:00:40. > :00:42.Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics. Ken Clarke says his plans
:00:42. > :00:48.for private court hearings in sensitive intelligence cases are
:00:48. > :00:53.vital for national security. The former Justice Secretary will be
:00:53. > :00:56.here in around five minutes time. The schools exams body for England
:00:56. > :01:00.says teachers are under too much pressure to give generous marks for
:01:00. > :01:05.coursework. But says the decision to raise the pass threshold for
:01:05. > :01:09.this summer's English GCSEs was right. With just under two weeks to
:01:09. > :01:11.go before voters in England and Wales elect 43 new police and crime
:01:11. > :01:18.commissioners, we'll ask five hopeful candidates how policing
:01:18. > :01:28.will change. And we are in the final straight of the US
:01:28. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:31.presidential race. Will the winner All that in the next hour. With me
:01:31. > :01:34.for the whole programme today are the editor of Prospect magazine
:01:34. > :01:44.Bronwen Maddox. And Kevin Maguire of the Daily Mirror. Welcome to you
:01:44. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:52.both. Thanks run much indeed for joining us. Let's start with a
:01:52. > :01:57.report, we blame the examiners, exam board, and now they are
:01:57. > :02:01.blaming the teachers. Yes, the OFQUAL report, some children are
:02:01. > :02:04.marked down and others are marked up up because teachers are over-
:02:04. > :02:08.generous and it's a complete mess because you have got to defend the
:02:08. > :02:12.integrity of the exam system. If teachers are under such pressure to
:02:12. > :02:16.get a good result and are marking up their own pupils, we have to
:02:16. > :02:20.bring in outside examiners. I personally think, continuous
:02:20. > :02:26.assessment and working through your course than a memory test at the
:02:26. > :02:31.end, but it's got to be done fairly. What do you make of this? They
:02:31. > :02:35.shouldn't have changed the standards between January and June.
:02:35. > :02:41.It's absolutely right they are outraged but what did anybody
:02:41. > :02:46.expect? I agree with you. Coursework is a better way of
:02:46. > :02:52.testing knowledge. Schools are under enormous pressure to deliver
:02:52. > :02:57.results and teachers will mark up to the limit. You need a much
:02:57. > :03:02.clearer sense of what is being assessed. It does need sorting out
:03:02. > :03:07.a but this is not the world's biggest problem. Let's have a
:03:07. > :03:11.listen to the OFQUAL chief- executive. She has been talking a
:03:11. > :03:15.bit more about this and the findings of this latest report.
:03:15. > :03:21.They are not cheating. Let me be clear, they are not cheating and
:03:21. > :03:24.they are not making up marks, not at all. They are putting in an
:03:24. > :03:28.invidious position, where they have to put a mark on a piece of
:03:28. > :03:32.creative writing. You and I would look at that and there is no doubt
:03:32. > :03:35.we would choose a different Mark because there's not, in a sense, a
:03:35. > :03:39.writer mark. The problem is, because of the pressure they are
:03:39. > :03:42.under, there is a natural tendency to be as optimistic as possible
:03:42. > :03:46.looking at that and give it the best possible mark, because you
:03:46. > :03:50.want that for your student, of course you do. And you wanted for
:03:51. > :03:57.your school, as well. If there enough teachers are moving in that
:03:57. > :04:01.direction, marking up to the limit, and there is a 6% tolerance, that
:04:01. > :04:08.ruins the national picture if we are not careful and we have
:04:08. > :04:13.evidence of that this year, so it's a very caution retail. For us, for
:04:13. > :04:19.teachers and for those who design qualifications and set the
:04:19. > :04:25.accountability measures, as well. You can understand a problem that
:04:25. > :04:31.teachers want to do the best by their pupils, want to try and hit
:04:31. > :04:35.the right sort of scores for their own schools. She has put it
:04:35. > :04:43.perfectly if rather politely. Teachers are going to give the best
:04:43. > :04:48.marks they can. It helps their children and school. The problem is,
:04:48. > :04:51.we need an external assessment. Kevin is quite right. The doesn't
:04:51. > :04:57.this make the case for what Michael Gove is talking about, let's have a
:04:57. > :05:03.less coursework and more in the final exam which is marked by
:05:03. > :05:07.independent examiners? Yes, in that sense, it does, and I think that
:05:07. > :05:14.looks like cheating if you're going to give your own pupils the most
:05:14. > :05:17.generous marks you can have. It is optimism. The but, I sat through
:05:17. > :05:22.the generation where you had those end-of-year exams force of that's
:05:22. > :05:26.what you did and how you got your GCSEs and A-levels. I watched my
:05:26. > :05:30.own children going through, doing coursework all the way through, and
:05:30. > :05:34.they have much better understanding of the subject they are doing. Yes,
:05:34. > :05:39.you can have a memory test, but it does not really test your grasp of
:05:39. > :05:43.the subject. It test your ability to learn a few facts and put them
:05:43. > :05:49.down in a couple of hours. This is a debate which will run and run but
:05:49. > :05:53.we will leave it there. Now it is time for our daily quiz and a
:05:53. > :05:57.question for today is, William Hague is confirmed the Foreign
:05:57. > :06:06.Office has spent �10,000 renovating a stuffed animal kept on display in
:06:06. > :06:10.the Government department. But which animal is it? A badger.
:06:10. > :06:20.stag. An anaconda snake. Or a meerkat? At the end of the show
:06:20. > :06:20.
:06:20. > :06:30.Kevin and Bronwen will give us the correct answer. You could not make
:06:30. > :06:35.
:06:35. > :06:38.it up. I like the idea of the Anaconda. Almost exactly two years
:06:38. > :06:40.ago, the Government paid out millions of pounds in compensation
:06:40. > :06:42.to several former Guantanamo detainees who accused British
:06:42. > :06:45.intelligence of colluding in their capture and rendition. Ministers
:06:45. > :06:48.said they had no option but to settle because fighting the cases
:06:48. > :06:50.would have risked exposing state secrets in open court. In response,
:06:50. > :06:54.the then Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, came up with controversial
:06:54. > :06:56.plans to allow such cases to be heard in secret. The proposals are
:06:56. > :06:59.included in the Justice and Security Bill, and are designed to
:06:59. > :07:01.allow the intelligence agencies to defend themselves in court without
:07:01. > :07:04.sensitive information being made public. Ken Clarke says it's a
:07:04. > :07:07.golden opportunity for sensible reform and hit out at critics who
:07:07. > :07:09.want to derail his plans. If the plans become law, so-called closed
:07:09. > :07:12.material procedures would mean judges could consider sensitive
:07:12. > :07:18.evidence in private in front of security-vetted lawyers. But
:07:18. > :07:21.critics say the Bill goes against the principle of open justice. In
:07:21. > :07:23.September, the Liberal Democrat conference voted against the Bill,
:07:23. > :07:29.arguing that ministers would be able to cover up any potentially
:07:29. > :07:31.embarrassing information. But Ken Clarke says a judge, not a
:07:31. > :07:39.politician, would decide whether the information should be kept
:07:39. > :07:46.secret. Mr Clarke has been speaking this morning. Let's have a quick
:07:46. > :07:55.listen. In my career, I was in a lot of debate about national
:07:55. > :08:01.security issues. I have always been on the liberal side of the argument.
