:00:36. > :00:37.Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics.
:00:38. > :00:39.The Liberal Democrats launch their local election campaign,
:00:40. > :00:42.with Nick Clegg promising to freeze council tax and protect
:00:43. > :00:48.We'll be on the campaign trail with Lib Dem President Tim Farron,
:00:49. > :00:53.Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps, and Labour's Hilary Benn.
:00:54. > :00:56.One third of the population of England and Wales could be
:00:57. > :01:00.from an ethnic minority by 2050, according to a new study.
:01:01. > :01:11.We'll hear from the author of the report.
:01:12. > :01:16.So help me God. Not a single vote cast in my name. Democracy is so
:01:17. > :01:21.overrated. And what makes a great political TV
:01:22. > :01:23.thriller? And with us for the whole programme
:01:24. > :01:34.today is the Conservative peer Michael Dobbs, perhaps better known
:01:35. > :01:37.as the writer of the political thriller House of Cards which has
:01:38. > :01:41.been remade as a TV series in the States starring Kevin Spacey. If
:01:42. > :01:44.you've got any questions you'd like to ask Michael tweet us now using
:01:45. > :01:48.the hashtag #bbcdp. We'll put some of your questions to him
:01:49. > :01:53.at the end of the programme. Let's start though with
:01:54. > :02:04.the report out today from the think tank Policy Exchange, which
:02:05. > :02:07.predicts that by 2050 one third of the population of England and
:02:08. > :02:10.Wales will be from Rishni Sunak co-wrote the report
:02:11. > :02:23.and joins us now. The growing ethnic minority
:02:24. > :02:27.community in the UK will be an important part of the electorate.
:02:28. > :02:32.And all these minority groups are very different. Research has looked
:02:33. > :02:38.at their different life experience, attitudes and aspirations. On almost
:02:39. > :02:40.any metric there are quite striking differences between these
:02:41. > :02:48.communities that should be understood by politicians. In terms
:02:49. > :02:51.of voting currently the majority of voters from ethnic minority
:02:52. > :02:58.backgrounds vote for the Labour Party. That is true that there is
:02:59. > :03:05.still the difference between the Indian community who are likely to
:03:06. > :03:12.vote Conservative. So even on a general statistic, there are wide
:03:13. > :03:21.differences. Do you think that the Conservatives have done anything to
:03:22. > :03:28.galvanise the vote? I think they have made some moves. From the work
:03:29. > :03:31.we are doing I think we're are seeing the benefits of that starting
:03:32. > :03:36.to come through and individual communities need to be engaged with
:03:37. > :03:41.on ways that are meaningful to them and will address their needs.
:03:42. > :03:49.Hopefully our research highlights the issues of interest to each
:03:50. > :03:53.community. If the parties lumped together people from different
:03:54. > :04:00.grounds, what are the lines of differentiation for those
:04:01. > :04:03.communities with Mac the Indian community overwhelmingly to own
:04:04. > :04:10.their own homes more so than any other ethnic group in the UK. The
:04:11. > :04:16.black and African community are less likely to do so. So policies around
:04:17. > :04:20.mortgage rates and stamp duty, those should be topics that resonate with
:04:21. > :04:25.the Indian community. On the other hand education, one of the findings
:04:26. > :04:31.in our research was the improvement amongst the Bangladeshi immunity
:04:32. > :04:35.with regard to GCSE results. That is in spite of a large number of
:04:36. > :04:42.Bangladeshi students on free school meals. That would be seen as
:04:43. > :04:53.evidence of the government's reform with regards to education. That is
:04:54. > :05:01.not good news for the Conservatives, Michael Dobbs. We have ethnic
:05:02. > :05:04.minorities now in the Cabinet and in the House of Lords. And a huge raft
:05:05. > :05:11.of talented ethnic minority ministers. What we must not do is
:05:12. > :05:18.get into the symbolism, just putting up tokens. Tory values are all about
:05:19. > :05:24.education, owning your own home, entrepreneurship. The huge chunk of
:05:25. > :05:32.the ethnic minority community does what exactly that. Why have you not
:05:33. > :05:35.appeal to them until now. We have not been as good as we should have
:05:36. > :05:40.been pushing across the message. What I love about the report is that
:05:41. > :05:46.it engages us in a conversation. For a decade or more you could not
:05:47. > :05:52.discuss immigration. If any Tory spoke about that he was immediately
:05:53. > :06:02.accused of racism. That was a desperately destructive period and I
:06:03. > :06:07.think we have now got beyond that. The interest of the ethnic minority
:06:08. > :06:15.community is interesting especially towards issues like immigration. In
:06:16. > :06:20.the research we are doing we find that they have quite subtle views
:06:21. > :06:28.about immigration. They're not in favour of mass immigration by any
:06:29. > :06:35.means. You have said that there will be startling changes by 2050. But
:06:36. > :06:41.4.2% of MPs are from ethnic minorities so there is still a
:06:42. > :06:47.massive gap. I think that will probably change over time. For
:06:48. > :06:49.immigration, the growth in the ethnic minority population is just
:06:50. > :06:56.coming from the demographic structure of that population, it is
:06:57. > :06:59.a very young population. For those under ten years old, 25% of those
:07:00. > :07:03.come from ethnic minority backgrounds. As they grow up they
:07:04. > :07:11.will become a much more significant part of the population. But one
:07:12. > :07:20.problem is to get young people to vote, right across the board. If I
:07:21. > :07:24.can take this vacillating report, it does raise all kinds of issues.
