Browse content similar to 03/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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We have concluded there is sufficient evidence to bring | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
criminal charges against both Mr Huhne and Ms Pryce for perverting | :00:15. | :00:25. | |
:00:25. | :00:55. | ||
Afternoon, folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. Chris Huhne and his | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
ex-wife have been charged with perverting the course of justice | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
over a nine-year-old speeding offence. Mr hymn denies the charge | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
but has resigned from the Cabinet to fight his case. -- Huhne. He | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
clashed with David Cameron and other Tories more than once across | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
the Cabinet table, now he has gone and a reshuffle is under way. It | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
looks like David Cameron has issued a wider reshuffle, making it a Lib | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
Dem affair. Nick Clegg has returned to Westminster could to consider | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
Over the next 60 minutes, we will analyse the political fall-out from | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
the dramatic developments and bring you the latest on what we will now | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
call the Clegg cabinet reshuffle. With me for the duration, Rachel | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
Sylvester of the Times and Medhi Hasan of the New Statesman. Now, it | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
has been a long time coming, but this morning at 9am Energy | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
Secretary Chris Huhne was told by the Crown Prosecution Service that, | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
along with his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, he was to be charged with | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
perverting the course of justice. The crime carries a jail sentence. | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
The CPS has concluded that Mr Owen did have his wife take the speeding | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
points that he had incurred driving to London from Stansted airport one | :02:15. | :02:22. | |
night in 2003. Ms Pryce is charged with being complicit. Mr Huhne has | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
resigned from the Cabinet. Ms Pryce has said nothing about her guilt or | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
innocence but is spending time with her family. The events unfolded | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
when, at 10am, Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
took the unusual step of making a public statement to explain the | :02:38. | :02:47. | |
decision. All the available evidence, including that, has now | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
been carefully considered by the CPS. And we have concluded that | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
there is sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against both | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
Mr Huhne and Ms Pryce for perverting the course of justice. | :03:03. | :03:11. | |
The essence of the charges is that, between March and May 2003, Mr | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
Huhne, having allegedly committed a speeding offence, falsely informed | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
the investigating authorities that Ms Pryce was the driver of the | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
vehicle in question, and she falsely accepted that she was the | :03:23. | :03:31. | |
driver. Accordingly, summonses against both parties have been | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
obtained from Westminster magistrates court, and those | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
summonses will now be served upon them. They are due to appear in | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
court on the 16th February this Within the hour, a defiant Mr in- | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
off made his resignation statement from outside his home in central | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
London. -- Mr Wood. I have a short statement. The CPS decision today | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
is deeply regrettable. An innocent of these charges, and I intend to | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
fight this in the courts, and I am confident that a jury will agree. | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
So has to avoid any distraction to either my official duties for my | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
trial defence, I am standing down, resigning as energy and Climate | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
Change Secretary. I will, of course, continue to serve my constituents | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
in Eastleigh. Thank you, that is all I want to say today. And that | :04:26. | :04:36. | |
:04:36. | :04:49. | ||
was all he did say. His ex-wife, So that is the statements of the | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
two people who have been charged. We are joined by Lembit Opik and | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
the editor of the liberal magazine. Let me come to you first, give me | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
your initial reaction to these events. I think it was expected by | :05:03. | :05:11. | |
of the Liberal Democrats. Chris Huhne is one of the first Lib Dem | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
Cabinet ministers since the war, these five Cabinet ministers, and | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
they have lost Jay already in less than two years. That is not good | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
for the Liberal Democrats. For Chris Huhne, it is a personal | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
tragedy, because he was an ambitious man, a high-flyer. | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
Regardless of the outcome of the court case, it is difficult to see | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
him coming back to frontline politics. He was on the verge of | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
leading his party. Something that he actually won the election. | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
to the personal tragedy of this. This was a speeding offence, not | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
personal corruption, money in brown envelopes or ministerial | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
incompetence. The view is that he was a pretty good minister, and it | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
is a real shame he has had to stand down over something so long ago | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
that seems so minor. It is the Watergate principle, not the actual | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
original crime or offence that is the issue. It is, quote, the cover | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
up, which the CPS think there has been. No, exactly, it is very sad | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
for him, and I think you're right that it is bad for the Liberal | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
Democrats. He was a strong voice for them in the Cabinet, and | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
putting them on to the backbenches, they will feel one of their biggest | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
Representatives has gone. Emma may not be a bad thing for the earth -- | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
it may not be a bad thing for the Liberal Democrats, I will explain | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
why in a minute. There is a political dynamic it, a public | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
dynamic and a legal one. The still innocent until proven guilty, and | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
it is dangerous for us to give the impression that he has been found | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
guilty. We are not doing that. just emphasising that. Let's get to | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
the politics of it, I want to talk about the politics. The people can | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
see the difference between what has happened to Chris Huhne as an | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
individual and the party as a whole. Lib Dems have got all kinds of | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
problems, but this is not one of them. What will it do to the Lib | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
Dems? It could lead to readjustment. If he is found innocent, he becomes | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
a different powerbase within the party. That could be an interesting | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
dynamic between him and Nick Clegg. To be found innocent, in a sense, | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
is Nick Clegg's worst political nightmare, because Mr Huhne then | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
goes to the backbenches, remains MP for Eastleigh, and he becomes the | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
