Browse content similar to 15/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon, welcome. At last, some good news on the economy. Or | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
is it? Inflation fell last month, but not so much that you will have | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
noticed. Supermarket discounts helped push prices down, but prices | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
are still rising more than wages. We will talk to a Treasury minister | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
as well as the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls. | :00:47. | :00:54. | |
Will the Government halt the planned increases in fuel duty? We | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
will talk to the Conservative MP leading the campaign. | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
The man at the centre of the row with Theresa May over border | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
control speaks out. Brodie Clark has been facing questions from MPs | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
added further revelations about the state of our borders. | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
I am an admiral. And, what is it like being in the | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
:01:28. | :01:31. | ||
Navy? The former First Sea Lord All of that and more coming up. | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
Public service broadcasting at its finest! With this, former Labour | :01:37. | :01:45. | |
security minister Alan West. He is a lord and an admiral. Anyway, | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
first, the latest figures for inflation, the CPI, the | :01:49. | :01:57. | |
government's preferred measure for October, 5%, down from 5.2% in | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
September. As promised, the shadow chancellor is with us. Has | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
inflation now peaked? I do not know, possibly. There was a big blip | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
because of the rise in VAT in January, which hit the budgets of | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
households and pushed prices up. But it seems to be stubbornly high. | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
To come down from 5.2% to 5%, not much of a change. You have talked | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
about the misery index, the combination of inflation and | :02:29. | :02:36. | |
unemployment now rising, this is a toxic combination. As how big a | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
stimulus would you give the economy at the moment? Put a figure on it. | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
We need a stimulus. It is hard when you or not in government and you do | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
not know the scale of the projects you can get in quickly to put a | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
figure on. I will give you one figure, a temporary cut in VAT, 12 | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
billion. How much more? We would also do a temporary cut in VAT for | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
repairs and maintenance, which would help small businesses, which | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
would give you half a billion. The bank bonus tax, �2 billion, we | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
could raise that. That �2 billion is more likely to be spent if it is | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
going to the pockets of people building houses and young people. | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
Then, the small business tax cut, that would pay for itself. Roughly | :03:30. | :03:38. | |
what, 15 billion? The Tories like to say it is over 20 billion. | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
20 billion closer than 15? other number is how much public | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
investment you could bring forward. You would need billions of pounds. | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
The more you can do which is reasonable and quick, the better. | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
You want a stimulus that will have a real effect. Let's say between 15 | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
and 20 billion. The equivalent of a 1% cut in interest rates in a | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
normal economy. We are agreed he would add to borrowing this year? | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
George Osborne will Barrow �46 billion more than he planned. | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
is over several years. Your response to a debt crisis is more | :04:21. | :04:29. | |
debt? It is a grave crisis. It is not a debt crisis? The fundamental | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
problem, if the growth is flat lining and unemployment is rising, | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
that will mean fewer people paying tax, more people on benefit, it | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
will be hard to get the deficit down. You have got to have a | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
reduction plan, it has got to work, and if you say, it is a debt crisis, | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
and therefore, the faster we cut, the better, you make the exact | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
mistake that David Cameron and George Osborne are making. We are | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
already borrowing �122 billion this year. Why would borrowing 130 | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
billion in a 1.5 trillion pound economy make more than the most | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
marginal of differences? David Cameron likes to say, you cannot | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
borrow yourself out of a debt crisis. The Government is borrowing | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
�120 billion this year. borrowing a bit more? Why would it | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
make a difference? What is a sensible pace to get the deficit | :05:28. | :05:34. | |
down? It might order that has been, if you try to get it down too | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
quickly, it backfires, it blows up in-your-face. You end up borrowing | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
more than you planned. Right now, with the world in such a dangerous | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
place, and with an economy have installed, the right thing to do is | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
to get some stimulus to get the economy moving. If that is right, | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
it follows that what the Prime Minister is to link in Italy is | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
wrong, because he has got an even smaller deficit and we have, but he | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
is still cutting it. He is wrong but by what you just said. There is | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
a fundamental difference between Italy and Britain. They are in the | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
euro, and we are not. What has that got to do with borrowing? If you | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
