Steve Hilton's Leading The Next Revolution
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It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. Remarkably enough, I'm Jason Chapitz, and that's why I have this Jason in the House podcast. Very grateful to Fox for doing it.

And we're going to talk a little bit about what's going on in the news. We're going to highlight the stupid, as we always do, because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we're going to phone a friend. This time we're going to call Steve Hilton.

He's the host of The Next Revolution. Super guy, never wears a tie. I've got to ask him about that. I can't figure out what's going on there. He has this show on Fox. It's wildly popular. And you know what? He's just a great guy. And I look forward to having a conversation with him because his impact on what went on in England, you've really got to hear about this.

And you'll be fascinated, I think, by his impact and what he was doing and why consequently he's a host on Fox News.

and get his thoughts on the passing of the queen as well, because I'm sure that that's close to his heart as well. I don't know. We'll hear it from him. And so let's get after it and talk about some of the things happening in the news. Well, it just came out that America's crushing debt is now just going over the top of $31 trillion. Of course, this is a new all-time record.

And COVID-related federal spending is starting to slow. Inflation is rampant. But $31 trillion. Let me try to put this in perspective. If you spent a million dollars a day, every day, it would take you nearly 3,000 years to get to $1 trillion. Now that we're at $31 trillion in debt,

Keep in mind that with rising interest rates, guess what? We have to pay interest on that. And so we are spending more than a billion dollars a day just paying the interest payment on the national debt.

Now think about that. For those of you that want more money for roads, bridges, infrastructure, maybe you want more money to just stay in your pocket so taxes can go down. This category of spending for the federal government is so high that it's on a trajectory to eclipse just the interest payments, how much we spend on our national defense. So how sustainable is that? It's not, folks. There has got to be a cohesive plan. And I blame both parties. This is not just...

You know, Democrats, although I think they're worse at it than Republicans. But Republicans have not been good at this either. You know, since the 1972 Budget Act, only one time,

Have they actually used what's called regular order to go through the process of doing a budget and then going through the 12 appropriations bills and then having to go to the House and the Senate and then coming back over and doing reconciliation? That whole package, start to finish, it's laborious. Did I pronounce that right? It takes a lot of labor to get through that, a lot of time for members of Congress. But that's what they're supposed to be doing.

Only one time since 1972, what's happening on the other years is that they just do the lazy thing. They do an omnibus or a continuing resolution. And then those are the monstrosities that show up before a member of Congress in our nation. And, you know, these two to three thousand page bills, we have less than 24 hours to review it because they really don't want you to review it. And then suddenly you're voting on it. Next thing you know, it's passed and

And let's also remember that more than 75% of the federal budget is mandatory programmatic spending. That's been the secret that the trend has been. Let's just put this on autopilot and not have to vote on it every year. And that's wrong too because now it's just so unsustainable. It's just spiraling out of control. When will that day of reckoning come? I don't know.

But I do know that we're going to need a balanced budget amendment, my personal belief, a balanced budget amendment to ever get there. And I think this should pass Congress. And what it does is it would go to the states. And if two-thirds of the states would ratify it, then guess what? We would have a balanced budget amendment. It would force the issue. Anyway, that's my take on it. $31 trillion, folks. We're turning the corner, and we need to continue to highlight this because...

We need a real solution, and it's not going to happen in one year. It's not going to happen in two years, but we've got to change the trajectory somehow, some way. I think it's one of the biggest existential threats to the United States and our prosperity. I really do.

All right, let's turn to something a little bit more positive. And I got two quick things here before we get onto the conversation with Steve Hilton. I really, you know, I love it when ordinary Americans do extraordinary things. And I read about this on foxnews.com. I tweeted about it. I think it's really an important story because it just shows hard work and perseverance. And it just makes me feel good. I wish I knew more about this and heard the story in greater depth, but anyway,

Mike Huss is 55 years old, and he is the new principal at, and I apologize because I don't know how to pronounce this. It's spelled I-O-N-E. Ione? Ione? I don't know. Elementary school. It's a small city in California's Amador County, which is, I'm told, and I read, 34 miles southeast of Sacramento. All right, so it's a small school.

small school. It's an elementary school. They go K through sixth grade. Well, Mike Huss for 14 years worked as a janitor. 14 years. They had a picture of his beautiful family, love of his life. He got married. Anyway, he's got kids. Then he transitioned from being a janitor and for 19 years he worked as a teacher. Guess what? Now he's the principal of that school.

And good for him, you know, working hard, pouring your heart out. That's the kind of situation I'm just guessing where everybody around kind of understands, you know what, this person knows what they're doing. They care with a big heart and they wanted him to be the leader. If he was...

in my guess, a bad guy, uh, just, you know, not doing the right things. He wouldn't have ascended from janitor to going to be the principal and, uh, just makes you feel good. I hope the kids and the parents and the school district there and the school itself all prosper under Mike's leadership and just thank him for his service and his dedication and commitment to education. Those are the kind of people we need involved and engaged in, uh,

Based on that article alone, I hope we learn and celebrate people like this who do great things like that. All right, last one I want to highlight in the news before we move on to the stupid is Shaquille O'Neal, the basketball player, the Shaq. Shaq is one of my favorite guys out there. I really like him. You know, for most professional athletes, you're going to like, eh.

All right, you arrogant little whatever. I don't need to hear or see any more of you in my life. But there's a couple people out there that I really do like and admire. People who I think make the world a better place do so with a smile. And I think the world of Charles Barkley, for instance, I'd love to get him on this show. And the other one I'd love to at some point is Shaquille O'Neal. Here's what Shaq said.

Now, keep in mind, he's a Hall of Fame basketball star. He was on Earn Your Leisure podcast. Never heard of it, but he was on the podcast. And he started talking about his kids. And I've heard him talk about his kids in the past, too. And there's the quote that I just absolutely love. They're kind of upset with me. Not really upset, but they don't understand. I tell them all the time, we ain't rich. I'm rich.

