“There is a faction in control of the Labour Party machinery that is doing everything it can to get people who are yes men and women, people who are easy to control,” he said. “And getting rid of me like this is a wonderful disciplinary tool for anybody else who might be independently minded.” 

In the interview, Driscoll drew parallels with Farage’s battle with NatWest boss Alison Rose over the decision to withdraw his bank account at Coutts. Driscoll added that, while he did not agree with Farage’s politics, “you should not be cancelling people’s bank accounts on the basis that you don’t like their politics if they’ve done nothing illegal.”

The mayor said that it was legitimate for private companies to want to protect their brand: 

This, he suggested, was lacking in both his case and Farage’s. Driscoll said that while he thought the Labour Party would win the next general election “by quite a margin,” this was mostly because the Tory Party has given up. “The fight’s out of them,” he said. “That is as much a reason for the prediction as anything.”

But when it came to the North East mayoralty, Driscoll professed confidence that he would give Starmer a bloody nose. “In the North East I absolutely can win,” he said, claiming that Green voters and independents would back him against Labour, as well as those who had moved away from the party in recent years to vote Tory.

You can listen to the full podcast here.