Browse content similar to 26/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Afternoon folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. David Cameron warns | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
Syria that use of chemical weapons is a red line that could lead to | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
intervention but he does not want to see British troops on the ground. | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
The PM is in a pickle over press regulation, after the newspaper | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
industry tables a rival Royal Charter plan for self-regulation. | :00:59. | :01:06. | |
We'll look at the details and ask what happens next. Should the | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
Government back a ban on a widely- used pesticide, which campaigners | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
say could be killing off our bees? As protesters swarm around | :01:12. | :01:21. | |
Westminster, the Green Party and And, is this tanned man the richest | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
politician in the land? We've got the lowdown on the Times' latest | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:39. | ||
All that in the next hour. And with us for the whole programme today is | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
Iain Martin, political commentator at the Telegraph, and the | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
broadcaster, Anne Diamond. Welcome to you both. Let's start with the | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
latest developments in Syria. Yesterday, the US administration | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
said its intelligence agencies believed with varying degrees of | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
confidence that Syria had used the nerve agent, sarin. This morning, | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
both David Cameron and Ed Miliband reacted to this news that the | :01:58. | :02:08. | |
:02:08. | :02:08. | ||
Syrian regime could be using chemical weapons. This is extremely | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
serious. But President Obama said it is right. They should form, for | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
the international community, a red line for us to do more. I have | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
always been keen to do that. We want our allies and partners to do | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
more with us and shaped the opposition to make sure we are | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
supporting people with good motives, who want a good outcome to put | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
pressure on a regime so we can bring it to an end. | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
international community needs to investigate. We need to find out | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
what is going on in Syria. The most important thing for the | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
international community, which so far it has failed to do, the show | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
unity. We have Russia on one side and other countries on another. The | :02:52. | :02:54. | |
needs some unity in the international community and see | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
what action is possible in Syria. We can talk now to our world | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
affairs correspondent, who joins us from Beirut, which borders Syria. | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
Is there a feeling in the region that Syria has been using chemical | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
weapons? It depends which country you speak to. The Israelis came to | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
that few earlier this week. They said they had not just analysed the | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
video but other evidence let them to believe that, on several | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
occasions, the Assad regime had used chemical weapons. They had | :03:31. | :03:38. | |
detailed sarin gas as a weapon which might have been used. They | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
raise concern about the veracity of these reports. From Syria, the | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
Assad regime has denied using any chemical weapons. It does not | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
confirm it has stockpiles of chemical weapons. It says if there | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
has been such an attack, it is at the hands of the opposition. A lot | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
of speculation in the region. Could is the operative word. The | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
Americans have been wrong before - famously 10 years ago in Iraq. | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
Everyone wants to make sure the evidence is bang on correct before | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
action is taken. Could it not be said that much more serious than | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
the possible use of chemical weapons is the way events in Syria | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
a destabilising the whole region? The Lebanon has suffered. Jordan | :04:24. | :04:34. | |
:04:34. | :04:36. | ||
has a major refugee crisis. You are right. 17,000 people have been | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
killed and more than a million refugees have fled. In Lebanon, in | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
particular, in the north of the country, the same sectarian | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
divisions some battles that are going on in Syria are being | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
replicated in Tripoli. Huge concern. The use of chemical weapons would | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
add to that. If you look at the Israeli issue in particular, Israel | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
is worried that these weapons will not be used against Israel in | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
particular but those weapons and other conventional weapons will get | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
out of Syria and end up in the hands of her and be used in the | :05:11. | :05:21. | |
:05:21. | :05:28. | ||
future against Israel. -- Hezbollah. Given what happened in Iraq, | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
despite being assured by the mannequins and British intelligence | :05:31. | :05:40. | |
that weapons of mass destruction mother, which you not want -- mass | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
destruction were there, which you not want more than burying degrees | :05:46. | :05:54. | |
of competence? We need to investigate. We will never get that. | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
We are playing with so many uncertainties. We are still | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
comfortable in our seats, watching Syria destroyed itself and watching | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
the regime in the most appalling way destroy its own people. We | :06:07. | :06:15. | |
cannot stand by on the sidelines any longer. To take one further | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
step, it is all very well to say this is the red line and they have | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
gone over it, we need to figure out what it is we are going to do. | :06:24. | :06:32. | |
do we have to do something? It is immoral not to. Destabilising is | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
very dangerous. We did not do anything, for example, in south | :06:37. | :06:46. | |
Sudan. We did not do anything in Rwanda or in Chechnya. Why do we | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
have to do something? What makes this case different and will mean | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