:08:01. > :08:07.So I am surprised to find myself sponsoring a Bill which critics of
:08:07. > :08:12.named, my secret court Bill. I have never been naive about the role of
:08:12. > :08:18.the security and intelligence agencies go through, but I want
:08:18. > :08:22.them to be able to be able to defend themselves and be more
:08:22. > :08:26.accountable to the courts and to Parliament. And Ken Clarke is here
:08:26. > :08:31.now. Thank you for joining us having moved on of course to your
:08:31. > :08:37.new role, but you're still overseeing this. Yes, I'm still a
:08:37. > :08:40.minister in charge of this bill. The Lib Dem conference as voted
:08:40. > :08:44.against it, Labour are not satisfied with the assurances that
:08:44. > :08:50.you have given. Are you going to manage to get this Bill through
:08:50. > :09:00.Parliament? I think so because I think they on the wrong side of the
:09:00. > :09:00.
:09:00. > :09:05.argument, saying that. They are conspiracy mongering. They think
:09:05. > :09:10.there is a snag some were. We are not taking into secret session
:09:10. > :09:14.anything which is public at the moment. But you cannot have spies
:09:14. > :09:18.giving evidence about national intelligence in open court.
:09:18. > :09:24.Sometimes the whole claim, like in Guantanamo Bay, turns on this
:09:24. > :09:27.intelligence evidence. The judge will hear that but only in a closed
:09:27. > :09:32.session, special advocates will challenge it on behalf of the
:09:32. > :09:37.defendant, but, at the moment, you can't try these cases for for what
:09:37. > :09:41.happens, the Government puts his hands up, says it can't give the
:09:41. > :09:45.evidence because it's to dangers in open court and we pay millions of
:09:45. > :09:48.pounds worth of compensation. I would like a judge to hear all the
:09:48. > :09:52.evidence and I would be interested in the judgement of a British judge
:09:52. > :09:56.to see whether he or she are poles it falls up it's a dangerous
:09:56. > :10:06.precedent. How are you going to make sure that wants to establish
:10:06. > :10:10.these secret courts, they won't be tampered with? The Liberty,
:10:10. > :10:20.according to them, you wouldn't be able to investigate crowd control
:10:20. > :10:21.
:10:21. > :10:24.at Hillsborough. Or... It is Humphrey staff. The quality and
:10:24. > :10:29.Human Rights Commission say they are incompatible with the common
:10:29. > :10:37.law right to a fair trial. It's not an open justice of the ordinary
:10:37. > :10:41.kind. It's only in recent years anybody bringing a civil claim it
:10:41. > :10:44.turns on intelligence evidence. We have to protect the public, sources.
:10:44. > :10:48.We need spies in these dangerous times but they can be accountable
:10:48. > :10:53.to the court so long as the judge can hear it without the press, and
:10:53. > :10:58.the public, anybody who wants to come in, the other parties. At the
:10:58. > :11:03.moment, there is no justice because we have silence and we have drafted
:11:03. > :11:07.this bill very carefully, to answer these fanciful conspiracy theories.
:11:07. > :11:13.You have said it will be a judge who will decide whether or not a
:11:13. > :11:18.case is heard. Labour and some Lib Dem peers are saying that is simply
:11:18. > :11:23.not sufficiently strongly put into the legislation. They are not happy
:11:23. > :11:27.with a safeguards. It is a slightly knee-jerk reaction. They can't
:11:27. > :11:31.bring themselves to acknowledge that what they are back to rating
:11:31. > :11:35.is the status quo. Noble is complained about what we do at the
:11:35. > :11:38.moment, which has held it back from court altogether and just pay up,
:11:38. > :11:44.but faced with a positive change, I don't know, they can't bring
:11:44. > :11:48.themselves to accept this is going to be an improvement for reasonable
:11:48. > :11:53.citizens. You can't hear it in open court. Let's solve that problem,
:11:53. > :11:59.not just by saying, when it's dangerous. In future this might be
:11:59. > :12:04.taken into other things. I'm against that. The bill makes clear
:12:04. > :12:10.national security. The average British judge will want to only
:12:10. > :12:13.keeps secret things which would endanger the country. Let me talk
:12:13. > :12:20.more widely about justice. You are still looking after this particular
:12:20. > :12:25.bill. When Chris Grayling was appointed in your place, he was
:12:25. > :12:29.widely portrayed as a new and much tougher man taking over this very
:12:29. > :12:37.difficult Prix. Do you think that there is a change of policy, change
:12:37. > :12:44.of emphasis, direction? Or is at a new man doing the same job? The you
:12:44. > :12:48.do get policy changes after a reshuffle. Sometimes quite dramatic.
:12:48. > :12:55.Actually, Chris has not said anything yet which is not on the
:12:55. > :13:00.same lines as me,... Apart from his talk about giving greater powers to
:13:00. > :13:06.people who tackle an intruder in their homes. You clearly we're not
:13:06. > :13:11.happy about that. You wrote a letter to him. I want to clarify
:13:11. > :13:15.the law on self-defence. People constantly campaign about it. The
:13:15. > :13:19.public are not certain and think they are not allowed to defend
:13:19. > :13:24.themselves and react as a reasonable person would. They are
:13:24. > :13:29.terrified in their own homes, whatever. We're trying to reassure
:13:29. > :13:35.the campaigners it's all right. in a letter you wrote to her about
:13:35. > :13:38.this, he said he is set himself up for an unnecessarily damaging
:13:38. > :13:43.battle and heavyweight legal experts and the policy could easily
:13:43. > :13:48.backfire. That's what you made of the ideas he came up with at the
:13:48. > :13:52.Conservative Party conference. not flatly opposing it but I am
:13:52. > :13:57.warning him to be careful. I say don't oversell it because if you do,
:13:57. > :14:01.you will get into that difficulty. He is trying to do what I was
:14:01. > :14:07.trying to do, explain to people that the law understands that
:14:07. > :14:13.ordinary honours people, feeling in danger, threatened by an intruder,
:14:13. > :14:21.whatever, will pick up a kitchen knife. I used to make speeches
:14:21. > :14:26.myself that you could use whatever, people would understand of
:14:26. > :14:29.defending themselves. This is not the only change. He's already
:14:29. > :14:33.ditched one of your main ideas about reducing the prison
:14:33. > :14:38.population. One of his first statement was to say he's not
:14:38. > :14:41.interested in a wider effort to reduce the prison population and
:14:41. > :14:47.nurses getting rid of foreign nationals. I think it's up to the
:14:47. > :14:56.judges to decide. In order to set up this... You infuriated your
:14:56. > :15:02.party. He said up a media pastiche of the change which exaggerates the
:15:02. > :15:08.difference -- he set up. I never had a target of reducing prison
:15:08. > :15:16.populations. I expressed surprise it had exploded. One of the things
:15:16. > :15:20.I am concentrating on, reducing the reoffending rate, making prisons
:15:20. > :15:24.more sensible places to reform prisoners. Trying to get the number
:15:24. > :15:30.of crimes and victims down by turning few of them out to come
:15:30. > :15:34.back. We are making progress there. We need a more intelligent use of
:15:34. > :15:40.the prison system. I want to move on and talk about Europe because
:15:40. > :15:46.obviously it is being dominating the political agenda. I just want
:15:46. > :15:52.to... The British one fixation with Europe for the last 20 years.
