Video summary
Piers Morgan argues that while America has regained its confidence under figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who instill a sense of heroic ambition through space exploration initiatives, the UK is suffering from a pervasive feeling of decay where public services are failing and nothing seems to be working. He highlights a significant shift in political discourse regarding immigration, noting how Keir Starmer's recent comments on open borders sparked massive social media reactions—a stance that would have been considered extreme just four years ago but is now increasingly mainstream following the validation of Nigel Farage’s core principles about border control. Morgan suggests this change indicates an Overton window has shifted significantly to the right, driven by both genuine public concern and political necessity as Starmer seeks to address cost-of-living issues and illegal migration before facing potential electoral defeat against a reformed Conservative party or a merged entity led by Farage. The discussion extends to the financial realities of British politics, where Morgan critiques the current landscape for attracting mediocre politicians rather than brilliant minds like those found in Thatcher's era cabinets. He points out that top-tier talent avoids public service due to low pay and negative working conditions, citing examples such as a cybercrime head earning only £65,000 annually compared to Silicon Valley salaries of $1 million. Morgan proposes a radical solution where politicians are paid substantially more—perhaps half a million pounds—but strictly prohibited from holding outside interests or stock investments to prevent conflicts of interest and corruption, arguing that high compensation could attract the necessary caliber of leadership while maintaining integrity through strict financial regulations. Morgan addresses the recent riots in towns like Middlesbrough, asserting they were not primarily about immigration but rather fueled by a false pretext involving an asylum seeker who was wrongly identified as the perpetrator of violent crimes. He describes these disturbances as being whipped up by malevolent voices on social media and compares them to wars fought on false pretenses, such as Iraq based on non-existent weapons of mass destruction. While acknowledging the legitimate rage among working-class individuals facing economic hardship, divorce, or unemployment, Morgan criticizes the disproportionate response from authorities who imprison elderly people for Facebook posts while violent rioters throw Molotov cocktails at new housing developments without consequence. Finally, Piers Morgan reflects on the deep-seated cultural aggression within British society, drawing parallels between football hooliganism and broader national resentment. He observes that even non-hooligans in stadiums possess a "mob mentality" capable of brewing quickly into violence, driven by an electric ambient malevolence similar to the air before a thunderstorm. This sentiment is rooted not just in political grievances but in a visceral desire for physical conflict, where fans enjoy punches and fights as much as sports themselves. Morgan concludes that this underlying aggression represents a potent version of social unrest unique to the UK, exacerbated by economic despair and manipulated narratives that distract from genuine structural issues facing working-class communities across Northern England.
Read the full video transcript
[Music]
what do you make of the state of the UK
at the moment it really feels like we've
got a lot of turbulence going on two
million people voted for signed a
petition for K to leave then this
insanely surprising U-turn from Kiama
about immigration saying that the Tories
ran an open border policy all of the uh
riots that we saw across the country
this summer what do you how do you come
to think about it's the country that
you've chosen to live in I think I think
that America has got its confidence back
and Trump has been responsible that as
has Elon Musk I think little thing the
Rockets going off right they just
instill in people a sense of America's
firing Rockets again they're taking us
to the Moon maybe the maybe to Mars
there's something heroically ambitious
about the way that people like musk feel
and Trump being down there at the last
launch was just great imagery um he's
making people feel confident again
Master competence coner yes yeah in the
UK there's no sense of that there's a
sense at the moment of we're just exist
and that nothing's really working that
public services are decaying fast that
we're getting far too many people coming
in that obviously we need immigrants to
work as a country but you can't have a
net migration a nearon million people
and expect already struggling public
services to not struggle even more uh
you just can't um and they said they'd
fix the boats the boats I think more
people are coming in than ever um but
it's actual legal migration is is a big
problem bigger than the boats issue and
we've gone through years again going
back to what we discussed earlier where
you couldn't talk about this if you even
raised an eyelid on question time about
the number of people coming in racist
you were racist uh in the same way that
if you talk about trans athletes and
Sport you're
transphobic these things and and that
all that has to stop but we've just seen
Kia starma say give a two-minute
statement which went ballistic on social
media that the conservatives couldn't
have got away with
three four years ago could not have said
that uh so two things has the Overton
window shifted uh and and secondly is
