:00:23. > :00:26.Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics on Friday, where we'll be
:00:26. > :00:30.asking the difficult question: Just how do you stabilise the world
:00:30. > :00:34.economy? That's the question finance ministers from the G20
:00:34. > :00:37.countries will be hoping to answer, as they meet in Paris. This morning,
:00:37. > :00:41.Spain's long-term debt was downgraded for a second time in a
:00:41. > :00:45.week. We'll be asking, should the eurozone survive?
:00:45. > :00:51.Fantastic Dr Fox has survived the week. We'll be analysing the latest
:00:51. > :00:54.twist and turns as his friend Mr Werritty faces more questions today.
:00:54. > :01:02.Happy birthday Glenda Slagg, HP sauce and Street of Shame. We'll be
:01:02. > :01:08.celebrating Private Eye's 50th birthday.
:01:08. > :01:11.There are definitely front covers I have seen him...
:01:11. > :01:13.And, Oliver Letwin has kindly donated next weeks cover! Mr
:01:13. > :01:23.Cameron's right-hand man has apparently been caught dumping
:01:23. > :01:28.With me today are Anushka Asthana from the Times, and Paul Waugh,
:01:28. > :01:31.editor of Politics Home. Welcome. First this morning, let's turn our
:01:31. > :01:34.eyes to St James's Park, where, according to today's Daily Mirror,
:01:34. > :01:37.the Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin has been throwing away
:01:37. > :01:42.sensitive documents in the park's bins. The paper alleges Mr Letwin
:01:42. > :01:45.disposed of more than 100 papers in a number of different bins. A
:01:45. > :01:49.government spokeswoman said Mr Letwin often worked in the park,
:01:49. > :01:55.and none of the material was sensitive. We did ask Mr Letwin to
:01:55. > :02:01.come on the Daily Politics. He declined, but we have his Shadow,
:02:01. > :02:04.Labour's Michael Dugger with us from Leeds.
:02:04. > :02:09.The defence is this is not sensitive information, we should
:02:09. > :02:13.not be worried. We need an investigation to find that what
:02:13. > :02:18.this information was, what classification it was in terms of
:02:18. > :02:23.its clearance. Also, how often this has happened. Most people would
:02:23. > :02:26.find it incredible that the minister is so as a touch he thinks
:02:26. > :02:30.it is OK to disregard the normal procedures all ministers must
:02:30. > :02:36.follow her and all civil servants must follow, by leading information
:02:36. > :02:39.in this way. He has duties as a constituency MP, and
:02:39. > :02:44.responsibilities under data protection to look after the data
:02:44. > :02:49.of his constituents who have written to him privately. It just
:02:49. > :02:52.shows how out of touch they have become. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a
:02:52. > :02:58.friend and colleague, it says a copy of the letter sent to him
:02:58. > :03:03.published by the Daily Mirror, doesn't amount to anything but
:03:03. > :03:09.communication between two backbenchers. That is rather
:03:09. > :03:11.complacent. The reports I have read says of this information may deal
:03:11. > :03:17.with counter-terrorism and intelligence. Most people watching
:03:17. > :03:20.will think that is reasonably sensitive. We need an investigation.
:03:20. > :03:25.This does need to take their responsibilities seriously, and
:03:25. > :03:30.stop acting in what is such a cavalier manner. Oliver Letwin is
:03:30. > :03:35.an intelligent man, it seems bizarre that he would chuck away
:03:35. > :03:40.sensitive documents in a park been. There is a famous phrase, it is
:03:40. > :03:45.amazing how stupid clever people can be. There are very clear
:03:45. > :03:48.procedures governing the conduct of ministers in relation to how they
:03:48. > :03:53.handle government correspondence and information. And he should have
:03:53. > :03:57.followed those. We need an investigation to find out what is
:03:57. > :04:04.out there and why he hasn't done that.
