:00:08. > :00:12.Ahead in the polls, kicking the Government after its terrible week,
:00:12. > :00:16.floating along until Friday, then balm, you get trounced in a by-
:00:16. > :00:20.election in one of your safest seats. Ed Milliband was reminded
:00:20. > :00:27.last night, you underestimate George Galloway at your peril. The
:00:27. > :00:31.victory was hailed, by the victor, as the Bradford spring. It was
:00:31. > :00:41.certainly the Bradford swing, the biggest against Labour in 30 years.
:00:41. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:49.Six years ago you were lapping milk from the palms of Reulla Lenska?
:00:49. > :00:53.can't have done me any harm. Does a dead cat bounce?! A woman
:00:53. > :00:58.sets herself on fire after decanting petrol in her kitchen.
:00:58. > :01:03.The greater the extent to which people have petrol, have fuel in
:01:03. > :01:07.their vehicles, with maybe a bit in the garage as well, in a jerry can,
:01:07. > :01:12.the longer we will keep things going. The Tory chairman dismisses
:01:12. > :01:22.calls for Francis Maude to resign. We convene our political panel to
:01:22. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :01:27.pass judgment on an extraordinary Good evening, the political
:01:27. > :01:32.establishment is reeling tonight, after a week that has shaken both
:01:32. > :01:34.the Conservative Party, and now, after last night's extraordinary
:01:34. > :01:39.by-election result, Ed Milliband's Labour Party. Having spent the week
:01:39. > :01:42.of accusing the Government of being out-of-touch, could the same charge
:01:42. > :01:46.be levelled at the Labour leadership. Bradford west, Labour
:01:46. > :01:50.for 40 years, was won in the early hours of the morning, by the
:01:50. > :02:00.maverick politician, and who could forget, me owing Big Brother
:02:00. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:07.contestant, George Galloway. 12 hours after his most spectacular
:02:07. > :02:13.triumph, Gorgeous George was having a sly smoke of a celebratory cigar.
:02:13. > :02:17.By the heftiest odds he had taken Bradford, now he was ready for the
:02:17. > :02:21.open-topped bus. A uprising and total rejection of the mainstream
:02:21. > :02:25.parties, particularly Labour, they were George Galloway's word, and on
:02:25. > :02:30.the evidence of last night it is fairly hard to disagree. How did he
:02:30. > :02:34.achieve it? At party headquarters, where he stayed until 4.00am, he
:02:34. > :02:40.was back, enjoying embraces and bouquets, did he really think he
:02:40. > :02:45.would win. Yes, surprisingly, he did. When I arrived I was 200-12,
:02:45. > :02:50.by the end the bookies had -- 200-1, the bookies suspended betting in
:02:50. > :02:53.the end. I felt we had the zeitgeist and the mood on the
:02:53. > :02:58.streets, which is one of alienation from the political system and class,
:02:58. > :03:02.from double-dealing, double-talking politicians. And a consensus on
:03:02. > :03:07.issues of war and neo-liberal economics. Iraq and Afghanistan,
:03:07. > :03:10.your anti-war stance, that is the bedrock of your support isn't it?
:03:10. > :03:13.It was a significant factor, but not the most important factor.
:03:13. > :03:17.There were different factors in different areas. For example, I won,
:03:17. > :03:21.I know it is hard to believe, 85% of the votes in the university ward,
:03:22. > :03:26.and the issues there were about tuition fees. In places like
:03:26. > :03:30.Minningham and Tolor the issues were mass unemployment and poverty.
:03:30. > :03:34.In both sets of wards, the war is unpopular, not least because we
:03:34. > :03:38.can't afford the blood and the treasure that we are currently
:03:38. > :03:41.expending there. It is said you relied very heavily on the Muslim
:03:42. > :03:48.vote. You yourself have said in the past that you have the Muslim vote,
:03:48. > :03:52.you like to think you have the Muslim vote? I reject this concept
:03:52. > :03:54.of "the" Muslim vote, Muslims are individuals like everybody else,
:03:54. > :04:00.you wouldn't say there is a Christian vote, because they vote
:04:00. > :04:02.in all sorts of ways. The Labour candidate, I remind you, was a
:04:02. > :04:07.Pakistani Muslim. I don't think that is a valid question, every
:04:07. > :04:10.voter is an individual, and every voter has to be appealed to.