:07:25. > :07:27.Perhaps one of the key things is that we have to change the language
:07:28. > :07:31.about this. We called it ethnic sonorities but they are not
:07:32. > :07:38.minorities any more but substantial presences. The more that we can get
:07:39. > :07:43.away from dividing communities and find out what brings us together, it
:07:44. > :07:48.will be a much healthier debate and a healthier society. I hope we can
:07:49. > :07:57.resist the temptation to say that we must be divided society. The study
:07:58. > :07:58.also shows that many people from ethnic and naughty backgrounds feel
:07:59. > :08:04.very British. Now it's time for our quiz, and
:08:05. > :08:08.the question for today is - which of these books hasn't made it into
:08:09. > :08:12.the top ten books borrowed from the C,
:08:13. > :08:22.The Lonely Planet guide to Myanmar? Or D, Erskine May's Treatise
:08:23. > :08:25.on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings At the end of
:08:26. > :08:47.the show Michael will hopefully be There are just over two weeks to go
:08:48. > :08:53.before the elections on May the 22nd and this morning the Lib Dems staged
:08:54. > :08:56.unofficial campaign launch. Speaking at the Ministry of Sound nightclub
:08:57. > :09:03.in London the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg set out why he believed
:09:04. > :09:08.people should vote Lib Dem. We're not asking you to vote for us to
:09:09. > :09:14.just stick up two fingers against the other parties. We are asking you
:09:15. > :09:19.to vote for something. Because we can be relied upon to look after
:09:20. > :09:26.your money when times are tough. To protect jobs when jobs are what give
:09:27. > :09:31.people dignity and hope in the future. To stand up for Britain with
:09:32. > :09:38.its head held high, not cowering in the corner from international
:09:39. > :09:43.challenges we face. For a generous, open hearted approach, not only to
:09:44. > :09:47.what we do in our country but how we treat other countries in our own
:09:48. > :09:51.European neighbourhood as well. For a clean, sustainable environment for
:09:52. > :10:00.future generations. Joining me now from
:10:01. > :10:02.their election campaign launch is And in the studio is the
:10:03. > :10:06.Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps, and Labour's Hilary
:10:07. > :10:20.Benn. Support for the Lib Dems, research
:10:21. > :10:26.so you have lost a lot of support. How worried are you. I have been
:10:27. > :10:32.spending a lot of time knocking on doors in Manchester and Haringey in
:10:33. > :10:38.the past few days. And there is a strong sense of Lib Dem support
:10:39. > :10:40.being strong in the areas that we worked hardest in. That includes
:10:41. > :10:50.areas that have been traditionally Labour. In Manchester many people
:10:51. > :10:53.may not be the biggest fans of the coalition government but they are
:10:54. > :11:00.voting Liberal Democrat because locally they are opposing Labour's
:11:01. > :11:06.savage cuts. They are making cuts they do not need to make when times
:11:07. > :11:11.are tough already. It is in our DNA that we do community politics. That
:11:12. > :11:15.is not just something we do as an electoral tactic that it is who we
:11:16. > :11:22.are and we live that on a day-to-day basis. So we have pulled off big
:11:23. > :11:28.comebacks in certain areas. That comes after a bad set of results in
:11:29. > :11:31.2010 because people on the ground recognise that Lib Dem councillors
:11:32. > :11:38.different kind of creature. You get people who work hard for you all
:11:39. > :11:44.year round. Research shows just under a third of those voting Lib
:11:45. > :11:47.Dem in 2010 and two currently state of voting intention now, say they
:11:48. > :11:55.will vote for Labour. And you say your trademark is local elections, a
:11:56. > :12:00.local base for support. There have been suggestions that the Lib Dems
:12:01. > :12:05.made news 350 seats in these elections which will cut your local
:12:06. > :12:11.governments standing by almost half. So your trademark is fast
:12:12. > :12:16.disappearing. Well in the last three sets of local elections we have had
:12:17. > :12:22.setbacks and we just the number of seats we have held. But each setback
:12:23. > :12:26.has been less bad than the one year before and I predict we will be in a
:12:27. > :12:31.similar situation. People vote on the basis of the context of the
:12:32. > :12:36.community they live in. But of course we had a difficult few years.
:12:37. > :12:41.This was the last set of elections in the first midterm cycle for
:12:42. > :12:46.Liberal Democrat government for the best part of a century. We inherited
:12:47. > :12:53.dreadful circumstances, whoever you blame, we inherited that mess and of
:12:54. > :12:55.course you will not get universally thanked for taking the tough
:12:56. > :13:00.decisions and holding our nerve to make sure we see us through the
:13:01. > :13:05.recovery. We knew we would get difficult election results. What you
:13:06. > :13:08.will see up and down the country is work Liberal Democrat work hard on
:13:09. > :13:17.the ground, we have bucked the trend. We took a seat from the
:13:18. > :13:23.Conservatives in Cambridge. So on the ground you still see us winning.
:13:24. > :13:29.But none of this is reflected in actual results. However much you
:13:30. > :13:41.sugar-coat it. The figures do not stack up. Since January the 1st the
:13:42. > :13:45.Liberal Democrats have gained more seats in local council by-elections
:13:46. > :13:52.than any other little party, more than any other little party. Twice
:13:53. > :14:02.as many as you can. So that is bearing out exactly what I am
:14:03. > :14:07.saying. Well they have actually been dire for you, the opinion polls. And
:14:08. > :14:12.political research shows that disaffected Lib Dem voters, almost
:14:13. > :14:20.one in ten say they would now back the Green Party add a similar
:14:21. > :14:26.proportion would back UKIP. While the Liberal Democrats, whatever
:14:27. > :14:30.rating you choose to believe, just remember that is the normal mid-term
:14:31. > :14:40.results for a Liberal Democrat opinion poll rating. The last
:14:41. > :14:44.opinion poll we had before we had a change of leader was 12%. So Liberal
:14:45. > :14:53.Democrats are made of sterner stuff than to be frightened by opinion
:14:54. > :14:58.polls. We do not scare easily. What we are committed to saving
:14:59. > :15:02.communities and doing a really good job for them. Putting the
:15:03. > :15:11.environment first. We have not forgotten about Green politics. And
:15:12. > :15:14.every single councillor in the country for the Lib Dems have frozen
:15:15. > :15:29.the council taxes. Because we need to keep bills down in tough times.
:15:30. > :15:32.He sounds very gung ho. Labour has to do something pretty exciting in
:15:33. > :15:36.these local elections and the European elections if they are to
:15:37. > :15:40.have any chance of making an impact next year in the general election.