:04:04. > :04:14.Paul Waugh, he does have a point. He does. Oliver Letwin, a likeable
:04:14. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:21.and smart Minister, but accident- prone as it seems. He is using an
:04:21. > :04:24.orthodox filing system of Park bins which will amaze most people. The
:04:24. > :04:29.Cabinet Office but trees in his more seriously than most people
:04:29. > :04:33.have overnight. They have changed their line. The Cabinet Office will
:04:33. > :04:37.be looking into this. It is not a matter of saying, these are not
:04:37. > :04:41.classified documents. Information Commissioner's office
:04:41. > :04:46.is looking into this, they take pictures of data protection
:04:46. > :04:51.seriously and have the power of ordering a fine of �500,000.
:04:51. > :04:55.can't say that actually happening. Idea this is serious but the person
:04:55. > :05:03.most likely to find these letters was a journalist from the Daily
:05:03. > :05:07.Mirror! The photographs are hilarious. There is a funny side to
:05:07. > :05:14.this story, and like the idea spend in the morning in the park before
:05:14. > :05:19.work, I might do it myself. That in itself is not a crime! Number 10
:05:19. > :05:24.were relaxed, saying, with a straight face, most of the business
:05:24. > :05:30.Mr Letwin does in the park his constituency based. That won't wash
:05:30. > :05:33.for very long. It won't with his constituents. The material that
:05:33. > :05:36.related to his constituents is Fraser's did to those people it
:05:36. > :05:41.belongs to. I do not think they will appreciate the fact he has
:05:41. > :05:44.been throwing that into the bin. Finance ministers from the G20
:05:44. > :05:47.countries are meeting in Paris to discuss how to stabilise the world
:05:47. > :05:51.economy. Representatives from eurozone countries are expected to
:05:51. > :05:53.come under further pressure to come up with a credible plan to tackle
:05:53. > :06:02.the mounting debt crisis. Our correspondent, Hugh Schofield, is
:06:02. > :06:08.in Paris. How likely is a credible plan likely to emerge?
:06:08. > :06:12.It is not going to emerge here. Simply because there are two very
:06:12. > :06:16.important meetings coming up, where they will save their ammunition for,
:06:16. > :06:24.next Sunday, the European summit delayed for a week. There is an
:06:24. > :06:27.awful a matter of expedition building up around that, where the
:06:27. > :06:33.Commission President and the German and French leaders are expected to
:06:33. > :06:38.come together to announce this big plan which they think will provide
:06:38. > :06:48.the shock and or to the market that will see us through. On top of that,
:06:48. > :06:52.the G20 actual summit in Cannes, a week after that, again, that will
:06:52. > :06:56.be digesting the European plan. This meeting here it is clearly
:06:56. > :07:02.important as a preparatory step but we shouldn't expect anything out of
:07:02. > :07:07.this meeting. Even if they agree, they won't announce anything, they
:07:07. > :07:13.will wait for these two bigger meetings. Time is of the essence.
:07:13. > :07:17.Would we not even hear about any extension to the stability fund, or
:07:17. > :07:24.any more extension in terms of bailing out Greece? We can
:07:24. > :07:30.definitely see what is beginning to emerge. Quite clearly from the
:07:30. > :07:38.signals we are getting, there is this big plan as has been turned,
:07:38. > :07:45.built around three things. A kind of structured default for Greece,
:07:45. > :07:53.in which creditors, like the banks, accept more than the 21% haircut
:07:53. > :07:58.than what has already been agreed. Some kind of structured default
:07:58. > :08:05.which Keats crease in the euro. Then, beefing up the bail-out fund
:08:05. > :08:11.now that Slovakia has got new powers, but those powers aren't
:08:11. > :08:18.enough, so they will be beefed up again with leverage in. The IMF
:08:18. > :08:23.will use its financial muscle to put more money into that. The third
:08:23. > :08:26.thing is, recapitalising the banks. If the banks need a bigger hair cut
:08:26. > :08:29.they will need more cash. Joining me from west London is the
:08:29. > :08:35.Conservative MP and chairman of his party's Economic Affairs Committee,
:08:35. > :08:40.John Redwood. We have just heard what is being
:08:40. > :08:43.discussed in terms of recapitalising Europe's banks,
:08:43. > :08:49.extending the stability fund. You have compared the euro to the ERM
:08:49. > :08:54.in terms of not worth saving. Should the eurozone just collapse?