I love that quote. I think that's right. I've heard him talk about how

He sets goals for them like they have to go get their degree. And you know what? It would be so easy, right, to just let them glide, be on a glide path where they just, you know, live off Shaquille and just. Now, I'm sure he's made life prosperous and fun and nice for them. But what he's also trying to do is say, you got to work. I'm not always going to be here all the time. And I'm not just going to hand you everything, quote,

I tell them all the time, we ain't rich, I'm rich. End quote. I just think that's the greatest thing. It's absolutely right. It's the goal of the dad, the mom, the parents to just be able to say, you know what? You've got to be able to learn to be self-sufficient. You've got to be able to provide for you and your family. That's the American way. It is a work program. You can't just cuddle down in the basement. And people have setbacks. They have hard times. And there's no reason why...

Parents and families can't be the backstop and help them out. But the goal is to get them back up on their feet. And when you've got able-bodied people who are able to do this, I think that's the right message coming from Shaq. I love that he said it. I've heard him say other similar things. So hats off to Shaquille O'Neal and his family and their kids because they'll all be better for it. They may not know it, but they're going to be better for it.

All right. Time to bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right. This one, I'm going to the wall street journal and this is a kind of close to home here. This is what I read on the wall street journal. After a decade ruled by big brows, some celebrities in trendsetters are shaving and bleaching their caterpillars. The effect is both avant-garde and alien like quote, I look like an egg and quote,

So, getting rid of the eyebrows to just go eyebrow-less, I look like an egg. That's just funny. I have been blessed with some very thick hair and consequently some thick eyebrows. And for a long time, I didn't have eyebrows. I had an eyebrow. Until I got a little bit later and my woman who I married, Julie, kind of pointed out that, you know, there can be separation between eyebrows.

your right brow and your left brow that's probably a little bit better look. You might want to pluck or shave that little part in between. I've been a better person ever since. I went from unibrow to eyebrows. And the idea that people are shaving as thin or as little as they may have so that there's none. Oh my goodness. I think people look better with eyebrows. No matter what they are, like this size or whatever.

Keep your eyebrows. I just think that's so funny. I think it's pretty stupid to go out and shave them because you can't really like just put them back on. I know maybe you can. Anyway, I just thought that was the funniest thing. That's my stupid for this week. All right, time to move on. Let's dial up Steve Hilton because you know what? Steve's a good guy. Really look forward to having this conversation with him. Lots to learn from him. So let's dial up Steve Hilton.

Steve here. How you doing? Steve, hey, Jason Chaffetz. Glad to catch you. Well, it's good to be with you. It's nice to be talking like this and not an unusual, you know, like rushed two or three minutes on the TV or whatever we often do. Well, I've had a lot of fun. You know, we used to do more of that in person there in the studio in Los Angeles. And I kind of miss those interactions. But yeah,

I love the show, and you've been very successful, and you're just a fascinating figure. You've had these amazing experiences in life, and would love to hear more about that. So tell us a little bit more, because I want to get to the part where our paths crossed at Fox, but...

Let's start with little Steve, the little kid who's born. Go back then and tell us about early life. Funny enough, it's funny you should say little Steve because my stepbrother, who I grew up with, I grew up with three stepbrothers, was also called...

Steve. And I was a little bit older, so he was little Steve. So all my life I heard that phrase, little Steve. It wasn't actually about me, but there you go. So what was the question? How do we get going? Yeah, so you weren't born in Utah, so where were you born? I was born in London, in a part of North London called Barnet. I don't know if anyone's heard of Barnet.

It's just sort of where the suburbs of London start. So London was where I was born, but I was raised in a town called Brighton. That's really what I think of as home, this town called Brighton, which is on the south coast of England. So if people can imagine the map of

And you kind of roughly know where London is, right? It's basically directly south of London Keep going until you get to the it's not the ocean. It's the sea the English Channel That's where I was raised my parents are Hungarian and

My father's Hungarian. My mother's Hungarian. They met in England. They met actually at Heathrow Airport, which many people will be familiar with. They were Hungarian. They're in different ways kind of refugees from the communist regime in Hungary. And they actually met because they were both working in their kind of, you know, restaurant, snack bar, whatever it was in Heathrow Airport in London. That's where they met. And so they lived in London for a bit and then moved down to Brighton. That's really, as I say, that's where I grew up.

And then my parents got divorced and my father went back to Hungary. And then my stepfather, who I read about, I think three or four, about four years old. Oh, so you're really small. Yeah, very small. Exactly. And so I don't really remember kind of.

Living with them as a couple. I really remember my stepfather as my father if you see what I mean No, that makes sense web, but he's also Hungarian So the whole thing the whole deal was in our house was Hungarian everybody spoke Hungarian and that's really so my roots are very much even though I grew up in England and in fact most of my family now still I pretty small family so my father

Was himself adopted and never really knew his parents and so there's literally no family that I have on my father's side And on your mother's side, you know, she has one brother my grandparents have both died, you know So there's not that much family if I've got a couple of cousins and so on

So a small family, but all the family I have is in Hungary still today, other than my mother and stepfather. Yeah, my family's pretty small too. My wife's side of the family, meanwhile, I'm telling you, they still keep coming out of the woodworks. They've got so many people in that family. I'm like, oh my goodness, another cousin?

uh it's amazing yeah but it it's kind of a a good mix hey i don't know what it is about brighton but last week we spoke with ashley webster he also was from there no exactly that's exactly right what's up with brighton and fox news like i didn't it's so weird isn't it when i finally found out we we made that connection like years ago when we first kind of chatted

And that's exactly right. And we were just talking about, you know, this, this sort of swimming pool we used to hang out, you know, like absolutely. He was right there. So when you were a little lad, I guess you'd say from England, what were you into? I mean, were you like, were you a sports guy? Were you a nerd? What, what were the older little Steve? I really probably would say I was probably quite a nerd actually, to be completely honest with you until I got to college.