are a single country with your own currency, and you have a central | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
bank which is effective, you can serve as your debts. Will the | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
markets believe that you will get your deficit down in a balanced way | :06:33. | :06:40. | |
without inflation? That depends on growth. He has got no growth. But | :06:40. | :06:46. | |
he is still cutting the deficit. Take France, which has got the same | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
national debt as we have. They have got a smaller deficit. It follows | :06:53. | :07:01. | |
that Nicolas Sarkozy is wrong, as by what you say. Personally, I | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
think the right-of-centre governments in the eurozone | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
believing that faster deficit reduction will lead to more | :07:08. | :07:15. | |
credibility on their deficit, they are making it a big mistake. Let's | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
take a left-of-centre government, the outgoing its government in | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
Spain. They have a national debt roughly equivalent to ours, but it | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
has got a smaller deficit, but it cut its deficit. Under your view of | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
the world, that was wrong as well? They have a non-functioning central | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
bank. They have no lender of last resort. Contagion is spreading | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
across the eurozone. In those circumstances, they are thinking | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
that they have got to show a signal. I think it is the wrong signal. | :07:52. | :08:02. | |
:08:02. | :08:02. | ||
it they are all wrong? And you all right? The IMF have said countries | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
not in crisis in the eurozone, who have room for manoeuvre, like | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
Germany and Britain and America, should slow their pace to get | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
growth and jobs moving. I agree with them. I am so thankful that we | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
are not in the contagion crisis of Spain and Italy. The IMF has backed | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
the Spanish, Italian and French cuts. They have not backed you. | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
am worried about you resent believing that austerity is going | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
to deliver them credibility -- I am worried about the eurozone | :08:36. | :08:45. | |
believing. This could be every PC for turmoil and disaster. -- this | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
could be a recipe. Your plan would increase borrowing and our deficit. | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
You said that. I said there should be a stimulus. Otherwise, it is not | :08:56. | :09:03. | |
a stimulus. I pointed out to you that George Osborne's plans will | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
lead to higher borrowing that he planned, because he will have to | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
downgrade his growth forecast and upgrade his borrowing forecast. | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
This morning, Italian bond yields went above 7% again. They do not | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
have confidence in the deficit reduction plan. I do not agree. | :09:26. | :09:34. | |
German/French bond spread, the French are having to pay higher, | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
because they do not think Nicolas Sarkozy is cutting the deficit by | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
enough. How could you increase our borrowing and deficit and not | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
increase and a bond yields? It is impossible. You know enough about | :09:47. | :09:55. | |
economics, and the lessons of the 20s and 30s, what you just said, | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
economically, is nonsense. In August, when the American debt was | :09:59. | :10:06. | |
downgraded by the credit agencies, their interest rates went down. The | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
succession of short rates and people are thinking that they will | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
stay low, because our economy has stagnated... Of you think we could | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
borrow more and bond yields would not rise? I think they will come | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
under pressure in the end because of a lack of growth in the economy. | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
Do I think that the markets are saying about Britain, the problem | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
is they are not cutting fast enough? They are saying the | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
opposite. You know enough about economics to know that it is much | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
more complicated than that. will have to come back to answer a | :10:45. | :10:54. | |
:10:55. | :10:55. | ||
question. I want to take another mug! Is this not a new one?! | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
One area where consumers are feeling the pinch is the cost of | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
filling up their car. MPs will debate a motion on fuel prices and | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
taxes this afternoon. After 100,000 people signed an e-petition column | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
for the issue to be discussed in the House of Commons. Any vote will | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
not be binding, but the strength of feeling, especially amongst | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
Conservative backbenches, might lead David Cameron and George | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
Osborne to act. Filling up has become a costly business, but high | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
prices are also causing a headache for the Chancellor. At the budget, | :11:27. | :11:33. | |
he cut duty by one pence per litre. He scrapped the duty escalator, | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
which meant above-inflation increases every year. But another | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
increase of 3p is scheduled for January. Then, there will be a | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
further rise in line with inflation in August, which some people have | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
claimed could be up to five pence. The VAT increase last January | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
pushed costs up as well. The persistently high global prices | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
have meant more pain for motorists. David Cameron and George Osborne | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
know any further rises will be unpopular. But the Office for | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
budget responsibility estimates that scrapping the increase in | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
