Browse content similar to 05/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
A new dawn for a modern fighting force, or a cut too far? The | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
Defence Secretary outlines plans to cut the army by a fifth, to 82,000 | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
troops, by 2020, and increase the number of reservists. | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
MPs debate the shape and scope of a new inquiry into banking. Ed | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
Miliband is still pushing for a judge to run the show, but looks | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
likely to lose the Commons vote. So, will Labour play ball, and join a | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
parliamentary inquiry instead? Remember the prawn cocktail | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
offensive? We'll debate which party's best for business, with a | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
big cheese in the world of PR, and the head honcho of Pimlico Plumbers. | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
And how to solve the eurozone crisis. We'll be joined by Next | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
chief executive, Lord Wolfson. He's just awarded a big prize for the | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
:01:40. | :01:42. | ||
best answer. No, it's not a Daily All that in the next half hour. And | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
with us for the whole programme today is the businessman and PR man | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
Roland Rudd, who also chairs Business for New Europe, a pro- | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
Europe lobbying group. Welcome to the Daily Politics. | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
So, Bob Diamond's evidence to the Treasury Select Committee yesterday | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
has been described by some MPs on the committee as "implausible", and | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
has left many questions unanswered about the Barclays rate fixing | :02:00. | :02:10. | |
:02:10. | :02:10. | ||
scandal. Did he really not know about it until this month? Today, | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Westminster's attention shifts to what form an inquiry into all this | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
should take. The government wants a parliamentary committee to report | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
by Christmas, Labour is arguing for a judge-led inquiry that would have | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
a wider remit. The decision will be voted on in the Commons this | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
afternoon. Let's get the latest from our political correspondent, | :02:30. | :02:40. | |
:02:40. | :02:43. | ||
Ross Hawkins. What his neighbours think? There will move the vote, I | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
think. What then happens, will they fall in behind the government or | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
will there resist? Ruabon, you would have to find that out when it | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
happens. There are plenty people around here wondering whether they | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
went push it to recruit. Enabler, this is bizarre. You would have | :03:04. | :03:14. | |
:03:14. | :03:17. | ||
thought competing MPs would be discussing how to beat the bankers. | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
At the heart of his politically is that fantastic on England battle | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
between the trots lower at the Shadow Chancellor. Government | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
people are saying, Ed Balls may have been Children's Minister but | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
he was running a shadow treasury operation and has questions to | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
answer. Labour is saying, if you listen to what Bob Diamond said, he | :03:38. | :03:46. | |
wasn't talking about ministers try to fiddle LIBOR, beacons and was | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
that it looked weak, and the worry was that somebody would try to | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
privatise it. MPs are suggesting maybe George Osborne should have | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
played a long again. One has said he endures and played his hand. And | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
what we heard from Bob Diamond didn't so that's it what we saw in | :04:07. | :04:15. | |
the memo from Barclays. You'd do no city in lot, with big | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
business. Is there apprehension that they will be constantly | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
inquired into. There, we have to stand back from what happened, | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
which of course was appalling and wrong, and Bob Diamond made that | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
very clear. 2 million people working the financial-services in | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
the UK. Last year, but bankers made up �60 billion of and, of the NHS | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
budget. If we constantly attacked the financial have since, | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
politicians from all political parties, we have to be careful. It | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
will damage London. There's something gone wrong. If you | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
invested �1 in Barclays into the air and fire, as a shareholder, | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
what would it be worth today? would be worth significantly less. | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
29p. You would have lost some did cent of your investment. Stints | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
different and far when Bob Diamond joined the board, how much as the | :05:23. | :05:33. | |
:05:33. | :05:42. | ||
trout that? 1 harder than -- how much has he trousered? Pay has gone | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
wrong, not just in the banks. It is an issue, investors have woken up | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
to it and are much tougher. I agree. It is slightly unfair to stay Bob | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
Diamond has presided over this collapse in bunny. He ensured | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
Barclays was not bail that by the government. You have to give him | :06:03. | :06:13. | |
