:00:26. > :00:29.Morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. He says it is not a
:00:29. > :00:35.U-turn on sentencing policy. Perhaps the Justice Secretary knows
:00:35. > :00:39.another way of turning a car around quickly. They were the worst of
:00:39. > :00:45.times, they were the worst of times. Is there any point in being middle
:00:45. > :00:55.class anymore? And could separating an MP from his dog be a breach of
:00:55. > :00:59.
:00:59. > :01:02.All that in the next half hour. And with us for the duration George
:01:02. > :01:08.Galloway, former MP for Glasgow Kelvin and then Bethnal Green and
:01:08. > :01:12.the former leader of the Respect Party. The Arab Spring has yet to
:01:12. > :01:15.turn into Summer in some countries across the Middle East. Long-
:01:15. > :01:17.standing governments have fallen in Eqypt and Tunisia, there has been
:01:17. > :01:22.violence but no regime change in Bahrain and Yemen. In Libya,
:01:22. > :01:24.Gaddafi clings on. While in Damascus, the Syrian President
:01:24. > :01:33.remains defiant, blaming widespread violence and unrest on saboteurs
:01:33. > :01:39.armed with sophisticated weapons. More than 1,000 people have so far
:01:39. > :01:42.died and thousands more have fled to refugee camps in Turkey.
:01:42. > :01:45.Yesterday in a speech to the Syrian parliament, President Bashar al-
:01:45. > :01:53.Assad made some vague promises of reform - a National Dialogue to
:01:53. > :02:02.listen to the demands of legitimate protestors. But that has not
:02:02. > :02:07.impressed the opposition. It is a part of the world you know well. In
:02:07. > :02:13.2005, you praised Bashar al-Assad as the last Arab ruler. You
:02:13. > :02:19.describe him as a breath of fresh air. I do not think I was the only
:02:19. > :02:26.one. Up to a point. I was not alone in that. Everyone felt he was a
:02:26. > :02:35.breath of fresh air, British- educated, British wife. Tony Blair
:02:35. > :02:40.was all over him. He stayed at Buckingham Palace. He has had 10
:02:40. > :02:44.years to reform and he has not done it. He has probably left it too
:02:44. > :02:49.late. He has had three speeches to address the unrest in the country
:02:49. > :02:56.and he has failed. For those who want to see his downfall, I would
:02:56. > :03:04.say, be careful for what you wish. One characteristic of Syria is that
:03:04. > :03:14.it is a remarkably potentially explosive place with Arabs and
:03:14. > :03:17.
:03:17. > :03:22.Kurds and Sunni and Shia. It has always puzzled me, particularly on
:03:22. > :03:26.the principle the apple never falls far from the tree that the British
:03:26. > :03:31.Foreign Office, and other commentators, yourself, or gave
:03:31. > :03:35.this guy the benefit of the Dove. My feelings were different from the
:03:35. > :03:42.Foreign Office in this respect. I support the Syrian stand on Arab
:03:42. > :03:48.national issues, on Palestine for example. It refuses to sign a
:03:48. > :03:51.surrender peace with Israel. It demands its land back. It continues
:03:51. > :03:59.to support the Palestinian resistance and the Lebanese for
:03:59. > :04:03.that matter. Even though he was a pressing his own people? That is a
:04:03. > :04:10.paradox. His own people had a lot fewer freedoms than Palestinians
:04:10. > :04:15.have in Israel. I do not think that is true. The Palestinians are under
:04:15. > :04:22.illegal military operation -- occupation. I think there should be
:04:22. > :04:28.up by national state. Do you think Israel has the right to exist?
:04:28. > :04:34.state has a right to exist. It is a political formation. Russia has the
:04:34. > :04:39.right to exist but not communist Russia. What am arguing for is by
:04:39. > :04:49.National state of Israel-Palestine, Palestine-Israel were all the Jews,
:04:49. > :04:56.Christians and Muslims live. It would not be a Jewish state.
:04:56. > :05:02.work for an Iranian TV outfit in London. Is it true when you
:05:02. > :05:06.interviewed the ruler of around you began by saying, I require police
:05:07. > :05:11.protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my
:05:11. > :05:17.support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I
:05:17. > :05:26.am coming from. Her had not known I was on trial today. I thought you
:05:26. > :05:34.wanted my expertise on Syria. We could quote some things from Fox
:05:34. > :05:39.News. The short answer is, at no. I, like ABC, supported the fact that
:05:39. > :05:43.he won the election. I did not support his election in any way.