:08:54. > :08:59.I don't want it to collapse but an orderly reduction in members would
:08:59. > :09:02.be the best way for all of the European economies. Several of the
:09:02. > :09:06.weaker countries cannot live within the disciplines sensibly proposed
:09:06. > :09:12.at the beginning of the scheme. It would be better to let them get out,
:09:12. > :09:17.devalue, and compete their way back to prosperity. But they're not
:09:17. > :09:21.going to do that. The problems of the big banks' scheme is it will
:09:21. > :09:27.slow growth further in Europe. The bans will respond by saying the
:09:27. > :09:32.anyway is to lend even less. But, if you shore up the banks? They
:09:32. > :09:38.won't be attacking these weaker countries. Then the eurozone crisis
:09:38. > :09:42.does begin to diminish? On the contrary, what they have in mind is
:09:42. > :09:46.shoring up the banks with more money from taxpayers and from week
:09:46. > :09:50.sovereigns. For the states that don't have the money to do that.
:09:50. > :09:56.The danger is the banks will do most of the adjustment by lending
:09:56. > :10:00.less when we need growth and recovery. Everybody knows the way
:10:00. > :10:06.out of this is a faster growth rate for the euro and other countries in
:10:06. > :10:11.the west. This is the opposite of a growth agenda. The government has
:10:11. > :10:16.been saying the way to growth is to have a strong, functioning eurozone.
:10:16. > :10:22.You are saying those countries should default. You are talking
:10:22. > :10:26.about Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain. How much would that cost?
:10:26. > :10:30.wasn't saying they should default, but a limited number of countries
:10:30. > :10:34.should have a planned exit from the euro so they can re-establish their
:10:34. > :10:38.own currencies. Certainly that should be done for Greece
:10:38. > :10:44.immediately. So they can have a competitive exchange rate which
:10:44. > :10:50.allows them to compete with Germany. Default is much more problematic.
:10:50. > :10:54.The euro scheme members now seem to want a default for Greece. I think
:10:54. > :10:57.that is hazardous, for losses in the banking system and send a
:10:57. > :11:02.message that countries can go on spending beyond their means and one
:11:02. > :11:07.day they can turn around and say to all the investors, bad luck, we
:11:07. > :11:12.have stolen your money. A thank you for the moment.
:11:12. > :11:15.What you think, this idea they should be organising their exit,
:11:16. > :11:20.the weaker currencies, out on the euro, and growth will hopefully
:11:20. > :11:23.come? Politically in Britain, what this
:11:24. > :11:27.has provided to the Euro-sceptics, but it clear in the Conservative
:11:27. > :11:31.Party, is a strong argument it wasn't right in the first place.
:11:31. > :11:36.Part of that argument was some economies would not behave in a way
:11:36. > :11:42.necessary for this to continue. Therefore, that argument is very
:11:42. > :11:47.persuasive. But we don't have much of a say in it? To an extent, this
:11:47. > :11:54.is Germany and France deciding. The Germans aren't necessarily going to
:11:54. > :11:59.back beside it even if taxpayers are not keen of throwing their
:11:59. > :12:04.money at the problem. George Osborne is pushing hard for
:12:04. > :12:10.the long-term structural changes. But the big business will be at the
:12:10. > :12:14.EU summit. This week, David Cameron and Chris Grayling have said the
:12:14. > :12:19.rise in unemployment in the UK it is a direct result of the
:12:19. > :12:29.continuing economic uncertainty in the eurozone. So this matters to
:12:29. > :12:33.Britain hugely. What David Cameron once in his to push this through.
