Browse content similar to 21/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. He says it is not a | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
U-turn on sentencing policy. Perhaps the Justice Secretary knows | :00:29. | :00:35. | |
another way of turning a car around quickly. They were the worst of | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
times, they were the worst of times. Is there any point in being middle | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
class anymore? And could separating an MP from his dog be a breach of | :00:45. | :00:55. | |
:00:55. | :00:59. | ||
All that in the next half hour. And with us for the duration George | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
Galloway, former MP for Glasgow Kelvin and then Bethnal Green and | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
the former leader of the Respect Party. The Arab Spring has yet to | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
turn into Summer in some countries across the Middle East. Long- | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
standing governments have fallen in Eqypt and Tunisia, there has been | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
violence but no regime change in Bahrain and Yemen. In Libya, | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
Gaddafi clings on. While in Damascus, the Syrian President | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
remains defiant, blaming widespread violence and unrest on saboteurs | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
armed with sophisticated weapons. More than 1,000 people have so far | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
died and thousands more have fled to refugee camps in Turkey. | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
Yesterday in a speech to the Syrian parliament, President Bashar al- | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
Assad made some vague promises of reform - a National Dialogue to | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
listen to the demands of legitimate protestors. But that has not | :01:53. | :02:02. | |
impressed the opposition. It is a part of the world you know well. In | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
2005, you praised Bashar al-Assad as the last Arab ruler. You | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
describe him as a breath of fresh air. I do not think I was the only | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
one. Up to a point. I was not alone in that. Everyone felt he was a | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
breath of fresh air, British- educated, British wife. Tony Blair | :02:26. | :02:35. | |
was all over him. He stayed at Buckingham Palace. He has had 10 | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
years to reform and he has not done it. He has probably left it too | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
late. He has had three speeches to address the unrest in the country | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
and he has failed. For those who want to see his downfall, I would | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
say, be careful for what you wish. One characteristic of Syria is that | :02:56. | :03:04. | |
it is a remarkably potentially explosive place with Arabs and | :03:04. | :03:14. | |
:03:14. | :03:17. | ||
Kurds and Sunni and Shia. It has always puzzled me, particularly on | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
the principle the apple never falls far from the tree that the British | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
Foreign Office, and other commentators, yourself, or gave | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
this guy the benefit of the Dove. My feelings were different from the | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
Foreign Office in this respect. I support the Syrian stand on Arab | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
national issues, on Palestine for example. It refuses to sign a | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
surrender peace with Israel. It demands its land back. It continues | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
to support the Palestinian resistance and the Lebanese for | :03:51. | :03:59. | |
that matter. Even though he was a pressing his own people? That is a | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
paradox. His own people had a lot fewer freedoms than Palestinians | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
have in Israel. I do not think that is true. The Palestinians are under | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
illegal military operation -- occupation. I think there should be | :04:15. | :04:22. | |
up by national state. Do you think Israel has the right to exist? | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
state has a right to exist. It is a political formation. Russia has the | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
right to exist but not communist Russia. What am arguing for is by | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
National state of Israel-Palestine, Palestine-Israel were all the Jews, | :04:39. | :04:49. | |
Christians and Muslims live. It would not be a Jewish state. | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
work for an Iranian TV outfit in London. Is it true when you | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
interviewed the ruler of around you began by saying, I require police | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
am coming from. Her had not known I was on trial today. I thought you | :05:17. | :05:26. | |
wanted my expertise on Syria. We could quote some things from Fox | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
News. The short answer is, at no. I, like ABC, supported the fact that | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
he won the election. I did not support his election in any way. | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
said, because of my support for your election campaign. I could | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
give you my 1000 if you show me a tiny bit of support for his | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
election campaign. Did you say that? I said my support for the | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
outcome of the election. I mention this because you will know where I | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
am coming from. That is right. a big supporter of yours, I want | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
you to know that, before I begin the interview. It is very | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
conceivable on Fox News, you think because you support and are | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
associated with the right wing drivel that nobody will cast that | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
up. I knew the way you would reply to these questions would be playing | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
the man rather than the ball. are playing the man, Andrew. You | :06:35. | :06:42. | |
did not even have the grace... if I come on to your show, I would | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
answer your questions. You did not tell me this was the sort of | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
interview it would be. You should be ready for anything. I believed | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
you when you said you wanted to talk about Bashar al-Assad, dogs in | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