I think of myself as being very bookish and studious and, you know, definitely, definitely not sporty. And, you know, definitely a bit of a nerd. And then at college, I kind of went the extreme opposite direction. So I became very...

you know, social. I love being, I love the kind of social life of being, I was at university in Oxford. Were you the class clown? Were you, when you say social or you just got along with everybody? Yeah, just going out parties and just having fun, you know, that kind of thing and not being at all studious. So that was the big change. I think when I went to college. Was it because you had a degree of freedom that you didn't have in the house before or?

No, it wasn't that they weren't strict at all. I don't know. I mean, that's not quite true. I mean, actually, having said all that, I can't quite believe this now because I have two sons and my wife is English. We met in England and then moved over here together 10 years ago. But we'll probably get to that. But my two sons and my eldest son is 14 and actually aged 14. I went to I went with a friend of mine.

Around Europe on this thing called interrail, which is this amazing thing. I think it's still going. It's an amazing deal It's like a really cheap. It's like a one-month rail pass and

And Europe, there are lots of railways. Going on the train is like very sort of – it's how you get around a lot within countries and between countries. And this was like unlimited rail travel for a month. And we did that. Like we literally went around Europe and had a blast. But age 14, like just the two of us. You wouldn't let your son do that in the US. No, not in a million years. I just can't believe that I actually –

I was allowed to do that. I mean, I remember it fondly. Nothing bad happened. It was great, you know, but it's amazing actually to think back that my parents... That he was that age, right? Yeah. No, no, no. It was a different era. Like, I like telling the story about how when I was young, my dad and mom would put me on a bus to go to, you know, another part of Arizona. I was in Arizona at the time. No problem. Didn't even think about it. Just told the bus driver, hey, make sure he gets off there and...

And then he told stories about how he would, as a little kid, would just get on the train and get on a bus and just go places. But man, not the world we live in today.

No, exactly. So, you know, I mean, maybe I wasn't like a total nerd. I mean, I went to boarding school. Actually, that's, yeah, I'm sort of overstating the nerd thing. So I think like pre, I got less and less nerdy. Maybe that's the right, it's like a sort of progress away from nerdiness. So like I was very nerdy to start with. And then I went to this amazing school, actually, like a truly incredible school. I mean, the word unique is amazing.

overused but it literally is unique. It's a school called Christ's Hospital and it's a boarding school in the countryside in England, still pretty close, it's in Sussex actually. That's why every time I hear about the, you know, Meghan and Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is like that, it kind of gets to me because Sussex is like where I'm from, you know, so they, anyway, so this school was in the middle of the countryside in Sussex, boarding school, really amazing sort of

It was started, it's a classic sort of English thing, it was started by King Edward VI in 1553. Wow, that's some history. Yeah, really, really historic. And it was in the city of London, like the old, if anyone's been to London, you know, right near where, in fact, the original building was right opposite where the Tower of London is. So the old sort of ancient bit of London. And the name Christ's Hospital was because it literally was a hospital, right?

originally for the kind of poor and sick kids of London and the king in the act of you know, you know munificence set up a hospital to look after the six children and then when they and then it's sort of over time and

You know, they're being looked after as you know, as hotly in the hospital They started teaching them and then it kind of became a school and it became the school that was very much connected to all the like Old kind of guilds, you know, the craftsman's guilds of London and all of that So it's very intimately connected with the City of London But then in the like early early 20th century like 1904 I think it was something like that in they sort of felt that it was to

too small and they wanted to get out of the kind of by that time London was very industrial and the smog and all that kind of stuff. So they moved to this campus that they built amazing kind of red brick Victorian buildings in the middle of the countryside in Sussex and it became a boarding school and and and and in fact it remained a charity. So it is incredible school really because it had all the

trappings and educational benefits and everything else of a one of the famous you know what in England they call public schools like we here would call private schools the famous kind of boarding schools people may have heard of Eton and place like where Prince William went stuff like that it was just like one of those except it was for poor kids and it and it was me means tested and you could only go there if your parents or your family income was below a certain level and

And so it was an amazing thing because right in the middle of the beautiful English countryside, you had this incredibly kind of swanky, fancy school with incredible facilities and education. But all the kids were like, you know, broken homes or poor backgrounds, like loads of black kids from inner London and all that kind of stuff. It was really amazing, actually. So that was a pretty transformative experience, I have to say. So when you look back on it, did you –

There's a perspective now and there's a perspective when you're living in it. Did you consider yourself well off or did you, and how would you contrast that with now? No, I definitely, we were kind of working, I mean, the labels are slightly different in the UK. I mean, it's kind of,

comfortable working class, something like that. I'd say my, my stepfather was a construction worker. He, he was, so my, you know, she, she had kind of, she was worked in a shoe store and in a kind of office, you know, so not at all fancy, but you know, we, we were never like, you know, starving. It wasn't like poverty. Um,

And my stepfather was who was as I mentioned also Hungarian like he had the most dramatic story because he actually He grew up in a village in the countryside in the east and western part of Hungary in the western part of Hungary and he and his brother and a couple of their school friends and

They heard on the radio about when the Russians came in to crush the uprising, the revolution in 1956. And so they're like hearing about this. And he tells this amazing story. And they just hear this. He emphasizes this phrase that they were all saying the Russians are coming. The Russians are coming. And so they all just left. I think, funnily enough, I think he was actually 14, 14 years old. And they literally ran away from the village to the border with Austria and

And they literally, you know, climbed the barbed wire fences and through the minefields and all that kind of stuff. And everybody was killed other than he and his brother. So there was like their class basically, you know, and they were the only two that survived. And there's an even more amazing story, which is that then he ended up in a refugee camp in Austria. And then many, many years later, I got to know Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Maybe we'll get to how that happened. But anyway, and I know him quite well. I see him here in California every now and again. And we were just chatting one night at his place. And we were just talking about that because, of course, he's Austrian. And he was saying and he was describing where he grew up. And it was near the same refugee camp. And he said and he was telling me Arnold was telling me that his father used to take him.

when he was a kid, roughly that age, to volunteer at the refugee camp and serve meals. Amazing. You know, so I don't know if they actually met, but it was definitely possible. Anyway, the reason I mention all that is because he, my stepfather, you know, he wasn't, it was a rural thing. It wasn't, he wasn't very, very well educated. And so he got to England and then, you know, they were distributing refugees to all countries were taking Hungarian refugees and he ended up in England.