there is action is the Israeli situation. The West is loosely | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
backing the rebels. The West Trust the rebels. The last thing they | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
want is those weapons, as latest reports from the region suggest | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
they are, the last thing the Israelis want is those weapons | :07:13. | :07:22. | |
falling into the hands of rebels and used against Israel. I can | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
understand these weapons falling into the wrong hands. Nothing can | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
really happened without the Americans. The only sound I hear | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
from Washington is the Obama administration rolling back like | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
mad after having said it would be a red line. This is a defining test | :07:42. | :07:50. | |
for the Obama administration. He is running away from it rapidly. | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
Tehran is watching best. If it is not a red line, they will carry on. | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
It is also tricky for the Brits. William Hague and the FCO had been | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
at the forefront. If the Americans do take some action - which I think | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
their wealth - at that point, the Americans will be looking for more | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
than just rhetorical support from the UK, they will be looking at | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
military and intelligence backing, even if it is not beads on the | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
ground. We can use one of power aircraft carriers that we do not | :08:26. | :08:36. | |
:08:36. | :08:36. | ||
have! -- groups on the ground. We will watch with interest. We did | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
feel that chemical weapons would become of watershed in the whole | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
conflict. -- at a watershed. Now it is time for our daily quiz. The | :08:48. | :08:55. | |
question for today is: The Bank of England has said the new �5 note | :08:55. | :09:05. | |
:09:05. | :09:09. | ||
will feature a famous person. Who At the end of the show, our panel | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
will give us the correct answer. Yesterday, newspapers launched | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
their own, rival plan to regulate themselves - one in the eye for the | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
government and for the opposition - who thought they had done a deal to | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
tame the press. One newspaper said this morning that the few people | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
who still understand the arguments about the post-Leveson royal | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
charter are dead, mad or past caring. Well, folks, we might be | :09:30. | :09:38. | |
mad but we're still here and we still care. Let's take a look at | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
where we are. It was two years ago that phone hacking led to the | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
closure of the News of the World and a year-long inquiry into the | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
ethics, culture and practices of the press. Lord Justice Leveson | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
came up with a 2,000-page report and recommended a new press | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
regulator, which would be able to fine and direct newspapers to print | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
apologies and corrections. In a deal done in the middle of the | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
night in Ed Miliband's office, the three main parties and campaigners | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
came up with proposals for a new regulator, which would be set up | :10:05. | :10:11. | |
through a Royal Charter. But, yesterday, proprietors and editors | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
launched their own rival charter. This would remove parliament's | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
power to change the regulator, lift a ban on the involvement of former | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
editors, make it more difficult to bring group complaints, and change | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
the powers of the regulator to require apologies or corrections | :10:23. | :10:33. | |
:10:33. | :10:34. | ||
rather than direct them. Still with us? Joining us to make sense of all | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
that is Sir Christopher Meyer, who chaired the now defunct Press | :10:37. | :10:46. | |
Complaints Commission. Also Evan Harris. Still with us are Anne | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
Diamond, who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry and the journalist, | :10:49. | :10:57. | |
Iain Martin. Evan, you cannot be surprised by this. You did a | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
stitch-up in the middle of the nights with the politicians. They | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
were bound to do something different, went there? It is not a | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
stitch up and it is not a setback. This is the press saying, we do not | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
want to lose the power we have at the moment or have any form of | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
effective regulation. Even the voluntary self-regulation that has | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
been proposed. They accepted the leather some principles, didn't | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
they? They have rejected ending the practice of apologies on page 94. | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
They are following what he said. In the middle of the night, you beefed | :11:41. | :11:50. | |
up the bid. He did not say direct. He did. In Recommendation 15 and 16. | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
He said the independent self regulator must have the power when | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
necessary to direct where apologies go. He repeated it in | :11:59. | :12:07. | |
recommendation 16. He would direct if the newspapers did not behave | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
fairly. That is one of about 12, by the way. A how would you have felt | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
if a deal had been done at 3am involving the politicians and | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
newspaper proprietors and had not involved Hacked Off? If I had been | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
found guilty of unlawful and unethical misconduct, and then I | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
had been consulted by the Conservative minister all the way | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
along and tried to do a side deal and fell because the public, the | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
victims and parliamentarians did not want it, and then I saw a deal | :12:44. | :12:54. | |
:12:54. | :12:54. | ||
had been done against me, I bid be enraged. You do not think there is | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
nothing there about how they behaved? No. They were represented | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
by Oliver Letwin, who was there. Oliver Letwin was representing the | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
newspapers! No single newspaper thinks Oliver Letwin represents | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
them in anything. You ask a very fair question about why the victims | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
