Browse content similar to 23/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. He doesn't like the | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
EU, he's against high immigration, and he's opposed to high taxes. But | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
what does Nigel Farage like? We'll be putting UKIP's policies under the | :00:46. | :00:54. | |
spotlight. As world leaders discuss the crisis in Syria, the Prime | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
Minister 's says he's open-minded about accepting refugees from Syria | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
is a compelling case is made. Could Labour and the Lib Dems team up to | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
force a change of policy? Should we just accept that women who choose to | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
have children are worth less to companies? One high-flying woman | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
disagrees and she'll be here to tell us why. And from pints to Chardonnay | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
- shocking news that one of Westminster's best loved watering | :01:18. | :01:18. | |
holes is going all posh. All that in the next hour. And with | :01:19. | :01:30. | |
us for the whole programme today is the leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage. | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
Welcome to the Daily Politics. Now first this morning let's talk about | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
defence because a little earlier, the Defence Secretary, Phillip | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
Hammond outlined the latest round of cuts to the armed forces. Around | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
1,400 soldiers are to lose their jobs. Here's Mr Hammond, in action | :01:44. | :01:53. | |
in the Commons. For the men and women of our Armed Forces, I know | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
that this has been a painful process. But completion of this | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
final tranche will mark a turning point. With the bulk of our troops | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
back from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and coming back from | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Germany over the next four years, as we build future Force 2020, they | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
will be able to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from belonging to | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
armed forces that are put a period of change and restructuring behind | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
them and focused on building their skills and capabilities for the | :02:26. | :02:33. | |
future. Nigel Farage, this latest and final round of cuts will end a | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
period of uncertainty for troops, do you agree? No! Weather would have | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
thought that a Conservative lead on government would slash army numbers, | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
people are wondering how this is going to work. His plan is, you cut | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
the number of regulars and you rebrand the Territorial Army and | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
build that up to 30,000 troops, it isn't going to work. I have got | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
family involvement in this, my father is president of the TA | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
regiment in London. He says the problem is that employers were OK | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
about a fortnight 's camp every year but suddenly, the TA has meant for | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
months here, five months there, and they are trying to get a full-time | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
army on the cheap through the reservists. People are going to | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
struggle, employers are not going to want their people to be in the Army | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
reserve and this isn't going to work. We have spoken to ministers, | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
and to some MPs who serve in the Armed Forces as reservists, they say | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
it can be squared. They say it is a sign of a modern army, that looking | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
ahead, employers will be convinced to come on board and support this. | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
Let's sit here in six months, I feel confident in saying that the Army | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
reserve will not be able to recruit the numbers it needs to make up for | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
the huge reduction in numbers. Let's look at the numbers, how big the | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
Army be under UKIP? We have been running at about 100 to 120,000 for | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
some time. We are now slashing it down to 82,500. People say this is | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
the final cut, I am not sure. You say that people will look again at | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
cuts? I think defence cuts have been the easy way for the government to | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
cut. We are now spending less than 2% of our entire budget on defence, | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
it is very low indeed. But UKIP themselves have said that you | :04:35. | :04:36. | |
wouldn't want to be involved in the sort of conflict we have seen in the | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
past, so what is the need? Because UKIP doesn't want to get involved in | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
endless foreign wars doesn't mean that we want to slash our defences | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
to the level... Let's just say, and the Falklands is much more heavily | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
manned and it was 30 years ago, let's just say the Argentinians did | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
establish a toehold on the Falklands and we had to try, militarily, to | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
get them back, we couldn't do it. So the point about having defences is | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
that you are there for the unforeseen event. It's like paying | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
the insurance on the house in case there is a fire. Having said he | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
wouldn't go into those sorts of adventures, if you can call them, | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
would you not have gone into Afghanistan? I fail to see, with all | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
these was, what our object to his work. In the case of Afghanistan, | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
all you have to do was reading five minutes of history to know it would | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
be unwinnable. So you wouldn't have gone into Iraq? It was a vengeance | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
will, we will end up with a three state solution, it will take about | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
15 or 20 years of a horrible civil war. I wouldn't have wanted Libya | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
and I don't think any thing we have done in the Middle East has made it | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
more stable or better. So what you need such a big Armed Forces, for | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
something that may never happen and actually is unlikely to? In some | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
ways. Since the Warsaw Pact disappeared, the world is even more | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
uncertain than it was. At least we knew what the potential enemy was. | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
There are some wars that you find yourself unavoidably getting dragged | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
into. Here we are, 100 years since the start of the First World War, | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
nobody thought that was imaginable. We just don't know. The former US | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
Defence Secretary said the Armed Forces cuts will diminish the UK's | :06:35. | :06:40. | |
military standing. Does that matter? I think it does. The point about | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
being a full partner to the US is when they say jump, we don't always | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
