Browse content similar to 18/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The Government of Iraq has now formally asked the United States for | :00:00. | :00:11. | |
military help to resist the Islamist rebels who plunged the country into | :00:12. | :00:20. | |
Civil War. As ISIS tries to capture bits of the all-important oil | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
industry, what would it mean for the world economy if they succeed? Here | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
in Baghdad the fighting in the oil refinery is causing a lot of people | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
to wonder whether Iraq is heading for break-up and there be a war | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
between Sunnis and Shias. After Ed Miliband finds himself in another | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
fine mess, Peter Mandelson explains where his unique appeal to voters | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
lies. This is the most stupid he assignment, I have done warzones | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
easier than this. I did this as a special favour. Well, you get the | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
idea. And we're in Uruguay to see how Luis Suarez is going to beat | :01:04. | :01:14. | |
England tomorrow. The Iraqi Civil War is now so | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
intense and the position of the Iraqi Government so powerless that | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
it has frantically sought American military intervention. No judgment | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
on that yet from the White House, though the fact that Iraq's main oil | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
refinery has been the scene of serious fighting, and the scale of | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
an insurgency out of all proportion to the number of insurgent, both | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
point up the gravity of the crisis. First up we join the BBC's world | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
affairs correspondent in Baghdad. What is the mood in the capital | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
there? Well there is an awful lot of anxiety Jeremy both here and wider. | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
I went down to the holy city of Kerbal today and an awful lot of | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
anxiety there. People talking about the possibility of open Civil War, | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
and the danger from the entire region, not just Iraq. People are | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
very worried indeed. It doesn't look now nearly so much as though Baghdad | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
might fall. There were Government ministers here last week who thought | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
it would. That doesn't seem to be on the cards so much now. This is a big | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
Shi'ite city and you know there is only 15,000 of these ISIS | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
characters. I just don't think they are up for capturing an entire city | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
or perhaps even entering it. It is still very, very worrying. The | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
biggest worry of all is this possibility that Iraq might split up | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
into its constituent parts. How seriously is that worry taken? Very | :02:53. | :03:03. | |
seriously because you know if the division comes, then what does Iran | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
do? Well it would be terribly tempted to swallow up, I suspect, | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
the Shi'ite rump of Iraq. The Kurds would go their own way, they have | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
been pretty much any way. But what happens to the Sunnis? That's a | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
small relatively small sliver of land alongside the Syrian border, is | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
it big enough? Is it possible it could exist on its own? Nobody | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
knows. It is really, really very disturbing. John, thank you very | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
much indeed. Well our diplomatic editor has spent the day looking at | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
how big the ISIS insurgency really is, and how equipped the Iraqi | :03:44. | :03:52. | |
Government have to deal with it? After the shock of the Sunni | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
onslaught, Iraq is fragmenting. Kurdish troops fighting today near | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
Kirkuk have also taken their chance to carve out a bigger territory for | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
themselves. But in Baghdad, the Prime Minister insists that lost | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
ground can be recovered. TRANSLATION: We will teach them | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
lessons and deal them blows and we will deal with those who think that | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
they can defeat the political process and the national unity and | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
defeat Iraq. The Iraqi army still has several outposts in the north. | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
With fighting continuing in Tal Afr, and where there is a key oil | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
refinery, and Samarra, key shrines are there. Although there are the | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
outskirts of Bakuba, there has been no significant advance in recent | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
days. While the situation has stablised and Iraqi forces are being | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
massed to counter-attack, what are the chances of them regaining | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
ground? I would counsel Prime Minister Al-Maliki, although he | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
wouldn't accept it, to replace the military commanders he has put in | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
charge of the Iraqi forces with more competent leadership. When the | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
United States were there we worked with the Iraqi Government to put in | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
place competent military leaders, regardless of their sect or | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
ethnicity. But since the end of 2011 when US forces were withdrawn from | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
Iraq, Prime Minister Al-Maliki has packed the Armed Forces with | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
political cronies. In effect he has created a force that is very loyal | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
to him and won't launch a coup, but can't fight effectively as well. If | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
the Iraqi army is going to be used to regain control of the Sunni | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
Triangle it is going to have to be much more competent and willing to | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
fight than it is right now. But if the army's generals are a losing | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
bunch, its ranks are now being swelled with thousands of | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
enthusiastic volunteers. Most of them are Shia, and the presence of | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
