Browse content similar to 03/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight, amidst chaos in the Department for Transport, should we | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
re-think the way the railways run in Britain. With the runnaway cost | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
to the taxpayer of at least �40 million, the award of the west | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
coast rail franchise is on hold. We ask Government what on earth has | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
gone wrong. We are joined by the opposition and the train operators | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
too. Tu,y shells Syria tonight, after a rocket launch from Syria | :00:35. | :00:42. | |
kills five people. In an exclusive television interview, Kofi Annan | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
issues a stark warning of where the conflict could go without UN action. | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
If the security council is not able -- the Security Council not made to | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
come together and work together, we are in a really hopeless situation. | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
Also tonight, the man who dreamt up the philosophy of the Red Tory, | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
launches a massive take on David Cameron's red credentials. Phillip | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
Blond is here along with former policy adviser to David Cameron. | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
We're in America hours ahead of the first presidential debate. | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
Tonight the wonks of Washington, along with 60 million potential | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
voters, will be tune anything to see their presidential candidate | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
goes head-to-head, is this Mitt Romney's last chance to prove he is | :01:23. | :01:33. | |
:01:33. | :01:35. | ||
the man for the job. Good evening, the words "they | :01:35. | :01:43. | |
couldn't run a piss up in a buffet car" spring 0 mind. Three civil | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
servants were persuaded today over the West Coast Mainline deal, which | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
has been scrapped, at a cost of at least �40 million, and the fate of | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
a further two thirds rail franchises, due before the next | :01:55. | :02:05. | |
election, are in serious doubt. Is the whole tendering process flawed. | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
The last time the West Coast Mainline Khan fries was up for | :02:10. | :02:16. | |
grabs, it was 1996 and we were -- franchise was up for grabs, it was | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
1996 and we were all trainspotting. The then Government chose Virgin to | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
operate Britain's most lucrative rail franchise. Speed forward to | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
the last August, there is a Tory- led Government pulling the levers, | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
receiving an angry letter from a Richard in the Virgin islands, | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
saying passengers would suffer if the Westcoast franchise was award | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
today the First Group, two weeks later the Government did just that, | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
much to Richard's chargrin. We have heard our bit was ahead of them up | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
to 2020, and in the last three years, suddenly, they have worked | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
out that they can give the Government another �2 billion, | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
completely unIsrael itsic figures for the numbers of -- unrealistic | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
figures for the numbers of people they will magically get in the last | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
three years. Even if they doubled fares they wouldn't be able to | :03:09. | :03:19. | |
:03:19. | :03:20. | ||
afford it. We are completely baffled. The soon to be ex- | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
Transport Secretary backed the process to the hilt. It is a robust | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
and fair process, the whole point is to make sure it is not politic | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
sized and handled fairly for all the bidder. Even when the new | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
Transport Secretary arrived, the fourth in three years, he too chose | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
to support his troops. companies went to huge amounts of | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
effort to try to win that bid. It was judged fairly by the department, | :03:43. | :03:50. | |
and it is our intention to proceed with the bid that the first of -- | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
that Firs have made, I'm content -- first made, I'm content with the | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
way the contract was reviewed. Today he was forced to make the | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
kind of humiliating apology for those self-same civil servants, | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
rarely seen in British political circumstances. What is what has | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
happened is unacceptable, deeply regretable, and of course, I | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
apologise. We have made a big mistake, as far as the department | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
is concerned, and the people who have put bids in have done nothing | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
wrong. He has ordered two independent reviews into what went | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
wrong, the fruits which have will be heard by the end of December. | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
What actually went wrong during the tendering process? When Virgin | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
Trains were told they were losing the franchise, they sought a | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
judicial review. What that did is it forced Government lawyers and | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
senior civil servants to examine in great detail exactly how the | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
tendering process had been worked out. What they discovered was | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
nothing short of a schoolboy error. Inflation had been completely | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
omitted from the calculation. Over one year it may not be much, but | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
over the 13-year lifetime of the franchise, it could have amounted | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
:05:04. | :05:07. | ||
to tens of millions of pounds. So now the whole franchising process, | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
which was itself overhauled when the coalition came to power, has | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
been shunted into the sidings, as two urgent and independent reviews | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
into this shambles get under way. Up to now, companies wishing to run | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
train services in Britain, were required to set aside a much larger | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
sum of money to repay the Government if they could no longer | :05:26. | :05:36. | |
afford to run the franchise. This happened on the Eastcoast line two | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
years ago. First said it would set aside �155 million, Virgin said it | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
should be three-times that amount. Apart from making both rich and | :05:48. | :05:56. | |
poor, what does it mean for the wider structural issues in Britain. | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
This is bad for a Government who want to make private investor -- | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
investments for the country. These are people who could go anywhere in | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
the world and invest in any industries in the world. We want to | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
get them here. They have to trust there is an administration that is | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
competent that they can deal with. That the policy risks and | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
