Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Michelle Hossein is with us. She flew in to go
Speaker 2: to a quiet White House correspondence dinner to speak to
Speaker 2: pigil of the American Express Definitive in the United Kingdom
Speaker 2: where they work at the BBC, and of course the
Speaker 2: host of the Michelle Hussein Show across all of the
Speaker 2: Bloomberg platforms. We're thrilled she could pick up the pieces
Speaker 2: for us on this Monday morning. Michelle, I think we've
Speaker 2: all seen the video, seen the tape, relived it. I
Speaker 2: don't want to do that. What Americans want to know
Speaker 2: of every persuasion is how does the United Kingdom have
Speaker 2: less violence than we have? I guess it goes back
Speaker 2: to a horrific event in the nineties, But what is
Speaker 2: the legislative parliamentary courage that your nation has that we
Speaker 2: just can't do?
Speaker 1: Good morning talk, Good morning Paul. Wow, you are really
Speaker 1: putting me through my paces right at the beginning of this.
Speaker 1: It's so good to be with you from DC. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a really dramatic event. I will say that.
Speaker 1: You know, there was this sense of anticipation, a real
Speaker 1: sort of freesong around this particular dinner because the President
Speaker 1: was coming. But as I was crouched under the tables
Speaker 1: for those minutes, it took before the room was cleared
Speaker 1: of the VIPs and it appeared that the person was
Speaker 1: dealt with and we kind of emerged back into putting
Speaker 1: our heads above the parapet as it were. In those moments,
Speaker 1: I was thinking as an outsider to the United States
Speaker 1: about the nature of gun culture in this country and
Speaker 1: how different it is in the UK. And I will
Speaker 1: say that you have a long running history where you
Speaker 1: know the right to bear arms. It is there as
Speaker 1: part of your as part of your history for such
Speaker 1: a long time. The UK never had that for starters.
Speaker 1: But in nineteen ninety six there was a horrific school
Speaker 1: shooting at a primary school in Scotland and that did
Speaker 1: lead to the licensing of firearms regime that we continue
Speaker 1: to have in the United Kingdom and which some people
Speaker 1: continue to criticize as being too lax. But essentially the
Speaker 1: framework is that licensing of firearms is done through your
Speaker 1: local police force. So every local police force in the
Speaker 1: United Kingdom knows who is licensed to bear arms within
Speaker 1: their community. That's the hallmark of it. So Dunblane, that
Speaker 1: town in Scotland became the tourists for a school shooting.
Speaker 1: But the culture, the environment, the trajectory, the rights are
Speaker 1: very different in the United States. But yeah, all of
Speaker 1: this was going through my mind as I was under
Speaker 1: that table on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Michelle, another big day in Washington, DC today is the
Speaker 2: King and Queen of England arrive here. What do you
Speaker 2: think the agenda is for the King and Queen?
Speaker 1: You know, this visit was already complex for a number
Speaker 1: of reasons, primarily because of tensions between the US and
Speaker 1: the UK governments over the Iran War. The difference of opinion,
Speaker 1: the fact that British ministers and the Prime Minister openly
Speaker 1: refer to this as being President Trump's war. That has
Speaker 1: been a real disappointment to the President, who would like
Speaker 1: the UK to be firmly on side. The UK position
Speaker 1: is that British bases are only to be used for
Speaker 1: defensive action against Iran. So that was complex. The fallout
Speaker 1: from Jeffrey Epstein already made that complex. That's what the
Speaker 1: King is flying into today. But then I was with
Speaker 1: British diplomats on Saturday night. They were amongst the guests
Speaker 1: in the room, Bloomberg's guests and the guests of other
Speaker 1: news organizations, and of course they were immediately thinking and
Speaker 1: we immediately started to think about any review of the
Speaker 1: arrangements for this particular visit. So there has been a
Speaker 1: last minute review of security, some arrangements perhaps have been
Speaker 1: changing around the margins, but this is a tight itinery
Speaker 1: in DC, in Virginia, in New York in the coming
Speaker 1: four days. And basically the King's mission is going to
Speaker 1: be to use his lifelong diplomatic skills to try and
Speaker 1: to try and improve the relationship. And really that means
Speaker 1: the relationship between the Prime Minister and the President, which
Speaker 1: is not as the UK would want it be.
Speaker 2: And the way they're going to improve this is up
Speaker 2: Massachusetts Avenue. Michelle Hussein with us with Bloomberg again the
Speaker 2: Michelle Hussein Show, and we continue with her this morning. Now, Michelle,
Speaker 2: I want to cut to the chase. It's the Royal
Speaker 2: Garden Party. You're attending it as well. If I went,
Speaker 2: can you see me in the Lack and Company London
Speaker 2: black Beaver furfelt at it's thirteen hundred dollars? Could I
Speaker 2: pull off the top at Michelle.
Speaker 1: The dress code. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I think
Speaker 1: going to be more ordinary. We've actually been told hats
Speaker 1: are not encouraged, whereas if you go to a Buckingham
Speaker 1: Palace garden party it is very much hats encouraged for
Speaker 1: the guests. So there's going to be a different vibe.
Speaker 1: But this is one of the first engagements that the
Speaker 1: King and Queen will have here in the United States.
Speaker 1: It'll be in the beautiful setting of the British Embassy,
Speaker 1: just you know, about fifteen minutes drive away from where
Speaker 1: I am, the incredible Edwin Luttein's designed residence, so that's
Speaker 1: the setting. The King, with his interests in gardens, will
Speaker 1: no doubt be looking around the gardens very carefully. So
Speaker 1: I think the hope will be that it sets a
Speaker 1: tone for the visit and therefore for the next few days,
Speaker 1: and again this sense that perhaps the King is the
Speaker 1: one who can sort of smooth over the troubled waters.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's face it, the most likely scenario is
Speaker 1: that God willing, everything goes well for the next few days.
Speaker 1: The President says nice things about the UK, the King
Speaker 1: says nice things. We know he will about the United States,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of there'll be a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about America at two fifty. That is the reason for
Speaker 1: this particular visit. Most likely things will go back. But
Speaker 1: after they leave.
Speaker 2: I got to get to sid Michelle David Charter over
Speaker 2: at the Times of London. This is the heart of
Speaker 2: the matter. A royal visit after a presidential shooting. It's
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy six over again. Your visit is changed, is
Speaker 2: it not.
Speaker 1: Yes, no doubt. There's you know, that evidence that we
Speaker 1: had on Saturday night of just how inflamed the political
Speaker 1: climate is in the United States. That's going to be
Speaker 1: in everyone's the forefront of everyone's minds. The fact that
Speaker 1: this hugely important state visit comes less than forty eight
Speaker 1: hours after that White House correspondence dinner. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: from the British hope and expectation will be that the
Speaker 1: King sort of elevates that situation, that there's something about
Speaker 1: his presence that makes everyone around him rise above politics,
Speaker 1: and that will have been the hope for the UK
Speaker 1: US bond at this particular moment in time. Maybe even
Speaker 1: it's got something to offer the United States domestically as well,
Speaker 1: a reminder that there are conversations that happen like above
Speaker 1: and beyond the political phrase. So perhaps that's what he
Speaker 1: brings with him as he flies in today.
Speaker 2: Michelle, thank you so much with her coverage here of
Speaker 2: the visit of the King and Queen this afternoon. Of course,
Speaker 2: we'll have Bloomberg coverage on that throughout all of the
Speaker 2: afternoon that Michelle Hussein Show. Look for that as a
Speaker 2: wonderful podcast.