:12:33. > :12:39.How do you understand this being carried out? What is it David
:12:39. > :12:43.Cameron can expect when we are on the margins of this issue? David
:12:44. > :12:48.Cameron will be successful and will adopt a proposal. The problem is,
:12:48. > :12:52.they will do it reluctantly and with all sorts of the tell, not
:12:52. > :12:57.properly settled. To put so much money into buttressing these
:12:57. > :13:01.countries that have borrowed too much and these weak banks, the
:13:01. > :13:06.markets will give up and say, you can get yourself through. What they
:13:06. > :13:09.have got to do is to solve the underlying problem, to tackle the
:13:10. > :13:15.excess deficits in the sovereign countries. But this will give them
:13:15. > :13:20.time, won't it? To look at those structural problems in those
:13:20. > :13:25.countries. The question is, how much more time do they need? We
:13:25. > :13:29.have been telling them intensively over the last year and they have
:13:29. > :13:36.wasted month after month and not done what was needed. In the case
:13:36. > :13:40.of Greece, where they start to do what looks but the rump -- the
:13:40. > :13:45.right things, they create a vicious circle spiralling downwards because
:13:45. > :13:50.the country cannot compete. What employers are you having on the
:13:50. > :13:53.leadership? They are not doing what you want them to do? We are having
:13:54. > :14:01.influence on the leadership, we have been saying consistently we
:14:01. > :14:07.must not put more British money at risk. And they have agreed to that.
:14:07. > :14:11.We are saying we need to give hard advice to them, if they wish to
:14:11. > :14:16.maintain their currency, then of course they have to take tough
:14:16. > :14:22.decisions and get German discipline into the budgets of all the Latin
:14:22. > :14:29.countries. That is democratically very difficult. They had better get
:14:29. > :14:35.on and do it. Euro-sceptics, apart from agreeing British money should
:14:35. > :14:40.not going, much more they cannot do. I think George Osborne is quite
:14:40. > :14:44.pragmatic about this. We are not in a situation where we have as much
:14:44. > :14:49.influence as we might have had. Equally, this is very important for
:14:49. > :14:54.Britain, it will have a huge impact on jobs and growth at home. They're
:14:54. > :14:58.not going to do what John Redwood is proposing? I suspect George
:14:58. > :15:03.Osborne would love privately to go ahead with what John Redwood is
:15:03. > :15:09.proposing. John makes a good point about the value of currency. What
:15:09. > :15:14.pressures most economic recoveries is a devaluation, which is what
:15:14. > :15:20.happened post 1993, and over the last year. That is why British
:15:20. > :15:30.exports are finally batting hard for Britain. If you pull out of the
:15:30. > :15:31.
:15:31. > :15:37.euro, countries like Greece will Any way read thank you very much.
:15:37. > :15:47.It cost 1.50. If you make the front cover you have probably had a bad
:15:47. > :15:55.
:15:55. > :16:00.week. It is fifty years old. What I am a reader and a fan. I think I
:16:00. > :16:03.first sort of discovered it over the Dear Bill letter which were
:16:03. > :16:10.very funny when Margaret Thatcher was doing the job I do now. There
:16:10. > :16:15.were front covers I have seen and thought "My God, how could they?"
:16:15. > :16:24.the main thing is it is funny. If you can't laugh at yourself you
:16:25. > :16:28.shouldn't do this job. particularly like this cover here
:16:28. > :16:37.you have the Queen saying what is obviously is a mass murderer and
:16:37. > :16:43.the Queen is saying "How very interesting." I used to read it as
:16:43. > :16:49.a teenager, and it was no question, it is a really important thorn in
:16:49. > :16:52.the side of politician, and that from dition of great investigative
:16:52. > :16:59.journalism. Humorous journalism. Journalism that pokes fun at
:16:59. > :17:02.politicians is part of a free society. That is one of my
:17:02. > :17:08.favourite clover covers. Crow can see why. It hits it on the head.