:04:10. > :04:14.you claiming you are a better Muslim than the Labour candidate?
:04:14. > :04:16.That was a response to his campaign that people should vote for him
:04:16. > :04:22.because he was a Pakistani Muslim. If you read the letter, you will
:04:22. > :04:27.see that. The Labour MP for Bradford South,
:04:27. > :04:32.Gerry Sutcliffe, took me through the city's newly revamped centinary
:04:32. > :04:37.Square, and he did -- Centinary Square, and he did what all Labour
:04:37. > :04:40.politicians have to do today, eat humble pie? It is a tough result,
:04:40. > :04:44.we didn't expect t and in the end the votes went to George Galloway.
:04:44. > :04:47.When did you realise you were losing it? It was in the last week,
:04:47. > :04:53.when we realised things weren't going as well as we hoped. One of
:04:53. > :04:57.the lessons we learned, was social media campaigns and social text
:04:57. > :05:00.messages affected the campaign. Text messages and new media, for me
:05:00. > :05:04.they are excuses from the older generation when things are
:05:04. > :05:07.perceived to have gone wrong. But in Bradford, the young leader of
:05:07. > :05:10.Labour's student, says George Galloway did indeed convince the
:05:10. > :05:14.youth. Young people have really been galvanised by this election,
:05:14. > :05:17.they have come out in their droves, and taken part in the democratic
:05:17. > :05:20.process. For me the young people have won the election. It is
:05:20. > :05:27.believed in the campaign there was rebellion against the old clam
:05:27. > :05:31.politics which had been used in the past to get the Muslim vote, the
:05:31. > :05:38.called Brad-ree. I have heard of that name, I think it has no place
:05:38. > :05:43.in politics. I'm glad that whatever the clam system, it has no part to
:05:43. > :05:49.play in politics. People it does play a part? I don't think think so,
:05:49. > :05:54.using family ties, people should focus on the candidate. George
:05:54. > :06:00.Galloway is a maverick, there was a great day on Capitol Hill, when he
:06:00. > :06:04.outfoxed the Senate over Iraq. Senator, in everything I said about
:06:04. > :06:09.Iraq I turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong, and
:06:09. > :06:15.100,000 people have paid with their lives. 1600 of them American
:06:15. > :06:21.soldiers, sent to their deaths, on a pack of lies.
:06:21. > :06:26.Pussy cat, yes. Against that there was his display in a leotard on
:06:26. > :06:31.celebrity Big Brother, lapping milk from the palms of Rula Lenska.
:06:31. > :06:37.Today, in triumph, he was unrepentant. Six years ago you were
:06:37. > :06:43.lapping milk from her hands? Amazing, and the people voted for
:06:43. > :06:47.What is it about Ed Milliband's Labour Party? That is a very
:06:47. > :06:55.interesting dichotomy, by the time it goes out, it might be David
:06:55. > :06:58.Miliband's Labour Party. The Labour leadership is in trouble now, they
:06:58. > :07:03.have decisively failed to break from the path that Tony Blair laid
:07:03. > :07:09.out for them F a back side could have three cheeks, they are the
:07:09. > :07:16.three cheeks of the same back backside. The Tories, Labour and
:07:16. > :07:19.the liberals are seen as the same as each other. People in Bradford
:07:19. > :07:22.feel neglected by politicians. They will show you the hole in the
:07:22. > :07:27.ground created years ago for the new shopping centre, they are
:07:27. > :07:29.stilling for it to appear. When politicians are in power, people
:07:29. > :07:34.have expectations of politicians and they expect things to happen.
