02/03/2012 Newsnight

The Syrian army stops the Red Cross gaining access to Baba Amr, scene

of the bloodiest shelling of civilians. What is really going on

in the area around Homs. We talk to Paul Conroy, the wounded British

photo journalist, smuggled out three days ago, who said his

colleague, Marie Colvin, died trying to alert the world to the

slaughter they witnessed. We have lost a good friend, and one of the

best has been taken from us, I salute her and I will go back and

get her when the time is right, and bring her home. Steve Hilton, David

Cameron's back room brains has quit Downing Street for California. Is

he taking Cameron's mojo with him. We will ask what his friends and

enemies think the Prime Minister will miss.

In Russia, as they vote for the new boss, he looks like the old boss.

Will they get fooled again? Russia's protest movement is

getting stronger and better organised. With Vladimir Putin

certain to win the upcoming presidential elections, what can it

Good evening, the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon,

said tonight, that he feared Syrian Government forces were ash trairly

executing and torturing people in the city of Homs. The Syrian army

agreed to let the Red Cross and Red Crescent into the city today, but

refused to let them into Baba Amr, which they have been pounding for

days. Our diplomatic editor has been trying to figure out what is

happening. What is happening in Homs, as far as we know? The city

status is the cradle of opposition to the regime. One of the key

focuses of it is not extinguished, but the opposition has suffered a

heavy blow there. If we look in detail at the map. The reason it

became such a centre for opposition, it is very close to the border,

that allowed people to get in and out, particularly through the

western approach, through the rural area, to the west of the city, to

Baba Amr, which is within that circle. It was the route for people,

guns, money, journalists to get in and out, and all the rest of it.

That is what made it such a focus and caldron for both sides. The

opposition forces thought they could hold on to it, and for some

weeks, during the pounding, it seemed they comfortable but the

Assad regime was gathering its forces and preparing what it was

going to do next. If we look in closer still, we can describe what

happened, over the last few days. That's Baba Amr again. Just the

centre of it. I will put the symbol for the Free Syrian Army fighters

in there. The Government already held positions in some

neighbourhoods, where people are loyal to them, in the centre of

town, and extended, during these weeks of bombardment, extended its

position in areas like the university. In recent days, they

have moved armour from, it is believed, the President's brothers

division, the mechanised division, to interdict these groups in and

out of the city to the west. That is what the journalist, who were

trying to escape, had to run the gauntlet of that. Around Tuesday,

other armoured units from the resident brigade, the 90th Brigade,

went in and cut off the northern route in and out of Baba Amr as

well. Once that situation had become a reality for the fighters

in there, power was gone, water was gone, they ordered a withdrawal.

They decided to quit Baba Amr. That seems to have happened Wednesday

night, with the Free Syrian Army announcing it on Thursday. Was

there an assault, as such, or did the Syrian army just drive in? It

seems to be more the latter. Where does it leave the humanitarian

situation for the people there? Desperate. Before this happened,

about 100,000 people living in the area. Syrian Government aired these

pictures this morning, we can tell they are recent because of the snow.

That is south towards the university area. Look at the state

of the houses, many hit on the upper storeys during the weeks of

bombardment. What horror lurks there, people who have died in

their homes, or struggling to survive on the meagre food and

water they have. That is another view from the tall building at Baba

Amr, it authenticates the cameraman was there, we can identify the

mosque, and so where the footage was taken. They are in control,

they have a ghost town, they have thousands of people in a desperate

condition there. That, perhaps, has motivated their decision not to let

the Red Cross in. Are they engaged in some sort of clearout, or as the

opposition alleges, in there murdering people. However you look

at it, tactical withdrawal or not, it is a big setback for the

opposition? It is. If you like, it must empower people around

President Assad who think they can resolve some of these issues by

force. If we go in and look closely. Homs was a divided city, the yellow

areas represent the pro-Government strongholds, if you like. Now, of

course, Government troops in Baba Amr, in the north of the city, that

is the last remaining area where the Free Syrian Army still has

fighters in Homs itself. The battle is moving north within the city,

and within the country, to other places north of Homs, like Idlib. A

last couple of images to show the sort of people that will be facing

the onslaught next. These are biders in Bider taken a couple of

days ago. Quite a professionally put together position there, that

will take some punishment. Some evidence that arms are coming

through, perhaps, they say, from black market sources in Lebanon. An

AK rifle, fitted with a sniper glass, so more modern than the army.