:06:13. | :06:14. | ||
some credit. Now it's time for our quiz. Last | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
year, the chief executive of Next, Simon Wolfson, offered a quarter of | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
a million pounds prize in a competition to find the best | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
solution for dealing with a collapse of the eurozone. The | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
question for today is this: Who won? Was it: a) George Osborne. B) | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. C) Roger Bootle from Capital | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
Economics. Or d) an 11-year-old Dutch schoolboy. At the end of the | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
show Simon Wolfson himself will give us the correct answer. | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
In about 30 minutes, the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
announce the details of his review of the size and scope of the | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
British Army. At the time of the Strategic Defence Review, the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
government said they wanted to make the Army smaller. This report will | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
tell us what the new Army will look like. So what can we expect to | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
hear? In 2010, the Army's strength was | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
about 102,000 troops. The government wants to get that number | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
down to 82,000 by 2020. No regiments will be axed entirely, as | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
this was deemed too politically risky. But battalions are expected | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
to go. Out of 36 infantry battalions, five are expected to be | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
disbanded. Four armoured units will be merged into two. And support | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
elements, such as the Signals and Engineers will be reduced by around | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
30%. The government has insisted on regional balance, so some full- | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
strength English units with a strong recruiting record will go, | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
but others in Scotland that have struggled with recruitment, will | :07:38. | :07:47. | |
:07:48. | :07:50. | ||
survive. To compensate, the Army will become more reliant on the | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
Territorial Army, with the number of deployable reservists expected | :07:52. | :08:02. | |
:08:02. | :08:05. | ||
to double to 30,000. To find out what this will all mean, we're | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
joined now by the former Chief of the General Staff Lord Dannatt. And | :08:09. | :08:19. | |
by the Shadow Armed Forces Minister, the Labour MP Kevan Jones. | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
It seems there's from politics in his, a Scottish regiment where the | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
cuts will not fall as badly. BBC Scotland is reporting they have | :08:30. | :08:38. | |
been saved. The new Chief of General Staff has had a difficult | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
task. The Army was one event to present years ago, but has now got | :08:45. | :08:53. | |
to come the to 82,000, a huge management of. A lot of factors | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
have had to come into play. If Scotland than they have been said, | :08:58. | :09:06. | |
that is the relatively narrow point of view. Five regular but Hudson -- | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
battalions there, go and demanded four. But this one will be reduced | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
to make company. That means that the name has been stayed. But it is | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
unfair to say and Scotland is playing it up, that Scotland has | :09:22. | :09:32. | |
:09:32. | :09:33. | ||
been treated lightly. It is a reasonable proportion. At the time | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
we are doing these cuts to the regular army, we're meant to be put | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
in more money into the was there, but there isn't just an issue of | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
quantity, this will require a step change in the quality of the | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
reservists. Most certainly, and there's a lot of risk. There's one | :09:53. | :10:00. | |
thing to take it will be reduced to a 2000, the Army. And anything we | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
would have 30,000 reservists. That will only happen if sufficient | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
resources are made available, training days, opportunities, and | :10:10. | :10:20. | |
overseas expires this. Prisoners as alarming people to free up time. | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
mobilise reservists, it is a year. The Americans have already gone | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
done this road, American is of better-trained, a lot more in Iraq | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
and the piston. The Americans have the national guard, part of the | :10:35. | :10:44. | |
fabric of the nation. And they have risen. There are National Hunt | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
trainer -- in their national culture, it is considered a | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
patriotic duty to release your employees. It is amiss, the | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
government will have to manage that this very carefully. If | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
circumstances in future on not as benign and, they may have to | :11:07. | :11:17. | |
:11:17. | :11:25. | ||
Rover's decisions. -- reverse. I think everybody is agreed no | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
matter who was in power, there would be cut. But, where you stand | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
on what the government intends to do with the Army? The problem we | :11:34. | :11:43. | |
have got here, we have the green paper of, this has been a Treasury | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
layered with you. The review said the Army should be reduced, we | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
would be able to deploy one large and too much grows more operations | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
