Browse content similar to 12/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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George Osborne says his tough stance on the economy is paying off. | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
him to crow a bit at tonight's annual Mansion House | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
He's also decided to get tough with the bankers. | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
He wants criminal sanctions for traders who attempt to rig | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
Teresa May says the Home Office may have to bring it | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
Here is a man who has a few choice words up his sleeve. We'll be asking | :01:00. | :01:13. | |
him what he think of his old boss. And World Cup fever's hit | :01:14. | :01:23. | |
the Westminster Village. LAUGHTER. | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
THE MOST INTELLIGENT REMARK WE'VE HAD ON THE DAILY PICKS FOR A WHILE. | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
With us for the whole programme today is the MEP, Godfrey Bloom. | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
A champion of the feminist cause and famous liberal. | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
He used to be a member of UKIP before Nigel Farage gave him | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
He wasn't re-elected to the European Parliament last month, | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
but has to hold his job down till the end of June. | :01:54. | :01:55. | |
Gives you two weeks to finish your expenses I guess. | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
Now first today let's start with the passport crisis. | :02:07. | :02:08. | |
The Home Secretary was forced to the House of Commons | :02:09. | :02:10. | |
this morning to answer an Urgent Question on the matter. | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
Theresa May has announced measures to tackle the backlog | :02:14. | :02:15. | |
People applying to renew passports overseas, | :02:16. | :02:17. | |
for travel to the UK, will be given an automatic 12-month extension to | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
And those applying for passports overseas for their children will | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
also be issued with emergency travel documents for travel to the UK. | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
In addition to these changes, HMPO will increase the number of | :02:27. | :02:39. | |
examiners and call handlers by a further 200 staff. Second HMPO is | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
addressing a series of process points to make sure its systems are | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
operating efficiently and third, where people have an urgent need to | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
travel, HMPO has agreed to upgrade them. That's their application will | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
be considered in full. It will be compo indicted in terms of its | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
processing, printing and delivery. They have agreed to upgrade them | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
free of charge. That was the Home Secretary this morning. The | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
Government moving on all fronts to try to hose down this passport | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
crisis. I mean, the Government began by saying it was almost Much Ado | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
About Nothing, now it is moving on all fronts, even saying it is going | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
to have to take over the Passport Office My secretary went down to get | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
my passport renewed several months ago, I needed to go to Brazil. We | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
need it on the hurry up. She said it was chaos. She said she didn't know | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
how the place works. It all comes back to the fact that I don't think | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
the Home Office and its subdivisions are fit for purpose and this isn't | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
new. It wasn't that long ago that the Passport Office had a reputation | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
for being one of the most efficient of the Government agencies Indeed. | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
It has gone backwards, hasn't it? That's extremely sad and now, of | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
course, it is firefighting and crisis management. Which is always | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
less than helpful. The significance of this, too - there are lots of | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
issue that is Westminster talk about that are frankly marginal to most | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
people's interest, certainly in the short term. This isn't. This is | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
really cut-throat Absolutely. This affects everybody, who is trying to | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
get away, especially at this time of the year. I think it adds to the | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
feel that people are fed up with the incompetence of this administration | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
much it is reflective of the whole thing over the last fou years. We | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
will see how it goes. -- last four years. The story, clearly has, leg. | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
Now time for Godfrey to get his grey matter working with a little | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
daily quiz. The question for today is: | :04:42. | :04:43. | |
What has Boris Johnson recently ordered for London? | :04:44. | :04:45. | |
A, some new water cannons. B, stocks. | :04:46. | :04:46. | |
C, a new skyscraper called The Cucumber. | :04:47. | :04:48. | |
Or D, a statue of David Cameron for Trafalgar Square. | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
At the end of the show we'll see if Godfrey can give us the correct | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
This must be about the easiest quiz we have done in years. | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
Now, it's been a very busy week for George Osborne. Some key economic | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
stats have been released, he's making a major set-piece speech, and | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
he also took in a trip to a another planet too. Here's what the | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
The last Government might seem like a long time ago and from a galaxy | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
far away, but George Osborne - as he keeps telling us - is still trying | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
to sort out Labour's economic legacy. | :05:24. | :05:24. | |
Earlier this week the chancellor paid a visit to a film set. Why? A | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
new Star Wars movie is going to be filmed in the UK. And that means | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
more jobs and more investment, says Mr Osborne. | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
Talking of jobs, there was new hope yesterday. The unemployment rate | :05:39. | :05:40. | |
fell from 6.8% to 6.6% in the last quarter, as the number of people in | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
