04/02/2014 Newsnight

Tonight, why is the membership of the Conservative Party falling

through the floor, and without adequate members, does it make the

next election unwinnable on the doorsteps? I think the Conservative

Party are out on their own for the better off but not the poorer. When

a right-wing commentator like Simon Heffer looks at the state of the

party, he needs a stiff drink. A few Tory MPs agree. I think there has

long been a disconnect between Central Office and the voluntary

parties. I'm not sure Central Office holds the opinions of the voluntary

party in the highest regard. If only I could make this message go viral.

After Scarlett Johansson discovers you can't have it all and chooses

Sodatream over Oxfam, we talk to the man who pays the piper and to the

charity which got the boot. Oot. Facebook turns ten, will the first

ten be much like the first. Fewer and fewer people seem

interested in politics, as Russell Brand has already told us. They are

all the same is the repeated complaint, the difficulty is no

political party can have that belief gain ground because the whole point

of elections, and there will be one next year, is they are built on a

choice. Everybody party has a problem with membership, but the

Conservatives, who could once muster an enormous army of individual

members have a particular problem. Membership has almost halved, for

example, since David Cameron became leader. Heffer, a long -- Simon

Heffer a long time observer and reporter explains. This report

contains flash photography. # I'm walking

# Yes indeed # I'm talking

# I'm hoping It is still 15 months away from the

next general election, but already Halifax candidate Phil and his team

are pounding the doorstep, trying to persuade people to vote blue when

the time comes. The Conservatives nationally are pursuing what they

call a 40-40 strategy, to hold their 40 most marginal seats and to win a

further 40 from other parties. Halifax is 18th on the target list.

But even here the party no longer has an office in the constituency,

which makes it tough for candidates such as Phil. What condition is your

association in Halifax, how big is your membership? The membership is

not huge. The membership pretty much mirrors from what I can see across

West Yorkshire and beyond. But what we do have is a dedicated team of

activists. But it is a compact team and in an ideal world everybody

could do with another 20 canvassers. One of the things the Conservative

Party has to look at is making it more attractive to be a party

member. This was Mrs Thatcher's first campaign sortie into the

north. The seat was last won by the Conservatives at the 1983 election,

in the landslide that followed an unapologetic campaign by Margaret

Thatcher. A shopkeeper's daughter from the East Midlands, who didn't

believe working-class areas were off limits. David Cameron's appeal to

the same constituency has been less instinctive. He promised to

rebalance the economy, to cause a recovery for all, north and south.

But he has struggled to shake off the "posh boy" image of Eton and the

Bullingdon club and to relate more naturally to working-class people.

What goes into it, OK oregano? No. Some Halifax voters seem to regard

the Conservative leadership as if from another planet. David Cameron

says the country is having an economic recovery and it is not just

in the south-east of England, have you seen much evidence of this

recovery in Halifax? No. Have things got better over the last four or

five years here? No, I think the Conservative Party are out for their

own, for the better off, but not for the poorer, not for the poor

families. There is people in Halifax the kids are starving, there is food

banks, there has never been food banks before. Is there anything that

would make you Conservative? At the moment I'm anti-voting full stop.

However some people are much more willing to engage with the political

process. What is your issue Sir? It is the amount of dog excrement. In

the end Phil's hard work pays off. Do we have your support at all? I

have always voted Conservative. That will do for me, thank you very much.

The stories really ought to win Halifax if they are to form a

majority Government, they will have to hold seats where they are

vulnerable, such as Thurrock, where Jacky Doyle Price has a majority of

just 92. We caught up with her in her Thames side constituency, while

she was meeting the port of London authority. One issue in particular

has caused her problems. The issue with same-sex marriage is it upset a

lot of traditional voters, so lots of Conservatives were very unhappy

about it. Ultimately, you know, we're elected, we have to do the

right thing, in the end I voted against the third reading. Even

though she's out pounding the pavements every weekend, Jackie

feels handicapped because the uniformity of today's politicians

leaves the electorate with little apparent choice. If you go back to

1980s, when I was becoming politically aware, politics was

exciting, it was about ideas, you know. There was a distinct

difference between the approach of Michael Foot and Margaret Thatcher.

