Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: What do the public truly think of Boris?

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

Standing in for Piers for the final time, Jeremy Kyle asks what is the genuine public perception of Boris Johnson? Former Labour MP Luciana Berger discusses Boris Johnson's legacy with Jeremy. CitizenGo Director Caroline Farrow sparks a fiery debate in the studio with comments on same-sex couples raising children after the news of the decline of the traditional UK family. Claire Mercer was distressed by Liz Truss calling smart motorways an experiment and is calling for the end of smart motorways after her husband Jason was killed when a HGV drove into him on a live hard shoulder on the M1. Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm on TalkTV on Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217. Listen on DAB+ and app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So you might have heard, it's not just Bojo leaving this weekend, it's my last Piers Morgan show tonight. Yeah, I think it went all right. Everybody seems to be quite nice. The crew were amazing. I think, yeah, we got on with it. Sorry, hold on a minute. Sorry, what are you doing?

Who are you? Oh, you're the pizza man. We've been waiting hours for you. Do I look like the pizza? Oh, you, be careful with that photograph. That's my prize. I've had enough of this. I'm getting the boss on the phone.

Where is he? Right. Company phone, mate. Sorry. No phone, no show, nothing. This is what you get for five weeks. You're sitting for him whilst he's on his big yacht, Then he gets his private jet, and I'm history.

Roll the titles. Good evening, my friends. Well, I guess that better go in there and the box better be tied up. So the nation can breathe finally. A huge sigh of relief. The old boy is finally off. And what a tumultuous time it's been.

Parties galore, a general air of shambolic chaos and confusion, and the perennial whiff of scandal. Yes, it's the final edition of Pierce Morgan and Sensor with me, Jeremy Carroll. What else could I have been talking about, for goodness, say? Judging, though, from this tweet from peers, It's not just Boris he'll be delighted to see the back of. But one line we may have to get used to hearing over the coming months from Team Bojo

is that it was the people who overwhelmingly gave the PM his mandate back in 2019, yet it was a small group of bitter MPs who ended up throwing him out. Just a message for you, Morgan. I'd be getting on very well with your crew and your team, just saying, big manned. But how true is this feeling about Boris Johnson? What are people out there in the United Kingdom?

think about this man. We went outside, talk TV towers, to find out how you see Boris Johnson's legacy. And yes, by the way, we did warn them. This was airing before the watershed. Take a look. So how would you describe Boris Johnson's time as Prime Minister? The worst. There has been no worse Prime Minister, I think.

Definitely my lifetime, has it been five? Yes, if I had to describe Boris Johnson's time as Prime Minister, I would say it's underwhelming. I think he did a really good job. Got us through the pandemic well. Very bizarre. Absolutely dismal. Just horrendous.

Absolutely horrendous and a massive waste of time. He had a lot to deal with it and I feel a bit sorry for him, to be fair. I think Boris was a useless liar. Boris Johnson's time is Prime Minister in a sentence. Well, I can say it in a word. hilarious. So what is Boris Johnson's legacy talk to these political edict mechanics here, along with former Labour MP Luciana Berger?

Kate, I start with you. What is Boris Johnson's legacy? from a political analyst like yourself. I sort of think politics will never be as fun again. But on a serious note, is there a legacy or was it tarnished beyond repair? Well, I think the big worry for Boris Johnson, and you can see it a little bit in his last couple of weeks in office,

is that he's not quite sure what his legacy is going to be. I mean, COVID-19 made it really difficult for him to achieve some of those things he talked about on the steps of Downing Street. And look, you heard from people there really mixed bag, but people have strong opinions about him and about what he achieved. He set out to do something that was quite unique.

He managed to harness votes from a group of people in the country that very rarely come the Conservatives' way. And the thing that always sticks in my mind about Boris Johnson is the night after he won that election. He came back and he said, look, I know that I've essentially borrowed your votes and I know that I need to deliver for you or you will never vote for my party again.

He understood the implications of it and the pressure on him. And I think for him, he will be frustrated and probably a little bit sad that he's not been able to deliver fully on the things that he pledged. And that would have been cost of living, it would have been so-called leveling up.

Now, we've seen some of that in new railways. We've seen some of that in new money. But even there, there have been accusations that perhaps it's not gone as far as it should have, perhaps it's been a little bit hollow and it may well not change the lives of people in the way that he wants it to. So, Jeremy, what will it be?

Boris Johnson wants it to be the green agenda now in Ukraine. I think potentially Ukraine may stick in a lot of people's minds. A huge critic of Boris Johnson We'll talk more about how you left your party The man that Johnson defeated in 2019 Anybody could have defeated Jeremy Corbyn, though, couldn't they? To be fair I mean, it was all but foregone conclusion

that certainly at that election that Boris Johnson and the Conservatives were going to win And Boris did so off the back of saying he was going to get Brexit done. But I mean, that's an interesting one. I've said this to Kate before, I mean, I'm not a marketing guru or a political analyst, but I remember the 2019 election really clearly. The Liberal Democrats said, we're not going to do what the British people,

the majority of the British people want. The Labour Party said we haven't got a clue what we're going to do, and all he had to say was get Brexit done. That was done, COVID very, very quickly. I always use this example, and I'm going to throw this at you straight away. I had somebody on the radio the other day, and I can't swear, so I won't. But he basically said, Boris Johnson is a lying whatever. But he is my lying, whatever.

