The hosts open on Rupert Lowe, leader of Restore, and reporting from the Guardian that he has earned over £105,000 from X's revenue-sharing scheme since the 2024 election, working out at roughly £932 an hour and rising to nearly £1,500 an hour by mid-year. They compare that pace of earnings to his MP's salary, note one immigration-related post drew 1.3 million views, and debate whether Elon Musk's platform is effectively rewarding extreme political content, drawing parallels with concerns previously raised about the £5 million donation to Reform from Christopher Harborne. The conversation broadens into whether UK election law, built for donations rather than platform-based revenue sharing, has kept pace with this kind of foreign-platform money reaching politicians.
The second half features historian Anthony Seldon discussing his new book on Rishi Sunak, weighing whether Sunak could have won in 2024. They cite the Conservatives being 30% behind in the polls when he took over, inflation falling from 10.7% to 2% under his premiership, and Reform's re-emergence costing the Tories an estimated 50 to 80-plus seats. They also cover Tory polling swings under Sunak and Badenoch, before a closing light-hearted segment on Donald Trump's proposal to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America" amid the US-Canada trade dispute.
Earnings
Key points from the discussion
The points they raised, and the official data behind them.
The hosts said Rupert Lowe has earned more than £105,000 from X's revenue-sharing scheme since the 2024 general election.
~03:25 min inX's revenue-sharing scheme pays premium users based on how their posts and content perform on the platform.
Context
Rupert Lowe is the leader of Restore and a sitting MP. The figures were drawn from his declarations to the Register of MPs' Financial Interests, a public record MPs must complete disclosing outside earnings and gifts. The Guardian first reported the scale of his X earnings relative to his parliamentary salary.
The hosts noted that, according to his register of interests, Lowe has effectively earned around £932 an hour for time spent on X.
~01:39 min inThe hosts said that since June, Lowe's effective hourly rate from X has risen to almost £1,500 an hour.
~01:47 min inThe hosts compared that projected X income with an MP's annual salary of just under £100,000.
~04:17 min inOfficial figure · Average Salary
£39,2602026-06 · Office for National StatisticsExplore the board →Charted above- Not on Trend yet · adding this series
Seldon said Labour was 30% ahead in the polls by the time Sunak took over as prime minister after Johnson and Truss.
~24:03 min inContext
This polling gap reflected the political turmoil following Boris Johnson's resignation and Liz Truss's short, turbulent premiership, which included a mini-budget that triggered market instability. Sunak took office in October 2022 amid this backdrop.
Seldon said inflation fell from 10.7% to 2% during Sunak's time as prime minister, citing it as evidence of economic improvement.
~30:04 min inCPI inflation measures the percentage change in the average price of a basket of goods and services over a year.
Context
UK inflation peaked at around 11% in late 2022 amid the energy price crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, before easing through 2023 and 2024 as energy prices fell and the Bank of England kept interest rates elevated. The 2% figure aligns with the Bank of England's official inflation target.