The Government is planning to move to other places further north. They

think they can do it by force. My assessment would be they don't have

enough people to do it in all the places simultaneously, where

opposition now rages. Last weekend the British

photographer, Paul Conroy, was working with the Sunday Times

reporter, Marie Colvin, in Homs, when she was killed, alongside the

French journalist, Remi Ochlik. Paul Conroy and several others were

wounded. He has finally made his way back to a hospital in London. I

met him earlier tonight. Can we start with what happened

when you were hit, what was that moment like? It was, traumatic,

instant chaos. A few shells had hit the house, the final shell that

Marie, and Remi, my friend, everything went black, I felt a

huge pressure in my leg, put my hand down, put my hand straight

through my leg, realised it was bad, stuck a tourniquet on, and

essentially tried to crawl out of the house where I found Marie. From

that point on it was really all hell broke lose. It took 15 minutes

and we were finally evacuated to a field hospital, with the doctors,

with very limited supplies. Basics, they did what they could to fill

the holes. From that point on we entered the very basic Baba Amr

healthcare system. Over the next couple of days, what did you see? I

know you feel very much for the suffering of the Syrians around

you? Absolutely. The situation, I mean I have done a fair few wars, I

have never seen anything on this level. It is a bit of misnomer to

call it a warzone, there is no actual war. The Free Syrian Army do

their best to get in things like bread, and evacuate anyone. There

are no targets in Baba Amr, there are no military targets, this is

pure and utter, systematic slaughter of a civilian population.

There is nothing. You and Marie, of course, knew in one sense, what you

were getting in to, people at home will wonder why on earth anyone

does this? There are places in the world that light is very rarely

shone, unless people do go. We live in an age where we have the

Internet and YouTube, we see these videos, what happens is people will

take it, the regime will take it and put their commentry on, the

activists will put their commentry on, it leads to more confusion. I

think it is a necessity, otherwise we sit by and this will happen

without any witness, I think it is important to bear witness. Marie

was passionate about getting the truth out, about fact, attention to

detail. That was unsurpassed. She would go for the detail. You see in

a news report with unverified, that is not good enough for me, and for

Marie, and the few people who do this. I just think it is critically

important, these people are being slaughtered, massacred, and there

is nobody there, we will all get on with eating our dinner, and this

will happen, and in ten years time we will all be wringing our hands

going why didn't anybody do anything. I know you can't go into

details about how you got out. Give us some idea about how you did it?

There was a lull in the shelling, we were piled. It was the Free

Syrian Army took, it was a last ditch, they had wounded of their

own to get out. They knew we were in a bad shape, edit was

deteriorating, it was -- Edith was deteriorating, it was a proper

American out of the embassy, type, we have one shot at this. They

threw us into vehicles, there was a lot of sniping, there were shells

going out. They got us to the escape place. Half of us got out,

the Government shot, lots of people got shot, including the Spanish

journalist who was shot, not fatal low. A lot of people lost their

lives. I was in a room, they started piling bodies in, people

shot through the head. I can only say the people who got us out of

Baba Amr, every person in there is a hero, but these people especially

put their lives on the line and I can only say the biggest thanks to

the Syrian people. Just about yourself, have you got all the bits

of shrapnel out of your body? is a few bits still in there, they

are not going to chase them. They reckon they will eventually pop out

on their own one day and I will be able with a pair of tweezers, I

don't know how it comes out. have a souvenir by your bed? This

is a present from, probably the Russians, this one. You know really,

the Syrians had the unfortunate situation where they happened to be

under siege during Putin's election campaign. And now that is him doing

all he can to help the poor people of Baba Amr. Finally, you must

think a lot about Marie? Yeah. I mean, extremely close friend. A

journalist who worked to a standard that is unsurpassed. I don't know

anyone who had the tenacity, the bravery, all in one package. She

would not let go. This is why I have really got to tell this. She

was the best of the best, and I worked all last year in Libya with

her, we worked in Iraq ten years ago together. The world, we have

all lost a good friend, and one of the best has been taken from us. I

salute her, and I will go back and get her when the time is right.

Bring her home. Paul, thank you very much.