Now, this man, despite his flaws, despite the lack of attention to detail and his rather shady relationship with the truth that we all know, still to this day resonates with the British people. And we talk to fair. None of us would be surprised if he didn't make a comeback. I think it resonates with some British people. But certainly his popularity has decreased significantly

since when he first came into office. And the gap in the polls now is the greatest of it's. ever been. So yes, that was certainly the case when he came in in 2019. That is not the case now. And we have to only look at his record and what he has either done. What do you remember him for? And what he hasn't done to see why that is the case. And I think, you know, in my mind, certainly he's brought the office of being a prime minister into disrepute. I mean, you know, when else in our history have we seen what we've seen just looking at what happened with Partygate, for example? But what do you say to the people? I bring Katie in as well.

What do you say to the people across Europe and the world who are in complete, I don't know, that we got rid of a democratically elected Prime Minister who won a massive majority in 2019 because he had a piece of cake. What do you say to that? But it was more than just a piece of a cake. And you can call it just a piece of cake. It was many pieces of cake. It wasn't just one piece of cake. It was many people enjoying the cake.

And what is what it symbolised to the British people, who I think have a very strong sense of justice and fairness at a time when people had to make massive, massive sacrifices. People were not allowed to mourn. People were not allowed to be with their families and their friends and not allowed to associate. And here who was a man who was behind closed doors, behind the gates of Downing Street, was having parties, you know, living at large when people couldn't enjoy those things that we normally take for granted. And it was a sense of injustice, I think, and unfair, which that people to, you know, it wasn't just a piece of cake. I think that's a really interesting way to describe it, Kate, a sense of injustice. And yet, during this ridiculous, long-winded Tory leadership thing that's gone on for about seven years,

seems, and we have a new Prime Minister on Monday. We'll talk about that in a sec. Frightingly to think that 70-something percent of the Conservative membership, if his name was on the ballot, would still be voting for Boris Johnson. So has his popularity gone? Well, look, I think this has a lot to do with the difference between how the Conservative Party in the country, so Conservative members and the Conservative Party in Westminster feel, they don't necessarily feel the same way, not about what they want out of a leader, and certainly not about their own Prime Minister about Boris Johnson. Now, that's been the case for a while,

and there are some in the Tory party who've recognised that and have tried to bring the two closer together and fix it, but they haven't succeeded. And that's a fundamental problem for whoever gets into number 10 next. It's probably going to be list trust, because the party has got used to this idea of chaos. And remember, there's a whole new load of MPs

who came in in 2019 who were not wedded to the Conservative Party structure. They are not bound by a sense of duty or by any sense, really, that they have to wait their turn for a ministerial job. They feel emboldened by winning in seats where the party never won before. And crucially, they feel like that's down to them.

And that's given them the freedom to act out, if you like, and behave in a different way. And that split between the party in the country and the party in Westminster is problematic. That's very true. Luciano, also, one of the things that I hear repeatedly from Tories is not about his behaviour. Far more traditional right-wing Tory voters

complain that he didn't deliver the Tory manifesto, that the traditional Tory things, lowering taxes. He was hell-bent on a green agenda. He seemed to concentrate on things that aren't traditional Tory voters. Now, Kate's absolutely right. The Tory party is in turmoil. We have Sunac or Trust. Every poll points to Liz Trust becoming the Prime Minister on Monday.

Sunac will not accept a job because she'll offer him something that's not good enough. What becomes at the Tory party? Because I guess your ex-employers, the Labour Party, should be rubbing their hands with gleeve. But I still find it astonishing, by the way. that there are only 13 points in front. They should be out of sight, shouldn't they, by now? Well, it was 15 points. Oh, was it 15?

I called into the U-Guff. And I salute you for walking out on that lot because Corbyn was an absolute disgrace, genuinely. Yeah, and it was every good reason why I left the Labour Party back in February of 2019. Just to answer your question, I think part of the challenge is that, on what he pledged, Boris Johnson did not deliver. On so many fronts, you touched on, like, leveling up. We only have to look at the most recent GCSE results

to see the disparities between the north and the south, whether it was all the hospitals that he said he was going to be building, that's gone to the wayside, the festival of Brexit, which you find that today costs millions of pounds and again, in delivery. There's a litany of things that, you know, he did pledge, and if you make a promise in an election manifest, you have to...

Who do you fear most, trust or Sunac? Well, it's going to be Liz Trust, like every poll points in that direction. We're not allowed to say that because we have to do straight down the line, but every poll says it will be Lizzie. She's the continuity candidate, didn't she? They're both continuity candidates. They've both sat around the cabinet's... I don't understand.

Kate, I'll bring you in this. You lot are political... You know, your high flyers. I don't... I think the Tory party is a really strange beast, right? They waited months for somebody to be courageous enough to stand up and basically, with the greatest respect, stick a blade between Boris Johnson's shoulder blades.

