"We're Governed By Cowards" - Reform Candidate For London Mayor - Laila Cunningham

22:30Others, it really is a drug addiction through circumstances of life. I speak to some veterans who say after PTSD they did become drug addicts. And number one, for me, that's shameful. The fact that our veterans are not put on a pedestal and treated like kings is a blemish on any country. But yeah, they deserve help to stop it as opposed to this roundabout of going to prison, going to prison, and they go to prison for a day here, a day there. where what they do really need is help with stopping drug addiction. Whereas in San Francisco, I think they're giving them the drugs, right?

23:05Francis Foster:I don't know exactly what their latest policy is, but I think it's refreshing to hear, because I think in this country in particular, there's this sort of thing about being perceived as being soft on drugs by talking about the things that we're talking about, whereas what we're really talking about is pragmatic solutions to actual progress. So you have the drug addicts, who really are vulnerable victims, I think sometimes, And you have the drug dealers, right? And that's what we need to go hard on are the drug dealers. And like you say, you know, they'll serve half their time or they'll deal drugs within prison.

23:37And that's what you need to go after a lot. And I know, for instance, that a lot of candy shops, souvenir shops across London, they are dealing drugs. And they're not being shut down. They're not being shut down by the council. They're not being shut down by the police. There is a massive proliferation of these kind of shops. And you've got to ask yourself, they're in central London, how are they affording rent? There's no one in there. I mean, just in my area, I mean, there's all the high streets full of it. And so I think we have to have, I don't feel there is a coordinated police emergency unit to deal with the massive proliferation of drug dealing.

24:12Francis Foster:It does kind of feel like across the country now, but in London, I think it's more noticeable than anywhere. There's just a toleration of crime. There just is. Yeah. Yeah. And what you find with the two other parties is it can no longer be business as usual. Right now, every party is like business as usual with a little tweak. It has to be a fundamental change. I mean, my teenagers are approached regularly just when they're in their school uniform, guy in a COVID mask gives them a card with just a mobile phone number, any drugs you want. You know, from the age of 13, they're given that. And he lifts it, you know, ketamine, coke.

24:49I mean, people don't realise, actually, I had to prosecute a lot of, like, delivery drivers who also deal drugs, you know, and a bag of Coke is like five pounds now. Remember, it used to be, like, for the rich bankers. It's actually so cheap and easy to get all across London, and no one's dealing with that. No one's dealing with actually breaking these kind of organised crime that has permeated everything. I mean, you've got kids in private schools, state schools, all doing drugs.

25:18Francis Foster:And you mentioned Deliveroo drivers. I mean, one of the things that anyone who's ordered a Deliveroo in London has experienced is the person who turns up is not the person on the app who it's supposed to be. And we know that's illegal immigrants buying identities to then use within Deliveroo. How much of an issue is illegal immigration in London, in your opinion? I think illegal immigration is a massive issue. Number one, London has the largest number of illegal migrants housed in hotels. The government likes to call it asylum seekers, but they entered this country illegally. And they are illegal migrants.

25:54Just because you say the word asylum, it doesn't kind of neutralise the fact that you enter the country illegally. And London has the largest share. You know, where we saw a murder of the guy walking his dog in Uxbridge, Uxbridge actually, Hillingdon has the largest amount in hotels. And what's really sad is that you have Londoners whose kids can't afford to live in London, right, and yet they're working in London, but they can't afford it, are paying taxes for these people to stay in the hotels in the city that they can't afford to stay in themselves. So illegal migration has a huge effect. We've even got, you know, now we have councils.

26:29So the way it works is you're an asylum seeker and then when you're granted asylum, you're deemed a refugee. And what we know is that the approval rate for certain countries is over 90%. Somali, Ethiopia, I don't have the facts here, but it's a very high approval rating. So what happens is you come on a boat, you're an illegal entrant, you say the word asylum, this magic word, it's like open sesame. It neutralizes illegal entry. You're deemed an asylum seeker and you get all the benefits paid for by the British taxpayer. You're put in a four-star hotel, and then your claim is, again, all that public resources is granted.

27:12You become a refugee and you go to the top of the housing list in London. Because successive legislation, Theresa May is one of them, has said that you cannot discriminate for social housing on the basis of nationality. It's quite an extraordinary thing.

27:27Francis Foster:If you think about it, so I'm an immigrant, your parents were immigrants, Francis' mother came here as well. Well, I have never understood why it is that anyone who is not a British national should get access to any benefits whatsoever. But also, if you're not prioritised in your own country, where are you supposed to be prioritised? If your parents aren't going to love you unconditionally, who is? So it is shocking. And also, when they say discriminate against nationality, fine, put foreigners in that bracket. But British people, of course, should be prioritised. And that's not discrimination.

28:01If you flip it, discrimination is actually prioritising the people who built this city.