We need ideas for them to get excited about. In some respects this

is where UKIP have found some success. If there is one thing the

Brits will get excited about is Europe, we all hate it. So they have

got a very rich place to attract people. Meanwhile, elsewhere in

Thurrock UKIP are plotting Jacky's downfall. . This This champion darts

player is UKIP's representative in Thurrock. He thinks he will score a

bullseye here. I'm sure you have been involved in political

espionage, what does your intelligence tell us about the state

of the Conservative Party here? It has been in decline for many years.

They got rid of their ward associations in the last decade.

They can't fight elections without calling in help from other branches,

other regions. We now have teams out regularly every weekend. We can

outman them. We are getting people out to vote who when faced with

Liberty-Lal-Con, they think they will stay in and watch the pub and

off to the pub. Now they think they can change the country. The

Conservatives used to be a mass movement party. When Winston

Churchill was leader they had two. Eight million members. In 2005 when

David Cameron became leader it had fallen to 250,000 members. In 2013

lax year, it -- last year, it had lapsed to 134,000. I get the

impression that the people who run the Conservative Party don't seem to

find very much that there has been such a decline in the mass

membership? I think there has long been a disconnect between Central

Office and the voluntary parties. I'm not sure Central Office holds

the opinions of the voluntary party in the highest regard, I think this

is a pity. I think the voluntary party is the essence of

Conservatism. That we are a party that is built up from the localities

rather than top down. I'm interested you talk about the disconnect, we

have seen in the last two days two Tory MPs deselected, Anne Mackintosh

and Tim Yeo, it seems where there is a vibrant association it is an

association determined not to take orders from Central Office or the

Prime Minister? I don't think it is helpful when the hierarchy

interconvience in local selections. In my own case Central Office was

very keen to stop me being selected. Actually I think every time they

said not to have me my support locally went up. Jacob Rees-Mogg is

right, the disconnect between the Tory leadership and their grassroots

is profound. Moon while UKIP are deeply determined and fielding an

expanding number of foot soldiers. The end of the Conservatives as a

mass movement could sabotage the party's chances, not just of winning

its target seats, but holding some it already has. By ignoring the

importance of their activists they could be making a fatal error. With

us now to discuss all of this is the very Simon Heffer you saw there, and

the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. You can't win the next

election if this picture is replicated across the land? I think

that the lack of boots on the ground, if you hike, is something

which a-- if you like, is something that afflicts all political party.

UKIP are pick up boots on the ground as shown in Simon's film. It is

important to recognise that the nature of campaigning is changing

quite a lot. For example the Conservative Party contact speaks to

hundreds of thousands of people every week by e-mail. You know we

have an enormous database of people who we contact. You have team 2015

which is designed to deal with the marginal seats, already got 4,000

people signed up to it. There is a broader way of campaigning too. What

do you make of the argument that you can remedy the shortfall in active

members, digitally. I have yet to find an internet website that will

drive an old lady to a polling station. Jacob Rees-Mogg didn't say

on camera but he told me off camera because he didn't have time, he

talked to a professor of sociology who had taken a survey of people who

had been asked on the doorstep to go and vote. Not for any particular

party, but to go and vote. And in the wards where people were asked to

go and vote to turn up was up by 7%. So it is clear, I think, by any

academic studies that actually going on to a doorstep, knocking on a door

and engaging with a voter gets them out to a polling station. That is

very important, but the point you make about people driving elderly

people to the polls, I mean that is one of the reason why there has been

a tremendous number of postal vote, to stop people being inconvienced in

that way, if they want to use the opportunity of the postal vote. I

think the nature of campaigning has changed. I don't deny that banging

on doors is essential, we all do it much of the time. But I think we

need to recognise that the Conservative Party is in touch with

probably more people than Churchill's Conservative Party was,

in spite of the much bigger membership at that time. You would

accept, Simon, it is not a normal thing to do to join a political

party is it? Not any more, no. But people are joining UKIP, and in many

of these target seats that the Conservatives have, and in many of

the seats they have to hold, UKIP are a very important force, they are

not necessarily the opposition, but they have the capacity to remove

large chunk of people who voted Conservative in 2010, or who might

be considering voting Conservative, and to UKIP they behave in a very

traditional way, they have boots on the ground, people canvassing every

weekend in place like Thurrock, knocking on doors, asking people to

support them when the next election comes. That is what the Conservative

Party is up against. That is what you are up begins. You have got to

try to counter that very traditional thing, which people still like. They

like the personal contact of a candidate on the doorstep. We

certainly have a lot of work to do but in the end many people in UKIP

are our cousins, we want them back. We need to persuade them that the

way to get the referendum, in-out Reverend dumb in 2017 is to vote --

referendum in 2017 is to vote Conservative. It is the only way to

achieve T I'm pretty confident between now and the general election

that point will register a lot with those flirting with UKIP at this

time. If you want the referendum a Conservative vote will deliver it.

