Browse content similar to 17/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon and welcome to the Daily Politics. Just ten days to go | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
to the greatest show on earth! But big questions still remain about | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
the security arrangements for the Olympic Games. The chief executive | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
of G4S is about to start answering questions from MPs. He could be in | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
for a rough ride after his firm admitted they had failed to recruit | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
enough security staff. But ministers warn that now is not the | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
time for a witch hunt. Could the Olympics provide the shot in the | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
arm that the British economy needs? The Government hopes it will but | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
new data shows the economy is still struggling to get back on track. | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
Can the coalition last until 2015? Can Ed Miliband move further ahead | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
in the polls? It is the end of term, so we will be putting these | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
questions and more to three of Westminster's big hitters. And, | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
what do members of the political elite like to read on their | :01:29. | :01:36. | |
holidays? We'll be talking to the man who has drawn up the definitive | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
reading list for MPs. All that in the next hour. The final hour of | :01:41. | :01:48. | |
the Daily Politics until September. Yes, we're getting ready for a | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
fantastic British summer: We are predicting endless sunshine, Team | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
GB will be topping the medal table, and the economy will return to | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
robust growth. Hold on, that can't be right! Anyway, maybe our panel | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
of MPs today can offer some slightly better predictions for | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
what is in store as we head in to the summer recess. They are the | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
Democrats, Simon Hughes, and the Shadow Energy Secretary, Caroline | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
Flint. Welcome to you all. I guess we should fire the starting gun by | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
talking about the Olympics. With only ten days to go, serious | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
questions are being asked about the security arrangements for the Games. | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
The chief executive of G4S is just starting to give evidence to the | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
Home Affairs Select Committee. He's answering questions from MPs after | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
it emerged that his company had failed to recruit enough security | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
personnel. We'll bring you a bit of what he says later in the show. | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
First though, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, says the row over | :02:40. | :02:49. | |
:02:50. | :02:50. | ||
G4S won't compromise security. is a problem that is being rapidly | :02:50. | :02:57. | |
sorted out. The difficulties really got going round about the turn of | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
the year when we had to double up on the number of security guards. | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
It was always expected the Army would come and we would have the | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
large military contingent. My information is they're working very | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
well with G4S and they are delivering the safe security | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
service. Well, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, was called to the | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
Commons yesterday to answer an urgent question about all this. She | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
started by responding to a series of media allegations made about the | :03:27. | :03:36. | |
G4S row. First it was reported that ministers knew there would be a | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
shortfall in security staff last year. This is untrue. HMI see | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
reported at my request of LOCOG security preparations last | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
September. He reported again in February and reported that LOCOG | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
had plans in place to deliver the required number of security | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
personnel. No specific problems were identified with G4S scheduling. | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
No minister for crime and security attended meetings in which he was | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
told there was a security staff shortage. G4S repeatedly assured us | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
they would overshoot their targets. They have failed to deliver their | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
contractual obligations. We have the finest military personnel in | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
the world. Troops who are willing, ready and able to stepping reckon | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
she calls. We can be sure of their professionalism in delivering a | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
safe and secure Olympic Games. Every mum once the Games to be an | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
outstanding success. -- everyone. We need things back on track after | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
the shambles. Can the Home Secretary tellers how many people | :04:48. | :04:57. | |
she expects G4S to provide? -- tell us. They say it will be 13,000. | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
Based say the vast majority are still in process. -- they save. The | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
Deputy Mayor said, the issue was flagged up repeatedly by both the | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
NPA and the mayor's office for more than a year, two G4S directly, the | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
Olympic Security Board and the Home Office. They have been discussing | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
the short for for nine days. Last Monday, the Home Secretary told her | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
she was confident our partners will deliver. -- short ball. It is | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
incomprehensible that monitoring was that poor that no one told her | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
until Wednesday. How on earth could the Minister responsible for | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
delivering a Olympics security be the only person not to know? I have | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
explained week commissioned reports into their preparedness. They | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
contained recommendations which were acted on. Subject to acting on | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
those recommendations, it was on track to deliver security personnel. | :06:02. | :06:09. | |
Last Wednesday, G4S told us they would be unable to deliver their | :06:09. | :06:19. | |
:06:19. | :06:20. | ||
obligations. That was Theresa May asking questions. Ed Vaizey, it all | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
seems to come down to timing. Is it conceivable that Theresa May only | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
really knew there was a problem last Wednesday? One can examine the | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
timings. We need a safe and secure Olympic Games. Theresa May and | :06:35. | :06:40. | |
LOCOG have made a decision to bring in defence personnel. That is in | :06:40. | :06:48. | |
order to deliver a safe and secure Olympic Games. With all the | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