No problem, cheers, thanks. Steve Hilton is one of those people

who pull the levers of power, without generally ever appearing in

public it's regards at David Cameron's closest adviser, but has

-- and is regarded as David Cameron's closest adviser. But he

has quit to go to a job in California. He's credited with the

Cameron's Big Idea and The Big Idea society. Why has he gone? It is

largely family reasons. His wife lives in America, she commutes from

America to London. Two small kids, the first of whom goes next

September, if they are going to get out and go and live in sunny

California, now is the time. We would be kidding ourselves if

anyone walked away from Government, he had an office next to the Prime

Minister, for purely the sun. It is not much fun to be Steve Hilton.

He's thwarted often, eventhough he has massive access to the Prime

Minister, he has found the Civil Service frustrating. The icon yum

of transition doesn't translate easy. The coalition, he adored the

Lib Dems and then he came to believe they were more conservative

than he was. It is 55% family, you don't go, however, making the

decision, unless you feel thwarted. What will he do there? It is

acedemia for a year. International studies, fatastically vague. He

will do some work for Cameron. He will still be sending in the ideas

via e-mail. He will come back in 2013, when kid number one goes to

school. He has talked in the past wanting to do Meryl stuff, this is

the -- mayoral stuff, this is the stuff he has been pushing through

wanting mayors in other places. We will see more of him not less. He

is a big figure, which, no doubt, others will talk about. If they

have a legacy, this Government, it will be in large part down to him.

He pushed through some unpopular stuff on welfare and education.

While we parody him as the Big Society brain, which didn't really

brilliantly work, and maybe, in part, why he has decided to leave.

There are the other nitty gritty things, in Downing Street, might

have failed. He would like to go, do a bit of thinking in the

sunshine, and then come back and run as mayor? I think he will

probably come back, but it will possibly be to a frontline role

himself, rather than necessarily being an adviser, when it is not

masses of fun being an adviser when you are not getting your way.

Thank you. Joining me is the former speech writing for David Cameron,

and Lynn Collins from the Times. You know him well, what kind of

person is he? He's nice, very funny, he zings with ideas. He's an

enthusiast, he's very passionate and an idealist, he wants to make

things happen, he wants to see changes. He has very good attention

to detail, which he's not given credit for. In all that sense, is

he a bit of a loss for David Cameron? I think he's a loss for

David Cameron on a personal level, they are very close. It was said

when they are seen batting around ideas it is hard to see where David

Cameron begins and Hilton ends, they are so close. But David

Cameron is now very comfortable with being Prime Minister, it is a

biggest loss to the coalition, he is the ideas man, and he is the one

who says why are we doing that, why not do it differently. Do you see

him as a big loss? Most advisers come and go and nobody notices,

Steve Hilton made a big difference, but mostly in opposition. I think

the way people see the Conservative Party changed, and Steve Hilton saw

that early. He was clever in identifying what was wrong in the

way people viewed the Tory Party. That was hugely important for David

Cameron? Yes, in the change of the Tory Party. He has a real legacy, I

think he really made a difference. I don't think that translated

anywhere near as well into Government. Governments go through

phases, and Downing Street will be quite a lot less creative for his

absence, but perhaps a little bit more organised. A bit duller?

think they need to be a bit duller. It has been the opposite of dull on

the NHS bill, the period of dullness is what they need, they

need to get dull people in there to do some very conventional political

intelligence, and drive it through. In terms of the Big Society, I know

people in the Conservative Party, some of them have thought this was

a completely daft idea, it is one thing to have lots of ideas, but it

is presumptionably the Prime Minister's job to say that one will

work and that won't, with the Big Society there will be less

impetuous on it? David Cameron believes in the Big Society, Steve

Hilton didn't impose it on the Prime Minister, he genuinely and

passionately believes in it. It is important to remember the last time

Steve went to California in opposition, the Tories were doing

very well and were 45% in the polls, and the Big Society was part of the

language being used. It was when he went and the language went on to

convention issues like cuts and crime, that the Tories began to

drop. It was a myth that the Big Society was not a success, it was

doing well elect trally. Given his energy, he was somebody who

embodied that within the party? has been hard to translate it into

policy. It is hard to take the Big Society from an ethereal idea and

embody it as a real policy. I don't think it has translated

particularly well. It is interesting the Prime Minister

hasn't mentioned it for quite a long time. It will be intriguing to

see, coming up to the conference speech, whether the Big Society

features as a theme in the conference speech. It is still the

only overarching idea the Government has. It has gone missing.