You will have to end up in the same sort of mechanism that the Labour

Party has got itself in to, different types of membership, you

will have to start fudging things hike that won't you? We already have

some different relation. You are already fudging! If you look at the

figure, Simon's figure is not comparable with the figures for the

Liberal Democrats and Labour. The comparable figure is something like

174,000. And over recent weeks I gather from Central Office the

figures haven't yet been audited. Over recent weeks and months we have

seen our membership increase by several thousand. It is not static

situation. It is still pretty rubbish in comparison with what it

was. We have these alternative mechanisms, in terms of the number

of people the Conservative Party is talking to, it is now probably more

than it was in the time Simon was mentioned in Churchill's day. Are

you persuaded? No I'm not. One reason we went to Halifax, although

Phil was a very engaging candidate. We wanted to go to Morley and

Outwood, that is Ed Balls's seat, it is the 11th most vulnerable seat for

the Tories. The chairman agreed to speak to us, and at the last minute

rang the producer and said they didn't want to do it between now and

the election. From the inquiries I made there isn't really an

association in that area. In the 11th most vulnerable seat you have

got to try to win and the seat with Ed Balls in it, who is an enormous

scalp for your party. If you haven't an organisation there, if you are

not prepared to talk to the media about a your campaign there. 15

months outside an election, that seems unconvincing about the nature

of the campaign you hope to fight for that seat. . You saw Jackie

there an outstanding candidate who will be re-elected I'm sure. It is a

different part of the country? Team 2015 with the 4,000 members already,

more people recruited all the time, will certainly be visiting Ed

Balls's constituency, and will join what by then will be quite a big

team of people who will be working there for the Conservative interest.

This is your first outing since plebgate... On Newsnight. Very nice

to have you. Slut ask David Cameron for a job back in the cabinet? No,

not a question of it, those are his sorts of decisions. You were

unfairly deprived of it? Yes I was, but I hope to play a role in winning

the next election which we have been talking about. So you would like a

job back in cabinet. I would like a job in front line politics. What has

this whole fair done to your view of the police? I think it is important

to recognise that the vast majority of police do a brilliant a brilliant

job. We need to make sure there is reform in the police so everyone can

have confidence. That is what the police want to see as well. I hope

to play a modest part in ensuring that those reforms come into play.

Not just to protect citizens but the reputation of the police. Quite hard

to look at a policeman after your experience and wonder if he's going

to tell the truth, isn't it? I know quite well the police in Sutton

Coldfield, they do an excellent job. Those are the police I think about

when I think about the police in our country.

Coming up. # You move like the wind

# The way you put it on the floor # I give you my ring

# I want to give the round of applause

# I like the way you rule. If you were watching last night you would

have seen the bizarre tale of the UK Independence Party spokesman, who it

seems spent some time as the ringleader of a kidnap gang in

Pakistan. Today we have seen documents that show Mujeed Bhutto

had an active role in the Conservative Party before joining

UKIP. This is all about this man, Mujeed Bhutto, UKIP's Commonwealth

spokesman for the last year or so. Making some high-profile appearances

on national TV and radio. We were reporting back in 2005, using a

slitly different -- slightly different name. He was convicted in

terms of a complex kidnapping case involving a person in Pakistan and

spent some time in jail. The focus was on UKIP yesterday now it has

switched to the Conservatives. Two months after his release he had

joined the Tories. The Conservative chairman was asked about his role in

the party. Member of the Conservative Party in 2008, he paid

one year, left and joined UKIP. I should just add, for completeness,

he attempted to rejoin the party last week after having been the UKIP

spokesman. Because he's a spokesman for another party we rejected that

application. Have you managed to speak to Mr Bhutto? We spoke to him

this afternoon. He's adamant he was active in the Conservative Party for

much longer than a single year as Mr Shapps of suggesting there. We have

seen this invitation he was sent to an event by the local Tory

association in Leeds, after the 2010 election. So at least a year after

Mr Shapps was suggesting he left the party. Then there was this slightly

strange attempt to rejoin the Conservatives by Mr Bhutto earlier

this year. Mr Shapps said they rejected that approach. Mr Bhutto

said he has never been told he cannot join. He was sent this e-mail

from a local deputy Party Chairman in Yorkshire. Saying, ":

