Farage in Meltdown and The Killing of Ann Widdecombe

**Alastair Campbell** (0:01)
So much has happened in the world of politics in recent days, sometimes frightening, sometimes farcical, often deeply infuriating. But my co-host on the podcast, Mr. Rory Stewart, has witnessed absolutely none of it. Because Rory has spent 10 days cut off from the outside world on a silent meditation retreat. When he emerged on Sunday, having seen no media at all, I had the absolute pleasure of briefing him on some of the stories that he's missed. So you're about to see Rory's first reaction to, for example, the ceasefire collapse in Iran, to the court judgments for Marina Le Pen and, indeed, Prince Harry, Nigel Farage's implausible battle with Camp Binface, and Donald Trump's overturning of a red card. I'm slightly worried that Rory is going to think I've made the last two up. I'm intrigued to know what he makes of it all because, of course, it says so much about just how combustible our politics has been in recent times. So much can change so quickly. Then in the second part of today's episode, which we recorded on Tuesday, later in the week, we'll each give our response to the awful, awful death of Ann Widdecombe and take a further look at Nigel Farage's travails in the upcoming Clacton by-election.

**Rory Stewart** (1:17)
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**Rory Stewart** (1:52)
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**SPEAKER_3** (2:17)
That's right, it's heating up, everyone. The Rest Is Football is on Netflix for the world's biggest tournament, and we're officially in the business end. The Knockouts are here, and don't worry, myself, Alan and Micah are still here every day from New York City. All the debates from the biggest games, and a special guest or two for good measure. What a time we're having. Don't miss it.

**Alastair Campbell** (2:49)
Welcome to The Rest Is Politics with me, Alastair Campbell.

**Rory Stewart** (2:53)
And me, Rory Stewart.

**Alastair Campbell** (2:54)
And we are welcoming Rory back from his silent retreat. And Rory has literally, the first thing he's done, because he's missed us so much, the first thing he's done before he knows anything that has happened in his absence is to get in touch to find out when we're recording this week. We're recording on Tuesday, but today is Sunday. And Rory, I thought it'd be good if I just filled you in a little bit with some of the really quite surprising news events that have happened in your absence.

**Rory Stewart** (3:23)
Thank you. It's really a weird because the retreat claims to be 10 days, but in effect, it's 12 days.

**Alastair Campbell** (3:29)
Yeah.

**Rory Stewart** (3:30)
And every day is like every other day. I mean, you wake up four in the morning, you go to sleep 10 at night, and you're meditating all day and mostly in the dark.
And you can't really tell one day from another. You don't know whether it's Tuesday or Thursday, but the only thing I did notice is on the Saturday night. Because I'm in the States, I heard fireworks, and I thought it might have been 4th of July. Anyway, that's all I know.

**Alastair Campbell** (3:53)
That's all you know about what's happened. Well, certainly we had the 250th anniversary of the American Independence. Well, first of all, let's just kick off with something that's not that political. England are still in the World Cup.

**Rory Stewart** (4:06)
Brilliant. And this is pretty cool, right? Because we're getting towards closing stages. What stage we are now?

**Alastair Campbell** (4:11)
They're in the semifinal.

**Rory Stewart** (4:12)
Oh, wow. Semi-final?

**Alastair Campbell** (4:15)
Yes.

**Rory Stewart** (4:16)
So the last four.

**Alastair Campbell** (4:17)
That's what it means. They've won every game since you went away, which I think is three.