:07:34. > :07:38.Bradford has had a hard time over the last decade? It has had a hard
:07:38. > :07:43.time in the sense of its image, perceptions people have of the city,
:07:43. > :07:46.the high levels of unemployment, particularly in this constituency
:07:46. > :07:52.where we have had the by-election. Hard times for Bradford, now good
:07:53. > :07:58.times for the man who keeps bouncing back, the indefatigable Mr
:07:58. > :08:03.Galloway. Why didn't the Labour Party, and let's be honest, the
:08:03. > :08:09.rest of us, see this one coming? There is a disconnect, there is a
:08:09. > :08:13.wide disconnect, and we are seeing why people are excited about
:08:13. > :08:18.mayors: a YouGov poll showed people would rather unelected technocrats
:08:18. > :08:21.running the country. There is the broader problem. There is spesif
:08:21. > :08:26.sicks about Labour, they were acknowledge anything their inquest
:08:26. > :08:29.today they have a big problem with places with heavy ethnic votes.
:08:29. > :08:34.They have relied on an old fashioned idea about how you get
:08:34. > :08:39.out that vote. How did we miss it, it was supposed to be somewhere you
:08:39. > :08:42.Way weigh the vote for a Labour MP. You didn't have the tell tale signs
:08:42. > :08:47.like people like Harriet and Ed Milliband running up there to hit
:08:47. > :08:52.the doors, which you normally have if they think they will lose it.
:08:52. > :08:56.Who would have said a few days ago you have a by-election decided, we
:08:56. > :09:00.have to front it up, a war that was nearly ten years ago with Iraq.
:09:00. > :09:05.There were other issues too, but for that to be one of the strands,
:09:05. > :09:09.and then you have the guy who is the leader of the Labour Party, Ed
:09:09. > :09:15.Milliband, is the one who talked about it most during his leadership
:09:15. > :09:19.campaign. He would be the one most able to talk about it. Does Ed
:09:19. > :09:23.Milliband have a real problem on his hands? He could make an
:09:23. > :09:28.argument this is not applicable more broadly. Some of his critics
:09:28. > :09:32.said this evening he has had bad luck, he had a ten-day run and it
:09:32. > :09:36.has ended cruelly. I don't buy it, I don't think we will get many new
:09:36. > :09:40.policies from him any time soon, as long as he doesn't do new policies,
:09:40. > :09:43.you will have George Galloway, admittedly, a unique individual,
:09:43. > :09:47.who will be able to storm a March, and Labour, not yet, has anything
:09:47. > :09:51.to answer with. What are the lessons for the Labour
:09:51. > :09:57.Party from their Bradford West drubbing, the party's deputy leader
:09:57. > :10:01.is with me now. After a long night, thank you for coming in. Did you
:10:01. > :10:04.have any idea it was hurling towards you? I did go up to
:10:04. > :10:07.Bradford a week ago last Thursday, and Ed Milliband went up too. When
:10:07. > :10:10.I was up there people were saying they were going to vote Labour, the
:10:10. > :10:14.same people that said they were going to vote Labour before the
:10:14. > :10:17.general election and did vote Labour. And the question is,
:10:17. > :10:21.whether or not actually we were out-of-touch, and those people
:10:21. > :10:26.weren't going to vote Labour, or whether or not there was a last-
:10:26. > :10:30.minute momentum ahead of steam, a bandwagon built up. Either way, the
:10:30. > :10:34.reality is, that if our connections with those people had been strong
:10:34. > :10:38.enough, deep enough and robust enough, that bandwagon wouldn't
:10:38. > :10:44.have built up, that is why we have to really learn the lessons
:10:44. > :10:49.about...You Are in a position, you should have a Miliband -wagon, that
:10:49. > :10:52.is what this is about for you now? There are particular issues in this
:10:52. > :10:56.constituency. We will have to look into it, if it is a more general
:10:56. > :11:00.issue, which I suspect it isn't, obviously we will have to learn
:11:00. > :11:02.those lessons. I think our starting point is to talk to, not only the
:11:03. > :11:05.Labour Party people in Bradford, but also people who aren't in the
:11:05. > :11:11.Labour Party in Bradford, and particularly those who switch their
:11:11. > :11:15.votes. But if you remember, the last four by-elections, we have won
:11:15. > :11:18.with Ed Milliband's leadership. is extraordinary language, Harriet
:11:18. > :11:22.Harman, 18 months ago, when Ed Milliband was elected, he talked
:11:22. > :11:26.about the need to reconnect with the party, and learn the painful
:11:26. > :11:30.truths, that started nearly two years ago, why hasn't it worked?