28:06Francis Foster:Wait, so are you in principle okay with foreign nationals getting benefits? No, I'm not. No, you're not. No, I don't think foreign nationals should get any benefits. Yeah. Of course not. Right. Why? I have no idea. We have the highest tax burden since World War II and the lowest productivity in the public sector. So you've got to ask why. No, I don't think so. And as it stands, British people are not being prioritised for social housing in this city. And it actually makes me angry. Because again, where are you supposed to... You know, I speak to people who are like, their son is on the 400th on the list.

28:42But someone who's just arrived doesn't speak English, gets a three bedroom house for free. And then if you say that, you're racist, by the way. Which I did. I said it in one of the council meetings, I was called racist. So I think there has to be... I think we've been led by political cowards. who have been voted in to represent British people, but have been too cowardly to do so.

29:06Francis Foster:You know what's interesting? And I'm sure you know this. You've travelled extensively abroad. It's funny, in this country, if you say that, you might be called racist by some people. If you tell people in any other country that in Britain, we actively discriminate against our own population in favour of foreigners, they all think we're crazy. Everyone around the world thinks what we are doing is insane. I know. I know they do. And they think, they also think, how do we put up with it? Yeah. You know, and what is the aim? But I think that's why reform is doing so well, you know, and that's why I think people are like, I'm so sick and tired of being put on the back.

29:48I'm so sick and tired of being divided. You know, they're very good at dividing us as well. And I think that's why reform is doing so well, because we're unashamedly poor British people. You know, I was on a... I don't feel... When I say London's changed as well, I go to certain parts of London and it doesn't really feel like a British city. It really doesn't. It doesn't feel... It feels more like a... a Muslim city in some areas, you know. You go to Whitechapel, that feels like a Muslim city. That doesn't feel like London. No, it doesn't. And I speak to people who are from there, who have moved out because they feel, you know, they grew up there, they feel they've been...

30:33They've got burka markets in Tower Hamlets. My parents are Muslim, but they didn't move for that. They didn't move to London to find some Egyptian village in London. No, they moved to London because it is the capital of the United Kingdom and everything that Great Britain represents. And I don't feel the capital city represents that anymore. And I feel we've lost that identity.

31:02Francis Foster:And what can you do about that, though? Well, the mayor doesn't really have any control over social housing. But, you know, he has failed to build so much housing. And I'd like to see more... British workers have been priced out of London. So I'd like to see... You know, he has a huge mandate to build so many homes. You know, he has failed to build on all the brownfield sites that he could. He gets a huge allocation from central government to build. He hasn't. For instance, there's a lot of industrial sites in London that really house very low-wage, low-skilled work. And because of labour ideology, you can't take this from workers.

31:43He has the power to make that into homes. He hasn't. And that's why you find people and the demographics, because there's such a big social housing and so many refugees are housed in London, in certain parts of London, and British people who work in London can no longer afford to live here, you've found an influx of foreigners who don't really want to live in a British... who want to live in Britain, but don't want to live in Britain, if you know what I mean? And British people are priced out of the UK. I mean, you remember London. I remember growing up in London. Hackney was so cool. Do you remember?

32:15It was all the artists. Yeah, it was the murder capital,

32:18Francis Foster:but, you know, we kind of put up with that. You'd go see studios. It was cool. You know, I find that kind of coolness to London's gone. You know, there's no independent shops on the high street. No, it's either candy shops, vape shops, but you don't get little cool boutiques or, yeah, coffee shops have proliferated. I actually did the math. I think it's a massive markup on coffees. So I get that. But that eclectic element to London, I find, has changed. Universities are a bad deal. Six figures of debt for a bachelor's degree that signals less every year. Four years spent navigating ideological rules instead of learning how to think.

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34:10Labour bringing in a lot of changes. This is something I'm actually very interested to talk to you about because when David Lammy announced this particular policy, my jaw was on the floor when they were talking about getting rid of jury trials. So there's a lot of people who haven't heard about this. You work for the Crown Prosecution Service. What are David Lammy's plans and why are they, in my opinion, so egregious? So as your viewers, I don't know if your viewers but we create the Magna Carta created trial by jury, you know, to be to be tried by 12 of your peers. Because let's face it, the judge's state is part of the state.

34:48Prosecutor's part of the state. The only part of the judicial system that is really not part of the state is the jury. It protects you against the state. And in this country, we do have a magistrate system where up to 12 months. There is no jury. But you do have a bench from lay people mainly, which is kind of like a mini jury. And what he's saying is that to reduce the backlog, he's going to remove jury trials. What he really is removing is people's power. Because right now what they've also done, and a lot of those three-year trials where you get a three-year conviction is when you say hateful content, you know, look at people who've been prosecuted after the Southport trials.

35:39And what you found is when it has been a jury, they've acquitted them in five minutes because they're like, it's ridiculous. And when you have had a judge, they've had a very, very harsh penalty. So they're upping the chance of you being prosecuted for something they don't like you saying, and they're removing the protection from you being acquitted. And it's draconian, but it's all a form of control. You know, they don't trust the people. And they even said, actually, that in fraud cases, the jury's too stupid, so they shouldn't be on the panel. But the jury consists of people like you and me who've had families, who've had businesses, who've run a household, who've had and they bring a wealth of life experience that a judge doesn't.