A case of the economy strikes back? Not quite. Earnings growth has | :05:46. | :05:56. | |
slowed to 0.7% from 1.9% the previous month, leaving wages lower | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
But tonight the chancellor will show he's not afraid to use the force. | :06:03. | :06:12. | |
He's using his Mansion House speech to set out plans to crack down on | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
Joining me now is the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Chris | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
Leslie, and the Conservative MP Jesse Norman. | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
Welcome to you, both. Jesse Norman y are wages still | :06:26. | :06:33. | |
lagging prices? -- why are wages? It is a long-term problem. It is a | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
matter of catch-up in the economy. I don't think they have been kept by | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
the continually low inflation in eurozone which has pulled down wage | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
costs and other things across the whole of Europe. You know, I think | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
it is a process of recovery. When will wage rise more quickly than | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
prices? Well, when the demand for labour starts to accelerate. It is | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
accelerating. It is accelerating at a record level. That's true. It'll | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
continue to accelerate as the cycle goes on and as investment starts it | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
take proper shape in industrial manufacturing businesses. It always | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
lags consumer demand. We have seen investment picking up fast now. I | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
would expect wages to rise as a result of that. Will they be rising | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
in time for the election? Well, they may well do. It's just a matter | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
of... You must hope they do. I think that's true. I don't think the | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
election is the key issue. The key issue is - what happens to the this | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
country? When they rise, will they rise in a stable way is a key issue. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
You forget the real wages of the bottom third of the population | :07:42. | :07:43. | |
stopped growing in 2003. The cracking of that and beginning the | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
process of accelerating wages amongst the least well-off working | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
people in this country is the crucial long-term challenge. Of | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
course, Chris Leslie, the gap between the rise in wages and the | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
rise in prices is not a complete measurement of living standards. No, | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
I think it is interesting - not just interesting, it is appalling it has | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
been going on for such a were longed period. I think there have been only | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
a couple of months where wage levels have exceeded prices. One of those | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
was when the Chancellor gave away his #r50p tax cut. He cut it to 45p. | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
And there was a bonus Bonn on did a at the top of the income scale. -- | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
Even take that into account, prices are still running higher than wages. | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
Yes and we saw that in your package. The Chancellor is scratching his | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
head much he is under the impress that people should be grateful for | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
the economic data fl. He doesn't understand that for most people, | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
they are still finding it difficult. For many, low pay, the insecurity of | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
work, the zero hours interests, is a real and pressing problem. You say | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
that. And, of course, there is no question for lots of people it has | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
been a tough time. They have had to tighten their belts and their pay | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
hasn't kept pace with the price of a lot of things they have had to buy. | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
Is that true overall? If there was a cost of living crisis, there would | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
be a number of of indicator that is would prove your point. For example, | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
retail sales. They would be very weak people wouldn't have money to | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
spend. They are up 6% year on year. The key is not to look at this in | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
aggregate. You have to look at what is happening, per head, per person. | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
If you look at the GDP statistics, the growth in the economy, the very | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
wealthiest at the top, especially the wealth west 1% v seen their | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
share of the cake increase, they are doing very well indeed. The bottom | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
90%, pretty much everybody else, has seen their share actually fall back. | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
If that was the case, why would retail sales be rising by 6%. It is | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
not the top 6% from retail scales. There are a few wealthy people. They | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
do not. It is an be absurd point, you know it. Retail sales are | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
everybody GB to Marks Spencer and Primark. Some is borrowed money and | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
people resorting to credit cards. People are resorting to credit cards | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
sometimes it make ends meet. Hold on, credit card debt is not | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
extraordinarily high. It has shown very little of a rise. Look at the | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
savings ratio. And negative equity is following. People have been | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
dipping in a their I savings. You can only do once, by the way. | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
Consistently the savings ratio, 3%, last year 2%, going to be this year | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
predicted to be 1%, by the OBR, the following here this. S a problem | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
that's a continuing crisis. Yet we don't have a Chancellor who even | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
recognises it as a problem. Are you in danger with the unemployment | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