were represented in that room. David Cameron at the Leveson | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
Inquiry, in June, under oath, said that the test of whether this will | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
work is whether it satisfied the victims - the people who have been | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
thrown to the Bulls. You have a journalist he was in that category. | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
-- the walls. They will not allow anything to be settled unless the | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
victims say whether it will work for them. We had to compromise. We | :13:49. | :13:56. | |
did not want a Royal Charter. We did compromise. At least you were | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
there. Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for a particular | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
type of regulation. Why would the newspapers think they are above the | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
law and not go along with that? am not speaking for the newspapers | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
but I do not think that they think they are above the law. What | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
concerns them is that Levison laid out the principles of voluntary | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
independent self- regulation and as it was emerging from the deal | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
cooked up in the small hours of 18th March, it was not voluntary, | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
independent and it was not self- regulation. Another point which I | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
hate to offend the majesty of Parliament but the most toxic | :14:36. | :14:42. | |
people who can possibly envisage as to how the press can be regulated | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
our politicians. They have an incestuous claustrophobic | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
relationship with journalists and that makes them the least impartial | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
judges. That is what the regulator must be independent. What the | :14:57. | :15:04. | |
Leveson proposals and the cross- party charter did was stop them | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
being on the recognition panel. It brings up active Conservative or | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
Labour peers back into a recognition panel - which is | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
supposed to be independent - and the self regulator. It must be | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
independent of politicians and only the cross-party one is. It must | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
also be independent of the industry. The royal charter says the Press | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
Board of Finance will own the Royal Charter and will constitute the | :15:30. | :15:40. | |
:15:40. | :15:52. | ||
human stories of terrible abuse by the worst of the press. The enquiry | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
was set up to try to address that. We are already so far away from the | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
recommendations. Just so many months down the line and we are rebelling | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
against politicians and with the press. It is divorced from what it | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
was meant to be about, which is the human being is complaining about the | :16:11. | :16:18. | |
way they had been abused. Where did it go wrong? David Cameron said he | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
would institute Lord Leveson's recommendations unless they were | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
bonkers. He agreed they were not bonkers. He started to backtrack all | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
down the line. Nothing will ever happen. That only shows he is a | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
novice when it comes to setting up enquiries. He is a politician and | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
now the argument is back in the hands of the politicians and the | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
press. They should not be setting up their own regulations. One thing I | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
would say about the Leveson enquiry is that yes, there was a parade of | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
people who had been abused by the press before the Press Complaints | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
Commission even existed. That we were never allowed to bring before | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
the enquiry the scores of people who had be helped and protected by the | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
Press Complaints Commission. For every victim who appeared before a | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
Leveson, I could produce somebody who had been helped. We were not | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
allowed to do that. As for Leveson itself, it has got into the | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
bloodstream through the brilliant campaign by the lobby group. The | :17:30. | :17:38. | |
Lord Chief Justice himself, Leveson 's superior, said in a speech in | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
October 2011, I recommended Leveson. One thing you need to know about him | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
is that when he makes his recommendations, there is no | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
obligation on anybody to implement anything that he says. The notion | :17:51. | :18:01. | |
:18:01. | :18:03. | ||
that literal implementation dot-macro Harold Wilson set up | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
commissions to kick things into touch. I may be one of the only | :18:08. | :18:14. | |
people around this table, except for you, ain't -- Andrew, who has read | :18:14. | :18:22. | |
the entire royal charter. Where do we go from here, Ian? It seems that | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
the government has called a party and that nobody has turned up. There | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
is no law to force the newspapers to turn up. Absolutely. Newspapers | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
cannot be compelled to do this. It is a perfectly fair and sensible | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
compromise. What was announced yesterday the old with my major | :18:41. | :18:50. | |
concern is a journalist, which is that it removes politicians and it | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
removes Parliament from charter renewal. If what he wanted is | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
implemented, if even for a second in two or three years a journalist | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
wants to investigate major corruption and felt there and had | :19:04. | :19:14. | |
been stayed, but the charter is coming up for renewal, at that point | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
free press is dead. But it is not like the BBC charter, which does not | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
hold back. But the provision says is that the self regulator never looks | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
at content before it goes out. recognition panel is it self | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
appointed independently to be independent of press and | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
politicians. And you cannot change those rules without a two thirds | :19:40. | :19:49. | |
vote. Cut through all of that, but Americans on the left and right | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
would understand, is that press stands apart from the legislators | :19:56. | :20:03. | |