this just a guy that's had two million
people put a petition together for him
going I need to do something to slow I
don't think he's that so much but he
will certainly have looked at what
happened in America and why Trump won
and he'll think if I don't fix the cost
of living illegal immigration and stop
the woke crap investing my party I'm
done for particularly if you've got
someone circling like Nigel farage who
is the UK version of trump and he's a
good friend of Trumps right and farage
is you know farage's views were
considered extreme they're now
considered increasingly mainstream
because he's been proven on immigration
to be right right not about everything
some of the language he used has been in
my view wrongly inflammatory but his
basic principle about if you don't have
a border as Ronald Reagan said if you
don't have a proper border you don't
have a country uh that's coming back to
be clearly the case so we need to be a
to have an honest debate about this
without people being called racist If
they raise concerns about what is an
obvious problem but every country wants
to have some borders like what are you
with you're not a country if you don't
precisely correct Elon Musk uh rumors a
threat of $100 million to be tossed at
Nigel farage you him had a bit of a
runin earlier on this year uh what do
you make of that would would you be
happy to see farage get 100 Mil from
Elon I don't think he can do that
legally in our country someone was
saying there's a legal impediment to him
actually doing that as a he can get
around it as a foreign citizen yeah look
um he obviously had a big effect on
Trump winning I think there's a question
of that look I think elon's allow do
what really likes he's a he's a free
citizen but would it help the UK
politics to have that position well he
would balance it out because at the
moment labor certainly have a lot more
money coming in than the Tories in the
last election so I I look they all take
money from people right some take money
from very dodgy people indeed uh all of
us pretend we hate it but it Carries On
both sides if they all want to give up
all outside donations fine if the
conserv they can't really afford to do
that if the conservatives are as dead in
the water as people think in the UK is
reform where the ATT in a very very good
position I mean kemy bad knock's got to
do something pretty radical and pretty
quickly with the conservative party or
my prediction would be that farage may
well end up being the next prime
minister as Elon Musk has said I don't
think that's a mad idea at all but he
might be by then running a conservative
party which has had reform flip into it
that's that's where my smart money would
be is that they'll do a deal they'll
merge the parties and that probably
farage ends up contest him my next
election and if Kama has not delivered
by them on all his promises uh or any of
them then he could be political toast
I've had uh Dominic Cummings on the show
and he also he did a a podcast recently
where he talked about uh some theatrics
I think he could say in government that
there was sort of a fake meritto fake
responsibility fake government he also
said that cabinet meetings are fully
scripted um based on what he says based
on what Rory Stewart
says I don't know it really does not
feel like we have the brightest buttons
in the bunch we don't we have a very
mediocre tier of politicians now mean
you go back to the Thatcher years and
our cabinets um just packed full of very
smart people uh Tony Blair's cabinet you
know for first two terms in particular
incredibly smart people people like
Gordon Brown as chance are just
unbelievably brilliant brains um so I
think that that's certainly true I think
a lot of smart people if they've made
good money don't want to get into
politics because it's just going to ruin
their lives the worst paying most
negative boring in singap famously they
pay their politicians a million dollars
a year do you know what the uh head of
UK cyber crime wage was it was offered a
couple of years ago £65,000 a year so
why would you expect anyone of caliber
to do that so we don't pay people enough
for important jobs in this country I
would personally pay the politicians an
awful lot more what they couldn't do is
have any outside interest so I might
even pay them half a million pounds a
year but I'd say you cannot have any
stock Investments you cannot have any
outside business in Rich soon that could
be [ __ ] that's yeah what he would yeah
but in a way I didn't like the fact that
Richie was stinking rich I I was fine
about that I think you don't make
decisions then based on whether's going
to benefit you right some ways it
insulates you from I wonder if a lot of
Tories have not got sellers remorse
about Richi actually I think the way he
behaved after he lost he was very
impressive in the comments after that uh
I always liked him I think he made a few
strategic missteps but actually pretty
smart committed hardworking guy and yeah
I his the fact he was rich didn't bother
me at all um but no I think it's going
to be very interesting I mean I I I I do
think we're we're deliberately
attracting mediocre people to politics
now because we don't make it attractive
enough well we're second to attract the
smart people the UK is second in the
world in millionaire exit in 2024 first
in the world is China with about I think
13 to 15,000 and the UK is about 10,000
but we are 3% of the population we have
more than India and India is uh 20 times
bigger um we have the same number of
universities in the top 10 in the world
as America do but we have 1if the number
of startup founder entrepreneurs why