36:27And actually what they found is during fraud cases, the jury actually had very clever questions, very clever notes. But this just it's an authoritarian regime that doesn't trust the people and wants to control every outcome. That's why they're bringing in facial recognition without removing face coverings. It's all an excuse. It's a guy's. And when you lose, I think, rights, fundamental rights under the guise of safety or convenience or expedience, you end up with neither. Now, David Lammy would go, well, hang on a moment, Leila. Because of COVID, we now have cases that have years to be... Victims have to wait years to get their moment in court.

37:11And these are very serious crimes. This is suffering. These people are waiting years, literal years, for things like rape, murder, whatever. And it's not acceptable. This is a policy that the government is doing. We're going to streamline it and we're going to ensure that people get their day in court and victims get justice. What's wrong with that? Because the judicial system only works if it's fair and reliable, not if it favours the state. And when you remove jury trials, it will invariably favour the state and the government. You can't remove people's fundamental rights for expediency. It's not our fault that there's a backlog.

37:49That's the government's fault. They have to sort it out. And you know what's happened is, and I go back to hate crime because it's a real bugbear of mine. So you have magistrates' trials, which if you, let's say I hit you, right, just push you. That's an assault. Quite a minor thing. It goes to the magistrates. Magistrates are very quick. If I hit you and call you with a racial slur, it becomes an either way offence. And the criminal can then pick Crown Court, right? And he invariably picked Crown Court because of the massive delay. So then the victim pulls out. He's got three years. It's not an imprisonable offence.

38:26He's on bail. He can relax. And that is a huge part of the backlog is that they've made minor offences into more serious offences if they're racially or religiously aggravated. And that has to go back to the magistrates. It's a huge backlog, and they've really prioritised words over violent action. So that being the case, what is reforms policy? How would you sort out this huge backlog that we now have in the Crown Prosecution Service? I'd have Crown courts sitting in the weekend. You clear the backlog, just like we did in the Southport trials. You clear the backlog. You have crowd court in the weekends.

39:07You reduce all the minor offences that are racially or religiously aggravated go back to the magistrates. And that's how you clear it. But you don't clear it. You never clear it by removing people's rights. That's not what a government does. And it wasn't even in their mandate. You know, they're bringing in incrementally more and more state control without ever asking us to vote on it. If they really believe that was the case, then we should have voted on it. And I can guarantee most people wouldn't. So there's a lot of people going, well, what type? What do you mean by state control? Give me some examples.

39:36What is the Labour government doing to bring in state? So they're bringing in a digital ID, right? Initially, they said it would be to, so illegal migrants couldn't work. And then they realised that didn't wash because, you know, they're like, oh, hang on. We try that for a week or two. Obviously, you can get away, you can get around with it. I mean, you know, if I'm hiring an illegal migrant, I'm not like, give me your documents. If you don't have your documents, I'm not hiring you. Weak argument. And then they actually said it was going to be easy to buy a house. right and then that didn't wash and now they're saying you know I don't know just so you can have initially they said you know so you couldn't work without getting it and now it's so you can get all your benefits and what happens is when you have a centrally controlled digital platform that dispenses all your rights that you now treat as rights they will become privileges on the basis

40:20Francis Foster:of you behaving you know oh you didn't you didn't you said something against the government last year um we're not sure if you're allowed this you didn't pay your hmrc tax because you're in dispute until you pay it you're not going to be allowed to get an nhs appointment all the rights i think that we deem now as rights will become privileges on the basis of us behaving no one asked again for this central uh control of of everything we do why wasn't it in the mandate why wasn't it in their manifesto i mean the election was just 14 months ago let's look at how they're cancelling they're cancelling trial they're cancelling elections for four million people six million people on what basis on reorganization you reorganize after the election you don't reorganize before And, by the way, reforms polling to win every single one of those elections and those nine mayoral positions as well.

41:07This is a government that doesn't trust the people. It's a status government. It's a socialist state. They believe in a bigger, bigger state and they reward dependency. I mean, you've seen it in their budget. The more you're dependent on the state for welfare, that's what they're relying on. They're relying on to grow the pie of people on welfare because if enough people are on welfare, they're always going to vote for more government intervention. But my pushback to that is, Leila, yeah, but you can carry on doing that. Eventually, we're going to go bankrupt. And let's be honest, this country is pretty close to, to put it bluntly, going fucking broke.

41:39Yeah, of course we are. Also, debt finally matters, right? Before, debt didn't matter because it was at 0%, but it's not free anymore. But they don't believe in that. The more you're reliant on the state, it's like you're reliant on drugs, you're reliant on a drug addict, right? They want to get you hooked. Once you're hooked on welfare, you'll vote for them for life. They don't want you to own anything. They don't want you to make money. That's what they're betting on. They're not rewarding risk. They're not rewarding people who are working. They don't care about that.