procedure. Don't preach about the American system! Your left-wing | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
American friends would be appalled at what you are trying to do. Every | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
major liberal newspaper in America poses what you are trying to do. | :20:14. | :20:24. | |
:20:24. | :20:29. | ||
Absolutely not. What makes this country a disgrace and what taints | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
excellent journalism is the parade of outrageous behaviour on an | :20:33. | :20:41. | |
industrial scale by journalists acting on the orders of editors at | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
dash-macro and executives. And even worse, the conspiracy to cover up | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
and concealed from the police dot-macro if you took two people | :20:50. | :21:00. | |
abroad, they are appalled by what this has done to good journalists. | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
-- if you talk to people abroad. have overplayed your hand, haven't | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
you? By doing this in the middle of the night, the newspapers are going | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
to go their own way. There is nothing you can do to bring them to | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
your party. You can search it as much as you like, but it was not | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
done in the night. It was always recognised that the press would not | :21:24. | :21:32. | |
go willingly into even involuntary system. Leveson set up some | :21:32. | :21:39. | |
intensive is. Dash-macro incentives. What happens now is that the | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
incentives will come into play. happens if the press don't take | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
them? In a year, they will have to be reviewed. Parliament will think | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
again. What David Cameron said was that Parliament may have to | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
legislate. That is what he said. You agree with that? Parliament will | :22:00. | :22:07. | |
have to look at it again. We cannot have them above the law. I support | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
Leveson, which is not legislate to. I think the bottom line, we are | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
getting a lot of posturing going on. The bottom line may be that we are | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
going to have to come up with something the press will agree to. | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
They have got to voluntarily buy into it. They want to be seen to be | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
setting the agenda. They don't like being told what to do by politicians | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
or anybody. We should all go away and let the dust settle and come | :22:37. | :22:47. | |
:22:47. | :22:47. | ||
back. That is what the Guardian is asking for. I put it to you, Iain | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
Martin, that the status quo is not acceptable. If the newspapers are | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
not going to go down this route, they have to do something that is | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
seen to be a major difference from what went before. I agree. That is | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
part of what was announced yesterday. There is no doubt that if | :23:08. | :23:16. | |
this can provide can be agree, you get tougher regulation. We shall | :23:16. | :23:24. | |
see. Thank you, I enjoyed that. There is a ten station to look at | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
local election results and draw conclusions about the national | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
fight. Local elections can often be about council tax, services, rather | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
than the narrative of Westminster. Giles has been to Nottinghamshire, a | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
political battleground. Eyes are going to be on what they are talking | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
about on the doorstep. Here, carving out a win in this set | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
of local elections is all about who controls this building. | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
Nottinghamshire county council. It is basically all of the county | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
except the city of Nottingham, which is a unitary authority. For Labour, | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
this area should be child's play. They have traditionally been in | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
control. But in 2009, with MPs expenses and frustration at Gordon | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
Brown, the Tories took it from them. It seems to be how a general | :24:16. | :24:23. | |
election would go. At what a result here might mean now people are less | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
caring about. They don't care about how many | :24:27. | :24:34. | |
points anybody is ahead. They care about the issues that are going to | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
affect them and their families, their children, whether they are | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
going to have a job, whether the cost of living is going to rise. | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
They don't care about political programmes. It matters, the | :24:46. | :24:53. | |
difference I can make if elected. The Lib Dems elsewhere suffered last | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
year locally for national politics and a price for coalition. You might | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
think they would be bracing for more of the same. Actually, they think | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
that is less likely. In vast parts of Nottinghamshire, we have a record | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
of action, not just recently but for years. When you translate that to | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
your voting for your counsellor, people know who the bloke is who | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
fixes the potholes. Secondly, we have a grassroots campaign across | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
Nottinghamshire that can't be matched by any other party. | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
Tories know that holding on here would be a victory for them locally | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
and they blow to Labour nationally. They have had �132 million of | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
backhaul is in the finances to handle. That has meant taking tricky | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
decisions that are not always easy to sell on the doorstep. It is a | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
large amounts to find over four years. We know that what we need to | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
do. We know where savings need to be made. That is what we have already | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
done. We have already found �170 million. From that, we have | :25:57. | :26:06. | |
reinvested in services. That is what we need to do all over again. | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
Apart from the votes going in these ballot boxes for the main parties, | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
the added frisson here is the smaller parties, the Greens and the | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
UK Independence party. They put forward 91 candidates this year. How | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
much they draw from the party 's or vote will be interesting. | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
Filling boxes means getting the vote out and talking to the electorate. | :26:31. | :26:38. | |