:15:52. > :15:56.just the British. When we want to move away from the day-to-day
:15:56. > :16:03.politics, we always move on to Europe. Somebody who was there
:16:03. > :16:07.during the John Major years, you will remember, do you feel as
:16:07. > :16:17.though there's a sense of deja vu? Do you think your party is in
:16:17. > :16:17.
:16:17. > :16:21.Oh, a sense that everybody gets into a flap, it is hard to
:16:21. > :16:24.understand what everybody meant in that debate, the Labour Party did
:16:24. > :16:29.not start from the same position as the people they were voting with.
:16:29. > :16:33.At a time of economic stringency, you cannot have the European budget
:16:33. > :16:38.rising when everybody is having to cut back public spending, and we
:16:38. > :16:42.have a strong position of going to, you know, get across to the other
:16:42. > :16:45.member states... The Prime Minister was defeated by Euro-sceptics
:16:45. > :16:49.teaming up with your political opponents. That is what happened
:16:49. > :16:53.under John Major. The Euro-sceptics were teaming up with the Labour
:16:54. > :16:58.Party, both United and advocating a position which is impracticable and
:16:58. > :17:03.cannot be achieved. That has a certain similarity as well, Arona
:17:03. > :17:11.the fears raised about the Maastricht treaty, and people
:17:11. > :17:15.should die of shame after the warnings they gave. -- I remember.
:17:15. > :17:21.The Prime Minister as a very strong negotiating position, and he is
:17:21. > :17:24.going to aim for a freeze, and he has a veto he can use if necessary
:17:24. > :17:30.and if it is justified. When you look at your party, when you look
:17:30. > :17:39.around the Cabinet table, do you feel rather lonely? Michael Gove is
:17:39. > :17:43.suggesting that we should have an in-out referendum, Iain Duncan
:17:43. > :17:48.Smith, Owen Paterson and so on. You feel that you are a lone figure
:17:48. > :17:53.around the Cabinet table? This coalition is even broader than the
:17:53. > :17:57.coalition government I have sat in before. The Conservative Party has
:17:57. > :18:01.always been a bit of a coalition! This government is working
:18:01. > :18:05.particularly satisfactorily, with I may say so, much better than the
:18:05. > :18:08.John Major Cabinet worked, precisely because we are men of
:18:08. > :18:11.affairs to get on with the practical solution. We do not sit
:18:11. > :18:17.around the Cabinet table having rehearsals of the old, old
:18:17. > :18:21.arguments about Europe. We all agreed that we have got to hold the
:18:21. > :18:25.European budget, the freeze is the real objective. I think it is the
:18:25. > :18:29.right objective, but I'm not sure the tactics have been right. Going
:18:29. > :18:34.back to the secret courts, rightly nicknamed, I think you are on the
:18:34. > :18:38.wrong side of the argument. Justice needs to be seen to be done. Times
:18:38. > :18:43.have always been dangerous, and these are fiercely democratic times,
:18:43. > :18:50.people are very disinclined to trust institutions, politicians,
:18:50. > :18:53.police, judges, and people intensely dislike that. You may be
:18:53. > :19:00.liberal by the standards of your own party, but not by the standards
:19:01. > :19:05.of Parliament or the country. think it is a slight... I just
:19:05. > :19:10.cannot get the people I usually agree with over the line to accept
:19:10. > :19:13.that this actually is going to allow more evidence to be heard by
:19:13. > :19:18.a church and allowed judgments to be given than at the moment when
:19:18. > :19:24.all you have his silence and money paid out. -- Hirta by a judge. You
:19:24. > :19:28.must accept, in all common sense, no country in the world is going to
:19:28. > :19:32.put its spies in the witness box to give open information about their
:19:32. > :19:36.intelligence, how they obtained it, what they believe is being done by
:19:36. > :19:40.people, how they collaborated with other agencies. We have to find
:19:40. > :19:45.some other way... We are running out of time, I want to give Kevin a
:19:45. > :19:49.quick... When you look around at Cabinet table, you do see allies
:19:49. > :19:53.and colleagues, the Liberal Democrats, five of them. You feel
:19:53. > :19:57.closer to them on the big issues than you do to the right of your
:19:57. > :20:02.own party? A lot of the divisions in Cabinet, they are not divisions,
:20:02. > :20:07.but when we debate things, it is not always on party lines. I mean,
:20:07. > :20:11.I think, my own personal opinion, and I tease them occasionally, one
:20:11. > :20:15.or two of the lead roles around the table of One nation Conservatives
:20:15. > :20:19.on the wrong side of the war by accident. -- of the Liberals. You
:20:19. > :20:26.can imagine how they come back at me! Vince Cable I have known since
:20:26. > :20:30.we were students. I do not think he ever expected to sit at the same
:20:30. > :20:33.Cabinet table as me, we are in national crisis, we have come
:20:33. > :20:39.together in the national interest, and this Cabinet works extremely
:20:39. > :20:41.well in deciding what we need to do and what is going to happen. The
:20:41. > :20:44.conservative property has improved since we stopped having wild
:20:44. > :20:49.theological debates and got on with the details of delivering what we
:20:49. > :20:52.need to. -- the Conservative Party. Ken Clarke, thank you very much
:20:52. > :20:56.indeed for joining us. In just under two weeks' time, voters
:20:56. > :21:01.across England and Wales will be asked to go to the polls to elect
:21:01. > :21:08.41 new police and crime commission has, but what exactly will they do?
:21:08. > :21:10.-- commissioners. Our reporter travelled to the United States
:21:10. > :21:15.before the hurricane to meet the former police commissioner of New
:21:15. > :21:24.York, Bill Bratton, who believes the commissioners can be as
:21:24. > :21:27.effective in cutting crime in the Armed and highly visible, following
:21:28. > :21:31.the September 11th attacks, security was stepped up on the
:21:31. > :21:35.streets, on the Subway and in the sky above New York. It may be
:21:35. > :21:38.partly due to the increased police presence that it is now one of the
:21:38. > :21:42.safest cities in the world, but it is also down to a concerted
:21:42. > :21:46.crackdown led by Michael Bloomberg in partnership with the city's
:21:46. > :21:53.appointed Police Commissioner. you look at the two decades of
:21:53. > :21:58.reduction in crime that we have had in New York City, about 80%, and
:21:58. > :22:02.hopefully that is what can happen in the UK. Violent crime in New
:22:02. > :22:08.York has been falling since the early 1990s. Lasers like this,
:22:08. > :22:13.Union Square, was once considered a no-go zone after dark but it now
:22:13. > :22:18.has eight police presence and is considered much safer. New York is
:22:18. > :22:21.now unrecognisable from the gritty city of the 1980s, when it was the
:22:21. > :22:26.crime capital of the US. Tough action was needed, and Bill Bratton
:22:26. > :22:28.was brought in as the city's police commissioner. He quickly became
:22:28. > :22:31.famous for his zero-tolerance policy and says the UK can learn
:22:31. > :22:39.from the decision to give more local political control to the
:22:39. > :22:46.police. It is not a panacea, not a perfect system, but it does ensure
:22:46. > :22:49.that police do focus on local issues, what it is in the community
:22:49. > :22:52.that is creating fear. Criminologists say much of the
:22:52. > :22:57.credit for the reduction in crime must go to the commissioner. Until
:22:57. > :23:02.the early 1990s, the assumption was crime was driven by the economy, by
:23:02. > :23:08.inequality, by you name it, racism and poverty. Bill Bratton came in
:23:08. > :23:13.and said no, we are responsible, and we are going to start measuring
:23:13. > :23:18.results, and police commissioners should be held accountable by the
:23:18. > :23:21.public. While the commissioner has been credited with cutting crime,
:23:21. > :23:28.critics question whether there is a danger they may overstep their
:23:28. > :23:32.powers. There are stubborn pockets within the cities, and the police
:23:32. > :23:35.have concentrated a disproportionate number of patrol
:23:35. > :23:38.officers, and there are other residents who feel that the police
:23:38. > :23:42.have got a checkpoint attitudes towards those neighbourhoods.