an Iranian general, the Revolutionary Guard's chief covert | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
operator has convinced many Iraqi Sunnis that the plan is to form a | :06:07. | :06:14. | |
Shia army. I think he comes to Iraq to ensure that those who are | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
supporting Iran, or those who have been working with Iran will stay in | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
line and will not deviate. He wants to ensure that the influence of Iran | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
will be maintained and strengthened. I think that was his main aim of | :06:30. | :06:38. | |
coming. The chances of ISIS storming Baghdad are remote, instead the | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
security forces are bracing themselves for an increase in truck | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
bombs, launched from nearby Sunni towns. If that sounds like a return | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
to the bad old days of a few years back, so does the idea of American | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
air strikes. One Iraqi minister called for them today, but there is | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
little enthusiasm for the idea among the US military. Every time you | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
conduct military action there are political implications. It would be, | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
I think, a grave mistake to launch air strikes now before the political | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
situation on the ground has been clarified. The Government of Nouri | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
Al-Maliki has been part and parcel of the problem in Iraq, with its | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
highly-authoritarian and sectarian nature, if we were to support | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
Al-Maliki now with air strikes we would simply be taking his side in | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
this political struggle within Iraq. But while Baghdad tries to find its | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
response, the enemy has a vote too. ISIS paraded its captured army kit | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
today in Baji, the first order of priority for groups like this could | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
be snuffing out the remaining army posts, and today they have attacked | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
beleaguered troops at the nearby refinery, which produces 40% of | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
Iraq's petrol and now looks set to fall. What effect could all this | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
potential disruption have on oil supplies and there by affects upon | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
the world economy, with us is our economics correspondent. What are | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
the markets making of all of this, they are the first indication? So | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
far the market reaction to these terrible pictures to Iraq has been | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
relatively calm. The price of oil is now above $114 a barrel, that is the | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
highest since last September, but not the sort of big move we have | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
often seen in turmoil in the Middle East. It is not like the $120 during | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
the Arab Spring. There is a couple of reasons for that, firstly the | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
vast majority of Iraqi oil production is in the south and the | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
east of the country and hasn't been impacted. Secondly, Saudi Arabia at | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
the moment has a lot of spare capacity. If Iraqi production is | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
disrupted they can bring that on stream. The bigger worry about the | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
long-term picture. How worried should we be about that? The initial | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
reaction in the last few days has been calm. What people in the oil | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
industry are starting to fret about is the long-term picture. At the | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
moment Iraq produces about 3. 5 million barrels of oil a day. That | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
is about 4% of total world supply. But over the next 20 years that 3. 5 | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
million barrels a day is expected by international observers to rise to | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
8. 5 million barrels a day. That is a huge driver of future oil supply. | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
Five million barrels a day. That is roughly the amount of oil that the | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
UK, Germany and Holland use every day. That is a big gap to fill up if | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
Iraq is not capable of bringing it on stream. If it doesn't come on | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
stream, and people are doubting it with the talk of Civil War and the | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
split, there is a huge problem for the world economy, and big gap in | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
supply and prices rise. But most importantly there is a terrible | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
problem for Iraq, because increasing oil supply, trebling it over the | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
next 20 years the key to really boosting their GDP and increasing | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
prosperity in that country. So people are getting very, very | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
concerned at the moment. Thank you. In Washington the Iraqi ambassador | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
to the United States is on the line and here in the studio we have the | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
Kurdistan regional Government's high representative to the UK. Ambassador | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
may I start with you please, is your Government capable of defeating | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
these rebels without outside military assistance? We are some | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
what confident that the work we will do will have a significant impact, | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
however we also know that we need immediate support to accelerate that | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
process and provide us with areas of capability, such as air supremacy, | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
which we currently don't have, so we need that support now. So you can't | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
cope? Alone it will take more blood, it will be vicious, it will be | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
dirty. What we are saying is that we need the support of the United | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
States and other countries, because of the urgency of the ground and the | :10:58. | :11:04. | |
type of enemy we are facing. How is it, talking about this enemy, that | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
such an apparently smaller force should have been able to take so | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
