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Speaker 1: We're joined by Ben Wellings's senior Lecturer of Politics and

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Speaker 1: International Relations at Monash University, here to talk about the

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Speaker 1: latest goings on on the UK political scene and being

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Speaker 1: never a dull moment for UK politics. Right now, Let's

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Speaker 1: just start with Liz Trust backing down on that decision

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Speaker 1: to abolish the top tier tax rate. But what was

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Speaker 1: the better option for it? They're backing down saying she's

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Speaker 1: listened or burnishing her Margaret Thatcher credentials are called Thatcher

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Speaker 1: political hero of hers. Yes, I mean she she does

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Speaker 1: try and try and channel Thatcher, but without any of

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Speaker 1: the sort of political authority that I think Thatcher built

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Speaker 1: up over many years in opposition and then in government.

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Speaker 1: So of course that's a major difference for someone coming

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Speaker 1: in UM to office within four four weeks and you know,

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Speaker 1: without the support of the majority of her parliamentary colleagues.

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Speaker 1: If we look at where the votes when in the

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Speaker 1: early stages of that action campaign, Um, Look, I don't

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Speaker 1: think she had much of a of a choice not

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Speaker 1: to not to back down. The planning to abolish the

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Speaker 1: top rate of UM taxes was politically toxic and very

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Speaker 1: damaging in the seats that boris Johnson had won back

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Speaker 1: in which were, if you like, borrowed votes from labor

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Speaker 1: voters who didn't take kindly at all to the sort

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Speaker 1: of nouveau Thatcherite politics. So I think it was it

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Speaker 1: was politically Maladuart and I think she had no choice

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Speaker 1: to back down. But it has damaged her authority, there's

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Speaker 1: no question about that. Does it in any way affect

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Speaker 1: or leadership? I mean, does it seal her faith? Is

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Speaker 1: she done? I think the really damaging thing is the

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Speaker 1: loss of the appearance of economic competence. This is the

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Speaker 1: Conservatives really strong point at any election. You know, we

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Speaker 1: typically think the Labor Party sort of regarded more highly

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Speaker 1: in terms of education and health, but the Conservatives are

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Speaker 1: seen as the competent economic managers and if they don't

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Speaker 1: have that, they're very exposed. Um. It puts me in

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Speaker 1: mind of two when the Conservative UK government was ejected

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Speaker 1: from the exchange rate mechanism to to set up a

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Speaker 1: single currency in the EU um and and after that

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Speaker 1: they lost their reputation for sound economic management and they

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Speaker 1: never recovered. And that was five years before an election.

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Speaker 1: We're probably two years out of an election now, um,

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Speaker 1: And I'm not sure what Trust can really do to

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Speaker 1: win back, win back the confidence of her parliamentary colleagues,

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Speaker 1: but also voters whose allegiance to the Conservative Party may

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Speaker 1: have been only over the issue of Brexit and skepticism

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Speaker 1: towards Jeremy Corbyn, and both those issues of largely received

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Speaker 1: either gone or largely receded from the political imagination amongst

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Speaker 1: the UK electorate. And I think they're going to be

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Speaker 1: in trouble. Yeah, the next general election due by January five.

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Speaker 1: But you know, Liz Trust wasn't a difficult position on

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Speaker 1: that tax rate called the Conservative Party is in a

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Speaker 1: very difficult position as well. I mean, removing Liz Trust

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Speaker 1: isn't really a credible option either, is it so early

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Speaker 1: in a in a leadership. No, I mean, and it

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Speaker 1: would be hard to see. You know, who would Rishie

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Speaker 1: Sunnett come back on a kind of what I told

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Speaker 1: you so tickets? Um? And you know how would that

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Speaker 1: look in the electorate. I mean, you've got you've got

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Speaker 1: to remember there's been four Conservative prime ministers in this

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Speaker 1: Conservative government since um and fought and those fought since

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Speaker 1: sixt so it kind of looks like this this you know,

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Speaker 1: one party is empowered, but there's this kind of churn

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Speaker 1: of lead ship at the top um and once you're

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Speaker 1: getting into your fourth prime minister, you're you're really running

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Speaker 1: out of leadership talent. I think the pool is running

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Speaker 1: a little bit dry, you know, in terms of a

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Speaker 1: who could do it and who would want to do it? Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, people with political ambition would be very reluctant.

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Speaker 1: I would think to to pick up the reins of

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Speaker 1: this particular government. UM. I mean this being said that

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Speaker 1: they've got a very large majority, Johnson bequeen them a

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Speaker 1: very larger majority. But under normal circumstances we'd say, well,

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Speaker 1: they're they're pretty safe. They can afford to lose a

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Speaker 1: lot of bark and still be okay. But these aren't

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Speaker 1: normal circumstances. If it was about three or four years ago,

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Speaker 1: do you think that they might have been able to

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Speaker 1: get away with it because there was a lot of

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Speaker 1: talk about modern monetary theory and you know that you

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Speaker 1: didn't need to always fund all the spending that that

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Speaker 1: you did. But the mood has changed with rates this high,

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Speaker 1: inflation this high, and they just didn't read that that

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Speaker 1: mood both list trust and quasi quartek. That's a really

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Speaker 1: a good point. I'm also what's interesting for me is

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Speaker 1: when you look at the decision making of the people

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Speaker 1: supporting Liz, trusting the grassroots, who tends to be more

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Speaker 1: radical than parliamentarians because I don't think they have to

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Speaker 1: interact with the other side of politics the way that

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Speaker 1: parliamentarians do. And what it what it looks like to

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Speaker 1: me is that this is a party that's already in

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Speaker 1: opposition is trying. You know, when parties go into opposition,

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Speaker 1: they they sort of fall back on reassuring things that

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Speaker 1: worked in the past that may not be entirely appropriate

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Speaker 1: for now. Yeah, that's a good point. Well out of

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Speaker 1: time here, but thanks very much for joining us. Ben

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Speaker 1: Welling's Senior lecture of Politics and International Relations at one

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Speaker 1: Ash University