:23:42. > :23:46.was the unrest which began in London and spread across England
:23:46. > :23:51.during the 2011 riots which all David Cameron turn to Bill Bratton
:23:51. > :23:56.for advice. He warns that those are elected as commissioners face tough
:23:56. > :24:00.challenges. There is so much happening in your country at this
:24:00. > :24:06.time, on the national level, the mandated cuts in levels of service.
:24:06. > :24:13.At the local level now, there is significant, significant change in
:24:13. > :24:20.how policing is delivered. And it is all happening so fast. So my
:24:20. > :24:23.suggestion would be, basically, do not expect too much early on.
:24:23. > :24:27.month's elections will see the biggest change since modern
:24:27. > :24:30.policing began. Despite differences in the systems, Bill Bratton
:24:30. > :24:34.believes the crime-fighting solutions that have worked in New
:24:34. > :24:39.York, particularly the role of a strong commissioner, can be just as
:24:39. > :24:42.effective across England and Wales. Louise Stewart reporting, and we
:24:43. > :24:47.have been joined by five candidates standing in different regions,
:24:47. > :24:50.Simon Spencer, standing for the Conservatives in Derbyshire,
:24:50. > :24:53.currently deputy leader of Derbyshire County Council. Former
:24:53. > :24:58.Labour minister Jane Kennedy is standing in Merseyside and joined
:24:58. > :25:04.us from Liverpool. From Bristol, Lib Dem councillor and former
:25:04. > :25:08.police constable Pete Levy is standing in Avon and Somerset. UK
:25:08. > :25:11.and Pete MEP Godfrey Bloom is standing in Humberside. And Mick
:25:11. > :25:18.Thwaites is standing as an independent in Essex. Welcome to
:25:19. > :25:23.all of you. Let me start with you, as you are here with me in the
:25:23. > :25:27.studio, Simon, this idea has been one that the Conservative Party has
:25:27. > :25:33.pushed through. What real difference do you think it will
:25:33. > :25:37.make, having these police commissioners of whatever colour
:25:37. > :25:41.there and overseeing the local police priorities? Well, I have
:25:41. > :25:44.always been a great fan of this policy and it brings a new level of
:25:44. > :25:47.accountability and transparency to policing that we have never seen in
:25:47. > :25:50.the past. I would say that to understand what we're doing, we
:25:50. > :25:54.need to understand what we have in place at the moment, and from that
:25:54. > :25:57.point of view police authorities have been in place for 17 years.
:25:58. > :26:01.They are expensive, in my opinion. They have worked, but this change
:26:01. > :26:04.will bring a new level of accountability and transparency,
:26:04. > :26:08.and how that will work is that it will be the role of the
:26:08. > :26:10.Commissioner to articulate the views of the public to the chief
:26:10. > :26:17.constable without politicising the role of the frontline police
:26:17. > :26:21.officer. Jane Kennedy, if I can bring you in as someone who has
:26:21. > :26:24.been a government minister, how do you think these police
:26:24. > :26:29.commissioners are actually going to be better at reflecting public
:26:29. > :26:35.priorities? Surely we have a Home Secretary and other ministers who
:26:35. > :26:39.already do that. I mean, clearly there will be the election itself,
:26:39. > :26:43.will forge a very close relationship between the
:26:43. > :26:47.Commissioner and the electorate. Now, we are all worried about a low
:26:47. > :26:50.turnout, but whatever the turnout, I imagine most commissioners will
:26:50. > :26:54.feel themselves to be very close the accountable to the communities
:26:54. > :26:58.and will want to speak for them, as I will, if I'm elected for
:26:58. > :27:05.Merseyside. Now, I like the idea of the bill Bratton approach to
:27:05. > :27:09.policing, where you... It is a kind of problem-solving approach, and if
:27:09. > :27:13.I were elected, it is the kind of approach I would bring to crime-
:27:13. > :27:17.fighting, particularly in a time when we are seeing savage cuts to
:27:17. > :27:20.police budgets. We are going to have to examine every aspect of
:27:21. > :27:26.crime and crime trends and engage with everybody who has got anything
:27:26. > :27:31.to do with fighting crime. Mick Thwaites, if I can bring you in,
:27:31. > :27:36.the thing that is right? Is that the way that this is going to work?
:27:36. > :27:39.-- do you think. It has never been any different. We have got to work
:27:39. > :27:43.with all the communities and agencies, local authorities,
:27:43. > :27:46.voluntary sector, charities. We need to engage everybody in the
:27:46. > :27:51.process of delivering better life for people across our towns and
:27:51. > :27:54.villages. That is about reducing crime, reducing antisocial
:27:54. > :27:59.behaviour, and the police themselves cannot do this alone. So
:28:00. > :28:04.that is going to be the key task for the commissioner, to bring very
:28:04. > :28:08.diverse communities together, many organisations together, and have
:28:08. > :28:11.one Focus, which is delivering crime reduction and delivering the
:28:11. > :28:17.reduction in antisocial behaviour across a very large geographical
:28:17. > :28:21.areas. Godfrey Bloom, if I can bring you in here, isn't there a
:28:21. > :28:26.danger, though, that instead of a senior police officer looking at
:28:26. > :28:30.the same, this should be the priority for the whole area, that
:28:30. > :28:33.these police commissioners are going to find themselves swayed by
:28:33. > :28:39.perhaps particularly vocal groups of residents in one part of their
:28:39. > :28:43.patch who have got a particular concern? Yes, it is a danger, and I
:28:43. > :28:47.think this is why the electorate needs to look very closely at who
:28:47. > :28:51.is standing, and I would suggest not to worry whether they are
:28:51. > :28:55.Labour, Conservative or UKIP, look at the individuals and see if they
:28:55. > :29:01.can handle those problems, see if they can handle those pressures
:29:01. > :29:07.that they will be, prioritise very big budgets, 3,000 people, 4,000
:29:07. > :29:10.people working for an authority. This is a very, very big job, a
:29:11. > :29:15.very new job, and I'm not altogether sure yet that folly --
:29:15. > :29:19.that people fully appreciate that. Mick Thwaites, if I can come back
:29:20. > :29:26.you, as somebody who has worked in the police force, do you think
:29:26. > :29:29.there is a danger about decisions on policing being politicised?