January would cost the Treasury �1.5 billion. Their determination | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
to cut the budget deficit means they have got little room for | :12:13. | :12:21. | |
manoeuvre. This MP has secured the debate this afternoon. What exactly | :12:21. | :12:29. | |
did you want the government to do? Not implement the plant due to | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
raise his next January. I say, cut taxes for millions of ordinary | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
hard-working Britons, rather than for millionaires. Secondly, we need | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
a long-term commission to be set up to look at the price of petrol, | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
because it is unsustainable, it has been going up all the time, the oil | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
companies should bear responsibility. The international | :12:50. | :12:57. | |
oil prize has gone down by 20% since April. Also, we need to | :12:57. | :13:04. | |
introduce a fair feel stabiliser, to ensure that, when prices -- when | :13:04. | :13:11. | |
revenues are high, prices go down. How big an issue is this? It is a | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
much bigger issue than some politicians really understand it. | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
They have misjudged it in the past, and they are doing so again. This | :13:20. | :13:29. | |
will have a huge impact. I think it will resonate. Politically, it is | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
dynamite. I do not think politicians have grasped it | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
properly. They do in the States, they understand that fuel prices | :13:37. | :13:44. | |
are important. We have just heard that the government is not going to | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
impose a three-line whip on this, they are worried about a rebellion. | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
But can the country afforded? They have already taken action, they | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
have already cut the duty by 1p earlier this year. They have also | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
scrapped the escalator that was Porton in 2009. Vince Cable says | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
there are ideas, and the government is not in a position to do things. | :14:09. | :14:17. | |
Can the country not afford it? Figures from the AA showed that the | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
Treasury has been getting less revenue from petrol and diesel tax | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
this year compared to 2008, so the government have been getting less | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
revenue, because people cannot afford to drive their cars. Looking | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
at the average person in my constituency, they spent 17 -- | :14:33. | :14:40. | |
�1,700 a year. That is disputed by the ONS, they said it was 600 and | :14:40. | :14:49. | |
so it is �7. If you take the average earnings, the RAC estimate | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
they are paying a 10th of their income on the price of petrol or | :14:52. | :14:59. | |
diesel. Some estimates put it higher. The government to find fuel | :14:59. | :15:09. | |
:15:09. | :15:09. | ||
poverty as somebody spending a 10th Can you give them any comfort? | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
are listening to the arguments. This is a good opportunity for | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
parliamentarians to make the case, parliamentarians to make the case, | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
all of us as MPs are talking to our constituents. The challenge we face | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
is that if we don't go ahead with the January increased, it will cost | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
�1.5 billion in revenue forgone. That is fairly substantial. But we | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
have already demonstrated we are sensitive to these motorists, that | :15:36. | :15:43. | |
is why the budget George Osborne announced... Is that a yes or no to | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
my question? We will listen to the arguments. You said that. We will | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
not make policy announcements today. This is a day for listening to the | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
arguments. Have you listened to Vince Cable? He says our budget | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
position is not in a position where we can make a lot of freebies | :16:02. | :16:10. | |
available. Do you think not incurious sing -- increasing fuel... | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
We don't have an option or foregoing lots of tax increases or | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
cutting spending or taking risks. Is it a freebie? Not raising our | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
tax is a freebie? This is something that has been scheduled, something | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
we postponed from last spring. At a cost of �1.9 billion. So it would | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
be a freebie? Whether we call it a freebie or not, it is an impact on | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
the public finances. Let me ask you this. Same question I asked Ed | :16:43. | :16:52. | |
Balls. In the Treasury's few has inflation peaked? What we do in the | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
Treasury is used the forecast made by the Bank of England and the | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
Office of budget responsibility and the OBR will update their forecasts | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
in the Autumn Statement. The view of the Bank of England... We know | :17:04. | :17:11. | |
that. The Treasury hasn't got its own view on the course of | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
inflation? The Treasury uses the inflation projections made by the | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
Bank of England and the Office of budget responsibility. It doesn't | :17:19. | :17:26. | |
have its own view? It doesn't do its own separate estimate, is that | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
correct? Be it is correct because it uses the estimates used by the | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
Bank of England. When you have got the economy flatlining, you have | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
got inflation still above 5%, unemployment very high and rising, | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
living standards being squeezed more than at any time since the | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
1920s, you can't be proud of your economic record, can you? | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
inherited the biggest deficit in our peacetime history. We are going | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
through a period where we see a crisis in the eurozone and gross | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
struggling in all developed countries. You can't be proud of | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
that record. Of course we would like more growth, but we are proud | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