much of your country? There is a lot of reflection now going on within | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
the military infrastructure, we have changed some of the high commands, | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
maybe more will follow. But what we are saying is that is an issue for | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
us to discuss with our partners as to how we can beef up and relook at | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
our military capabilities. But the threat is an immediate threat now. | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
So your military was inept, that is the problem is it? The military was | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
developed, it is a new military, the military has been working with the | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
United States. We had the US forces there until 2011, the military had | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
no air force, and no infantry, the intelligence gathering was still | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
fragile. These are all capabilities which we are trying to develop in a | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
new state. That is with the viciousness of the situation, the | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
spillover from Syria, these are all factors that have adversely impacted | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
us. So your military was incapable. What help do you want from Iran? We | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
are asking for help from the United States. Would you like help from | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
Iran? There are bigger regional issues to discuss. But what we are | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
saying is the strategic framework agreement we have is with the United | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
States. The United States is our key partner of choice in developing our | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
military in with other areas of co-operation, this is what our focus | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
is on. Of course Iran is operating already within Iraq isn't it? In | :12:43. | :12:52. | |
what sense? The all quad Al-Qud Brigade? I'm not aware of that. We | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
will come back to you in a moment or two, but would you like military | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
assistance from Britain as well? What do you mean from Britain as | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
well. Would you like air support from Britain? No, no. Certainly not. | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
The key capability we are asking for is for the United States to stand by | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
us as our strategic framework agreement, talking about the | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
integrity of Iraq. Now we have a serious situation, it is not a | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
puritily only Iraqi domestic situation, it is a regional threat. | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
That is the urgency and the depth of that challenge is. We will come back | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
to you in a moment or two, I hope. Can you tell us where the Government | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
of Kurdistan stands on all of this? Well, from our perspective, this is | :13:39. | :13:45. | |
a crisis on three fronts. It is a humanitarian crisis. We have tens of | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
thousands of refugees who have fled to Kurdistan from Mosul. It is a | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
security crisis, as ambassador has said. It is a crisis that affects | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
not only Iraq, all of Iraq, is in mortal danger. It affects the | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
region, it affects the gulf and even further afield. And it is a | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
political crisis too in Iraq. We have seen many pictures of your | :14:12. | :14:21. | |
fighters engaging the ISIS forces, for whom are they fighting? The | :14:22. | :14:30. | |
Peshmurgeres' primarily role is to protect the Kurdish people and the | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
region. We have gone to the areas outside the Kurdistan region which | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
are part of Kurdistan to protect the people there and key strategic | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
infrastructure as well. Does that mean they are fighting to support | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
the Government of Iraq, the central Government? Kurdistan is part of | :14:45. | :14:55. | |
Iraq, according to the constitution, the Peshmurgeres are part of the | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
Iraqi defence forces, we are defending the people of Iraq. By | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
means of the central Government? How do you mean, by means of the central | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
Government? These forces owe their loyalty to the Government of | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
Kurdistan, which is part of the constitutional arrangement in Iraq, | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
do they there by owe their loyalty to the Government of Iraq Nouri | :15:19. | :15:26. | |
Al-Maliki, I would say the current Government would find it hard to | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
find loyalty. We have not been shy pointing out repeatedly over the | :15:32. | :15:34. | |
past few years that the Government in Baghdad has been sectarian, has | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
been devisive and marginalising the Sunni Arab community and has tried | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
to keep the Kurdish community and the Kurdish leadership out of | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
decision making. We have been very frank about that and called for a | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
change of Government. Your country is quite close to breaking up isn't | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
it ambassador? The country is at a critical test, it needs its partners | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
and its international countries who are involved in its development | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
after 2003. It has been fragile in the politics, now we need to really | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
look at that. But we also know that the wealth of Iraq is, can help in | :16:19. | :16:27. | |
the development, but the politics needs to be looked at and the threat | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
is immediate. One further point, you and President Assad have a common | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
enemy in ISIS, are you now allied therefore effectively with President | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
Assad? We are facing an immediate threat in our own country. We are | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
dealing with that ourselves. The situation in Syria has never helped | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
us. We hope that the situation is addressed regionally, the players | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
who are involved in the fight against terrorism have to work | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
closely together. To that extent I think we are dealing with a | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