There is a real confusion about his role with the Tories. The

Conservatives saying even if he was a member or activist he was never a

spokesman or on TV representing the party, as he was with UKIP. That is

the key difference they say here. Now the script might have been

written by a satirist, a fizzy drink, a glamorous actress and

highly charged political issue. Scarlett Johansson's attempt to

reconcile her position as an ambassador of Oxfam, and truesering

a lot of money from a company called Sodastream didn't take long, a girl

has to eat. Hello American football fans with her appearance in a

commercial for a company which manufacturerses in the occupied --

manufactures in the occupied West Bank. Hollywood film star, Oxfam

ambassador and Sodastream girl. This week the actress found you can't

have it all. If only I could make this message go viral. She has

certainly done that, but not in the way that Sodastream intended. You

may remember it from 1980s Britain. But the bottles behind those dodgy

haircuts are now made here, at a Jewish settlement, built on occupied

territory outside Jerusalem. The factory employs Palestinians who

work alongside Jewish settler colleagues. Many campaign groups

want a ban on goods produced in reality settlements. Oxfam said the

ad violated the Convention on Human rights, and pressed Johansson on it.

She decided to hit with the drinks company, a less than happy ending to

when Hollywood meets Palestine. With us is the director of policy

for Oxfam. If these Palestinians are being well paid and being paid the

same as their Israeli compatriots, or their colleagues. What's wrong?

Our criticism is not of Sodastream's labour conditions. The issue is that

factory doesn't belong to Israel or Sodastream, it belongs to the people

who own that land who were thrown off that land in order that

settlements could be built. This isn't about soda or celebrities, it

is about settlements, the settlers impoverish the Palestinians. If I

took your house and now I turned it into a hotel as a porter, that

wouldn't be enough. Settlements hurt Palestinians. If this factory were

inside Israel there would be no problem for you? Oxfam doesn't

support a boycott against Israel, we have been clear about it. This

factory and the settlements are not in Israel, that is the position of

international law and the settlements hurt Palestinians. If it

was inside pre-1967 borders, you wouldn't have a problem? We have

never had an issue with Israel. What could Sodastream do to comply,

to meet your objection? They could fulfil international law and not be

in illegal settlements or someone else's territory. They have to shut

the factory down? If you meet people who live outside and close to the

settlements. They can't get permits for building and can be thrown out

of their homes, 100 people had their homes taken away just last month.