:11:30. > :11:34.have had the process of refounding Labour. Which is looking at our
:11:34. > :11:38.organisation from top to bottom, it is based on the notion that we have
:11:38. > :11:42.to deepen our engagment, as well as reviewing our policies. And we are
:11:42. > :11:47.doing that. But that doesn't happen overnight. But, we made progress
:11:47. > :11:51.last May in the council elections, taking 450 seats off the Liberal
:11:51. > :11:54.Democrats, and 350 off the Tories, and we won four by-elections. So
:11:55. > :11:58.actually, the question is whether or not this is a particular thing
:11:58. > :12:01.that has happened in Bradford, which is very serious, and we need
:12:01. > :12:05.it address, or whether it is a general thing. I would say to you,
:12:05. > :12:09.George Galloway wants to generalise it. The Tories want to generalise
:12:09. > :12:14.it, anybody who wants to predict our problems will generalise it. My
:12:14. > :12:18.own view is it is actually...It not just politicians, it the people
:12:18. > :12:22.of Bradford you heard -- it was the people of Bradford you heard there,
:12:22. > :12:26.locking at the shopping centre never built. It must have shown you,
:12:26. > :12:30.when you are in opposition and you have a Government doing
:12:30. > :12:33.phenomenally unpopular thing, you have to do more than bash the
:12:33. > :12:37.Tories, you have to come up with policies and come off the fence?
:12:37. > :12:42.has shown us that the people in Bradford voted 2-1 for Respect,
:12:42. > :12:45.compared to Labour, that is not what happened in Oldam or Barnsley,
:12:45. > :12:50.or Feltham or Leicester. The question is, how we understand this.
:12:50. > :12:54.I think we do have to learn lessons, but I don't think that we should
:12:54. > :12:59.generalise it if that is not actually the situation. We do have
:12:59. > :13:04.to deepen our engagment across the piste, and we do have to review our
:13:04. > :13:07.policies, we are doing that. years, when Ed Milliband was
:13:07. > :13:11.elected Labour leader, did you ever think that you would be sitting
:13:11. > :13:16.here, on a Friday night, two years after Gordon Brown had left,
:13:16. > :13:23.Labour's most unpopular leader since records began, explaining why
:13:23. > :13:27.Labour had lost a safe seat. Parliament tearly, you are worse
:13:27. > :13:31.off -- patrol men tearly you are worse off than under him. There is
:13:31. > :13:39.no disguising it, it is very disappointing, that is why we have
:13:39. > :13:45.to learn our lessons from it, we have to rebuild in Bradford. And
:13:45. > :13:48.win again at the next general election. It might well be it was a
:13:48. > :13:51.laid bandwagon, but we should have had deep connections so that
:13:51. > :13:54.wouldn't have happened. How long has he to prove he is a winner and
:13:54. > :13:59.somebody with the charisma and force to take you into the next
:13:59. > :14:03.election and win it? At the last council elections in May, we had a
:14:03. > :14:07.bigger share of the popular vote than all the other parties.
:14:07. > :14:10.start by saying the fightback begins in Scotland, that was a
:14:10. > :14:14.disaster? If you look across England, we had more of a share of
:14:14. > :14:19.the popular vote than the Tories. We won seats off them. I'm not
:14:19. > :14:23.saying we are all the way there yet, or we have the engagment we need at
:14:23. > :14:26.local level, or all our policies are where they need to be, we need
:14:26. > :14:30.to make further progress. To generalise out from Bradford, a
:14:30. > :14:35.very bad result, to take it to the general picture, it is wrong. We
:14:35. > :14:38.have work to do, but we will set on doing it.