figures, which nobody can really explain, but the figures are really | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
- they have surprised everybody, not just politicians. They have | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
surprised economists as well, are you in danger you may face an | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
interest rate rise this side of the election? Well, it is almost | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
impossible, the Bank of England, which is independent, might raise | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
interest rates towards the end of this year, that's been the kind of | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
guidance we have seen, so it is it plays into the market. Unemployment | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
has never been higher than it is now. The rise was the last on | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
record. Inflation has never been as high. The participation rate is | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
almost the same. The participation rate... That's a percentage.. That's | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
right. The other thing s you would expect wages come under some | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
pressure as the employment market grows, because more and more people | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
are competing with the labour market. These things go together. | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
The extraordinary thing s it is doing as well as it is. There are | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
growing questions about your cost of living narrative as more and more | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
facts come out. They are not being questioned by independent | :11:48. | :11:49. | |
commentators. Your own side are beginning to question T let's listen | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
to what George leak had to say on the Daily Politics? -- what George | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
Clarke had to say For me, thep main issue is the economy. We have to | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
convince people they won't go back to bad economic circumstances of the | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
past. I think we need a stronger narrative about what we did right | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
and wrong in Government. We did many things right economically and some | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
things wrong. We didn't do that. We haven't been prepared to admit the | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
mistakes we have made. He we rested a great deal on assuming the | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
Conservative strategy would not succeed, that plan A would not work. | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
It has proved to be unwise. The Conservatives have succeeded in | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
getting the economy on a more positive path which leaves us very | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
little place to be now in these circumstances. The cost of living | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
crisis, as Labour call it, is that really a powerful enough narrative? | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
The cost of living crisis? It is a real description of the position | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
very many people feel. The answer isn't necessarily in those very same | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
people's minds, that Labour will solve their cost of living crisis. | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
You need a story more than just about life as people experience it, | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
but more about how Labour would change those conditions of life. So | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
Plan A worked according to Mr Clarke and the cost of living crisis is not | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
a strong enough narrative. I think if you describe the situation people | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
are in today, this is undoubtedly n my view, a cost of living crisis. | :13:16. | :13:17. | |
are in today, this is undoubtedly n my view, But people want | :13:18. | :13:17. | |
are in today, this is undoubtedly n my view, a cost of living crisis. to | :13:18. | :13:19. | |
know what we are saying about the economy and the vision for the | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
economy going forward. For me, it comes down to two things - if we | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
have a recovery, we want it to be... We have a recovery. That is that we | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
want it to be sustainable. We want to make sure it is lasting and not | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
lob sided and we can talk about housing and interest rates in a | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
moment. But we also want an economy that is fair for all. It does | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
involve everybody and it is not just seeing rewards and growth go to | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
those at the very top of society. On both of those points, I think there | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
is a big, big political choice for people to Mick and a lot of | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
difference between the Conservative and the Labour Party. -- people to | :13:54. | :13:56. | |
make. What do you make of the current economic situation? There | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
are a number of points I don't necessarily accept. The cost of | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
living index, I believe is badly formed. I don't believe in the CPI | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
being an accurate portrayal of what it actually is for real people. So, | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
you look at, in the last ten years, you see energy price have doubled. | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
You have seen petrol prices have gone up, food prices have gone up. | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
So the things that people are dealing with, in my constituency in | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
Yorkshire, and places like Hull and York and Leeds and Bradford, they | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
are having a struggle. But he can't complain about that, it was his side | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
that introduced the CPI. It is even worse if you look on R pi. . It is | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
worse if you look at RPI. I wouldn't have moved away from RPI. You have | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
You have certain things not going up. White goods. Flat screens. What | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
else? I think the other problem you have with cost of living, Government | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
haven't done anything to trim public spending. They have nibbled at the | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
edges of deficit spending, but they are still in this situation where | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
they are borrowing, ?9 billion a month. They said they would get rid | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