42:11Francis Foster:And how is reform going to fix all this? Because it's, look, I agree with you 100 % about hooking people on welfare, but getting people off drugs is pretty hard, as we've discussed. How are you going to unhook Britain off the welfare? Well, right now we have, so in some cases you earn more on welfare than you do working. And, you know, we have imported so much foreign cheap labour that wages have become stagnant since 2008. So you're like, what the hell am I working for? I'm not getting anything. And there's no reward. It's like, I can't own a home. It's like 10 times my salary. So I think you have to make wages go up.

42:48And the way you make wages go up is that you stop importing foreign cheap labor. You encourage the businesses to open. You know, we're number 20 in the world to list your company behind Mexico. They take all their jobs, all their taxes, everything you deregulate. I mean, Revolut left us. to go to France, as I'm sure you know. Businesses aren't really excited to open up shop here. You know, I speak to young people, they're leaving university, my teenage kids' friends, they're not like, oh, I want to stay in London, it's so exciting, I want to stay in England and get a job. No, they all want to leave.

43:22You know, and so we didn't invest in skills, we didn't invest in technology, we relied solely on foreign cheap labour. We're the least automated country in the G7. We have the best universities in the world Why is that? And that's what I think we need to do We need to make work pay Not punish work And I mean The problem is, Leila And let's be really blunt about this It's not just Labour It's 14 years of a I wouldn't say useless Because that's actually a compliment To the previous Conservative government But let's say you're going to have Another four or five years of Labour So that's the best part of two decades.

44:02I mean, if reform are going to come in, you are going to be faced with one hell of a challenge. You could be argued that is even more of a challenge than Thatcher faced. Massive challenge. Massive challenge. But you have to have someone who is so... We haven't had a radical leader in such a long time. Thatcher was radical. She wasn't scared to do what it takes. She wasn't scared to stand up to the unions. she wasn't scared to be unashamedly pro-capitalist. And we have had leaders who are not like that. They're internationalists. You know, they favour international relations. And I think that's got to stop.

44:42You know, we had Brexit. I was a big Brexiteer because I do believe in a sovereign, free Britain.

44:49Francis Foster:And you were married to a Frenchman. And I was married to a Frenchman. The less French, the better. but we have a government we have governments that didn't believe in it you know why we should be we should be a country that rewards companies come deregulate allow the markets to pick the winners and losers right now we have governments and regulation that are picking the winners and losers i speak to young to small companies who can't compete just because of regulation they can't compete with the big companies and that's a shame that's not a thriving economy you do get monopolies at the top who can afford all the regulatory requirements that this government has imposed on them.

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47:12Francis Foster:Leila, you talked, or Francis talked about the worse than useless Conservative government. You were in support of that party when it was useless, and several of your recent MPs were in fact ministers in that very useless government that we've just had 14 years of, and one of the talking points in the last few days has been the sort of the the Torrification of the Reform Party. And a lot of people are, I think, wondering whether, you know, in supporting reform, they are effectively going to get more of the same. I understand the concern. And I understand the concern when they see, you know, the people that they associate with a failed Tory government representing us.

47:56But I will tell those people there is one fundamental difference. And it's the same when you're in a company, and that's leadership, right? It depends what leader you have. They had a leader who didn't really believe in anything. They had five leaders, actually, right? Who would sway with the wind. You know, you felt that they were serving a party. Right now, you have a leader whose convictions, I don't think anyone can doubt Nigel's convictions. They've always been the same. And it's always been to put British people and our country first. And he won't tolerate anything else. You know, and we all respect our leader.

48:32there's no chat in the back to get rid of him. And I think when you have strong leadership with strong convictions, strong priorities, whoever joins recognizes that that's the aim of the party. And I think that's what the Conservative Party failed to do. They didn't have... Nobody really knew what they stood for. You know, they'd look at us and go, you know, we're the party of low taxation, highest tax burden since World War II. We're the party of home ownership, lowest tax home... You know, if 30 and 40-year-olds who don't own a home, never will. We're the party of law and order. As we just discussed, crime was rife.

49:07We're the party of business. They deliberately removed the non-DOM policy just to beat Labour. This was a party that was there to serve a party. They forgot to serve the British public. Their main aim was to stay in power.

49:24Francis Foster:I agree with you, but the question I think people are asking is why would reform welcome so many of the people who were part of the very thing you were describing? And I take your point about Nigel's leadership. I think you're right about his convictions. We've had him on the show a number of times, never basically changed his tune at all because he believes what he believes. And that's admirable in a politician. I totally agree with you. But I also think a lot of people might be saying, well, look, I think it's quite obvious reform needs more high caliber people to stand in all sorts of constituents around the country and then to form a cabinet.

49:57Francis Foster:What happens when the party has 200 MPs, most of whom are formerly part of the failed Tory party, and the weight of the balance of power within reform has shifted so heavily towards those people? Isn't reform going to face exactly the same problem as the Tories, where you effectively had a liberal wing of the party holding back actual Conservatives? Well, now you're going to have people will say Tory wets holding back those of you who are actually the sort of native reformers so to be fair Tory wets aren't joining us what about what about what's his face Jake Berry last time he's a foot soldier no hold on a second last time I saw Jake Berry we were on question time together and his exact words when I challenged the idea of net zero which I think is economic suicide and I'm sure you'd agree yeah he said you're totally wrong Constantine Net zero is not the problem.