ask how high, after all Harold Wilson, when Lyndon Johnson came to | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
Downing Street said no, we're not going to Vietnam. The point is, we | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
can choose to the two things when they are right. | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
Now it's time for our daily quiz. The question for today is which of | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
these has the largest number of followers on twitter? A) Nigel | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
Farage b) The official UKIP twitter feed c) UKIP weather or d) Godfrey | :07:14. | :07:15. | |
Bloom. Now, this show is obviously watched | :07:16. | :07:26. | |
by millions so the answer could well change by the end of the show. In | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
which case, Nigel, we'll have to take the answer as it was at the | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
time of writing which was about half past nine this morning! Compliance | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
at its best! As you're watching this programme I | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
reckon it's fairly safe to say you're an intelligent sort of person | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
with a keen grasp of the political world. Unless you are a student that | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
has just woken up! You don't need me to tell you that Nigel Farage's UKIP | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
want out of the EU, or for that matter, that they're not | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
particularly big fans of immigration. But what else do they | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
stand for? Jo's been going through their policies with a fine tooth | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
comb. Nigel Farage is the political | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
outsider who wants to change the system from within, and this | :08:15. | :08:16. | |
revolutionary has plenty of other battles to fight and rights to | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
right. The party is promising to reveal very soon how it intends to | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
reduce ?90 billion from our annual expenditure, without reducing major | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
public services. They aim to keep tax as low as possible, although | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
there's not much detail as to how they're going to do it. Their | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
pensions policy is as yet unclear although at the last election they | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
promised a flat rate, non means testable, non contributory, non | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
taxable citizens pension of ?130 a week. On crime, they promise not to | :08:44. | :08:51. | |
reduce spending on front line policing and they say they'll have a | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
tougher sentencing policy, life will mean life. On health, they will | :08:55. | :09:04. | |
restore free eye and dental checks and a UKIP government would make | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
sure doctors' surgeries stay open in the evenings. Climate change is so | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
last century, according to their energy spokesman Roger Helmer - | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
green taxes will be scrapped and nuclear power promoted. More money | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
will go into the defence budget although they say a UKIP government | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
would be less likely to get involved in foreign conflicts. Finally UKIP | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
support more grammar schools and they would bring back the student | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
grant. Of course it's over a year before until the next general | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
election and UKIP say a lot of their policies are still under review, so | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
just how revolutionary will Nigel Farage's UKIP be? | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
With us now is the Conservative MP, Priti Patel. So, comrades... I have | :09:44. | :09:55. | |
never thought of myself like that! An awful lot of policies, will any | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
of them make the manifesto? Wait and see. Our job is to fight the | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
European elections on May 22 on just the constitutional question but the | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
consequences of being an EU member, whether it is on immigration or the | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
effect on the City of London, we will focus on those things between | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
now and then. But UKIP has to do is to show people that it has a | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
domestic policy agenda, that it adds up. We have to show where cuts can | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
be made, considerable cuts can be made, we are also going to have to | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
have a strategy for growth, as that is one of the things this | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
government... There is some growth in the economy but what we will do | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
is talk particularly about the small businesses and what can be done to | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
get some growth there. At the last election he wanted to cut 90 billion | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
of taxes and spend an extra 30 billion. There is going to be too | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
much scrutiny on you at this election, I suggest, are you to get | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
away with an obvious nonsense like that. That is not an obvious | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
nonsense! Not if you can show where the cuts can come. Anybody working | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
for a quango or earning six-figure money in government is not going to | :11:14. | :11:21. | |
be voting UKIP. We believe that the whole public sector part of our | :11:22. | :11:23. | |
economy has ballooned out of control. But 90 billion cuts and 30 | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
billion extra means you have to find 120 Ilion to do that. It's not | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
realistic, is it? It's very ambitious! I didn't put that | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
manifesto together, I was just a candidate, but I can assure you of | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
one thing, the 2015 manifesto will be similar in flavour. Do you still | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
plan to have a citizens pension? This idea has been taken up to large | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
extent by Iain Duncan Smith. But we have not decided what we're going to | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
do. You wanted to scrap employers's national insurance, that costs about | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
60 billion. For start-up company is, the idea of a holiday where you | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
don't have to pay that will be a short-term boost. I remember what | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
that manifesto said, it was a long-term ambition... It said you | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
would phase it out for employers, not the people but employers over | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
five years, recouping revenue through corporation tax, sales tax | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
revenue and lower spending. I would describe that as an overly ambitious | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
view of what can be done in five years! You once wanted a flat rate | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
tax system, now you want a two tier system. We want flatter, simple, | :12:47. | :12:54. | |
lower taxes. Flat rate is another. What you want? Our tax code is | :12:55. | :13:02. | |
12,000 pages long, we wanted radically reduced, it will still be | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
at downside simpler than the current system. We want no tax on them and | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
wait, that would incentivise people to get off benefit and back to work. | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
-- on the minimum wage. Will all be quango is go? I think a lot of them | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