rallying cry for the 8th Left opposition inside the party to the | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
coalition. I would say it has been hit by a day for the Liberal | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
Democrats because he headed what is possibly the most successful | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
ministerial party -- ministerial role for the party, which is key to | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
the grassroots. If he comes back, he will be a figurehead for | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
opposition at the left of the party. What he secured at the ministry was | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
considerable, a pledge against many of the protests of the | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
Conservatives to cut emissions by half by 2025. That really does | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
appeal to left-leaning Lib Dem grass roots. It is why the Tories | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
are very happy this morning. They are happy, and that is why Nick | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
Clegg is concerned, because further to what you said, if he is | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
acquitted, he will be a figurehead of dissent. I think there is a | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
danger of exaggerating his left the nest. He would say that of most | :08:30. | :08:37. | |
people! I would say especially about Chris Huhne, because I was | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
sympathetic to him before the election. In the coalition | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
negotiations, talk to the Labour members, he was one of the most | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
zealous advocates of a coalition with the Tories. He did a joint | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
press conference with the Tories, a party political conference in 2010 | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
attacking Labour, and a lot of people who thought of him as a | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
fellow traveller thought, wait a minute, he has gone native, too! He | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
has made lots of noises about AV. Is a very savvy politician. He is a | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
pragmatist and very ambitious. If he gets cleared, the existing | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
leadership is going to be very concerned. Their minds they are | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
both part of the Orange Book corpus, the caucus that runs the party, so | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
I do not think they are very different politically, but he is | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
very ambitious, and it is a nightmare coming home to roost it | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
is and isn't. There is no love lost between Mr Huhne and Mr Clegg. He | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
depicted him as A calamity Clegg during the leadership campaign, and | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
Mr Clegg made jokes about there being nobody better than him for | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
getting his points over. They were rivals for the leadership. I was | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
there when he said it! They were friends and rivals in the European | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
Parliament, then they were friends and rivals in parliament, rivals | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
for the leadership, but since then they have served in the cabinets | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
together, and if anything, Chris Huhne has been standing up more to | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
David Cameron than to Nick Clegg. That is where the rivalry has | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
developed. The smallest of violins will be being played in Number Ten, | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
let's be honest, they did not like Mr Huhne. They like Ed Davey, who | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
is being tipped as his replacement. Chris Huhne was a contributor to | :10:20. | :10:26. | |
the Orange Book. So was Vince Cable! It was quite a broad colour. | :10:26. | :10:34. | |
He is not seen as an honorary camera and, as Ed Davey is. This | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
David Laws comes back, that is good for George Osborne and David | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
Cameron. They will be pleased by that. You say it is not bad for the | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
Lib Dems, but the point that you have got five Cabinet ministers for | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
the first time since Lloyd George out of war. And you have lost 40% | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
of them! As I say in my book, which comes out at the end of the month, | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
it allows me to analyse this. The loss of David Laws was catastrophic | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
in the sense that he was the architect of the Orange Book | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
corkers. He is an Orange Book person. He basically designed it. | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
So why is it not a disaster? With Chris Huhne, he was not the | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
architect, as you have said. He was not seen as the core progenitor of | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
the Orange Book. That does not mean, you have lost 40% of your Cabinet | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
ministers, and you have not had any since Lloyd George! If the Lib Dems | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
strategy is all about differentiation, you lose the best | :11:31. | :11:38. | |
advocates of that in the Cabinet. No problem making himself ethernet | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
-- a different at the Cabinet table! That is the underlying | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
problem that the party has, a lack of differentiation. You are close | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
to the grassroots, you have got this magazine and all the rest of | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
it. How do you think this will play? I think that many grassroots | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
members will be disappointed that such a key post, environment, one | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
of the few where the Lib Dems seem to have stood up, drew a line, and | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
they were getting... I mean, in terms of fighting with George | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
Osborne, as Chris Huhne was what to do on economic issues, saying we | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
are not going to allow environmental targets to be watered | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
down because of the economic crisis, this was a real line in the sand, | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
and when the Lib Dems have given up so much, VAT, tuition fees, | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
spending cuts, all of that, I think that this is not the final straw, | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
but it is totemic for the party. I think many grassroots will be very | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
upset. A bad day for windmill manufactures! We will have a | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
moment's silence for them. Not very silent, we will just move on. How | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
will the news changed the composition of the government? As | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
you have heard, Chris Huhne has exited stage left for now. The | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
rumour mill suggests he will be replaced as Secretary of State for | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
Energy and climate change by this man, Ed Davey, the MP for Kingston | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
and Surbiton in London. He is currently a junior minister in the | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
Department for business with responsibility for employment | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
relations and consumer affairs. Speculation is that if Mr Davey is | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
promoted, his portfolio will go to Norman Lamb, Nick Clegg's | :13:17. | :13:19. | |
parliamentary private secretary and chief political adviser, very close | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
to Mr Clegg. And if he does move into that official government job, | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
some people in the village are suggesting that his new | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
parliamentary aide could be, well, a familiar face! Yes, David Laws, | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
who was the last Lib Dem to resign from the Cabinet. We are joined now | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
by Adam Fleming. The Cabinet reshuffle is still being cooked, | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