contingencies for the Olympic Games, there are contingencies in place. | :06:51. | :07:00. | |
You keep monitoring developments as we approach them. You wait. You say, | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
there might be a problem here. You only call on your contingency when | :07:05. | :07:12. | |
it gets to a point way you might need to. There will always be | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
defence personnel helping the Olympics. We have just called in it | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
additional personnel. It still does not answer the question where | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
Yvette Cooper says it is incomprehensible that Theresa May | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
only knew there was a problem last Wednesday. A senior member of the | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
Olympic Security Board was told about this. The question is, at | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
what time to call on the contingency? The problem is such | :07:40. | :07:47. | |
that now is the time to call it in. The problem is now of a nature way | :07:48. | :07:55. | |
you need to call on the contingency. I understand what you are saying. | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
The key point is that on Wednesday the decision was made. It you have | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
answered that marvellously and comprehensively. People should have | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
known about this if there were concerns last year and the | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
Government was doing its job properly. If it was monitoring the | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
progress of how many people were being recruited, we would not have | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
been in this position. It depends on what G4S were telling the | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
Government and organising committee. They are the second largest company | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
in the world - the largest security company in the world. They have one | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
in 10 of the contracts. They should be able to do with good job. They | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
are a reasonable contract had to deliver. I know from constituents | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
and others they do not always do a good job. The really crucial issue | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
is that the Government right fully, it would not have mattered if it | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
were the Labour government or a coalition government, takes action | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
to employ it extra people. You are saying the Home Office basically | :09:02. | :09:10. | |
can put its feet up. Let's answer the question. Theresa May regularly | :09:10. | :09:16. | |
asked the questions and was given information. It seems to me that | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
first and foremost, thank goodness for the police and troops who are | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
going to step in. A number of troops are coming back from | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
Afghanistan. They will step in. They will do there. We are told by | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
the Home Office and Theresa May they were reassured. I wonder if | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
they were asking the right questions. What I would have asked | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
about is, how many people have you got on the books out of the total? | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
How many people have turned up for the training to carry out the | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
security job? In some cases, only 50% of people were turning up for | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
training. For something as big as this commit you would have a team | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
of people acting out what would be the scenarios in terms of things | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
going wrong. You need to ask specifics. It seems Theresa May was | :10:13. | :10:20. | |
not asking specifics. I was not there and did not see the questions | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
that were asked. Ministers and officials and the organising | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
committee would regularly have asked these questions. You cannot | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
imagine he was not passed on a regular basis how many people had | :10:34. | :10:44. | |
:10:44. | :10:44. | ||
come to recruitment, a clearance... My judgment is that they did not | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
tell the truth about what was going on. That is fair enough. They | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
waited till the very last minute to say, I am sorry, we cannot do it. | :10:58. | :11:05. | |
If you ask the questions and those are the answers you get. BBC Surrey | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
understands that only 20 G4S staff turned up when 300 where rigid | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
contracted for various duties. Parties according to the Police | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
:11:25. | :11:27. | ||
Federation in Surrey. -- were originally contracted. It is worth | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
saying that we have taken this decision in the interests of the | :11:31. | :11:38. | |
security of the Games. It was taken in order to secure the Games. The | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
contingency was in place. You have a contingency because if things go | :11:45. | :11:53. | |
wrong, you can correct that. We can talk about who knew what. One of | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
the key problems was the software used by G4S to Schedule the | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
appearance of security guards. That is where the problem started. You | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
move along this process and the closer to Olympics you get, when it | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
comes to a point when it is essential to make the games safe | :12:16. | :12:22. | |
and secure of, you take that decision. All of us, whatever our | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
politics, support the most fantastic project. It is, for | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
London, the most fantastic thing probably we will ever get in our | :12:32. | :12:39. | |
lifetimes. The Army and the police will step in and do us proud. | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
sure. Well, if the Government was hoping the Olympics would be a | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
distraction from the wider problems of the economy, they may be in for | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
a rather nasty shock. Yesterday, the IMF downgraded the Britain's | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
growth prospects saying that it would grow by just 0.2% this year | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
and 1.4% in 2013. Back in the spring they had forecast the | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
economy to grow by 0.8% this year and 2% in 2013. Because growth has | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
fallen in the last two quarters Britain is currently in recession, | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
although the Ernst and Young ITEM Club has forecast we will return to | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
growth in the second half of the year. However they argue that | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
because of the current recession, growth over the course of the year | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
is expected to be zero. What is more, the National Institute for | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
Economic and Social Research published figures last week showing | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
that the UK is trapped in the longest slump in modern history, | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