50:49Francis Foster:It's the solution. That's who you now have in reform. So anyone can join. I mean, I'm serious. It doesn't mean that they'll have a role in government. Right. And it doesn't mean that they, you know, we have lots of ex-Tories who have joined us as foot soldiers. And you say, yeah, I was part of the Conservative Party because, number one, there was no other choice on the right. And although I don't even think it's right. I just think, for me, I wanted a party that was patriotic, believed, you know, my mum always taught me, and I know it sounds corny, you work hard, you shall receive. You don't work hard, you're not going to get anything, right?

51:29And I wanted that, you know, mirrored in a party where, you know, we will reward you going out, leaving your family at 5am, we will reward you putting half your savings in a company, we're going to reward that risk, and we're going to reward that effort that you take to support yourself and not rely on the state but we've had the opposite and i was part of the conservatives because i think and a lot of people who are still part of the conservatives who haven't had the guts to leave is because we still think of it as the party of margaret thatcher we really do and and we try and ignore everything it's done and think that maybe maybe just maybe they might become conservative again but and then you're like hang on there's this other party that is actually saying everything that I believe in and is the real Conservative Party with a small c and that's why they're joining.

52:20But as I said, everyone who joins won't be in government, but anyone can join. We've had a Green councillor defect. Because, look, I'll be honest with you. Also, by the way, politics is not a permanent damnation. It's not a life sentence It is as far as I'm concerned It's not a life sentence So it's almost like Even in crime You can atone for your sins But have these people atone for their sins? The party hasn't atoned for its sins But for instance you mentioned Jennery One thing he did say So I was quite sceptical in his speech He said something that really resonated with me He worded it better than I ever could Where he said they are so compromised That they can no longer speak for the people And that's how I feel the Conservative Party is.

53:09They are the architects of all the issues we face now, but they can't admit it because it's like a criminal being caught red-handed and saying, I'm innocent. He can't really admit it.

53:20Francis Foster:But what I'm... Leila, all I'm trying to get you to address is you're welcoming these criminals into your party, according to some people... I'm continuing your metaphor. So it's like a criminal has been caught red-handed, and what you now have is a criminal gang, who is now bleeding former members to your party. That's how some people see it. And I can understand it. All I can say is, Nigel's political view and sense, I've always trusted. And he made the decision, and I think it's the good decision, because what it signals, forget the reflection on reform, which I can see some people have their doubt, but what it does signal is that the Conservative Party is effectively finished.

54:05And if that thought process accelerates Nigel Farage being Prime Minister, then for me, anything that does that is in the national interest. And when you have big players, whether you like Jennerick or not, but he is a big player in the Conservative Party.

54:22Francis Foster:I wasn't criticising Jennerick, I was talking about Jake Berry. Well, I didn't, Jake Berry, listen, I haven't really heard what he said. That's fine, carry on. But when you have big players joining and really eviscerating the Conservative Party, if that accelerates a reform government, then for me, it's a patriotic duty for me to support it because it's in the national interest for everyone that we do have a reform government. There must be a part of you that is worried when you have someone like Nadeem Zahawi joining reform and particularly his behaviour during Covid with vaccine passports. We've spoken about civil liberties.

54:59That was one of the most egregious infringements of civil liberties that has happened in all our lifetimes. And I think we can agree with that. I agree with that 100 percent. I do. I do. I mean, my teenagers are not my kids are not vaccinated. I remember I was pregnant during Covid and I had I had every single strain, literally. And every two days I'd get a call from the NHS, please can you get vaccinated. In the end I'm like, for God's sake, this is harassment. I've had it. They didn't take in natural immunity at all. It was completely disregarded, which is the most, you know, the most, anyway, as I said, and I think Nadim said in his press conference, he is a foot soldier.

55:43Anyone can join. And I think Nadim is a very successful businessman. if you remove that aspect of his political career, which I agree I did not agree with at all. In fact, it's during that period that I started inching away from the Conservative Party and having my doubts. You know, we could only walk in those days. And I'd go on long walks. One of my closest friends is a real lefty. You know, she's an Oxford grad and environmentalist. And we used to have long, long... I think I did, like, literally half a million steps. And I'd be like, who the hell does this government think it is? You know, who are they to tell me what to do?

56:17And then you'd hear, you know, the number six was an arbitrary number that you could have at your house. But he is a successful businessman. And I think successful businessmen who have created something from nothing could be a benefit. But again, he did say he was a foot soldier. And that's how it is. As I said, anyone can join. You know, we're not a closed shop. And I'll tell you why this is so important, Leila. And it's because one of the great privileges of doing this show, both for me and Constantine, is we get to talk to ordinary people about what's going on in the world. And they invariably, a lot of the times, less so now, which is very heartening, it's a one-two over the shoulder and then asking or saying something.