Settlements are hurting people across the West Bank. That is not

Sodastream's business taking away people's homes? We are not here to

criticise Sodastream but focus on the settlements. It is Sodastream

that has brought this to a head, as you know, there is really nothing

that Sodastream could do to meet your objections, bar shutting down

the factory and locating somewhere else. They should not be in the

settles, they are illegal -- settlements, they are illegal, they

need to go, they hurt Palestinians, they impoverish them, they make it

hard to get access to water, land and housing. It is damaging for the

Palestinian people. I wonder if you have any qualms at all about what

seems to some people about the bullying of Scarlett Johansson. I

think Scarlett Johansson did excellent work for Oxfam. I have no

criticism of Scarlett Johansson. Why couldn't she continue being an Oxfam

representative and do her commercials for Sodastream? Scarlett

Johansson resigned from only franc, we have made our -- Oxfam, we have

made our position clear on the settlements, they hurt Palestinian

people. To respond to that is the CEO of Sodastream, he's in Tel Aviv

now. Can you hear me? I can. In how much did you pay Scarlett Johansson

for this ad as matter of interest? It is not about money. And we don't

disclose t commercial terms we have with her. I can tell you that her

decision has not been financially motivated but rather

humanitarian-driven. She truly cares about people and bringing peace to

the region in the Middle East, and doing so within a two-state

solution. How do you feel about being part of

the occupation? Of territories seed from another country -- seized from

another country? What I'm doing in Sodastream in the factory is

occupying Palestinians side-by-side with Israelis, it is not a

settlement it is a factory. In fact we are part of the Palestinian

economy, and possibly part of the future, the seeds of the future

Palestinian state. We are not financing the settlement economy. We

are giving equal rise, benefits and opportunities to Palestinians, we

are proud about what we are doing in this factory. You have taken a

political position in choosing to operate this factory inside the

Occupied Territories, you accept that at least? No I inherited this

factory, it has been in there for 17 years, it is operating under the

agreement of the Palestinians themselves. This is an inconvenient

truth that many people forget. According to the Oslo accord of

1993, the Palestinians themselves agreed that area C, and this factory

is located in area C of the West Bank, will be operated under the

Israely administration, until the final borders will be drawn. That is

how we are operating. That is a God thing for the Palestinians who work

for me, because we are paying them Israeli wage which, is four-times

they would earn this in the Palestinian Authority, if they were

lucky enough to get a job. Their unemployment is 40%. You have

accepted Oxfam's position that you are operating an enterprise within

the Occupied Territories? Of course we are operating in enterprise

within the occupied fare threes. My -- territories. My dilemma is

putting people into unemployment and poverty. We employ 500 people and

each one feeds ten. Five #5,000 people have health insurance and

food on the table because of us. It is cynical and ironic that Oxfam, a

human rights organisation, whom I used to admire tremenduously are the

ones telling me to throw these people into poverty and

unemployment. It just, I can't understand how throwing 1300 people

into unemployment will promote peace. The Oxfam gentleman is still

here, can you explain it? You can't claim that the Palestinians

settlements are there. 30% unemployment, that is the figure

cited. Why is that? Is that because there are roadblocks every hour. Is

it because it is impossible for a Palestinian to establish their own

factory because they can't get permits in areas close to

settlements. Talking about the Palestinian olive oil industry is

collapsing because of the settlements. There may be many

imponderable. We are talking about this one concern, this one factory,

which as you have heard and well know employs Palestinians. You want

to see them chucked out, do you? We want to see the land returned to

those who threw them off the land. We want to see the return of the

land. Would you like to see that factory seize to employ Palestinians

or others? They could have an arrangement. What do you want? We

want the settlements to end. You want a factory shut down? You can't

operate factories and settlements and say the settlements are wrong.

Do you want the factory shutdown or not? We don't want the settlements,

they are illegal. Senator George Mitchell who brokered peace in

Northern Ireland, you are aware of his work. He was commissioned by

President Obama to broker peace in the Middle East, visited Sodastream

and said we are a glimmer of co-operation between them. There is

not a lot of light in this part of the world. You don't go back to

darkness if you can celebrate the light. This francly is a dream for

activists and politicians. Because we are proving that there can be

peace in the Middle East. I invited the Oxfam folk, they can all come

and see it before they shut it down. From the Prime Minister downwards,

or upwards, depending on your point of view. One member of the country's

officer class after another has condemned or been pious about the

fact that much of the London tube system has been shut down by a

48-hour strike, one scheduled for next week. We have lost the strike

habit over recent years, but the action by the RMT union, let by a

man photographed only days ago getting tanned on the beach in

Brazil is a which have of times past. In It would be bly cheap to

knock a man like Bob Crow for taking a holiday on the beaches of Brazil

just days before a major tube strike. That is the conclusion Boris

Johnson came to in his column, it wasn't so much the holiday but it

was the unions attempt to paralise. Grumpy recrimination, lost revenue

and grumpiness, much of it aimed at your man Bob, Bob and or Ritz

haven't met for five years. This morning they clashed on a live radio

show, each confusingly accusing the other of the same thing.. I can't

sit down and negotiate with you. I'm not askin When you are holding a gun

to Londoners' heads. You can't put a gun to your head? You are putting

the gun to the head. You served the notice on our unions. The

ammunition, bizarrely is a deranged shot at class war, with the old

Eatonian pointing out the inconsistencies of a trade unionists

living in a council house on a six-figure salary. He gets ?5,000 a

year, Boris Johnson gets ?143,000. A tube driver will make ?52,000 by

2015. The average wage for a London is ?32,800. The strike surrounds

jobs and ticket office closures. Bob accuse Boris of breaking his

election promise of promising not to close any one. Boris says things

have moved on. Old fashioned technology, six years ago when I

talked about closing the offices or not, the i phone wasn't invented. It

is brave man that asks what technology has done for the world,

perhaps Bob Crow is a different breed. Perhaps Camden Town doesn't

like as enticing as his holiday desanyone nation.