:14:38. > :14:42.There is no threat of a petrol strike over Easter, that much
:14:42. > :14:47.became clear today. This week Britain learned how to act as if it
:14:47. > :14:52.was in the middle of the crisis even though it wasn't. Panic hit
:14:52. > :14:56.the country, fuel tanks ran dry, and the Fire Brigades' Union urged
:14:56. > :15:03.the Government to make the public aware of the dangers of storing
:15:03. > :15:06.fuel, after a woman accidentally set herself on light. The minister
:15:06. > :15:10.had urged people to store fuel for a strike.
:15:10. > :15:20.Today unions made clear no tanker strike was imminent, making this
:15:20. > :15:21.
:15:21. > :15:27.seem as nothing. Yet as the Easter gt gettaway grb gettaway -- get
:15:27. > :15:33.away begins it has turned into a political disaster. People may have
:15:33. > :15:37.fuel in their vehicles and a little bit in the garage in a jerry can,
:15:37. > :15:41.the longer we will keep things going. Yesterday a woman in York
:15:41. > :15:47.suffered 40% burns after attempting to decant petrol in her qichen. We
:15:47. > :15:54.don't know if there is -- kitchen, we don't know if there is a link,
:15:54. > :15:58.but calls for Francis Maude to resign followed quickly.
:15:58. > :16:03.Are people supposed to have jerry cans in garages they may or may not
:16:03. > :16:08.have. You can't store that amount of petrol. It was a mistake by the
:16:08. > :16:12.cabinet minister, he didn't understand the size of a jerry can.
:16:12. > :16:16.Nobody quite seems to know to whom he apologised or when, it all adds
:16:16. > :16:20.fuel to the narrative of a failed communications strategy.
:16:20. > :16:27.The Conservative Party has had arguably its worst week since David
:16:27. > :16:30.Cameron entered Downing Street, earlier I spoke to their chairman.
:16:30. > :16:33.Labour's disappointment in Bradford has disguised what was also a
:16:33. > :16:38.terrible night for you there. This is the kind of place you need to
:16:38. > :16:42.win seats? It wasn't a good result for us, it was a disastrous night
:16:42. > :16:46.for Labour. And this was a seat which even in 2010 for us didn't go
:16:46. > :16:50.our way. We made some great strides in Yorkshire, and in the north
:16:50. > :16:53.generally in 2010, but again, this was one of the seats that swung
:16:53. > :16:57.against us towards Labour. So we knew it was going to be a difficult
:16:57. > :17:00.night for us. The Tory of the night really is that this was a terrible
:17:00. > :17:03.night for, and a bruising night for the Labour Party.
:17:03. > :17:08.We are dealing with Labour acceptrately but you came second
:17:08. > :17:15.here last night. Your share of the vote dropped last night by 23%.
:17:15. > :17:20.What went wrong for you, the Conservatives? That that's right. I
:17:20. > :17:24.think the swing really notable last night was the 36% swing away from
:17:24. > :17:28.Labour. This hasn't been the best of weeks for the Government. What
:17:28. > :17:31.surprises me is that if the Labour Party and Ed Milliband can't win a
:17:31. > :17:35.seat in the week that the Government have had at the end of
:17:35. > :17:38.this week, then when are they going to win seat. It says a lot for the
:17:38. > :17:42.weakness in the leadership within the Labour Party, and the fact that
:17:42. > :17:49.the people of Bradford West have woken up and said Labour can no
:17:49. > :17:52.longer take us for granted. That is why we have delivered this stunning
:17:52. > :17:56.change in result for George Galloway. You concede it has been a
:17:56. > :17:59.bad week for you, let's turn to the fuel chaos, worrying many people
:17:59. > :18:08.tonight, would you agree the Government got us into a right mess
:18:08. > :18:12.by advising motorists to fill up their cars and jerry cans?