But whoever did that was never going to be trusting. That comes out in every hustings, and it comes out in every postings, and it comes out in every poll. When he resigned Sunak, having supported all these things that people disagree with, it folded like a deck of cards, didn't it? And he would never be trusted by the traditional tourists. So I think the Labour Party, what did you make of the Labour Party under Kirstama then? I think you see the Labour Party make kind of massive strides to,

first of all, kind of actually come up with proper plans. You know, we've heard from the Labour Party just in the last few weeks, a plan which we should have had from this government. We should have had from Boris Johnson in his last few weeks. We should have had Parliament recall. You know, in advance of the off-gem price cap, the energy price cap rising, as it did at the end of last week. And what we have at least from a party, a party of opposition,

under the leadership of Sir Kirs Stah. Would you rejoin them? Is it properly cost a plan? I'm not allowed to rejoin. No, but in two years' time, would you rejoin him with Keir Stama in charge instead of that anti-Semite, Jeremy Corbyn? Let's see what happens in two years time. It's academic for this moment in time.

Kate, quick question. We know about Monday the Queen is not going to receive her new Prime Minister a 15th Prime Minister in Buckingham Palace going to be in Balmoral. The priorities for the new Prime Minister, I mean, who'd want the job? This country is broken. The energy crisis, the cost everything.

I mean, it's a pretty hard task, isn't it? Forever takes over? It's going to be a mammoth task. And the most difficult thing for Liz Truss, if it is Liz Truss, and as you say, the polls point in that direction, is that she has spent the last however many weeks making quite significant promises

to the Conservative Party members which have been heard by the rest of the country and she may well find it difficult to deliver on hardly any of them because of the scale of what she's going to have to do. She's going to have to tackle energy prices. That will be her first major intervention.

But there's also food prices, inflation. And remember, every decision she makes could potentially fuel inflation. Some people saying, some experts saying it could be 22% by next year. Everything feeds everything else. If you help, for example, those at the lower end with energy bills, but not those in the middle classes who maybe could get through it,

well, they might stop spending. They might stop going out to pubs and restaurants, stop spending on clothes. And we know those businesses are really struggling too. The government can't help everyone. Trust has been clear about that. But essentially, that's what she's going to be asked to do. And she's going to have to find a way to navigate that alongside everything else, including the war in Ukraine.

And that very quickly is what I find astonishing, because Sunak, if you strip it down, is a more traditional Tory in terms of it. talking about prudence and he's saying we can't make promises and we can't do that and yet they're seemingly going for that continuity candidate but this speaks again to what we've seen from the conservatives over the last 12 years because that's how long they've been in office for you know we are in this crisis at this moment in time i was a former shadow energy minister for three years between 2010 and 2013 and we didn't as a country do what we should have done

to say for when it rains we're in this absolute crisis now because we have this over-reliance on foreign imported gas we haven't seen the investment investment that we should have had in nuclear. We're in Ireland. We've got wind that blows. We've got tidal power that we should be using solar, the whole thing. We could be powering millions of homes and we could have done so much to insulate. We've properties across the UK. We've got some of the most leaky properties across Europe. We could have, let's see, millions of people not spending money which just escapes through their door. And that's why we're in such a dire situation now with, you know, we're facing inflation.

Listen, we've done this every single night. And I say to both of people, we've done it every single night about broken Britain and the cost of living crisis and you get to a point where you feel what more can we say people are struggling and and it's not just those on on lower incomes i talk about the jams every single night they're just about managing people who pay all their bills and do all that and are struggling hard hard times but edf said the head of ad fs said come january 50% of of households in this country borriss said buy a kettle what no we'll be spending more than 10% or more of our disposable income on our energy bills this is not just about yeah i agree about the whole country um i'm going to ask you both what i ask the good people of the united kingdom one

Kate McCant, in your mind. Personal opinion that sums up Boris Johnson. Oh, you can't ask me that. That's impossible to answer in one word, especially in a personal opinion, which you know, full well, I'm not allowed to offer you. Well, just give one word. Difficult.

Interesting. You see, that doesn't get you into any trouble. I like the jacket very much. One word. Devastating. I would say unique. Thank you very much indeed, Luciana. Thank you very much indeed.

Kate McCann next and uncensored. Broken Britain. We've been talking about it. The country and a mess. And frankly, the only thing on the up is the crime rates. The one thing today I was reading in a paper could the decline of the traditional family unit in any way be responsible for what's happening in the country?

We'll discuss that next after this break. We're coming right back. Thank you very much indeed. Welcome back to Uncensored. Now, a new report out today shows that 23% of Britain's 8.2 million families consist of only one parent. And get this,

49% of children living in lone parent families are in relative poverty compared with just 25% of those living in married or cohabiting families. During my time on the show, we have repeatedly, and quite rightly, I believe, focused on Broken Britain. A country in a mess with crime running rampant. Masked men fighting with four-foot machetes in Leeds.