but my sense is that it is actually done and dusted and just needs to | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
be announced. They have quite cleverly, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
let the media know what is going to happen. This is one we baked | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
earlier, that is what they are telling us. Yes, a prix BECTA | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
reshuffle, that is the hint that is being dropped behind the scenes. A | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
huge frenzy are speculation about how the reshuffle will work out, | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
but speculation much more limited than it used to be in the old days | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
of 2005, when you have one party in government. The issue is now, with | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
coalition, there is a deal about how many cabinet ministers each | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
party gets around the top table of government. As our guests have been | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
saying, the Liberal Democrats get five, so that means today's | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
reshuffle is limited to Liberal Democrats only. In the past, the | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
Prime Minister would have been able to pick and choose who we wanted | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
and put people into positions. As you said, the speculation this | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
morning is that Ed Davey, the junior business minister, will step | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
up to join the Cabinet to take over from Chris Huhne, which means that | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
Norman Lamb, a close adviser of Nick Clegg, will take that job, | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
working with Vince Cable in the business department. As he said, | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
the big question mark over David Laws, is he going to get his chance | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
to return to government after he had to quit just three weeks into | :15:00. | :15:10. | |
:15:10. | :15:12. | ||
It is interesting to look back at what happened when Liam Fox quit | :15:12. | :15:18. | |
last year. It was a Tory any reshuffle with the movement of Tory | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
ministers and junior ministers and nothing wider than that. This is | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
new for us and is a consequence of coalition government that the | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
decision by David Cameron not to have a wide-ranging reshuffle but | :15:31. | :15:38. | |
too narrow the damage, it means in effect it is not a Cameron | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
reshuffle, it is a Clegg reshuffle. We expect Nick Clegg to make a | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
statement in the next half an hour so we will hopefully be able to get | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
it live on the programme. There is speculation about whether he will | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
use that statement finance these new ministerial appointments. Will | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
the Prime Minister announced the appointments from Downing Street? I | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
suspect it will be Nick Clegg. The whole thing behind the scenes is | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
that the parties covered up between themselves. It is not like the old | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
days when the whole Cabinet would be moved around. We had problems | :16:19. | :16:26. | |
when Tony Blair did it. We are always being told by sources close | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
to David Cameron behind the scenes that he is not a big fan of | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
reshuffles, having seen how they go disastrously wrong. We are told he | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
does not want to have a big revamp of the Cabinet in his first couple | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
of years. If the reshuffle happens while we are on air, we will bring | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
it to live. They have handled this quite well, have they not? They put | :16:51. | :17:01. | |
:17:01. | :17:01. | ||
in place the pan to make it seem less. Mr Clegg would make -- take | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
the initiative. What is fascinating is how coalition is limiting | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
reshuffles. You're not getting huge shake-up so of the Government. | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
There have been a lot of mutterings within Number 10 about people not | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
liking Ken Clarke or Andrew and spree. If it were not a coalition | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
government, you would have had a much wider reshuffle with people | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
from all departments. Because it is a coalition, room is limited. | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
have three Cabinet ministers who have gone. All went for personal | :17:39. | :17:47. | |
problems. None of them have gone for policy. The real resignation is | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
they Andrew Lansley resignation. Why do you think that? Will he | :17:52. | :17:59. | |
resign or will he be kicked out? will be asked to resign, I suspect, | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
before the end of the year. That is the big one. That will be about | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
government policy. If the reports are right, they have chosen not to | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
do the wider reshuffle which has been discussed, at this point. | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
will it play outside this Westminster village to the idea? | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
People are quite sensitive about this. Chris Huhne has to resign | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
because there are criminal charges against him. As part of the | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
reshuffle that follows, if you bring back David Laws, who had to | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
resign because of malpractice with his expenses. Plain folk will think, | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
how does that work? It does not play well at all. Nick Clegg wanted | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
to bring back David Laws much sooner. It is interesting with the | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
introduction of a Davies. He is very loyal to the circle of Nick | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
Clegg. He is a curiously modern politician. He does not stick his | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
ideological colours to the mask. Many people are curious about where | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
he stands on many things. He moves in a circle with performers. It is | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
not sure where he will be. It was catastrophic you had the architect | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
thrown out for whatever reason. Bringing him back may be costly in | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
public relations but it is important strategically. If there | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
is one thing that will harm the Lib Dems, it is the feeling that | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
something bad has happened in the party. You are all referring to the | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
Orange Book. That was written by a number of senior Liberals. It was | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
called the Orange but because it was coloured orange and it was | :19:47. | :19:55. | |
liberals who tended to come from more market orientated than | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
collectivist wing. I have a book. It is by my bed, particularly when | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
I cannot get to sleep. I use it quite a lot. It is an interesting | :20:08. | :20:16. | |
book. The Treasury was beginning to take on climate change policies. Mr | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
Osborne referred to that at the Tory conference, in his speech. | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
Behind the scenes there have been even more. Mr Hume was a strong | :20:25. | :20:35. | |
:20:35. | :20:38. | ||
figure in his own right, he was across his brood -- breach. During | :20:38. | :20:46. | |
the baby referendum, there was the infamous moment when Chris Huhne | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
asked if he would resign. Areas that personal link. I think the | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
Treasury made it clear in its conference. They were under | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
pressure from the Daily Mail wing of the media. There were barriers | :21:02. | :21:12. | |
:21:12. | :21:12. | ||
to growth. Get rid of the factions. Will he stand up to that? He was | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
therefore a -- he was there from the start. It does not seem to be a | :21:17. | :21:24. | |