:17:08. > :17:15.You can't help laughing. Some weeks are better than others but every
:17:15. > :17:20.week especially in my trade you are very glad you have read it. I am
:17:20. > :17:22.particularly proud of the sketch they did of my committee when we
:17:22. > :17:32.took evidence from Max Mosley, talking about the revelations of
:17:32. > :17:39.what he had been doing, where I was referred to as Sir John
:17:39. > :17:43.Whippingdale. This is vintage Private Eye. I laughed out loud at
:17:43. > :17:53.the front cover of Private Eye after our disastrous local election
:17:53. > :17:57.results this May. I am not sure if of Hilary clip on the and Obama
:17:57. > :18:02.looking at the televised thing of the attack on the Bin Laden
:18:02. > :18:09.compound and a bubble say ing "Those poor Liberal Democrats." I
:18:09. > :18:15.saw it in my local news agent. I did stick this one up on the pin
:18:15. > :18:18.board, I just thought, that kind of double joke of popularity of down
:18:18. > :18:25.on the Abbey and the situation. What is good about Private Eye is
:18:25. > :18:29.the memory that can go back through Margaret Thatcher makes these kind
:18:29. > :18:35.of references or cross references you wouldn't necessarily think of
:18:35. > :18:44.yourself. I people I am amazed it is 50679 I think I have probably
:18:44. > :18:48.been reading it for 40 years which makes me a real saddo P Saddo. Such
:18:48. > :18:51.fond memories there of Private Eye. We have a Private Eye cover girl
:18:51. > :18:55.with us, Edwina Currie is in Manchester. Edwina Currie, we have
:18:55. > :19:00.been hearing memories from politicians and journalist, do you
:19:00. > :19:04.like or loathe it? Oh, I love Private Eye. I think we should be
:19:04. > :19:11.very proud we have this. As a British institution. I have been on
:19:11. > :19:14.the front cover four times. Lucky you! My favourite was when I
:19:15. > :19:20.resigned from Government over eggs, and they had a cover of me, holding
:19:20. > :19:27.a tray of eggs that had been taken previously somewhere else, with the
:19:27. > :19:31.egg bubble saying "I'm off. And me saying so am I." I couldn't put it
:19:31. > :19:35.better myself. How does it feel when you find yourself on the front
:19:35. > :19:38.cover, albeit four times? Well, you kind of know in that week that you
:19:38. > :19:42.are going to be on the front cover of Private Eye. You have been in
:19:43. > :19:46.the new, you know, Oliver Letwin or Dr Fox or whoever, they will be on
:19:46. > :19:51.the front coverment you know this is going to happen. You hope they
:19:51. > :19:55.are not too cruel. You know they will be cruel and accurate, very
:19:55. > :19:59.accurate. That is the essence of Private Eye. They tell the truth,
:19:59. > :20:05.when politicians try to hide it and cover it up. Yes, so the sting is
:20:05. > :20:08.there. Why do you think it survived so long, until 50 in fact? I think
:20:08. > :20:14.it survived so long because a large number of people believe in our
:20:14. > :20:19.democracy and freedoms, and much of that depends on susing out the
:20:19. > :20:23.truth, the essence of stories that are going on behind the scenes they
:20:23. > :20:26.have 300,000 subscribing peep, and that is enough for them to be
:20:26. > :20:30.independent, they take hardly any advertising bg they are not
:20:30. > :20:34.involved in the commercial world, they can be independent and that is
:20:34. > :20:38.the essence of their strength. don't suppose you expect to be back
:20:38. > :20:43.in after your exit from Strictly Come Dancing. I would be delighted.
:20:43. > :20:48.I would have a fifth cover. Tell us what was it like in Strictly Come
:20:48. > :20:52.Dancing? Well, Strictly is a world of its own. It's a complete fantasy.
:20:52. > :20:57.Like politics at the time. You are hoping for the vote. You pretend
:20:57. > :21:00.yourself as well as you can, you try to hide the mid riff and you
:21:00. > :21:05.hope you put your feet in the right place. Usually you are not.