will. Wouldn't a lot of the jobs just have to be redeployed into the | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
departments? If you look at the Environment Agency, it is a big | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
agency, big budget, you can't just scrap it and say that's it. A lot of | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
these things will go back into the Department of the Environment or | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
whatever it's called now. We have these parallel structures, we have | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
Whitehall departments, quangos, the ultimate radically shrinking our | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
bureaucracy is how powerful. Could you give as an example of a concrete | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
policy that will be in your manifesto? We will fight very hard | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
to bring back select the schools specific social mobility has fallen | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
in this country, the 7% to go to the fee-paying schools are dominating | :14:14. | :14:16. | |
everything, current affairs, sport, everything. So by selective schools, | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
you mean he would bring back, schools? What we call them matters | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
less than the principle of it. If you look at those bits we can define | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
about you Capcom he wants to get out of the EU, wants to be tough on | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
immigration, bring back grammar schools, spend more on defence, it | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
sells like what a lot of them is of the Tory party believed? The issue | :14:47. | :14:55. | |
is, but these are attitudes. When you are a party in Westminster and | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
in government, you have to make some very tough long-term choices which | :15:01. | :15:03. | |
is what we are doing in government right now. On the economy, schools | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
in particular. We agree we have had a terrible decade of failure in our | :15:09. | :15:11. | |
education system. So we are reforming education through free | :15:12. | :15:21. | |
schools, academies. Would you like to bring back grammar schools? I | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
support academies and I support a lot of schools in my constituency. | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
Would you like to bring back grammar schools? There was a plan to have an | :15:33. | :15:42. | |
extension and Michael Gove was beaten on that. I have got long held | :15:43. | :15:51. | |
views. I have been campaigning for a referendum a lot than Nigel Farage. | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
But, that said, you have to be a party in government, you have to be | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
a party in Westminster that can take legislation through Parliament. With | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
David Cameron and Philip Hammond announcing 1400 in cuts in defence, | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
you cannot imagine better people to have on your side who have been | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
loyal to this country for a decade after decade. You cannot be happy | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
with that. There are hard realities we have had to face around defence | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
spending. I remember in 2010 when we came to power we inherited a ?38 | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
billion black hole in the defence budget alone. You have to make | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
difficult decisions. Coming up with political slogans that might sound | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
nice, are long way away from having a long-term plan that can deliver | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
change. But you cannot get out of bed in the morning and say, I am | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
proud to be a party that is slashing defence spending and adding 6 | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
billion to international aid? It is the responsibility of generations | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
such as my generation to come up with the right long-term solution | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
for this country and you can only do that in government. To govern is to | :17:16. | :17:23. | |
choose. Are you proud to be supporting a government that is | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
slashing defence spending and increasing international aid? I am | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
part of a government that is facing up to the hard realities. But are | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
you proud of that? We have to recognise the tough climate that we | :17:39. | :17:45. | |
are in. It is quite clear from the way these questions have not been | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
answered that she is quite close to you on a number of issues, so why | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
are you going to put a candidate against heard that will make it more | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
difficult for Priti Patel to hold onto her seat? If she says she would | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
openly defy a three line whip and vote against her own government to | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
get Britain out of the EU, we might be talking. We are not going to have | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
a motion of confidence of that nature. I sent that for the first | :18:15. | :18:25. | |
time in 20 years it is in the front line of politics. I suspect Labour | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
will be forced into offering a referendum as well. There would not | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
be any debate about a referendum or any promise by Mr Cameron, although | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
he promised one once before, unless you can put the pressure on and you | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
get the votes in local elections and by-elections that we have got. | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
Perhaps the threat we pose not just to conservatives, but to Labour as | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
well is changing the debate. There has been harsh reality while we have | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
been in government and when David Cameron became prime minister that | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
Europe is simply not working. The institutions are all over the | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
place, they are not accountable and they are imposing their will on the | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
UK left, right and centre and there are issues such as their own budget | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
as well. The Prime Minister has exercised a veto. We know there are | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
problems, but you need a party in Westminster and you need the support | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
and lies across the EU effect change. What Cameron is trying to | :19:29. | :19:36. | |
sell us is fundamental change to Britain's treaty relationship with | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
the European Union. For somebody who spent 15 years in Brussels, that is | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
not even on offer. One of the region -- reason David Cameron's page has | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
not unite the party is one year on nobody knows what he intends to | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
negotiate. I do not support that. There is no doubt, and George | :20:00. | :20:06. | |
Osborne highlighted this last week in his own speech, that we know | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
there are big challenges. There are physical and financial challenges. | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
It is about the institutions of the European Union and it is about | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
fundamental issues like justice, human rights and immigration. The | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
list is endless. Status quo is not an option. I am still not sure what | :20:26. | :20:32. | |
separates you. UKIP is against replacing Trident. Yes, that is a | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
debate we have been kicking around for some time. So you are a | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
non-nuclear defence strategy for Britain. I am not sure where you got | :20:44. | :20:52. | |