well because there is not even bottom up
you know we can talk top down what's
happening in White Hall the hallowed
corridors of Westminster and stuff but I
think even bottom up you know I'm from a
Stockton from workingclass town and uh I
saw some videos of Middlesboro riots
going through akam in like places that I
know in places that I've been and uh
like just workingclass rage people
disgruntled uh and this you know six
well hang on okay let's talk about these
riots for a minute here we go cuz that
wasn't why they were rioting of course
that's my point my point is they were
rioting CU they were whipped up by
people who should know better and
probably did know better into believing
a certain set of circumstances had
happened surrounding an appalling attack
right they hadn't it wasn't actually an
illegal Asylum Seeker who committed
these actions and so people were exactly
in a way on a smaller it was a smaller
version of the Iraq War which I opposeed
so paf I'll tell you why it was F fought
on an entirely false pretext had Saddam
had weapons of mass destruction
Justified had the person who perpetrated
this crime being an illegal Asylum
Seeker you're not entitled to commit
violence but you're certainly entitled
to feel rage about that happening at a
time when this whole issue of illegal
Asylum Seekers you know coming in and
and taking over the country all that
argument they put forward it would at
least have had some validity that that
was why they were angry even the premise
wasn't accurate but everything about it
was wrong right so the riots were
whipped up by people malevolent voices
who should have known better Tommy
Robinson
uh Andrew Tate and others took on Tate
about this a few days later and that's a
problem with social media now let's go
further to when a lot of people were put
in prison because they tweeted things
that I don't agree with right and I
don't agree with that because it seems a
ridiculous overreach and when you
overreach to that level where people are
literally you know grandmothers are
being put in prison for two years
something they put on Facebook that's
not a sensible response to this either
people are actually chucking Molotov
cocktails and Asylum Seeker Hotel yeah
Chuck him in prison for a few years but
a granny gobbing off on Facebook come on
is that what we're really about in this
country there was a the thing I realized
when I watched those videos in
middlesbor was a lot of the people that
were walking down the street there was a
new build house uh with fresh windows
and it was you could tell because it
still had that sort of tape uh papering
over the outside and you know people
were out in the streets going through a
classic Northern terrorist workingclass
neighborhood and someone just picked up
a brick and threw it through the window
of this brand new house and that was the
point where I was like this has got
nothing to do with the immigration
rightly or wrongly false pretext or
correct pretext it's just this sort of
well that would would be an angry
resentment to but to what well people
having what you don't have and you and
your feel and look who knows what's
going on with these people I understand
but I understand the Rage of people who
maybe through the pandemic have come out
and they've got no job maybe they've
gone through a horrible divorce maybe
they've got no money they can't afford
to feed their kids their lives are [ __ ]
and I understand they're going to feel
angry of course I do and by the way
there are lots of people in this country
who are in that position lots and you've
got to understand what is driving iy I
do anger and resentment I lived half of
my life was spent in that world 50% I'm
36 I've been there I was there until I
was 18 and then I left to go to
university in Newcastle so I know these
people I know that culture very well
it's like it's electric it's like the
air before a thunderstorm begins and
it's this sort of ambient malevolence
below the surface this disgruntled but
it feels to me like the UK has a very
very sort of potent version of this
great video that I saw um this American
that lived in London for six months and
he describes the way that British
football fans behave he's like they're
not just passionate they're angry like
they will they would happily if there
weren't police officers between them and
the other te hang on again again I know
I knew this was going toen they're like
a fight mate let's not let's not
overthink football holigans right I've
seen them in action most of them just
like a good old punch up they're like a
drink probably some drugs and a fight
and they actually love it and to
understand the mind of a football
hooligan you need to start from that
it's not some great I mean even the
normal fans you don't need to be one of
the Hooligans even the guys in the back
row they seem to yeah the mob mentality
can Brew up very quickly of course I've
been a football match so you think
they're Downstream from the more
aggressive parts of the stadium I think
a lot of football I mean look when I was
young football dominated every single
match it was it was pretty scary and
thrilling at the same time can't pretend
otherwise when I was 18 19 watching
battles on mat terrores was exciting in
a way that watching a UFC fight can be
exciting um but I'd rather have the more
controlled environment than having it
happening on a football spill over into
your seat and now yeah now it doesn't
but I wouldn't over intellectualize the
average British football holigan who
they might like to see themselves as
political palmist with their fists but
they're not most of them just like a
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