regulatory risks are reasonable over the period of the contract, | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
which is quite a long time. This doesn't help build confidence. | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
So with one rail line nationalised and four on hold, many people | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
believe that since the franchise system began, almost 20 years ago, | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
profits have been privatised, but risk continues to be borne by tax- | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
payers. There is always the key issue about | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
whether risk was really transferred to the private sector. The | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
Transport Committee is in the middle of a major review of the | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
rail system, you think we will be looking at what options there may | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
be. It is essential that the public do get value for money, and that | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
the taxpayer does too. But it is also the case that rail has become | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
increasingly popular, more people use the rail, more goods travel by | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
rail, but the cost is too high and the fares are too high. It | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
certainly is a shambles, a shambles on the West Coast Mainline, and | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
potentially a shambles for the system. But we do need the results | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
of those investigations and to question those results, before we | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
can come to firm conclusions. So, a cash-strapped Government is | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
now paying out �40 million to all four companies, who bid for the | :07:28. | :07:35. | |
west -- West Coast franchise, and it could face more claims from | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
First Group. The passengers will have to wait longer for a change in | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
services and for the Government's reputation to recover. | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
Where should the finger of blame be pointed? It is really hard to tell. | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
Independent analysts I have spoken to say you can't really credible | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
place the blame at Justine Greening's door, these sums are too | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
complicated for the Secretary of State to comb through themselves. | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
They breakdown the cull paability in the Civil Service, -- | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
culpability in the Civil Service, there are three suspended, they may | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
lose their jobs. If turns out the bidding process was beyond their | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
capability, then you bring in ministers, the people who devised | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
the system, then you come to Teresa Villiers, now promoted to Northern | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
Ireland Secretary. Having said that what is interesting, is you have | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
Conservative MPs who are saying Justine Greening should take the | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
blame for it, you have the cabinet responsibility, it was on her watch, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
and the discrepancy between the first bid and the Virgin bid, was | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
so huge, she should have asked for other numbers. We have the Times | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
front page here, they are running a suggestion, the Times say they | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
understand, so it is not sourced, they say they understand that | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
Greening learned of a blow to the bid in the week before the cabinet | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
reshuffle. We have been talking in the office about this evening, my | :08:59. | :09:06. | |
sources don't think it is credible. The other things to think about is | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
Patrick McLoughlin who has her job, went to the Transport Select | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
Committee last week and kept to her line. Why did he do that. Was she | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
allowed to do that, if she knew. What damage will this do to the | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
whole coalition franchising policy, what they did is they changed | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
existing franchising rules and made a new franchising system? It is one | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
of the first things when you speak to sources in Government today, it | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
was one of the first things, that is not going anywhere, franchising | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
as a philosophy is the only way to do it. They say it was a state | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
mishap, it was Government civil servants getting it wrong, going | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
more in-house rather than out-of- house is mad. I would imagine it | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
will turn up massive bits of fine tuning. There is a problem for the | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
Government. It is the day after the leader of the opposition has had a | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
lot of fun saying the Government is incompetent, a shambles is a word | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
we have heard a lot. Then this happens, it is bad timing and | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
embarrassing. Earlier I spoke to Simon Burns, a new minister in the | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
Department of Transport, in fact, after the reshuffle last month, | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
they are all new ministers at the Department of Transport, bar one | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
Liberal Democrat minister. Simon Burns, the Government was warned | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
about this two months ago, it has taken until the day before court to | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
put your hands up, why? What happened was is Sir Richard Branson, | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
after the decision of made, sought to pursue judicial review. And at | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
that point we, obvious low, had had to look at what had happened -- | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
obviously, had to look at what had happened, the franchise, ministers | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
did this. We were assured everything was done robustly and | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
correctly. Ministers looked at the figures? No, ministers working with | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
civil servants, were assured by the civil servants, who did the work, | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
that everything had been done robustly, had been done in keeping | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
with the arrangements for the franchising, and so, we took the | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
view that there was no justification for the judicial | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
review, initial low. Then, of course, as we a-- initially. Then, | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
of course, when we approached the time for a court hearing, more work | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
was done. Work that should have been done earlier? Work done prior | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
to the announcement of the decision. It was flawed work. It took lawyers | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
to find out what people in your department should have found out? | :11:29. | :11:35. | |
Yes, because we did not know it was flawed. All through the long | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
franchise process, ministers were being advised by civil servants who | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
were doing the work, ministers kept seeking assurances, that it was | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