Can either of you see him coming back into frontline politic, again,

one of the things about people who have lots of ideas, they also rub

other people up the wrong way, and actually being in frontline

politics means not making unnecessary enemies? I think he is

telling people he doesn't need to come back after a year, it is

unlikely he will come back to the same role. He wants to make change

and make things happen, there is a very good chance, not a definite

chance, a good chance he will come back and do something such as

perhaps going for the mayor or something like that. I think Steve

Hilton is searching for where power is in Britain, I think he has got

to the side of the Prime Minister, and got into Government, in Downing

Street, he has found power isn't quite there, because you are

thwarted at every turn, and the Civil Service seem to run things

without you doing anything. He will be become, people who know him well

say that, he will seek out power in some other guise. I wonder, going

back to what you were saying, driving things through, whether

people do enough thinking in politic. It is a good idea if you

have a big thinker to take a break and think some ideas and come back?

I think you are absolutely right. It is such a maelstrom of events,

there is not nearly enough thinking, that is why he's so important

because he does think. I totally agree, I have said to people there

you have to find space and take time out to think, without thinking

you are just reacting to events. The Government needs a strong

narrative, which perhaps it doesn't have at the moment, because it is

all a narrative for cuts. It is more boring for political

journalist, perhaps? I don't want to give the impression I'm against

thinking, I'm strongly in favour of people thinking. I don't want them

doing it while in Government, they are dangerous. What it meant is the

Government, over the next two years, in the run up to the election, is

in the implementation phase of its cycle. The health bill, for example,

doesn't even begin until it goes through the House of Commons. Then

it starts to really count. And you need that vigilence all the time.

It is quite hard conventional political work. Number Ten at the

moment is very, very underpowered on its political operation. I think

if David Cameron uses this as an opportunity to get some fairly

conventional political advice in there, and beef up his operation,

actually it won't be such a bad day for him.

On Sunday Russians go to the polls to vote in their presidential

elections, everyone knows who will win. It seems certain that Vladimir

Putin will be re-elected for a third term, although after recent

weeks of protests, unprecedented since the last days of the Soviet

Union, his next presidency may be more turbulent than the last. We're

in Moscow assessing the mood of the opposition ahead of Sunday's poll.

In Moscow's Gorky Park, it is time for a knees up.

The end of the long Russian winter is almost in sight.

They are celebrating mass lenitza, the carnival before Lent, the last

chance to fill up on pancakes. I have been coming to goarkyo park

since I first lived in Russia -- Gorky Park, since I first lived in

Russia, back in communist times. It was always a place of licensed

entertainment, where the masses could play, as long as they towed

the party line. And loyalty has been expected of them again since

Vladimir Putin came to power many years ago. Now something is going

wrong. TRANSLATION: I want to -- want to know if life is as sweet as

a Russian pancake. She says it is just as round! She says everything

goes round in circles, in a political sense too, she's

referring to Putin's plan to come back as President, after a term as

Prime Minister. But now there are people, even in

Gorky Park, who have had enough of him. TRANSLATION: I will vote

against Putin, I don't support his policies, I will vote for one of

the others. We shouldn't go backwards. Putin has already been

President before, and I think his time has run out. TRANSLATION:

think the presidency of Vladimir Putin's shouldn't be repeated so

often. Why? TRANSLATION: There is too much corruption in Russia.

Where did the rebellion begin? One place was this quiet forest outside

Moscow, where a young entrepeneur and mother liked to go walking.

Suddenly, one day, five years ago, she discovered many of the trees

were marked for felling. TRANSLATION: There were trees all

over here, this was terrible Barberism to destroy a forest near

Moscow, here we managed to stop them. These activists helped her

stop the plan to build a motorway here. The plan of a tycoon closely

linked to the Kremlin. They were injured in battles with police and

contractors, and for now, they have won, though they keep a constant

vigil here. But she wants -- once apolitical as most Russians, is no

longer fighting for trees, she's one of the leaders of a movement

fighting for a new democratic Russia without Vladimir Putin.