And he didn't really have any formal education, so he worked in construction and then ended up, you know, by the time, you know, we were all together, he had a kind of small construction business. So, you know, we were kind of – I would think of – I would say we were kind of working people like, you know, not poor but like just about getting by. Yeah, but night after night, you're not worried about whether there's going to be a –

something to eat or shelter, but still not the wealthiest family. But it was definitely kind of regular working people. I think that's – Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the thing that's amazing about the school, Christ Hospital, is that that's what it was like. So we all had this incredible opportunity, but there was no rich people. So it was really interesting. So you get focused in school, but then what happens? What did you focus on and then –

How did you make the leap away from the parents? Well, I went to university. I went to Oxford, actually, and then – So you were doing pretty well in school to go to Oxford. Yeah, I was good. I remember being pretty good at writing. I had a good – I enjoyed words and writing. That was always a kind of strength. I was okay at math. I definitely was more on the kind of art side or whatever. And then – actually, the subject – like in England, you choose –

Three subjects for what they call a levels. So you're the exams you take I guess the equivalent of just before college, you know the kind of college and right right, right and I did French German and history so languages all that was pretty strong But I was very young because I got promoted through I got promoted three grades and so I was always in a class with kids that were two or three years older than me and

and therefore by the time it got to kind of college entrance, I was like really young for college, you know, and then also in those days you could do an exam, a specific entrance exam for Oxford and Cambridge, they were the only two that you took earlier than these other exams, but if you did well in them and got accepted,

then you didn't have to bother with those other subjects and basically you could have almost like a year not worrying about any academic stuff. So I did that. It's a bit of a risk because if you don't get in, then you're kind of screwed. But I did get in. But like really young. I was like 15 or something, like super young. And then I therefore took a gap year before going to university and that was great because I started working and really loved that actually.

You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Steve Hilton right after this. Cut low on Fox business is now on the go for podcast fans. Get key interviews with the biggest business newsmakers of the day. The Cutlow podcast will be available on the go after the show every weekday at Fox business podcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Where did you get it? Sort of this, uh, passion, this, uh,

How did you gravitate towards the world of politics? Because you were involved in the UK in that before you got involved here. Oh, very much so, yeah. So explain how that transition happened. It's interesting. I was always interested in it. But why? Why? Not from my parents. I don't know. Definitely people say, oh, is it because you're Hungarian and...

You know, communism, not really. I mean, I now feel that much more strongly now. And I hear stories of how the communists treated my family and especially my grandmother. You know, so I get very fired up about it now. But if I'm honest, it wasn't that then. You know, I was really interested. I found it kind of fascinating when I remember Mrs. Thatcher winning the election.

So I would have been 10 years old, 1979, when she won the election. So, you know, that's pretty young. I really remember it. And I remember, and then even as a guy, I remember what, you know, staying up to watch the election results and things. I was just interested in it. I don't, I don't remember why. I think I just found it interesting, you know, like some people like,

Yeah. Sports, you know, it's almost just that kind of thing. Yeah, they grew up like engineering or they like, yeah. Yeah. So what was your first break there? How did you, okay, it's one thing to have an interest. It's another thing to get a job doing it. It was a really amazing break. And this I remember super clearly because basically going back to the kind of financial point, we were comfortable. We didn't have a lot of money. And so while I was at Oxford in vacation time,

You know, I wanted to earn a bit of money so I could go traveling or whatever with friends, with college friends. So I did these – so every kind of vacation from Oxford, I did – you know, I worked to earn some money. And it was always these crappy jobs that you do, you know, like literally, you know, washing up in a restaurant or whatever. McDonald's, I did for a while. You know, all that stuff, you know. Yeah, I've been there, done that, yeah. All those kinds of jobs that everyone's – you know. And then there's one that was so bad.

I just thought, I can't do this again. It was really bad. It was, there had been an unusual, it was an insurance company in Brighton. And the previous, like, I don't know, like a few months before, there had been a really freak storm in the south of England, really unusually bad storm. So there was like tons of,

Insurance claims and and the office that I was in they couldn't cope with all the claims and so they were sending them Remember, this is the late 80s, you know like this before internet whatever so they were physically mate sending them to their other offices around the country to be processed and Literally my job for I don't know it's like three weeks or something was I would take a fight like the paperwork out of a brown file and

I'd take the papers out put them in a box and then I'd take a I had to clip this little white piece of paper to the file the empty file and write e for Edinburgh or L for leads or Jeremy like it was just so bad and I was doing this all day and

And actually the other really bad one, American Express. That's right. Where I was looking, I was in this sort of, they had this thing called micro fees, the micro fee lookup department. So when they were, when the people complained about their American, American Express, European headquarters were in Brighton. And so like they, you had to, and it was again, pre internet. And so it was also kind of clunky and you had to, uh, people would complain if they had a complaint about their, you know, card or whatever their statement. So you had to sort of look it up and

And there were these queries. And there's this weird microfiche system where you had like a dial and you had to run the dial and it would scroll through just the numbers. Remember, you had a credit card number and you'd be looking for a particular number. And I mean, imagine that, like scrolling through like thousands. The manual internet. The manual was so bad. And also they were 24 hours, so they had different shifts. So sometimes I was like 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and sometimes 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oh, my gosh. Sometimes night shifts.

You know, it's just I so often found myself literally falling asleep. And then my hand had been on the dial and I'd gone way past the number that I was looking for and had to go. But anyway, all these crappy. I can't do it anymore. It's too much. And so I had this weird experience when I remember it so clearly. I was at home and in England, you political parties. There's not really candidates. It's just the parties.