56:56The reason we're pressing you about this particular issue is because I feel the next general election, this is it. We're drinking in the last chance saloon. We're drinking in the last chance saloon, culturally, economically, societally. and one of my fears is that we're looking at the same people coming in and going, we're just making the same mistake here. And when I talk to people on the streets, these ordinary, regular people, they've lost faith in democracy. They've lost faith in democracy, they've lost faith in party politics and they've lost faith in politicians. And that is a very dangerous place for society to be in.

57:32A hundred percent. I mean, until reform, I'd lost faith in democracy, to be honest, because I felt I was voting for something and getting the complete opposite. And I campaigned under the Tory banner across the country and the year before the general election. And the number one message I got, it wasn't like cost of living. It was you lot are in it for yourselves. And that really resonated with me. People really felt that politicians were doing politics for themselves. And the Conservative Party was there to serve itself. And people, that is for me the main difference between reform no we're not some hundred year old 200 year old party that's you know badge of like honor to be reform is not why we're there we're there because we really have had enough and we want to what's best for the country and people who come over from the conservatives are doing the same you know they want to fundamentally fix what they were part of breaking and you know who am I to say no to that they're like yes we messed it up we got it wrong please can we help fix it Leila one other issue I want to raise with you you actually alluded to

58:48Francis Foster:a number of times you talked about burqas and you talked about parts of London feeling like a Muslim I don't remember the words you used exactly but Muslim city Muslim ghetto whatever you want to call it there's obviously I think if we look across Europe there's been a dramatic rise in and concern about what people might call Islamification, etc. Why do you think that's happened? I think so. We saw it across the Middle East over the past few decades. You saw it in Egypt when my parents were from. My mum showed me pictures where people were in bikinis and swimsuits on the beach. Now you go to a beach, everyone's in full burqa in the sea, all in black.

59:25In the Middle East, it's because there's no social mobility at all. Wealth is really accumulated very much at the top. There's no welfare, there's nothing, and people turn to religion. And it's exploited by radical Islamic leaders, in that sense. And I think the reason it is here is because we have let people into the country in massive amounts of numbers, with no filter, who hate the country. You know, you have let people in. Some of the people we've let in would be considered radical Muslims in the parts they are and would be nowhere near government, would be nowhere near local government. But we haven't had that.

1:00:14I mean, we've let in, we let Muslim Brotherhood is not prescribed in this country. We let in someone, a convicted bomb maker from Egypt and considered his claim and put him in a four star hotel in Ealing for 18 months paid for by the taxpayer. this is someone who was part of the Muslim Brotherhood and convicted. Muslim Brotherhood, for your viewers, they are the founding fathers of ISIS and Al-Qaeda. You know, you just say that word in some parts of the Middle East and you're imprisoned. Here, we grant them asylum, put them in the middle of towns and villages. He went on to rape someone in Hyde Park.

1:00:46As I said, for me, that is treacherous from a government. And that's what you have. You have people, you know, and I know Merkel let in all the Syrian refugees, despite other European countries begging her not to, into our country. We don't have a government whose sole purpose is to protect the British public and the British way of life. We don't. We don't have that. And we've let in too many people from certain countries and certain cultures who not only hate the country, but want to change it.

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1:02:40That's 50 % off your first year with code TRIGGER at monarch.com. Why do they hate the country? Because it's not a Muslim country.

1:02:51Francis Foster:They wanted to be a Muslim. I speak to some. I don't speak. I hear some. They do want it to be a Muslim country. But not only that, they somehow blame Britain for all the woes of the Middle East or the woes of their country or, you know, what's going on in Palestine or what's going on. I don't know where. And they blame it. And they don't come with a love of country or Great Britain. They don't come being, I want to come. I want to embrace it. I want to work. I want to do well. I want my kids to grow up British. That's not why they come. They come and they're like, you know what, I can go there.

1:03:28I can bring in 20 of my family members. I can live for free. I can do what I want. I can say what I want. And if the host nation, you know, and if anyone from the host nation complains, they actually call them racist. They get the blame.

1:03:41Francis Foster:That's what's going on. Do they think they see us as weak? Do I think what? Do you think they see us as weak? I think they see us as suckers. I had to prosecute one guy, literally had receding hairline, almost white hair, and he'd come into the dock and he was from Kuwait. I was like, why the hell is someone from Kuwait as a refugee? It's such a rich country. But anyway, no war there. And he would be charged with robbery, burglary in the house. Guess what? He said he's 16 years old. So he was treated as not an adult. and when you're not an adult, you can't be remanded in custody for a crime. So he'd commit crimes on a government.

1:04:21And the public prosecutor would stand up and go, he's a child. And you could almost see him laughing. You could almost see him calling his mates in Kuwait going, mate, man, I come here, I've got a free house, I rob houses, and they're arguing for hours over whether I'm 16 or not. It's farcical. And the public prosecutor would stand up and say, he cannot be remanded in custody, he's underage. And then the judge would be like, well, we're going to have to assign a publicly paid age assessor. God knows what that entails. That's how ridiculous it is. And for your viewers, I was in court once and a woman turns up in a burqa in the dock and I make an application to the judge.