An armed robbery in broad daylight in West London. The shocking murder of 9-year-old Olivia Pratt Corbell in Liverpool. Now, as well as talking about Broken Britain, we've also been talking about its causes. And actually, one of the real causes, it says, in a newspaper article today, indeed be, the social decay, is it staring us in the face? Is the breakdown of the traditional family unit part of the reason? Have a look at this. And they're thugs. They are the scum

of the earth and they take firearms out onto the streets and poor Olivia, rest her soul, is the victim of that. The issue is that we have an element of criminality, which I would say is more of an issue that relates to poverty, a cost of living crisis. The scale of the crisis that is about to engulf us, both customers, consumers, ordinary general public and the businesses, is so immense. People on Universal Credit. If they're young, they get less than £300 a month. That's not enough to carry their electricity bill.

I have a very dysfunctional family of my own to discuss this in the Uncensus Studio, campaign director at the Conservative Group Citizen Go, Caroline Farrow. Welcome. Talk to TV legend, Mike Graham, and political journalist Ava Santina. Can I start with you, Caroline? It seems particularly unfair to label one-parent families is the cause of the problems in this country, doesn't it? Yeah, I would agree, actually. I would push back against any sort of gross generalisation.

But if you look at the stats, and nobody's destined to be a statistic, but being brought up in a one-parent family makes it your chances of being involved in crime, of having low exam grades, of being homeless, all doubled. Is that absolutely true? It's not just a made-up statistic.

No, no. That was... Because I know many, many, many people from one-parent families who have been given the most loving, caring... Honestly, and I know many people from families of people who have argued non-stop and their kids are affected by that. Well, that's right. You can't generalise.

And I think we all know of one-parent families where the mother or the father has been an absolute hero. But if you just think about it, sort of objectively. And this is, it's very difficult to talk about this because people tend to think that you are blaming or shaming or trying to, you know, ascribe blame to people. And very often, people in one-parent families, it's not their own, you know, it's not through their own doing. This is not necessarily something they've chosen. But look at it objectively. And I know this,

from my own experience, and I've been a single parent myself, it is so much harder raising children by yourself when you're just one pair of hands. But then to read statistics, you're There's a lot more instances of mental health problems in children from untraditional families and they don't do well at school. That's a sweeping generalisation, isn't it? That isn't quite the generalisation I made. But when I was talking to the research team, yes, it is true that children who come from single parent families are more likely to experience mental health problems and the outcomes for them are not so good. But that does not force anybody to become a statistic. Where does that research from?

So that research is from the Centre for Social Justice. and the report that was released today. But isn't the problem really now about sort of ability and about parents and how good... If you've got one parent who's brilliant, then you're going to be fine. If you've got a parent who's a criminal, you're probably going to be a criminal.

What is a traditional family, bud? What is a traditional family? I've luckily contributed in many ways to this particular debate personally by having children within a marriage, children outside of a marriage, I've lived with the mother of my children, I've been separated from people. You know, when I get to fill out that form,

where it says, you know, what are you single, married, divorced? I don't even know what to point. I don't just go everything. Yeah, thanks. I'll take it all. You know, the point is it's all about, if you've got two parents who are separated and you're technically being raised in a single parent household, it doesn't mean you're going to suddenly go off the rails. I mean, I think what we're talking about here is class.

We're talking about opportunity. We're talking about in the end, you tend to do what your parents do. See, that's the point, isn't it? And who can say that one parent isn't a role model? I know, as I say, plenty of people brought up in the most horrendous situations where they're at each other's throats, and patently, the kid would have been better served if they'd been, you know, separated parents,

and they've visited them each. What's your view on this? Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, like, nuclear family, when we talk about that, it's basically like a narrow template. Well, for some reason, we still think that a mother and a father and two children is the best way to run things.

But you're right. Arguments in a household are horrendous. I know. I think that I actually find the idea of a nuclear family quite backwards. I actually find it really quite painful. I don't think we should go that far. I do. I do. I think of myself... She must have revolutionised everything.

No, no, no, but look, listen. I mean, we can say that we shouldn't be tarnishing single families with all your kids are going to be criminals fail at school. But we then shouldn't say that the traditional family, right? I'll give you an example. My parents are married for 60 years. And I used to say to her, this is genuinely true. He used to do you argue with him?

She said, honest to God, she said, I went deaf after six months. She said to me, but the way we were brought up, we stuck around and we got our heads down and we had kids. And that has changed. Yeah. People do walk. I think you have to look at the statistics as well. So if we're wanting society to be better

and we're wanting outcomes to be better for children, we know from looking at all the research, all the statistics, all the studies, that children who are raised by both biological parents have a much better chance of doing well in life. I do. I don't like, what do you mean by that? But it's not because of the fact that they're being raised by biological parents. It's because of the place that they come from

tends to be a better place. So what you're doing is you're taking a group of statistics and you turn them on their head. What you should be saying is that actually the reason why people who don't do as well as they do is because of where they've come from and so happens that many of their parents have split up. I can't know, but I think you also have to remember

is that when parents are, you know, when you've got a mum and a dad, you've got, you know, two people who've biologically parented that child and they are together and they have got the, you know, they've both got the child's best interests at heart. I mean, you know, But again, you can't say, I'm sorry, I consider myself as good a parent as the women I've had children with. And I don't understand how you're saying that if you stay together, that that makes you a better parent.

