Josh Babarinde MP
Appearances
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
I mean, it's a crazy place. It's great to come here, having done some stuff before, you know, as you said, spent my career supporting kids out of crime, out of gangs and into employment. and in a slightly novel way through building a phone repair company. And it basically came from doing some work in the East End of London.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
I'm from Eastbourne originally, born and bred, so quite different to the East End. But I found myself there working with young people who had had upbringings in some ways that were not dissimilar to mine. I had some quite tricky patches in my childhood, but I had an amazing town, amazing family, amazing school, community, et cetera, that lifted me. And I ended up working with a lot of folks
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
who'd had difficult home lives as well in the East End, who didn't have all that stuff around them in the same kind of way, or they didn't experience it in the same way. And so I wanted to do what I could to support them. And so I ended up training and employing them to repair broken smartphone screens, to make money, to feel valued, to belong.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
And, you know, I was taking guys who had convictions for things like wielding axes into the US embassy under Trump to repair his diplomat's phones.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
It was an awesome time. And yeah, great to bring that insight from the front line to the House of Commons.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Well, I'll tell you the silly story and then I'll tell you the serious story. The silly story is that I was at a uni open day when I was about 16 and it happened to be freshers week. They had all the freshers stalls out there and I knew I was interested in politics, but I wasn't massively into it. But I saw a Lib Dem stall and they had these really cool beer mats and they said...
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
can I have a beer, Matt? And they were like, no, not unless you join. So my mate Abby paid for me to join. I still haven't paid her back. And I ended up member of the party. And then this was back in 2009. So I was getting lots of emails through saying, you know, come to this event, come to that event. I ended up at an event where Nick Clegg was speaking.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
There was a guy behind me asking loads of xenophobic questions. And I thought, I'm not having that. So I had it out with him at the end. And our debate was broken up by the then Lib Dem candidate who said, don't get mad, get even, come and help me win. And the rest is history.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
But the reason I stayed is because, I guess, jumping back to childhood in a bunch of ways, you know, for me, it really angers me, to be honest, but also makes me sad that so many people's respective qualities of life are defined by not much more than brute luck and bad luck in a had some bad luck in my life, but the young people I've spent my career working with had even more.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
And so I wanted to find a way to reduce or if I'm being really utopian about it, eliminate the role that luck plays in shaping people's courses and qualities of life. So they're not you know, punished by the market. They're not forced into particular places by the state, but they and their communities get to decide where they go, what fulfills them and what the future looks like.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
And that's the essence of liberalism, really. And that's the essence of the Liberal Democrats. So I joined for the beer and I stayed for the freedom.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Yeah, well, I think there are a bunch of differences. Labour have kind of centralising instincts, instincts that, you know, say, look, the state often knows best. And my view is, well, the state should definitely be there as a safety net to make sure that no one is screwed. But I think that individuals and their communities know best. And I think that is a really fundamental distinction.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Also, Lib Dems have a really proud tradition fighting for people's civil liberties. It's important that people have their fundamental rights that allow them to be free. But it's important that government doesn't overstep that and actually compromise people's freedom.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Well, I think there's all sorts. So, you know, Lib Dems, we're the biggest Lib Dem party in Parliament in 100 years or something like that. 72 MPs. You've got the Tories having their internal fight. They've been having for quite a few years now in a complete mess. And so Liberal Democrats have stepped up and said, well, we'll be the real opposition then.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
fighting for the things that matter to people. So one of the key things that we are opposing Labour on is support when it comes to pensioners. There are some of the most vulnerable pensioners in our society who are set to lose the winter fuel allowance that they need to heat their homes. Sure, there are folks who are pretty well off who don't need that winter fuel allowance.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
I think there's a case for means testing that. But for taking it away from those who really need it, that's a real problem and something that Labour need to be held to account on. Another thing you've got is the two child benefit cap.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
All of the evidence tells us that one of the key ways that we could help alleviate child poverty in our country is by removing that cap so that those children, those families get the cash that they need to grow and to thrive. The Tories haven't listened to us on that. And Labour really need to start listening as well.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