that from. From your website. That is not the case. It was the case. | :20:53. | :21:03. | |
Will you get it off your website? When it comes to websites I am not | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
an expert. Would you deploy regular armed forces on the streets? If | :21:11. | :21:19. | |
necessary, yes. Your website says they could man police stations while | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
officers are dealing with this order. Those flash riots we had a | :21:23. | :21:30. | |
couple of years ago came from nowhere and everybody was astounded | :21:31. | :21:33. | |
by the size of them and the lack of preparedness. You would have | :21:34. | :21:40. | |
deployed the Army? They would have been on immediate stand-by. That | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
situation was very serious. You want a compulsory dress code for taxi | :21:48. | :21:57. | |
drivers? Do we? That is not on the website, that is on one of your | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
documents. Under the last leadership in 2010 we produced a manifesto that | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
was 486 pages long, so you can quote me bits of it, but I might not know | :22:10. | :22:18. | |
all of it. Is it still policy to require our trains to be painted in | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
traditional colours? I have no idea what you are talking about. That was | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
a policy paper published in 2010. Is there a danger that if UKIP | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
continues to be strong in the polls, that when you go into the 20 15th | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
election and they cost you the election and if you take the poll | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
from last Sunday, the Conservatives are on 30, Labour on 35, to be five | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
points ahead at this point is not great for Labour. As a government | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
you are in striking distance, but UKIP is on 19%. Opinion polls say | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
what they are going to say right now, but the reality for this | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
country and the electorate is they have to go into the 20 15th election | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
and think about the long-term, economic prosperity of this country. | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
It is not going to be about voting for a party that is putting out | :23:16. | :23:25. | |
slogans. That is maybe why Labour is only on 35. If Labour is on 35, you | :23:26. | :23:34. | |
lose if UKIP get 19. At least people know what we stand for. The | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
Conservative voters have no idea what David Cameron stands for. Is he | :23:40. | :23:47. | |
for or against wind farms? The reality is for us it is all about | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
the economic future and prosperity of this country. It is about having | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
our finances in order and we inherited the worst fiscal legacy of | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
any government in 2010 and we are building a future programme for this | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
country and tackling many issues about Europe and immigration that we | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
have talked about. What kind of a uniform would taxi drivers are have? | :24:12. | :24:21. | |
Do not ask me. To ask a party leader about policies like that is silly! | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
Tenacity, sportsmanship, endurance, not necessarily qualities you would | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
associate with a politician, but sports men and women make the MPs? | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
Select Christopher Chataway, Olympic athletes and Conservative politician | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
managed to excel in both disciplines. But was he an | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
exception? A lot of sports people are into | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
politics and a lot of politicians play sport, but does being a | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
sportsman, a well-known sportsman, make you any good at politics? It is | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
a recipe for thinking you might be able to do it. As a sportsman you | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
learn about self-confidence, you train hard and you can get on and a | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
lot of people think it will transport itself to politics. I am | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
not sure whether it does. There are famous sports people who have gone | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
into politics. Sebastien Coe, Tony Grey Thompson and so Ming Campbell | :25:32. | :25:40. | |
ran in the Olympics in 1964. Sport will give you a sense of what is | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
necessary if you want to succeed. It is application. If it is doing an | :25:46. | :25:54. | |
extra day's training, if it is politics, it is reading more | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
background and information, treating it professionally. Sam Ming Campbell | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
has gone from sporting sprinter to political marathon man, rising to be | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
party leader. Baroness Danny Grey Thompson was always passionate about | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
politics and of course there is Sebastien Coe, sporting icon on the | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
track and then organising the Olympics, but was his political | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
career so glittering? He thought you could bring in the values of hard | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
work and training and being scientific about things and he tried | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
to do that with William Hague and most of us do not think that was a | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
roaring success. He had William Hague at the Notting hill carnival | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
in a baseball cap. Whether that helped William Hague being a good | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
leader of the Tory party no one quite knows. We will not know until | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
the European elections whether Olympic rowing success means James | :27:00. | :27:01. | |
Cracknell will cross the line and become a Tory MEP. Winning replies | :27:02. | :27:12. | |
dating that dedication and application and nowadays modern | :27:13. | :27:23. | |
politics is like that. One advantage of being a sports personality is | :27:24. | :27:31. | |
that you are well known. People will not slam the door in his face, but | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
he will still have to have something to say to them and if you appear to | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
be a distant figure who hobnobs with the world of sport, you might not | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
look like the kind of guy who knows how to help individual people with | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
their lives. But for a lot of people it is a head start. I never had the | :27:52. | :28:01. | |
intention of taking up politics, and I am not sure about squash a toll. | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
James Cracknell, double gold medallist, and Conservative | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
candidate at next made's European elections joins us now. What can a | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
top sports star bring to politics? There is a crossover in what you | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
need is a sportsman and as a politician, especially in Olympic | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
sports where there is a long-term plan and you have to deliver on that | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
plan on one day. It is about setting a goal at the outset that might seem | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
unachievable and working towards it and forming a team to deliver on | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
that goal under pressure. In some ways they are the skills required in | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
politics and there is the stamina required to undergo the long haul | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
and not be afraid to ask yourself tough questions. The stamina Nigel | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
will sympathise with. Why be an MEP and not an MP? I wanted a candidacy | :28:59. | :29:07. | |