:29:29. > :29:33.There is always the danger when this concept was first discussed
:29:33. > :29:38.several years ago. Chief constables will be worried that their
:29:38. > :29:42.operational independence, the control of policing and a daily
:29:42. > :29:47.basis, where to put the cops, on which street corners, which crimes
:29:47. > :29:52.to investigate, he will investigate what and with what resources, it
:29:52. > :29:57.has always been a huge risk around one individual having immense power
:29:57. > :30:01.over the police. I am not... I do not find that so difficult, because
:30:01. > :30:04.very quickly the relationship between the chief and the police
:30:05. > :30:10.commissioner will clearly, each one will know where their art in the
:30:10. > :30:13.very early stages. There may well be a clear protocol that sets up
:30:13. > :30:17.the ground the commissioner takes and the ground the chief constable
:30:17. > :30:25.takes, but in some instances that boundary may be crossed, and that
:30:25. > :30:29.Isn't there a danger that the public simply don't understand how
:30:29. > :30:34.this is going to work and, in a sense, it won't work unless the
:30:34. > :30:38.public get engaged and the signs are at the moment, they aren't.
:30:38. > :30:47.They had everything stacked against them. There would have thought you
:30:47. > :30:51.would have an election as important at this in November. Things are
:30:51. > :30:54.stacked up against the public and giving to the point about people
:30:54. > :30:59.looking beyond the party label but at the individual, I agree with
:30:59. > :31:04.that, however, it is impossible in this particular election for most
:31:04. > :31:08.of us to communicate with the electorate. In Merseyside, there
:31:08. > :31:12.are 8 million voters. People are definitely going to be relying on
:31:12. > :31:17.the party label and if we have a very low turnout, which we fear,
:31:17. > :31:21.then it is going to be quite a risk the outcome. A number of us are
:31:21. > :31:26.anxious that people shouldn't take this election for granted. We urge
:31:26. > :31:31.the public to get involved. It is a very important and powerful role
:31:31. > :31:35.and, yes, the individual that does that job is very important, so we
:31:35. > :31:39.urge the public to use whatever means they can and we are doing our
:31:39. > :31:44.best to communicate with them. Peter Levey, do you have concerns
:31:45. > :31:49.about how this is going to work? You were with the Wiltshire
:31:49. > :31:54.Constabulary. You have been in the Royal Military Police. Having seen
:31:54. > :31:59.it on that side of the fence, are you concerned about how this is
:31:59. > :32:03.going to work? There still seems to be huge amounts of scope for
:32:03. > :32:07.different interpretations of rules and places for these Police
:32:08. > :32:14.Commissioner's, pursuing a specific project once they are in and
:32:14. > :32:19.elected, they can do pretty much what they want. Yes, I think in an
:32:19. > :32:24.area as diverse as Avon and Somerset, we have huge rural areas,
:32:24. > :32:28.urban areas as well, and there is a genuine fear amongst residents that
:32:28. > :32:35.resources will be sucked into areas like Bristol and rural crime will
:32:35. > :32:42.be forgotten. Crime has dropped in the UK, detection rates are
:32:42. > :32:45.improving but that is effective policing and partnership localised
:32:45. > :32:49.operating. I think whoever becomes the police and crime commissioner,
:32:49. > :32:54.they need to engage with those people, create the most effective
:32:54. > :33:00.lines of communication with the residence so we know what they want,
:33:00. > :33:07.and where to effectively put resources. Simon, this has been an
:33:07. > :33:12.important policy for your party. But they don't seem to have done
:33:12. > :33:17.enough to infuse the public. Surely it is only through public
:33:17. > :33:27.engagement that this idea will work? The other candidates are
:33:27. > :33:28.
:33:28. > :33:33.doing their best across the country. Could more a been done nationally?
:33:33. > :33:39.What I would say is the role is all about engagement with the public
:33:39. > :33:45.and articulating their views. We have 4,000 voluntary organisations,
:33:45. > :33:48.some very good statutory bodies delivering superb services and
:33:48. > :33:54.working in partnership will be an integral part of the job. From my
:33:54. > :33:59.point of view, it's extremely important whoever gets this job,
:33:59. > :34:05.and I have a background as a firefighter, I have run my own
:34:05. > :34:10.business, and my department in the council is similar to the police
:34:10. > :34:14.authority budget, so what I would say is we have got to work with
:34:14. > :34:18.everybody and the rule everybody's views together and understand them.
:34:18. > :34:23.The key thing is going to be the personalities of those people who
:34:23. > :34:28.are elected. The public will have a chance eventually to vote them out,
:34:28. > :34:32.but, in the meantime, it's an awful lot of power to put in the hands of
:34:32. > :34:38.one person in an area where we have not had those sorts of figures in
:34:38. > :34:41.the past. I entirely agree. I wouldn't necessarily start from
:34:41. > :34:46.here, so the electorate must be sure they elect somebody who
:34:46. > :34:53.understands budgets, with the reformed background, military,
:34:54. > :34:59.police, somebody who understands what is involved and can bring an
:34:59. > :35:03.interpretation of statistics to it. The HMRC has sent us a huge amount
:35:03. > :35:08.of statistics, difficult to read, and is the individual capable of
:35:08. > :35:14.reading it? It takes lot of experience to do this sort of thing.
:35:14. > :35:19.The thank you very much. Kevin, do you think this will work? I think
:35:20. > :35:23.it has failed before at the start because one in five have to vote
:35:23. > :35:29.for it and we have not brought for the candidates the Government
:35:29. > :35:33.thought. The real test will be the next wave of elections, when you
:35:33. > :35:38.get a mushroom of extra candidate and people think it's worthwhile to
:35:38. > :35:43.come out and vote. If you're a tough on the cause of crime, you
:35:43. > :35:47.could be a huge Waterfront, and be able to going the social issues,
:35:47. > :35:54.mental health issues, and it's a big platform for whoever wins in
:35:54. > :35:59.each area. I'm all for it for the obvious complaints people have up
:35:59. > :36:05.with it, worries about populism, I think it's a good idea. Eventually,
:36:05. > :36:08.it will be very popular. OK, thank you very much and thanks to all the
:36:08. > :36:11.candidates in various different parts for joining us. This week
:36:11. > :36:14.we've seen the issue of Europe causing splits and arguments in the
:36:14. > :36:17.Conservative party, with 53 eurosceptic MPs defying a three
:36:17. > :36:21.line government whip and joining Labour to vote for a cut in the EU
:36:21. > :36:29.budget. But it's also posing tricky questions for pro-Europeans like
:36:29. > :36:32.what should Britain's relationship with the EU look like? Last night
:36:32. > :36:36.on Question Time, David Miliband was asked to explain why Labour
:36:36. > :36:39.supported an increase in the EU budget in 2005. But are now calling
:36:39. > :36:47.for a cut? He backed his brother, saying that asking Brussels to cut
:36:47. > :36:51.spending doesn't mean Labour is backing away from Europe.