situation in Iraq ourselves. Thank you both very much indeed. Time for | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
what is the point of Ed Miliband chapter 5, it is not as if he's in | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
power and having to take unpopular decision. It is not as if he has | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
committed the country to unpopular wars. It is not as if there is the | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
faintest breath of scandal about him, and yet a year out from the | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
next general election polls show he has the appeal oa flatulent dog in a | :17:31. | :17:40. | |
lift. And Labour voters are unlikely to want to vote for him. We get the | :17:41. | :17:49. | |
baron Peter Mandelson of Foy's opinion next. First we have this | :17:50. | :17:50. | |
report. This must be a head-scratching | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
moment for Ed Miliband. It is not as if he hasn't produced radical | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
policies, big thoughts, brave ideas, he has had no contentious foreign | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
policy, no bloody wars, his entire focus has been on those squeezed by | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
recession, and yet his personal poll ratings continue to plum new depths, | :18:09. | :18:20. | |
with less than a year to go. The party of today feels very different | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
to that coined in the mid-1990s as new Labour. The party whose | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
transformation began a decade earlier when Peter Mandelson was | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
working for Neil Kinnock. For too long the Labour Party has viewed | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
television as our persecutor, I want to use television as our tool and | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
servant. We shall be presenting ourselves and putting across our | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
policies and making sure that our spokesmen get the coverage that they | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
can communicate directly with the people. As a sign of their | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
rebranding, the Labour Party adopted the red rose, Neil Kinnock was a | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
keen gardener, Peter Mandelson, legend has it, insisted on the long | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
stem. It was a sign that old style socialism was passed, the red flag | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
as both symbol and song relegated to the backend of conference. In other | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
words, this is where the soapbox would end, and the courtship would | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
begin. Our party, new Labour, our mission new Britain, new Labour, new | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
Britain. LINEBREAK APPLAUSE Peter Mandelson, ongside Blair, | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
Brown and cap women took Labour and the failed state and took it into | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
Labour the new brand. Out went the state, in went the party friends | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
with business and celebses, the party that could crucially befriend | :19:36. | :19:44. | |
the upper-classes and seize the centre ground of politics. But the | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
messenger was not universally popular. Peter Mandelson would at | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
times go by the nom de guerre Bobby, he was often toxic within his own | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
party. He gained a reputation has one of new Labour's most ruthless | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
operators, media savvy, but not always friendly. There were those | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
within the party and outside it who would cheer his downfall when it | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
came. He resigned from Government, not once but twice. It was the | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
Mandelson-Campbell spin that gave Labour its shiny new coat as well as | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
its cloak of darkness. The way in which Alastair has conducted his | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
operations when he was in Downing Street, when he bullied and lied his | :20:26. | :20:34. | |
way across our political life, consistently, did more to lower the | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
tone of our political life, our public life, than anything else. And | :20:38. | :20:47. | |
it is perhaps that legacy that has confounded Ed Miliband. A leader | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
that at times doesn't seem to know whether he's coming or going, who | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
poses with a paper one day and apologises next. Tomorrow Team | :20:56. | :21:02. | |
Miliband will announce major policy reforms, among them the end of | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
jobseeker's allowance with the aim of getting those with little | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
training or education into work. The man at the centre may yet struggle. | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
Those around him know the journey from new Labour to what he calls a | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
one-nation Labour Government, they still have a long way to go. With us | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
now is baron Mandelson, the political Prince of Darkness who | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
helped create new Labour and whose career has encompassed spells around | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
the cabinet table in several departments, including business and | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
Northern Ireland. Do you think Ed Miliband is the best leader your | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
party could have? In my view he is the leader we have and therefore the | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
leader I support and somebody who I believe is capable of leading the | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
party to victory. The best possible leader? Let me, if you don't mind, | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
just step out of the way you framed this. We have a year to go between | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
now and the election. In the coming days and weeks and months, the | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
Labour Party will be bringing forward a whole series of quite | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
forward-looking policies. Having policies, though, without those | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
being drawn together into a convincing and vivid narrative. A | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
story about yourself, who you are, what you stand for, what you are | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
going to do for people in the country is not enough. You have | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
really got to put all this, draw it all together, connect the policies, | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
link them back to the leader and give people a real sense of where | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
you are going and what you are going to do. Let me put it the other way, | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
why is he so much worse a leader than Tony Blair? He's a different | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