I'm as good a parent. I think it's ridiculous. No, but nobody is saying. But you've just said that two biological parents being together gives a kid a better chance. I completely disagree with that. But that's what the statistics show. What statistics? Yeah, but that's why statistics are pointless.

You know, Boris Johnson's parents split up at a very early age. He's been prime minister of this country. You know, he didn't do too badly for himself. He might say he's not much of a parent himself because he follows his parents. But he didn't do badly as a result of being raised in a single-parent household. Well, I think when you look at the research

that is actually shown... I don't like research. I just don't like it, because you can twist it. But then we all talk about evidence-based research and policy should be based... Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything. But policy should be based on... Are you saying that if a couple stay together and are married,

their kid is going to have a better chance of life? Statistically, yes. Well, you keep saying statistically. I mean, I'm sorry. I don't see that. When we're talking about policy and when we're talking about... I think it's too sweet. When we're talking about children and our society's future

and how do we make things better, then actually we do have to look at the evidence and we do have to look at the research. And at the moment, you know, there's kind of a mindset where people think, oh yeah, what happens in school, you know, that matters and, you know, poverty, which of course is a huge, huge, massive. If you grow up in a two-parent household,

biological parents and you haven't got any money and you go to a terrible school, you're obviously going to turn out badly. And you live in a state where you might get stabbed to death. So how do we then? How do we? We've got a couple in poverty. How do we make life better for the couple in poverty

to be able to raise their children? You give them social mobility, which has disappeared in this country, which used to exist in 1980s. You know what you do? You do away with public schools for a start, and you can't put kids in public schools, and then everybody goes to the same school, and everybody starts to get to know each other,

and there's no strata in society. I'm a bit naive, okay. And we're in the middle of a crisis that's affecting major swathes of this country. I'm still naive enough to believe that everybody should and hopefully gets an opportunity. But there is absolute proof. I'm not going to say research because I tend to agree with Mike on this a lot. I believe that that research, that sweeping generalisation is an insult to many, many millions of decent single parents. And it's also an insult to kids who are brought up in a single parent family

and who've gone on and made something of their life because trust me, I know many people from my ex-life who stay together and have kid after kid with absolutely no disregardful. I'll tell you what I do think. I think traditional family values when you are in that unit sometimes could be a lot better,

but that could be a single parent or two parents together. Same sex couple. Yes, same-sex couple. We have to look at this objectively, okay, because everybody has their own emotional baggage and their own emotional stake to bring to this. But saying, look, ex-sex situation is statistically better than Y situation is not the same as actually kind of dissing on a whole section of society.

I've said all along, nobody is destined to be a statistic. But if you know that certain situation is going to be better for children, then why don't you incentivise this situation? Why, incentivise people to stay together when they don't get on? No, I think we can do a lot more. What do you make of same-sex relationships? I thought we'd get on to this. I think what adults choose to do is consenting adults choose to do is up to them.

However, what I would say is, and I'm very clear on this, and it will get your ire, I do not agree with taking babies away from their mothers. You know, I feel very strongly. Who's taking babies? What do you mean? They don't take babies away from mothers. Where you have two men who are having a baby? Where is that baby come from?

What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Are you being abused? What do you mean? What do you mean? So, okay, how do you make a baby? Okay, I understand the biology. But you say like a child who's been adopted, that that's not a valid parent. No, I'm saying that where you have a situation where a child has been adopted or removed from its parents, that is a brother.

No child has been removed from its parents, surely. But you believe in two parents parenting and giving love. And if two men can give that to a child, what's wrong with that? Again, we know that young babies need their mothers. and you only remove a baby from their mother if the mother is completely incapable of doing. I've changed more nappies than you've had out dinners, and I'll tell you, I'm as good a pair of my kids as any month.

I am not dissing your parenthood. I can't say it's about love. If it's about love, two men, two women can give that love. I'm not, I'm not dissing. Nobody's saying that, Jeremy. Nobody's saying that two men can't give a... But you're saying, where is the mother? But you're talking about an infant and a baby's needs.

You've been talking a lot. The point is this. Nobody takes a... a child away from its mother. Many of the mothers who provide a child for a same-sex couple have done so willingly. They've started to be a surrogate mother and they've done that out of their own choice, which they're perfectly entitled to do. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that's their choice. People have freedom of choice. Lots of children are abandoned by their mothers because either they can't handle it or because they're mentally not well enough to look after

them. They go to adoption. Plenty of people get adopted and have very successful lives. They do. So to talk about women having children literally ripped away from them, it's bonkers. No, he does that. It's absolutely not. It is. Adoption is a least worst option, okay? Adoption happens when something's gone wrong. I'll tell you one of the things that I could talk about from now so the end of time, but I haven't.