being done in the correct way, that everything was working to the right | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
arrangements, they received those assurances. On that basis, with the | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
advice they were given, they then took decisions. We have got, you | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
know, all the ministers bar one have been shuffled on very | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
conveniently, if you look at Teresa Villers and Justine Greening is an | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
accountant, she was saying it was robust. Does the minister not have | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
a duty to say to civil servants, it is not going to be Virgin, it is | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
going to be First Group, that is a big change, let me see the figures, | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
if you are an accountant? I can assure you everything was done, | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
ministers were constantly seeking assurances and information that | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
everything was being done to the proper procedures, and those | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
assurances were given. You have a situation where the Institute of | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
Government talks about the fact that the Department of Transport | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
has taken 20% cuts in man power, these are highly complex franchises, | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
the problem is you have cut the feet from under the civil servants | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
and now they are taking the rap? don't agree with that. Because we | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
have some very fine civil servants in the department of the transport, | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
they work extremely hard. But three of them have been suspended? They | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
have, in the light of what has now transpired. You have two inquiries | :12:59. | :13:06. | |
to look at this, if I can give you two names here, Ed Smith, and Sam | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Laidlaw, they are leading the inquiry into the flawed process? | :13:10. | :13:17. | |
They are looking into what happened, what went wrong and why it did. | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
This is an independent inquiry, but they are non-executive directors on | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
the Department of Transport board, would they not have signed off on | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
the deal? No, it was signed off by ministers. So, wait a minute, the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
non-executive board of which these two men are members, had absolutely | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
nothing to do with the signing off, or even looking at who would get | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
the franchise? The ultimate decision on it was taken by | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
ministers. One final question, the model for costing for the high- | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
speed service, you are sure that has been worked out, without flaws, | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
so there haven't been any civil servant errors in that? What I have | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
said, is the method, the methodology is not flawed, it is | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
the way in which it was used. it been flawed in the high-speed | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
rail? But we have this inquiry, the Brown inquiry to look at the whole | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
area of franchising, what went wrong, and where we can learn. Of | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
course, that will cover the whole realm of network and implications. | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
The high-speed rail, the costings for that, based on that model, | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
because they may have had a problem with inflation and so forth, they | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
could be wrong? No, because the methodology was not wrong with the | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
franchises. In terms of the high- speed rail costs, how do you know | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
the right figures have been put in? Because I am confident that is the | :14:38. | :14:45. | |
case, because it has been looked at time and time again, by, not simply | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
the Department for Transport, but also HS2 itself. Minister, thank | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
you very much. Here to discuss all this are Tom | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
Smith, the chairman of the Association of Train Operating | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
Companies, and veteran of several franchise negotiations mark Wallis | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
from the Institute of Directors, and from the Labour Party | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
Conference, we are joined by the shadow Transport Secretary, Maria | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
Eagle. Maria Eagle, first of all, you heard the minister saying every | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
check and balance of made by ministers, everything done that | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
could have been done was done? just don't think it is good enough | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
to put the blame on civil servants, and there are matters arising now | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
in the newspapers where there are suggestions that Justine Greening | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
knew there was a problem with the franchise before the reshuffle. I | :15:33. | :15:39. | |
think we have to get the facts out there now. We need to hear from | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
ministers who knew, what, when, was the Prime Minister aware of the | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
problems before he decided to remove all of the Tory ministers in | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
the Department for Transport, or was he not. We need to hear from | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
him and get to the bottom of this, as well as looking at what is | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
technically going to be done to put this right in future. Let's lock a | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
bit of that, first of all, from the point of view of the taxpayer, the | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
taxpayer we know will pony up �40 million to the four different | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
companies. The Government has shown itself to be less than competent, | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
how do we know that the taxpayer is not going to have to come up with a | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
lot more money before this is over? It is a bad error that has been | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
uncovered today. The Department for Transport has quickly moved to say | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
they will look into it, and find out what has gone wrong. It is very | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
important not to get too gloomy about it, because the reality is | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
Fran chietsing, in which private companies -- franchising, in which | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
private companies bid for the right to run services, has been very | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
successful over the years since it has been introduced. It has | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
overseen improvements in trains and stations, and a growing number of | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
passengers, to record levels. you buy the ministers point of view | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
that it is nothing to do with the Government, all to do with civil | :16:53. | :17:01. | |
servants? That has come to come out of the review that will come out in | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
the next month. They will look at that in great depth. What decisions | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