big issue. How will it go down if, as he may be entitled, he gets | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
�17,000 in redundancy for leaving the Cabinet? That is not a big | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
issue. Do you think he should take it? Politicians have been there a | :21:35. | :21:45. | |
keen to get Mr Heston not take his bonus. Chris Huhne, like David Laws, | :21:45. | :21:55. | |
:21:55. | :21:56. | ||
has a reputation problem. He has nine houses, or conveniently priced | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
under 2 million. David Laws, as an ex banker, they have our | :22:02. | :22:10. | |
expectation issues. If the Liberal -- bear our expectation issues. If | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
the Liberal Democrats were to use - - lose this along with other | :22:14. | :22:22. | |
policies and ideological points they had given in, political and | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
ecological, I do think there will be problems. Nick Clegg has to bear | :22:26. | :22:34. | |
that in mind. Maybe by bringing David Laws in, it will strengthen | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
him. They are super loyal. He is stronger now but for the reasons | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
you have just said. If the environment begins to slip off the | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
agenda, the Lib Dems will have trouble at the back of the ranch | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
quite even if the public is not so concerned about that. Should he | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
have resigned? What would he have been designing for? He is claiming | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
his innocence. We will find out in a few weeks' time what happens. | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
Should he have resigned the England captaincy? It is the same. He has | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
had to resign for something that was off-pitch. It has the strange | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
and agree. A good day for Ed Miliband to do a speech. Eastleigh | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
is the constituency that Chris Huhne represents on the south coast | :23:28. | :23:35. | |
of England. It looks on to the Isle of Wight, which touches the sea. He | :23:35. | :23:42. | |
has shied of just 20,000 votes. The Conservative have just over 21,000 | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
votes. There was a majority of 4000. The Labour vote was clearly squeeze | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
because Labour people voted for Chris Huhne, to keep out the Tories. | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
There would have to be a by- election if he is found guilty. | :23:56. | :24:04. | |
he is found guilty, the game is up for him. He is the first Cabinet | :24:04. | :24:11. | |
minister in more than 200 years to be charged with a criminal offence. | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
I read back somewhere. You need to be lucky in politics. Chris Huhne | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
only narrowly lost in the battle to lead the party. He might have been | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
Deputy Prime Minister but for a few votes in the leadership election. | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
It would be a global story today if it were the Deputy Prime Minister | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
facing criminal charges having to resign. Instead it is the Energy | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
Secretary. His political career is potentially in tatters. It has | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
certainly changed. Now we look back at the Korea. He has been a | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
journalist and an MEP. He is a millionaire and reported -- | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
reportedly the owner of eight properties. He is the second Lib | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
Dem to leave the Cabinet. He won Eastleigh in Hampshire for the Lib | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
Dems in the 2005 general election. He ran for the leadership of his | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
party, losing out to Menzies Campbell. A year after that he lost | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
out to Nick Clegg - just - in a further leadership contest, which | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
became fairly bad-tempered. Why had he issued a briefing document | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
called Calamity Clegg? I have not. This came from your office on | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
Friday to the Politics Show. I am sorry. I did not see it. Do not | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
know what goes out of your office? It is impossible to check | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
everything that goes out of the office. It is a large campaign | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
going right the way across the country. It has not had my | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
authorisation. He was authorised to negotiate the coalition agreement | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
with the Tories. The climate change Secretary was one of five Lib Dems | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
in the Cabinet. He often caused tension around the table, | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
especially during the referendum on changing the voting system when he | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
confronted the Prime Minister over the conduct of the no campaign. | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
have never come across an election campaign of this nature in all my | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
years involved in campaigning back to the early 1980s, where we have | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
had and -- a repeated untruth may buy the other side in this way. It | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
is a new low in British politics. At the same time his family life | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
became big news. His marriage to Bickley price collapsed, leading to | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
the claims about speeding. He said he was in a new relationship with | :26:34. | :26:40. | |
his press adviser, who was seen by his side on election night. What | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
was personal became deeply political. We're joined now from | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
Salford by the Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies who worked side by side with | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
Chris Huhne for many years in the European parliament. He was | :26:55. | :26:57. | |
returning from the European Parliament on the fateful night | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
when the speeding took place and the whole argument about who took | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
the points has led to today's events. Chris Huhne is very smart. | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
He is tough, he is a fighter. How will he be feeling this morning? | :27:12. | :27:19. | |
How would you feel? I would be devastated. Absolutely. I do not | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
think he can be anything other than that. It is not just one career | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
that has been hugely damaged, it is the key price as well. She is a | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
hugely talented woman was that they have both been brought down by this. | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
Was he popular among Lib Dems question that he had an ability to | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
rub people up the wrong way. -- among Lib Dems? The vast majority | :27:45. | :27:52. | |
of MEPs voted for Nick Clegg. That is not because they thought Chris | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
Huhne had less ability. He does have an ability to rub people up | :27:57. | :28:06. | |
the wrong way. He is very self- confident, very ambitious. He is | :28:06. | :28:14. | |
pugnacious. Less easy to have dinner with. If you look at the | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
coalition post, let's assume the stuff we are being fed by the | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
Government machine is accurate, it may not be but we are being fed it. | :28:24. | :28:30. | |
It is Ed Davey, Norman Lamb and David Laws coming in almost as a | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
political adviser to Nick Clegg. Does it change the coalition very | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
much? I do not think it changes the policy in any sense. I doubt | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
whether we will find anyone around the Cabinet table laying down his | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
fist right -- quite in the way that Chris Huhne has done. Many Liberal | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
Democrats like the idea we have a minister who is prepared to blow | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
his top and let off a jet of steam in the direction of the | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
