18/06/2014

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:00:00. > :00:11.The Government of Iraq has now formally asked the United States for

:00:12. > :00:20.military help to resist the Islamist rebels who plunged the country into

:00:21. > :00:25.Civil War. As ISIS tries to capture bits of the all-important oil

:00:26. > :00:30.industry, what would it mean for the world economy if they succeed? Here

:00:31. > :00:35.in Baghdad the fighting in the oil refinery is causing a lot of people

:00:36. > :00:41.to wonder whether Iraq is heading for break-up and there be a war

:00:42. > :00:46.between Sunnis and Shias. After Ed Miliband finds himself in another

:00:47. > :00:51.fine mess, Peter Mandelson explains where his unique appeal to voters

:00:52. > :00:56.lies. This is the most stupid he assignment, I have done warzones

:00:57. > :01:03.easier than this. I did this as a special favour. Well, you get the

:01:04. > :01:14.idea. And we're in Uruguay to see how Luis Suarez is going to beat

:01:15. > :01:18.England tomorrow. The Iraqi Civil War is now so

:01:19. > :01:23.intense and the position of the Iraqi Government so powerless that

:01:24. > :01:27.it has frantically sought American military intervention. No judgment

:01:28. > :01:33.on that yet from the White House, though the fact that Iraq's main oil

:01:34. > :01:37.refinery has been the scene of serious fighting, and the scale of

:01:38. > :01:42.an insurgency out of all proportion to the number of insurgent, both

:01:43. > :01:47.point up the gravity of the crisis. First up we join the BBC's world

:01:48. > :01:53.affairs correspondent in Baghdad. What is the mood in the capital

:01:54. > :02:00.there? Well there is an awful lot of anxiety Jeremy both here and wider.

:02:01. > :02:04.I went down to the holy city of Kerbal today and an awful lot of

:02:05. > :02:08.anxiety there. People talking about the possibility of open Civil War,

:02:09. > :02:14.and the danger from the entire region, not just Iraq. People are

:02:15. > :02:18.very worried indeed. It doesn't look now nearly so much as though Baghdad

:02:19. > :02:22.might fall. There were Government ministers here last week who thought

:02:23. > :02:28.it would. That doesn't seem to be on the cards so much now. This is a big

:02:29. > :02:35.Shi'ite city and you know there is only 15,000 of these ISIS

:02:36. > :02:40.characters. I just don't think they are up for capturing an entire city

:02:41. > :02:45.or perhaps even entering it. It is still very, very worrying. The

:02:46. > :02:52.biggest worry of all is this possibility that Iraq might split up

:02:53. > :03:03.into its constituent parts. How seriously is that worry taken? Very

:03:04. > :03:07.seriously because you know if the division comes, then what does Iran

:03:08. > :03:14.do? Well it would be terribly tempted to swallow up, I suspect,

:03:15. > :03:17.the Shi'ite rump of Iraq. The Kurds would go their own way, they have

:03:18. > :03:24.been pretty much any way. But what happens to the Sunnis? That's a

:03:25. > :03:29.small relatively small sliver of land alongside the Syrian border, is

:03:30. > :03:35.it big enough? Is it possible it could exist on its own? Nobody

:03:36. > :03:39.knows. It is really, really very disturbing. John, thank you very

:03:40. > :03:43.much indeed. Well our diplomatic editor has spent the day looking at

:03:44. > :03:52.how big the ISIS insurgency really is, and how equipped the Iraqi

:03:53. > :03:56.Government have to deal with it? After the shock of the Sunni

:03:57. > :04:01.onslaught, Iraq is fragmenting. Kurdish troops fighting today near

:04:02. > :04:06.Kirkuk have also taken their chance to carve out a bigger territory for

:04:07. > :04:13.themselves. But in Baghdad, the Prime Minister insists that lost

:04:14. > :04:17.ground can be recovered. TRANSLATION: We will teach them

:04:18. > :04:21.lessons and deal them blows and we will deal with those who think that

:04:22. > :04:27.they can defeat the political process and the national unity and

:04:28. > :04:33.defeat Iraq. The Iraqi army still has several outposts in the north.

:04:34. > :04:42.With fighting continuing in Tal Afr, and where there is a key oil

:04:43. > :04:49.refinery, and Samarra, key shrines are there. Although there are the

:04:50. > :04:53.outskirts of Bakuba, there has been no significant advance in recent

:04:54. > :04:57.days. While the situation has stablised and Iraqi forces are being

:04:58. > :05:05.massed to counter-attack, what are the chances of them regaining

:05:06. > :05:08.ground? I would counsel Prime Minister Al-Maliki, although he

:05:09. > :05:12.wouldn't accept it, to replace the military commanders he has put in

:05:13. > :05:15.charge of the Iraqi forces with more competent leadership. When the

:05:16. > :05:19.United States were there we worked with the Iraqi Government to put in

:05:20. > :05:23.place competent military leaders, regardless of their sect or

:05:24. > :05:27.ethnicity. But since the end of 2011 when US forces were withdrawn from

:05:28. > :05:31.Iraq, Prime Minister Al-Maliki has packed the Armed Forces with

:05:32. > :05:35.political cronies. In effect he has created a force that is very loyal