for Westminster and I thought long and hard about it, and I am sure | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
Nigel will agree the next five years the crucial part of the future of | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
this country lies in Europe and it is trying to fight a situation where | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
the people in Britain are happy with our relationship in Europe and | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
offering a referendum of the back of it. Do you think we should remain in | :29:27. | :29:34. | |
the European Union? We cannot say that until we have been through the | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
process of renegotiation and to get a meaningful renegotiation, the | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
other powers have to believe we are serious about leaving. If we are not | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
serious, we are not going to get anything out of the renegotiation. I | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
agree if you want to get anything out of Europe, you have to walk into | :29:57. | :30:03. | |
the room with a great big stick. But David Cameron would report -- | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
support a stake in vote in the referendum. We need to get Europe to | :30:09. | :30:22. | |
work for the people of Britain but as concept in itself, it is too slow | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
and dynamic, that needs to be changed. We also need the confidence | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
to back ourselves and think we can effect change for the benefit of | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
people in this country and on the continent as well. Do you think you | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
had an advantage in the selection process because you are well-known? | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
I can't walk down the street because... ! I know, don't you hate | :30:47. | :30:56. | |
it? ! I deliberately put myself in the same position as everybody else. | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
The biggest trust people can do is put their boat to you. I want to | :31:02. | :31:09. | |
show that on was worthy of people entrusted me with their boat. If I | :31:10. | :31:15. | |
fail on any step, I should hopefully be cut adrift, I worked to get onto | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
the list, to shine sure people it wasn't just a glamour thing. The | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
reality is that this isn't something I had to do, it's something I wanted | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
to do. To do that properly, you start at the same place. Were you | :31:34. | :31:42. | |
sporty at school? I was best at cricket and golf, but I follow all | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
sports phonetically. Do you think it helps if you are fit and have the | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
stamina? When you are a sportsman, you have a goal and you are working | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
on something a few years in the future, everything is leading up to | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
that event, and politics is like that too. Long-term plans. I think | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
we have two new people in British politics and have done nothing in | :32:07. | :32:09. | |
their lives at all but from work in research offices after Oxford -- too | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
many people. Let's have characters in politics with a broad life | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
experience. I think whether it is sport, business or the charity | :32:21. | :32:22. | |
sector, people should bring something in from the outside, if | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
you have performed well under pressure, which is a key part of | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
sport, you have the same with elections, I want to get there and | :32:33. | :32:43. | |
know if onlys. If only I hadn't... I want to look at the people, ask them | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
for their vote and say I understand the issues in their area. You both | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
suffered fairly serious injuries and both have continued with busy | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
working lives. How have those injuries affected you in terms of | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
the work you do and the schedule you have? I was back in hospital in the | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
them, I had major surgery as a result of that crashed, there were | :33:10. | :33:16. | |
some more bits and bobs of tidying up to do. It is like everything in | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
life, we all go through bad things, it is about how we respond to them | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
and in my case, it is a total refusal to accept that I cannot go | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
on doing what I was doing before. Has it made you more determined? To | :33:31. | :33:38. | |
firstly never take anything for granted, and focus on the things | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
that matter to you. The future of this country matters to me because | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
it is therefore my kids and grandkids. But the one I have been | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
surprised that and want to be part of affecting change is the limits, | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
whether they medical experts or in the sporting sense of people facing | :33:59. | :34:01. | |
limits of what you can achieve, if you listen to them, you will only | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
hit the ceiling. If you think, I want to get ahead, plot a pathway, | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
you may not get there but you will break through the ceiling. I think | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
somebody, who has had either a medical accident, a separation, | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
whatever it is, you shouldn't let other people placed limits on you. | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
How are you going to deal with UKIP? Who's that? What will your message | :34:27. | :34:36. | |
bid to combat the threat? We need to create a place where the founding | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
principle of the European Union is ever closer integration, which when | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
the people of Europe, they can reject that massively. That is the | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
first thing. There doesn't need to be ever closer integration. We want | :34:55. | :35:03. | |
a divorce! That is what the majority now want. They can get remarried. | :35:04. | :35:11. | |
Look at Liz Taylor and Richard Burton! We are going to have to let | :35:12. | :35:22. | |
you go, I'm afraid. Did a good golf swing inhibit or enhance your | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
batting skills? The two actually don't go very well together. You | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
have to choose. We could talk about this for a long time! Not now! | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
Thrilling though it is. As the Syria peace talks in Geneva enter their | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
second day, the dispute over how to deal with the humanitarian fall-out | :35:42. | :35:44. | |
rumbles on in Parliament. Labour want the Government to sign up to a | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
UN resettlement programme and take in 500 refugees - and are planning | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
to force a commons vote next week. Yesterday in PMQs David Cameron | :35:53. | :36:00. | |
dismissed the programme as tokenism. Some countries are using this quota | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
system as a way of saying, therefore I have fulfilled my obligations. | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
When you have got almost half of a 9 million publishing at the risk of | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
displacement, fact that the French or the suite are going to take if | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
you hundreds, that is not fulfilling your obligations. -- French or the | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
Swedes. Where is the massive amount of aid that Britain is putting | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
forward is playing the most important role. We broadcast that | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
live. We welcome viewers from Scotland now, they have been | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