:15:41. > :15:46.We are looking to gain seats, as we've done over the last two sets of
:15:47. > :15:50.elections. My constituents would say to Tim Farron, those affected by the
:15:51. > :15:54.bedroom tax, I have 2800 families in my constituency, they are on low
:15:55. > :15:57.incomes and are having to pay money that they are finding it very hard
:15:58. > :16:00.to put their hands on because the Lib Dems and the Tories have decided
:16:01. > :16:03.they should be penalised because they are on low incomes. People
:16:04. > :16:06.desperately waiting for a house, they will see that in
:16:07. > :16:10.Labour-controlled local authorities there are twice as many social homes
:16:11. > :16:14.being built now than in Conservative controlled ones, and five times as
:16:15. > :16:18.many as in Lib Dem controlled authorities. This is about what
:16:19. > :16:32.people see locally. Whose side of the parties on, what are your
:16:33. > :16:35.values? Many people are finding the cost of living pretty tough and look
:16:36. > :16:37.at what Ed Miliband is saying about energy prices and rents, which grant
:16:38. > :16:40.had something to say about last week. There are 9 million people in
:16:41. > :16:42.the private rented sector now, giving them some certainty into what
:16:43. > :16:45.will happen to rent increases. If your cost of living narrative, which
:16:46. > :16:48.Labour goes on and on about, actually cutting through to the
:16:49. > :16:52.electorate, why have the polls not moved? They are booming in the wrong
:16:53. > :16:56.direction for you against these other parties, the gap is narrowing
:16:57. > :17:03.with the Conservatives and you are making no more gains. I wouldn't
:17:04. > :17:07.regard 38% as flat-lining. It hasn't moved. You are in opposition and you
:17:08. > :17:12.say your cost of living narrative is having a huge success, why don't you
:17:13. > :17:15.feel it in your poll ratings? Certainly in contrast to wear grant
:17:16. > :17:19.and the Conservatives find themselves, yes, we are doing better
:17:20. > :17:23.than them. The next general election is always going to be a closely
:17:24. > :17:28.fought election. What really matters, I will agree with Tim on
:17:29. > :17:32.one thing, it's how people cast their votes when they come to put
:17:33. > :17:36.that ballot paper in the box. You are out of touch with local people,
:17:37. > :17:40.that's what Hilary Benn is saying. They are talking about the things at
:17:41. > :17:44.the bedroom tax, rates spiralling out of control. The good news is
:17:45. > :17:51.just not affecting people locally. How do you answer that on the
:17:52. > :17:54.doorstep? I think councils have done a very good job of handling some
:17:55. > :17:58.difficult cuts in their grants from central government, I acknowledge
:17:59. > :18:02.that is the case. They have suffered more than any other part of
:18:03. > :18:07.government. They've taken a bigger hit than almost any part. One of the
:18:08. > :18:11.largest. Satisfaction in the services provided by local councils
:18:12. > :18:14.has gone up, not down. That demonstrate it is possible to do
:18:15. > :18:19.more for less. Actually, it's probably the big message of this
:18:20. > :18:23.election. Conservative councils cost you an band EE, ?89 a year less than
:18:24. > :18:28.they do when they are Labour-controlled. And ?106 less
:18:29. > :18:32.year than if they are Lib Dem controlled. They give you better
:18:33. > :18:36.value for money and better services. If you talk about individual
:18:37. > :18:41.circumstances like the bedroom tax, the subsidy, it's not a tax, it's
:18:42. > :18:43.important to understand the most vulnerable people in this entire
:18:44. > :18:48.scenario are the people who don't have a roof over their heads at all.
:18:49. > :18:52.The waiting lists have doubled under the previous government. We are
:18:53. > :18:55.acting to get those lists down. You've done nothing about it. All
:18:56. > :19:02.the parties are jumping on the housing bandwagon. Let me put it to
:19:03. > :19:14.you, how many houses have you built since 2010? 100 and 70,000 new. It's
:19:15. > :19:19.untrue to say we haven't been tackling it. The waiting lists have
:19:20. > :19:22.been going down, as a result of us taking difficult decisions about not
:19:23. > :19:25.funding rooms which are empty, but funding rooms which we can get
:19:26. > :19:29.people off the waiting list and into. That's the side of this debate
:19:30. > :19:32.that people forget to mention. That's why we run these services
:19:33. > :19:37.making the difficult decisions, as we've done by the bigger question of
:19:38. > :19:40.reducing the deficit over role. What about the intervention on the
:19:41. > :19:54.housing market and a potential cap on rents, hasn't something got to be
:19:55. > :19:57.done about spiralling rent? Let's get the facts and figures straight.
:19:58. > :19:59.It varies on where you are in the country. The Office for National
:20:00. > :20:01.Statistics show that rents went up by 1%. In other words, lower than
:20:02. > :20:04.inflation. The interesting second fact is, what did rent controls do
:20:05. > :20:10.when they were introduced in 1939? The size of the private rented
:20:11. > :20:17.sector was 55%. It's wrong to 8% and it was terrible quality. Fewer
:20:18. > :20:21.properties available, words -- worse quality properties. Greene in
:20:22. > :20:26.London, rents have gone up around 10% in the last year. This is not
:20:27. > :20:30.rent control because the initial rent would be set by market forces,
:20:31. > :20:36.as happens at the moment. What this is about is saying in offering table
:20:37. > :20:40.if they want a three-year tenancy, that they have some certainty as to
:20:41. > :20:45.what's going to happen to rents in the second and third year. People
:20:46. > :20:50.don't have the right to get a three-year tenancy. They will be
:20:51. > :20:59.forced to offer the three years? Landlords would be required...
:21:00. > :21:02.Landlords might not want to do that. There are 1.3 million families
:21:03. > :21:05.currently in the private rented sector. The children are starting
:21:06. > :21:10.school, you don't know whether you are going to be in the property next
:21:11. > :21:14.year. The landlord might renew the tenancy but they might put the rent
:21:15. > :21:18.by 5% or 10%. Family finances can't cope with that. It's about getting a
:21:19. > :21:24.bit more security to people in what is a housing tenure. Let's become to
:21:25. > :21:29.Tim Farron. One of the problems I put to you and the housing issue is
:21:30. > :21:33.UR associated with a government that introduced things like the so called
:21:34. > :21:36.bedroom tax, which is what Labour called the spare room subsidy, which
:21:37. > :21:41.ever way you want to look at it, that you are associated with welfare
:21:42. > :21:45.cuts. That perhaps some of your traditional left of centre voters
:21:46. > :21:50.now blame you for that. In a coalition government, if people are
:21:51. > :21:54.going to look simply sticky at it, the fact that because the electoral
:21:55. > :21:58.arithmetic lead only to one conclusion, which was a conservative
:21:59. > :22:01.Liberal Democrat coalition government, then some people you
:22:02. > :22:05.want to get their head around that. Some people think even if you share
:22:06. > :22:09.the same space as a Conservative, that somehow renders you ineligible
:22:10. > :22:14.for election to anything. On the housing issue, I want to be fair to
:22:15. > :22:23.Ed Miliband, I want to say that I think he's identified, like many of
:22:24. > :22:26.us, a problem. I can't be much fairer than that because I think he
:22:27. > :22:28.has been guilty of just picking out another gimmick. The reality is,
:22:29. > :22:33.Grant points it out, this Government has built 170,000 new, affordable
:22:34. > :22:38.rented homes. That is not nearly enough, but it is infinitely more
:22:39. > :22:41.than the Labour Party. Labour lost over 400,000 council houses when
:22:42. > :22:45.they were in power. And the problem that Ed Miliband is trying to solve,
:22:46. > :22:50.and we are all trying to solve, is the fact there isn't enough supply.
:22:51. > :22:55.Both Conservative and Labour governments have seen a lot of
:22:56. > :23:07.social rent housing. -- a loss of social rent housing. I don't support
:23:08. > :23:09.the spare room subsidy, but I understand why the Government did
:23:10. > :23:11.it. Because of Labour and Tory inaction on meeting supply needs,
:23:12. > :23:16.it's pushed rents and therefore housing benefits out of control.