:05:36. > :05:39.to him and won't launch a coup, but can't fight effectively as well. If

:05:40. > :05:43.the Iraqi army is going to be used to regain control of the Sunni

:05:44. > :05:48.Triangle it is going to have to be much more competent and willing to

:05:49. > :05:52.fight than it is right now. But if the army's generals are a losing

:05:53. > :05:56.bunch, its ranks are now being swelled with thousands of

:05:57. > :06:02.enthusiastic volunteers. Most of them are Shia, and the presence of

:06:03. > :06:06.an Iranian general, the Revolutionary Guard's chief covert

:06:07. > :06:14.operator has convinced many Iraqi Sunnis that the plan is to form a

:06:15. > :06:17.Shia army. I think he comes to Iraq to ensure that those who are

:06:18. > :06:24.supporting Iran, or those who have been working with Iran will stay in

:06:25. > :06:29.line and will not deviate. He wants to ensure that the influence of Iran

:06:30. > :06:38.will be maintained and strengthened. I think that was his main aim of

:06:39. > :06:41.coming. The chances of ISIS storming Baghdad are remote, instead the

:06:42. > :06:46.security forces are bracing themselves for an increase in truck

:06:47. > :06:50.bombs, launched from nearby Sunni towns. If that sounds like a return

:06:51. > :06:55.to the bad old days of a few years back, so does the idea of American

:06:56. > :06:59.air strikes. One Iraqi minister called for them today, but there is

:07:00. > :07:04.little enthusiasm for the idea among the US military. Every time you

:07:05. > :07:08.conduct military action there are political implications. It would be,

:07:09. > :07:12.I think, a grave mistake to launch air strikes now before the political

:07:13. > :07:16.situation on the ground has been clarified. The Government of Nouri

:07:17. > :07:20.Al-Maliki has been part and parcel of the problem in Iraq, with its

:07:21. > :07:25.highly-authoritarian and sectarian nature, if we were to support

:07:26. > :07:31.Al-Maliki now with air strikes we would simply be taking his side in

:07:32. > :07:37.this political struggle within Iraq. But while Baghdad tries to find its

:07:38. > :07:42.response, the enemy has a vote too. ISIS paraded its captured army kit

:07:43. > :07:45.today in Baji, the first order of priority for groups like this could

:07:46. > :07:51.be snuffing out the remaining army posts, and today they have attacked

:07:52. > :07:55.beleaguered troops at the nearby refinery, which produces 40% of

:07:56. > :08:01.Iraq's petrol and now looks set to fall. What effect could all this

:08:02. > :08:07.potential disruption have on oil supplies and there by affects upon

:08:08. > :08:10.the world economy, with us is our economics correspondent. What are

:08:11. > :08:15.the markets making of all of this, they are the first indication? So

:08:16. > :08:19.far the market reaction to these terrible pictures to Iraq has been

:08:20. > :08:24.relatively calm. The price of oil is now above $114 a barrel, that is the

:08:25. > :08:28.highest since last September, but not the sort of big move we have

:08:29. > :08:31.often seen in turmoil in the Middle East. It is not like the $120 during

:08:32. > :08:35.the Arab Spring. There is a couple of reasons for that, firstly the

:08:36. > :08:38.vast majority of Iraqi oil production is in the south and the

:08:39. > :08:43.east of the country and hasn't been impacted. Secondly, Saudi Arabia at

:08:44. > :08:47.the moment has a lot of spare capacity. If Iraqi production is

:08:48. > :08:50.disrupted they can bring that on stream. The bigger worry about the

:08:51. > :08:56.long-term picture. How worried should we be about that? The initial

:08:57. > :09:00.reaction in the last few days has been calm. What people in the oil

:09:01. > :09:05.industry are starting to fret about is the long-term picture. At the

:09:06. > :09:09.moment Iraq produces about 3. 5 million barrels of oil a day. That

:09:10. > :09:15.is about 4% of total world supply. But over the next 20 years that 3. 5

:09:16. > :09:20.million barrels a day is expected by international observers to rise to

:09:21. > :09:24.8. 5 million barrels a day. That is a huge driver of future oil supply.

:09:25. > :09:29.Five million barrels a day. That is roughly the amount of oil that the

:09:30. > :09:33.UK, Germany and Holland use every day. That is a big gap to fill up if

:09:34. > :09:36.Iraq is not capable of bringing it on stream. If it doesn't come on

:09:37. > :09:40.stream, and people are doubting it with the talk of Civil War and the

:09:41. > :09:44.split, there is a huge problem for the world economy, and big gap in

:09:45. > :09:48.supply and prices rise. But most importantly there is a terrible

:09:49. > :09:51.problem for Iraq, because increasing oil supply, trebling it over the

:09:52. > :09:54.next 20 years the key to really boosting their GDP and increasing

:09:55. > :09:59.prosperity in that country. So people are getting very, very

:10:00. > :10:04.concerned at the moment. Thank you. In Washington the Iraqi ambassador

:10:05. > :10:08.to the United States is on the line and here in the studio we have the

