NS#242: Fallon's Fall
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 November 2017
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
Helen and Stephen discuss the resignation of Michael Fallon as defence secretary, and look more broadly at allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in Westminster. Then, they are joined by the author Nick Harkaway to talk about his new book Gnomon and the issues of surveillance and privacy that it raises. Finally, they answer a listener question: why hasn't the NS published the list of alleged "sex pest" Tory MPs?
Contact us on Twitter @ns_podcasts, @helenlewis or @stephenkb.
Further reading:
Stephen on the list of Tory MPs.
Helen on how party loyalty is used to silence victims of harassment.
Nick Harkaway's new novel, Gnomon.
Listen to the NS's pop culture podcast, SRSLY.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:08.0 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again. |
| 0:16.5 | Trains now on Uber. Tees and sees apply. Check the Uber app. I'm David |
| 0:20.8 | Aruhovich. Listen to my new series from Tortoise, Eight Years Hard Labour. |
| 0:25.9 | It tells the extraordinary story of the double revolution that engulfed the Labour Party after 2015, |
| 0:31.6 | from centre left to hard left and back again, the battles and |
| 0:35.7 | disasters that accompanied them and the two men who led those revolutions, |
| 0:39.7 | Jeremy Corbyn and Kiea. |
| 1:06.0 | Listen to eight years hard labour wherever you get your podcasts. Hello I'm Stephen and I'm Helen and on this week's new states from podcast we discuss the resignation of Michael Fallon as defense secretary and what that means for the government |
| 1:09.1 | we speak to the author Nick Karkaway about his book Nomon and ask, why hasn't the media published the full list of Doggetory MPs? |
| 1:17.0 | So it is a bit of an emergency podcast we're coming to you on Thursday morning because |
| 1:25.4 | we had some news overnight which is that the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon resigned in an extremely |
| 1:29.6 | nebulous resignation statement in which he said his conduct had fallen below the high standards expected of the armed forces. a some where he touched the knee of Julia Hartley Brewer several years ago |
| 1:46.1 | was perhaps not the only incident of a similar kind, maybe some that were a bit more |
| 1:50.5 | that the person who it happened to felt a bit more strongly about. |
| 1:54.3 | And the suggestion is that Theresa May sort of said, if you can't guarantee me there's no more |
| 1:57.6 | dirt to come out, then probably best you go. |
| 2:00.8 | The news this morning is that Gavin Williamson, formerly the chief whip, mostly famous for owning a |
| 2:04.9 | chorantula called Kronus. I want to say Kronut, but that's a... No, it's Kronus. That's a type of donut. |
| 2:09.8 | Is the new defense secretary. His deputy... |
| 2:12.4 | So it's fall out, Gaff Inn. |
| 2:15.0 | Thanks, Stephen is not looking at his sprightly morning best having had a night out of the spectator |
... |
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