watching First Minister's Questions. And we're joined now by the Shadow | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
Minister for International Development, Gavin Shuker. How many | :36:43. | :36:53. | |
refugees should Britain take in? I think the government have got to | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
decide that in discussions with the UN. To give you an indication, | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
France, similarly sized country, omitted to take around 500. We are | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
looking to resettle about 30,000 made strikes me it would make sense | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
for us to step up to the plate. Why only 500? We have to do the due | :37:11. | :37:18. | |
diligence to work out what we can deliver effectively, bearing in mind | :37:19. | :37:20. | |
these are some of the most vulnerable people. That is why I am | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
asking why only 500. There are around 4 million Syrian refugees, | :37:28. | :37:29. | |
who are at the very least displaced, many of them across | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
borders. So why, as a wealthy, prosperous, caring country, would we | :37:35. | :37:41. | |
take in only 500? That is the point I'm making. We need to make sure we | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
have decent support arrangements for those people when they do come stop | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
we are talking about children who have lost both parents, who are very | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
vulnerable, people who are torture victims as well. We know who we are | :37:53. | :38:03. | |
talking about, why are Labour saying that only 500? For those people it | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
isn't she tokenism and politics. For those people it will make a massive | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
difference and it is a starting point. So how many would you | :38:14. | :38:23. | |
envisage? Beyond the 500? If you look at the process that has to go | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
forward now, the British government has to talk to the UN and decide | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
what number it can effectively take. We are not party to those documents | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
although starting point but we are saying something clear that David | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
Cameron is not. You can't just rely on asylum seekers to meet your | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
quota, would we want to do is make a difference for the most vulnerable | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
people. Sweden, population about 8 million, much smaller numbers than | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
us, have taken in 14,000 Syrians. And they are still taking more in. | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
Here is the British Labour Party, a country of 60 million people, per | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
capita income is higher than Sweden, and yet you are saying that we will | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
take 500. What is it about the Swedes that they can take in 14000 | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
and the best you can come up with these most vulnerable people is 500? | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
As you know from your research, the majority of those are asylum seekers | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
coming in. What Winnie to make sure is we are able to greet those people | :39:26. | :39:28. | |
who are seeking asylum, to go through the right protesters. But | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
also make sure we have a programme that meets their needs. Which is why | :39:34. | :39:40. | |
around 500 is the starting point. But we have to make sure we are | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
meeting their needs. France is taking in 500. Other countries just | :39:46. | :39:55. | |
more caring than we are? They aren't fitting in the same levels of | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
investment in Syria that we are. -- putting in. That is humanitarian | :40:00. | :40:06. | |
relief, not investment. For those lives, it is investment. If you look | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
at the long-term challenge, whatever happens in terms of Geneva, we hope | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
we have a good result, you will get a point where this conflict is not | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
going to be resolved quickly, these temporary camps will be increasingly | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
more permanent. We have a long-term responsibility. I would suggest that | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
500 is neither here nor there. To many peoples surprise committee | :40:34. | :40:35. | |
suggested that we should take more Syrian refugees. But the... You then | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
spoiled it by saying we should take in Christian refugees. Christian | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
values would say to us that where there are people, genuinely fearing | :40:50. | :40:51. | |
for their lives, we have been the most accommodating country in the | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
whole of the world in offering refuge people. We have lost our | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
sense of British values. We are not having a proper debate because the | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
two big political parties in this country have made such a mistake | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
with total open doors to Eastern Europe that they are terrified of | :41:10. | :41:12. | |
the immigration debate. We opened the door up to unlimited numbers | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
from Romania and Bulgaria and closed the door to those who historically | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
we would have given shelter to. If we re-established our own | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
immigration policy, we could get back to Roger Chevalier 's. My point | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
about the Christian people is it is appalling for all these people who | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
have been displaced. There are thousands and thousands sheltering | :41:36. | :41:38. | |
in Turkey, the burden on them is huge. It is bad enough if you are | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
sheer or sunny, but at least in the region there are countries that you | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
can go to. One of the big difficulties, and we're back to | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
Iraq, one of the difficulties is that since the invasion, whole | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
region is becoming very difficult for Christians indeed. So I was | :41:57. | :42:03. | |
highlighting their flight. The Christians are now the most | :42:04. | :42:05. | |
persecuted minority throughout the Middle East. You wouldn't want to go | :42:06. | :42:13. | |
to Egypt now stop so maybe I'm the one hand, you think it is sectarian, | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
on the other, it may be practical. Before I came into the tics, I led a | :42:18. | :42:23. | |
Christian church and I have to say, Christian policy on this response is | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
to let in not only questions that the most vulnerable. -- when I came | :42:28. | :42:36. | |
into politics. They are not the only most vulnerable people. The most | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
vulnerable are the ones without parents, who won't survive in the | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
camps, who the UN are saying we should help. Isn't he on to | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
something when he says, you have let in 70 people in power, you are now | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
terrified of what immigration does -- let into many people. You know | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
you should be suggesting a lot more people. No, I think a lot more. On | :43:00. | :43:07. | |
that. Now, should women sacrifice having a | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
family to ensure equality in the workplace? Nigel Farage seems to | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
think so. His claims earlier this week that women make different | :43:15. | :43:17. | |
choices from men for "biological reasons" has prompted quite a | :43:18. | :43:26. | |
backlash. Let's see what he said. If you are building a career, and the | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