leader, Jeremy. I mean Tony Blair was consciously moving the Labour | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
Party to the centre ground, away from ideology, away from the | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
either/or of British politics. The either you are sort of for the poor | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
or you are for the rich, or either for the person who works on the | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
factory shop floor, or you are for the executive floor and the | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
boardroom. You are either for Britain or for Europe. What Tony | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
Blair did was to replace either/or with "and". He produced a different | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
form of consensual politics that appealed right across the spectrum | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
of the centre ground, leading it from the left, but consciously | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
making that appeal across the centre ground. Ed Miliband is choosing a | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
different course. It isn't working? What people around him would say is | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
that what needs to do, or what he is doing for the Labour Party and the | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
left is what Mrs Thatcher did for the right in the 1970s and 80s. If | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
that is the case why do 43% of Labour voters according to the | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
latest poll want to see a change of leader? Bring these people on and | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
ask them, Jeremy. I haven't been asked by any opinion pollster. You | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
are a man who knows what is going on in politics? What I know that is | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
going on is Ed is trying to approach politics in a rather different way | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
from the way which Tony Blair and new Labour approached it. Do you | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
think it is working? It may work, it may well be successful. I would say | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
to you that electoral arithmetic is probably on his side. Do you think | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
that it would be more effective were he seen to be more probusiness? I | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
think that he has confused the party's message to business. What he | :24:32. | :24:43. | |
needs to do is embrace the model of a market-based economy where we are | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
supporting business success, but where we also want to see a socially | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
inclusive society with principles and social justice, where we are | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
creating opportunities for people and leaning against inequalities in | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
society in everything we do. How has he muddled the message? Let me make | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
the point. He places a great deal of emphasis on the last of those | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
positions, the social justice, the fairness, the leaning against | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
inequality. I think that's absolutely right for a Labour leader | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
to do so. But he also has to balance that with an explanation of how we | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
are going to bring about economic growth, how we are going to create | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
jobs and how we are going to create conditions in Britain for business | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
to grow and thrive. Which he hasn't done yet? Which he has a year to do. | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
Which he hasn't done yet? He has a year to do. When you look at the way | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
people in this country regard politics and there is a profound | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
disenchantment, I'm sure you would agree, a profound disenchantment | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
with politics and politician, do you accept any of the brain for that? | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
Well I think the condition of politics in Britain today is much | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
weaker than it was 25 years ago. I think politicians are trusted less. | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
Before you? Politicians are trusted less, that's true. People vote less, | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
they support the mainstream parties less than they did 25 years ago, and | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
institutions of central and local Government are not held in such high | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
esteem. But the reason for that, I would say, is to do with the | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
profound impact of economic and social changes on our country. And | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
you don't accept any responsibility for that? I'm not quite sure what | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
charge you are levelling at me. The charge is you got to work on the way | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
that politics happened in this country, you put an emphasis upon | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
spin, you put an emphasis on presentation, you buckled down a | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
really tight control on how the party is operated and the | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
consequence of that is people are disenchanted because the stock | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
response has become "you can't trust politicians". I'm not going to | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
apologise to you and anyone else for making the Labour Party more | :26:56. | :26:57. | |
presentable and putting it in a better light. But I never made the | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
mistake of confusing good communications and good policies. To | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
me you can only have good communications flowing from good | :27:06. | :27:08. | |
policies. You have to have a very real sense of what you stand for and | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
what you are going to do for the country. And no number of photo | :27:12. | :27:19. | |
opportunities, or sound bites, however effective and attractive | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
will substitute for that sense of mission that a political party has | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
got to convey to the public. But the appeal of someone like Nigel Farage | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
is that he's not part of a mainstream party, isn't it? I think | :27:32. | :27:39. | |
it is. Because you have a Government which isn't popular and a position | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
which is not strong enough. For the reasons that I have expressed for | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
which I believe the opposition has a year to put right. So Ian though | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
many of the people who voted for UKIP the other week, polls | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