:36:51. > :36:54.We negotiated in 2005, for the first time ever, instead of Britain
:36:54. > :36:59.paying a three times as much contribution as France, we would
:36:59. > :37:02.pay the same as France. We negotiated the enlargement of the
:37:02. > :37:06.EU which a Conservative Party and the Lib Dems both supported and the
:37:06. > :37:14.budget went up to pay for the historic enlargement of the
:37:14. > :37:18.European Union. Let me finish the point. The world has changed since
:37:18. > :37:21.2005-6. We've had a global financial crisis and we need to cut
:37:21. > :37:25.the deficit at home and we also need to make sure that we reduce
:37:25. > :37:29.spending in Europe as well, and I think there has been a real problem
:37:29. > :37:33.for pro-Europeans like me. We have seemed like we always wanted more
:37:33. > :37:37.spending. We were soft-headed about more spending, but what you have
:37:37. > :37:41.got is a repositioning in the Labour Party not to go from being
:37:42. > :37:46.pro-Europe to anti-Europe, but to take on, this idea that to be pro-
:37:46. > :37:49.European you're always for more spending. That was David Miliband
:37:49. > :37:52.at last night. And we've been joined by Will Straw who works at
:37:52. > :37:56.the IPPR think tank. And Katinka Barisch, deputy director of the
:37:56. > :38:05.Centre for European Reform. Thank you both very much indeed for
:38:06. > :38:09.joining us. You have got a new report out this week saying that we
:38:09. > :38:13.should have an inner out referendum. That's right, we think a referendum
:38:13. > :38:17.has become increasingly inevitable. When you look at the things David
:38:17. > :38:21.Cameron has been saying about wanting to go to Europe, to try to
:38:21. > :38:24.get his repatriation of powers and then take it to the British people.
:38:24. > :38:29.We think it is incredibly unrealistic, we don't think he will
:38:29. > :38:31.get it, and if there was a referendum, anything other than the
:38:31. > :38:37.fundamental question, we think a lot of people would be very upset
:38:37. > :38:41.by it. People would say you are not asking the right questions. In
:38:41. > :38:44.Scotland, David Cameron things we have to take on the fundamental
:38:44. > :38:48.questions so we have to do the same for Europe and that would make
:38:48. > :38:53.people pro-European, like myself, make the case to the public why
:38:54. > :38:57.been in is better than leaving. Until now, people pushing for this
:38:57. > :39:01.type of referendum tend to be Euro- sceptics, people who ultimately
:39:01. > :39:05.think it would be good idea if we had at least the weapon of being
:39:05. > :39:13.able to threaten to leave the European Union, but you would argue
:39:13. > :39:15.firmly on the pro-European case for staying in Europe? The that's right.
:39:15. > :39:20.People all around the country are have in this discussion. It's time
:39:20. > :39:24.to do take it from Westminster to the public. That would then
:39:24. > :39:28.discovered people in civil society, politicians, and a pot newspapers
:39:28. > :39:31.to decide which side of the debate they want to be on, because we've
:39:31. > :39:37.not had a positive case for Europe are made by those groups for 30
:39:37. > :39:42.years. Do you think he has a case for saying that we need to get
:39:42. > :39:45.these arguments out there and have a proper debate about it? I agree
:39:45. > :39:49.with absolutely everything he says under the proviso that if
:39:49. > :39:54.politicians start to make a positive case for Europe, how much
:39:54. > :39:59.time have they got, and would be enough? I've been in this country
:39:59. > :40:03.for 20 years and I have seen the media and politicians drip feeding
:40:03. > :40:07.people negative news about Europe. Do we really believe that a bunch
:40:07. > :40:12.of politicians can turn this around in a matter of months, few years
:40:12. > :40:16.even? In a campaign situation, when people are very cautious about what
:40:16. > :40:23.they believe and what they don't believe, and I think it's a highly
:40:23. > :40:27.risky strategy because people would find themselves outside the EU in a
:40:27. > :40:33.weak position to renegotiate the deal with the rest of the Europeans.
:40:33. > :40:38.Are you worried about having an in and out referendum because the pro-
:40:38. > :40:41.Europeans appear to be losing the arguments? Because there hasn't
:40:41. > :40:46.been a proper debate about what is at stake here, the Euro-sceptics
:40:46. > :40:50.are not making a very genuine argument because Britain actually
:40:50. > :40:54.gains quite significantly from being in the single market and
:40:55. > :40:58.within the European Union, which is a big block of countries in a
:40:58. > :41:03.globalised world. It needs that membership so I don't think the
:41:03. > :41:07.debate is properly started. Interesting that Labour joined
:41:07. > :41:11.forces with the Euro-sceptics. Do you think Ed Miliband is trying to
:41:11. > :41:19.reposition itself? I think there was a degree of opportunism in what
:41:19. > :41:24.he did undoubtedly but European this question, 3% of MPs know we're
:41:24. > :41:28.going down that road a. David Cameron will set out a referendum
:41:28. > :41:31.soon and Labour will match him in their manifesto and there is a
:41:31. > :41:36.debate among the Shadow Cabinet about how Labour should approach
:41:36. > :41:41.this. Jim Murphy, I've heard her argue for going for an in out
:41:41. > :41:45.referendum like in Scotland, do you want independence or not? Go
:41:45. > :41:50.straight to the crux. I expect a referendum like that is the only
:41:50. > :41:53.one which could be run by pro- Europeans. Don't mess around about
:41:53. > :42:00.renegotiations on this and that. Just say to people, do you want to
:42:00. > :42:05.be in or out? In 1975, Harold Wilson had a referendum, 2-1 to
:42:05. > :42:10.stay in the Common Market. In 1983, Labour's manifesto, let's pull out
:42:10. > :42:14.of the Common Market. The Prime Minister has said he might allow a
:42:15. > :42:19.referendum after the next general election. Do you think we are
:42:19. > :42:23.heading to the stage where that is going to happen? He has been pushed
:42:23. > :42:31.towards that. I think it would be suicidal for the pro-European camp
:42:31. > :42:35.to push for one right now. Europe is in crisis. The eurozone, part of
:42:35. > :42:39.it is in flames. No-one knows what's going to happen to that.
:42:39. > :42:45.After the next election. You can't stop these things once they start
:42:45. > :42:53.rolling. At you couldn't do it now. You've got to wait for the eurozone
:42:53. > :42:56.crisis to come to an end. That gets lost in the noise. If you're
:42:56. > :43:03.calling for an in and out referendum, because you hope it
:43:03. > :43:10.will bring out a big level of advocacy for Europe. It would be a
:43:10. > :43:14.disaster. Do you think that there is a danger that this increasing
:43:14. > :43:20.discussion about an in out referendum is destabilising in
:43:20. > :43:25.terms of Britain's position within the EU? Yes, the Continent are
:43:25. > :43:29.getting very concerned about what's going on here. Also what they see
:43:29. > :43:33.as a debate in Britain is not necessarily realistic, the idea
:43:33. > :43:36.anybody in Europe is waiting for David Cameron to turn up with a
:43:36. > :43:41.list of powers he wants to take back to Britain, that's crazy.
:43:41. > :43:45.Europe is in an existential crisis and are not in the mood to talk
:43:45. > :43:49.about the Fisheries Policy. Do you think the Labour Party is now
:43:49. > :43:54.moving towards a position where it will call for an in out referendum
:43:54. > :43:59.in the run-up to the next election? There is a debate taking place in
:43:59. > :44:02.the Labour Party at the moment and IPPR feeds into the debate around
:44:02. > :44:06.Westminster and we think it's the right thing to do because if you
:44:06. > :44:11.don't do it, these pressures just build up and build up and it could
:44:11. > :44:20.make the referendum what happens even worse for the pro-Europeans.