:05:43. > :05:51.said, because of my support for your election campaign. I could
:05:51. > :05:57.give you my 1000 if you show me a tiny bit of support for his
:05:57. > :06:03.election campaign. Did you say that? I said my support for the
:06:03. > :06:09.outcome of the election. I mention this because you will know where I
:06:09. > :06:14.am coming from. That is right. a big supporter of yours, I want
:06:14. > :06:20.you to know that, before I begin the interview. It is very
:06:20. > :06:24.conceivable on Fox News, you think because you support and are
:06:24. > :06:30.associated with the right wing drivel that nobody will cast that
:06:30. > :06:35.up. I knew the way you would reply to these questions would be playing
:06:35. > :06:42.the man rather than the ball. are playing the man, Andrew. You
:06:42. > :06:46.did not even have the grace... if I come on to your show, I would
:06:46. > :06:53.answer your questions. You did not tell me this was the sort of
:06:53. > :06:57.interview it would be. You should be ready for anything. I believed
:06:57. > :07:02.you when you said you wanted to talk about Bashar al-Assad, dogs in
:07:02. > :07:09.Parliament and sundry domestic matters. More fool me. We will
:07:09. > :07:19.leave it on that. It is now time for our quiz. The question for
:07:19. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:37.At the end of the show, George will Now, these are austere times and
:07:37. > :07:44.nowhere is the financial pain being felt more than in the Daily
:07:44. > :07:53.So we're incredibly grateful to Her Majesty's Government for its
:07:53. > :07:56.consistent behaviour. And this morning they have again filled the
:07:56. > :07:59.air with the stench of burning rubber. Which allows us to recycle
:07:59. > :08:03.our favourite graphic. Theses U- turns may be costing the government
:08:03. > :08:07.a lot of money but they are saving pots of cash here. Here's Anita
:08:07. > :08:10.with the details. The Government published its Green Paper on prison
:08:10. > :08:15.sentencing in England and Wales in December last year. Justice
:08:15. > :08:19.Secretary Ken Clarke said the aim was to break the cycle of crime.
:08:19. > :08:22.But another goal was to save money by cutting the number of people who
:08:22. > :08:28.are locked up - Mr Clarke argued that for many criminals prison is
:08:28. > :08:36.costly and ineffectual. The biggest change would have seen sentences
:08:37. > :08:40.halved for defendants who plead guilty early. The proposal caused a
:08:40. > :08:45.row - made worse when Mr Clarke suggested that some rapes were less
:08:46. > :08:50.serious than others. The plans were backed by Nick Clegg but David
:08:50. > :08:57.Cameron was unhappy and a partial U-turn was mooted. The 50%
:08:57. > :09:03.reduction would be limited to minor offences. It now looks like the U-
:09:03. > :09:06.turn is complete. The plan has been scrapped altogether. There will
:09:06. > :09:12.also be new restrictions on early release. And tougher rules on knife
:09:12. > :09:18.crime. The changes will please critics who said the Government was
:09:18. > :09:22.turning soft on crime. But Ken Clarke will now have to find
:09:22. > :09:29.savings of something like �130 million elsewhere. Here's what the
:09:29. > :09:32.Prime Minister had to say a few minutes ago. There will be no
:09:32. > :09:36.change to the current position on early guilty pleas in any category
:09:36. > :09:41.of case. The money that would have been saved would be saved through
:09:41. > :09:46.greater efficiency in other parts of the ministry of justice Budgett.
:09:46. > :09:53.That was the Prime Minister. This is David Davis. Welcome back to the
:09:53. > :09:59.Daily Politics. If it looks like a U-turn, talks like a U-turn, I
:09:59. > :10:02.suggest you it is a U-turn. It is a U-turn that is a good U-turn. They
:10:02. > :10:08.put out a green paper, green peppers are supposed to be the
:10:08. > :10:13.basis of discussion. This one proposes 50% reductions for guilty
:10:13. > :10:17.pleas. It was a bad idea. People would have been on the streets more
:10:17. > :10:22.quickly. The other ones would have been piling criminals who would
:10:22. > :10:27.continue their lives of crime. The Prime Minister did the right thing.
:10:27. > :10:33.Didn't Ken Clarke have a point which was swept away by tabloid
:10:33. > :10:36.newspapers? For a lot of people, prison does not work. There are
:10:36. > :10:40.categories which I do not think have been mentioned this morning.
