In the Company of Mavericks - Does Britain need a Milei? With Simon French & Robert Marstrand

In this episode, Progressive's Jeremy McKeown is joined by Panmure Liberum’s Simon French and Buenos Aires-based investor Robert Marstrand to explore whether Britain truly needs — or could even survive — a Milei-style shock therapy. Recently, Head of Research at Panmure Liberum, Times columnist and friend of the podcast, Simon French, wrote an article in which he asked, Can Kemi Badenoch sell Mileinomics in Britain? This was after the Conservative leader had said that she saw Argentina’s Javier Milei as her “template for government.” An interesting thought experiment, but how serious is this idea? Is it realistic to expect the UK electorate to vote for such drastic economic reform? Do our politicians really understand what is involved in cutting back the state as undertaken by the Milei administration over the last 18 months? Will the Argentine experiment deliver an oven-ready case study that the UK might consider adopting in 2029? To answer these and other questions about the economies and stock markets of both the UK and Argentina and compare notes on these very different countries, with fascinating interwoven histories, Jeremy invited Robert Marstrand, another friend of the podcast, to join him and Simon to discuss the central question…. Does Britain Need a Javier Milei? Robert has lived in Buenos Aires for many years and writes the excellent Substack OfWealth. He believes that the UK must endure more economic and financial pain, with the potential for currency and gilt crises, before it is ready to accept the Milei medicine. Even then, he has his doubts. They discuss the disconnect between the economy and the stock market, and Simon offers his stockbroker’s insight into how to pitch the UK’s longer-term potential to global investors, who, after all, must stay invested and for whom other options are not looking great right now. They agree that the UK has been a good place to invest in recently. Brought to you by Progressive Equity.