now he was the 38 year old gay
presidential democratic candidate
trying to change the way american
politics looked and sounded
but pete buddha judge never made it to
the final two
instead two men in their seventies are
presently slugging it out in the u.s
election race
and the former mayor of south bend known
to many in america as simply
mayor pete is firmly on tim biden
the oxford graduate also somehow found
the time to write a book called trust
america's best chance about
restoring that bond between people and
the institutions that make our society
i began by asking him if he was
disappointed with the choice on offer to
voters
in three weeks time good news is i think
we've all come together as one team
i still believe a lot in generational
leadership but uh
one thing i really appreciate about vice
president biden is he's made it clear
that
he envisions the administration he'll
build as a transformational
and even transitional administration
that's hardly a
ringing sound of endorsement it's a
transitional arrangement surely you want
people to vote
for joe biden absolutely and let me tell
you why joe biden is the right person
for this moment
if you told me in february when i was
still campaigning for president that the
stakes were going to go up
i wouldn't have believed that was
possible and yet with the pandemic
the national awakening around racial
injustice
and even further collapse and global
respect for the united states
it matters more than ever that we have
somebody who can establish trust
both here at home by calling the country
to its highest values
and globally in your book just to take a
step back
you talk about trust and rebuilding
trust and how
people have lost trust in the government
and in institutions
and we see this discussion here in the
uk about there is a concern that the
left in america the left that you're a
part of like the labour party has been
criticized here in britain doesn't
actually speak the language
not just of middle parts of the country
but of blue
collar workers of those people who need
to be understood
who turn towards donald trump how does
joe biden
get to them well again i think it's
in his bones but it's also in his
strategy and uh it's one of the reasons
that
uh you know i myself spent a lot of time
going on conservative media trying to
reach everybody with our message
because again the american people are
already with us on everything from
procedural questions you know most
americans think that the next president
ought to pick our next
supreme court justice to policy
questions most americans disagree with
this president's agenda of
cutting taxes for the wealthy cutting
services for the rest of us
and uh while he's at it making it harder
to get health
insurance and coverage for pre-existing
conditions but how have you learned the
lessons of the past
if you've got a guy who used to be vice
president trying to be president again
it's just like a merry-go-round of the
establishment in the democrat party
you know i see this word establishment
thrown around constantly often by the
very people who themselves have been in
office for a long time and are trying to
hold office
and i think it's become more and more
just a rhetorical device
versus something that would actually
explain the positions of the candidates
what i care about is uh are we going to
have a president who's going to raise
wages
and make the wealthy pay their fair
share or somebody who's going to
continue on the path we're on
you have supported publicly the
expansion of the number of judges
on the bench joe biden expressly doesn't
answer
that question how can people trust that
joe biden will actually be
radical and make those changes and why
won't he answer that question
well i think strategically he knows that
today republicans will do
anything in their power to shift the
conversation away from their assault on
health care
and uh he's taking care not to allow
that to happen
i continue to think there's there's a
lot of potential for bipartisan
structural reform
in this country on a number of fronts
from uh the electoral college to our
judiciary
and i'm sure that those conversations
will be vigorous in the years ahead
but don't you think people have a right
to know that before they cast their vote
whether they can trust he will do that
millions of americans have already cast
their vote
i know and i think that you know we'll
continue to debate big structural issues
and i hope we do i
care about these things a lot president
obama famously said britain would be
back of the queue
for a trade deal if we voted to leave
the european union while we did and
we've now left
biden was his vice president at that
time should a brexit britain
be rooting for donald i don't think so i
don't think
anybody who cares about good relations
with the united states would be
uh rooting for donald trump knowing that
uh he
almost specializes in antagonizing our
allies and complicating our most
important relationships whereas you say
donald trump specializes antagonizing
uh you know allies around the world
there seems to be a very good
relationship
between the two men and donald trump
speaks glowingly
about brexit and also knowing what
perhaps needs to be done to get a good
deal
well uh look we're not going to take
positions in
in domestic uk politics but of course
we have an interest uh the the us and
and the world has an interest
in the good friday agreement and peace
in northern ireland continuing and being
uh kept robust and that's something that
the us will be a good faith partner
uh i know under under a biden
administration uh no matter what choices
the uk makes
but my point is there's got to be that
support there and there is now concern
on this side of the pond
that perhaps joe biden will not be as
good a partner to
a brexit britain hence why i asked
should brexit britain be thinking of
trump
as being more favorable in our current
scenario
brexit britain great britain any britain
wants uh i would imagine uh the united
states to be
uh healthy robust growing and friendly
and right now uh the united states is in
chaos
uh the united states can barely uh have
a a coherent picture uh painted of our
foreign policy right now because it's
not always clear
if there is a foreign policy do
democrats think of boris johnson and
donald trump
as natural allies as part of the same
phenomenon politically
uh i i don't know i think we can look
past the bluster and we can look past
the hairdos and
and see uh two uh sometimes aligned but
ultimately
uh very different people leading very
different countries
who have a shared relationship a very
important relationship
if he gets in you're looking forward to
being part of the cabinet what's the
role you've got your eye on
um uh right now the role i've got my eye
on is helping joe biden win
and making sure that there's a
biden-harris administration and uh
in in the future i'd love a chance to
return to public service but uh right
now this is about making sure we win
and then uh that biden harris
administration can expect my
energetic support whether it's in
government or on the outside