1:05:01I'm like, judge, could you please remove her burqa? I have no idea who this person is. And the judge says, no, these are religious sensitivities, Madam Prosecutor. We cannot allow her to remove her burqa. And at that moment, I realised we're not equal under the law, actually. You cannot go to court with a hat. This person, I don't even know if it was a lady, sounded like one, had her complete face covered and I had to conduct a hearing with it. As I said, we have cowards running the whole system who are too cowardly to stand up for us and stand up for our country. And I think you have seen it in other parts of Europe as well.

1:05:37But I think people are recognising they don't want to be run by cowards anymore.

1:05:43Francis Foster:And when we're not being run by cowards, what will our immigration and also domestic policy in this area look like to address these challenges that we now face? So I think there will be, for instance, if you're a foreigner, you can't access benefits. Tick. You'll get rid of a lot of illegal immigration. A massive, massive amount. And a lot of legal immigration. A lot of legal immigration as well. That's not contributing. Yeah, of course. So big tick. Congratulations. Also, we will not rely on foreign cheap labour because what happens when you rely on foreign cheap labour? They come. Oh, yeah, they're working, but it's so their salary is so low.

1:06:18The cost of living is so high.

1:06:19Francis Foster:They're still in that drain. They're getting benefits. Agreed. OK, so sorted. No benefits for foreign nationals. What else? No benefits for foreign nationals. And when you when you remove that, you will have British people put into social housing. You will put you'll put British people at the top of the queue for everything. And I think you will see a fundamental change. You will remove ourselves from the ECHR because the ECHR was never meant to prevent us from deporting illegal migrants. It was never meant to undermine our sovereignty. And I think that is, I think the world needs to know that we don't really care.

1:06:53All we care about is what happens in our country. We don't care what you think of us. And we're definitely not going to let a judge in Strasbourg tell us what to do or who we can and cannot keep. and we want Britain to thrive again. You know, we have massively de-industrialized as a result of net zero. It's madness, you know, and China's clever because it doesn't go into war. It just slowly de-industrializes the world and supplies us with everything. We're so reliant on it for things. We used to be the workshop of the world and now everything we used to make, we import from China. So I think I'd like to see an industrial plan that puts Britain back on the industrial map, you know, and we don't have that right now.

1:07:39We don't make anything. And I think once we have a thriving economy, we only 60%, so I speak to farmers, who are, we speak about the inheritance tax of farmers, but there are also tenant farmers who have been told to stop growing food and start growing trees because the landlord gets more money for it. And so we only have, we only rely 60 % of our food is homegrown, 40 % is not, and I'd like to see that flourish. I'd like to see us grow more food. I'd like to see less focus on environmental, almost removed because it's weakened us, and a focus on what we can make, what we can grow, and British people focused on it, upskilling British people.

1:08:23If you need a coder right now or someone to build you an AI platform, you don't look for someone in You look for someone abroad. You've got demand and supply. We don't have enough. Even my kids who are taking computer science, let's say, in A-levels or GCSE, they're like, mum, it's so bad because those that teach it are not the best, obviously, because otherwise they'd be working in a high-tech job. So we're not even teaching the kids the jobs of the future at all. I still get called because my kids' handwriting is bad. I'm like, don't tell me about his handwriting. I want to know how quick his touch typing is.

1:08:53I want to see touch typing competitions, hackathons all across schools. We don't have that. In fact, I went to speak at the Adam Smith Institute last week and I spoke to amazing young guys who have hackathons across and they're like, we've spoken to the government, we want to support them, but they're not. And they're like, we're getting poached from Dubai. I want us to be leaders in AI and technology, but I know that we need obviously a new energy plan because it's heavily reliant, but we also need to embrace that. If you are disabled or if you cannot go into work, but you can learn technical skills, you can learn data analysis, you can learn AI engineering, you can learn all this at home.

1:09:34And that's what I want to see. I want to see those 9 million people that cannot go to work, back into work one way or another. I think also a real significant challenge, not the main challenge, but it's a challenge that we see in our society politically, is the rise of sectarian politics. Yeah. And I find that terrifying, if I'm being honest with you. The fact that you get MPs in Parliament talking about helping to build an airport in a remote region of Pakistan, I'm going, is this some kind of weird satire that I've found myself watching? And that, again, goes in with immigration. You know, you have put a certain demographic from a certain country, you've flooded a certain area that they've managed to control the electoral process of it.

1:10:22And that's why it's got to change. It's not just the electoral process. Well, they vote the people in. Yeah, they vote the people in. But it's also, you look at what's happened with Maccabre Tel Aviv. I know. And then he gets to resign. He's not even fired, the head of the police. I think we should talk about it very briefly. You should tell people, because there's people in America who are really interested in this. And I don't think it's got enough coverage, if I'm being honest. No, I mean, so what happened is, was that the police cancelled Maccabi Tel Aviv fans coming to a football match because they said that there'll be, you know, there'll be fights, there'll be riots, there'll be protests.