were made and at what level must whab we learn from that. On the | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
immediate question of what happened on December 9th, the Government can | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
either put it over and run the service itself or Richard Branson | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
can do it, what is your preferred option? I'm going to try to look at | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
it from the point of view of passengers, who use the service. | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
I'm conscious there is a large on- line petition in support of Virgin, | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
what it suggests to me is passengers would like continuity | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
and Virgin running the services rather than an artificial change to | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
a short-term option. Maria Eagle, would that be your view too? | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
don't think it is possible, if there is going to be a | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
refranchising of this, for the department to favour one of the | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
potential bidders against another. They might open themselves up to | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
even more litigation. So I think it would be sensible, and we would | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
support this, for the not for private profit Government-owned | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
company that currently runs East Coast, and returned last year | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
almost �200 million to the taxpayer, to step in and run this line whilst | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
this is sorted out. Is this a stocking horse for | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
renationalisation, if you were in charge, would it be? With the | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
amount of money, at least �40 million poured down the drain over | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
the last evening. We don't want to do something that will make it | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
likely that even more litigation may succeed against the Government. | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
It is prudent not to choose one over the other, when there is | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
potential for this process to be rerun. What does this say for the | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
whole franchise procurement policy of this Government? It doesn't say | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
we need to renationalise the railways. The idea the Civil | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
Service make a mistake, therefore the Government should start running | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
all the railways, is a bizarre logic. More troubling it says that | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
actually the skills in Whitehall simply aren't there to negotiate | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
and properly run these processes, at the moment. And we have seen | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
these problems, not just in the Department of Transport, but also | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
in the MoD with commissioning, and the NHS database, and the lessons | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
still haven't been learned from business yet. If you were looking | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
to pick up an airport contract, or a nuclear contract in Britain, | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
would what happened today affect you, do you think, or would you | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
just think this is a blip, it has been an accounting error, they | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
forgot inflation and got the passenger numbers too high, it will | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
be OK? This is undoubtedly something that will impact | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
negatively on Britain's noble reputation. We already know there | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
is too much uncertainty on the future of airport xas a nuclear | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
power stations, we need to raise this money and this will deter | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
investors. Can I clarify something Maria may have misunderstood. When | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
I talked about should happen on the 9th of December, I mean it should | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
be agreement reached with Virgin on a short-term basis until another | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
competition is held. Clearly there has to be a competition. I don't | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
think it would be helpful. She was meaning you shouldn't favour one of | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
the potential bidders by giving them an extension? That bid is over. | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
The franchise, the services have to continue in some way. Until the new | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
competition is held. Talking about a complete rebuilding process, for | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
the West Coast Mainline, we are talking about delaying the next | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
three franchise options, we are talking about a full examination of | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
the system, as Mark Wallis says, it doesn't look good for British | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
industry? It is essential the two reviews are conduct. That it | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
engages with everyone with a state in franchising, especially our | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
members who bid and run the franchises, and they come to clear | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
conclusions that restore confidence in the way the process is run. | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
Would you be calling for a review of the franchising overall, or | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
indeed transport generally? Yes, I think that the flawed franchising | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
process that this Government have designed, and implemented, this was | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
the first one they tried to tender, it does need to be looked at, in a | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
wider sense than the review announced by the Transport | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
Secretary. We need to see what lessons can be learned for the | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
future, we need better value for money for passengers. I think | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
ministers and the Prime Minister have got questions to answer here. | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
The Prime Minister said when he was in opposition that ministers should, | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
that presided over systematic and serious performance failures in | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
their department, should be held to account. And they should not seek | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
to shuffle off responsibility. There is a direct quote, that is | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
what we seem to be seeing today. They have been reshuffled off? | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
have been reshuffled off, but the new transport ministers have also | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
given assurance this was a proper and robust processes. There are | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
many questions the Prime Minister and ministers, and previous | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
ministers in the department need to answer. We're not hearing those | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
answers tonight. In terms of looking at it from a business | :21:50. | :21:57. | |
perspective, if this drags on, what we are talking about here, Tom | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
Smith saying they have put in place -- it is impertinent that the two | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
inquiries proceed quickly. If this drags on and there seems to be | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
problems with the high-speed rail issue, then what will the damage | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