Anybody who pounds the pavement must be ready to tackle anything. Last | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
week, I canvassed a gentleman. He was in his house, naked excrement | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
and Mark it was unexpected but he said he would vote Labour so I was | :26:48. | :26:58. | |
:26:58. | :26:59. | ||
fine with it. Dash-macro he was in his house, naked! | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
I spoke to a lady who was very Merry. She thought she had voted for | :27:04. | :27:14. | |
:27:14. | :27:19. | ||
me. It was a lovely thing to see. Sometimes they are drunk and naked! | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
Let me try to suggest a yardstick. When these elections were last held | :27:26. | :27:33. | |
in 2009, Labour was at its absolute lowest. It was under Gordon Brown. | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
They were getting trashed in the polls. They lost 300 sheep | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
dash-macro seats. If they can't win back against this coalition | :27:42. | :27:52. | |
:27:52. | :27:53. | ||
government, it is not a good result. That is going to be a question for | :27:53. | :28:01. | |
Ed Miliband. If Ed Miliband can win in 2015 in the South and the places | :28:01. | :28:09. | |
he needs to win, he needs a good showing on Thursday. He needs about | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
40% of the vote. If he falls short of that, questions will grow and | :28:13. | :28:22. | |
:28:23. | :28:27. | ||
develop about his availability If Labour stars to win 450 seats, Mr | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
Cameron, whose reputation among Tory backbenchers is not high to begin | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
with, that becomes a problem for the Prime Minister. Things have shifted | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
in the parliamentary Tory party. The Tories are in better shape than they | :28:40. | :28:49. | |
have been since last year. You think they are united? You think the | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
chickens have found their heads? hard-core still want to remove David | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
Cameron. The prospect of them persuading a large group of their | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
colleagues to join them in that, I think, is disappearing. The key is, | :29:04. | :29:10. | |
will this harmony, which is partly because of the Thatcher Festival of | :29:10. | :29:20. | |
:29:20. | :29:23. | ||
the past couple of weeks, which it survive contact with the electorate? | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
I have always thought you can never have too many old attorneys in | :29:29. | :29:39. | |
:29:39. | :29:42. | ||
Parliament. performance, the government is not | :29:42. | :29:48. | |
doing well. And yet, Mr Miller band and the Labour Party still seem to | :29:48. | :29:56. | |
be struggling to have a real identity. There is nothing there | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
that looks tasty to the voter. Two of my sons have been canvassing for | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
work experience. They said that more and more people are coming to the | :30:06. | :30:16. | |
:30:16. | :30:25. | ||
front door, saying, UK Independence Is it not possible that the big | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
story after the elections on Thursday will be UKIP? That is the | :30:30. | :30:36. | |
marvellous thing about this set of elections. They have no idea how | :30:36. | :30:44. | |
they will do. They are a political phenomenon. The Tories have no idea | :30:44. | :30:49. | |
how they will do. It has taken time for a political phenomenon to come | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
through the start they could do extraordinarily well because people | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
anxious to do something with their boat. -- come through. Finally, is | :31:00. | :31:06. | |
it fair to say that the better UKIP turns probably means the worst the | :31:06. | :31:13. | |
Tories will do? Absolutely. If UKIP goes off the scale and do something | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
extraordinary and unpredictable on Thursday, the losses Ford David | :31:18. | :31:27. | |
Cameron start to get up to 500 current 600, at 700, Tory harmony | :31:27. | :31:37. | |
:31:37. | :31:37. | ||
will disappear. -- 500, 600, 700. We shall see. Sometimes the | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
doorstep does not tell you everything but it is interesting to | :31:42. | :31:44. | |
know. Even more than usual, there is a real buzz around European | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
politics this week. On Monday, the European Council of Ministers will | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
vote on whether to ban a pesticide thought to be responsible for a | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
large decline in bee numbers. But there is a sting in the tail - the | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
British government thinks the science and evidence doesn't yet | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
prove the pesticide is to blame. This morning, protesters have | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
marched on Westminster to demand the Government change its mind but | :32:03. | :32:12. | |
that seems unlikely. Here's the Environment Minister, David Heath, | :32:12. | :32:19. | |
being asked about campaigners' concerns. I actually share many of | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
their concerns. I was one of the first MPs in the House of Commons | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
to be talking about bee health. We have to base everything on the | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
scientific research available. That is far from conclusive. We need to | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
get this right. During the wrong thing may actually involve worse | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
effects on the bee and pollen 80 population than acting in a knee- | :32:46. | :32:51. | |
jerk way. And we are joined now by Green MEP Jean Lambert and Dr Chris | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
Hartfield from the National Farmers' Union. What do you say in | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
response to the minister that you are spearheading a knee-jerk | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
response? I do not think we are spearheading a knee-jerk response. | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
We are looking at issues around precautionary principle, which is | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
in the legislation. So does the audit committee of his own | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
parliament think there is sufficient evidence to take action. | :33:20. | :33:30. | |
Her what you say to that? Farmers fully understand how important bees | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
are. -- what do you say? The pollination service is valued at | :33:36. | :33:41. | |
around �510 million a year. It would be crazy to undertake any | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
practices that would damage that bee population. The precautionary | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
principle is there. You do not need absolute evidence in order to take | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
action. What it also says is, if you take action, it needs to be | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
proportionate and cost-effective. If we look at the evidence - what | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
it tells us - if we look at the harmful impact of bees in the field, | :34:07. | :34:15. | |
we have not been able to seek those impacts. I think there is some | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
argument about the quality of recent research a lot of this is | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