Conservatives from time to time. One bigger thing which is not being | :29:03. | :29:09. | |
looked at the moment is his role on the European stage. He has just | :29:09. | :29:17. | |
come from the climate change conference in Durban. They managed | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
to bring in India and China into what we hope will prove the next | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
stage of aggressive climate change negotiations, leading to a binding | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
treaty. He will be sorely missed among climate change people. Chris | :29:34. | :29:42. | |
Huhne is not personally popular among Lib Dem activists... No, no, | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
he almost beat Nick Clegg so you cannot say that. A bit like going | :29:47. | :29:54. | |
back to the old days, he is the Pardoe and Nick Clegg is the David | :29:54. | :30:02. | |
Steel. My emphasis was about personal popularity. He stood for | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
policies that were popular with Lib Dem at this and they will regret | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
his departure. I do not think you could put a paper between Nick | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
Clegg and Chris Huhne when it comes to policy. It is style. I am sure | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
you know that, behind the scenes, Nick Clegg is doing an incredible | :30:21. | :30:28. | |
job in dealing with the whole work of government, trying to make sure | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
that Liberal Democrats can live with what is coming out of a | :30:30. | :30:40. | |
:30:40. | :30:40. | ||
coalition where we are outnumbered four to one. It is a difference in | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
style. You seek Nick Clegg on the green benches trying to keep his | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
face expressionless when the Prime Minister is saying this or that. | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
Chris Huhne has a harder job at doing that. Liberal Democrat | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
activist do not feel cut well being in coalition with the Conservatives. | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
That is a fact of life. You say you cannot put a cigarette paper | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
between the two on policy. You're not trying to tell us we're bosom | :31:07. | :31:17. | |
No, and that rivalry became better during the leadership contest. It | :31:17. | :31:23. | |
goes back further than that. Chris is ambitious and self-confident and | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
pushy, and that is what you wanted a minister, I do not deny that by | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
second, but remember that Chris, after he had only been in | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
Parliament for a year or two, stood against Ming Campbell to be leader. | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
Nick Clegg could have done so, too, but he thought they had an | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
arrangement not to do it. You know, there is no question that Chris is | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
capable of running Nick Clegg up the wrong way, and yet I suspect | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
that not for a second would Nick have wanted this to happen. He | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
wanted Chris Huhne alongside him, because he added to the team. | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
to see Salford so resplendent behind you there! What you make of | :32:03. | :32:10. | |
that? Suspect, in a scheme of things, obviously a Lib Dem leader | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
does not want resignations from his ranks, but as Lembit Opik pointed | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
out, it is good for Nick Clegg in the long run. It strengthens his | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
and Borders. There is no challenger to his leadership now. -- his | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
supporters. Even outside of the Cabinet, Tim Farron is not a | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
serious challenger. If he is found innocent, returns to the | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
backbenches and become a lightning rod for the Social Liberals, it | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
could be a problem. At the moment, Clegg is secured and the | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
relationship in cabinet his mother. Clegg himself is now trying to | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
differentiate more than the Conservatives, and it would have | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
helped him to have more differentiate us alongside him, | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
which Chris Huhne would have been. We will return to that story later | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
in the programme, particularly if we get the Clegg cabinet reshuffle, | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
as we are calling it, but Stephen Hester turned down his bonus, Fred | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
Goodwin lost his knighthood, but for Ed Miliband this is only the | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
start. He wants to see wholesale reform of the banking system. He | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
calls it responsible capitalism. And that was is the money spoke to | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
an audience in the City of London this morning. -- his theme when he | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
spoke. In my view, we need to learn the most important lesson of this | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
week, which is that the banking sector cannot be divorced from the | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
rest of the economy and the rest of society. As a country, we succeed | :33:37. | :33:45. | |
or fail together. It is not about the politics of envy. It is about a | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
culture of responsibility. It is why we need what I call one-nation | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
banking in this country. So this is a call for banking to recognise | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
that continuing on its current path will lead to further isolation from | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
society, greater public anger and more years in which banking is a | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
subject of lurid newspaper headlines. This is a call on | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
banking to recognise that it needs to find a different path. To | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
recognise, above all, it is not isolated from the economy or | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
society, to recognise that we succeed or fail to get up. We are | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
joined now by Labour's shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Umunna, | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
who joins me from Berlin with the Brandenburg gate behind him, it | :34:33. | :34:40. | |
looks almost as nice as Salford! Your leader says... Hi, Andrew, it | :34:40. | :34:47. | |
is very cold here, I can tell you! Mr Miliband says banks cannot be | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
isolated, segregated economically, geographically and socially. Isn't | :34:50. | :34:56. | |
that what happened under the Blair- Browne years? Well, look, we have | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
had issues grow with our financial services sector of the last three | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
decades, but the question is how you reform and change it. The point | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
that Ed was making is that we depend on each other in the sense | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
of, of course, the financial services sector benefits from an | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
implicit tax they guarantee, it relies on society to provide it | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
with the talent and skills to run our big banks, but also we rely on | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
it not just to provide a social utility function, which is | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
important to us as individuals, somewhere we can store harmonies, | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
but also our small and medium-sized businesses are massively reliant on | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
financial services for funding. That is one of the reasons I am | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
here in Germany, to find out how the banking sector here, among | :35:39. | :35:45. | |
other things, supports their small and medium-sized businesses here, | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
and I think there's quite a lot we can learn, in particular from the | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
savings banksia, which have a much better, if you like, relationship | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
with their businesses. The people here, their business and banking | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