:44:20. > :44:23.Thank you all very much indeed for joining us. And some news just
:44:23. > :44:26.breaking in the last hour relating to the former Labour minister Denis
:44:26. > :44:32.MacShane. Chris Mason can tell us more. This is a findings from the
:44:32. > :44:37.parliamentary authorities on his expenses. They've been written into
:44:37. > :44:41.his expenses during at 2005-eight. Their report has just been
:44:41. > :44:47.published in the last half an hour and it's very, very critical of his
:44:47. > :44:53.conduct. In short, they say he claimed for far more computers, his
:44:53. > :44:57.own use and for his office, than was legitimate. They say those
:44:57. > :45:02.claims were excessive. They also say there was a good number of
:45:02. > :45:07.claims submitted for work he said he was doing for the European
:45:07. > :45:12.Policy Institute connected to a long-term policy, the issue of
:45:12. > :45:18.European politics, he's a former Europe minister, but they say that
:45:18. > :45:21.those receipts and expenses were plainly intended to deceive. They
:45:21. > :45:27.outlined the European policies did not stack up as an independent
:45:27. > :45:31.organisation separate from Mr MacShane. They were almost the same
:45:31. > :45:36.thing. There is also strong criticism for how he handled
:45:36. > :45:41.himself during this investigation, saying he withdrew co-operation
:45:41. > :45:44.during part of their inquiry and the whole process in which she put
:45:44. > :45:50.together is expenses was not anywhere near the standards they
:45:50. > :45:54.were hoping for from an MP. So, very, very strong criticism. A
:45:54. > :45:58.recommendation he should be suspended as an MP for 12 months.
:45:58. > :46:02.Labour have responded immediately and withdrawn of the whip from Mr
:46:02. > :46:12.McShane. He says he is saddened and shocked by the decision and are
:46:12. > :46:13.
:46:13. > :46:16.deeply regrets how he behaved. Day-in, day-out, we see
:46:16. > :46:20.correspondents like Chris and myself standing outside and inside
:46:20. > :46:23.Parliament, reporting the daily events on the news, but soon we
:46:23. > :46:26.could start to see the iconic buildings crop up on the big screen.
:46:26. > :46:32.In an effort to raise more money, Parliamentary All authorities are
:46:32. > :46:37.considering open up the buildings to let the film crews in, for a
:46:37. > :46:40.price, of course. Whitehall has been used in many movies, not least
:46:40. > :46:44.in the new James Bond film, Skyfall, and we will speak to the
:46:44. > :46:54.supervising location manager on the latest instalment of 007, but first
:46:54. > :47:20.
:47:20. > :47:23.Well, we have been joined by James Grant, a film locations manager who
:47:23. > :47:28.worked on Skyfall and managed to get some parts of Westminster
:47:28. > :47:33.closed to traffic to allow filming to take place. Welcome to the Daily
:47:33. > :47:37.Politics, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Talas first novel, was
:47:38. > :47:42.it very difficult? I have to say, I have not seen the film yet, but
:47:42. > :47:47.there is some filming in locations around Westminster, how difficult
:47:47. > :47:52.was that? Westminster featured very strongly. We were filming on
:47:53. > :47:57.Whitehall itself, we were on Vauxhall Bridge and what-have-you,
:47:57. > :48:04.and we closed Millbank. It is a main character for the film, and I
:48:04. > :48:06.actually started working on it from July of last year, with a team of
:48:06. > :48:11.location managers and assistance and what have the working our way
:48:11. > :48:14.through the script, seeing what was needed, and then approaching
:48:14. > :48:21.Westminster Special Events Office, TfL, the Houses of Parliament and
:48:21. > :48:25.so on, to try and achieve what we needed. What about the idea that is
:48:25. > :48:29.now being considered, that we might actually be allowed to film inside,
:48:29. > :48:33.outside, on top of the Houses of Parliament? Is that an appealing
:48:33. > :48:39.prospect question I hit it would be great. It is a lot easier for the
:48:39. > :48:44.factual programmes to get inside the Houses of Parliament. Because
:48:44. > :48:47.of our size, crews can be 100 or 200 people, high days and holidays,
:48:47. > :48:54.but to get inside the houses of parliament in-cell and Big Ben
:48:54. > :48:57.would be fantastic. -- itself. Presumably these matters are very
:48:57. > :49:00.complicated, getting the right permission from the right people,
:49:00. > :49:05.making sure you have not got groups of tourists walking across the set
:49:05. > :49:10.at the vital moment. Yes, logistically it takes time, and it
:49:10. > :49:14.is a creative process. You go to them with a plan, and the planned
:49:14. > :49:18.changes, and so you have to keep going back and saying, what we want
:49:18. > :49:20.to do now is this... The individuals you are dealing with
:49:20. > :49:25.are usually very excited but they are not used to those changes
:49:25. > :49:31.taking place. Do you fall back on lookalikes and mock-ups? We quite
:49:31. > :49:34.often see the door of Number Ten Downing Street, don't we? Indeed.
:49:34. > :49:38.Sometimes they build it, which is not very good for me as a location
:49:38. > :49:45.manager, because it goes back to a studio, I am not very happy about
:49:45. > :49:48.that! If not, things like Downing Street, you end up going to a local
:49:48. > :49:54.double, John Adam Street, you can make that look like Number Ten
:49:54. > :49:57.quite easily. Kevin, do think it would be a good thing, good for the
:49:57. > :50:03.Westminster World to feature a bit more highly perhaps in some of
:50:03. > :50:07.these very high profile films? would love to see the Queen, and a
:50:07. > :50:11.big Opening Ceremony star, parachuting into Prime Minister's
:50:11. > :50:16.questions. It is a fantastic building and it will cost hundreds
:50:16. > :50:20.of millions to put it right. If you can make a movie money, fantastic.
:50:20. > :50:25.As long as it is not a late-night dodgy movie on the Speaker's chair,
:50:25. > :50:30.it is fine. The downside is for Manchester's Town Hall, because
:50:31. > :50:36.it's wonderful sweeping staircases often double as the House of
:50:36. > :50:40.Commons. There are lots of parts of Parliament that would make
:50:40. > :50:49.fantastic locations. There are some great shots in the film, the
:50:49. > :50:57.rooftops and the gutters. The MoD, yeah. On the roof of the MoD, that
:50:57. > :51:01.was a mind? -- that was a good one. We were thinking of the Thirty nine
:51:01. > :51:05.Steps, the guy hanging off one of the hands of the clock on Big Ben,
:51:05. > :51:10.that was mocked up. You have a scenario you would like to film in
:51:10. > :51:14.Westminster? It is just the chambers and corridors and
:51:14. > :51:18.staircases. I mean, I have never scouted it. I have scuppered some
:51:18. > :51:22.fantastic locations that the average person would not be able to
:51:22. > :51:28.get inside. -- scouted. Just to have the permission to go inside
:51:28. > :51:32.and see what is there, it is an amazing listed building, and you
:51:32. > :51:36.know, weekends, bank holidays, national holidays and so on, it is
:51:36. > :51:41.available, and that is when we do a lot of filming. I go in most days,
:51:41. > :51:46.and it is only when you take an outsider in that you see what a
:51:46. > :51:49.wonderful building the front Palace is. It is quite a labyrinth. There
:51:49. > :51:56.are terrific rooms, the Drew Ginn room, the House of Lords, the
:51:56. > :52:00.Commons. Another big hope is that if they phone the next Bond movie
:52:00. > :52:05.there, they may need a few cameo roles for political
:52:05. > :52:12.correspondence... Can we do the deal now? We cannot afford MPs,
:52:12. > :52:15.their rates would be too high for us, I am sure! It has been another
:52:15. > :52:20.busy political week with rebellions over Europe, as we have been
:52:20. > :52:23.discussing, spats over energy policy, and the return of a big
:52:23. > :52:33.Westminster these. Here is Susanna with a round-up of the last seven
:52:33. > :52:33.