subsequently say they neither like or agree with UKIP, and nonetheless | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
voted for Nigel Farage in order to send a message to the main parties. | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
It is one they have to receive and respond to. How much do you think | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
that the public opposition to politics, politicians, the political | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
process, is to do with the fact that your friends in Government took us | :28:16. | :28:25. | |
into that war in Iraq? I think Iraq does haunt British politics. It is | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
not yet behind us, and I know that many people in the country believe | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
that when the invasion and occupation of Iraq took place, some | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
how the gates of hell were raised to release all that civil strive and | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
all that carnage. I know that there are people who believe that we are | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
sewing at what we reaped. I don't happen to believe it is as simple as | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
that. As a Labour member of parliament, who followed his | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
Government's lead at the time and voted for it, I'm not now going to | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
join Tony Blair's chorus of critics. So you still think it was the right | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
decision? I think that on reflection you could judge that it was a | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
mistake. But this is the crucial point I would make to you, if it was | :29:14. | :29:20. | |
a mistake it was a mistake honestly made. I do not believe, I do not | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
believe that either Tony Blair or the Government as a whole, as some | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
people claim, took the country to war on a lie. I think that's | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
unacceptable and I don't think it is true. Tony Blair was saying even | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
this week that it was still the right thing to do. Do you think he | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
has gone a bit nuts? No I don't think he has gone a bit nuts. I | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
think he's fully entitled to defend his position. I also happen to think | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
he's right to say that where as 25 years ago, when you started on this | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
programme, we had the sort of relative certainties of the Cold War | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
to deal with, we now have the terrible uncertainties of Jihadism, | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
of radical Islam, he is right to point up the dangers of that, and | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
he's right to galvanise and mobilise people to take the action, to adopt | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
the policies to deal with it. Peter Mandelson thank you very much. Now, | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
time for the periodic delight of an interview with the Mayor of London, | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
Boris Johnson. These occasions have a habit of veering from the | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
pedestrian to the extraterrestrial. This time we thought we would jump | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
in part way through on a bicycle, the I a parent pretext was a | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
discussion about cycling in London. Some idiot, I foremeet if it was me | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
or a producer decided to do it on a tandem. Due to cuts the BBC has | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
downsized its fleet, and the only one we could get hold of was | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
manufactured some time before the dinosaurs were wiped out. Jeremy. I | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
have got this wonderful vehicle. Have you ever ridden one of these? | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
No I haven't. Not since I was a child. I think the chances of | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
staying upright are slim? Not since I was a child. That is fantastic. | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
Look at that. I know you want to go on the front, let's have a practice | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
round here first? We better do this. Are we sured for this insured for | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
this? I wouldn't have thought so. I thought with the safer cycling | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
initiative we wouldn't have to think about that? Stand still, I don't | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
want to knock it over. Crikey Moses. I don't know what that is, the | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
camera. I have just kicked that. Ready, steady go. Christ, this is a | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
nightmare! Are you sure about this old man. You are steering. I am | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
steering. I hope. Watch out, watch out. Is your sadd all right, you see | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
that twists. I see, yeah, yeah. Is that meant to twist. Maybe you have | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
a sideways bottom Boris. Have you got any brakes Boris? No hardly, | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
brilliant, keep going. It is your leadership Boris. I feel it is going | :32:15. | :32:21. | |
well, oops! This is the most stupid assignment, I have done warzones | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
that are easier than this! I did this as a special favour to you | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
because I care about you so much Jeremy, you are a landmark of our | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
culture and I wanted to show you how delightful it is to cycle in London. | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
It is not delightful to cycle in London, it is a bloody nightmare? | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
This is I must say the most difficult machine I have tried to | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
cycle on. Newsnight pro-Kurd this. This is like being the back half of | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
a pantomime horse? It is. Crikey. Well done, you are doing good. This | :32:55. | :32:59. | |
is death. Don't give up now! Good afternoon. People screaming "there's | :33:00. | :33:06. | |
Boris" does it happen a lot? A lot. Normally they shout "you Tory | :33:07. | :33:13. | |
tosser"! Watch out, there is a Banksy. It is a real Banksy! | :33:14. | :33:21. | |
Preserved culture. Jesus Christ there's the police. I'll do the | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
talking, I'll do the talking, all right. You leave it to me. I have | :33:26. | :33:37. | |
been here before! Good afternoon! Good afternoon. OK. I looked at the | :33:38. | :33:47. | |
figures earlier, there is nearly 5,000 people killed on, or injured | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
on bicycles sorry, every year? The total number of serious injuries was | :33:52. | :34:00. | |
457 last year. And the number of those killed was exactly the same, | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