of the national debt or start to bring it down. What is going to be a | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
gift to the Labour Party in May 2015, people will say - the Labour | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
Party can't imagine this problem. The long and short is that this | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
administration is going to the country with a national debt which | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
is 50% times greater so. This administration has been a disaster | :15:21. | :15:31. | |
on national debt. There are today 780,000 more private-sector jobs | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
than one year ago, a record rise, the highest, I think, in 25 years, | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
but only 11,000 fewer public sector jobs. What happened to the cuts? You | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
ask anyone in the public services and there have been significant | :15:49. | :15:57. | |
cuts. Why few would jobs? I think the truth of the matter is the | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
economy is like a supertanker. You do not turn it around instantly. | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
Other crises, they take between six and ten years to overcome. That | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
looks at the start of recovery in 2014 and hopefully going on for | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
several years. Debt will rise as you start to get the deficit under | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
control, it is down under a third. The Labour narrative is empty. | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
Should interest rates rise sooner than later? My fear is that they | :16:27. | :16:35. | |
will rise sooner. It is a judgement for the Bank of England. I have a | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
worry about what is happening in the housing market. We have the | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
Chancellor saying that he has the Help To Buy scheme but he wants | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
hindrance to buy. They are in a muddle. They should focus on supply. | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
Unless you get demand and supply in better equilibrium, you will have a | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
lopsided problem. Is there a housing problem outside London? If interest | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
rates go up you are talking about ?240 a year for the typical mortgage | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
customer. That could be a problem for many people. | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
The government have admitted there's a benefits backlog, with more than | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
700,000 people still waiting for assessments for employment | :17:19. | :17:20. | |
And that's not the only benefit which has been delayed. | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
In Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, | :17:25. | :17:26. | |
David Cameron was asked by Labour's Katy Clark about problems with | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
the personal independence payment - the benefit which has replaced | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
Less than one quarter of people who have applied for the personal | :17:33. | :17:47. | |
independence payment have received decisions. If we continue at this | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
rate it will take more than 40 years to get to the point where everyone | :17:53. | :17:54. | |
is assessed. rate it will take more than 40 years | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
to get to the point where Does the Prime Minister think this | :17:59. | :18:00. | |
acceptable? What will he do about it? It is important when we | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
introduce new benefits that we make sure it is done in a way that works | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
well. I would say it is important not to have an artificial deadline | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
of replacing one benefit with another. We are joined by the | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
Minister for disabled people, Mike Penning. More than 700,000 people | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
waiting for assessments for employment and support allowance, | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
many of them some of the most vulnerable people on low incomes in | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
the country. That is not good enough. It is not. I have been in | :18:34. | :18:41. | |
the job eight months. I asked for a review of the allowance, how it | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
performed, and who was performing. What I would say is that figure is | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
10% less than the last time I released figures. Last time it was | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
770,000. Why did you let it get to this, not you personally, but the | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
government? We have to look at what it replaced. DLA, you were put on | :19:07. | :19:16. | |
that for life. Only 7% of people who got that got a face-to-face | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
examination. At the moment is when I came in it was 97%. You can see | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
where the delays come. We are getting that down. A further 84,000 | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
people are still on incapacity benefit. They have not been moved | :19:33. | :19:33. | |
people are still on incapacity benefit. They have not over to ESA. | :19:34. | :19:42. | |
You say 84,000... I wanted to make sure, and this is important, that | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
people coming on to benefit, who need the money... People on the | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
current benefit are on it and have not lost anything. We want to make | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
sure we have new people coming on. On top of this, delays with the | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
personal independence payment as well. To such an extent that the | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
National Audit Office found claimants were waiting on average | :20:10. | :20:17. | |
107 days, terminally ill patients, 28 days. People who are dying. We | :20:18. | :20:25. | |
cannot even get money to them. It is wrong. 28 days when I arrived, less | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
than ten days now. I promised the select committee, lobby groups, | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
charities and individuals, I will get it down. I've got it down to ten | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
days, I think we can get it down to between three days and five days. | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
You can guarantee for any terminally ill person, waiting for this, they | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
do not wait for more than ten days? They have not been waiting for more | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
than ten days. I said that was wrong and said I would get it down to ten | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
days and I have done so. Why was it not the scene? Any new benefit it is | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