:10:40. > :10:46.Prisoners with psychiatric conditions who should be insecure
:10:46. > :10:51.wards rather than prisons. Hopefully that will happen. One or
:10:51. > :10:55.two other categories. The primary proposal that people would take
:10:55. > :11:00.more community sentences rather than prison sentences in the hope
:11:00. > :11:05.it would get a better rate of rehabilitation does not stand up.
:11:05. > :11:10.Part of the reason he was doing it would save money. He has to save
:11:10. > :11:16.over 100 million from his part of the Budget. Where does the money
:11:16. > :11:22.come from? I hunch is, you have got about 11,000 foreign prisoners in
:11:22. > :11:29.UK prisons. It is an extraordinary number. I suspect, I know they are
:11:29. > :11:35.trying very hard, to come to arrangements. Judges will have
:11:35. > :11:40.something to say about that? They may. There is nothing -- wrong
:11:40. > :11:47.about sending people back to their own countries, the French back to
:11:47. > :11:53.France for instance. Two prisoners come to -- from places where Louis
:11:53. > :11:57.would argue human rights were in danger? If that were the case, you
:11:57. > :12:02.could send 11,000 back. They would be lucky if they get 5000. That is
:12:02. > :12:08.a lot of money. It would cover most of the issue. The Prime Minister
:12:08. > :12:13.said this morning before we came on air that he had covered some other
:12:13. > :12:17.sentences by life sentences. He said life is popular - people know
:12:17. > :12:20.what is meant by a life-sentence. I put it to you that people do not
:12:20. > :12:26.know what is meant by a lad sentences. I do not know what a
:12:27. > :12:32.life sentences. In many cases, I do not know. It is a term of art is
:12:32. > :12:38.what it is. The other issue which is important as well, which was up
:12:38. > :12:44.for grabs in a green paper, was the idea of an indeterminate sentence.
:12:44. > :12:49.You keep people in for a length of time to be sure they are safe. That
:12:49. > :12:54.has also gone. That is the nearest thing we have now to the old-
:12:54. > :12:57.fashioned idea of a life sentence. You are not lead had until you are
:12:57. > :13:03.safe. Is there not a case, as happened under the last government
:13:03. > :13:09.and has happened and have this one, will try to get penal policy on the
:13:09. > :13:17.treats -- cheap? We do not see what is going on inside prisons. We put
:13:17. > :13:23.people away. We have still got Victorian slums, or the modern
:13:23. > :13:26.equivalent, in pretty bad conditions which become colleges of
:13:26. > :13:30.crime. The sensible policy would be to build bigger and better prisons
:13:30. > :13:34.where people were treated with dignity, serve their punishments
:13:34. > :13:40.but also be given the help to get back on to the straight and narrow
:13:40. > :13:44.when they got out. You are right in one respect. The previous
:13:44. > :13:49.government tried to do things on the cheap. For example they
:13:49. > :13:54.multiplied by 20 the number of people who had suspended sentences.
:13:54. > :13:58.31,000 of them are still on the streets. Quite a lot of that is
:13:58. > :14:03.cosmetic justice and not real justice. You are right but we need
:14:03. > :14:08.to do more in prison. The point about the Green Paper was the idea
:14:08. > :14:13.of making prisoners work. A typical prisoner is in his twenties. He
:14:13. > :14:20.does not read, write, he does not have the skills to hold down the
:14:20. > :14:26.job. He is probably on crack Cockayne. He steals from his mother
:14:26. > :14:30.to feed his habit. All of those things have been let happen. None
:14:30. > :14:40.of this is happening because of overcrowding. Whereas you can't
:14:40. > :14:40.
:14:40. > :14:43.What you describe does should be as expensive, but not as expenses by
:14:43. > :14:47.as having the biggest prison population and the highest
:14:47. > :14:51.reoffending rate in western Europe, which cost society more, both in
:14:51. > :14:56.the re- imprisonment of the people but also in the crimes and
:14:56. > :15:02.devastation left behind. I am four fixed-term penalties, I am not any
:15:02. > :15:07.kind of liberal. They should be strong penalties, but you should be
:15:07. > :15:11.able to work a discount downwards from good behaviour and application
:15:11. > :15:15.to education. The more you train and educate yourself, the better
:15:15. > :15:20.you behave, the sentence would slowly go. You are right, the cost
:15:20. > :15:23.of being out of prison for a professional criminal is 10 times
:15:23. > :15:27.to society the cost of being in prison. But one of the problems
:15:27. > :15:33.with the discount system is everybody gets it. George was
:15:33. > :15:36.saying you have to work for the discount. David would not know this
:15:36. > :15:40.but the others on the front bench of the Tories would, it is more
:15:40. > :15:50.expensive to keep a man in prison for a year then to send a boy to
:15:50. > :15:55.Eton. Do you send your boys to Eton?! A point well made.