:52:33. > :52:39.Tarzan swung back into action this week, telling Dave that people do
:52:39. > :52:43.not think he had a strategy for growth, but never fear, and 89 a
:52:43. > :52:50.point plan for getting the country up and running. They've had t'other
:52:50. > :52:57.troubles on his hands and the Westminster jungle as they teamed
:52:57. > :53:03.up with the enemy. -- Dave had tuk- tuk troubles. He is weak abroad,
:53:03. > :53:07.week at home, it is John Major all over again. Ever get the feeling
:53:07. > :53:10.that the coalition is blowing in different directions? First the
:53:10. > :53:15.Tory energy minister said the UK had had enough of wind farms, but
:53:15. > :53:19.then Ed Davey blew that a wave. am in charge of renewable policy,
:53:19. > :53:24.and the policy has not changed. wind power was blowing the
:53:24. > :53:29.political razed of the White House of course, campaigning star Das
:53:29. > :53:38.Hurricane Sandy swept in, but with just four days to go, it is back to
:53:38. > :53:42.business. -- campaigning stopped as. Back to business, that crucial last
:53:42. > :53:47.phase of the American presidential elections, and we are joined now to
:53:47. > :53:52.look at all of this with the London bureau chief of the Wall Street
:53:52. > :53:57.Journal. Thank you very much indeed for coming in. We have had this
:53:57. > :54:02.extraordinary few days whereby we have had a National Natural
:54:02. > :54:07.Disaster, somehow wrapped up with the final phase of the presidential
:54:08. > :54:12.elections. How do you think it has played? Well, it is probably not
:54:12. > :54:17.good news for Mitt Romney. The storm sweeps in, obviously it is a
:54:17. > :54:23.terrible tragedy. The President has the opportunity to look very
:54:23. > :54:27.presidential, as he goes around New Jersey, and he had the added
:54:27. > :54:31.benefit of getting to go on this tour of New Jersey and hug victims,
:54:31. > :54:34.along with Governor Chris Christie, a Republican who was at one time
:54:34. > :54:39.thought to be a potential running mate for Mitt Romney. So this has
:54:39. > :54:45.not been the greatest sequence of events for the Republican candidate.
:54:45. > :54:49.And Chris Christie, as you say, a major figure in Europe and said he
:54:49. > :54:54.thought the President was doing a fantastic job. -- a major figure in
:54:54. > :54:58.the Republican Party. Mitt Romney had earlier made statements about
:54:58. > :55:02.his plan to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which
:55:02. > :55:06.is the one which co-ordinates all these big disasters among different
:55:06. > :55:10.states. So he was asked about that afterwards, his campaign did not
:55:10. > :55:14.back away from his earlier statement, so again timing is
:55:14. > :55:18.everything, and his timing was not good. And although there has been a
:55:18. > :55:24.huge loss of life and there has been a widescale destruction along
:55:24. > :55:29.that these costs, President Obama seems generally to be getting a lot
:55:29. > :55:34.of credit from voters for his handling of this. Yes, he does, and
:55:34. > :55:37.you know, it is always a tough situation to step in. You do not
:55:37. > :55:42.want to turn this into a politically charged situation, and
:55:42. > :55:45.they did, I think, a pretty nimble job of not making it look like they
:55:45. > :55:49.were being opportunistic. He also got the advantage with the clock
:55:49. > :55:53.ticking down, he had already started to turn the momentum back
:55:53. > :55:57.in his direction, and then a pause button was hit on the election
:55:57. > :56:02.because nobody felt like they could campaign, and certainly not
:56:02. > :56:07.campaign aggressively. Bronwen, where do think we are at now, with
:56:07. > :56:12.just a few days to go and things looking very close? Well, I think
:56:12. > :56:18.Barack Obama is probably just ahead. I am one of many watching it, but
:56:18. > :56:22.if you look at Ohio, which a month and a half ago was six points for
:56:22. > :56:26.Obama, then it went down to pretty much neck and neck, it has opened
:56:26. > :56:30.up again. That is one of the key states were this will be determined.
:56:30. > :56:35.There are signs pointing in his favour, and the storm has been
:56:35. > :56:38.great for him, but it is close. Kevin Kammer how do you think it is
:56:38. > :56:42.going to impact on British politics? Politicians here are
:56:42. > :56:46.watching very closely. David Cameron, you would think, the
:56:46. > :56:50.Conservatives are allied with the Republicans, but he gets on very
:56:50. > :56:54.well with Obama, and he would be quite happy with business as usual
:56:54. > :57:03.in the White House, clearly that is the position of the Liberal
:57:04. > :57:07.Democrats and Labour. You cannot read much -- the political class --
:57:07. > :57:11.you cannot read much of the American situation back into the UK,
:57:11. > :57:18.but the political class would be reasonably happy with Obama still
:57:18. > :57:22.in the White Horse. -- the White House. Mitt Romney's visited just
:57:22. > :57:27.before the Olympics was not a great moment of try to set up foreign
:57:27. > :57:33.policy, because he speculated that the might not have been up to snuff
:57:33. > :57:39.and then everything went fantastic. -- the Olympic security plan might
:57:40. > :57:44.not have been up to snuff and then everything went fantastic. The
:57:44. > :57:50.Obama campaign has effectively drawn a line under that now, from
:57:51. > :57:56.the second debate forwards, in many of the swing states, we see the
:57:56. > :57:59.toss-up states trending back to Obama. And the last bits of
:57:59. > :58:04.frenetic campaigning are going on now. Thank you very much for
:58:04. > :58:10.joining as. Just time before we go to find out the answer to the quiz,
:58:10. > :58:16.and the answer was... The question, of course, was which stuffed animal
:58:17. > :58:23.has William Hague spent �10,000 renovating? Badger, Stagg, anaconda
:58:23. > :58:26.or meerkat? I'm sure you have done your homework. You have not got
:58:26. > :58:33.Eric Pickles on that list! answer... It is the snake, isn't
:58:33. > :58:37.it? It is indeed the snake, in fact we can see it there. Extraordinary,
:58:37. > :58:43.the amount of money that was spent, this was a gift to one of the
:58:43. > :58:48.foreign embassies. On that note... Priorities, that is what politics