structure is very low court in its native. The people running local | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
banks get to know the businesses. They are any good position to | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
assess risk and provide support. We have not seen that so much in the | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
UK. This is part of the overall transformation that we need to see | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
so that the sector does what we need to do but also so that we can | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
re-establish trust in it, because that is very important. You are | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
treading a well-trodden path. Labour politicians have been going | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
to Germany to study that since Hugh Gaitskell, and you were not even a | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
glint in your father's eye when he was around! Are you really saying | :36:37. | :36:39. | |
there is any possibility that a Labour government is going to | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
promise to bring in the German system of supervisory boards and | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
floorboards and so on? A total revolution in corporate board | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
structure? It may be right or wrong, but is there any possibility what | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
promised to do that? Well, we have already said... Well, what we need | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
to do is look at the international examples of good practice that have | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
worked and then work out, figure out how to transpose that where | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
appropriate to a UK context. We have not only be looking at Germany. | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
I was in the United States, looking at the Small Business | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
Administration in particular, the small business investment company | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
scheme, which gets money going to businesses over there. We have also | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
been to Singapore, too. If you look at the current debate on executive | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
pay and remuneration, one of the things that they do here which we | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
have suggested and can be quite easily implemented in the UK is to | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
have an employee on the remuneration committees of boards | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
which set pay. John Lewis have that kind of model in their business. I | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
would not say that it is a case that we can just take things in | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
Germany or the US and literally implant it exactly the same in the | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
same form in the UK, but we can take the principles, we can look at | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
how they do things and how we could transpose those across to a UK | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
setting, which is more appropriate to us. But what is clear that after | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
the crash, the status quo is not good enough for the country and our | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
businesses. We have not got too much time, and I want to move on. | :38:13. | :38:23. | |
Mr Miliband said that MPs, he will ask MPs to end on the bonus culture, | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
and it will not be legislation, it will not be binding. In other words, | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
it is just grandstanding. I do nothing that is fair at all, | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
because look, there has obviously been a very big public debate that | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
has occurred over the last couple of weeks, and really Parliament has | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
not had a chance on behalf of the people... The reason that | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
politicians have been talking about excessive pay and rewards for | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
failure is because, Andrew, people raise it with us all the time in | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
the constituencies. This is a chance for us to give life to the | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
debate that is happening outside Parliament so that it is inside | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
Parliament and Parliament can express a view. That is part of our | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
constitutional function. Will you call a debate for Bob Diamond's | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
bonus at Barclays? No, because this is not about a fatwa against... It | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
is not an aim to go against a particular individuals. He went | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
against Mr Hester, why not Bob Diamond? His bonus will be 10 times | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
bigger! Yes, and of course this is one of the reasons that the vote | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
will be about the reintroduction of a bank bonus tax, which will impact | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
on people like Mr Diamond and many others who are earning very large | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
sums of money in the financial services sector at the same time as | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
performances falling. What about... As I said... Andrew, as I said the | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
purpose... There is going to be a RBS bonus pool of �500 million. | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
That is about to be paid out, and it does not include Stephen Hester. | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
Mr Hester is not the best-paid person at RBS, there are several | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
people paid much more than him. What is Labour going to do about | :40:02. | :40:09. | |
that? When you call a vote in a house on that? Well, the vote is on | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
the reintroduction of the bank bonus tax, at the bank bonus tax | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
applies to the bonus pools in the different banks, so that would | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
impact on all the people that you have just spoken about. OK, but I | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
see that is not a vote. Thank you for joining us from Berlin. Well, | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
it is a vote, as I said. Your reaction to Mr Wood's resignation. | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
Well, of course, it is regrettable for him, but it is very important | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
that the course of justice is allowed to follow this course, and | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
I do not think it would be proper for me to comment on the | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
particulars of the case now that a full criminal legal proceeding is | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
in process. What is important is that justice is done and seen to be | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
done, and that well before the courts to decide in terms of they | :40:55. | :41:02. | |
will make findings of fact and make a decision and judgment upon that. | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
D-pawn in Berlin, keep your coat on when you get back here, because I'm | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
not sure you will notice much of a difference! We have got Eastern | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
European temperatures here at the moment. Thank you for joining us. | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
While we were speaking to the Chateau Business Secretary, we | :41:16. | :41:23. | |
learnt that Ed Davey IS the new Energy Secretary. We caught for a | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
second that Mr Clegg was going to make an announcement that. It is | :41:26. | :41:32. | |
confirmed, yes, the DPM coming out. This is his Cabinet reshuffle, and | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
it is going to be limited to Lib Dems. The Prime Minister deciding | :41:35. | :41:42. | |
not to have a wider one. understand and respect why Chris | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
Huhne has stood down from his position in government to clear his | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
name. Chris Huhne is a good friend and a close colleague writing has | :41:49. | :41:56. | |
done an outstanding job as a Secretary of State for the | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
Environment, for energy and climate change. He has really been a | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
pioneer in ground-breaking policies which I believe will stand the test | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
of time, and if he clears his name, as he wishes to, I have made it | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