longer even than that of the 1930s. Today, however, the Government will | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
point to light at the end of the tunnel. This morning's inflation | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
figures show the Consumer Price Index falling to 2.4% in June, down | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
from 2.8% in May and lower than most analysts had expected. With us | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
now is Jonathan Portes from the National Institute of Economic and | :13:44. | :13:54. | |
:13:54. | :13:55. | ||
Social Research. How concerned should be paid by this forecast? | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
The IMF is bringing its forecast into line with those and others | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
have had for some time. The economy is essentially flat. We are not | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
really learning anything new. The economy has essentially been flat | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
for the last 18 months. We have all speculated that would continue for | :14:19. | :14:28. | |
some time. Why has recovery been so slow? The Government titled fiscal | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
policy too fast. The IMF recognises that. Yesterday it said that an | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
appropriate place of tightening would be at half the pace the | :14:38. | :14:45. | |
Government did. Second of course, the wider economic environment - | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
the global environment - has also been downbeat. People in the | :14:50. | :14:56. | |
eurozone have made similar policy mistakes. We have also had a period | :14:56. | :15:04. | |
of high oil prices. Really the deficit reduction plan has not been | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
the right way to get recovery. IMF has downgraded forecasts for | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
the whole eurozone. It has predicted Britain will grow faster | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
than the eurozone. Some of the numbers are looking very good. | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
Inflation has come down. It is hoped unemployment figures will be | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
geared as well. We are creating private sector jobs. We are cutting | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
income tax and corporation tax. There is a lot of good news going | :15:35. | :15:42. | |
on in terms of the economy. We all know the global crisis. That is not | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
what was said. The IMF has continually supported the deficit | :15:47. | :15:56. | |
reduction plan. We are borrowing at around 1.7%. That is one of the | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
lowest among developing countries. Let me put that back to Jonathan. | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
That has been one thing the Government has shouted most loudly | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
about. Our debt is affordable. We're not having to pay super high | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
interest rates. That is what has kept Britain that lining but not to | :16:18. | :16:28. | |
:16:28. | :16:31. | ||
It is very good news that we can borrow at low rates. We can now | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
borrow at the lowest real interest rates in recorded economic history. | :16:35. | :16:44. | |
We have a lot of unemployed people, and a housing shortage. It is not | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
rocket science. Would that be a policy would support? | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
Government yesterday announced a spending planned on railways. We | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
start now, it is a five-year plan, and it is the most capital | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
effective way of getting the economy going. There will be an | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
announcement after the summer holidays on housing. Jonathan's | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
main critique was that we were too tough in what we did in 2010. At | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
the time, all the advice was that it you are not tough in the UK, | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
you're likely to be having the same problems as your neighbours. That | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
was wrong? No, that was the advice that other countries were going | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
down the plughole. There have been some adverse consequences but we | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
have been gradually pulling through. If we gradually begin to build, if | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
we continue to see unemployment drop, keep inflation down as well, | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
we will be in a much better place. But we were promised the deficit | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
reduction plan, the cuts were going to create better outcomes and we | :17:57. | :18:06. | |
have not seen that. Some of these decisions about improving railway | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
lines were decisions taken by the last government. They were stopped | :18:11. | :18:17. | |
and delayed, and now rehashed. Many of these will not happen until | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
after the next general election, and this is what is worrying. We | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
could repeat the tax, we could build more homes, and helped to get | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
more unemployed people back into work. | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
The Alistair Darling plan would not have deferred that much at the | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
point we are at now, do you agree with that? The forecast before the | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
election was to cut the deficit by a quarter by about now, and that is | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
indeed what has happened. Unfortunately, part of that has | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
been extra cuts matched by extra spending because of the | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
consequences of this prolonged lack of recovery. Simon has got the | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
economics quite wrong. People who understood the crisis, people like | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
Martin Wolf, the economics editor of the Financial Times, they said | :19:13. | :19:21. | |
quite clearly it was not sensible. Unfortunately there was the mistake | :19:21. | :19:30. | |
the government made. If you put to economists in a room, you will get | :19:30. | :19:38. | |
different opinions. Geoffrey Howe was attacked when he was | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
implementing in the 1980s. But the government promised recovery and | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
that it would wipe out the deficit and it hasn't been able to do that. | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
Businesses can't get money... have announced investment in rail | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
infrastructure, we will be announcing housing programmes in | :19:58. | :20:04. | |
the autumn, there is a lot going on. Jonathan is perfectly entitled to | :20:04. | :20:12. | |
come here and spout his own political philosophy, but to say | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
there is ridiculous. You have to look at the facts. Hang on a second, | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
you have had your say. Britain is the only advanced economy to see a | :20:24. | :20:30. | |
major down provision since the spring. You know that part of the | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
effect on our economic recovery is that the eurozone is in recession, | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
we trade with Europe. We have seen China's growth figures coming down, | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
bad figures for the United States. We have a recession made in Downing | :20:44. | :20:54. | |
:20:54. | :20:58. | ||
Street. We have reassured the markets, infrastructure investment | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