be? The damage grows the longer this lasts, and the uncertainty is | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
the real harm to Britain's reputation. If we are uncertain of | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
our future, if companies can't be sure when they put in an | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
application that if they win they win and if they lose they lose, | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
where will we be in five years to replace more national | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
infrastructure. NATO ambassadors are meeting tonight, following a | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
Syrian mortar attack into Turkey that killed five people. In a major | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
escalation, a few hours ago, Turkey retaliated, firing artillery units | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
into Syria. Just before we came on air, the US Secretary of State, | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
Hillary Clinton, gave this statement. We are outraged that the | :22:52. | :23:00. | |
Syrians have been shooting across the border. We are very regretful | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
about the loss of life that has occurred on the Turkish side. We | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
are working with our Turkish friends, I will be speaking with | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
the Foreign Minister. To discuss what the best way forward would be | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
I will discuss that later. This also comes down to a regime that is | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
causing untold suffering to its own people, solely driven by their | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
desire to stay in power. As Hillary Clinton said, this came as at least | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
31 people were killed in Aleppo, and dozens more injured in a series | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
of suicide bombs. I spoke to Kofi Annan earlier today, in an | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
exclusive TV interview, he told us the conflict coin flame the whole | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
region, and said, -- could inflame the whole region, and said if the | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Security Council didn't pull together the situation could get | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
much worse. I was speaking to him about his memoir marking his five | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
decades at the UN. Kofi Annan said he has spent his life seeking peace | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
across the world. Pressing the flesh with world leaders and | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
working in intractable conflicts. His work won him the Nobel Prize in | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
2001, the committee said he received it for a better organised | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
and more peaceful world. But his career has been punctuated by | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
failures. The Rwandan genocide that tok place in 1994 was committed | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
whilst -- took place in 1994 was committed whilst Annan directed | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
peacekeeping operations, in what was one of the worst genocides in | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
living memory, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered. Kofi Annan admitted after, | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
he realised after the genocide that there was more he could have and | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
should have done to sound the alarm and rally support. He also | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
described the massacre in veb nieceia in the Bosnian war, derb | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
Srebrenica, that occurred in the Be Your Own Bossia war was not good | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
for the United Nations. He look -- Bosnia was not good for the United | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
Nations. He claimed the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
Hussein was illegal, and said the decision to invade Iraq should have | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
been made by the Security Council and not unilaterally. Recently he | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
has been working to end the bloody war in Syria as UN-Arab League | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
envoy, he had a six-point plan for Syria intended to bring an end to | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
the fighting. It was never fully adhered to by either side. He quit | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
the role saying when the Syrian people needed action there | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the Security | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
Council. It looks as if the inaction is set to continue in the | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
UN he leaves behind. This afternoon I met Kofi Annan in | :25:46. | :25:52. | |
London. What are you most proud of in your | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
50-year career at the UN? Well, I think making it to the top, without | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
really expecting to get there. Because no staff member had had | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
ever made it to the top. The organisation always looked outside | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
for a leader. But once I was in I was extremely pleased with the work | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
we did on the millennium goals to fight poverty around the world. | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
David Cameron addressed the General Assembly, the blood of these | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
children, and we know again today that there is 31 more dead in | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
Aleppo, that the blood of these young children, in Syria, is a | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
terrible stain on the reputation of the United Nations. I hope when | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
Prime Minister Cameron says it is a blot on the reputation of the UN, | :26:43. | :26:53. | |
he is saying, in shorthand, it is a blot on our reputation, we have | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
made mistake, not the bureaucracy that is the UN. With the members of | :26:56. | :27:03. | |
the Security Council, we know that Russia has been supplying hardware, | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
ships, engineering parts for Sadek, we understand, we think -- Assad, | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
we understand, we think the Americans are supporting the | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
training of the FSA in Turkey. This is the Security Council supposed to | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
be doing nothing to inflame the situation. If the security is doing | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
that, why should anyone believe the UN can fix things? You are right | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
that the divisions in the council really hurt the search for a | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
solution. That was one of the reasons I resigned, as you know. | :27:33. | :27:39. | |
But I think the challenge is to overcome those divisions. To get | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
them working, I tried at the beginning they came together, they | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
supported the six-point plan, but it was not sustained. If the | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
Security Council is not made to come together, or find a way of | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
getting them to work together, then we are in a really, really hopeless | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
situation. And Syria will descend further into | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
war? It could get worse, it could get much worse. It could affect the | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
region. How do we solve the problem? As I have said, my choice | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
is that it has to be a political settlement. And if the | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
militarisation or intervention in my judgment will make the situation | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