Aside from the discussion about the merits of Bob Crow's tan, the

question is, is his union just holding up the inevitable technology

with driverless trains and ticketless stations. Do you care

about the damage done to the economy of Lon by this strike? London

Underground relies on the economy and our members rely on working for

London Underground. The bigger the economy gets in London the more

people you use on London Underground. Making sure our jobs

are more secure. You don't care enough to call off the strike? We

do, we would love to call the strike off. Just do it then? But the point

is, what do we get out of it. We don't call strikes for the sake of

it. We call strikes because the employer doesn't take us seriously.

The tube staff realise if you are disabled or partially sighted it

will be more difficult to get a ticket. There is an argument that

all we are doing ask trying to keep somebody behind a ticket office

seing tickets, that is the not the case. You know the thing is

contactless travel and driverless trains? Technology is coming in, we

want to sit down and agree how the technology will be applied. We

support London Underground, we want to sit round a table, not to be told

that workers who have about 25, 30 years, heros when the vicious

terrorist attacks took place in London. You don't want to change

things, three months notice and get rid of the jobs. We are happy with

change, we have had change all our lives. We have been crying out for

change. How can you be crying out for change when you are opposing

change? We are not opposing change, we are imposing how it is

implemented. We might as well pack up a shop. If trade union can't ask

for safety in the work place to and from the work place, decent pay and

conditions, we might as well pack up. It has taken decades to get

legislation in place to make sure there is proper work places and this

crowd wants to take them all away. You know how it is going, great

unions, shadows of their former selves, even the Labour Party is

proposing the role of the unions and choosing of the leader. All across

the board, unions are in retreat, and unions like yours have very

little to look forward to? I think we do so, we are not members of the

Labour Party, those in the Labour Party ask him, our membership has

gone up from 53,000 to 81,000. That was in the last 12 years. The

railways is another technology. A new technology will come in, you buy

a new television and it is fantastic, but six months older it

is old. We don't go around the place and say because the central heating

is coming in we still want chimney sweepers. Houses are being built out

chimneys, you turn the chimney sweets into central engineers. That

is what we are doing, that is what we say about the underground. If a

still isn't there we use the stils and diversify. I just wonder if you

look at it you see the future of work and the marginalised role of

trade unions in many areas of life. Don't you feel you belong in a

different time? No I belong in 2014. You are a dinosaur? At the end of

the day that was around for a long while. People join a trade union, in

our view they do for one thing and one thing only, job secretary, being

safe, best possible pay and conditions, decent conditions and

world of peace. If we are not -- If we don't put it on the agenda, who

will, who will be the people on the street to hold its banner for us if

the trade unions don't hold it. To a story that almost seems too unlikely

to be true. A fishermen sets off from the Mexican coast but gets lost

at sea. Over a year later and thousands of miles away, the

fisherman turns up on the Martial islands in the Pacific. He claims to

have survived by drinking turtle blood and his own urine. We join a

film maker on the trip. Do you believe him? In a word, yes. I can

say categorically when he first waed up on the shore and I heard the

story I was very sceptical. Having seen him and talked to him

yesterday. Having filmed him getting off the boat. I really think this

man went through on ordeal, you described some of the issues he had

being at sea for so long. This is not somebody working an agenda or

perpetrate a host. This is a simple fisherman from Mexico who has spent

a long time at sea and has an incredible tale to tell. What sort

of shape was he in? When he got off the boat some of the people saw the

images that I shot and thought this guy looks big and healthy. How could

he have been at sea. The issue had, he was very bloated and his face was

bloated and his arms and hands were bloated. To me he didn't look

healthy. He had a big baggy shirt on that made him look heavy. When we

went a filmed him yesterday after the hospital overnight, the IVs,

fluids, and being back in civilisation with people who you

talk to. He started to go from the survival mode, which I imagine he

was in for a long time, to OK, I'm back to reality I have to start

thinking about myself and my future. You could see him. Even over the

course of the interview, just his mentality changed and he seems in

pretty good spirits but on the other hand he can't believe what he was

just going through. His original story of going off on a fishing

trip, I believe, wasn't it with a friend were is the friend? What

happened is he told us the story and this got jumbled around in the

media. He told it to us directly from his own lips yesterday. They

had been at sea for about four months. He had a young man with him.