So you can see some key dividing lines between the government and between Lib Dems as the real opposition, where we're fighting for the kind of progressive change that people don't just want, but they really need in the country as well.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
It's like when you're hiring folks or you look at The Apprentice, some of the last two in The Apprentice are not the two who you want to end up with. And if you're in that position as Lord Sugar, you probably want to reopen applications and start all over again. That's what's happened here.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
You look at Robert Jenrick, you look at Kemi Badenoch, they're both folks whose, I think, ideas belong way in the past, not in the future.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
I think it's fair to say that we're a mightily ambitious party and we're ambitious for the country. We're ambitious to really play that role as the real opposition. There's a massive gap there and the Tories just are not competent enough to fill it. So the sky really is the limit. We're campaigning, you know, not just in Parliament, but also at local government level as well.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Councillors across the country are really important, looking after services that people care about day to day, not always the most glamorous thing, whether it's the bins or the potholes or whatever. But we get stuck in, in terms of government, etc. That's above my pay grade, I'm afraid. You can ask Ed that question.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Yeah, well, there's loads of stuff. So on the short sentences stuff, 57% of people who serve a short sentence go on to re-offend. That is not justice. With such a high re-offending rate, something's clearly going wrong. So something needs to change. One of the key things that we need to do is follow the evidence and look at what's the stuff that's going to reduce re-offending. Now,
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
I know from literally getting people out of crime and gangs myself that there's loads of stuff that can be done in the community to drive reoffending down. So supporting people into employment, making sure that people are getting the support, whether it's around mental health or drug and alcohol support or housing support, all that kind of stuff is really important as well.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
And then there's also the preventative stuff. How do we prevent crime from happening in the first place? And I think something that's been really troubling that's happened over the last few years is you've just seen loads and loads of cuts, say, to youth centres. And for me, youth centres are about more than just, you know, PlayStation, ping pong and pizza, all of which are amazing, by the way.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
But it's about creating what I would describe as safe spaces where young people can develop pro-social values, things like sensitive communication, collaboration, conflict management, which helps people stay at the core of society rather than at the margins. And for a lot of young people, you know, they develop those values at home or at school.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
But for some of them, school isn't working out for them and home maybe isn't a supportive environment. So they need to have another space. Oh, that's telling me that there's a right happening or something starting. Sorry about that.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Oh, well, there we are. And that's to say that prayers are starting. Oh, right. OK. And the House of Commons is about to begin for the day.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
yeah i mean we want to be a constructive opposition um so that means um you know where there are good ideas uh being put forward by the government uh supporting them um and where we think they need to be even more ambitious pushing them to do so um the cool thing about uh james timpson is him and i used to collaborate in our pre-political lives so when i was setting up cracked it um
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
About 10 years ago, I was connected with James and Timson actually do phone repairs as well. And we spoke over the phone and he gave me loads of tips and he said, why don't you come down to one of our training academies in a prison? and come and see what we do and, you know, nick some of our great ideas and apply them yourself. And so I did.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
When I got elected and found out that, you know, the following day he was made a Lord and the prisons minister, I dropped him a WhatsApp and said, oh my God, we're both parliamentarians now. Look forward to collaborating.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
And we're catching up in a couple of weeks time, in fact, to speak about what's happened for both of us over the last 10 years, but in particular, what's happened over the last three months. re-offending.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. You know, it is amazing to be able to, you know, take things that are happening on the ground in Eastbourne, in my constituency where I was born and bred one day.
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
uh and literally the next day take it to the floor of the house of commons to put it to a minister it is really magical to fight you know for my town that made me me in the process so i'm absolutely loving it it's a big responsibility and i really do feel that um but uh yeah i look forward um to carrying on for the next five years and if the people of eastbourne have me again beyond
Pod Save the UK
How ruthless is Keir Starmer willing to be? w/ Anushka Asthana and Josh Babarinde MP
Thanks, Josh. Thanks for having me, guys.