as well. The would it be so different under Labour? If you | :21:03. | :21:10. | |
think about the Alistair Darling plan, it was also about cutting the | :21:10. | :21:18. | |
deficit. Of course it was about cutting the deficit, we said we | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
would cut it in half over the parliament. They made that choice, | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
and in order to meet their choice they decided on an austerity | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
programme which has sucked the life out of our economy. I know my own | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
area of businesses who have got order books which are full, but | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
they can't get loans from the banks to meet their orders. We have a | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
million young people out of work, and the government also took the | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
decision to delay and stopped what I would call some shove already | :21:51. | :22:01. | |
:22:01. | :22:04. | ||
projects to go ahead to build jobs and growth. These will not be | :22:04. | :22:11. | |
happening until after the next general election. Ed Vaizey... | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
real scandal... The you are pointing at Simon Hughes, your | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
coalition party. Is there a real risk to loosening fiscal policy | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
now? You talked about the railways announcement, but something that is | :22:26. | :22:33. | |
more immediate, spending money, the stimulus, wouldn't the Liberal | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
Democrats support that? That is why you will hear an announcement in | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
September to get the housing investment. We have seen the car | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
industry producing a surplus of cars for the UK. The Government is | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
clear that it is pulling every lever to do that. There is no | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
complacency in any part of the country in the UK. We could have | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
made a different judgment in 2010. No one would have predicted we | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
would have such a difficult position. Growth has been slower | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
but it is beginning to turn the corner. It sounds lovely, we look | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
forward to the next few months. England and Wales is bigger than we | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
thought. Well, the population is. According to the first set of | :23:20. | :23:22. | |
results from last year's census, which were released yesterday, | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
there are 56.1 million people living here now. That's an increase | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
of 7% in the last ten years. And the Office for National Statistics | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
say that more than half of the increase is down to immigration, | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
which has sparked a fresh round of debate about the subject. A debate | :23:35. | :23:42. | |
that Adam is going to carry on out on College Green. We have some big | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
numbers to chew over this afternoon. We have a representative from the | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
Campaign Group, migration watch. This will come as no surprise to | :23:54. | :24:01. | |
you, these numbers? It didn't. If anything, they were larger than we | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
thought they would be. The problem is not just the numbers, it is the | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
fact that we are over the next 15 years going to be adding 5 million | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
plus people to the population, that means needed and the facilities you | :24:17. | :24:27. | |
:24:27. | :24:28. | ||
will find in the big cities. Are we planning for that? I don't think so. | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
Have these new figures really changed the debate at all? It | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
sounds like it hasn't. It is a big number, and it will take a real | :24:35. | :24:42. | |
effort in terms of planning and so on. The rate of growth is the same | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
it has been throughout our history. Secondly, if you look at different | :24:46. | :24:53. | |
parts of the country and, the picture is very different. If you | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
look at the north, they face the very different challenge is to the | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
south. We should not start by thinking a growing population is a | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
bad thing. More people paying more taxes. That is a good thing. If you | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
look at the countries whose population is shrinking, they are | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
worried about that. To the problem is not the number, just the spread? | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
A no, it is the numbers. If you look at immigration numbers, that | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
is totally unprecedented. We are talking about a quarter of a | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
million net, that has never happened before. Of course | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
immigration is great, but not at this sort of level where you have | :25:37. | :25:45. | |
got to think about jobs, housing, services, roads. What happened | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
yesterday in the south-east with the chock-a-block roads, you had | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
better get used to that. That wasn't because if immigration. | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
Exactly, we had a massive number at one time. If you get the sort of | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
immigration we have been getting over the last 15 years, that is | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
what you will face every day without the Olympics. Matthew, your | :26:07. | :26:17. | |
:26:17. | :26:20. | ||
case got helped by the report showing what would happen is | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
migration stopped altogether. extra workers in the economy, | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
whether they are born abroad or here, will obviously help. Some | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
will say that those immigrants get older, so it is not a long-term | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
solution. That is right, but in the short term we are agreed our | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
priority is getting down the deficit, so is now the time to be | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
cutting down on extra workers from abroad? I'm sure you'll agree, it | :26:51. | :26:58. | |
is a bit mad we have to wait for such a long time to find out how | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
big the population is. That's right, but we have been saying all along | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
these are the numbers we can get, so you can project and you can't | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
plan for it. What has not happened so far is that planning. It is all | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
very well to say people will generate activity in the economy, | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
that is a good thing, of course it is, but on the other hand we have | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
unemployment rates at the moment of over 2 million unemployed, youth | :27:29. | :27:36. | |
unemployment running at 20%. Is this the time to be saying yes, we | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
need even more immigration? I don't think so. Another interesting fact | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
that came out of the census data released yesterday is that the UK | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
is the third most densely populated country in the EU after mortar and | :27:51. | :28:00. | |