:21:05. > :21:08.thought it was unfair they got rid of you so early on. Going back
:21:08. > :21:13.briefly to the Private Eye are there any columns or characters you
:21:13. > :21:16.like and loved?. These days I tend to look at the local Government
:21:16. > :21:20.ones very carefully, because a lot of money is going to local
:21:20. > :21:23.Government and you find to your surprise, actually the Fire Service
:21:23. > :21:26.don't own their fire trucks and they are beholden to somebody else
:21:26. > :21:30.or in the NHS there is a reason why this particular hospital is in
:21:30. > :21:34.trouble that a lot of money is going into something they shouldn't
:21:34. > :21:38.be spending money on. It is only Private Eye and their reams and
:21:38. > :21:43.reams of informers, inside informers that get that information
:21:43. > :21:47.out. And they are usually right. Stay us with -- stay with us a bit.
:21:47. > :21:52.Anushka Asthana you been in Private Eye? Greatest moment of my career
:21:52. > :21:57.unfortunately not the front-page, but you know you have made it.
:21:57. > :22:02.was it? Was it Hugh Grant. When Slovakia was joining the EU. Had
:22:02. > :22:06.been sent to find out about people coming over here, and, in my
:22:06. > :22:10.travels hadn't found many people coming so I had written up my piece,
:22:10. > :22:14.got on the plane, and back in the office in London, they had taken
:22:14. > :22:19.some copy from the wiefrs somebody coming into Heathrow and it said,
:22:19. > :22:24.one of the people trickling into Heathrow was such and such with the
:22:24. > :22:29.quote, and I had got in under fancy that because the Sunday people had
:22:29. > :22:37.the same quote as one of the people flooding in. There you go. You made
:22:37. > :22:42.it. Have you Paul? I haven't. Someone who works in new media how
:22:42. > :22:47.wonderful it is that Private Eye is an inI can institution, it is only
:22:47. > :22:51.print based. The internet site is none existent. There is a story
:22:51. > :22:54.that somebody once saw a computer and went in and unplugged it from
:22:55. > :23:01.the wall, because they don't like to be on line. I can see why and it
:23:01. > :23:06.works for them. It is a fantastic investigative vehicle, no problem.
:23:06. > :23:11.Particularly what we are learning about it it would be nice if
:23:11. > :23:16.Leveson took evidence from Mr Hislop. I am sure. It would add
:23:16. > :23:20.sauce to goose. Does Private Eye have any good competitors these
:23:20. > :23:25.days? No, they are a bunch of overgrown public schoolboys with
:23:25. > :23:28.wits and brains and energy and they don't give a toss what anybody
:23:28. > :23:32.thinks there is no competitor. Private Eye rules maybe for another
:23:32. > :23:37.50 years, thank you for joining us. Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney have
:23:37. > :23:41.made the headlines this week, a couple from Wisbech won over �100
:23:41. > :23:50.million in the Lottery and millions of black Bri users got angry. So
:23:50. > :23:52.let us look back at the week. The story shows no sign of fizzling out
:23:52. > :23:56.but Defence Secretary Liam Fox has survived a full question of
:23:56. > :24:01.questions over the role of his self-styled adviser Adam Werritty.
:24:01. > :24:05.An inquiry is under way and Dr Fox claims it is business as usual.
:24:05. > :24:10.am continuing to do what is needed, is that the Defence Secretary
:24:10. > :24:14.focuses on defence issues. government's watered-down bill for
:24:14. > :24:17.reforming the NHS is dividing opinion, but survived an attempt to
:24:17. > :24:21.derail it in the House of Lords. Ed Miliband's been showing off the new
:24:21. > :24:27.look Shadow Cabinet. But is it a case of, as Private Eye might put
:24:27. > :24:31.it, who they? Unemployment has hit%, the highest rate for 17 years.
:24:31. > :24:35.David Cameron says he won't switch to Plan B but promises action.