There are very few directly elected positions for individuals. So the parties...

Not allowed to buy TV ads that it's all done through a system called party political broadcasts where the political parties in proportion to their votes at the previous election are allowed certain slots on TV So they're and they used to be like 10 minutes and now they're kind of broken up into smaller chunks But that's they call party political broadcasts and I remember watching one and these you put them on before the evening news or something and

And I was watching one and I got to the Conservatives. And I remember it so clearly as if it was yesterday. And it got to the end of this very posh old man called Peter Brook, who was then the chairman of the Conservative Party. And he was standing outside the office, the headquarters in London. I don't know why they thought this was a good idea. Anyway, at the end of the thing, he said, if we want to help the Conservative Party, write to me, Peter Brook, at Conservative Central Office, 32 Smith Square. I remember this incredibly red-faced, pompous man.

And I thought, yeah, OK, I will. That sounds much more interesting. Maybe they have a job for me in the summer holidays. And so I literally wrote a letter just like he said on the TV. And I said, I'm, you know, me and I'm an Oxford University student and I'm looking for some work in the summer holidays. Do you haven't? You know, is there any work?

And they, that's how it happened. And I got an interview and got a job as a kind of, I guess you'd call it an intern over the summer holidays. And that's really what started. So fast forward to where you ended up. I mean, you started at the bottom of the rung if you're an intern based on an ad. So then what happened was that at the end of that summer, they said, they obviously thought I did a good job. And they said, and it was the, it was the last holiday. It was the sort of last summer vacation before, before,

leaving Oxford. So I had one more year to do with university. And they said, well, look, if when you graduate, if you're interested, you know, would probably, if there's a job here, you know, you'll probably, you know, got a good chance of getting it if you're interested in working here and apply. And so that, so they basically suggested it. And I, and I literally couldn't, you know, I had no other plans. And so I did, I applied, you know, for a permanent job. It wasn't a specific job. It was like a, you know, job in the, in the research department, which was basically, you

the kind of part of the headquarters that does you know policy research and then writes a lot of the kind of briefing for members of parliament and for ministers and whatever you just it's a really good job and um i got a job there uh and so basically i went straight from oxford to start there in conservative party headquarters

in the research department, I was the desk officer for trade and industry and energy. And it was an amazing sort of, this was 1990, it was the last year of Mrs. Thatcher. And it was incredible because in that, there's a sort of group of us who worked there as kids at that time. And they included David Cameron and Edward Llewellyn, who went on, people won't know, but went on to be

David Cameron's chief of staff in 10 Downing Street George Osborne who then became chance of the exchequer Rachel Whetstone who is now my wife, you know, it was this amazing kind of we all became friends No, no, we already did was amazing that you know back, you know, what is it now 30 years? 30 plus years ago and then you know, we all did different things. So I worked there for a couple of years and

I did. I had a brilliant role in the 1992 general election, whereas the kind of go between between the party and the ad agency that was doing all the campaign. So I learned about all of that. And then I went to work for the ad agency called Saatchi and Saatchi. And then there was a bus stop with that company.

And the founders were kicked out by a kind of an aggressive kind of activist investor and I went with the founders I knew them and start they started a new ad agency Which I then joined and went to live in Hong Kong for a year to start the office there, you know So it's a really amazing thing But the sort of short answer is like did I did lots of other things but then stayed in touch with all those people and David cameras as you're a really close friend and then eventually he ended up being elected to Parliament and

and then ran for the leadership of the party. And at that point, I went and ran his campaign. By that time, I was running my own business, but I took three months off to run his campaign, and then he won. And then that was it. I sort of thought, well, you know, we're here now, so I'd better do it. So I left my business, worked for him as senior advisor. Then he was elected prime minister, and then I went to 10 Downing Street

um a senior advisor and then we moved here so that was 2010 when you make it sound all so simple you know you just run for parliament and then you become the prime minister you just do that it takes three months there's a good there's a few steps in there but i don't know you know like you can sort of choose where you want to dive into the detail but that's the outline of the story and then we moved here to america in 2012 so so i was two years in 10 downing street and then 2012 moved here to california

So, okay, well, that begs a couple different questions. One is, okay, so you got to tell me, since you teased it a little bit, how you bumped into Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, that was through the David Cameron thing, which was that when we were... So the system is parliamentary system in England. So you have...

Like imagine like there's no presidency and it's really just the Congress You know where you were and you've got the kind of the leader the leaders of the two factions or caucuses So they're kind of prime minister is one so if you if you have the majority like Pelosi has now she would be Prime Minister and Kevin McCarthy Would be leader of the opposition which is a formal constitutional title and you get money from taxpayers to fund

you know, researchers and it's an official job. So David Cameron was leader of the opposition and actually he got that job, you know, he like early on the previous leader resigned after the general election. So, you know, he, he, we were there together and running the opposition for nearly five years. So you're basically like, you've got five years to plan everything.

for the election where you might win. So you've got to fill that time, you know, developing policies, but also like making yourself electable and you know the deal. It's like, but it's five years. It's way longer than we're sort of used to here.

And so part of that thing, part of that process, and I ran a lot of that process, the sort of overall political strategy, the policy development. I worked with some other people on that, the communications, the branding, you know, because I'd worked and I had sort of experience of all the different aspects of political work, basically. So I was able to kind of, you know, really have quite a close grip of all of that. And one of the things that's really important, particularly David Cameron was quite young.