the Netherlands. -- Malta. For some in Government | :28:00. | :28:02. | |
the summer break probably hasn't come round quickly enough... | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
Economic woes, coalition in- fighting, Labour ahead in the polls, | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
and of course that Olympic security headache. So how did we get here? | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
Giles has been looking back over the last few months. They say a | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
week is a long time in politics so the last few months have seen an | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
age. Storm clouds have gathered, tectonic plates have been shifting. | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
A few months ago, something Labour were concerned about their man at | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
the top. The coalition have forced through tricky health reforms, | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
getting on with government, but basically the ship of state seemed | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
on keel. Today there was a quiet confidence in Labour. Recent pm | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
queues performances have a more relaxed Ed Miliband, a more | :28:45. | :28:53. | |
irritable Prime Minister. This is not have -- not just the rise of | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
Labour. The coalition has gone off course. It is OK to take wise | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
choices if you are competent, give the impression you are not and | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
people will change their minds. They are arrogant posh boys who | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
show no remorse, no contrition no passion to one to understand other | :29:12. | :29:21. | |
people's lives. That Budget - if he had known, and why didn't he know? | :29:21. | :29:30. | |
Asked his opponents, would he have smiled so what? It is one thing | :29:30. | :29:37. | |
cooking up tax breaks, but then spending weeks you turning on | :29:37. | :29:43. | |
pastis and fuel. Where had a collective discussion... That sort | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
of thing burns holes in your credibility. Four weeks on from the | :29:48. | :29:53. | |
Budget, even people in Downing Street are calling it a shambles | :29:53. | :30:03. | |
:30:03. | :30:06. | ||
budget. Add to that, a horse, Rebecca, Andy Coulson... Though | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
most are more concerned about the lack of money than Leveson, it | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
hasn't helped. The banking crisis and the Barclays scandal have seen | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
bitter exchanges with each side keen to destroy the economic | :30:19. | :30:25. | |
reputation of the other, descending into a personal boxing match. | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
has impugned my integrity. Coalitions have tension, it is not | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
new, but having lost the referendum, Nick Clegg has put his finger on | :30:34. | :30:43. | |
:30:44. | :30:46. | ||
what he wants more than anyone - I also know there will be those who | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
are not interested in rational discussion, opposing whatever | :30:51. | :30:57. | |
reform in whatever century. wranglings have left a chasm | :30:57. | :31:06. | |
between right-wingers and grassrootss -- grassroots Lib Dems. | :31:06. | :31:15. | |
On both sides there would be far less to benefit. Joining us now is | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
the Sun's political commentator. What is urinalysis of the | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
difficulties facing David Cameron? They seem to come on every front - | :31:26. | :31:33. | |
the coalition, George Osborne, the budget, the economy, Europe - and | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
it is immigration. I am not sure he has the answer to any of those to | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
satisfy the voters. You have suggested that getting rid of | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
George Osborne as Chancellor would help. Isn't he one of the stars of | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
the Government and the right hand man to David Cameron? I am not | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
saying he should go. I am saying he should be required to concentrate | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
on one of ah job only. He needs to be the full-time Chancellor. -- one | :32:05. | :32:13. | |
job only. He is also spending a lot of time politicking. He is | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
combining the two when it comes to attacking Ed Balls, in my view, in | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
a way that backfired on him. The budget was a car crash. They spent | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
the next several weeks doing U- turns to try to get away from the | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
brick wall. Either he has to concentrate on one job or find | :32:34. | :32:40. | |
another job. Should he focus on being Chancellor rather than also | :32:40. | :32:46. | |
being a strategic mind within the Government? That label from Labour, | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
Ed Miliband, the part-time Chancellor, has stuck. George | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
Osborne is a very successful Chancellor. He is brilliant. Every | :32:56. | :33:03. | |
senior politician in the coalition is also a political strategist. | :33:03. | :33:10. | |
in any way that George Osborne is. Other Cabinet ministers will | :33:10. | :33:16. | |
contribute. George Osborne is a consummate politician. It is a myth. | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
I do not know where it comes from. The Budget was a success. | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
amount of time he puts in is a factor. The Budget was a success, | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
the U-turns that came afterwards. Let's take it as a whole. It has | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
been very successful. We have done a great many things to put the | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
economy back on track. There is nothing wrong with the Budget, it | :33:45. | :33:52. | |
is the handling of it. The U-turn is that followed it were | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
unnecessary. They were not carefully thought through. When | :33:58. | :34:04. | |
negotiation for U-turn took place, it was bungled. They were | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
constantly in reverse. The point is, the opinion polls by Andrew Cooper | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
show all the things I have been saying. Why don't you just face the | :34:15. | :34:25. | |
:34:25. | :34:25. | ||
facts? In an opinion poll today, Conservative support went up. | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
has plunged. That cannot be good, however much you dress it up. | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
are in the middle of a government during an extremely difficult | :34:38. | :34:44. | |
economic period. You do not expect the normal rules. Certain Neath | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
they want to change. That is fine. What about your prognosis? | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
coalition depends not on David Cameron and Nick Clegg, it depends | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
on their troops. What to have been the ranks of the Conservative Party | :35:01. | :35:07. | |
is a lot of unhappiness. -- you have. When Graham Brady has his | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
finger on the pulse of all the views and thoughts of backbenchers | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
and when he starts talking about the early demise of the coalition, | :35:16. | :35:24. | |
I think it is in danger. Boris Johnson has said it is doomed to | :35:24. | :35:30. | |
succeed. Is Lords reform dead in the water? I think so. If it is | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
dead in the water, the Liberal Democrats were not get their way. | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
Hardly any wonder that Nick Clegg feels somewhat lobotomised by the | :35:39. | :35:46. | |