broking industry lets say, which is what I did for most of my career. If | :43:31. | :43:37. | |
you you are as valuable as the client base that will stick with you | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
and move with you. In many cases, women make different choices to the | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
ones that men make, simply for biological reasons. If a woman who | :43:47. | :43:50. | |
has a client base has a child and takes two or three years off work, | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
she is worth far less to the employer when she comes back then | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
when she went for a, because the client base will not have stuck to | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
her portfolio -- when she went away. If you look at the figures, actually | :44:05. | :44:12. | |
before the Big Bang it was still an old boys club in the city, one I | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
first worked there, it was a deeply sexist place. That has all gone | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
completely. I don't believe in the big banks and brokerage houses, in | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
Lloyd's of London, I do not believe there is any discrimination against | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
women. I think young, able woman who are prepared to sacrifice the family | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
life and stick with their career will do as well, if not better than | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
the men. With me in the studio is a woman who | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
has been very successful in the city. Louise Cooper is a financial | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
analyst and commentator AND a mother - and is champing at the bit to | :44:50. | :44:59. | |
discuss Nigel's comments. if you are a television presenter, you can have | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
a baby and come back no problem. If you are a dentist, you can take time | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
off and come back. If you are working on a brokerage desk, I would | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
not even take a fortnight's holiday because that was too long to be away | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
from those accounts. I was being specific. You said there was no | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
discrimination against women in city firms. They are far more hard nosed | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
and look at the bottom line. I do not believe the reason women are | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
paid less in the city is because we have greater discrimination. I try | :45:41. | :45:48. | |
hard not to lose my temper on air and I try hard not to insult people | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
but for you I am going to make an exception. What you are saying is | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
laughable, you are talking out of your bottom. For all the working | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
mothers out there who are battling a day to day, and I know lots of them | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
in the city, but not just in the city but elsewhere as well, who are | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
discriminated against who are paid less than their male colleagues, who | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
I looked over for promotion, I say on behalf of them shame on you and | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
double shame on you because you have daughters. What kind of example are | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
you setting to your daughters by saying what you said? Are you saying | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
that banks in the city of London are openly and clearly discriminating | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
today? Open and clearly is difficult, but they are | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
discriminating. You said women go away for two or three years. I had a | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
child and I had four months maternity leave. The maximum is 12. | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
Why do they go away for three years? Maternity leave, gardening | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
leave. Let me explain. In the city if you leave your firm you cannot | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
work for anywhere else for at least three months. Most firms have six, | :47:07. | :47:13. | |
12, 18 months of gardening leave. That costs the firm because you | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
leave on day one with your bin bag. The new firm are willing to wait 18 | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
months for you to turn up. If it was so important for you to be there | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
every second of the day and not have three months maternity leave, why | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
does the city run on the let's poach other staff? Even more in the | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
brokerage industry there is a lot of gardening leave and people in | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
brokering firms are paying millions to guarantee somebody will arrive in | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
18 months time which is far longer than maternity leave. Do not give me | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
maternity leave, I say gardening leave back to you. The reason | :47:55. | :48:01. | |
gardening leave was put in place is because people know any time away | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
from accounts brings in the recent of risk. When I ran a company I had | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
somebody say, I am resigning and I am going to do the childcare at home | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
and there are now 1 million men at home bringing up children. In a | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
fiercely competitive world like in the brokerage industry, women are | :48:23. | :48:25. | |
disadvantaged if they have children. That is a single fact. You are | :48:26. | :48:33. | |
saying in the city they are discriminated against. I am making | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
the point that that lifestyle choice makes it harder. Some people manage | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
it. I do not accept the city of London discriminates heavily against | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
London. I do not accept that at all. You are saying women who have | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
families are discriminated against, so women who have children are | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
discriminated against? In a bottom-line business they make it | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
hard for themselves. Louise is not the only person who has been | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
screaming. We have achieved executive yet, we have a manager of | :49:11. | :49:18. | |
a bank, they all have children and pets or all at the top of their | :49:19. | :49:27. | |
game. Possibly the most powerful job in the Federal reserve, the head of | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
the Federal reserve, she has got children. I wrote about the ten most | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
influential financial women in the world. Eight of them have children. | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
One of them is the head of one of the most successful hedge fund | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
business in the world. Hedge fund is spend 20 hours a day at work. One | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
was private equity. Christine Keeler guard at the IMF. It is laughable | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
that because a person has a womb they cannot give the best to their | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
companies. Women are paid 30% less in the city and I am suggesting it | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
is because they make different lifestyle choices. Is that right? It | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
may not be right, but it is the way the world is. Some women are happy | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
to have a family and a big job, but it is difficult for them to do. If I | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
am wrong, we have gross discrimination in the city. The | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
reason why women are paid less in the city is because you played | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
deliberately to all the sexist boss is out there and allow and caused | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