:15:55. > :16:00.Aren't you worried that your government is getting a reputation
:16:00. > :16:03.for you turns? You are now facing this confrontation with the public
:16:03. > :16:12.sector unions, something nobody in this Government has ever had to
:16:12. > :16:15.place. Of course there is an issue. I think if the Prime Minister
:16:15. > :16:20.thinks he has got it wrong first time he should change his mind. But
:16:20. > :16:24.there is an issue about vested interests, who approve most
:16:24. > :16:28.progressive policies, they would suddenly feel more muscular as a
:16:28. > :16:34.result of these changes and some of the people defending government
:16:34. > :16:37.policy might feel less inclined to do so. I did what the Prime
:16:37. > :16:41.Minister hanging on desperately to a policy when he thinks it is wrong
:16:41. > :16:45.-- I don't want the Prime Minister hanging on.
:16:46. > :16:51.Home-ownership, foreign holidays, sending the kids to university or,
:16:51. > :16:55.indeed, to Eton. But as we feel the pinch, are these middle-class
:16:55. > :17:05.aspirations moving out of the reach of those on middling incomes? We
:17:05. > :17:08.
:17:08. > :17:14.will debate that in a moment, but Here is a question - how do you
:17:14. > :17:17.know you have become middle class? You wake up and smell the coffee.
:17:17. > :17:21.According to the pollsters, you know you're middle-class when you
:17:21. > :17:26.enjoy nothing more than a nice cafetiere of freshly brewed filter
:17:26. > :17:31.coffee. But what with rising taxes and falling house prices, cuts in
:17:31. > :17:36.benefits, tuition fees, dodgy pensions, is there actually any
:17:36. > :17:39.point being middle-class any more? Recent research suggests more than
:17:39. > :17:44.70% of the electorate think they are middle-class. Right now, they
:17:44. > :17:49.are under pressure. I think being middle-class has got a whole lot
:17:49. > :17:52.harder over the last couple of years. Our survey shows that 46% of
:17:53. > :17:58.people who self to find his middle- class say that it gets harder and
:17:58. > :18:04.harder these days to make ends meet -- who define themselves as middle-
:18:04. > :18:07.class. But two groups which are hardest hit are the bargain hunters
:18:07. > :18:11.and the squeezed once. Those people really feel their family finances
:18:11. > :18:16.are on the edge and they could tip over to the wrong side at any point,
:18:16. > :18:21.they are very emotional about it, they are not whingeing, they really,
:18:21. > :18:25.really feel things are difficult. It is a bit dreary being middle-
:18:25. > :18:30.class right now, but last time I looked, it was not much fare being
:18:30. > :18:38.anybody else, really. Why should we care? I think to be middle class is
:18:38. > :18:42.the finest day you can being. If you value reading, family,
:18:42. > :18:47.stability, keeping the law and paying your tax, all those
:18:47. > :18:52.unglamorous things that make society work, you have the rich
:18:52. > :18:54.with their fancy lawyers and the poor who do not pay so much tax. If
:18:54. > :18:59.you are concerned about what goes into the Treasury, you'd better
:18:59. > :19:05.look after the middle class. If you are feeling the pinch, help is at
:19:05. > :19:08.hand. Actually, I think the middle classes are in a very, very strong
:19:08. > :19:14.position to be domestic servant to the rich, because they could be
:19:14. > :19:18.tutors, my son, for instance, in his gap year, is cleaning up as a
:19:18. > :19:23.tennis coach to the brick nations and all his friends are tutors. You
:19:23. > :19:27.can still make a living, you'll be pleased to hear. That is a relief.