:23:17. > :23:21.Obviously the government is talking about the improving economy, and you
:23:22. > :23:25.can point to broader economic indicators to back that up. What is
:23:26. > :23:29.striking is that it hasn't led through into the polls. Does that
:23:30. > :23:37.worry you? The polls will move around. Unemployment is down, growth
:23:38. > :23:44.is back, you would have thought that might lead to a bounce at least. The
:23:45. > :23:49.gap is on average about 3%. We have made some of the hardest, most
:23:50. > :23:53.difficult decisions about stopping this country from going bust.
:23:54. > :23:56.Remember, we have the same percentage deficit as the Greek
:23:57. > :24:00.economy, and we saw what happened there. We've turned from that, being
:24:01. > :24:05.told we needed a Plan B, that we were going in the wrong direction,
:24:06. > :24:09.we've managed to... The growth didn't come back for three years, we
:24:10. > :24:14.will never know. What we do know is that we now have the fastest growing
:24:15. > :24:19.economy in advanced economies anywhere in the world. So why aren't
:24:20. > :24:23.people backing you? I think it takes time for people to feel this through
:24:24. > :24:28.their pay packets. When you have the greatest recession in 100 years,
:24:29. > :24:34.7.2% knocked off the size of the economy, to think you can suddenly
:24:35. > :24:38.turn around and eradicate that, it's not true. It was George Osborne who
:24:39. > :24:42.felt he could turn it around in a quicker time. That entire recession
:24:43. > :24:46.took place under the previous government. There was no recession
:24:47. > :24:51.once we had come in. The size of that recession was much deeper. The
:24:52. > :24:54.cost of living narrative has been interesting in terms of its
:24:55. > :24:58.response. It may not also have led to a massive jump in the polls for
:24:59. > :25:02.you, do you think the problem for Labour is, while they might have
:25:03. > :25:05.identified the issues that the person of the electorate has, they
:25:06. > :25:11.just don't like the messenger, Ed Miliband is not seen as a future
:25:12. > :25:15.Prime Minister? I don't agree with that at all. Average council tax in
:25:16. > :25:18.Labour-controlled authorities is lower than conservative ones. I
:25:19. > :25:24.think it's about values. Because David Cameron says take energy
:25:25. > :25:28.prices, a big problem. We've opposed to reform to the energy market and
:25:29. > :25:31.have the energy price freeze, David Cameron says we should back the
:25:32. > :25:35.energy companies. David Cameron says a bit more security for people in
:25:36. > :25:38.the private rented sector is going back to the past. It's not. It's
:25:39. > :25:42.about looking that the real problem is that people face. Take local
:25:43. > :25:47.councils, why is it that the people who are leading on giving the living
:25:48. > :25:49.wage to council employees Labour-controlled local authorities?
:25:50. > :25:56.Tory councils aren't doing that. It's about giving people help in
:25:57. > :26:00.difficult times. There's a slight of hand when you talk about the average
:26:01. > :26:03.council tax. Everyone knows you have constituencies in burrows with
:26:04. > :26:06.different demographics, with sometimes more of the smaller
:26:07. > :26:11.properties. So when you talk about the average it is incorrect and
:26:12. > :26:15.misleading. The band geek test is the test, because it's the average
:26:16. > :26:24.size home and in that regard we are ?89 a cheaper. -- Band ghee. How
:26:25. > :26:28.important are these local elections? How big an indicator DQ
:26:29. > :26:34.think they will be a year before the big day? Wii they also coincide with
:26:35. > :26:37.the European elections, and they are the ones getting the headlines. They
:26:38. > :26:42.are frankly being watched around Europe and the world for what will
:26:43. > :26:47.go on there. They are very important. It wasn't so long ago
:26:48. > :26:50.that we were hearing cataclysmic forecasts that local government was
:26:51. > :26:53.going to come to an end, because it was going to be cut to pieces and
:26:54. > :27:01.destroyed. Somehow it seems to have gone on, continued. Satisfaction
:27:02. > :27:06.does seem to be not having collapsed. I think there will be a
:27:07. > :27:10.lot of things thrown into local election results. But the one thing
:27:11. > :27:14.I do hope that they will be able to focus on still is the fact that
:27:15. > :27:18.these are about the people you elect locally. I think the last four years
:27:19. > :27:18.have shown that it does make a difference you have representing you
:27:19. > :27:26.locally. If you want to cast a vote in the
:27:27. > :27:30.European or local elections on May 22nd you need to be on the electoral
:27:31. > :27:33.register, and the deadline for Our reporter Eleanor
:27:34. > :27:43.Garnier has more on this. If you are not registered you will
:27:44. > :27:46.not be voting. If you are one of the estimated 6.5 million people not yet
:27:47. > :27:53.signed up, time is running out. But don't panic, help is on hand here
:27:54. > :27:58.today. I've got Becky Jarvis, the campaigns manager at 38 degrees. And
:27:59. > :28:02.councillor Peter Fleming, from the Local Government Association. Whose
:28:03. > :28:06.fault is it that millions of people aren't registered? I think the local
:28:07. > :28:10.council could be doing more than they do about registering the vote.
:28:11. > :28:17.They make it quite difficult for people. You have do register to vote
:28:18. > :28:21.weeks in advance. But also I think there's a problem with broken
:28:22. > :28:25.politics. Our members often tell me they don't trust politicians, they
:28:26. > :28:28.don't feel they have any agency, they don't feel like they're
:28:29. > :28:33.politicians are accountable to them. That's another reason why people
:28:34. > :28:36.can't be bothered. It sounds like local authorities have got a lot
:28:37. > :28:40.more to do to get people signed up. I think the signing a lot more to do
:28:41. > :28:45.to get people signed up. I think the signing of big is because we have to
:28:46. > :28:51.go through and check that people are who they really say they are. That
:28:52. > :28:56.is set by this place, not by local authorities. We are enacting the
:28:57. > :28:59.rules that are set down for us. Now we have individual voter
:29:00. > :29:03.registration, that has gone a whole heap more complicated. That change
:29:04. > :29:08.won't come in until the summer, when it will also change from being
:29:09. > :29:12.registering not just in person but online as well. So we will move from
:29:13. > :29:17.being household registration to individual, but also the online
:29:18. > :29:21.thing. How much will that change it and help? Hopefully it will mean a
:29:22. > :29:25.massive change and a real help. It will mean that these forced points
:29:26. > :29:30.in the year where people have too register to vote by will go, you can
:29:31. > :29:34.vote any time of the year. That will really help, particularly when
:29:35. > :29:39.people move into a new area. Do you think councils are the right
:29:40. > :29:43.organisations to be managing voter registration? One of the exciting
:29:44. > :29:49.things about joining the vote is its everyday people knocking on people's
:29:50. > :29:53.door, asking people to register to vote. Your neighbours, people
:29:54. > :29:56.talking about politics. But not about party politics or
:29:57. > :30:00.personalities, but about the issues they care about. That is really
:30:01. > :30:05.exciting. We've seen that there has been a huge host of positive
:30:06. > :30:08.feedback about people, our members, who have been volunteering to
:30:09. > :30:18.register people to vote. Hopefully we've got a good few more thousand
:30:19. > :30:23.registered. Your campaign was to get many more people signed up. If
:30:24. > :30:29.people are watching now who have not registered, what should they do. By
:30:30. > :30:37.midnight tonight, if you go online and find the website, all about my
:30:38. > :30:42.vote, but will tell you where the local voter registration base is.