:24:35. > :24:41.accept we have to do more, to get our economy moving, to get jobs for
:24:41. > :24:44.our people. It is a case of half strike for Hetton-le-Hole -- Oliver
:24:44. > :24:51.Letwin. Not only does he fail to recycle official documents he has
:24:51. > :24:54.been filing them in bins in a London park. Well, time to talk
:24:54. > :25:00.about Liam Fox I think. He has survived another week, are you
:25:00. > :25:04.surprised or not? I am surprised that the Prime Minister has allowed
:25:04. > :25:09.himself so much rope with which to hang Oliver Letwin. Oliver Letwin
:25:09. > :25:12.or Liam Fox. Sorry Liam Fox. They are keeping the fox inquiry as
:25:12. > :25:15.enough as possible. Saying all unanswered questions will be
:25:15. > :25:19.answered. That is ominous for him. There are lots of unanswered
:25:19. > :25:23.questions. We seem to have heard this week, or certainly suggestion
:25:23. > :25:28.there was a sort of parallel Foreign Office policy being driven
:25:28. > :25:34.or funded certainly by sympathisers of Liam Fox who bank rolled Adam
:25:34. > :25:38.Werritty. I mean, how has that gone down? I think it looks terrible. We
:25:38. > :25:43.always say does something pass the smell test, clearly this does
:25:43. > :25:47.notment the reason he is surviving so far is we are not quite there,
:25:47. > :25:51.in terms of the fact perhaps that will make him go. But I am
:25:51. > :25:56.surprised he has lasted this long, because there has been a clear
:25:56. > :26:03.problem with his judgment over this. I... Is one of the issues though
:26:03. > :26:07.his position in the party? I mean the 1922 committee of backbenches
:26:07. > :26:10.have invited him to speak to show they are supporting him. It might
:26:10. > :26:14.be dangerous politically, to get rid of him. There is no question
:26:14. > :26:17.that is a fact for the Prime Minister and this isn't just about
:26:17. > :26:20.an interpretation of the Ministerial Code. There is a wider
:26:20. > :26:25.issue about his judgment which the Prime Minister will want to hone in
:26:25. > :26:30.on. Did he make a serious misjudgment in not informing civil
:26:30. > :26:33.servants about his close contacts to Adam Werritty and if he knew at
:26:33. > :26:36.all about where it Werritty's financial links, that is difficult.
:26:36. > :26:40.Having said that the Prime Minister is trying to be fair throughout the
:26:40. > :26:44.process, he is trying to set a pattern where he does not sack
:26:44. > :26:46.people, and he gives them the benefit of the doubt and goes
:26:46. > :26:50.through due process. That is interesting. It's a different
:26:50. > :26:55.approach from previous Governments you have to say, but it has its own
:26:55. > :27:00.danger which is the perception of a lack of grip. That is something he
:27:00. > :27:04.won't want to... That is the question that is beginning to be
:27:04. > :27:09.raised because David Cameron said something to try and allude to
:27:09. > :27:14.strong leadership as if it is coming into question. I think he
:27:15. > :27:17.looks indecisive as a result of it. That said, there have been a number
:27:17. > :27:20.of scandals involving Liberal Democrat councillors and they
:27:20. > :27:25.haven't gone. The problem David Cameron has got is the right of his
:27:25. > :27:29.party don't want to see a different rule for their man. The other side
:27:29. > :27:32.of this though is if Liam Fox survives is he in a weak position
:27:32. > :27:36.and perhaps not the figure from the right of the party they want to
:27:36. > :27:42.have in their cabinet any more? Liberal Democrat point is a good
:27:42. > :27:45.one isn't it. Look at Vince Cable. One might have argued his comments
:27:46. > :27:51.over Murdoch were enough potentially for action to have been
:27:51. > :27:54.taken and you have to be seen as even handled. He wasn't even
:27:54. > :27:59.reshuffled. I think what is important that the newspapers,
:27:59. > :28:02.every day are doing a better job and investigating Liam Fox han the
:28:02. > :28:07.Cabinet office, and that is really significant, given in the post
:28:07. > :28:11.hacking era that we live in, the newspapers are supposed to be the
:28:11. > :28:15.ones that that are weak and yet when it came to Vince Cable and
:28:15. > :28:20.Liam Fox, it is newspaper nas are driving this and Number Ten knows
:28:20. > :28:23.that. That is all from us this week. Good luck Wales tomorrow, I will be
:28:23. > :28:26.back on Monday for more daily politic, in the meantime I leave