:19:27. > :19:31.It is easy to poke fun at the concept of being middle-class, but
:19:32. > :19:37.it is something most voters either are or aspire to be. Politicians,
:19:37. > :19:40.ignore them at -- at your peril. Mary Ann Sieghart from the
:19:40. > :19:45.Independent joins us and George is still with us. Do you cried tears
:19:45. > :19:49.for the middle classes? Jimmy Durante he said I have been rich, I
:19:49. > :19:53.have been poor, being rich is better. Being middle-class is
:19:53. > :19:57.definitely better than being amongst the working class or, worse,
:19:57. > :20:01.a month those who have fallen out of the class system and are long-
:20:01. > :20:06.term unemployed and desperately poor. I don't quite tears. If I
:20:06. > :20:10.pretended to, you would see through it -- I don't cry tears. If you
:20:10. > :20:13.take the middle classes out of welfare of -- support, they will
:20:13. > :20:19.find things uncomfortable, but people on lower incomes will find
:20:19. > :20:23.poverty. A George is right, it is always worse if you are poor.
:20:23. > :20:28.Imagine, I am agreeing with you! But that is not to say middle-class
:20:28. > :20:34.people are not feeling very, very stretched at the moment. The median
:20:34. > :20:37.income in this country is �20,800 a year, it is not huge. When you see
:20:37. > :20:41.newspaper editors inveighing against attacks on the middle
:20:41. > :20:48.classes, they are talking about top-rate taxpayers, only the top
:20:48. > :20:53.10% of income distribution. feel the squeezed middle exists?
:20:53. > :20:57.The squeezed middle exists. It is roughly either side of the median
:20:57. > :21:01.income. Those people are very squeezed. They are losing tax
:21:01. > :21:08.credits, prices are going up, wages are not going up as fast as
:21:08. > :21:11.inflation, they are seeing real wage cuts, life is very difficult.
:21:11. > :21:15.The party the EU were once very much associated with, what do you
:21:15. > :21:19.make of their appeal, do they understand it in the way that Mary-
:21:19. > :21:23.Ann does? We need a definition of middle-class that we can agree with.
:21:23. > :21:29.I don't think they are the people on �20,000 a year, that might be
:21:29. > :21:33.Mary Ann's definition, it is not mine. That is middle-income. You're
:21:33. > :21:39.talking heads, some of them known very well to me, a long-time friend
:21:39. > :21:44.of mine, one of them, they are not living on �20,000 a year, or even
:21:44. > :21:47.five or seven times that. We need to be careful about what we mean by
:21:47. > :21:52.middle-class. But there is no doubt that mortgages are at an historic
:21:52. > :21:58.low and have been for an historic length of time, so the more you are
:21:58. > :22:02.into the mortgage market the better, relatively, you are doing. The
:22:02. > :22:09.people looking for a council house, for example, have never found it
:22:09. > :22:13.harder to get one. Your long-term friends, you don't
:22:13. > :22:19.think, know where the middle class is. But those people making policy
:22:19. > :22:22.for a party, banking and electoral future on this, do they understand?
:22:22. > :22:25.Does the Miliband camp understand the squeezed middle? They are
:22:25. > :22:30.having to appeal to the whole country, having to attend to the
:22:30. > :22:35.loss of support among us to... And this is what Blue Labour is all
:22:35. > :22:41.about, the loss of support amongst working-class people. Would I be
:22:41. > :22:43.right in saying maybe it is expedient to fudge it a little bit?
:22:43. > :22:48.National parties competing for power in the nation, you have to
:22:48. > :22:52.have something for everybody. Because nobody admits to being
:22:52. > :23:00.upper-class any more, the definition of middle-class... Very,
:23:01. > :23:04.very few people at the very top... You know, these people earning
:23:04. > :23:08.�100,000, say, they are certainly at the very upper end of the income
:23:08. > :23:13.distribution, but because nobody admits to being upper-class, the
:23:13. > :23:21.definition of middle class has gone far too far up the income stream.
:23:22. > :23:29.You would say middle class is... From the median rate to...? Below
:23:29. > :23:33.the top rate of tax. Basic rate tax payers. It is not about money. I
:23:33. > :23:41.learned a very, very much more than that, but I am still working class.
:23:41. > :23:49.So is Andrew. How are you working class? You are winking. How are you
:23:49. > :23:52.working class? It is difficult to define but easy to recognise. I
:23:52. > :23:56.feel socially inferior to Mary Ann Sieghart, for example. You a much
:23:56. > :24:02.more than I do. It is not about learning. I know she looks down her
:24:02. > :24:07.nose at me, even though I am very much more than her. It is much more
:24:07. > :24:10.complex than money, class. If John crust -- Prescott can be middle
:24:11. > :24:15.class, I don't see why George can't be. He was definitely wrong about
:24:15. > :24:19.that. I would love to revisit this, fascinating. Then queue for being
:24:19. > :24:25.with us. Now...