based on. Another problem is that some of the big pesticide companies | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
have not been publishing their research. You are hearing an | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
argument on research which is not in the public domain. What research | :34:35. | :34:41. | |
do you base your position? On the position which is coming from the | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
European Food Standards Agency. They have looked again at the | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
evidence - at some of the more up- to-date research - and this was | :34:48. | :34:56. | |
their conclusion. Is your decision research based? You want to say | :34:56. | :35:06. | |
they use neonicotinoid insecticides band? -- peas. You want to see it | :35:06. | :35:16. | |
:35:16. | :35:17. | ||
all pesticides banned. Yours is not evidence based opposition, it is | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
ideological based opposition. You would like to see them all band, or | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
whether they are harmful or not. We're looking at the evidence - | :35:27. | :35:35. | |
whether it is gradual build-up and potential impacts - all round. On | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
this particular issue, the European Food Standards Agency has put | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
forward a recommendation, which the petition is working on. That is the | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
science they are using. Even you say the consequences of getting | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
this wrong could be huge, given all the crops that depend on it. | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
Shouldn't there be a moratorium on using these pesticides? There | :36:01. | :36:09. | |
appears to be muddled results which need to be clarified. The ban on a | :36:09. | :36:19. | |
neonicotinoid insecticides, there is no evidence to show they are | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
harmful to the bee population. If we cannot do that, when we banned | :36:24. | :36:30. | |
neonicotinoid insecticides, we cannot show if there are benefits. | :36:30. | :36:37. | |
We are talking about actions which may show no measurable results for | :36:37. | :36:44. | |
bee health. There are also results coming through from Italy, Germany, | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
where certain of these have been banned in particular processes. You | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
are seeing improvements in bee health. The would not necessarily | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
say it is a direct consequence. -- you would not. Why don't we have a | :37:00. | :37:10. | |
moratorium on debt and use insecticides which are not | :37:10. | :37:16. | |
neonicotinoid insecticides. They know the fact of the matter is we | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
would not be able to demonstrate any measure will benefit as a | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
result of banning neonicotinoid insecticides. Why not give it a | :37:26. | :37:34. | |
try? It is incredibly important. assumes the neonicotinoid | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
insecticides are used for no good reason. They are used because they | :37:38. | :37:45. | |
are the most effective products. there something else you could use? | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
The reality is, these are the most effective things. Is there | :37:50. | :37:57. | |
something else? They would be less effective. You would move on to the | :37:57. | :38:03. | |
next Les best thing. Potentially unforeseen consequences to the | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
environment. If you get it wrong, it is a catastrophe. We are not on | :38:09. | :38:16. | |
a precipice at the moment. The need to be led by science and evidence. | :38:16. | :38:26. | |
:38:26. | :38:26. | ||
-- we need. There is a hole challenge facing bees. This is one | :38:27. | :38:36. | |
of the issues. I am very pro bee. What I find extraordinary about | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
this is that we all accept this is potentially very dangerous. This | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
seems to get about 5% of the coverage of global warming, which | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
might or might not be happening. Potentially more catastrophic. | :38:53. | :39:03. | |
:39:03. | :39:10. | ||
get both on the Daily Politics! We thank you for being here. Once | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
again Parliament is in recess. They are soon off for another 10 days. | :39:17. | :39:23. | |
Then there was the three-week Easter recess. That seems like it | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
was only two weeks ago. And it was two weeks ago. Our MPs in this | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
Parliament spending less time on the green benches than in previous | :39:32. | :39:41. | |
years? Back in 1997, when Tony Blair first took office, there were | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
163 sitting days from May to April. And, over the intervening years, | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
that has stayed roughly the same - all the way through to the last 12 | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
months, when parliament sat for 146 days. And, what about PMQs? Some | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
have been saying that David Cameron has tried to avoid them. But | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
according to our research, there were 30 PMQs in 1997, rising to 35 | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
in 2004/5, and, in the last year, there were 31. And, it turns out | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
that of the PMQs that were actually held, David Cameron has only missed | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
3.2% - that is compared to 5% for Tony Blair and 11.8% for Gordon | :40:08. | :40:18. | |
:40:18. | :40:19. | ||
Brown. So, Iain and Anne, what do you make of that? It flies in the | :40:19. | :40:25. | |
face of what you think will start it seems light there has not been | :40:25. | :40:35. | |
:40:35. | :40:39. | ||
one for ages. -- it takes a lot out of them and some of them are not up | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
to it. We all enjoy a PMQs. I love it. We like to see our prime | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
ministers and others accountable. If there were 30 in 1997, I am | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
assuming there were at least 60 in the previous year. They used to be | :40:56. | :41:05. | |
twice a week. Tony Blair slimmed it back to one. Tony Blair did not | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
want to days of the week having to be dominated by prep. He would get | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
it all into one. Are you surprised by the figures? You get the sense | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
that Parliament is sitting and doing less than it did. I am not | :41:21. | :41:27. | |
surprised by the figures. I happen to think it is not necessarily | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
particularly a bad thing. You mean, they cause more trouble when they | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
are here! They are an obsession of a modern government. The coalition | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
has started to move away from it. Under New Labour, the Government | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
did not feel comfortable unless it had built after Bill and was | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
legislating on everything underneath a son. -- bill after | :41:50. | :41:57. | |
Bill and was legislating on everything under the sun. We could | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
probably do with a break. I do not think we need lots of the relevant | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