Government. I do not think he does. The budget fundamentally was very | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
good. Pit tip poor people at attacks. What was frustrating is | :35:51. | :35:58. | |
that we did try to persuade the Chancellor it was not a moment to | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
talk about income-tax. I understand why it was turned in economic terms | :36:03. | :36:10. | |
but politically it was a bad call. It was a coalition government | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
budget. The coalition will stay for five years, that was the deal. | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
Everything so far we have agreed has been delivered. Every issue | :36:19. | :36:28. | |
that has come up, some have come from the Tory manifesto... It had | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
338 majority. It was one of the larger second readings of any | :36:33. | :36:39. | |
political reform bill ever. There has to be work done to get the | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
Tories on board. They do have to deliver. The leadership of the Tory | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
Party, from the Prime Minister down, understands that is part of the | :36:48. | :36:54. | |
deal. Coming back as to whether people are willing to deliver Tory | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
MPs, what do you say to the criticism that it was the wrong | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
time to do that? I would not say it either in public or privately I | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
disagreed with the top rate of tax. It is important that Britain sends | :37:07. | :37:16. | |
the signal. Coalition partners did not agree. We argued the case and | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
in the end you need to do a deal. lot of people were taking out of | :37:21. | :37:28. | |
income tax. Treasure -- Trevor has criticised it but the fundamental | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
approach has been delivered by a very effective Chancellor. He is | :37:33. | :37:39. | |
fantastic for the UK economy and very well suspect -- respected | :37:39. | :37:47. | |
abroad and internationally. Trevor Kavanagh does nothing kit will be | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
delivered. The other day I had a conversation with George Osborne on | :37:52. | :38:01. | |
this very subject. The reality is that, with seven changes, for | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
example to protect the House of Commons and MPs from what is seen | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
to be a threat by a second chamber, Tories can be reassured and it can | :38:10. | :38:18. | |
be delivered. What about a liberal/Labour coalition? We have | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
had the Liberal Democrat saying there will be some fracturing in | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
the year before the election. You cannot rule out a coalition with | :38:27. | :38:33. | |
Labour. The issue only arises at the next general election and | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
afterwards. The coalition I want with Caroline and her colleagues | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
progresses the Lords reforms I have been talking about. If Labour does | :38:44. | :38:54. | |
:38:54. | :38:54. | ||
not do that, you can expect -- expect any possibility of coalition. | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
One problem for the Government is that the public is confused about | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
what the motivation of this government is and where it is going. | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
Was to talk about the tax cuts, will sit to people in terms of | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
income tax, we know that tax credits will reduce and money was | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
given back to millionairess from tax cuts. We have unravelling from | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
other issues. Discussion was about where people laugh. They are very | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
worried about the future. A lot of people in work have had to take | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
cuts in hours and pay has been frozen. The overall cost of living | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
have gone up. They fear this government is not in touch with | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
that. Whatever the positives about that, it was completely lost by all | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
the other things going on that have affected, I think, the sense of | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
what is his government about, is it in touch with daily lives by the | :39:49. | :39:58. | |
public. When the cost of living and jobs are on the line, that is a | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
worrying. Is the public convinced by Ed Miliband? In the last year, I | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
think what we have seen is a situation develop where some of the | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
things that Ed Miliband has said coming up to party conference | :40:10. | :40:15. | |
season, he has talked about the squeezed middle, he was harangued | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
over those issues. The sense of what he was tapping into, the | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
concern has improvement in the mind of the public. We're getting a | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
hearing now in the way we were not this time last year. Full credit to | :40:28. | :40:36. | |
Ed Miliband for doing that. Thank you very much. Well, as we | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
mentioned earlier, the chief executive of G4S, Nick Buckles, has | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
been answering questions from MPs on the Home Affairs Select | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
Committee. He is still being grilled, in fact, about the failure | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
of G4S to recruit enough security staff for the Olympics. Let's | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
listen to some of what he's been saying. Many will take the view the | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
reputation of the company is in tatters. You would not agree. | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
think, at the moment, I would have to agree with you. We have had a | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
fantastic track record of service delivery over many years in many | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
countries. Clearly this is not a good position to be in. We feel we | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
have to make every endeavour to deliver as well as we can honour | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
his contract. It is a humiliating shambles, isn't it? It is not where | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
we want to be. It is a humiliating shambles for the company, yes or | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
no? I cannot disagree with you. would not have thought he wrote. | :41:34. | :41:44. | |
:41:44. | :41:50. | ||
You say you were notified, because you are overall boss, on 3rd July. | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
You knew what was coming up. You knew very well - everyone the first | :41:56. | :42:05. | |
and foremost when the Olympics where due to begin. How is it | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
possible that all these problems accumulated and add to you, the | :42:09. | :42:19. | |
:42:19. | :42:19. | ||
overall boss, was only told on 3rd July? -- and that you. Weren't you | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
progress chasing? Weren't you asking constantly your colleagues | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
what was happening? What world are you living in? Trying to explain | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
the process we went through, we had a weekly monitoring process for | :42:35. | :42:43. | |
both parties - very open - about the process. We started out with | :42:43. | :42:49. | |
1000 people during June and we had to build up to 10,000 people for | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