Parliament and sundry domestic matters. More fool me. We will | :07:02. | :07:09. | |
leave it on that. It is now time for our quiz. The question for | :07:09. | :07:19. | |
:07:19. | :07:34. | ||
At the end of the show, George will Now, these are austere times and | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
nowhere is the financial pain being felt more than in the Daily | :07:37. | :07:44. | |
So we're incredibly grateful to Her Majesty's Government for its | :07:44. | :07:53. | |
consistent behaviour. And this morning they have again filled the | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
air with the stench of burning rubber. Which allows us to recycle | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
our favourite graphic. Theses U- turns may be costing the government | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
a lot of money but they are saving pots of cash here. Here's Anita | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
with the details. The Government published its Green Paper on prison | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
sentencing in England and Wales in December last year. Justice | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
Secretary Ken Clarke said the aim was to break the cycle of crime. | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
But another goal was to save money by cutting the number of people who | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
are locked up - Mr Clarke argued that for many criminals prison is | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
costly and ineffectual. The biggest change would have seen sentences | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
halved for defendants who plead guilty early. The proposal caused a | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
row - made worse when Mr Clarke suggested that some rapes were less | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
serious than others. The plans were backed by Nick Clegg but David | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
Cameron was unhappy and a partial U-turn was mooted. The 50% | :08:50. | :08:57. | |
reduction would be limited to minor offences. It now looks like the U- | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
turn is complete. The plan has been scrapped altogether. There will | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
also be new restrictions on early release. And tougher rules on knife | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
crime. The changes will please critics who said the Government was | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
turning soft on crime. But Ken Clarke will now have to find | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
savings of something like �130 million elsewhere. Here's what the | :09:22. | :09:29. | |
Prime Minister had to say a few minutes ago. There will be no | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
change to the current position on early guilty pleas in any category | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
of case. The money that would have been saved would be saved through | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
greater efficiency in other parts of the ministry of justice Budgett. | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
That was the Prime Minister. This is David Davis. Welcome back to the | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
Daily Politics. If it looks like a U-turn, talks like a U-turn, I | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
suggest you it is a U-turn. It is a U-turn that is a good U-turn. They | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
put out a green paper, green peppers are supposed to be the | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
basis of discussion. This one proposes 50% reductions for guilty | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
pleas. It was a bad idea. People would have been on the streets more | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
quickly. The other ones would have been piling criminals who would | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
continue their lives of crime. The Prime Minister did the right thing. | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
Didn't Ken Clarke have a point which was swept away by tabloid | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
newspapers? For a lot of people, prison does not work. There are | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
categories which I do not think have been mentioned this morning. | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
Prisoners with psychiatric conditions who should be insecure | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
wards rather than prisons. Hopefully that will happen. One or | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
two other categories. The primary proposal that people would take | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
more community sentences rather than prison sentences in the hope | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
it would get a better rate of rehabilitation does not stand up. | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
Part of the reason he was doing it would save money. He has to save | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
over 100 million from his part of the Budget. Where does the money | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
come from? I hunch is, you have got about 11,000 foreign prisoners in | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
UK prisons. It is an extraordinary number. I suspect, I know they are | :11:22. | :11:29. | |
trying very hard, to come to arrangements. Judges will have | :11:29. | :11:35. | |
something to say about that? They may. There is nothing -- wrong | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
about sending people back to their own countries, the French back to | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
France for instance. Two prisoners come to -- from places where Louis | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
would argue human rights were in danger? If that were the case, you | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
could send 11,000 back. They would be lucky if they get 5000. That is | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
a lot of money. It would cover most of the issue. The Prime Minister | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
said this morning before we came on air that he had covered some other | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
sentences by life sentences. He said life is popular - people know | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
what is meant by a life-sentence. I put it to you that people do not | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
know what is meant by a lad sentences. I do not know what a | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
life sentences. In many cases, I do not know. It is a term of art is | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
what it is. The other issue which is important as well, which was up | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
for grabs in a green paper, was the idea of an indeterminate sentence. | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
You keep people in for a length of time to be sure they are safe. That | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
has also gone. That is the nearest thing we have now to the old- | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