TRANSLATION: Five years ago I was a typically anonymous person, I

thought it was only a few crazy city types who went on

demonstrations. I ran my business, I got three university degrees, I

raised two children, all by the age of 35, but I always thought there

was something wrong. What did I need all the money for? Then, when

I saw the trees account down, I started to think, should I live --

cut down, I started to think, should I live differently, you

can't buy another forest, I didn't come to politics, politics came to

me. Suddenly, Russians like these have turned from subjects of the

state into citizens. They are no longer satisfied with the material

comforts that Vladimir Putin can offer, they want a say in the

running of their country. But are there enough of them, and are they

organised enough for the Kremlin to care?

The answer is, yes. This pro- Government video paints an

apocalyptic picture of Russia without Putin.

The country dissolves into anarchy, Chirikova and her opposition

friends take over, and their alleged backers in the west are

delighted. Can a woman, who spends so much of her time looking after

her daughters in her tiny flat really scare the Kremlin so much?

TRANSLATION: Of course, they are afraid of me. But it is the same as

when they tried to discredit dissidents in Soviet times t has

the opposite effect. People want to know where they are abusing us.

Then they get interested. Then they join us. Today she's being

photographed outside a polling station, for an internet campaign

to recruit election monitors. We are confronted by an angry

official, who wants us to leave. Back home the photo is uploaded and

will be seen all over Russia. These young people are already

being trained by an independent organisation to observe proceedings

in polling stations next Sunday. But there aren't enough volunteers

like this, particularly outside Moscow, to cover all the polling

stations in the country. And maybe the result has already been decided

any way. I think we will rewrite the result documents, through the

electoral commissions, where we will give all result documents from

polling stations and they will calculate, and if they don't see

that the result which they need, so they will just put another number.

But I don't think that way they will cheat a lot on the voting day

from the polling stations, there will be a lot of observers to

prevent those violations and prevent them. So usually when they

are trying to rewrite their result document, there are no observers to

see this process, so it is quite easy to do this.

The fear that the election will be stolen brings thousands of

Muscovites out on to the streets, a week before the poll, to form a

symbolic ring around the city. Most wear the white ribbon, that has

become the badge of the fair elections movement. Bizarrely,

puten to said they looked like flaccid condoms, now in satirical

response, they are waving blown up ones. Yevgenia Chirikova is here

too, in carnival costume, to celebrate what she calls the

approaching end of Russia's political winter. TRANSLATION:

most important thing is to change the way people think. We are not

struggling for power, we are struggling to drown this slave

mentality out of ourselves. On a day like this you really feel there

is a new spirit in Moscow, for people who have woken up

politically, their demands remain so general s it is still not clear

what they can achieve. In any case, the opposition is

still largely urban and middle- class, it doesn't represent the

whole of Russia. The man they want to beat still

bestrides his country's stage. He would probably still be able, even

in a fair election, to win a mandate a western politician would

consider acceptable, even if not a genuine majority of votes. He has

no clear programme, only the same patriotic rhetoric that hasn't

changed in years. TRANSLATION: have come here today to say we love

Russia. To say it so that the whole country can hear us. And I'm asking

you to say a simple yes, the question is this, do we love

Russia? Is it the rhetoric of a former spy chief, who can't see how

his country is changing? One of Russia's best-selling

novelists says social change will eventually sweep Putin away.

Middle-class is a new class in Russia, it has a lot of energy, it

is very much different from middle- classes in the west. Because to sur

vief in the 1990s in -- survive in the 1990s in Russia, to become a

member of the middle-class, you had to be strong and you had to fight.

With very harsh conditions of life, with corrupt police, to fight

against authorities. This is a class of winners, and survivors.

This is Putin's main problem, I think. Back in Gorky Park, the

middle-class is testing its strength in a traditional carnival

tug-of-war. It is not easy for them to get a grip on this wintry down,

and for now, it is still the state that decides who gets the prizes.

In a moment the review show, and Kirsty is here to tell us what is

coming up. Tonight two different takes on

British history, from the 1960s to today in White Heat, and the

financial crisis of 2008 in John Lanchester's new novel, Capital. We

also journey to Mars in Disney's 3.D epic, John Carter, and mark the

icon Lou Reed. That's all from Newsnight tonight,

Jeremy is back on Monday. The singer, Morrisey, has ensured

himself of another year without a Knighthood, after declaring the

British people know the Falkland islands belong to Argentina, we

don't have any footage of the concert in Argentina where he made

the pronouncement, we will settle for this.

# Sweetness, I was only joking # When I said by right

# You should be bludgeoned # In your bed

# And now I know how Joan of Arc felt