the Olympics. We had a massive pipeline of 20,000 people working | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
towards July. It was about how many people we were getting ready. Not a | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
case of having them on the ground and knowingly had a shortage. It | :43:06. | :43:16. | |
:43:16. | :43:17. | ||
was about having an active pipeline. Simon Hughes, he said it and agreed, | :43:17. | :43:25. | |
it is a humiliating shambles. They're the second largest security | :43:25. | :43:32. | |
company in the world. There are lessons to be learned. The select | :43:32. | :43:38. | |
committee system is doing the job it is now intended to do. You get | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
parliamentarians of all parties. Later at the issues about public | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
sector contracts for the private sector, and I think there are lots | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
of questions about human rights of companies who governments engage, | :43:50. | :43:56. | |
about whether they pay their taxes properly. I think a lot of them do | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
not. There are a whole set of issues. Are they capable to | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
deliver? The reality is we have a public sector that is always able | :44:05. | :44:12. | |
to intervene when necessary in times of emergency. We have heard | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
your big defence of the Government over this. Was it a mistake to give | :44:15. | :44:23. | |
the entire security contractor G4S? We can deal with the fall-out of | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
what the chief executive has described. With 20/20 hindsight, | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
you can say what you like. At the time they got the contract, no one | :44:35. | :44:43. | |
can say it was the wrong thing to do. It would strike me strange to | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
have it with three or four companies. G4S should be a great | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
success story. It grew out of Britain. You have a chief executive | :44:53. | :44:59. | |
quite rightly eating humble pie about what happened. As I keep | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
saying, the key is to deliver a safe Olympic Games. We know that. | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
Should there be a cooling off period? Should they be allowed to | :45:08. | :45:18. | |
:45:18. | :45:23. | ||
bid for other major public-sector Big black Francis Maude have done a | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
good job, and I am sure they will have a view on the appropriate | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
thing to do. I think it is too soon to say. The have got to deal with | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
these things on the evidence, and that will not emerge for some time. | :45:41. | :45:48. | |
I was speaking to Danny Alexander last night, about making sure where | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
much more rigorous in how we deliver public sector procurement. | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
We have not been tough enough. you agree with that, Caroline | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
Flint? In terms of the public- sector, you are relieved we have | :46:02. | :46:11. | |
one to stand in. Do you think there should be a cooling-off? I think | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
what is important here is that we deal with the situation with them | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
in regard to how they have dealt with the Olympics, and afterwards | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
there will need to be some discussions about how what was | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
monitored because there have been massive contract in many government | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
departments. I don't think a company should have a limit on how | :46:31. | :46:37. | |
many contracts it has, but is the rigour in how they can deliver | :46:37. | :46:43. | |
these contracts? That will be a discussion that has to take place | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
after we have had the most successful Olympics ever. There | :46:49. | :46:59. | |
:46:59. | :46:59. | ||
will be lessons to learn across government procurement. There are | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
some fantastic private sector examples of delivering contracts, | :47:04. | :47:12. | |
but sometimes that is done at the expense of the public sector. | :47:13. | :47:19. | |
you be happy for G4S to do the security at party conferences? | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
Everybody will now... G4S will be doubly scrutinised by everybody, | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
but the important principle is that government needs to improve the way | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
it places its contracts and monitors them, which it is doing. | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
MPs are busy getting ready for their summer holidays, were the | :47:40. | :47:50. | |
:47:50. | :48:07. | ||
only tough decision will be what to read whilst lazing on the beach. | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
For those who want to show off by the pool they can immerse | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
themselves in all 736 pages of "The Passage to Power". This is volume | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
four of Robert Caro's magnum opus on the life of Lyndon Johnson and | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
certainly not for the faint hearted. Then there's "The New Few", written | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
by Ferdinand Mount, who argues that power and wealth in Britain is held | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
in the hands of a small elite ruling class. That's the same | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
Ferdinand Mount who used to work for the Conservative Party and | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
who's cousin is David Cameron's Mum. For those who are finding coalition | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
politics a struggle Mr Simpson suggests reading "Five Days in | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
London", a book that charts Winston Churchill's difficulties holding | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
everything together in the dark days of 1940, and think themselves | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
lucky. And for those who want something a little lighter they | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
could try Sandra Howard's latest called "Ex Wives". The wife of | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
Michael Howard has written a novel described as a "story of a | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
complicated set of relationships and lovers which should interest | :48:53. | :48:54. | |
many parliamentarians". Finally George Osborne's wife Frances | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
Osborne has written a new book called "Park Lane", set at the | :48:57. | :49:00. | |
beginning of the first world war it's a novel that deals with | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
conflicts in the class system. I wonder where she gets her ideas | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
from? Keith Simpson is with us now. 50 shades of grey is not on there, | :49:08. | :49:14. | |
but we won't talk about that. quite happy to. My wife is reading | :49:14. | :49:23. | |
that book she is quite bored by that. I am asking the questions, Ed | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
Vaizey! Have you read for them? very large proportion of them. | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
William Hague said to the foreign affairs team that they should be | :49:32. | :49:39. | |
doing some summer reading about four years ago. A number of | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
colleagues then said to me can you let us have them? I think it is a | :49:44. | :49:52. | |
very nice idea. Most of them are political, aren't they? Yes, most | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
on conflict, a few novels as you pointed out at the end. Should | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
there be some more light and shade in there? Some novels away from | :50:02. | :50:09. | |