of having the courage to deal with his big issue we inherited, the | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
deficit, making difficult decisions, to when sure the UK is not in the | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
front line. We have seen countries caught up in a real mess because | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
the markets did not have faith in the credibility of their plans. | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
don't think one can go one constantly saying this was left in | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
a mess. When I had captains of ships, if they said the last | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
captain was awful, there came a stage when I said I wanted a ship | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
to be better and if it didn't improve I got rid of them. People | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
need to think of that. This ship was not below the waterline! We | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
have to leave it there. Thank you. The former head of the UK border | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
force Brodie Clark has been appearing before a committee of MPs. | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
Last week he resigned saying Mrs Major had made his position | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
untenable by blaming him for relaxing passport checks are like | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
that beyond the limits of a pilot scheme he organised. -- she | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
organised. This is what he had to say earlier. I never went broke. I | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
never extended without the Home Secretary's authority that initial | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
trial for a further period of September through to November. It | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
was the Home Secretary who clearly at request and on advice from me | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
agreed that the trial could continue for a longer period in | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
order to evidence the benefits it was delivering. Do your understand | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
what you're saying? You're saying you had authority to do what you | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
were doing and that the Home Secretary knew what you were doing | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
and that is completely in contradiction to what she said to | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
the house and his committee. I do not understand why she has said | :19:56. | :20:03. | |
that. The continuation or extension of the trial was something we | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
reported on, not in the same weekly basis we had previously been, but | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
we had incorporated into the chief executive's weekly note to the | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
immigration minister as an update on how things were going. With us | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
now in the Conservative MP and former Home Office adviser David | :20:22. | :20:30. | |
Ruffley. And Admiral Lord West. David Ruffley, has she committed | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
the worst political sin of going to war with her civil servants? He is | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
fighting back hard. I don't think he is fighting back terribly well. | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
She was justified in following what Rob Whiteman did. He suspended him, | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
it was not Theresa May. But was she right in publicly blaming Brodie | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
Clark before having any of the investigations and before he had | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
time to respond to? Up yes. In the House of Commons, all MPs who went | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
to that debate wanted dancers, their constituents wanted answers. | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
Theresa May had to tell it how it was. She was entirely justified in | :21:07. | :21:13. | |
making her statement. Does she have a killer piece of evidence? Does | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
she have a written piece of paper that says this is what I am | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
authorised you to do and you have gone beyond it. We have got the | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
exchange. Mrs May told MPs that officials will not be up -- | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
supposed to go on beyond the pilot. Is it possible Theresa May did not | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
know what the pilot involved? Brodie Clark says he finds that | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
difficult to imagine. If you listen to some of his earlier evidence, it | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
shows that he was relaxing fingerprint controls on non-EU | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
nationals well before the pilot. He said that several times this | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
morning. He has to answer why he was doing this before the September | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
pilot. Who do you believe? It is a real mess. I don't think I have | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
seen such a mess. It is a dangerous thing to start picking on yours | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
senior civil servants. You have to be very careful of your facts. I am | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
very surprised we haven't seen anything of Damian Green, who is | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
the minister who should be close upon this the entire time. That was | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
his job, to do that for the Home Secretary. This is very disturbing. | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
I'm sure the full truth will finally come out. I know Brodie | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
Clark. It is extraordinary to think he would do that. It doesn't fit in | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
with what I know of him. He is not a maverick, he doesn't go running | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
wild. He ran a very taut prison, he was a very good prison governor. | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
With respect... With respect, before the pilot there were three | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
MPs on the Select Committee asking the question were you doing it | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
before the pilot and he said yes. There were relaxations in 2008. | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
That is under the last Labour government. Do you know what checks | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
was suspended then? I am yet to see those guidelines. I don't know off | :23:02. | :23:09. | |
the top of my head. For example, they have mentioned coaches. The | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
Passenger Shipping Association said surely if you have a coach for of | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