:30:43. > :30:53.You can download that form and fill it in and handed over. I'll go to
:30:54. > :30:59.the website, 38 degrees. I just want to bust a couple of myths about
:31:00. > :31:03.voter registration. You can register to vote in more than one place. If
:31:04. > :31:07.you're a student in Leeds but your home address is London, you can vote
:31:08. > :31:11.in the local elections both cities but you must only vote once in the
:31:12. > :31:18.European elections. You have to choose which a city for those
:31:19. > :31:22.elections. And if you're signed up to pay council tax it does mean a
:31:23. > :31:26.lot automatically registered to vote. And perhaps an incentive, if
:31:27. > :31:45.you're not registered, it could affect your credit rating.
:31:46. > :31:48.It's back to earth with a bump after the bank holiday weekend.
:31:49. > :31:51.Well, at least it is for the Business,
:31:52. > :31:55.Members will be debating whether to hold an inquiry into Pfizer's ?63
:31:56. > :31:57.million takeover bid for British pharmaceutical company, Astrazeneca.
:31:58. > :32:01.This follows Ed Miliband's calls for an investigation over the weekend.
:32:02. > :32:05.On Wednesday that mid-week anchor, PMQs, returns as usual.
:32:06. > :32:09.There's nothing like getting out of the office and into the sunshine.
:32:10. > :32:12.And the party leaders will be making the most of the spring weather to
:32:13. > :32:19.Messrs' Cameron, Clegg and Miliband will all be mingling with the voters
:32:20. > :32:25.in the hopes of bolstering their chances on May 22nd.
:32:26. > :32:28.And just when you thought all the fun was over, Friday brings the
:32:29. > :32:31.launch of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition media campaign
:32:32. > :32:41.You'll be glad it's the weekend after all that!
:32:42. > :32:45.I'm joined now by Beth Rigby from the Financial Times and Tamara Cohen
:32:46. > :33:01.Ed Miliband and AstraZeneca, this proposed takeover, with Ed Miliband
:33:02. > :33:09.saying they should be a big public interest test. It is a massive
:33:10. > :33:14.proposed merger and it is important to Britain and politically
:33:15. > :33:19.important, is that life sciences is a key sector that the government
:33:20. > :33:24.need to protect and invest in if we want to move away from financial
:33:25. > :33:32.services and diversify the economy. In terms of the politics of the
:33:33. > :33:37.deal, it is beginning to fall between Labour being anti the
:33:38. > :33:44.takeover and the conservative side of the coalition being for it. Have
:33:45. > :33:56.they actually stated that they are for it. They have not but the CEO of
:33:57. > :34:00.Pfizer plug-in last week, he met a number of ministers and put the case
:34:01. > :34:05.to government about why they should back the deal. It is usually
:34:06. > :34:10.imported to Britain because Pfizer and AstraZeneca, if Pfizer coming
:34:11. > :34:16.and cut jobs and cut research spending, it could damage the
:34:17. > :34:19.science base and the economy. So there's a big political fight
:34:20. > :34:27.underway as to whether or not the deal should go through and can the
:34:28. > :34:32.government safeguard jobs. If David Cameron in a difficult position, he
:34:33. > :34:36.reportedly has been told to remain neutral on this proposed takeover
:34:37. > :34:42.and he is a free-market Conservative. Ed Miliband at the
:34:43. > :34:47.weekend wedding and accused the Prime Minister cheerleading for this
:34:48. > :34:51.deal. After having said it was a matter for the board of AstraZeneca
:34:52. > :34:57.to decide. The Prime Minister then sent Jeremy Heywood two seemingly
:34:58. > :35:01.negotiate with Pfizer and it looked like they were on the side of the
:35:02. > :35:08.takeover, which of course will be the biggest ever takeover of a
:35:09. > :35:12.British firm, if it goes ahead. If you look at the history of Pfizer in
:35:13. > :35:19.the past few years, it has taken over a number of companies and has
:35:20. > :35:24.not invested in research. I think the government have been surprised,
:35:25. > :35:28.having expected this to be seen as a cool, how many concerns have been
:35:29. > :35:34.raised about whether Pfizer are acting in the interests of Britain.
:35:35. > :35:38.Do you think that David Cameron should keep out of the whole thing.
:35:39. > :35:42.He is in a difficult position but politics are all about taking a
:35:43. > :35:47.difficult decisions. What I think he should be doing first and foremost
:35:48. > :35:53.is make sure that the guarantees offered by Pfizer to shareholders
:35:54. > :35:56.and everyone else, will be kept. Far too often in the past we have had
:35:57. > :36:03.foreign companies taking over things, like Cadbury, and they have
:36:04. > :36:10.not always kept the bond, the word that they gave when they were taking
:36:11. > :36:16.things over. That must be avoided. Actually it is a great compliment
:36:17. > :36:20.and shows what good is going on. But not if it leads to the break-up of
:36:21. > :36:24.AstraZeneca and the loss of jobs, or as does Johnson has said, a lack of
:36:25. > :36:33.investment in research and development. Picking over the
:36:34. > :36:38.takeover of Cadbury, politicians really what to get on the front foot
:36:39. > :36:43.now. You have Adrian Bailey on the business select committee calling in
:36:44. > :36:49.the CEO of both companies, and the science and technology committee
:36:50. > :36:53.calling in officials companies. I spoke earlier to Adrian Bailey and
:36:54. > :36:56.he said what they want to do this time is make sure that they get
:36:57. > :37:02.assurances on public record in front of MPs for any deal does go ahead
:37:03. > :37:09.because they want to bind the company in a way they feel they did
:37:10. > :37:13.not in craft and Cadbury. Well they will no doubt be questioning by the
:37:14. > :37:19.committees involved. Let us turn to Michael Wheatley, given life
:37:20. > :37:23.sentences for a series of brutal raids on banks and building
:37:24. > :37:27.societies and who owns the Nick named skull cracker. But he was in
:37:28. > :37:35.an open prison and has absconded. This was the justice secretary
:37:36. > :37:38.earlier. I want to be certain what happened in this case and I want a
:37:39. > :37:43.system that is much more robust and only lets people out of open prisons
:37:44. > :37:48.when there is a clear reason for doing so. All I want a system where
:37:49. > :37:54.people go out with a tag on the ankle so we know where they are. Why
:37:55. > :38:00.was this man in an open prison, do you think. I have no idea. It is
:38:01. > :38:03.very bad for us sitting here to pontificate because we do not have
:38:04. > :38:09.the details. But there have to be standards. Why was he let out
:38:10. > :38:15.without a tag. A man with a record like that. There are issues to be
:38:16. > :38:20.raised here and I think that Chris Grayling has said he will get the
:38:21. > :38:24.details of that and find out who made those decisions and why. It is
:38:25. > :38:30.a difficult for us to say it must have been a bad decision. What we
:38:31. > :38:34.cannot have are people lie back out on the streets and we do not know
:38:35. > :38:37.where they are. Most of us reckon they should still be in prison. But
:38:38. > :38:43.is there anything that Chris Grayling can actually do about this.