legislation. Rather than passing legislation, they could do their | :42:09. | :42:16. | |
real jobs in holding the executive to account. A lot of committee work. | :42:16. | :42:25. | |
Lots of people think MPs are lazy. Committees are not such sexy stuff. | :42:25. | :42:34. | |
It's his if it is the Public Accounts Committee. If you look at | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
the work of Andrew Tyrie on banking, he and his fellow politicians have | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
come closest to getting serious, proper answers as to what went | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
wrong. Parliament then a be sitting next week but the Daily Politics | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
will be back. There is nothing more infuriating and fascinating and | :42:57. | :43:06. | |
finding out who is richer than you. The wealthiest peers and MPs in | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
Britain have been revealed. We thought we would bring them to you | :43:10. | :43:19. | |
as well. Hook is rolling in it? Who is worth been very nice to? -- who | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
is rolling in it? You may not have heard of him but Britain's richest | :43:24. | :43:31. | |
MP is Richard Bennion - a junior agriculture minister. His family | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
fortune is �110 million. He is number seven. Wealthiest | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
backbencher, Zac Goldsmith. Which is Labour MP is Margaret Hodge, the | :43:40. | :43:46. | |
formidable chair of the public demands -- Public Accounts | :43:46. | :43:53. | |
Committee. The Lib Dems are not on the list. Around the Cabinet table, | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
it is Defence Secretary Philip Hammond you should be nice to. In | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
at number 20 with a fortune of �8 million. That should be good for a | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
few flak jackets. Most people think that politicians - they might often | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
think that politicians are more wealthy than they are. When they | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
see figures bandied around like the collective wealth of the Cabinet is | :44:15. | :44:20. | |
70 million, it does tend to confirm those prejudices. The average wage | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
for a parliamentarian - even then her heart of hearts they may think | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
it is not very much - is much higher than average earnings in | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
Britain. They are wealthy by any measure. Only one Prime Minister is | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
on the Rich List. Step forward Tony Blair, but David Beckham of | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
politics. What does that tell us about the ability of our | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
politicians to make a buck or two? We're looking at President Putin, | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
who is worth a lot. The President of Pakistan is worth over a billion. | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
The same in India and the Middle East, where we are completely | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
outranked. Even if you take Tony Blair, who has made probably 30 | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
million, that is nothing compared with the rest of the world. Our | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
politicians are not particularly greedy or they are not as good as | :45:12. | :45:19. | |
others around the world in getting money. OK, so he is richest of the | :45:19. | :45:26. | |
rich in the House? In at number three is Lord Sainsbury - allegedly | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
worth �400 million. Next to Lord Ballyedmond he is worth �860 | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
million. And the daddy? The richest politician in Britain is Lord | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
Ashcroft, with a healthy bank balance of �1.2 billion. Ever think | :45:42. | :45:52. | |
:45:52. | :46:09. | ||
self-made people. Very few seem to be that wealthy. The average | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
parliamentary salary is higher than the average British salary of | :46:13. | :46:23. | |
�26,000. It does not seem that most MPs are living off of their salary | :46:23. | :46:33. | |
:46:33. | :46:33. | ||
alone. The best time to be around as a politician was under Henry VIII. | :46:33. | :46:40. | |
That was a one off, though ex-macro from the 19th-century, you get the | :46:40. | :46:47. | |
impression that particular the on the Tory backbench, these were the | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
landed gentry and they seemed to be worth on average, a lot more than | :46:52. | :47:02. | |
:47:02. | :47:03. | ||
today's MPs. That is right. It wasn't until 19 11th that a salary | :47:03. | :47:13. | |
:47:13. | :47:22. | ||
of �400 per year was brought in. -- aristocrats. Throughout the 19th | :47:22. | :47:28. | |
century, some of our biggest politicians were not from wealthy | :47:28. | :47:37. | |
backgrounds. The thing that interests me, on all sides, MPs | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
extol the enterprise culture, the need to create jobs. When you look | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
at the richest ones, Zac Goldsmith, �75 million inherited. Margaret | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
Hodge �18 million, inherited. Shaun Woodward, �15 million, married into | :47:54. | :48:04. | |
:48:04. | :48:06. | ||
it. Geoffrey Robinson, the inherited it. The leader of the Conservatives | :48:06. | :48:13. | |
in future, possibly, he inherited it. We are often sold the idea that | :48:13. | :48:21. | |
we just need an amazing idea to open a milk bottle and we can all be | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
billionaires. But the majority of people who are wealthy come from the | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
right background. Tony Blair always said he believed in enterprise. He | :48:32. | :48:40. | |
is now proving it! Should we be more likely to applaud him? It makes you | :48:40. | :48:48. | |
want to spit. The only thing worse than somebody who is much more rich | :48:48. | :48:56. | |
than you is a politician who is much more rich than you. To all of us, | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
those are big numbers. What astonishes me is how low they are. | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
What has changed is that above our political class, where real power | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
lies, is a global elite. If you look at the real rich list, the Queen is | :49:10. | :49:17. | |
at 268. There is only one British born person the top ten, and he | :49:17. | :49:26. | |
inherited it. That contrasts with the 19th-century, where if you | :49:26. | :49:33. | |
constructed a similar list, many of the top players were not rich. | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
are always told it is a Cabinet of millionaires. Philip Hammond is the | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
only one on this list. But if you own a couple of houses in London, | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
you are automatically a multimillionaire. What do you think | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
the public attitude is to this? tends to be rather unsympathetic to | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
MPs, who they feel and too much money. There has been lots of talk | :49:55. | :50:03. | |
about businesses on the side. There is concern that people who are | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
within politics initially, then leave politics, they earn a lot | :50:09. | :50:18. | |
after politics. That is when they feel they have the contacts, and | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
