Hilary Benn

I think the legacy agreement is very important for reconciliation.

And that's why I focused a lot when I came back into government with Hilary Benn in particular and with Keir Starmer.

And, you know, an agreement emerged, one that was... better negotiated between the two governments, shall I say, than the previous government.

And I got on well with the previous British government, but they...

The second thing we did in the Lords, we did two private members' bill.

I think one was in the name of Yvette Cooper, and I think the other one by Hilary Benn, was to stop to make sure we didn't leave the European Union without an agreement, so we shouldn't leave with no deal.

And really, we managed to get that through the Lords and I led on both those bills.

We achieved a lot, but I can't say I enjoyed spending a long time helping us leave the European Union.

And is that what made you want to work in the media or it wasn't? You already knew you wanted to do that.

I had no idea about working in the media until I left NUS and then I applied for the BBC and didn't get in, and actually took a job working in local government at Ealing Council for Councillor Hilary Benn, who is now the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Ellie wants to ask you about the future of progressive media.

She said someone else might have a better way of framing that question, but I think you framed it pretty well, Ellie.

Well, I certainly wasn't surprised.

I was mindful that one of the last comments of our last Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, was that his government strongly supports the union.

And he went on to claim, ridiculously, that nobody is arguing that there's an appetite for constitutional change here in Northern Ireland.

So what did Mr. Berman say? Well, I recall as I watched him address the media outside 10 Downing Street on the day he replaced Keir Starmer, that I wrote that he, like every prime minister, governs in the interest of the English establishment, he, like his predecessors, is a unionist.

Gordon Brown, a former British prime minister, asserted that unity is inevitable.

And a range of other political figures from within Fianna Fáil, the Social Democrats, and the Irish Labour Party were critical of Mr. Burnham.

The advocacy group, Civic Group Ireland's Future, have asked for a meeting with him, or sorry, a meeting with his Secretary of State on this issue.

And Sinn Féin, Oaktoron, Mary Lou MacDonald slammed his remarks as divisive until informed.

Al Carnes seems to be and will continue to be, I would imagine, a thorn in the side of Andy Burnham and perhaps John Healey too, and maybe Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary as well, as this very live issue continues and the legislation comes back to the Commons, Mark.

And Chris Bryant, the new Northern Ireland Secretary, replaced Hilary Benn.

So look...

Cons has an unimpeachable military record.

And so we really pushed this.

And to be fair, Hilary Benn said it multiple times at the dispatch box, but when you put it into law, into legislation, it becomes quite difficult.

So we had to work around some of the language, but to state, you know, get that into the legislation, which we, we finally got there, but I can't describe, I mean, what, what is a really simple...

There is no equivalence between a terrorist and someone in the British military.

It's not difficult to see the roots of Tony Benn's eventual radicalism as being influenced by his father, although he went much further than Benn Senior.

Gary thinks Hilary Benn might be closer to Benn Senior.

They're all so stimulating, Gary.

I'm...

A level of disinterest and lack of knowledge comes through.

That's why Hilary Benn was different.

Hilary Benn knew this place.

You knew the politics.

Is that not true down south? We don't really know their politicians.