:18:12. > :18:16.remember before being stranded in London during the last fuel crisis,
:18:16. > :18:20.that was because the Government didn't prepare, didn't put in place
:18:20. > :18:23.contingency plans, and didn't advise the public to be prepared,
:18:23. > :18:27.and use common sense and make sure we had fuel resilience, fuel
:18:27. > :18:31.outside the picket line. So Francis Maude was right, was he, to tell
:18:31. > :18:35.people to fill up cars and jerry cans? I think it was right for the
:18:35. > :18:40.Government to say that people have to be resilient, and have to be
:18:40. > :18:43.prepared for this. Let's not forget, the unions may have rowed back now,
:18:44. > :18:47.but what they were saying is they were intending to strike over the
:18:47. > :18:51.Easter break. The time when most families do get in the car with the
:18:51. > :18:53.kids and go out for a day or couple of days. Had that strike happened
:18:53. > :18:58.over the Easter break, it was important that the Government was
:18:58. > :19:02.preparing for that, and making sure that all necessary measures were
:19:02. > :19:06.taking place, and were informing the public. In York a woman has
:19:06. > :19:10.suffered 40% burns, reportedly after decanting petrol in her
:19:10. > :19:14.kitchen. Labour is suggesting Francis Maude should resign if her
:19:14. > :19:18.tragedy can be linked back to his comments. Should he go? I have
:19:18. > :19:22.heard about the strategy about Diane Hill, she is being treated
:19:22. > :19:27.not far from where I live, at the specialist burns unit in Wakefield,
:19:27. > :19:31.this is a strategy for her and her family. At the moment our thoughts
:19:31. > :19:35.should be with her and her family. His words were incredibly
:19:35. > :19:40.irresponsible, it wasn't about being resilient or advising people
:19:40. > :19:43.to be resilient. His words were incredibly irresponsible? I think
:19:43. > :19:49.what is deeply irresponsible, and frankly, quite sickening, is the
:19:49. > :19:53.fact that the Labour Party want to make political points out of this
:19:53. > :19:59.personal tragedy for this lady. Putting the case aside, should
:19:59. > :20:02.Francis Maude apologise for words and phrase that is were deeply
:20:02. > :20:06.irresponsible? Francis himself would agree that the way in which
:20:06. > :20:10.he phrased what he was basically saying to the public, let as use
:20:10. > :20:13.our common sense and have some resilience, and let's be prepared
:20:14. > :20:18.for when the unions cause an irresponsible strike, they are
:20:18. > :20:21.words I might not have used. have not heard a public apology for
:20:22. > :20:27.him? That is a matter for Francis. I would much rather be part of a
:20:27. > :20:30.Government. We would love to, he won't do interviews. Do you feel as
:20:30. > :20:33.Party Chairman he should apologise? I would much rather be part of a
:20:33. > :20:37.Government that is looking ahead, and saying to the people of this
:20:37. > :20:41.country, the unions are being deeply responsible for calling for
:20:41. > :20:44.a strike over the Easter break. last been a bad week for the
:20:44. > :20:47.Conservatives, you have recognised that, the job of the Party Chairman
:20:47. > :20:51.is to connect the party to real people, you have failed to do that?
:20:51. > :20:56.That is a matter of opinion, Emily. I have been out on the streets
:20:56. > :21:00.campaigning each and every week, up and down this country, as I do each
:21:00. > :21:04.and every week. I'm deeply connected to the area here, in West
:21:04. > :21:08.Yorkshire, I was born and raised here. I have deep connections in
:21:08. > :21:12.the comounties, it is my job to make -- communities, it is my job
:21:12. > :21:16.to make sure the Conservative Party remains connected and committed to
:21:16. > :21:19.campaigning, and remains committed to listening to people up and down
:21:19. > :21:23.the country, especially in the north. Why is the Conservative
:21:23. > :21:27.Party home website saying they need a new Party Chairman, is it time
:21:27. > :21:34.for you to go? It is a matter for Conservative Home, you have to ask
:21:34. > :21:40.them why they have that view. The script of the last few days has
:21:40. > :21:44.been bluntly, could have been drept up for The Thick Of It, we have
:21:44. > :21:52.Daniel Finkelstein and our other guests. Great of you all to come
:21:52. > :22:02.far and wide, and see us. We could start anywhere, let's do
:22:02. > :22:03.