And people you know they didn't really know him that well was you try and sort of build him up in the public's mind as a potential Prime Minister that they could imagine In 10 Downing Street, and so the normal way you do that Well one of one of the ways you do that is to have meetings with foreign leaders So they're on the sort of equivalent you know you kind of make a huge deal of it and the number one

Kind of goal for that is the president of the United States obviously the the most sort of impressive Comparison you could have and so there's a well-worn kind of path of British leaders of the opposition trying to get meetings with the president and And all of that but the problem was this was quite soon after the Iraq war and George W Bush was the president and

And he was unbelievably unpopular in England, you know, for whether you like him or not. The English voters, he was like really toxic. And so that wasn't really a strong thing. You know what I mean? It was like, OK, well, what are we going to do? And actually, because, you know, in the end, you're self-interested. You want to win the election. And so at the time, there were two other people.

political leaders in america who were really actually very well known in england and very much admired and one was bloomberg who was mayor of new york and at the time everyone thought he was great in england and the other was arnold in california so we reached out to both of them we in fact i think we it started by us inviting them to speak at our annual convention and through that

We got to know them both, both their teams. In fact, there's lots of friends I have today here, people I know from those days who worked for Bloomberg and for Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that's how and then, you know, when I moved here, of course, I reconnected with all those people that I remembered. And, you know, that's how it all started.

you know, came together. So, yeah. And so then you've connected with, he did me the most amazing message. If any, I think it's, people can find it on, on, on the interview. If people are listening, he did the most brilliant message when I became a citizen. So you did a very lovely message to Jason, but I have to say Arnold's was,

you know, very, very cool. He's been through that, you know, it's heartfelt and sincere and he knows you, right? And kind of relates to the whole Hungarian issue. No, exactly. I was joking with him. He's with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, you know, like he's Austro-Hungarian. I need to ask you, you know, we recently had the passing of the Queen. Yeah. And, you know, I've had great admiration for the Queen for, I thought she was,

a person of great dignity and a pillar of steadiness. And I just have the greatest admiration for her and what she did and the impact she had on the world. But you're from there. This is a little closer to home for you. Tell me about the...

the impact that it had for you and and what it what it what it really means yeah it's really interesting to me how much i've been affected by it actually um i might even take you know it's really strong and the emotion and i don't quite understand i'm still trying to understand it because i'm not actually a monarchist i've said this on on air on our coverage of this i said on my show that you know i've actually at school i argued i remember i my mom was like upset about it because she

She, you know, she remembers that she'd come from a communist regime and it was written up in the school magazine, whatever, the monthly thing, like Steve Hilton argued for the abolition of the monarchy and replacement of the royal family of the republic. You know, so I've always had that view on kind of intellectual grounds. And I've never been, but I've always...

an incredible admiration and respect for the Queen, as most people do, regardless of their views. That's why the whole question of abolition of the monarchy, it just was never really discussed.

you know, every now and again someone does an opinion poll or whatever, but while the queen was there, it was just not a chance because she herself, like some people have said, oh, people are Elizabethists, not monarchists, right? They just really love her and not the institution. I'm definitely in that camp. So,

And I think that explains it. I don't know. Like, I'll just, I'll tell you something that is just really striking. Like what happened? And there's a phrase that Boris Johnson used in his statement immediately, you know, that came out very soon after she died. And it was a very beautiful statement he wrote, actually. He's a great writer. And he talked and he had this phrase in there, like that we will have wave after wave of grief.

That's truly what I've been feeling. I mean, you know, we're talking now a few day on when I don't want people will listen to this, but we're talking a few days after. And still now today, you know, like I just see some video of her coffin or something and I kind of well up and I don't know what it is because I think I think partly it's just this sense of incredible, you know, certainty and constancy. And like it's like something really fundamental has been just been ripped away.

Um, and then this kind of just this amazing appreciation of what she did, you know, just think about the sacrifice, the self sacrifice. And so, I mean, as well, she's the queen and she has the palaces, but yeah, but she just worked incredibly hard at anything you read about her. Like she pretty much worked every single day of her life apart from Christmas day and Easter. So you'd read these,

every day, be briefed on everything. Endless visits. You know, we see the kind of fancy ones on television because they're kind of, you know, they, you know, the Jubilee pageantry or whatever, or Royal weddings, but like her daily life for 70 years was like, you know, opening some, you know, ward of a hospital or this or that, you know, like just endless visits.

And you just think about how hard she worked and like even, you know, two days before she died, she was doing her job. You know, she was, you know, inviting the new prime minister to form a government. So I just think it's this incredible appreciation of her commitment to the country. It's very weird. I really am emotional about it. And I just can't truly explain it.

You know, the way Ashley Webster described it, he said, I don't... He was struggling with it as well, but he said he kind of likened it to the flag. The emotion and the feeling that we have towards the American flag...

She just sort of personified that for those that were in the UK. I think that's a great comparison. I mean, I get tearful, teary, I think is a better word. Now, I'm so proud to be an American. We've talked about this on July the 4th and the flag. I really do choke on it. I just find it so moving. We were at a July the 4th event, the rodeo. Was it this year or the previous year? And I was just in floods of tears. I just found it so moving. And I think for me, that is...

And, you know, just sort of feeling, oh, my God, I'm so fortunate to be here. How how incredible that I've got to be part of America. So the Queen thing, I guess it's this. Yes, I think it's that kind of thing. But it's very it's still striking to me. You know, days afterwards, I'm still feeling very I mean, it's probably going on as long as I mean, you know, it's it's it's it's really interesting.

and if you look at the people sorry go ahead go ahead no i just think it's very interesting i've been watching a bit of british tv as well just to sort of get a sense of the they you know they obviously you know i mean there's a lot of coverage in america but they're like obviously wall to wall all in and there's a lot of you know the conversations with british people and the people who out give putting down flowers or whatever or now filing past the you know the coffin and so on and um

It's so striking what they all say, something very similar, like she was always there for us. She never let us down. She was, we just want to say thank you. It's really interesting. Explain to us, you know, the interaction of the Queen and the Prime Minister. I don't think I fully understand or appreciate how active the Queen was with the Prime Minister. How active? Yeah, how does that work?

