties rowing. There'd be actors voiceovering politicians. It was gripping and consuming to me. And I didn't realize that it was anything unusual until I went to Manchester at 18 to university. And I noticed two things straight away. One, police in the streets didn't have guns. They had torches. I remember being thinking it was hilarious that the police only had torches. I thought to myself, I could take the police. And then I remember watching the local news in Manchester. And I think it was tight, major shock, post office held up.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, everyone in Northern Ireland in the seventies and eighties was political, but in a different way, I think. We think I was the person in the family who was obsessed with politics. But that doesn't mean that the troubles isn't the backdrop to family life.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well yes and no, look, I think they are dealing with I worked in government during the financial crisis and know what it is to work in government during a crisis. And to be honest, the scale of what you have to do and particularly this government with what they've had with serial crises in particular COVID, right, your ability to indulge the outside world in a conversation when you are literally saving the country. I have a lot of sympathy for where they are. And I recognize that when I say these things, they don't thank me for it. But I do genuinely believe, look, I think Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt. By the way, I also think Kir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, these are pro-growth, pretty progressive thinkers who embrace the role of the market economy to make this country better.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know about that. I mean, look, I remember my first interview with John Allen, chairman of Tesco, and he was president of the CBI. And he sort of said to me, well, what would you do with a job? And I said, I think I actually said Brexit is an opportunity for Britain. And he looked at me with an eyebrow raised. Not because I think it's good for the economy and free trade, because clearly it's not good for free trade, but because it would force us finally to have a national strategy about how our economy can compete in the world, right? And we are becoming a smaller, pluckier country, let's be honest, right? We're just not participating in continents. So let's have it. Let's have the strategy. Let's have Brexit part two. That's why I took the job.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The British economy has been flatlining. And my hope and my fear is that we don't use these crises, Brexit, COVID, war, inflation to change the trajectory of growth in our economy. And I'm worried we're going to miss the chance. So yes, I was a little bit outspoken.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They had to do something. Yeah, it was a call to arms. So I'll give you the tactical reason why it was a call to arms, and then I'll give you the strategic reason, right? The tactical reason was I'm really glad that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are in charge. They are bringing stability to the British economy. They're doing it well. They're completely right. That side of the Conservative Party that's saying, let's have mass tax cuts to get the economy growing are wrong, right? If we did that, we would increase inflation. But there are some very big issues to solve in this economy. There are some very big decisions to take on growth. And I am worried that in the service of stability, we literally spend a year doing nothing. And I tell you why that worries me in the long run. My big passion, the thing I have worked on above most, is how on earth we change the fact that for 15 years, nothing to do with Brexit. For 15 years.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. And by the way, all of this has been happening whilst a really big thing has been happening around the world, which is Joe Biden decided he was going to Suck in all the global investment in the world, particularly in green energy. And last week the European said we're going to do it too. And so we in Britain, we have been top of the world at the green economy and green energy for 10 years. We really have. Whether or not it was Ed Miliband originally or Theresa May laying down markers and suddenly we're losing share. So I did do something I haven't done for two years, which is to sound a bit of a warning.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And what is the terrible truth about the last few months, even though the government wish it weren't so, is Britain got a bit of a knock to its reputation from what happened last autumn. And I promise you global boardrooms notice. And I'm telling you they have voted with their feet, not forever, not forever, but a lot of them have turned around and said, I don't know what's going on in Britain right now. I might just skip it for a second. Now, I think we will eminently bring that back, and I think the Prime Minister and the Chancellor actually are doing a very good job on studying the ship and having a more stable economy.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it is a little bit. Let me tell you about it because I also had a long chat with Kemi at it in Davos where we were both selling Britain. And I spend every single week in this job talking to a GlobalTube executive about Britain.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it's not going to do the media's fault, but I think, look, it's just much more, it is much more interesting to say he's for Britain. He's behind the Prime Minister than the more nuanced approach. But I'm delighted to give you the reasons why I said such strong words.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know she's great, Kami, by the way. Look, it's really funny because I spent the first two years of this job. I'm in it two years being booster-ish about Britain. I decided I was going to outbooster Boris. And I got so much stick. From our members saying, everything's going to pot and you can't sound optimistic Lad Boris. And then, yes, in the last week, I sounded a warning. And I'm talking Britain down. So I think I'm not blaming you, Nick, but I might suggest.”
2023-01-27 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Tony Danker One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source