even though cycling continues to rise. Good afternoon. Where are you | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
on helmets Boris? # Rain drops keep falling on my head | :34:11. | :34:19. | |
# Dee-dee-de-de. Where are you on helmets? I'm pro. Didn't you hear | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
the neurosurgeon say the other day? I'm not a mandatory helmet user, I | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
don't believe they should be compulsory, but I wear one, I | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
generally wear one. We are getting off here. Full marks. Well done. | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
Smash it up a bit more, come on. Thanks, sorry. It is a horrible | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
bike, isn't it? It is a real bastard isn't it! Boris I would like to ask | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
you why the Barclays bike scheme has been such a failure? What do you | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
mean. It is such a howling success. Why are they giving up sponsoring | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
it? Just so we get some clarity on that, it is the most successful bike | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
hire scheme in the world. The bikes are rubbish and the company | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
sponsoring it are giving it up? The bikes are beautiful. They are | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
lumbering, uncomfortable? Compared to that thing it is the Rolls-Royce. | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
Compared to a 1901 tandem they are. Isn't the real problem here is they | :35:25. | :35:31. | |
are known not as Barclays banks, but Boris bikes, which is a misnomer, | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
because it wasn't your idea? In fact it was the bicycle was invented, or | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
I think the metal... We don't want the history of bloody bicycles? | :35:44. | :35:51. | |
Dennis Johnson! Was he an, ancestor of yours? I claim without much | :35:52. | :36:07. | |
authenticate proof. The hard is Shard is there, what do you make of | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
it? It looks like a cocktail stick with a pickled onion. It is | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
foreign-owned? I think actually you will find it is... It is a monument | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
of vainity? It is filling up and monument to confidence in the London | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
economy. How many Londoners are living in that building? In that | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
building so far not a lot. But I can tell you that in London as a whole, | :36:32. | :36:39. | |
by volume sales to foreigners, including the Irish, by the way and | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
all other EU nationals are only running at 6%. The issue for London | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
now is how do we make sure that this sense of, that we don't encourage or | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
have any more of this sense of he is strangement between London and the | :36:57. | :36:59. | |
rest of the UK, because people feel that London is incredibly | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
successful. It is a separate country isn't? It isn't, it is absolutely | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
integral to the whole of the economy of the UK. To give you one example, | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
tourism which generates about ?19 billion for the UK economy, 63% of | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
all tourists to Britain come to London first. What I'm trying to get | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
over to you is what is good for London is good for the whole of the | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
UK economy. Do you want to cycle back to City Hall? This is Jeremy's | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
valedictory programme. I want to say on behalf of Jeremy's many, many | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
admirers that there will be a lot of people who are very sad to see him | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
go. He has kept the nation entertained, if not always awake! | :37:42. | :37:50. | |
For many, many years, and has been an adornment to broadcasting. That | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
is quite enough from you Boris, come on. Bloody hell Boris this is a | :37:55. | :38:02. | |
nightmare. Watch out team, watch out. OK, I'm following you, with gut | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
and determination Jeremy, here we go. We're on the wrong side of the | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
road. No, it is a one way street. I have Mr Paxman on the back I have to | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
take exceptional care. I'm carrying the last remaining one-nation | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
Conservative in the BBC. It is a precious cargo. You have to watch | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
out for aggressive drivers. Ease off a bit, that is good, well done. | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
Don't take your hand over Boris, don't wave, don't do anything silly. | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
That's good, we need the money shot, we will crash into this bolard! I | :38:39. | :38:46. | |
think it was your idea. Right turn here Jeremy, right turn. OK. Good | :38:47. | :38:55. | |
evening, hello. Good evening. Here we go! Well done. Well that was | :38:56. | :39:04. | |
Boris Johnson. Now Michael Howard, did you? No Jeremy I didn't, but | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
feel free to ask another 11 times. No that is fine, thank you very | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
much. Moving on he can land expects, the country's footballers must live | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
their World Cup match against Uruguay tomorrow or return early | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
from Brazil. Easier said than done, the country has a population, | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
although only a bit bigger than Greater Manchester, yet it has won | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
the World Cup twice, once more than England have managed. Their squad | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
includes Luis Suarez, the Liverpool striker was Player of the Year in | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
the Premier League although he has also a less glittering reputation | :39:43. | :39:51. | |
for biting lumps out of opponents. This piece contains some flash | :39:52. | :40:10. | |
photographyer It is not quite World Cup fever, | :40:11. | :40:17. | |
World Cup bit of a high temperature more like. It is not that the people | :40:18. | :40:23. | |
are indifferent, far from it. But like English fans they have seen | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
their team lose the opening match of the tournament. Tomorrow is do or | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
die. A lot rests on Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Gifted but controversial. He | :40:34. | :40:41. | |
seems to embody the national football philosophy, "guts, | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
ferocity, fighting spirit". Newsnight dropped in on a typical | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
office to gauge the mood. This ad for a finance company revels | :40:51. | :41:07. | |
in Suarez's bad boy image. His hypercompetitiveness, even his habit | :41:08. | :41:15. | |