1:10:58And they basically, the message they sent to Jewish people was, if you're in danger, we're going to ban you. We're not going to stop the danger that presents to you. And that is a horrible message for Jewish people. and the head of the police actually presented false evidence, lied about something that happened in Amsterdam, and he admitted it, what would your viewers think should happen then? He should be fired with shame. What happened? He got to resign at 52. That is the problem. There is no accountability, but even amongst MPs, they get it wrong and they're like, we're really sorry we got it wrong, we'll get it right next time, but they still stay in their jobs.

1:11:35It's the same with the rape gangs across the country. Well, we're really sorry, we're going to do a review, were going to do this. We're only talking about going after the perpetrators. The perpetrators are one slice. I want to go after the social workers, the politicians, the police officers. And now you learn, by the way, that Maccabi Tel Aviv, the head of the police, who was on his recruitment panel, who recruited him? The head of the local mosque. And it all starts to come into play that it's all one cabal, right? What is the head of the mosque doing appointing the head of the police. And then you think, well, hang on, there obviously was a police cover up of the grooming gangs if they're so interlinked with communities that also covered up the grooming gangs, that their job relies on.

1:12:23And sometimes you think about it, you think it's so big and it's so entrenched. Like you say, there's so much to do, but I think it has to come down to accountability. And that's what I'd like to see in London. You get it wrong, you're out. There's no sorries, you know, because this is public money, not only public perception and public trust, but it's also public safety. For instance, Mark Reilly looked us in the eye and so did Sadiq Khan and say there are no grooming gangs. There are no rape gangs in London. Nothing like that exists here. Yet I read victims' testimonials, one from Oxford, saying that she was driven to London.

1:12:57There were hundreds of men and she was never asked about them. Another woman and another girl said she was bundled up in the boot of a car, driven to London from, I think, the Midlands, driven to a house because her abuser owed people in London and she was gang raped in that house. And that was in Wasadiq Khan, or just before he became to power. And yet they looked us in the eye and said, nothing happened here. But only under public pressure did they say, oh, hang on, we're reviewing 9 ,000 cases. just because it was public. How do you get 9 ,000 cases of sexual rape gangs wrong? How do you get that wrong?

1:13:36But he's still in power, right? And the police is going to review the cases that they originally discarded. It's they're doing their own homework. And I think that's what people feel, is that there is no accountability. I don't want to hear sorry anymore. I want people to lose their jobs. I want people to be prosecuted for their mistakes. Because the fact that he said... I wasn't aware... I was aware that he said something akin to that. But when I was teaching, I taught a victim of the grooming gang. Did you? Yeah. Wow. And that was in East London. That was in East London. And that was 10 or so years ago, maybe a bit more.

1:14:09And we knew that because we were coordinating with social workers. So he must have known. Oh, he must have known. And I don't know if you read, The Express did an article. Basically, what happens is they fly in men from a certain part of Pakistan to come and gang rape these girls. They send photos of the girls to the guys in Pakistan and they bring them in to gang rape the girls. And that's why I wrote an article saying if Shabana Mahmood is really serious, then she would... And Pakistan's not taking back these people. If she was really serious, which she's not, she would issue visa bans against Pakistan until they took these people back.

1:14:50We don't want them in our country. But she hasn't done that, obviously. And you've got to ask yourself why. I mean, she talks a good game. It's so easy to talk a good game. You know, she said, oh, you know, these are the toughest measures we've ever had. And she issued visa bans from DLC, Congo and Angola. What? Why? Hardly any of those come on a boat. No, we want to see from Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, but they're not doing that. They always talk a good game. And actually, you know what would be really a good game? Is that if you come on a boat, the moment you enter a boat in France, that you know that if you arrive here, you will be prosecuted.

1:15:28She said, no, instead of a five-year visa, we'll give you a two-year stay in a hotel and keep reviewing it. That's what they call far-reaching. They just tinker around the edges. You need someone to come and literally blow it up. Not, you know, just, it's got to stop. It cannot be business as usual. And that's what we have with the two parties. It's just business as usual, because the status quo suits them.

1:15:53Francis Foster:Leila, thank you so much for coming on. Before we head to Substack where our supporters get to ask you their questions, what's the one thing that we're not talking about that we should be? I think people are not talking enough about how successive governments have managed to divide us into different sections. You know, you're Muslim, you're Jewish, you're Christian, you grew up in a council state, you didn't, you're gay, you're not. and that's got to stop because in London anyway, we're all Londoners and I want to be the candidate, the mayor that unites everyone under the banner of London. I don't want to divide and conquer and I think that's what they've managed to do in the past few years and you've seen it across the world.

1:16:36We're all put into our own little demographic box and we're all meant to pick against each other for certain rights, certain privileges or even just political attention. And that's got to top for all human beings. And I don't want us divided anymore.

1:16:54Francis Foster:A good message to end on. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Head on over to Substack where Leila's going to answer your questions. What will it take for you to attract support to defeat Sadiq Khan? Because London is pretty lefty, liberal, Remainer. How are you going to beat him?

1:17:18We'll be right back.