:38:44. > :38:48.He clearly needs to work out whether this is a one-off or a wider
:38:49. > :38:51.problem. You can look at what has been happening in the probation
:38:52. > :38:56.services where they are trying to cut costs and are outsourcing
:38:57. > :39:00.contracts. Things are going slightly awry. I think it's important for the
:39:01. > :39:08.government to reassure people that this is a one-off and not more
:39:09. > :39:16.systemic problem within the system. This rather throws out the line
:39:17. > :39:21.about being tough. It is embarrassing, his nickname was skull
:39:22. > :39:27.cracker and he was in an open prison. Also the timing of it. Last
:39:28. > :39:30.week we have leaked e-mails about a coalition row, the Conservatives
:39:31. > :39:38.wanted to jail repeat knife offenders. The Lib Dems were not so
:39:39. > :39:41.keen on it. This is embarrassing timing for them and there will be
:39:42. > :39:57.more questions raised about this all week. Well we may miss the machinery
:39:58. > :40:02.behind the scenes of the general and local elections. All parties have
:40:03. > :40:05.workers and structures that delivered the organisation that
:40:06. > :40:10.keeps things ticking over. But has the machine become too slick and
:40:11. > :40:15.controlling? Our guest of the day was close enough to see those cogs
:40:16. > :40:19.whirring. But first he has been looking into the engines of
:40:20. > :40:22.politics. Whether big posters for small parties breaking into the
:40:23. > :40:28.scene or more well-known names, small parties breaking into the
:40:29. > :40:33.having a rock star entrance organised for a low rent election
:40:34. > :40:40.campaign launch, or getting out to do your bit for your party with a
:40:41. > :40:43.bit of voluntary help. Or communications teams that organised
:40:44. > :40:53.and facilitate parties talking to the media. Every party needs and
:40:54. > :40:57.almost always creates a machine. Politicians need the machine behind
:40:58. > :41:00.them because there are so many tasks that have to be done and they have
:41:01. > :41:04.to be done so well in the modern world. When there are good are very
:41:05. > :41:08.good and when they are bad there are awful. The essential point is that
:41:09. > :41:14.one thing really counts. You cannot do anything in politics apart from
:41:15. > :41:20.criticise and influence unless you have power and power means being
:41:21. > :41:22.elect did. You cannot get elected without a machine. And as the years
:41:23. > :41:30.have gone on on the conservative side, campaign headquarters has
:41:31. > :41:34.become more and more of a short term election sheen. Sometimes it does it
:41:35. > :41:40.well, sometimes badly. The machine also accepts an element of control.
:41:41. > :41:45.It depends on how much control. For the party to be effective, both in
:41:46. > :41:49.campaigning and also in delivering on the things it campaigns on, there
:41:50. > :41:53.has to be a degree of discipline and thinking through and getting people
:41:54. > :42:02.to agree on what they agree on and not get diverted. The problem has
:42:03. > :42:07.been building over time. So as the machine becomes huge in some cases,
:42:08. > :42:10.just explaining it rather hints at what is wrong with it. But do not be
:42:11. > :42:18.fooled into thinking that other party machines are less simpler. In
:42:19. > :42:23.1983 Labour's NEC met every day of the election campaign. It was later
:42:24. > :42:31.widely seen as more of a spanner in the works. Today control or to be
:42:32. > :42:33.more like -- more light touch. Great political campaigns are
:42:34. > :42:40.extraordinarily tight on message and on the issues you campaign on, image
:42:41. > :42:43.you have and loose about how you deliver on the ground. So you can
:42:44. > :42:51.allow a local candidate to tailor the material and the themes to the
:42:52. > :42:54.local context. Yet today there is concern that the well oiled
:42:55. > :43:00.Conservative machine is too focused on elections. You permanently wading
:43:01. > :43:05.the long term work you're doing to build up vote over many years for
:43:06. > :43:13.the short term needs of here and now. A by-election, a crisis in a
:43:14. > :43:20.marginal seat. That is all fine but you need long-term research and
:43:21. > :43:32.candidate development. One supposes that the perfect answer is Deus Ex
:43:33. > :43:42.machina. But that seems yet to have revealed itself. We have been joined
:43:43. > :43:46.in the studio by Olly Grender who works for the campaign for Paddy
:43:47. > :44:04.Ashdown and the editor of the Labour Uncut blog, well. You could arguably
:44:05. > :44:07.say that all three parties are in trouble in terms of their party
:44:08. > :44:13.machinery. UKIP do not have that behind them and they are the ones
:44:14. > :44:16.making headway. It is interesting. All three parties have
:44:17. > :44:22.organisational difficulties and also financial difficulties. We have
:44:23. > :44:29.often sacrificed the long-term for the short-term, as was mentioned.
:44:30. > :44:35.There is a good balance between fighting a campaign and having that
:44:36. > :44:41.long-term policy element. That has become much more focused now on the
:44:42. > :44:47.media. I think that for all three parties is a weakness. Of course
:44:48. > :44:53.UKIP, may end up being a flash in the pan, they are a media creation.