fashioned idea of a life sentence. You are not lead had until you are | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
safe. Is there not a case, as happened under the last government | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
and has happened and have this one, will try to get penal policy on the | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
treats -- cheap? We do not see what is going on inside prisons. We put | :13:09. | :13:17. | |
people away. We have still got Victorian slums, or the modern | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
equivalent, in pretty bad conditions which become colleges of | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
crime. The sensible policy would be to build bigger and better prisons | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
where people were treated with dignity, serve their punishments | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
but also be given the help to get back on to the straight and narrow | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
when they got out. You are right in one respect. The previous | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
government tried to do things on the cheap. For example they | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
multiplied by 20 the number of people who had suspended sentences. | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
31,000 of them are still on the streets. Quite a lot of that is | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
cosmetic justice and not real justice. You are right but we need | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
to do more in prison. The point about the Green Paper was the idea | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
of making prisoners work. A typical prisoner is in his twenties. He | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
does not read, write, he does not have the skills to hold down the | :14:13. | :14:20. | |
job. He is probably on crack Cockayne. He steals from his mother | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
to feed his habit. All of those things have been let happen. None | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
of this is happening because of overcrowding. Whereas you can't | :14:30. | :14:40. | |
:14:40. | :14:40. | ||
What you describe does should be as expensive, but not as expenses by | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
as having the biggest prison population and the highest | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
reoffending rate in western Europe, which cost society more, both in | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
the re- imprisonment of the people but also in the crimes and | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
devastation left behind. I am four fixed-term penalties, I am not any | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
kind of liberal. They should be strong penalties, but you should be | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
able to work a discount downwards from good behaviour and application | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
to education. The more you train and educate yourself, the better | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
you behave, the sentence would slowly go. You are right, the cost | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
of being out of prison for a professional criminal is 10 times | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
to society the cost of being in prison. But one of the problems | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
with the discount system is everybody gets it. George was | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
saying you have to work for the discount. David would not know this | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
but the others on the front bench of the Tories would, it is more | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
expensive to keep a man in prison for a year then to send a boy to | :15:40. | :15:50. | |
Eton. Do you send your boys to Eton?! A point well made. | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
Aren't you worried that your government is getting a reputation | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
for you turns? You are now facing this confrontation with the public | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
sector unions, something nobody in this Government has ever had to | :16:03. | :16:12. | |
place. Of course there is an issue. I think if the Prime Minister | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
thinks he has got it wrong first time he should change his mind. But | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
there is an issue about vested interests, who approve most | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
progressive policies, they would suddenly feel more muscular as a | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
result of these changes and some of the people defending government | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
policy might feel less inclined to do so. I did what the Prime | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
Minister hanging on desperately to a policy when he thinks it is wrong | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
-- I don't want the Prime Minister hanging on. | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
Home-ownership, foreign holidays, sending the kids to university or, | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
indeed, to Eton. But as we feel the pinch, are these middle-class | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
aspirations moving out of the reach of those on middling incomes? We | :16:55. | :17:05. | |
:17:05. | :17:08. | ||
will debate that in a moment, but Here is a question - how do you | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
know you have become middle class? You wake up and smell the coffee. | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
According to the pollsters, you know you're middle-class when you | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
enjoy nothing more than a nice cafetiere of freshly brewed filter | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
coffee. But what with rising taxes and falling house prices, cuts in | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
benefits, tuition fees, dodgy pensions, is there actually any | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
point being middle-class any more? Recent research suggests more than | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
70% of the electorate think they are middle-class. Right now, they | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
are under pressure. I think being middle-class has got a whole lot | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
harder over the last couple of years. Our survey shows that 46% of | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
people who self to find his middle- class say that it gets harder and | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
harder these days to make ends meet -- who define themselves as middle- | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
class. But two groups which are hardest hit are the bargain hunters | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
and the squeezed once. Those people really feel their family finances | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