especially with the NHS and its changes, people can earn a lot of | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
money later. What these tables don't take into account for a number in | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
the Cabinet is what they will inherit. Wow, really? I take an | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
unfashionable view. I think politicians should be almost | :50:38. | :50:48. | |
:50:48. | :50:49. | ||
compelled to had -- have second or third jobs. They are doing better | :50:49. | :50:57. | |
than the French. The French peasant -- president had to put out a list | :50:57. | :51:06. | |
and they were all pretty poor. dear! The poor French. Now, as we | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
all know, a week is a long time in politics. We have only got 60 | :51:11. | :51:21. | |
:51:21. | :51:23. | ||
seconds to summarise it. Thankfully, Good news! Britain avoids a | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
triple-dip recession by 0.3%. Although better than expected, to | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
say that growth is slow would be unfair to the mobility of | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
gastropods. The government is encouraged to | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
spend more on cycling. Unsurprisingly, this message came | :51:40. | :51:46. | |
from the All Party Cycling Group. MPs finally approved same-sex | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
marriage dot-macro not here but in France. Although some seemed | :51:50. | :52:00. | |
:52:00. | :52:07. | ||
We will not introduce what has been called a snooper 's charter. | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
reason may still smiling. She briefly gave up the day job over Abu | :52:11. | :52:15. | |
Qatada for some comedy with Mark reckless. | :52:15. | :52:25. | |
:52:25. | :52:28. | ||
It is a reckless step! Well, I say We are now joined, as we often are, | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
by Agnes Poirier, to discuss the vote this week in the French | :52:32. | :52:38. | |
government on gay marriage. This was a divided France. It was a really | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
big issue. Why was that? It is totally different than in the UK. We | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
have to explain. The bill had two parts. One was not contentious at | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
all. An overwhelming majority of the French people agreed that anybody | :52:54. | :53:00. | |
can have the same rights, inheritance, pension, everything | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
that is linked to marriage. Now, the contentious part of the bill was | :53:06. | :53:14. | |
about adopting rights for homosexuals. In the UK, this is not | :53:14. | :53:21. | |
a problem. It is already legal. That really proved quite divisive. | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
is what the argument was about. was about family. It was an | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
anthropological question, really, rather than ending to do with | :53:31. | :53:37. | |
equality before the law. We often describe France as an increasingly | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
secular country, but I understand the Catholic church played quite a | :53:40. | :53:47. | |
big role in this campaign? It did, but all religious leaders did. | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
Remember, the state and the church are separate in France. It is not | :53:51. | :53:57. | |
like Britain, the question of whether gays and lesbians can marry | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
in church. France has an even lower church participation than Britain. I | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
was surprised to see that the church still seemed to be a strong lobby in | :54:08. | :54:17. | |
France. It is an aggregate. What happened is that a coalition of | :54:17. | :54:27. | |
:54:27. | :54:30. | ||
ultra groups, they are only 100 strong, but suddenly we had street | :54:30. | :54:37. | |
violence like in the 1930s. And the general attitude of France 's Muslim | :54:37. | :54:45. | |
community, is my -- community? Again, it is not an issue for them | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
in that they are not going to celebrate religious weddings of gays | :54:51. | :54:58. | |
and lesbians. We are only talking about town halls. Yes, and the | :54:58. | :55:05. | |
church can do what it wants. Religious value -- weddings have no | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
equal value in France. The economist said it was good news for Francois | :55:11. | :55:20. | |
Hollande because it took the news away from the economy. I am not so | :55:20. | :55:30. | |
sure! It is not good news. He is not doing very well. But he is in for | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
the five years. He controls the parliament. The controls 19 out of | :55:35. | :55:41. | |
the 20 cities of France. He is in a very comfortable situation. But a | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
lot of people on the left also said this was not a priority, the | :55:45. | :55:51. | |
same-sex marriage. He could have done it at the end of his mandate. | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
At the moment, the French want to hear about the economy, employment, | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
not about same-sex marriage. same-sex marriage has been a big | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
debate in Britain. It has not taken on the far-off city or even the | :56:04. | :56:11. | |
divisiveness that it has in France. -- the ferocity. It came close to it | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
in the Tory party. It is something that Cameron launched and rather | :56:15. | :56:23. | |
regrets in a way. I think he needs to build as big a coalition as | :56:23. | :56:30. | |
possible. Do you think it was misjudged? I think he thought he | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
could take his core vote for granted. I thought he could add more | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
liberal voters. In effect, what he did was not particularly impressed | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
the liberal part of the vote and he alienate it a lot of his core | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
supporters, a lot of whom will vote for the UK Independence party. | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
makes you wonder why Francois Hollande decided to go for it as | :56:52. | :57:02. | |
well. He had the majority for it, didn't he? Is the French government | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
is taking comfort from, we are beginning to see the loosening of | :57:08. | :57:17. | |
the reins of austerity in Spain, and Italy as well with the centre-left | :57:17. | :57:27. | |
:57:27. | :57:35. | ||
government - are things going to Europe. He was relying on the | :57:35. | :57:40. | |
Socialists to come in, and we saw what happened. In many ways, | :57:40. | :57:46. | |
austerity haven't really hit France yet. They are saying, we must stop | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
this austerity, but it hasn't happened yet. I was there yesterday | :57:49. | :57:56. | |
and it seemed pretty affluent. Just time to find the answer to our | :57:56. | :58:01. | |
quiz. The bank of England announced the new design of the �5 note | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
featuring a famous person. Margaret Thatcher? Within Churchill? Nick | :58:06. | :58:16. | |
:58:16. | :58:17. | ||
Clegg? Margaret Thatcher. neglect. OK, it is going to be | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
unveiled here and you can see that it is, let's have a look, come on, | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
get on with it! Winston Churchill! The fiver isn't just getting a new | :58:29. | :58:37. | |
face. Mervyn King unveiled the note. We can now call them a Winston. | :58:37. | :58:47. |