St Matthew's primary school children coming into the country, | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
do we need to get every single one of them off and do all of the | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
checks and it made sense not to do that. There was flexibility. Non EU | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
nationals who should have had a fingerprint check, those were | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
suspended. Brodie Clark said that this morning. I think the position | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
is quite clear. He wasn't quite clear what he was going. He denies | :23:39. | :23:49. | |
:23:49. | :23:51. | ||
it. Have you seen the evidence? think we ought to be careful. | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
admitted it for. Normally there is a discussion between ministers and | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
senior people about exactly what is going on, particularly a pilot | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
scheme. If Brodie Clark wins his case for destructive -- | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
constructive dismissal, as looks likely, can she keep her job? | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
don't know what will happen. she keep her job? Of course she can. | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
She has been let down by the Civil Service. I think the Home Secretary | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
is toast. I think she has had it. It is a shame because I like her, | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
but I think this has been a mess. He will be run on that as he is on | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
the whole recollection of his regime. The Prime Minister has | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
given his full support so she is probably doomed! She will be there. | :24:38. | :24:45. | |
That is sometimes the death knell. Agreement breaking out everywhere! | :24:45. | :24:53. | |
30 years ago a lot of small boys wanted to be done sailors. That is | :24:53. | :25:00. | |
what is written here! It appears now that many youngsters don't even | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
know what the Navy is. They don't even know what the Navy is. We sent | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
our guest of the day back to school. Some weeks ago I was travelling on | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
the Tube and I was appalled when a youngster in a school party asked | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
me what I did and then when I told him and said I was in the Navy, he | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
said what is the navy? It was a shock. I had to spend some time | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
telling them about the Navy, which caused a certain amount of | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
amusement in the carriage, and some applause. One man said, you ought | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
to do this all the time on the District line. Today I've come to | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
St Matthew's Primary School in Westminster because I want to talk | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
to the youngsters and tell them a bit about the Navy. Good morning. | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
Good morning. I will sit over here. You have been told a little bit | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
about me, have you? You will ask me some questions. Fantastic, I look | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
forward to it. Who wants to start? Do you have lots of medals? I was | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
awarded a distinguished Service Cross. This is a gallantry award. | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
What it really represented was how well my sailors fought, but I got a | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
distinguished Service Cross. I have a campaign medal, I have a couple | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
of other metals. And then I have some grand things called a Knight | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
Grand Cross for the order of Bath. A big star and a big thing around | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
my neck and a big sash. It all looks like a big Christmas tree can | :26:27. | :26:33. | |
actually! Is it a good idea to join the Navy? You have very close bond | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
between all the people you serve with on a ship, and that is really | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
good fun. It is like being at school, you have a lot of close | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
mates. A lot of opportunities for sport. You can go skiing, | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
parachuting, sailing, gliding. You travel all round the world. It is a | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
fantastic thing to do. Did you lose any men in the war? I was captain | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
of a ship called the frigate which had about 200 men. It was involved | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
in the war in the Falkland Islands. My ship was bombed and sunk. It was | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
hit by about seven bombs and sunk at the end of the day. Sadly in | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
there fighting I lost 22 of my boys, who why remember very often at | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
times. Everyone you lose, they are brothers and sisters, they have | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
parents, they have children, it is really quite sad, but they were | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
doing something very special for the nation. We succeeded in what we | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
did and there was very important. You had them captivated! No | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
question. You were the last to leave the ship as well. Let me ask | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
you the big question of the day. How often do you travel by Tube in | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
full ceremonial dress? Not very often! Do people talk to you when | :27:54. | :28:03. | |
they do? One Tube journey from Westminster to Bond Street and one | :28:03. | :28:09. | |
chap said, are you in the Navy? He did vaguely know and was interested. | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
I don't do it very often and you do get looked at quite a bit! If | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
you're on a train station, people want to buy tickets from you. | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
one of the kids ask you about your time on the Titanic? He did. He | :28:22. | :28:28. | |
said what was it like on the Titanic? Do what was it like? Good | :28:28. | :28:35. | |
question. All right, admiral, thank you very much. That's it for today. | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
No more Daily Politics for the rest of the week. We are ready to go, | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
but hard-working MPs have decided to give themselves a mid-term break. | :28:45. | :28:50. |