We have the most antiquated adoption laws in the world. There are thousands of children, and we'll disagree on this, there are thousands of children in this country who should be adopted. These people that go, did you know what, our laws are ridiculous. And I think, and maybe I'm wrong, a loving parent on its own, that's what we started about, two of the same sex, loving, that's fine. I go about traditional family values. I think a lot of those have dissipated, but those values can be part of a one-parent family

and a two-parent family and the same-sex family. It's down to the parents, isn't it? They can, but where you have a child in need of a home, a child has lost a mother and a father. We'll have to agree to disagree, but listen, you know, no, listen, everybody is inside it. You're looking absolutely. No, it's just because we're just demonising.

We're demonising same-sex couples. What we're doing is we're talking about children's needs. Same-sex couples going and rip children away from mothers. That's such a mental thing to say. No, it's not mental. I think where you have two men raising a baby, that baby has come from a mother. You have removed whatever reason.

We have to go. Listen. Three men can breastfeed. Two men. A lot of women. I'm sorry. A lot of women. Time out.

Time out. You can continue backstage, ladies. Thank you very much indeed. Mike and I, it's the only time in our lives, and we said very little right next and uncensored. Here's a good one. Should smart motorways and speed limits be scrapped? If Liz Truss, as expected, becomes our next Prime Minister on Monday,

they might well be. Is she right? We'll do that after the break. We're coming right back. Thank you very much, indeed. Welcome back. Now, as part of her final appeal to Tory members, Liz Truss suggested scrapping smart motorways. Now, I want you to listen to this excerpt from a 999 call

from a family who broke down on one. And just a warning, some of you might find this distressing. I'm stuck in the middle of the M-sticks. My car's broken down. I've passed Nutsford. I'm going northbound, got the hazards on. What else can I do? Because I've got a family of five in the car. Okay, don't worry. And you say there's five people in the car? Yeah, my...

Hello? Hello? Unbelievable. Thankfully, I have to tell you nobody was killed in that accident. I'm joining me now is Claire Mercer, who has campaigned so strongly for smart motorways to be scrapped since her husband. Jason was tragically killed on the M1. Claire, thank you so much indeed for joining us on Uncensored. Tell us your story, if you'd be so kind. Yeah, Jason had what should have just been a minor incident on the motorway, on the way to work one morning, him and another motorist, minor bump. But where it happened was a sign saying no hard shoulder for four miles. It didn't give any other information. They couldn't get their vehicles out of the live running lane because of the crash barrier. And they couldn't get over the crash barrier because of the 30 foot drop onto the road below.

So they were hemmed in, basically. They were stood in a live lane with their vehicles that they couldn't get out of a live lane. And a HGV hit them and killed them instantly. For your loss, I'm so sorry. when you, who has fought so long to have this ridiculous system cancelled, you must be delighted to hear that the, well, the favourite to be the next Prime Minister wants to scrap them. What's your response to that? Yes, it's good to hear. I don't trust the word of somebody

that is campaigning for a job that they really, really want. You know, I don't believe they're going to do everything they say they're going to do. But it's interesting that it's been picked up by, both candidates as a vote-winning bargaining chip. What hurt was her dismissing it as an experiment. The Smart Motorways experiment has failed. You know, our loved ones got killed in that experiment. You know, do they really have to experiment with people's lives?

But it's interesting that it's being picked up as a vote winner. Well, you know, it's interesting, and you have obviously real emotional interest in this story, but you're right. It's interesting how many people are questioning the sorts of things that are being said repeatedly by the candidates. But your desire and your wish is that smart motorways should be cancelled forthwith, right? Yes, yep. I mean, they can call it what they like.

There's a lot about saving face and a lot about excusing the money they've already spent on this failure. But I don't care what you call it. We just need a hard shoulder on every single motorway. Claire, thank you for now. I'm joined by Mike Rawson, former road traffic cop, and Steve Berry, former top gear presenter. Help me out, Mike. These are ridiculous things, smart motorways, aren't they? They're almost unbelievable, Jeremy. When you think since 1959 we built these motorways, we've always had a hard shoulder. It's the most important safety feature on a high-speed road.

And the planners in 1959, when they built the M-1 between London and Birmingham, they realised there are no junctions, no roundabouts, no traffic lights, no farm vehicles, no cyclists, no pedestrians. What is there for the motorists to do? And the biggest danger is the stopped vehicle in the live lane. That's why they spent the money on putting in hard shoulders because it's a major safety feature. But Jeremy, nobody claims that it's a 100% safe environment.

but I tell you one thing, it's a jolly site safer than being stopped in the path of a 40-ton Arctic doing 56 miles an hour. Steve, I freely admit, you know, when I started this five weeks ago, I'm delighted to say I've learned an awful lot. This is ludicrous, man. How are people... Oh, did anybody ever think...

Who sat down and went... You listen to that woman's story. Oh, do you know, it's a really good day. If you break down, there's nowhere to go. You are a sitting duck. Yeah. How did anyone ever think it was... I had about six months ago, you probably haven't spent much time on the hard shoulder

in the swanky motors that you float about him, but I had a bit of a problem in my big old citron. I was batting a long flat tire. Now, any car, no matter how old or young or reliable or unreliable, can catch a flat. I had time to get over onto the hard shoulder, then get out of the vehicle as they advise you to do. When they're telling you, on one hand, to get out of a vehicle on the hard shoulder and get over the arm cone to the other side. But they're also saying, oh yeah, smart motorways of the future,

well, they're at the opposite ends of the safety spectrum. So what is, well, you've talked about speed limits. What is the future? I mean, we all agree quite patently listening to her story and listening to that terrible, terrible audio, that there need to be hard shoulders for people. Absolutely. What do people need to drive better?