but it has been cut further. The question is whether there's | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
assumptions can still be met. The reason they are being done so | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
quickly in his eighties the 8% cuts in the defence budget. We were | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
planning to have the defence review and then make changes over appeared | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
of five years. Why don't think in the current economic and its if you | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
run power you wouldn't be having it Treasury-led review. We produced in | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
green paper. It was part of the process, we were committed to the | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
defence review. Are was part of looking for savings in the | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
department. They would have been done over a period of time. The | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
problem here, there's a huge risk in terms of the business. There is | :12:46. | :12:55. | |
an important issue. Been 1998 defence review was a good review, | :12:55. | :13:02. | |
we were relatively in balance and actually, and there was time to | :13:02. | :13:11. | |
look at these issues. The 2010 review was a gates it, in this age | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
of austerity, there wasn't the money. The �38 billion black hole | :13:19. | :13:26. | |
was inherited, another 10% cut which had to be found. | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
government can't explain it, the problem is the government has | :13:29. | :13:39. | |
:13:39. | :13:40. | ||
hidden behind that. I am sorry, this is nonsense. Every procurement | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
programme you funded... Wait a minute. On one answer the question, | :13:44. | :13:50. | |
they have run Beckett been in Parliament, and not justified it. | :13:50. | :13:57. | |
They need to do that. A simple question, on using every | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
procurement programme Labour had signed off before it lost was | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
funded? It was a have a 10 years. The report said the only way you | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
would get near a dyche billion pounds if you added a flat budget. | :14:13. | :14:20. | |
Was in the programme funded? Thing ever of in victims of... Look at | :14:20. | :14:30. | |
:14:30. | :14:31. | ||
the National Audit Office report. One thing this government said was | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
it would have a defence review once in every parliament. The next | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
preliminary process has begun. We really do need to get a national | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
debate going about what the character and future of complex... | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
We did not really have that debate. When you have identified the issues, | :14:52. | :15:01. | |
:15:02. | :15:02. | ||
you can properly apply resources. have endured a terribly tough time. | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
They have had the slicing of their budget in previous years. We need | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
to have a political consensus saying we cannot shrink the size of | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
the Army anymore. All this talk about wars after Libya are all | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
going to be fought from the air, we do not need boots on the ground, is | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
absolutely wrong. We will have to leave it there. We have not had the | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
statement of the Defence Secretary yet. That will be happening in | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
about half an hour. Which political party do businesses most trust to | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
deliver for them? Once upon a time, it was easy. The Conservatives were | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
the bosses' party. Today, as Giles has been finding out, the world is | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
much more complicated. Politicians in this 21st Century world wide web | :15:51. | :16:00. | |
of business like meeting the guys. And girls. It is no longer a matter | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
of pandering to pinstripes but without business believing. You | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
have the answers to creating a world that lets them flourish. You | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
won't win. In the past, the politics was simple. Labour backed | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
workers and unions, Tories backed business and bosses. It was just | :16:15. | :16:23. | |
the way things were. Business principles up in the DNA of the | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
Conservative Party. It stands for free enterprise, individual | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
incentives, rewards and business confidence. To Mrs Thatcher's | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Conservatives in the 1980s. Privatise, deregulate and light the | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
blue touch paper of rocketing business growth was the answer to a | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
decade of economic stagnation. For Tony Blair, New Labour's prawn | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
cocktail offensive was winning the confidence of business, central to | :16:45. | :16:55. | |
making them electable, and staying electable. For 30 years, but | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
coherent business message has been lowered the top rate of tax, lower | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
corporation tax, free up labour markets, light the blue touch paper | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
and all will be well. The Conservative Party were better at | :17:09. | :17:18. | |
that narrative. In 2012, that story is not right and it does not work. | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
Both parties are wrestling for a new narrative. Labour's attempt at | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
that message is to define the ethical goal of entrepreneurism. | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
Let me tell you what the 21st century choice is. I look on the | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