:24:25. > :24:30.By did you write that? I did not! Are cats middle-class or working-
:24:30. > :24:37.class? What a segue! A very bad one!
:24:37. > :24:41.I know you know a thing or two about feline behaviour, George. It
:24:41. > :24:45.seems Larry the Downing Street cat has been working very hard. The
:24:45. > :24:49.Prime Minister revealed in a radio interview yesterday that he is a
:24:50. > :24:57.smashing mouser. Busy eradicating the rodent infestation in Number
:24:57. > :25:04.Ten. He is a good mouser. I think he has
:25:04. > :25:08.got three. He has caught three mice, verifiable.
:25:08. > :25:12.Larry is not very keen on men. He was a rescue cat and I have a
:25:12. > :25:21.feeling he had some bad... He loves all the women but he is a bit
:25:21. > :25:24.nervous of the men at Number Ten. Familiar enough, he liked Obama.
:25:24. > :25:33.Obama stroked him and he was all right with him. But he is doing
:25:33. > :25:37.well. -- funnily enough, he liked Obama.
:25:37. > :25:42.Concentrate! That was Larry the Downing Street
:25:42. > :25:46.cat. For reasons of impartiality we could not have done an item about a
:25:46. > :25:53.cat without mentioning dogs. The Conservative MP Matthew Offord is a
:25:53. > :25:56.dog man, such a dog man Matti wants to take his dog Max to work. The
:25:56. > :26:01.parliamentary authorities will not let him. He intends to use human
:26:01. > :26:07.rights legislation. Just as well we have not got a depression, a war in
:26:07. > :26:12.Libya, that we can get to these important issues! Matthew joins us
:26:12. > :26:15.now on his lonesome. Why just Parliament? If you really took this
:26:15. > :26:20.seriously, wouldn't you want legislation that allowed people to
:26:20. > :26:25.take dog to work wherever they were? You are over-egging the
:26:25. > :26:30.pudding a little bit. Never on this show! The whole issue arose because,
:26:30. > :26:36.in jest, I said to somebody who kept quoting health and safety,
:26:36. > :26:39.under Article 8 I had a right to a family life, including my dog.
:26:39. > :26:44.are you doing this because you would think you out to discredit
:26:44. > :26:48.human rights legislation? Human rights legislation has discredited
:26:48. > :26:52.itself. One thing which has emerged over the last couple of days is
:26:52. > :26:55.that there are thousands of people using the Human Rights Act and
:26:55. > :27:00.Article 8 to ensure they are not removed from this country. What is
:27:00. > :27:03.more important to you, getting your dog into Parliament or discrediting
:27:03. > :27:12.human rights legislation? Addressing the human rights
:27:12. > :27:16.legislation... Discrediting, I said. Addressing and removing it. As a
:27:16. > :27:20.former BBC employee, I know that you need a pet to get an issue one.
:27:20. > :27:25.The dog is being used, you don't care if he gets into Parliament or
:27:25. > :27:28.not. He could be kept at home, endlessly, unloved, because you are
:27:28. > :27:33.trying to prove their point rather than trying to getting into
:27:33. > :27:37.Parliament? As a serious politician, it is about the Human Rights Act.
:27:37. > :27:42.The number of people using Article 8 to prevent themselves from being
:27:42. > :27:48.deported, many after they have committed serious crimes. Have you
:27:48. > :27:54.favour of human rights legislation. He might be, but it does not apply
:27:54. > :27:57.to him. But the import of point is article 8 and the �12 million we
:27:57. > :28:03.are spending on people using Legal Aid to defend themselves on article
:28:03. > :28:11.8 in this country. You are lonely without your dog? An MP is never
:28:11. > :28:18.lonely. Have ours! He is called Patch, look after him. To the MP
:28:18. > :28:22.for Barking?! A quick thought, George? Working dogs only. The best
:28:22. > :28:27.dog story I ever saw, the week before we broke up for the 97
:28:27. > :28:31.election, David Blunkett's dog leads him into the chamber and led
:28:31. > :28:35.him to the government side, uncannily aware that in just a few
:28:35. > :28:39.weeks' time Labour would be the Government. True story. Not a
:28:39. > :28:44.shaggy-dog story. He is so nervous about being seen a photograph with
:28:44. > :28:46.our dog that he has put it behind the sofa.
:28:46. > :28:56.We will get the dog back, we are We will get the dog back, we are
:28:56. > :28:56.