What's the answer? What's this speed limit debate? Well, we've had a speed limit in this country since 1965, when it was brought in as a, temporary measure, a bit like they brought in income taxes as a temporary measure, it's still with us. Nearly 60 years later, the 70 mile an hour speed limits as old as me and you, mate, 1965.

You think we should go faster? Well, think about the cars that came out in 65. A Woolsey 1100, a Triumph 1300, and the Peel Trident, which is like a kinder egg on wheels. They would struggle those three cars to do 17 miles an hour. Think about the advances, not just in technology, but in safety. Back then, cross-fly tires, drum brakes, and the structural integrity of a brown paper bag

with their damp bottom. Now, every family car is absolutely solid as rock, and safe as I would. Tell that story about you in Germany when you're on the autobarne quickly. Well, everybody knows that in Germany, the autobans are unrestricted. Do they have more accidents?

No. If you take it as accidents per mile, or kilometre as they prefer, which is the only way to do it, Germany and the UK have a very similar record when it comes to road traffic accidents. I went out there to test a BMW superbike, got it on the automobile, and I thought,

I wonder if this is speed restricted. Got it up to 155 miles an hour and saw the flashing lights and heard the siren and thought, oh, I'm getting pulled. Yeah, I was getting pulled for going too slow in the fast lane. 155 miles an hour? Yeah, because as he was lecturing me on the hard shoulder

and do have hard shoulders, a Porsche came past through 160. Well, we all agree there should be a hard shoulder. Another thing Liz Truss has said, she hits the, she will axe the motorway speed in it. What's your response to that as an extra traffic up? You've heard what Steve has said. Cars have changed. People need to move on.

What's your view? Steve is quite right about cars. Survivability in vehicles today is incredible compared to years ago. Seat belts, airbags, side impact bars have made, you know, surviving hugely different to how it used to be. But I'm sorry, the standard of driving today, partly because there's little or no police enforcement anymore. They're too busy doing the Macarena. Okay, we've got smart motorways, put signs up, 60 on the inside lane, where all the trucks can only do 60, 90 in the middle, unrestricted in the...

I would like to say something, you're an ex-traffic up, you're a top gear presenter, you'll just laugh at me. I think that as many people cause accidents on motorways by going slow in the middle lane, people have to weave in and weave out. I'm with him. I don't think the standard of driving is anywhere near what it used to be. I mean, you can... A car does it for you, Jeremy. That worries me as well. You can buy an electric car that you don't have to drive.

I've just got a new Audi and drove that, not bought it, but borrowed it as a press car. Late, it's got lane finder, or minder as the call it, so it stays in its lane. It's got proximity sensors that keep it a safe distance from the car in front. The thing was even warning me if it thought cars coming up behind me or are there left or the right. So you would raise speed limits, yes? You would cancel smart motorways because we all agree the lack of a hard shot as Ludikson. What would you increase the speed limit to? Like I said, a variable. Trunks can only do 60. Yeah. 60 in the inside lane, 90 in the middle lane, unrestricted in the outside lane. Come on. Last word from you, Mike.

Well, I'm afraid we have a 70 limit for a reason. Now, most people or many people, we'll go up to 80. I think if we raise it to 80, they'll do 90. Now, that is fast. And yes, for Steve and for lots of drivers who are very good and anticipate, and they use their mirrors.

Yeah, that's fine. But sadly, we've got so many poor drivers on the road. Just saving a few minutes on the journey is going to cost a few lives, and I'm all for safety. Listen, guys, thank you so much, Adi. Can I say a big thank you as well to Claire Mercer for joining us and sharing her story. Also, Steve Berry there and Mike Rawson.

That is a story that will go on and on. But I don't think anybody watching this would not think that smart water away should be scrapped. Those horrendous stories, they need to be back. Right, next, and uncensored by God, I think he's got it. Just as he's leaving us, Bojo thinks he's worked out the solution to the energy crisis. And frankly, Martin Lewis, it could be out of a job soon. Do not go anywhere because you won't want to miss what Bojo said to cure the whole problem. We're back in three.

Welcome back, my friends. Before the break, I told you, our current PM until Monday, thinks he's worked out the solution to the energy crisis, just as he's leaving office. All it takes, apparently, watch this, is to buy a new kettle. If you have an old kettle that takes ages to boil, it may cost you £20 to replace it. But if you get a new one,

you'll save £10 a year for every year on your electricity bill. Joined again by Mike Graham, over Santina, and the legend that is, demography, very quickly, people. I mean, God, honestly. He has no idea how much a kettle cost one. He's probably never, ever boiled a kettle. And also, I thought at one point, he was talking about one of his ex-wives there,

about the old boiler that didn't work. I mean, what's going on with Boris? Why is he doing his farewell tour? Ridiculous. I'm going to defend him. Oh, you just actually does it for a reaction. This is what happens, right? This is what happens.