Well, the first thing is that they, they see each other once a week. They have, it's called the audience and audience of her majesty. That's how they describe it. I think it used to be on Tuesdays at 6 PM. Um, maybe that changed. I don't know. Um,

And they're never supposed to talk about it and ever and in fact David Cameron my form was he got in real trouble and had to apologize to her personally because He revealed he like when he was there. This is after I left moved here, but he Called a referendum is the one before brexit. They had a referendum on Scottish independence and it was like a huge deal and

And he, you know, he wanted to keep the United Kingdom together and whatever. And he won the referendum and it was defeated, you know, not pretty, you know, it's comfortable margin, actually. So it's a good result if you want to keep the union together. And he's a very passionate pro union. And he on some interview or something, I don't know where it was.

He kind of let slip his conversation with the Queen because he was the one that phoned her up to tell her the result. And she had been really neutral.

Because she has to be, you know, even though she's the queen of this is about to, you know, if this goes through, it was literally break up her country that she's the head of state of. But, you know, she's politically neutral. So she wasn't involved at all in the campaign. Couldn't say anything one way or the other. Everyone kind of suspected what she thought, because, you know, it's like your country. But she didn't say a word about it. And.

He phoned her up and he described how happy she was to hear the news and like her reaction. He said something that's a slightly unfortunate phrase about how she was purring down the phone. She was so happy about the result. Anyway, he so he did. But the really bad thing was divulging her opinion.

Because she never did that in 70 years. And he had to apologize to her for that. So they interact, but it's a very private conversation. Totally private. Totally private. As Theresa May said just now,

In parliament, she said, you know, it's literally the only meeting I ever had, which I knew would never leak. And they also, you know, I don't know. Dave, you know, we're very close. He never told me anything that went on. But I do know that it's not a formality like they, you know, it's a back and forth. And it's like that.

Think there's definitely advice given it's not just oh tell me what you've been up to it's definitely Advice as well as in for informing, you know, it's a two-way conversation So and they all say the same thing they all say it's really helpful because she's seen it all before you know She's seen everything and I think from church my guess is that a lot of the a lot of the helpful advice is actually about things like

Well, probably two categories were most helpful. Dealing with foreign countries and leaders because she's seen all that before. But also...

like domestic tricky political situations because after you've seen so many things come and go you kind of have a sense for Yeah, it's not that big a deal really, you know, whatever, you know, I think it's just wait this one out Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I think that's right, but it's very but formally but also like it's in her name The government is in her name. So when I was in 10 Downing Street like every document

you know, civil service document, whatever, like it's called Her Majesty's Government. And the acronym, you know, like HMG is the acronym and HMG this, HMG that, everywhere, you know, every document has the royal crown crest on it. It's like she is, it's all Her Majesty's this and that, you know, she is the titular head of the government. It's all done in her name.

It is fascinating. It really is fascinating. The monarch, now the king. All right. I got two more questions before we get to the rapid questions. So do you ever wear a tie? Yes, I have done in the last few days just for the –

out of respect for the queen of black tie. And I've worn a, you know, I wear a black, I look, if some, if it's a, if it's something that require, I'm not a kind of complete jerk about it. You know, if there's a place that you kind of have to wear it, I mean, that doesn't really happen in America, but you know, like,

like i don't know let's say a club or whatever restaurant then i'll put it on i try and avoid i really don't like it i find it really uncomfortable i haven't for years hey so we all do you but you set a standard early this like hey no i'm not wearing a tie i'm not good for you i thought i could get away with it because you did you have yeah and then and now it's kind of the thing and in fact i got a great story when um

It's an amazing story actually, I can't quite believe. Then I, about, when was it, 2018, so two years in, I got to interview President Trump at the White House. And I thought, it's the president, and I should show some respect. So I thought about it really carefully. And I never wear smart dress shoes, I think you call them, and I never wear shirt and tie and everything. I thought, I gotta do something different. The t-shirt, I think the audience won't like it. They'll think it's disrespectful.

So but I can't wear a tie and it's the summer it's only gonna be really hot and I'll be really uncomfortable and it's just gonna be terrible so that well well I'll wear a really smart like collared shirt and that will be good and it was it was fine but the best bit of the story is like so we set up in the White House in the Rose Garden one end of the Rose Garden and we were all there waiting and it was a hot summer day but it was under the shade all too bad and

And we literally went into the Rose garden and the president comes out of the Oval office, like, like in the movie, you know, you've just seen at the other end of the thing. It's quite a long way away, like the length of the Rose garden and a bit more. And he comes out and he sees the setup. And from that other side, you know, he's just sees me and he goes,

oh my God, he's wearing a shirt with a collar. I can't believe it. And he's got very good eyesight. Literally, he's just sawing. Oh my God, that's amazing. And he couldn't believe that because he obviously used to seeing me on the TV with the T-shirt. So I very rarely do have a tie, but for where it's warranted, that's how I'd put it. Oh, fair enough. Fair enough. You need wearing one for the queen and respect for that. That makes a lot of sense.

You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back right after this. We're going to jump right into the rapid questions to kind of get to know you a little bit better. Okay, you ready, Steve? Okay, yep. First concert you attended. Oh, Boomtown Rats in Worthing, Sussex, England. Remember the Boomtown Rats? I'm familiar with Boomtown Rats. Yeah, look, I'm old enough to understand Boomtown Rats. Yeah.

Bob Geldof. That's good. That would be fun. He was once famous for that before he did Live Aid and all of that. Exactly. Yeah. No, he was – that Live Aid, that was amazing. Did you go to that? No, but I watched it all on TV at school. Yeah, it was fascinating. I was – yeah, I mean, watching MTV and those were the early MTV days that were pretty fun. Let me ask you, did you have a pet growing up?

Yes, we had a dog called Lassie who was an Alsatian. So it wasn't like the Lassie in the TV show? No, not like one of the movies. No, it's an incredibly cliched name. You're right. But it was actually an Alsatian. She was an Alsatian. Yeah. Oh, very good. So if you and your wife, you come home and say, guess what? I've got a special guest. If you could pick anybody in history, dead or alive, to come over, break bread, have an evening together, who would you want to have dinner with?

So, you know, this is like, funnily enough, normally I would struggle with this one, but I'm going to say someone, I probably think of better ones than this, but right now I'm going to say Gorbachev, who just died. Really? And I was really fascinated by him and I studied...