much morse, in my opinion. We raise the issue that Syria will not | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
implode, but possibly explode, and beyond its borders. Bringing in the | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
whole region. What do you foresee happening if Syria explodes? | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
think the neighbours will be drawn in. Already we are seeing thousands | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
of refugees going into Jordan, some are in Lebanon, and they are in | :28:44. | :28:51. | |
Turkey, Iraq is worried with cross- border Jihadist elements coming in | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
across the border. So, the whole region could get inflamed. Do you | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
think now the only solution is for Assad to go? There is no doubt that | :29:01. | :29:07. | |
he cannot stay, you cannot kill that many people and remain | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
legitimate. That is not the solution, that is maybe part of the | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
solution. What happens when he goes? We need to make sure that the | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
right institutions, the security forces work, that you don't get | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
into a chaotic collapse, this is part of the problem. But do you | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
think, with hindsight, that when you took up the role for Syria, you | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
should have been, as it were less even-handed at the beginning, | :29:36. | :29:42. | |
should have just said right from the get-go, Mr Assad, you have to | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
leave? That is not a negotiator's role, I was brought in to try to | :29:46. | :29:53. | |
bring the parties to the table. As you have yourself indicate, even | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
the big powers have not been able to do that. For the mediator to | :29:57. | :30:03. | |
walk in and think he can do that, he would be dreaming. In your book | :30:03. | :30:10. | |
you talk about the genocide in Rwanda. You say that the world | :30:10. | :30:20. | |
:30:20. | :30:20. | ||
failed Rwanda. Is there a way you think you yourself failed Rwanda? | :30:20. | :30:26. | |
Maybe, I could have shouted louder. As I indicate in the book, we made | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
lots of attempts to get troops we didn't get. Maybe I could have use | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
the press more. At that time the UN was media shy. In fact, the only | :30:35. | :30:44. | |
person who spoke to the press was the secretary-general. I was the | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
under secretary-general, I think we were too timid about engaging the | :30:48. | :30:57. | |
press. Now I know better how to work with the press. But when | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
General Delere sent the memo saying it looked as if there was a | :31:02. | :31:08. | |
massacre ahead, and the memo went back with your signature and saying | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
do nothing, tell the ambassadors of the other countries. Do you regret | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
that now? No, there was a situation in the organisation when you put | :31:17. | :31:23. | |
things in context, we just had the disaster in Somalia, which led to | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
the withdrawal of thousands of peacekeepers. We were worried that | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
if they got in there, and they were confronted in the same manner as | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
Somalia, that would be the end of that mission, and you wouldn't have | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
troops on the ground to do anything. Is there a danger that nobody | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
actually can finally take responsibility. It is such a | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
complicated messy thing. I'm finding you don't want to talk | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
about him, that he kept everything close to him, and you a different | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
approach. The point is nobody fess up when there are mistakes? First | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
of all, there two were two major reports, by, one of them, I | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
commissioned, the other one, the General Assembly commission, on | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
Rwanda and Bosnia and Srebrenica, in particular, where we laid out | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
the failures, our mistakes and others, I apologised on my own | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
behalf, and on behalf of the entire organisation. Thank you very much | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
indeed. David Cameron was casting around | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
for big ideas to kick start a new kind of, and kinder Conservatism, | :32:31. | :32:37. | |
he alighted on the ideas of Phillip Blond. Red Tory Boy, who gave The | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
Big Idea society Tory clout, was a One Nation Tory too. Now he is | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
disillusioned, his plans for relocalising the economy, | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
recapitalising the poor, and remoralising the market, have | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
turned to dues dust in the hand of David Cameron, if his words. In an | :32:52. | :33:00. | |
article for the Guardian tomorrow, he says Ed Miliband is The One Show | :33:00. | :33:10. | |
:33:10. | :33:12. | ||
man now. -- is the One Nation now. | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
He said Tories should be Red, being associated with policies normally | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
associated with the left. Now Phillip Blond claims he is | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
disappointed and disillusioned with the direction David Cameron has | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
taken. Disillusionment with the Cameron project from someone like | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
Phillip Blond, will that worry David Cameron, or is it something | :33:32. | :33:39. | |
he can shrug off? I don't think he can shrug it off, Phillip Blond was | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
associated when Cameron was at its peak, as one of the biggest cheer | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
leaders. He came up with the incredibly potent expression called | :33:49. | :33:56. | |
Red Toryism, the media found him a fascinating figure, he became an | :33:56. | :33:58. | |
important part of the Conservative Party for David Cameron was | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
different and changing. If David Cameron looks like he's losing a | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
supporter like that, it is not good news. But he was never as central a | :34:07. | :34:13. | |
figure in the Cameron project as perhaps some presented. So it's far | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
from a serious or a fatal blow. Big Idea society was David | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
Cameron's big idea. Introduced rather late in the 2010 election | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
campaign, that left many baffled. Phillip Blond fears it has been | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
quietly dropped now as an idea, particularly since its champion | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
inside Downing Street, Steve Hilton, has left. There were widespread | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
reports that he was frustrated at being sidelined. Is Phillip Blond | :34:42. | :34:48. | |
right, has David Cameron abandoned, if you like, his earlier enthusiasm | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
for devolving power down to communities, and squandering this | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
opportunity to reshape Conservatives? Not at all, it is | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
very much happening on the ground. If we lock at what is happening in | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
Dover, with the people's port project, to take over the port of | :35:01. | :35:06. | |
Dover, we are expecting a decision in the next month. Schools changed | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
into academies and being able to control their affairs much more | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
effectively than through departmentss and local authorities, | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