:44:54. > :45:07.Whether the MIDI -- whether the media allows them to continue,
:45:08. > :45:10.history will tell us. It's always been a problem. Yes, it's the mass
:45:11. > :45:15.membership party. been a problem. Yes, it's the mass
:45:16. > :45:19.that is run incredibly smoothly actually not a political party,
:45:20. > :45:23.because it's all about individuals, new ideas and changing things, and
:45:24. > :45:29.you always expect some troubled waters. Do you think the Liberal
:45:30. > :45:32.Democrats are two Democratic in their internal structures, and that
:45:33. > :45:37.makes it difficult for the party leadership to impose that central
:45:38. > :45:39.message? I think it's difficult for the party leadership, but the upside
:45:40. > :45:46.in having an incredibly democratic machine is, for instance,
:45:47. > :45:48.in having an incredibly democratic coalition. 80% of our members are
:45:49. > :45:53.still in favour of as having gone into coalition in the Thursdays.
:45:54. > :45:57.Why? Because they got a vote on it. That is incredibly important. There
:45:58. > :46:02.is a great wealth and That is incredibly important. There
:46:03. > :46:06.been good democracy within a party. I appreciate that everyone laughs at
:46:07. > :46:10.the rather complex structure that was shown on the video tape just
:46:11. > :46:17.now, but I think in many ways it works. Except how well equipped was
:46:18. > :46:21.the party machine to deal with, for example, allegations about Lord
:46:22. > :46:24.Rennard? That makes it incredibly difficult because there is a natural
:46:25. > :46:28.justice process and there are certain rules one has to go
:46:29. > :46:34.through. What it has helped with is a full enquiry, all sorts of things
:46:35. > :46:37.have been instigated. A special hotline. I think there are great
:46:38. > :46:40.improvements within the party machine on that, and they've been
:46:41. > :46:46.done partly because there are committees and structures to do it.
:46:47. > :46:53.How is Labour HQ faring at the moment? I have spoken to a range of
:46:54. > :46:56.candidates over the weekend. I'm wondering how the feeling is at the
:46:57. > :47:01.moment. One of the problem is always in a campaign is that there's always
:47:02. > :47:04.that tension you alluded to between head office and the candidates in
:47:05. > :47:09.the field. The candidates think head office doesn't understand what they
:47:10. > :47:13.are doing and head office thinks the candidates are doing this, that and
:47:14. > :47:17.the other and aren't sticking to the message. The problem we've got at
:47:18. > :47:20.the moment, at head office for labour there were some clear
:47:21. > :47:24.factions and divisions there. When a head office and party machine
:47:25. > :47:28.becomes riven with that, it turns in on itself and the priority becomes
:47:29. > :47:31.binding agreement internally rather than driving up the message and
:47:32. > :47:37.instilling some of that discipline out in the field. What's the key
:47:38. > :47:44.divide? There are three divide is happening in labour at the moment.
:47:45. > :47:50.The general secretary wasn't Ed Miliband's choice. All of the
:47:51. > :47:55.leader's office is now for the first time formally part of party HQ, so
:47:56. > :47:58.that's one split. All of those executive directors report to
:47:59. > :48:04.Spencer Livermore and Douglas Alexander now. That is a fundamental
:48:05. > :48:09.divide because they had a tremendous falling out with Ed Balls and some
:48:10. > :48:14.of Gordon Brown's people over the election that never was. Spencer
:48:15. > :48:20.Livermore had to leave at that time. That's a fundamental divide. So is
:48:21. > :48:24.John Turner right, he worked for Tony Blair, if you don't have a
:48:25. > :48:27.tight machine where the message is so completely locked down, then your
:48:28. > :48:30.party machine for the message is so completely locked down, then your
:48:31. > :48:34.party machine. Part? Know, messages can't be imposed because we all, to
:48:35. > :48:39.a certain extent, our mass parties. What you need to transmit and
:48:40. > :48:44.communicate our values, basic things that people will accept. Not simply
:48:45. > :48:49.be imposed upon them. Wasn't that what the a list was? That's a
:48:50. > :48:52.slightly different idea. The central problem for all parties is the fact
:48:53. > :48:58.we don't have the money. The Tory party, this is why the Tory party
:48:59. > :49:04.was constantly in trouble because we spent everything on an election, had
:49:05. > :49:08.less for the long-term processes. Now the Tory party has got its
:49:09. > :49:12.finances in a much better shape. The problem with Labour is not just the
:49:13. > :49:18.personal problems, but you've packed set out to the yet again in a more
:49:19. > :49:22.disastrous fashion than 20 years ago. I'm not sure that's the case.
:49:23. > :49:26.The way you communicate values is the message and discipline. Yes, you
:49:27. > :49:31.tailor it locally for local situations, but you have to have
:49:32. > :49:35.everyone lined up and aligned. In an election that is an incredibly
:49:36. > :49:40.difficult thing. If head offices and United, that leaves us vulnerable.
:49:41. > :49:43.We don't know whether it is Ed Miliband or the trade unions who are
:49:44. > :49:50.calling the shots in terms of policy. Aren't the Lib Dems the best
:49:51. > :49:52.are facing both ways? They still managed to win even though they
:49:53. > :49:59.could hold really quite different positions. There is an assumption we
:50:00. > :50:05.are an annexe to either of the other parties. We are not. We have our own
:50:06. > :50:08.long-term philosophy and art are very different political party from
:50:09. > :50:14.either Labour or the Conservatives. One thing is really important to
:50:15. > :50:18.people out there who are campaigning the day in day out message. An
:50:19. > :50:24.understanding of what the core message is and trust and confidence
:50:25. > :50:28.in the centre that it is confident. In the Eastleigh by-election, what
:50:29. > :50:32.the party nationally can talk about is how our involvement in government
:50:33. > :50:36.has ensured that there is delivery of more and more jobs. Likewise
:50:37. > :50:40.Eastleigh council, which was delivering more jobs. You can
:50:41. > :50:43.combine the message, as long as the activists have faith in that. That's
:50:44. > :50:48.a very important point. The candidates have got to trust the
:50:49. > :50:53.centre, and only when the centre is United do we get that trust. Is that
:50:54. > :51:01.why Lib Dems have you election candidates this time around? We were
:51:02. > :51:03.on a high going into the 2010 election, we are still fighting
:51:04. > :51:07.hard. With freezing council taxes and incompetence...
:51:08. > :51:12.It was a campaign to eradicate absolute poverty across
:51:13. > :51:20.the world and was centred around the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in 2005.
:51:21. > :51:27.There is a new campaign tackling global poverty. Participants spend
:51:28. > :51:31.less than ?1 a day on food for five days. Do these campaigns make a
:51:32. > :51:42.Here's Nelson Mandela, who spoke at a rally in Trafalgar Square.
:51:43. > :51:49.The G8 leaders when they meet in Scotland in July have already
:51:50. > :51:57.promised to focus on the issue of poverty, especially in Africa. I say
:51:58. > :52:05.to all those leaders, do not look the other way, do not hesitate.