this very problem. You have made the situation worse for all the working | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
mothers, not just in the city. Would they be worth less in your party | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
because they have children? No, I repeat I was talking about the | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
brokerage business, a very specific audience. Deliberately people choose | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
to have a row over it. I was being factual. It is not factual. I would | :51:09. | :51:21. | |
not take a fortune of in that job 02 weeks. Some of these women can | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
afford to pay for that childcare without losing the majority of their | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
salary and that can be a big problem. Again I said shame on you, | :51:29. | :51:36. | |
Nigel Farage. I say shame on you for all the daughters who are trying for | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
a career in the future and for older women who want to work and they | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
cannot work because childcare is so expensive. You are making the | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
situation worse. I was talking about one specific area. Are you finished? | :51:54. | :52:01. | |
I have finished, yes. Justin Bieber has been arrested for | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
drunken driving and drag racing in Miami Beach! There's nothing he | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
cannot do to improve his street cred. Politicians across the land | :52:12. | :52:18. | |
are known for their probity, love of a quiet night in with a cup of | :52:19. | :52:26. | |
cocoa. One famous Labour hod, the Red Lion has been turned into a wine | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
bar. There is a metaphor in there somewhere. Before they all | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
disappeared Giles is back to give us his guide through Westminster's most | :52:37. | :52:44. | |
famous boozers. Two pints of Lager and a packet of crisps, please. | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
When it comes to Westminster's watering holes, the Red Lion is the | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
grand dad. It has been an establishment here since 1435. | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
Whilst we are speaking of the evil, remember Charlie Whelan? He tweeted | :53:01. | :53:07. | |
this is the pub where he told the Prime Minister Tony Blair we were | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
not joining the euro. It is a place where people meet. A lot of people | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
think it is a corridor with a bar in it. But this is the corridor where | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
people walk back and forth into Whitehall into the Parliamentary | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
estate. People gravitate around here. But it is not the only place | :53:26. | :53:32. | |
where people drink. If you are looking for a more right of centre | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
watering hole, it is this place, the Marquis of Granby, and on the | :53:38. | :53:44. | |
pavement you will often find Conservative headquarters workers, | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
party workers, several right-thinking think tanks around | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
the corner whose staff comes here. Nigel Farage celebrated his local | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
election victory in this place. But there is the Red Lion, there is the | :54:00. | :54:08. | |
blue bull bar, but there is one place where people mingle quite a | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
lot and it is not outside the Palace of Westminster. Inside Parliament | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
there are only two buyers. One of them is attached to the terrace. The | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
sports and social one tends to be for younger workers and only a | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
handful of MPs use that for a variety of reasons. Strangers is | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
where MPs entertain guests and talk to journalists and they might | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
actually tell you what they think. It has had a fight, including | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
head-butting, but it is the watering hole inside the Palace of | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
Westminster. That is all I know. Lord knows why they thought I would | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
know anything about this subject! He did his research. We are joined | :54:55. | :55:01. | |
by two pints Kevin Maguire from the Mirror. There we are. Get that down | :55:02. | :55:10. | |
you. I know you prefer champagne, Andrew. I guess the budget would not | :55:11. | :55:21. | |
go that way. It is a bit sad? It is and the Red Lion is where Tony Blair | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
was told by Charlie Whelan that Britain was not going to join the | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
euro in labour's first time. It should have a blue flag on the | :55:33. | :55:40. | |
outside! That politics is changing. Nigel is old school because he does | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
drink beer and has been featured in buyers because now it is more women | :55:45. | :55:51. | |
and family friendly hours. Now they are all having coffee in portcullis | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
house. Have they taken the decision the new generation of Westminster | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
people would rather be it a wine by about a pub? That is probably true. | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
There has been a lot of pressure to open a wine bar in the hands of | :56:09. | :56:11. | |
Commons itself, but that has not happened. Is it not the truth that | :56:12. | :56:18. | |
Robin Cook's family friendly changes may have been good, but they have | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
killed a bit of the nightlife of Westminster? It certainly has. You | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
get the odd punch-up, but not that many now. Not enough to keep you | :56:30. | :56:37. | |
hanging around. Eric Joyce is a rarity, but he took against the | :56:38. | :56:44. | |
conservative MPs. Don't the Labour MPs get a bit lonely? They go to | :56:45. | :56:52. | |
their own homes. If the choice is between a commercial pub like the | :56:53. | :56:57. | |
Red Lion or a subsidised drink inside the palace, they are going to | :56:58. | :57:01. | |
take a subsidised drink? Of course they are, they kept the pennies like | :57:02. | :57:09. | |
anyone else and they do not get ?400 a month lightly used to get. What | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
about the journalists? It is the same for journalists. A lot of | :57:15. | :57:21. | |
sparkling water. Last night there were more of us not drinking than | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
there were drinking. In the straitened times, time to find that | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
the answer to the quiz. Which of these has the largest number of | :57:32. | :57:33. | |
followers on Twitter? UKIP weather is new and enormous | :57:34. | :57:49. | |
fun. Let's hope it is that. Do you know? You are right it has 109,000 | :57:50. | :57:57. | |
followers. You have 103,000. UKIP weather is the best. A man in | :57:58. | :58:04. | |
Peterborough went into a pub and ordered a glass of white wine, | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
council is on alert. A man won ?50 on a scratchcard. High winds at the | :58:11. | :58:17. | |
garden centre in Kent after two men were spotted heading towards the | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
plants without stopping to look at the ride on lawn mowers. | :58:22. | :58:30. | |
Time for a drink, I think. Thank you to all of our guests. I will be back | :58:31. | :58:36. | |
tonight on this week on BBC One with Alan Johnson, Michael Portillo, | :58:37. | :58:42. | |
Miranda Green, Nick Watt and comedian Russell Kane and a female | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
racing driver. I will be back at noon tomorrow with all of the | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
stories today. I do not drink pints, so I am going to hand this | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
over to you. I will drink it anyway! | :58:57. | :59:12. | |
The average person moves home eight times during their life. | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
So that's eight times we have to move the sofa. | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
Eight times we have to redecorate. | :59:23. | :59:26. |