side of the wealth creators of the asset strippers? -- are you on the | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
side? Producers trained, invest, invent and sell - things Britain | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
does brilliantly but not enough. They are interested in the fast | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
buck. The Conservatives say their entire game plan for the future is | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
neither predator nor producer but predicated on the private sector. | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
You only have to listen to the rhetoric of this government, to | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
what we're trying to say about how we will lead to this recovery. It | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
is all about private sector led to a recovery. It is about new | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
businesses, enterprise. And to demonstrate the world has changed, | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
it is worth reminding ourselves today's Business Secretary is a | :18:16. | :18:26. | |
:18:26. | :18:35. | ||
Liberal Democrat. Giles Dilnot reporting. And we've been joined by | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
Charlie Mullins, managing director of Pimlico Plumbers. Who do you | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
trust more to look after the interests of your business? I trust | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
the Tories Roberttown not sure who we can trust these days. Certainly | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
the Tories. -- but I am not sure. Maybe 20 years ago you would have | :18:55. | :19:03. | |
been more enthusiastic. Life is tough but there is such a lot going | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
on at the moment there is a lot of uncertainty. For me, I am confident | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
with the Tories. Mrs Thatcher used to understand small business. Her | :19:14. | :19:22. | |
father used to earn at the grocer's shop. We started in 1979, the same | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
time that Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. She gave me and | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
lots of other people inspiration to hope we could succeed in business. | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
Who would have been an inspiration in this Cabinet David Cameron, | :19:36. | :19:44. | |
George Osborne. I'm -- I think we are drinking from the same teapot. | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
The situation when Labour was there, we had no contact at all. It was | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
not acknowledging us. I have had Theresa May, Boris Johnson, George | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
Osborne. I had been to see David Cameron at Number 10. They are | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
prepared to listen to us. Labour went out of its way to court | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
the vote of business. They wanted it to be part of the New Labour | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
project. We cannot yet say that of Mr Ed Miliband -- Ed Miliband, can | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
we? I think he agrees with the premise of Tony Blair. That is that | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
Labour need some business support to get elected. Tony Blair did it | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
incredibly well in his three elections. He always had business | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
people endorsing him. The last Labour administration, it was | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
conspicuous by their absence. Everyone thought Peter Mandelson | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
did a great job as Business Secretary but it did not translate | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
into endorsements. That is the problem. You helped open doors in | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
the 1990s before and after power. You help to bring about this affair | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
between New Labour and business. Who is doing that now? Actually, I | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
think Chuka Umunna is very good and is doing it. What the Government | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
needs to do is, there is no obvious person who it is the cheerleader | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
for business from the coalition. Business people always said the two | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
great people in that department where Peter Mandelson and Michael | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
Heseltine. Both believed in business and went out of their way. | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
There is no such person today. It is lacking and we need one. What | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
Labour did before and what they are doing now, they spend a lot of time | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
schmoozing the boardrooms of the city and the FT-SE 100 companies. | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
They do not spend so much time dealing with companies like this. | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
That may be true. It is a missed opportunity. We have a situation | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
where I believe the Tories are working with small businesses. They | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
have lowered the business tax rates and of cutting the red tape. They | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
are helping get apprentices up and running again. Have you seen an | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
improvement in the quality and number of apprentices question but | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
you must depend on that. I worked with The Prince's Trust, getting | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
youngsters into work. I believe The Apprentice scheme is working. | :22:25. | :22:34. | |
you seen a cut in red tape? Have you seen any red tape really? | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
believe they will cut some of the red tape for employing people. | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
have not yet? I believe their wealth. With Labour, they made | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
themselves busy in business and probably too busy - leaving it to | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