:52:06. > :52:14.Recognise that the world is hungry for action.
:52:15. > :52:18.We're joined now by Lord McConnell, who is living on ?1 a day
:52:19. > :52:22.for 5 days, to raise awareness about global poverty.
:52:23. > :52:29.Looking back, it captured the imagination. What did it achieve?
:52:30. > :52:33.It's achieved a lot but not enough, which is why we are still
:52:34. > :52:37.campaigning. The changes in debt arrangements, aid that was promised
:52:38. > :52:42.and to some extent has been delivered has made a difference, but
:52:43. > :52:46.it has not been enough full stop a lot of the promises made then have
:52:47. > :52:50.not been kept. Countries using the excuse of a global financial
:52:51. > :52:58.crisis, but it's really just an excuse. Is it just an excuse? Has it
:52:59. > :53:01.sapped sympathy for those sorts of courses, bearing in mind the depth
:53:02. > :53:05.of the recession and how many countries it affected? I don't think
:53:06. > :53:09.so, not in this country. This country is by far and away the most
:53:10. > :53:13.generous in the world on these sorts of causes. I was in the Philippines
:53:14. > :53:18.in February, and everywhere there was an -- there were handwritten
:53:19. > :53:21.signs up banking the UK and donors from this country, because we had
:53:22. > :53:25.contributed more from the public purse and private pockets than any
:53:26. > :53:29.other country in the world. In the UK we have a strong tradition in
:53:30. > :53:33.this. But there are plenty of people who think that David Cameron was
:53:34. > :53:38.wrong to commit to spending 0.7% of the UK budget on international aid.
:53:39. > :53:43.Was he right to do it? Absolutely he was right. It's one of those
:53:44. > :53:47.decisions, where the priorities should be. In our own country
:53:48. > :53:52.there's been a lot of progress in terms of people beginning to realise
:53:53. > :53:56.how much food we waste. Part of Jack's approach, let's live on 30p a
:53:57. > :53:59.day or whatever, that is being mirrored this week. You are here,
:54:00. > :54:06.you have this last week and are still in one piece. The Tory peer is
:54:07. > :54:11.Anne Jenkin is doing it this week. Part of that is to show people that
:54:12. > :54:16.the waste is almost criminal. And there's a lot of progress being made
:54:17. > :54:20.with supermarkets to reduce all of that waste. But you know that there
:54:21. > :54:23.are people who feel that money is going to certain countries, like
:54:24. > :54:26.India and China, who don't necessarily need it, when you think
:54:27. > :54:29.of where they are in terms of developing to their economies. The
:54:30. > :54:33.Guardian reports that millions of pounds of British aid money has been
:54:34. > :54:37.invested in buildings of gated communities, shopping centres and
:54:38. > :54:44.luxury property in poor countries. Most people would say, why has it
:54:45. > :54:48.gone there? The main problem here is people think that the British aid
:54:49. > :54:52.budget is now about ten or 20% of our national expenditure. It's not,
:54:53. > :54:57.it 0.7% of our national income. It's a tiny proportion of what we make in
:54:58. > :55:01.this country and what we spend. When people are confronted with that
:55:02. > :55:09.particular fact, they actually think it's not enough. Should be going to
:55:10. > :55:14.countries like India and China? Should it be going to those sorts of
:55:15. > :55:18.projects, rather than providing food or water? British aid is not going
:55:19. > :55:22.to China. It has either stopped or is in the process of being stopped
:55:23. > :55:30.in India. The key thing here is there are still 100 million kids
:55:31. > :55:36.every day in the world living in hunger and starvation in the
:55:37. > :55:40.21st-century. I was ten years old when we started landing people on
:55:41. > :55:43.the moon. It's an absolute scandal and disgrace that this is still
:55:44. > :55:48.going on in the 21st-century, when we have the means and resources to
:55:49. > :55:52.do something about it. If the world was organised in different ways with
:55:53. > :55:56.trade, aid for investment for the long-term, so these countries can be
:55:57. > :55:59.independent, not dependent, and people going to school and learning
:56:00. > :56:06.the skills and knowledge that will help them stand on their own two
:56:07. > :56:09.feet, then around the world we can transform this. We can do it in a
:56:10. > :56:10.generation, and that's why we have to keep going.
:56:11. > :56:13.Now, it's time to find out the answer to our quiz.
:56:14. > :56:16.The question was, which of these books hasn't made it into
:56:17. > :56:19.the top ten books borrowed from the Parliamentary library last year?
:56:20. > :56:38.It had better be house of cards, they've all got their own signed
:56:39. > :56:44.copies. You are right. Now if you thought Westminster was
:56:45. > :56:56.a seething pit of backstabbing and That I will well and faithfully
:56:57. > :57:03.discharge the duties of the office which I am about to enter. So help
:57:04. > :57:08.me God. So help me God. One heartbeat away from presidency and
:57:09. > :57:12.not a single vote cast in my name. Democracy is so overrated! Let's
:57:13. > :57:17.start this new chapter with a clean slate. I know you will do whatever
:57:18. > :57:22.you think is best. I think Congressional leadership took part.
:57:23. > :57:27.I can't have this conspiracy stuff going mainstream. The connections
:57:28. > :57:35.are troubling, especially Underwood. We need to delete all of our phone
:57:36. > :57:40.history. Sinister! Are you amazed this book you wrote such a long time
:57:41. > :57:43.ago, then was made into a British series and American series, in its
:57:44. > :57:50.second series and being commissioned into a third, and it keeps on
:57:51. > :57:54.going? It's been brilliant. It's been so much fun. The quality of
:57:55. > :58:03.what they are doing this with Kevin Spacey, it's superb. It's been great
:58:04. > :58:08.fun. Why now, though, political drama, most of the political drama
:58:09. > :58:12.we are seeing comes from abroad? It's part of the commissioning
:58:13. > :58:16.process. There are some issues about the commissioning process in this
:58:17. > :58:20.country. Political drama requires a proper backdrop. What we've had in
:58:21. > :58:24.the States recently, we had George Bush in the States and everybody
:58:25. > :58:28.wanted to watch something like the West Wing, where everybody was warm
:58:29. > :58:32.and cuddly, not like George Bush. Now we've got Obama and everything
:58:33. > :58:36.seems to be stuck. So along comes Kevin Spacey and says, I will do
:58:37. > :58:43.it, no matter what it takes, I will do it. There's a bouncing off of the
:58:44. > :58:47.realities. Yes or no, do is British politics really as dark and
:58:48. > :58:57.manipulative as the original series made up? I hope so! That's all for
:58:58. > :59:15.today. Thanks to all of our guests. Sorry, what?
:59:16. > :59:18.I gotta get off the show.