and also the experience of the doctors being able to take more | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
control over the NHS. They know more about their patients than | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
centralised NHS in Whitehall. I think that is a really positive | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
thing about this Government, that has been devolving, decentralising | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
across the board. Phillip Blond believes there is already evidence | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
that Labour is moving on to this territory, that David Cameron | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
should be worried, that in his conference speech, yesterday, Ed | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
Miliband delivered a similar message to the one the Prime | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
Minister had once articulated. Is that something to worry David | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
Cameron, if Ed Miliband becomes a convincing voice for this kind of | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
idea? The Conservative Party cannot afford to be complacent, the | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
Conservative Party need to ensure it is not just the party of | :36:02. | :36:04. | |
economics, but also the party of compassion. But I think most people | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
know the Labour Party has a heart, and Ed Miliband hasn't addressed | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
the fundamental Labour weaknesses, which people are not sure that | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
Labour have quite the head, the understanding of how to run an | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
economy. The understanding how to make things work and repair the | :36:20. | :36:27. | |
mess that Labour left behind. Ed Miliband gave a good speech this | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
week, but his problem is not that Labour is seen as caring, but it is | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
whether they are seen as competent. I have got to know Philip and Hayes | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
work a little bit over the past few years, while I wouldn't say I agree | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
with everything he has said or everything he and his think-tank | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
are going to say. You can say that again. Although the Prime Minister | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
has more to worry about right now than one disappointed think-tanker. | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
Phillip Blond's criticisms will be in theed. And ahead of the party | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
conference next week, will have the capacity to wound. | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
Phillip Blond is here, along with Sean Worth, former policy adviser | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
to David Cameron in Downing Street, and who now works at the at this | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
tank Policy Exchange. Aren't you just acting like a bit of a spurned | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
roufr? Goodness, what a thought -- Lover? Goodness, what a thought, | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
not in the slightest. Rather I'm acting for a vision I believe in, | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
and I think the majority of the British people believe in. And if | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
we want a Conservative Party that spweeks to the majority, and | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
doesn't -- speaks to the majority and doesn't do minority politics, | :37:35. | :37:41. | |
it has to speak to its One Nation tradition and element. The | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
sacrifice of that appeal will condemn the Conservative Party to a | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
permanent minority. Conservative Party with a permanent | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
minority because they didn't follow through? The implication here is | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
that the Government has some how lost the reforming zeal, the social | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
vision. That is exact low what Philip is saying in the article? -- | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
exactly what Philip is saying in the article? Look at the policy and | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
fronts of reform, they are the most radical and far reaching since the | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
Second World War. That is an objective fact, not just my biased | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
opinion. In terms of what is popular with the voters. I look at | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
this, I don't look at this as an issue of dropping a social agenda, | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
I look at it as a Government in mid-term. This particular period in | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
the electoral cycle. You focus on issues like jobs, and growth, | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
because you know that. If you throw it away, Phillip Blond seems to be | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
seeing, and the expression you are using is re-tokifying the Tory | :38:45. | :38:50. | |
Party, that is an important point? It is not that I disagree with this, | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
some of the policies are radical, I would like them to be more radical. | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
If Dover does get its people's port, brilliant. It is very clear from | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
the outside and inside that the Government has lost its central | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
focus and its central focus has to be a vision. You organise your | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
party and policies. It is OK when you are in opposition, someone like | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
you in opposition gives them the big overarching report, but then | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
the reality is they have to get the deficit down, that is what they | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
have to see as their primary concern? What has happened, this is | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
a great tragedy, is means have eclipsed ends. Deficit reduction is | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
a means, but to what end. Until the Government can rearticulate and | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
give a vision, at the moment they are not offering a positive account | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
of the type of world we want, and the type of world we need. And the | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
strength of Ed Miliband's speech as he did that, and the shame is | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
that's Cameron's territory. What I would like is Cameron to move back | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
and give us the vision that will give a majority. | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
First of all, on Ed's speech, it was great, it was a brilliant | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
speech, probably the best he has delivered. But it didn't have a | :39:56. | :40:02. | |
great deal behind it. There was a lot of excitement, from a press | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
pack that want a battle of ideas. You are not going to get policy | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
this far out? This is my point about where the different parties | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
are at different parts in the parliamentary cycle, Ed Miliband | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
needs to communicate vision, and Cameron needs to look at the | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
voters' top priority, and they have to focus on those things. Of course | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
there is a social mission. I think, unfortunately, that is completely | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
wrong. The great shame is that Number Ten has lost the policy | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
vision. It has surrendered it to departments, the Treasury is more | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
powerful than Number Ten. believe he's in hock to George | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