clear to him that I would like to see him back in government in a key | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
position. I am pleased that Ed Davey has agreed to take up the | :42:16. | :42:23. | |
post as the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Ed | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
As a lifelong commitment to the environment, to green issues. He | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
has shown as a minister a formidable grasp of the details of | :42:30. | :42:36. | |
government policy, and I think he is the right man for the job, to | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
take up from where Chris has left off, to provide sustainable | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
solutions to the long-term energy needs of this country. And I will | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
be meeting Ed shortly so that he can make an early start in that | :42:48. | :42:58. | |
:42:58. | :42:59. | ||
very important work. Thanks very OK, a short statement there. That | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
looks like Admiralty House, was it not? It was not Downing Street that | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
he was in. I think that is where it was, just off Whitehall. He is | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
being followed in by some schoolchildren, looking for a job! | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
So the Ed Davey announcement, we would get the others very shortly, | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
but we can confirm that Ed Davey is the new Energy Secretary. I want to | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
come back to Chuka Umunna in a minute, but let's just stick with | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
this story as it develops. It is interesting that Nick Clegg, whose | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
back really was against the wall as his coalition began to find its | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
feet, and he was deeply unpopular, even unpopular in Sheffield, he has | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
emerged from this and other developments in a pretty | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
unassailable position. It is in a very strong personal position. | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
Whether Lib Dems strategy at the next election is helped by losing | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
Huhne is a different question, but doing things like that helps. | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
Coming out and announcing things, very grand, very strong, it is a | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
new age of coalition politics, how often you see a DPM career at a | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
reshuffle which is the prerogative of the Prime Minister under our | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
system? It is new for us! It is interesting that he said he would | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
like to see him come back to a key position. David Cameron, in his | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
letter, hold that out in the same way that he did to David Laws. | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
the way it works, if it turns out he is not guilty, he keeps his seat, | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
he goes on to the backbenchers, but he cannot be brought back under the | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
system unless you make room for him, because all the positions will be | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
taken. And we would have another reshuffle, which is why David Laws | :44:41. | :44:47. | |
has had to wait of his time. Get in line behind David Laws! Just to | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
confirm that the Queen has been pleased to approve the following | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
ministerial appointments, we are being told, Ed Davey is to become | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, taking | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
over from Chris Huhne. Norman Lamb, as was widely leaked, is to become | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
a parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
business, taking over the Ed Davey position. But Jenny Willott is to | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
become an assistant government whip, I am not sure of the significance | :45:13. | :45:19. | |
of that. But no word of David Laws taking the Norman Lamb... And not | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
sure if Jenny Willott is taking the Norman Lamb position or the David | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
Laws is still under way. The Queen would not sign off on a PPS | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
position for Nick Clegg. We already knew all of this. You think this of | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
elite from Buckingham Palace? I think you might be right! The what | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
is interesting, of course, on a side note, still no diversity in | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
the Cabinet. We have got another male Cabinet minister because the | :45:46. | :45:51. | |
Lib Dems do not have many women to offer, let alone a non-white faces. | :45:51. | :46:01. | |
:46:01. | :46:02. | ||
The Lib Dem contingent is still The more they talk about diversity, | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
the less diverse they seem to be. Labour clearly thinks it is on to a | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
winner with the bonus business. I get the impression they are not | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
entirely sure where to go from here. Ed Miliband has made all the | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
running. He'd told to about moral capitalism in his conference speech | :46:22. | :46:30. | |
was up he had the prejudice discussions in his speech at | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
conference. He is not getting any credit. It is partly because | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
somehow Labour has not come up with a policy that really cuts through - | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
an idea that exemplified this better than either of the other | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
parties. The most memorable thing in all of this has been stripping | :46:48. | :46:57. | |
Fred the Shed of his knighthood. It cuts through. People notice. It is | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
symbolic. The bonus tax is very important. Labour brought in as a | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
temporary one-year tax. It was the most popular thing Gordon Brown | :47:06. | :47:12. | |
ever did. This government got rid of it. Bonuses are not going of way | :47:12. | :47:19. | |
in this Parliament. You mentioned RBS. He will get a bonus of �6 | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
million was that he is in the investment banking division at RBS. | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
The ailing investment banking division! If Chuka Umunna is | :47:28. | :47:36. | |
willing to go on about bankers, that is a big issue. People are | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
very angry about the crisis. how which you rate the Labour | :47:41. | :47:48. | |
performance on this to date? Perhaps the timing of Ed Miliband | :47:48. | :47:56. | |
and his speech is a problem. They have stopped and started the stock | :47:56. | :48:02. | |
when Ilott -- when Ed Miliband picks on an issue they like, he | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
seems to lose momentum and David Cameron squads on that ground. | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
Banking is not the territory that David Cameron wants to be on. He is | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
not going to support employees on remuneration committees. That is | :48:16. | :48:23. | |
why Labour should keep going on about it. It is a live issue. Pick | :48:23. | :48:31. | |
one or two issues. Sticks to that. You will not get hurt -- heard on | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
anything else. We are in a breaking news situation. Vince Cable has | :48:36. | :48:44. | |
something to say on the events this morning. I am very sad. He is very | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
good and very effective as a colleague in government. I'm sure | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
he will clear his name and we would like to see him back. Do you think | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
he will come back? It is not for me to comment on legal processes. He | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
has been a good colleague and achieved a great deal. He has been | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
an effective member of the coalition. What effect has this had | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
on the party and the coalition? have strength in depth. We have | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
other colleagues who will step up to the plate. It is a tragedy for | :49:18. | :49:27. | |
him. Will feel for him and wish him luck. What has can he say? | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
thing the Liberal Democrats do not have his strength in depth. That is | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