politics? If people want to have the more lighter ones, that is fine. | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
Most colleagues at some stage over the summer holidays tend to read | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
one big heavy book of some kind because to be fair many of them | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
don't have the time when Parliament is sitting. That has been the | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
objective, to give people a whole series of books, some of which are | :50:28. | :50:34. | |
perhaps relevant today. If the coalition things it has problems, | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
think about what they were going through in the summer of 1940. | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
Something you can draw comfort from then. This is wonderful, I have to | :50:45. | :50:55. | |
:50:55. | :50:57. | ||
say. Are you giving it to the Lib Dems? I have won in a shiny cover. | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
She gets a brown envelope! For most of the year, Arnside recess, you | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
just don't have time. There are some colleagues who walk around | :51:08. | :51:15. | |
with a book under their arm. Some of them do it! If you have a big | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
heavy tome to read, what Linby? my stairs at home, I have about | :51:21. | :51:27. | |
seven books waiting. I will take as many of those as I can. I want to | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
read some books on Tibet and China, and about some struggles which are | :51:33. | :51:43. | |
:51:43. | :51:50. | ||
much more worrying than ours. lined up, Ed Vaizey? Yes, the great | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
thing about this book is it is beautifully written. He began | :51:54. | :52:02. | |
writing it in the early 1980s, but he interview people then who are | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
now dead, but using it for the later volumes. Caroline, do you | :52:06. | :52:12. | |
have more time to read now that you are not the minister? I do get to | :52:12. | :52:19. | |
read more in the recesses, but I do like to last thing at night the | :52:19. | :52:25. | |
Reading, and I tend to avoid the overtly political books. I like | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
history books and I like novels. I have just finished reading the | :52:29. | :52:39. | |
:52:39. | :52:50. | ||
Sambourne novel. I am into everything Scandinavian at the | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
moment. Having done the Stig Larsson in one of the summer | :52:55. | :53:01. | |
recesses, have saved Joe for this summer. Final thought from you, | :53:01. | :53:07. | |
which would you recommend as your top book? If undoubtedly Robert | :53:07. | :53:16. | |
Caro because it is about the pursuit and acquisition of power | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
and most politicians are interested in that. | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
Time now for something completely different. If G4S's staff turn up | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
to work this week, one of their tasks will be to stop banned items | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
getting into the Olympic Park and other venues. So what will the | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
security industry's finest be looking for on their X-ray machines | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
to stop spectators smuggling in? We've borrowed Bruce Forsyth's | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
conveyor belt to help you try to remember what to leave at home on | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
games days and in a moment we'll ask our guests to see how many they | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
can name. Simon, Caroline, Ed, just take a look at the big screen. | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
You'll see the banned items moving along the conveyor belt. Afterwards | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
we'll see how many you can remember. Are you ready? Let's start the | :53:56. | :54:03. | |
conveyor belt. And on the Daily Politics "banned | :54:03. | :54:09. | |
at the olympics conveyer belt", we have... A set of balls, a tennis | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
racket, a frisbee, large flags, banners, item of clothing with a | :54:11. | :54:13. | |
political statement, item of clothing with commercial signage, | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
an oversized ha, large golf style umbrella, long lens camera - not | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
banned in the photography area, excessive food, a noise maker, | :54:19. | :54:29. | |
:54:29. | :54:38. | ||
liquid greater than 100ml. So, Ed, Simon and Caroline. That's what | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
spectators have to remember. Let's see how many you can recall. Good | :54:41. | :54:51. | |
:54:51. | :54:54. | ||
luck with this. We'll give you 30 seconds Starting now! T-shirts with | :54:55. | :55:04. | |
:55:05. | :55:06. | ||
political slogans. Excessive food, a large umbrella. Noise makers. | :55:06. | :55:16. | |
:55:16. | :55:16. | ||
Liquid over 100 ml. Excessive food. Flags, banners. Tennis rackets. | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
Excessive liquid. The there are just a couple you are missing. | :55:21. | :55:29. | |
Tennis balls, tennis rackets. Frisbee. Something close to our | :55:29. | :55:38. | |
industry. Long-lens cameras. you do the clothing? I said both, I | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
said commercial as well. I'm very impressed, you got every single one | :55:43. | :55:53. | |
:55:53. | :55:53. | ||
of them. If we have an even wider coalition, see what we can deliver. | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
He will now be delivering our tickets. For are you going to any | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
of the events? I haven't got any tickets. I tried to, but I didn't | :56:03. | :56:09. | |
get any. I have Football Final tickets and Paralympics opening | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
ceremony tickets. That is through the system. You did well! What | :56:14. | :56:21. | |
about you? Beach volleyball. There is a surprise. New and most of the | :56:21. | :56:28. | |
House of Commons. The my wife was in charge of the ticketing, so... | :56:28. | :56:34. | |
So does that mean you have got some spare? We have four beach | :56:34. | :56:44. | |
:56:44. | :56:46. | ||
volleyball tickets. I hate to go back... Ed Vaizey has verbal | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
diarrhoea. I hate to go back briefly to the seriousness of the | :56:50. | :56:58. | |
Olympics but do you think it will field two security heavy? No, No. I | :56:58. | :57:06. | |
hope not is the obvious answer. know people are very enthusiastic. | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
We did better than we might have done in the European football | :57:10. | :57:17. | |
championships, and people remember the medals, the successes. What is | :57:17. | :57:25. | |
wrong with an oversized hat? That is because people behind you can't | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
see anything. As Rooprai, the sun will be shining, but an oversized | :57:32. | :57:38. | |
hat, I think I would be a bit miffed if I was sat behind that. | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
The food and drink is obviously just because they want you to spend | :57:42. | :57:52. | |
:57:52. | :57:53. | ||
a fortune. If you go to any concert they stop alcohol coming in. Almost | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
I can't bring the tennis racket in. A mouse you are needed on the | :57:58. | :58:06. | |
court! What about the traffic lanes, do you think they will get on | :58:06. | :58:12. | |
people's nerves? Aren't there are some issues about the markings of | :58:12. | :58:19. | |
the lanes, getting on people's nerves? You can do a story every | :58:19. | :58:28. | |
single day and I'm sure there will be. I came to Doncaster, we had | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
then Parkinson and everyone was very excited, but these kids had | :58:34. | :58:41. | |
made their torches and they loved it. It is the legacy of | :58:41. | :58:47. | |
regenerating that part of London. You get the final word. That is all | :58:47. | :58:54. | |
for today. Well done to you, you did extremely well. That's all for | :58:54. | :58:58. |