He's not really sure of the young man's age, 15-17 years old, what

they had been doing to that point, survive, they were beating raw

birds, a lot of the diet was raw birds or a turtle if it was bumped

up on the boat and they would eat it raw. Occasionally they would catch

fish. Every time this young man would go to eat one of the young

birds he would vomit and couldn't do T he was having a lot of time eating

any kind of raw food. After a while we refused. Eventually he died, and

according to Jose he flipped him off to boat and put him to sea after he

died. When talked about this particular event in the interview.

You could see the remorse come over his face. This was something that

was starting to sink in the reality of his downhy. He started when he

would talk about this young man, it was a really hard thing to talk

about. There is quite a lot of excitement in the music world at

present with the success of African artists. Million Pound Girl has been

in the charts for many years. The performer is Fuse, British of

Ghanaian descent. What is happening with the popularity of African music

goes further than tunes or dancing. Fuse ODG or "on the ground"

performing this dance in the clubs of Ghon and brought it to the UK.

The sound known as Afrobeat, draws on the music of west Africa. The

track represents a turning point, when Ghana's streets is as

influential on British culture as hip hop in the UK. His next track,

antenna took him mainstream, it reached the top ten last year. It

stands for "this is the new Africa". Fuse OD doesn't just want to change

the way people move but transform the way we see Africa. Fuse is here,

what is all this stuff about transforming the way we see Africa?

I grew up in the UK, I did primary school in Ghana and secondary school

in the UK and university. Growing up in the UK, Africa wasn't perceived

in such a good way. I took a trip back to Africa a few years ago, my

experiences were completely different from what I had seen on

TV, how my peers actually saw Africa. I just wanted to share my

experience. Africa is at? Conrad Heart of Darkness, it is familiar

anyone, corruption, it issups it is things not working, you say there is

another picture people have missed? There is so much people have missed.

When I land in Africa, the feeling I get, when in Africa. It is such an

amazing feeling it annoyed me I was in the UK and this kind of feeling

wasn't portrayed on the TVs or the radio. So toing it annoyed me I was

in the UK and this kind of feeling wasn't portrayed on the TVs or the

radio. So to me I'm sharing my music about Africa, there is poverty and

things, but it is important to get the balance right. The media don't

show the balance, especially when I was growing up. Is this feeling of a

different kind of Africa, are people outside the African community

beginning to understand that. Through the music we are making the

of a toe beat. I performed at the MOBOs and I won an award. I let

people know that Africa is not all that, the media is showing there is

a different side to that. At Stamford university I shared my

experience of Africa and not just about Africa but outside, me and

African people. Their ideas on how to become reinvested back in. Are

there white kids who want to be African? A white girl's phone rings

and the tune is praying on the phone. Things have changed and the

feeling proud to be really proud of who you are. What does it stand for

on your hat? "This is new Africa", showcasing it through music,

businesses, fashion, just there is so many different factors that the

media never showcased when I was growing up. We are going to hear

you. Don't talk for too long. I like talking. We want to hear you play.

If you get ready for that,ly give some very -- I will give some

interesting newspaper headlines. Yeah, the Telegraph, bigger council

tax rise forced by Liberal Democrats.

# You move like the wind # The way you put it on and off love

# I want to come and give you my ring

# My girl roll with a kick # She can give you everything

# My girl roll with a kick # Like a singer

# My girl is roll with a butter # I can give you everything

# My girl roll with a kink # Every good man needs a Queen

# I like it when you put it on # When you put it off

# You always stay ahead like the hoodie army

# I won't leave you lonely # Go and put it on

# When put it on I'm really good # The hoodie army I like the way

that you doing your thing # You doing your thing

# All my pain off on the ground # You done move like the wind. ,

evening, another stormy