Gordon Brown but the bankers. them why Labour is the party of | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
business. A self-made man, runs a great business, employers lots of | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
people. 200 apprentices, proper skills. If Labour wants to come | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
back to power, he has to win over Pimlico Plumbers. He is doing a | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
good job -- Chuka Umunna is doing a good job in talking to business | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
leaders. You have got your work cut out! Have you hired anybody extra | :23:27. | :23:33. | |
since the top tax rate was cut? course we have. The other man has | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
to come back and pay me my bet. You know, been used since we had before. | :23:39. | :23:47. | |
I will give you a court if I have a dripping tap! -- a call. Now | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
earlier in the programme we set you a little quiz. Last year, the chief | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
executive of Next, Simon Wolfson, offered a quarter of a million | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
pounds prize in a competition to find the best solution for dealing | :23:56. | :24:06. | |
:24:06. | :24:15. | ||
with a collapse of the eurozone. Well, Simon Wolfson, joins us now. | :24:15. | :24:25. | |
So who won? Roger Bootle. economist won. Did you get any | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
entries from politicians? We did get an entry from a politician but | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
it is anonymous, so other much telly it was. Did Alastair Darling | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
attempt? I am not even going to narrow it down. You did not get | :24:40. | :24:47. | |
mine? We did. We put it straight into the bin. The winning entries | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
suggested the net overall effect of one or more countries leaving the | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
eurozone would be positive. Do you agree with that? In the long run, | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
yes. Short-term pain and then long- term recovery. That is the story of | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
the destruction of any structure that contains the market. At the | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
moment, you have overvalued currencies in the South, | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
undervalued currencies in the north. Break that structure and there will | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
be overvalued debt which needs to be written down. Long term, the | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
prize is this. A 20% unemployment in Spain, 15 in Ireland and | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
Portugal. Those people need jobs. Without devaluation, they will not | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
get them. Are you talking about a number of countries leaving the | :25:37. | :25:43. | |
eurozone? Ultimately one hopes it can all muddle through and sort | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
itself out. It looks increasingly unlikely. The trouble with all the | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
rescue packages is all they're doing is refinancing debt. They are | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
not addressing the issue of employment and growth in southern | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
European countries. The choice Europe seems to face at the moment, | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
for a country like Greece, stay in the euro and have austerity for as | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
far as the eye can seek or take the pain - probably worse than | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
posterity to begin with - by devaluation of leaving the eurozone | :26:15. | :26:22. | |
but begin to start climbing up again. -- austerity. 80% of Greeks | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
are in favour of remaining within the euro. That is because there is | :26:27. | :26:36. | |
no such thing as an orderly exit. Simon talked about the short-term | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
gain -- pain for the long-term gain. That would be horrific. It would | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
lead to a situation far worse than we have now. With devaluation, you | :26:45. | :26:52. | |
get a fillip from dead. After the war, there were DM16 to the pound. | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
-- from it. Were we eight times better off than the Germans? | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
problem is, in the absence of the devaluation, have to countries | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
where inflation is running miles ahead of gross, how do they get out | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
of it? It is the same with the company or an individual. -- ahead | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
of growth. You have to say at some point, we will write off the debt | :27:19. | :27:25. | |
and start again. The country that most successfully grew out of the | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
Depression was Great Britain and that is because they took the | :27:29. | :27:35. | |
decision to devalue. That led immediately to growth. We have | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
devalued constantly over a series of decades and I do not think we | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
are richer for it. Is it a good idea for countries to run inflation | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
constantly ahead of interest rates and the answer is, note. Where | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
there is a clear distortion in the market, should a one-off action be | :27:54. | :28:03. | |
taken? -- no. The Greeks do not want austerity either. Let me ask | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
you this. A quarter of a million pounds is a lot of money. Do you | :28:07. | :28:14. | |
get value for money? I could not have hoped for better. We got very | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
high-quality entries was a two runner can -- runners up were | :28:19. | :28:29. | |
:28:29. | :28:30. | ||
fantastic papers. Thank you for coming on and explaining that. | :28:30. | :28:39. | |
Thanks to Rolo and as well. I will be back tonight at 11:35pm. -- | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
Rowland. We will have Michael Portillo, Alastair Campbell and | :28:44. | :28:50. |