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Speaker 1: Rod Linlsbeck. Well, that's ride a very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Mike.

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Speaker 1: You took last Thursday off because you have you're busy campaigning,

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Speaker 1: and we'll come to that in just a couple of moments.

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Speaker 1: So give us the update polls. What are we reading?

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Speaker 1: How bad is it for the Tories and is it

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Speaker 1: getting worse?

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Speaker 2: It's catastrophic for the Tories, it's not necessarily getting worse catastrophic.

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Speaker 2: So over the weekend, and indeed, for a couple of

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Speaker 2: days before the weekend, it really looked as if there

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Speaker 2: was a Reform party surge, and there has been, I mean,

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Speaker 2: no question about it. But my guess is it may

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Speaker 2: have reached its peak with Reform ahead of the Tories,

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Speaker 2: which is calamitous for the Tories, but nowhere near enough

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Speaker 2: ahead in order to worry labor, but enough to ensure

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Speaker 2: that the Conservatives are down to, you know, fifty sixties

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Speaker 2: seventy seats at the most. And you do wonder is

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Speaker 2: there a natural kind of ceiling for people who will

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Speaker 2: be prepared to vote reform. Obviously, if you look at

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Speaker 2: the continent in Europe, there isn't because the parties who

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Speaker 2: are similar to Reform or winning hand over fist and

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Speaker 2: some of that has come over here, but not enough

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Speaker 2: I think to suggest that there's a huge sea change

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Speaker 2: in British politics in which the Conservative Party has been

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Speaker 2: replaced overnight by the Reform Party.

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Speaker 1: As regards varajan As comments over the weekend about Ukraine

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Speaker 1: and poking the bear and all the umbradge that's been

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Speaker 1: tossed upon him, does that play well with his lot

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Speaker 1: end or was he misinterpreted to the extent that what

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Speaker 1: I think he was trying to say was that Putin

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Speaker 1: has long been reported as saying the expansion of NATO

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Speaker 1: worries me and have an expense too far, I'll do

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Speaker 1: something about it. So he stayed in the obvious, isn't he.

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Speaker 2: Up to a point? I think there is a difference

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Speaker 2: between what between how what faraj said is received by

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Speaker 2: members of his own party who have a vague putini

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Speaker 2: Ish sympathy, and how it plays in the red wall

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Speaker 2: in the electorate in general, where there is no such thing.

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Speaker 2: And also you cover a little bit with what he

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Speaker 2: said about NATO's continual eastern expansion, Well, you know NATO has, indeed,

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Speaker 2: you know, embraced the Baltic countries and Poland and so on,

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Speaker 2: But that was because they wished to join NATO to

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Speaker 2: protect themselves from the from Russia. So I think I

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Speaker 2: think he got the tone wrong, which is not unusual

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Speaker 2: for Nigel Farage. But I think he got the tone

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Speaker 2: wrong and he's been eviscerated for it, and I think

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Speaker 2: he would rather the whole issue hadn't.

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Speaker 1: Been raised, right baiting scandal. Is this much going on

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Speaker 1: that that's not the thing? It might be on another day,

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Speaker 1: or is it bigger than being here?

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Speaker 2: I just think it is so absolutely emblematic of what

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Speaker 2: everyone in the country thinks of the Conservative Party, but

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Speaker 2: that the fine detail doesn't really matter. You know, we

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Speaker 2: have severe Conservative people betting, insider dealing basically on the

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Speaker 2: date of the election, and it plays into every trope

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Speaker 2: Sekir Starmer could wish to raise to say, this is

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Speaker 2: why they shouldn't be the government, you know, a privilege

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Speaker 2: of moneyed and of greed, and it couldn't be worse

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Speaker 2: for Richards Sunac, you say, I assume Sunac is sitting

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Speaker 2: there thinking, my god, what's going to happen next week?

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Speaker 2: Tell it wouldn't surprise me if something did it's an

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Speaker 2: administration which has gone before the end of its time.

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Speaker 1: How are you going? How's your right are you? Are

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Speaker 1: you winning the vote, You're winning the hostings, You're heading

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Speaker 1: to Parliament? Are things turning for you? Rod?

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Speaker 2: I can feel the will of the people behind me,

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Speaker 2: I thought being said, I did kind of win the Hustings,

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Speaker 2: the last testings I was in, which is, you know,

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Speaker 2: from a standing star the party nobody's really heard of,

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Speaker 2: did really well. But I'm tied a little bit, you know,

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Speaker 2: to a party which is what I'm tied a lot

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Speaker 2: to a party which has no possible public persona. So

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Speaker 2: we're not going to do very well. But it's all

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Speaker 2: good fun. Mike, I would advise you to do it.

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Speaker 2: I think next election, mate, you should be out there

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Speaker 2: and I will come and campaign for you.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic, Well you campaigning for me is reason enough by

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Speaker 1: the idea of time to watch the uisor you're too busy.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I've been watching it. I've been watching it and

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Speaker 2: you know, if we should see that expected a kind

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Speaker 2: of boosting support by a good feel factor. He's losing

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Speaker 2: out there. England have been abysmal, none more so than

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Speaker 2: in the drawer with Denmark, and then of course Scotland

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Speaker 2: went out last night, a cause of much hilarity. South

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Speaker 2: of the border, it's not looking good at all, and

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Speaker 2: France and Spain are looking very strong indeed, so I

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Speaker 2: don't think the Euros are going to come to Rishi's help.

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