are on the edge and they could tip over to the wrong side at any point, | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
they are very emotional about it, they are not whingeing, they really, | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
really feel things are difficult. It is a bit dreary being middle- | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
class right now, but last time I looked, it was not much fare being | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
anybody else, really. Why should we care? I think to be middle class is | :18:30. | :18:38. | |
the finest day you can being. If you value reading, family, | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
stability, keeping the law and paying your tax, all those | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
unglamorous things that make society work, you have the rich | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
with their fancy lawyers and the poor who do not pay so much tax. If | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
you are concerned about what goes into the Treasury, you'd better | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
look after the middle class. If you are feeling the pinch, help is at | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
hand. Actually, I think the middle classes are in a very, very strong | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
position to be domestic servant to the rich, because they could be | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
tutors, my son, for instance, in his gap year, is cleaning up as a | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
tennis coach to the brick nations and all his friends are tutors. You | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
can still make a living, you'll be pleased to hear. That is a relief. | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
It is easy to poke fun at the concept of being middle-class, but | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
it is something most voters either are or aspire to be. Politicians, | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
ignore them at -- at your peril. Mary Ann Sieghart from the | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
Independent joins us and George is still with us. Do you cried tears | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
for the middle classes? Jimmy Durante he said I have been rich, I | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
have been poor, being rich is better. Being middle-class is | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
definitely better than being amongst the working class or, worse, | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
a month those who have fallen out of the class system and are long- | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
term unemployed and desperately poor. I don't quite tears. If I | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
pretended to, you would see through it -- I don't cry tears. If you | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
take the middle classes out of welfare of -- support, they will | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
find things uncomfortable, but people on lower incomes will find | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
poverty. A George is right, it is always worse if you are poor. | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
Imagine, I am agreeing with you! But that is not to say middle-class | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
people are not feeling very, very stretched at the moment. The median | :20:28. | :20:34. | |
income in this country is �20,800 a year, it is not huge. When you see | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
newspaper editors inveighing against attacks on the middle | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
classes, they are talking about top-rate taxpayers, only the top | :20:41. | :20:48. | |
10% of income distribution. feel the squeezed middle exists? | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
The squeezed middle exists. It is roughly either side of the median | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
income. Those people are very squeezed. They are losing tax | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
credits, prices are going up, wages are not going up as fast as | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
inflation, they are seeing real wage cuts, life is very difficult. | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
The party the EU were once very much associated with, what do you | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
make of their appeal, do they understand it in the way that Mary- | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
Ann does? We need a definition of middle-class that we can agree with. | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
I don't think they are the people on �20,000 a year, that might be | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
Mary Ann's definition, it is not mine. That is middle-income. You're | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
talking heads, some of them known very well to me, a long-time friend | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
of mine, one of them, they are not living on �20,000 a year, or even | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
five or seven times that. We need to be careful about what we mean by | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
middle-class. But there is no doubt that mortgages are at an historic | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
low and have been for an historic length of time, so the more you are | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
into the mortgage market the better, relatively, you are doing. The | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
people looking for a council house, for example, have never found it | :22:02. | :22:09. | |
harder to get one. Your long-term friends, you don't | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
think, know where the middle class is. But those people making policy | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
for a party, banking and electoral future on this, do they understand? | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
Does the Miliband camp understand the squeezed middle? They are | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
having to appeal to the whole country, having to attend to the | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
loss of support among us to... And this is what Blue Labour is all | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
about, the loss of support amongst working-class people. Would I be | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
right in saying maybe it is expedient to fudge it a little bit? | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
National parties competing for power in the nation, you have to | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
have something for everybody. Because nobody admits to being | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
upper-class any more, the definition of middle-class... Very, | :22:52. | :23:00. | |
very few people at the very top... You know, these people earning | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
�100,000, say, they are certainly at the very upper end of the income | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
distribution, but because nobody admits to being upper-class, the | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