Osborne? I don't believe that, it is surrendering policy issue to the | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
Treasury. What has happened is what they like is a cacophony of voices | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
in Number Ten, many different versions, but you can't deliver | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
like that. Successful Governments need clear principle and need to | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
ensure that every part of Government follows that principle. | :41:00. | :41:02. | |
There isn't a clear principle at the moment, what type of | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
Conservative is David Cameron. We need to hear that, we need it to be | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
a Conservatism. He's not a red Tory? He needs to be if he wants to | :41:10. | :41:16. | |
win a majority. Does he? If it is a question about what do people want, | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
I don't think The Big Idea society was top of the list. Let's be | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
honest. I'm not opposed to it, I believe in the vision of changing | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
the nature of the state. I think actually towards the election, | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
there will not be a stronger focus on the social. What I would say is | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
that there are really important reform agendas, as I mentioned | :41:36. | :41:42. | |
earlier, they probably need to be turbo charge that doesn't mean you | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
have lost sight of any social vision. Incertainly and external | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
people think the Government has lost its way. It has done that | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
because we don't have a defining vision from the centre that can | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
structure the rest of policy and departments. It is not clear what | :41:59. | :42:09. | |
sort of Conservatism we have. Is it austerity or 20th century poverty. | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
People don't ask the kind of past you have, they say do you share my | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
value, are you focusing on the things I care about. Jobs and all | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
that? The trouble is, Conservatism is now actually creating | :42:25. | :42:32. | |
economically clash with cash in a huge way. We are creating monoplies | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
and cartels, let's have a radical Conservatism that distributes power | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
and property to all. That is what the Prime Minister needs to convey. | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
In the early hours of the morning on the other side of the Atlantic, | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
the US presidential election will finally catch fire for millions of | :42:48. | :42:54. | |
Americans. Denver hosts the first of three live televised 90-minute | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
presidential debates, for the first time President Obama and Mitt | :42:58. | :43:06. | |
Romney come face-to-face. Romney goes in trailing in key states, but | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
the debates can make-or-break a candidate. In this election how | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
important will these debates be? Very, very important if you are the | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
host broadcaster, I suspect. CNN is talking like it is Christmas. They | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
are expecting 60 million viewers for the presidential debate tonight. | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
And every commentator, everyone you talk to, is saying it is crunch | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
time and it will be the most important thing. Newt Gingrich has | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
said this is the most important moment of Mitt Romney's political | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
career. You have to take a step back and say, for Newsnight viewers, | :43:36. | :43:42. | |
these aren't exactly debates in the spirit we know them, they are | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
staged. Here are the commentators talking about having to watch with | :43:47. | :43:55. | |
reptile brain, people not listening out for content or spotting policy, | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
these are gaps and things to be talked over for years ahead. People | :44:00. | :44:06. | |
remember the moment when depush senior glanced at his watch, just - | :44:06. | :44:13. | |
- George Bush glanced at his watch, when they had gone to see an | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
unemployed woman. That showed the difference between an engaged | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
Democrat politician, and someone aloof as if he didn't have time for | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
it. Those things are important to watch. Really, when you talk to | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
people, eight out of ten of them said they have already decideded, | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
they know which candidate they are backing, and they don't. Sorry. | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
that case, what does Mitt Romney have to do to rescue things? | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
sense is, if he does badly it is all over. If does OK, it is | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
probably still all over too. He has to come out, reemerged and | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
reenergised. In that unfortunate phrase of his wife, he has to come | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
out unzipped. He has to be more specific, he has a 59-point plan | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
for the economy and another five- point plan, yet no-one understands | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
what he would do. He has talked about being anti-Government, and | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
brought in Paul Ryan, yet there is very little mention about moving | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
away from we are welfare and Government dependency, when he was | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
talking in the Florida convention. Has to put the specter of the two | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
numbers to rest, 47% and 14%. Why did I pick those out? Because 47% | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
is in the tape, the number of voters who would never vote for | :45:29. | :45:36. | |
them. 14% is the amount of tax he pays, it isn't a lot at the moment, | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
but it isn't very presidential. He needs to make people want him. | :45:41. | :45:51. | |
:45:51. | :46:19. | ||
That's all from Newsnight tonight, I will be back tomorrow, until then | :46:19. | :46:29. | |
:46:29. | :46:30. | ||
good night. Hello, it will be a cold night | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
tonight, close to a frost in many rural areas. We start bright and | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
sunny for the most part in the morning. A scattering of showers | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
near the west coast, a few wandering inland during the day. | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
Very hit and miss, not as dry. Not as wet in northern England as it | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
has been today. Light showers in the afternoon. A God chance of | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
staying dry, showers not amounting to much in the Midlands, or East | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
Anglia, south-east should be dry. With the winds lighter not so cold | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
in the afternoon. The cloud increasing and the sunshine turning | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
hazy in the afternoon. Not that many showers, most in the morning, | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
a few may linger around the Bristol Channel, and possibly across Wales | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
as well. This should be some sunshine too. The showers arriving | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
in Northern Ireland could be sharp, but they are late in the afternoon, | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
really, a scattering of showers in Scotland, some sunshine as well. | :47:23. | :47:33. | |
:47:33. | :47:45. |