of diving. Some people are on the pitch, they think it's finito! The | :41:16. | :41:25. | |
signature Uruguayan combo of guile and grit has served the country | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
well. The team won the first-ever World Cup on home soil back in 1930, | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
beating Argentina. The old centinary stadium has seen better days. You | :41:36. | :41:47. | |
see the replica of the jewels JulesRemet. The man who tends the | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
honours here, he shares a name with the England skipper. 15-times the | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
American cup, two Olympic Games, two World Cups, I can't explain. It is a | :42:02. | :42:10. | |
miracle. Football is just your life. We asked a young sports analyst to | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
account for this success in a country of just over three million | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
people. It is like a religion we have, it is a feeling we have since | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
the very, very little kids. We are born with football. I mean the first | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
gift you got when you are a boy is a ball. Yes, these are the deceptively | :42:32. | :42:39. | |
charmings to the who -- tots who grow up to put their opponents on | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
the back foot. At four or five they are encouraged to play for fun, at | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
least at first. This football nursery produced a certain Suarez L, | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
and this is the man who discovered him. What was it about him that made | :42:54. | :43:00. | |
him special? TRANSLATION: He was fast, very fast, he scored a lot of | :43:01. | :43:03. | |
goals and would dribble past everyone and then score. How did you | :43:04. | :43:12. | |
help Suarez develop? I taught him how to dribble and pass the ball to | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
his team-mates. Players have to learn to pass to each other. In the | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
beginning he was a bit too individual, but as he went through | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
the system he grew as a player. You weren't responsible for teaching him | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
the biting as well were you? No, no, no. The training ground of Uruguay's | :43:30. | :43:38. | |
top club, where Suarez came as a teenager, it is spartan by the | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
standards that players or Chelsea at Manchester City are used to. But for | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
a time it was home for the rookie. How often have you heard it said of | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
some future superstar of the game that he lived, ate and slept | :43:52. | :43:54. | |
football. That was pretty much literally the case for the young | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
Luis Suarez, here in his digs at the club, he could tuck up and dream of | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
international star dem beneath his team's own coverlet. As well as | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
Suarez's huge talent, there were discipline issues. It is claimed he | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
once head butted a referee. TRANSLATION: It is not really like | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
that, he burst out from between two or three players and collided with | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
the referee head on. While you could say he was a bit wound up about the | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
way the match was going, the actual collision was just an accident. At | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
all events Suarez was given a red card. Perhaps only in Uruguay could | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
a youthful ban like that be linked to a gunman attempting a hit on | :44:40. | :44:46. | |
investigative journalist, there is no suggestion that Luis Suarez | :44:47. | :44:54. | |
himself was involved in any crime. TRANSLATION: This incident resulted | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
in the referee making a formal complaint with his union and the | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
Uraguayan Football Association. Because of this the President of | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
Uruguayan youth football tried to cover up Suarez's behaviour. 11 days | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
after this complaint I was shot on my doorstep, this whole episode was | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
orchestrated by the President of Uraguayan youth football who wanted | :45:17. | :45:19. | |
to protect Suarez at that time. The hit man that was contracted was made | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
to kill me. But he was remorseful at the last moment. When he pointed his | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
gun at my head he changed his mind and shot me in the leg. The gunman | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
was convicted and sent to prison over the failed hit, as was the | :45:36. | :45:44. | |
soccer official who paid for it. To quote Bill Shankley's old addage, in | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
Uruguay football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important | :45:51. | :45:58. | |
than that. What of the measuring -- mercurial Suarez himself, I tracked | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
him down as a guest in a celebration for the Queen's birthday. There is a | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
great expectation, and I think if the game can be played well, a clean | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
game, and exciting with lots of goals I think whatever the result we | :46:15. | :46:17. | |
will be able to live with it. And you want England to win? I want | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
England to win. You are allowed to say that? I don't know if I I am, | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
but I want England to win. Soon the talking will stop about who is the | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
best team on paper or cardboard. And once glittering careers may enter a | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
new phase. That's it, in the tradition of | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
deranged news anchors I ought to ask you all to go to your windows throw | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
them up and scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
more", this is England so I will say thank you for watching Newsnight, I | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
hope you continue to enjoy it, good night and goodbye. | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
# I'd like to build # The world a home | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
# And furnish it with love # Grow apple trees | :47:06. | :47:09. | |
# And money bees # And snow white | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
# Turtle doves # I'd like to teach the world to | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
sing # In perfect harmony | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
# I'd like to hold it in my arms # And keep it company | :47:24. | :47:30. | |
# I'd like to see the world for once # All standing hand in hand | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
# And hear them echo through the hills | :47:38. | :47:38. | |
# For peace throughout the Tomorrow's weather more of the same, | :47:39. | :47:51. | |
I don't know why they make such a fuss about it. | :47:52. | :47:56. |