definition of middle class has gone far too far up the income stream. | :23:13. | :23:21. | |
You would say middle class is... From the median rate to...? Below | :23:22. | :23:29. | |
the top rate of tax. Basic rate tax payers. It is not about money. I | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
learned a very, very much more than that, but I am still working class. | :23:33. | :23:41. | |
So is Andrew. How are you working class? You are winking. How are you | :23:41. | :23:49. | |
working class? It is difficult to define but easy to recognise. I | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
feel socially inferior to Mary Ann Sieghart, for example. You a much | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
more than I do. It is not about learning. I know she looks down her | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
nose at me, even though I am very much more than her. It is much more | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
complex than money, class. If John crust -- Prescott can be middle | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
class, I don't see why George can't be. He was definitely wrong about | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
that. I would love to revisit this, fascinating. Then queue for being | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
with us. Now... | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
By did you write that? I did not! Are cats middle-class or working- | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
class? What a segue! A very bad one! | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
I know you know a thing or two about feline behaviour, George. It | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
seems Larry the Downing Street cat has been working very hard. The | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
Prime Minister revealed in a radio interview yesterday that he is a | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
smashing mouser. Busy eradicating the rodent infestation in Number | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
Ten. He is a good mouser. I think he has | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
got three. He has caught three mice, verifiable. | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
Larry is not very keen on men. He was a rescue cat and I have a | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
feeling he had some bad... He loves all the women but he is a bit | :25:12. | :25:21. | |
nervous of the men at Number Ten. Familiar enough, he liked Obama. | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
Obama stroked him and he was all right with him. But he is doing | :25:24. | :25:33. | |
well. -- funnily enough, he liked Obama. | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
Concentrate! That was Larry the Downing Street | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
cat. For reasons of impartiality we could not have done an item about a | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
cat without mentioning dogs. The Conservative MP Matthew Offord is a | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
dog man, such a dog man Matti wants to take his dog Max to work. The | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
parliamentary authorities will not let him. He intends to use human | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
rights legislation. Just as well we have not got a depression, a war in | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
Libya, that we can get to these important issues! Matthew joins us | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
now on his lonesome. Why just Parliament? If you really took this | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
seriously, wouldn't you want legislation that allowed people to | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
take dog to work wherever they were? You are over-egging the | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
pudding a little bit. Never on this show! The whole issue arose because, | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
in jest, I said to somebody who kept quoting health and safety, | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
under Article 8 I had a right to a family life, including my dog. | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
are you doing this because you would think you out to discredit | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
human rights legislation? Human rights legislation has discredited | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
itself. One thing which has emerged over the last couple of days is | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
that there are thousands of people using the Human Rights Act and | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
Article 8 to ensure they are not removed from this country. What is | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
more important to you, getting your dog into Parliament or discrediting | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
human rights legislation? Addressing the human rights | :27:03. | :27:12. | |
legislation... Discrediting, I said. Addressing and removing it. As a | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
former BBC employee, I know that you need a pet to get an issue one. | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
The dog is being used, you don't care if he gets into Parliament or | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
not. He could be kept at home, endlessly, unloved, because you are | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
trying to prove their point rather than trying to getting into | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
Parliament? As a serious politician, it is about the Human Rights Act. | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
The number of people using Article 8 to prevent themselves from being | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
deported, many after they have committed serious crimes. Have you | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
favour of human rights legislation. He might be, but it does not apply | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
to him. But the import of point is article 8 and the �12 million we | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
are spending on people using Legal Aid to defend themselves on article | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
8 in this country. You are lonely without your dog? An MP is never | :28:03. | :28:11. | |
lonely. Have ours! He is called Patch, look after him. To the MP | :28:11. | :28:18. | |
for Barking?! A quick thought, George? Working dogs only. The best | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
dog story I ever saw, the week before we broke up for the 97 | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
election, David Blunkett's dog leads him into the chamber and led | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
him to the government side, uncannily aware that in just a few | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
weeks' time Labour would be the Government. True story. Not a | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
shaggy-dog story. He is so nervous about being seen a photograph with | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
our dog that he has put it behind the sofa. | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
We will get the dog back, we are We will get the dog back, we are | :28:46. | :28:56. | |
:28:56. | :28:56. |