:22:03. > :22:07.the Maude thing. Is he finished now? I don't think it is a
:22:07. > :22:12.resignation issue. All of the things that have dominated your
:22:12. > :22:18.programme are all interconnected. When there is an economic backlike
:22:18. > :22:23.we have, whacky things happen. You have a petrol panic when there is
:22:23. > :22:26.no petrol strike, and pasties, and a row about party funding. You can
:22:26. > :22:31.see how there is disillusionment, which feeds on different subjects,
:22:31. > :22:34.and a basic fear over the economy. I think it is all interconnected, I
:22:34. > :22:39.don't think it is about one individual cabinet minister and one
:22:39. > :22:46.rather misjudged interview. And nor will any of this end if he were to
:22:46. > :22:50.go. We have all gone loopy because the economy is so rocky? I do think
:22:50. > :22:54.he should go. You have a minister saying something possibly illegal,
:22:54. > :23:02.it is illegal to store these things in your house. Secondly, there was
:23:02. > :23:06.a fantastic piece in the Telegraph tomorrow, by Charles Moore in the
:23:06. > :23:09.Telegraph, saying the Government concocted this in order for the,
:23:09. > :23:12.the Labour Party gets its funding are from the unions, it is exposing
:23:12. > :23:17.the facts that they are trying to blame everything on the Labour
:23:17. > :23:21.Party, it undermines their competence. If you have Charles
:23:21. > :23:25.Moore in the telegraph, criticising the Government for its intelligence,
:23:25. > :23:30.it is something, because they are trying to make everything into a
:23:30. > :23:34.political issue rather than running the country. The reason why your
:23:34. > :23:37.blog is called "conspiracy" is revealed. Nobody will put the
:23:37. > :23:45.communications strategy of the Government over the last week on
:23:45. > :23:47.their CV. Someone has to? Jo I agree with Steve, it gets it out of
:23:47. > :23:53.perspective to suggest Francis Maude should resign. I also think
:23:53. > :23:57.it is about low growth. In fact, in that way, it is more serious for
:23:57. > :24:02.the Government. It now has reached the point, the budget was the point,
:24:02. > :24:05.where it can't give to anybody without taking from someone else,
:24:05. > :24:08.the politics become scratchy. The Conservative Party has had a long
:24:08. > :24:13.standing brand problem, people think it is for well-off people.
:24:13. > :24:18.This becomes a particular issue when there is low growth. This was
:24:18. > :24:24.the week that narrative finally took hold, where they looked at the
:24:24. > :24:28.cabinet and said too rich, too posh, too unconnect today anyone else?
:24:28. > :24:34.has always been an issue for the Conservative Party, and the reason
:24:34. > :24:37.which led it not to win the general election. The gradation of poshness
:24:37. > :24:40.between David Cameron and Ed Balls which people don't know or care
:24:40. > :24:44.about it, but the fact that the Conservative Party is thought, they
:24:44. > :24:47.are worried that the Conservative Party would look after its well-off
:24:48. > :24:51.friends. And when there is low growth, that becomes a particular
:24:51. > :24:55.issue. Yes, I think around now, it is going to be a big issue.
:24:55. > :25:01.Of course what the Government has to try to do is get the growth that
:25:01. > :25:05.moves you away from that. reason why these stories are
:25:05. > :25:13.interconnected, there is a playing on all the houses mood about. --
:25:13. > :25:18.plaeing on all the houses right now. The failure of Cameron to win an
:25:18. > :25:24.overall majority. We have a hung parliament, the last time we had
:25:24. > :25:28.one was in 1974. And Bradford into the mix now? Yeah, Labour did badly,
:25:29. > :25:32.but it was bad for the other two mainstream parties. The Liberal
:25:32. > :25:40.Democrats lost their deposit, they may have wanted to win such a seat
:25:40. > :25:46.on the back of the protest vote before. All three parties are being
:25:46. > :25:51.challenged by events. One will get itself together, and it has been
:25:51. > :25:55.since 2008, I didn't think a party would win from an overall majority.
:25:55. > :25:58.I don't think they will the next. We are in hung parliament territory,
:25:58. > :26:03.during that period all kinds of strange things will happen.