The lefties all end up defending Boris Johnson when we attack him. was making a point about nuclear energy, about how you need to invest in it, right? In the same way that you need to invest in a kettle, in the way that Labour fails to invest in nuclear, the coalition government failed to invest in it. I actually think he was making an order point. Can I just say I haven't achieved a lot in my career,

but I have in five short weeks turned over Santina into a celebrity sort of fan of Boris Johnson. Gemma? I think it is the biggest insult. If it's an analogy, okay. But if it's actual general financial advice to families who are set to spend half of their income on energy. I mean, £10 is absolutely nothing. I mean, families are struggling.

They're going to have 3 million people that are going to fall into poverty. Yeah, the bill is £3,500 per year, apparently. I can hear you, Joe, go away. It's a tenor. It's still £3,500. So much to deal with here. We did this earlier on the streets.

One word to describe Boris Johnson's legacy. Gemma. It's over. That's two words. That's two words. With an apostrophe three. I say Brexit. Machiavellian.

Mine is frustration. Because I think there was a great chance and he blew it. Haven Holiday Mascots, this is brilliant. The Seaside Squad characters have been names have been rebranded. Bradley Bear becomes a gender-neutral renamed Jazz. Anxious, the elephant and greedy the gorilla have name changes to Annie and George. Speculated to avoid offending the nervous and the overweight. Mike Graham?

Yeah, well, I'm not frightened by the greedy gorilla. I would be one of the people apparently that tried to help because they don't want me to think of him as fat. The anxious elephant, I mean, who cares, really? I mean, have you been to Haven Holiday? No. I took my kids there. I mean, it's a lot more frightening things at Haven Holidays,

including the places where you're made to sleep, including the food that they give you, including the state of the street. Brilliant. Horrible. I wouldn't go there. Another lawsuit. Well, I think if this was the other way around, and we'd rename them Anxious Elephant or whatever,

you'd all be complaining that we've all gone soft and we care too much about mental health, and everyone's too in touch with their feelings. There's somebody inside it dressed as, a pink elephant. It's not really anxious. Gemma Godfrey doesn't just do financial advice. Very quickly, the Haven Holiday thing? Well, in terms of mascots, I understand about moving things gender neutral,

but taking away the emotion, I agree. It's actually better to have the emotion there and encourage children to talk about their emotions than just say, we don't have emotions to talk because we don't want to offend anybody. It's quite good to talk about them. Yeah, I mean, children don't really know, if you call something the anxious elephant, they don't go, why is it anxious? They don't care.

It's an anxious elephant. It's got a bum. Listen, very quickly, Resolution Foundation analysts have decided today that real house or disposable incomes will plummet by 10% over this year and next. That's £3,000 of a typical family. But it's also not just about families. Disposable income is used to spend. It's going to hit restaurants. It's going to hit pubs. It's going to hit shops. And if that happens, then those companies are going to fire people. So actually, it's not just about people not having enough

disposable income anymore and not having an emergency fund, but it's also going to hit jobs and hit livelihoods. And I think that's why it's such a terrible thing. We have talked, and thank you so much for joining us over the past five weeks. You've been amazing. We've talked about these problems and we've tried to give constructive hints. Just Just very briefly, because I haven't got much time, what would you say to people watching this as we finish our run here? If I try and pick something that we haven't talked about before, one of the things is smart meters might be quite a good play

because there's talk not just about smart meters giving you discounts, but also you could end up being paid if you actually switch off your high energy usage appliances at certain times. There's also draft excluders that's the cheapest and a most effective way to insulate your house and to save on your energy bills. And also, you know, there's a lot about don't pay your energy bills, but if you do that, you can end up with fees in arrears as well. worry about, we haven't got much time, do you worry about what's coming?

Yeah, of course. Of course I do. Everyone's worried about it. I'm worried most about what you've just said about people on higher pay packets, not having any disposable income and people losing their jobs. I mean, if you were a real small-sea conservative, you'd be outfunding this. Because what was the point in funding all of those small businesses throughout the pandemic, pouring all that money in only for them to have to turn the lights out because of energy bills? And they still haven't bounced back yet. All those bounce-back loans, they still have to pay back. They're not yet on their feet. So this is even worse than the pandemic for them.

I would love to paint a better picture. 10 seconds, Mikey, it's not great for people, is it? It really isn't, and it will get worse. But, I mean, I'm always an optimist about these things. We will get through it. You know, there are things that go wrong. You just have to deal with it in the end. Can I say, to you three, my favourite people, Gemma and Mike and Ava, what's it?

Can I say it? Right? What's that? He's off. That's it. You're taking the chair? Great. It's a bit cruel, isn't it? As Morgan boards his private jets, having got off his yachts. That is it from me. The main man is back apparently on Monday. It's been a real pressure. I can't even say that probably, and a privilege. I don't know if I'll see you again, but if I don't, it's been an absolute joy. For the final time, to-rah!