shown in the reshuffles at the moment with the ministers they have | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
in government. It was either going to be a Davey or Jeremy Brown. We | :49:40. | :49:50. | |
:49:50. | :49:54. | ||
He still thought he had Enrique to be leader of the Lib Dems. Chris | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
Huhne has been sidelined for the foreseeable future. It is quite | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
good for Vince Cable, is it not? A mite too Machiavellian? I think it | :50:04. | :50:10. | |
is better for the younger generation. -- am I to | :50:10. | :50:18. | |
Machiavellian? It is great for David. He is the younger generation. | :50:18. | :50:25. | |
If Nick Clegg were to fall under a bus tomorrow, he would be in prime | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
position to as a young, dynamic Cabinet minister doing climate | :50:30. | :50:36. | |
change. It did not hand -- hamper Ed Miliband doing that portfolio. | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
The central issue there still faces this country is the economy. Almost | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
everything has been tried by his coalition. We have had the lowest | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
interest rate on record. Quantitative easing and the | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
devaluation of the pound. We are running a budget deficit. We're | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
heading for 1.5 trillion pounds in debt and there is still no growth. | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
In programmes like this, we talk about the knighthood of Fred the | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
Shed. This is the problem for Ed Miliband that he has not got | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
credibility on the economy. He has not moved on on the deficit. All | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
this talk of bonuses and responsible capitalism, unless he | :51:23. | :51:33. | |
can get back creditability on that, he will not win. I think, come 2015, | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
he will be in a very good position to do a Ronald Reagan saying, do | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
you feel better off? What have this block given you? For the Lib Dems, | :51:43. | :51:52. | |
people have gone on for ages and nothing has changed. I met Ronald | :51:53. | :52:02. | |
:52:03. | :52:03. | ||
Reagan. I do not seek Ed Miliband as being like Ronald Reagan. | :52:03. | :52:13. | |
:52:13. | :52:16. | ||
invaded Grenada. That was a good recollection. It has been a busy | :52:16. | :52:22. | |
week in politics. Time to look back at the other big stories of the | :52:22. | :52:30. | |
last seven days. The week started badly for Stephen Hester, the chief | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
executive of RBS was almost �1 million poorer after bowing to | :52:33. | :52:39. | |
pressure and giving up his bonus. He was faring better than his | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
predecessor, who is now plain old Fred Goodwin, after his knighthood | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
were shredded after his role in the collapse of RBS. On Tuesday, | :52:49. | :52:53. | |
Theresa May also lost something on Downing Street. Last year David | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
Cameron threatened to stop other European countries from using EU | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
institutions like its court to force the treaty to be vetoed. On | :53:02. | :53:05. | |
Monday he appeared to back down, prompting some to ask what the | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
point of the veto was in the first place. With this Prime Minister, | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
veto is not for life, it is just for Christmas. Meanwhile, it was | :53:16. | :53:22. | |
back to school for Michael Gove. He was their well-behaved in the | :53:22. | :53:32. | |
:53:32. | :53:33. | ||
Commons Education Select Committee. Will you excuse me for a second? | :53:33. | :53:40. | |
There we go. A middling Cabinet reshuffle and not a word from the | :53:40. | :53:48. | |
Prime Minister. Coalition politics is very different from what went | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
before. It enabled him to do other things, having a Deputy Prime | :53:54. | :54:00. | |
Minister. If he wants to watch what happens in coalition politics, it | :54:00. | :54:09. | |
is Borgen. That is about running a coalition. Let's get back to the | :54:09. | :54:17. | |
politics of it. It has been a dreadful time for Ed Miliband. He | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
is regarded by his own side as having terrible performances in the | :54:21. | :54:31. | |
:54:31. | :54:32. | ||
Commons was up his brother will not shut up. He keeps writing articles. | :54:32. | :54:38. | |
Are we seeing a turning point? He has not had won a good week, he has | :54:38. | :54:46. | |
two of bid weeks. -- one. He seems to be saying the right things but | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
the message is not getting through. Is a person who can get through to | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
the voters? That is called the big test. Will people seriously | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
consider him on the steps of Number 10? It is hard to do anything about | :55:01. | :55:09. | |
that. Is it a danger that he is in a position where people were | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
presented with a set of policies and they rather like the policies | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
and then they were told, they were Conservative policies, and they | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
were not so sure. That is a problem. It is the case when it is put to | :55:23. | :55:30. | |
people. Labour were in office for 13 years. They left to and were | :55:30. | :55:36. | |
unpopular. That is hard to shake off in 21 months. The leader is | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
trying to bring the party back to government in one term. No party | :55:40. | :55:47. | |
leader has ever done that. It is a big challenge. Do people see him on | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
the steps of Downing Street? Only time will tell. It is easier for | :55:52. | :56:01. | |
him than William Hague and Michael Howard. He has a lot less MPs. He | :56:01. | :56:09. | |
is up against the most elect jury of -- electorally unsuccessful | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
Prime Minister. The attention of the media is in the dynamics of the | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
coalition. We will see how that holds up we are back into double- | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
dip recession. I suspect again, the economic message will be less easy | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
for the coalition to blame Labour and said his all the fault of the | :56:28. | :56:34. | |
Labour Party, as we get further away from 2010. It was because Nick | :56:34. | :56:39. | |
Clegg was seen to veto in Europe. I tried to get Michael Portillo last | :56:39. | :56:44. | |
night to tell me what this veto a man to two. I'm still waiting to | :56:44. | :56:54. | |
:56:54. | :56:54. | ||
hear. That made do some damage. -- amounted to. It may be wishful | :56:54. | :57:00. | |
thinking on your part, Army at a turning point? Is the worst over | :57:00. | :57:07. | |
Port Edgar Miliband? -- are we at a turning point? I think they have | :57:07. | :57:14. | |
their ups and downs. If the election is in May, 2015, will Ed | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
Miliband have had a long enough period of quiet? We talked about | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
the intervention of David Miliband in the New Statesman yesterday. | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
That is an important part of British politics and leadership. | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
Nick Clegg is feeling more comfortable with his position, | :57:30. | :57:37. | |
which we think he is, and if Ed Davey is less abrasive than Chris | :57:37. | :57:44. | |
Huhne, what has happened - personal tragedy for Chris Huhne - may be | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
quite good... It may smooths the dynamics of the coalition. If it is | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
hard to see the coalition breaking up before 2015. I think it will | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
last the course. It is not in the interests of either party to end it | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
when the economic uncertainty is so great at the moment. How it clear | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
they would want the economy to be improving. We will leave it there | :58:09. | :58:15. | |
on a Daily Politics on the morning where Chris Huhne has resigned as | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
energy secretary after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
he was to be charged over the speeding points. The Crown | :58:25. | :58:30. | |
Prosecution Service that concluding after its investigation it would be | :58:30. | :58:35. | |
their case against him that he did get his wife to take his speeding | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
points and thereby not lose his licence. Chris Huhne will fight | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
that all away. When the trial starts, you will hear it first on | :58:43. | :58:51. |