difficult. There was a pressure, 97% of people having face-to-face | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
examinations, which were not necessary. It should be around 65, | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
35. It is making sure the decision is right. I am adamant about this. | :21:22. | :21:31. | |
So little getting their decision are going to appeal. In WC A, which we | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
have had problems, with the contracts, and we have a new | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
provider, that has dropped by 89%. People who really need the money are | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
getting it. People not getting the work is that judges in the Appeal | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
Court. In the WC a they were not doing the work I wanted to do on | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
assessments. If I had sacked them like the Labour Party Tolmie, and we | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
could have done that, we would have paid huge amounts of compensation. | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
If you sack them because they can't perform... The Labour Party wrote | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
the contract. They are going out and paying us compensation, not the | :22:16. | :22:24. | |
other way. Atos And WC a are leaving. They are doing a much | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
better job now. The backlog will be cleared when we have a plan in place | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
and we hope, and it does depend on the numbers coming through, but | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
certainly we aren't fearing more than is coming in. I cannot give an | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
exact date. I need to make sure we get the right decision. It sounds | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
like, among many other things, we are looking carefully at dishes and | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
-- at decisions. It looks like it is working better. The people Atos | :22:59. | :23:07. | |
replacing, do they have a contract where you can get rid of them | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
without costing the taxpayer money. I have not issued a contract yet. | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
Normally the companies run circles around you. I am determined that | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
lessons need to be learned from the contract issued by the previous | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
government. That we get better for the taxpayer. How much has it cost | :23:29. | :23:38. | |
the taxpayer? Dealing with the previous contract and bringing new | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
people in? If we had done what others said, sack them, it would | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
have cost tens of millions of pounds. We have a substantial | :23:48. | :23:55. | |
settlement that they paid us money. I feel sorry for Mike Penning, he is | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
between a rock and a hard place. He inherited the problem. Everybody | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
has. Welfare is failing across Western Europe and north America. | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
What happens is under Beveridge, the idea that you were putting a safety | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
net under people having bad luck. We have opened the doors of welfare to | :24:18. | :24:25. | |
too many people. We lost the original plot. We cannot deliver. I | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
disagree. In the old days, mutual societies would have dealt with | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
that. I do not want it to be about the rights and wrongs of the welfare | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
state. Does the government owe the people involved an apology? I have | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
apologised. I apologised on the floor of the House of Commons. We | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
need to make sure people get it and people who do not deserve it do | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
not. I promised those people I would do something and that is what I am | :24:59. | :25:00. | |
doing. Our guest has | :25:01. | :25:01. | |
his own way with words. He once described parts of | :25:02. | :25:03. | |
the world as "Bongo Bongo Land" and The last remark saw him | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
criticised from the most unexpected Flatmate in Brussels and leader | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
of UKIP, Nigel Farage, effectively threw him out | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
of a party he'd been a big part of. Last year, | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
Godfrey was the proud recipient A spokesman described him | :25:20. | :25:21. | |
as a wince-inducing gaffe machine. In the garden of politics, God -- | :25:22. | :25:44. | |
Godfrey Bloom is no shrinking violet. You would think some had his | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
statements were fashioned in the Duke of Edinburgh School of PR. But | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
he often excuses offence by saying he was joking and repeatedly blamed | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
the usual suspects for making a fuss. The left-wing press were on | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
its like a Rottweilers. That is politics. Who can he mean? Clearly, | :26:05. | :26:16. | |
the mainstream BBC. If you have not done a hand's turn and neither have | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
your parents, I do not understand why you can vote on the | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
administration. He was elected a UKIP MEP but weeks later on his | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
first day in Strasbourg, with a seat on the European Parliament's women's | :26:30. | :26:38. | |
rights committee... No self-respecting businessman would | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
employ a lady of child-bearing age. That is not politically correct but | :26:46. | :26:54. | |
it is a fact of life. He said that women did not "clean behind the | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
fridge enough". It made an effective Christmas card with his wife. | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
Holding bongos is his allusion to his views on foreign aid. How we can | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
be giving ?1 billion a month when we are in debt to Bongo Bongo Land... | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
It is this off-the-cuff style that scuppered him with his own. In the | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
midst of the biggest Conference the UKIP in years, on the back of the | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
joke about a fridge, he also made a joke. I have never cleaned behind my | :27:26. | :27:37. | |
fridge. He might have got away with it but in terms of handling a media | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
problem later, this is probably not how you deal with it best. Was there | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
a single woman in there who did not laugh at the joke, you sad little | :27:48. | :27:57. | |
man? You have a Conference brochure with no black faces. What a racist | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
comment, | :28:02. | 0:21:06 |