That period in Oxford, you know, like two of my papers for finals were communist government in East and Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the economics of communist countries. So I had a real, and I just really know how incredible it is what he did. And this kind of an amazing sort of world changing thing. And I don't think he got the credit. I always wanted to interview him actually. Um,

and thought maybe I could go to Moz, but he's increasingly ill, and I don't think people would be that interested anyway here. But I think he's really fascinating and amazing. I'd just like to meet him. Probably not that much fun for dinner. I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, well, you know...

Look, he's a world figure. Yes. Yes. So I'm not sure. It's not on the grounds of, oh, he'd be such fun. But like, I really wish I'd met Gorbachev. I mean, I've been lucky enough to meet some amazing people like Nelson Mandela or whatever through my political work. But I never got to meet Gorbachev. And I really I wish I had. Oh, that would be neat. Unique talent that nobody knows about. Something that Steve Hilton can do that nobody knows about. Well, it's not that.

I mean, I'm, I like to, I love cooking and I, and I'm, I think I'm a pretty good cook and I love baking actually. Bread. Not anything. Do you watch the great British break off? Do you watch that? No, it's crazy. I've never watched it. I literally have never watched it. It's amazing. It's a pretty good show. And especially if you like baking. I know it's crazy. We really enjoy master chef Gordon Ramsey. Uh, we watch it as a family, but I, I mean, it's not that it's not like specialist a thing, but it's,

I'm it's a real big part food and all of that is big, but I, you know, one of the, I, I own, I started a couple of restaurants in London. I'm really into food and cooking and all of that. Yeah. Okay. So then that's a natural segue to the question. I always ask about pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? No, no, no. Okay. Good.

We knew we were on the right track, Steve. I knew I liked you. But that's kind of a bellwether for me. You don't put wet fruit on a pizza. It's just not something you should do. So good. Yeah. Also, can I say another part to that? I find it's a real insult to Hawaii because I've got to really love Hawaii, right? It's close to us here. And so like from England, you'd never go to Hawaii. It's way too far. So I feel like – so we've now made a kind of tradition that we go to Hawaii at Thanksgiving every year.

for the holiday. So I've really got to know Hawaii really well. We go to a different Island, you know, and I absolutely love Hawaii. And I think it's just so insulting that they call it Hawaiian pizza with the pineapple. You know, I hate that. Good point. Good point. Um, what's that other thing for Steve Hilton? Like,

What I mean by the other things. So you want to get out, clear your head, stop thinking about all the things that the world brings your direction. Like I like doing wildlife photography. I get out, do that. I've suddenly gotten to a happy place and I don't even think about what's that other thing for Steve Hilton. Well, you know, it's quite boring, but it's,

Just going on a hike, you know, I'm lucky enough to live here in California. We've got some really in the Bay Area We've got lovely things around us. I find that's really easy. We go with we've got two dogs now So we take the dog. I mean

That's not really – that's like more run of the mill, isn't it? No, my wife's the same way. My wife's like if she doesn't get her exercise in and she doesn't walk around the hills of Utah, she's like I just don't feel good. I just don't – it just clears her head. She sometimes goes with a friend or me or – but that's her happy place and it's therapeutic to her every day. That's really true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Favorite childhood toy? Oh, I was just thinking about this because I put it in my thing last night about the queen. So I'm going to be talking on Monday. I did my show last night. Um,

My favorite stories were the Paddington, my favorite books as a little kid were the Paddington Bear stories. And so I loved that. That Paddington Bear thing with the queen really moved me, that video she did for the Jubilee. And I had this toy. I think the brand was called Plaster Casters. And it was like this kind of basic kind of make a mold, add a plaster thing and then paint it. And I was given a plaster caster of Paddington Bear. Wow.

And I just really remember loving it so much. And you make it, you mix the thing with water and then you set it and then you peel off the thing and paint it and whatever. I loved it. I really very fondly remember that. It's like a one-off thing. It's not an ongoing toy, but I really have a vivid memory of that. There are some things that just invoke memories and I think that's great. Last question. Best advice you ever got? Oh my God.

That's really important and good. I've had really good. Let me put it another way. You've got a 14-year-old son. And you say, son, here's what I need you to know. And you have to summarize. You can't wax on for a half hour. You've got to kind of summarize. I really want you to remember this. What would that be? Well, I say this to him. I already do say this. And this was what I was thinking about. I can't remember where I got it from.

But I do it in two words, which is keep going. Like just keep going. Don't – just don't worry. Just keep going. Don't give up. Don't worry. Just keep going. Nothing is that bad. Just like you've got to keep going. Persistence and hard work and just keep – that's – I think that's it. We're all going to have hiccups and hurdles and valleys and peaks and you just got to keep plowing on. No, I think that's safe advice. Yeah, that's it. It's keep going. Yeah, that's great. Yeah.

Steve Hilton, The Next Revolution on Sunday nights on Fox. It's been a pleasure, Sharon, and getting to know you and a bit about your life. Thank you so much for taking the time. I really do appreciate it. Thanks, Steve. No, no, no. It was great, Jason. Loved to be with you. Thank you. Steve Hilton. See, he's a fun guy with an interesting perspective. Can smile and laugh at himself and

Just a good guy. I just, I love interacting with them. So I love being on his show and what a treat. Can't thank Steve enough for joining us. Hey, I need you to rate this podcast. I need you to subscribe to it. I need you to like check the box and give it some good stars, write a review. That would be nice.

Could really use the help there. So please do that. And then also look through the list of podcasts we've done. Some really fascinating people. We had Jared Kushner recently. Burgess Owens, I think is one really worth listening to. Great inspirational story. Brian Mast. There's some really good. Tiffany Smiley, the candidate for Senate out in Washington. Some really good stuff. Hope you're able to listen to those.

And stay with us. We'll be back next week with another exciting interview. I'm Jason Chapin, and this has been Jason in the House.