:26:03. > :26:06.point I disagree about Bradford, someone said this to me, if your
:26:07. > :26:12.main message is that we are not as bad as the Conservatives, and they
:26:12. > :26:14.are not the main opposition, then you are going to get decimated.
:26:14. > :26:21.This is Labour's problem in Wales, and Bradford.
:26:21. > :26:24.Was it Labour's problem, or was it something to do with the Galloway
:26:24. > :26:28.magical streak? It was a mixture of both. Galloway clearly comes in and
:26:28. > :26:31.he has a message to sell to young people. But the point is, if the
:26:31. > :26:35.Labour Party is not ready for someone who is not the
:26:35. > :26:38.Conservatives, and they are in trouble. I think actually in one
:26:38. > :26:41.sense it strengthens Ed Milliband. It is not a point that even Harriet
:26:41. > :26:44.Harman made. But he has been trying to make this point within the
:26:44. > :26:49.Labour Party that they need to change the internal culture, in
:26:49. > :26:52.terms of campaigning, and in terms of the way they pick selections
:26:52. > :26:57.strongly. There is a lot of dinosaurs in the party who don't
:26:57. > :27:00.want to take that further. I think if some within the Ed Milliband
:27:00. > :27:04.team said they need to make the case stronger and rad qal reform
:27:05. > :27:14.within the party needs to go further. It is a lovely they are
:27:14. > :27:19.year, but they lost lost 58% of the vote in a safe seat.
:27:19. > :27:23.Moving away from Bradford, and going back to the communications
:27:23. > :27:27.strategy. Arguably this all happened with, you know, a moment
:27:27. > :27:30.over a pasty, where George Osborne couldn't find a response, and sort
:27:30. > :27:34.of followed up with, our programme being run by somebody saying it
:27:34. > :27:40.might have been a different situation. It is like asking
:27:40. > :27:44.somebody when they last ate a fish ball, and accusing them of anti-
:27:44. > :27:47.semitism because they can't remember. If you ask somebody
:27:47. > :27:53.sufficiently ridiculous questions, which a question like "when did you
:27:53. > :27:57.last eat a Cornish pasty", frankly is, you will get a ridiculous
:27:57. > :28:01.answer. There was something deeper underneath it, that this
:28:01. > :28:04.Conservative brand problem means, and the fact that they can't
:28:04. > :28:10.finance anything like increasing the income tax allowances, without
:28:10. > :28:16.taking the money from other things. Evens that it is very difficult for
:28:16. > :28:19.them when the fairness agenda dominates. It crystalises the
:28:19. > :28:23.problem, it is a symbol of the fact that they don't really care that
:28:23. > :28:26.the price of pasties was going to go up. The Government has to hope
:28:26. > :28:30.to heaven that a Cornish pasty becomes the symbol of that. I
:28:30. > :28:35.really think it won't. You have a contrast, you are trying to reduce
:28:35. > :28:41.taxes at the top, increasing the price of Cornish pasties. To people
:28:41. > :28:45.says it is you will increase my prices in food. You can't look me
:28:45. > :28:51.in the face and say the pricing of Cornish pasty is the point. This is
:28:51. > :28:56.the whole point, people don't feel the Conservatives are in touch.
:28:56. > :29:04.Government are relaxed if the Cornish pasty becomes a symbol of
:29:04. > :29:08.their economic success. They should be extremely worried about the way
:29:08. > :29:12.the budget went down. The granny tax, the budget was badly handled.
:29:12. > :29:15.I still don't know what they all thought they would get out of the
:29:15. > :29:21.budget. That is a real problem for them. It is very important, they
:29:21. > :29:24.think they are going to get out of it growth and competitiveness. They
:29:24. > :29:28.realise that for the Conservative Party, growth and competitiveness
:29:28. > :29:31.is the solution to the debate about fairness. If you have growth, the
:29:31. > :29:36.distribution issue, that is what they were trying to do, it is much
:29:36. > :29:40.too early to judge if that was successful. As you know, I thought
:29:40. > :29:44.the 50p reduction was a very big political risk, I also think there
:29:44. > :29:49.were strong economic arguments for that, and corporation and tax