:10:09. > :10:15.Kurdistan regional Government's high representative to the UK. Ambassador

:10:16. > :10:21.may I start with you please, is your Government capable of defeating

:10:22. > :10:27.these rebels without outside military assistance? We are some

:10:28. > :10:33.what confident that the work we will do will have a significant impact,

:10:34. > :10:38.however we also know that we need immediate support to accelerate that

:10:39. > :10:42.process and provide us with areas of capability, such as air supremacy,

:10:43. > :10:49.which we currently don't have, so we need that support now. So you can't

:10:50. > :10:53.cope? Alone it will take more blood, it will be vicious, it will be

:10:54. > :10:57.dirty. What we are saying is that we need the support of the United

:10:58. > :11:04.States and other countries, because of the urgency of the ground and the

:11:05. > :11:08.type of enemy we are facing. How is it, talking about this enemy, that

:11:09. > :11:12.such an apparently smaller force should have been able to take so

:11:13. > :11:16.much of your country? There is a lot of reflection now going on within

:11:17. > :11:19.the military infrastructure, we have changed some of the high commands,

:11:20. > :11:23.maybe more will follow. But what we are saying is that is an issue for

:11:24. > :11:29.us to discuss with our partners as to how we can beef up and relook at

:11:30. > :11:35.our military capabilities. But the threat is an immediate threat now.

:11:36. > :11:40.So your military was inept, that is the problem is it? The military was

:11:41. > :11:47.developed, it is a new military, the military has been working with the

:11:48. > :11:52.United States. We had the US forces there until 2011, the military had

:11:53. > :11:56.no air force, and no infantry, the intelligence gathering was still

:11:57. > :12:02.fragile. These are all capabilities which we are trying to develop in a

:12:03. > :12:06.new state. That is with the viciousness of the situation, the

:12:07. > :12:11.spillover from Syria, these are all factors that have adversely impacted

:12:12. > :12:18.us. So your military was incapable. What help do you want from Iran? We

:12:19. > :12:25.are asking for help from the United States. Would you like help from

:12:26. > :12:29.Iran? There are bigger regional issues to discuss. But what we are

:12:30. > :12:34.saying is the strategic framework agreement we have is with the United

:12:35. > :12:38.States. The United States is our key partner of choice in developing our

:12:39. > :12:42.military in with other areas of co-operation, this is what our focus

:12:43. > :12:52.is on. Of course Iran is operating already within Iraq isn't it? In

:12:53. > :12:58.what sense? The all quad Al-Qud Brigade? I'm not aware of that. We

:12:59. > :13:02.will come back to you in a moment or two, but would you like military

:13:03. > :13:05.assistance from Britain as well? What do you mean from Britain as

:13:06. > :13:11.well. Would you like air support from Britain? No, no. Certainly not.

:13:12. > :13:15.The key capability we are asking for is for the United States to stand by

:13:16. > :13:18.us as our strategic framework agreement, talking about the

:13:19. > :13:23.integrity of Iraq. Now we have a serious situation, it is not a

:13:24. > :13:27.puritily only Iraqi domestic situation, it is a regional threat.

:13:28. > :13:31.That is the urgency and the depth of that challenge is. We will come back

:13:32. > :13:38.to you in a moment or two, I hope. Can you tell us where the Government

:13:39. > :13:45.of Kurdistan stands on all of this? Well, from our perspective, this is

:13:46. > :13:51.a crisis on three fronts. It is a humanitarian crisis. We have tens of

:13:52. > :13:57.thousands of refugees who have fled to Kurdistan from Mosul. It is a

:13:58. > :14:02.security crisis, as ambassador has said. It is a crisis that affects

:14:03. > :14:06.not only Iraq, all of Iraq, is in mortal danger. It affects the

:14:07. > :14:11.region, it affects the gulf and even further afield. And it is a

:14:12. > :14:21.political crisis too in Iraq. We have seen many pictures of your

:14:22. > :14:30.fighters engaging the ISIS forces, for whom are they fighting? The

:14:31. > :14:33.Peshmurgeres' primarily role is to protect the Kurdish people and the

:14:34. > :14:37.region. We have gone to the areas outside the Kurdistan region which

:14:38. > :14:41.are part of Kurdistan to protect the people there and key strategic

:14:42. > :14:44.infrastructure as well. Does that mean they are fighting to support

:14:45. > :14:55.the Government of Iraq, the central Government? Kurdistan is part of

:14:56. > :14:59.Iraq, according to the constitution, the Peshmurgeres are part of the

:15:00. > :15:03.Iraqi defence forces, we are defending the people of Iraq. By

:15:04. > :15:06.means of the central Government? How do you mean, by means of the central

:15:07. > :15:13.Government? These forces owe their loyalty to the Government of

:15:14. > :15:18.Kurdistan, which is part of the constitutional arrangement in Iraq,

:15:19. > :15:26.do they there by owe their loyalty to the Government of Iraq Nouri

:15:27. > :15:31.Al-Maliki, I would say the current Government would find it hard to

:15:32. > :15:34.find loyalty. We have not been shy pointing out repeatedly over the

:15:35. > :15:41.past few years that the Government in Baghdad has been sectarian, has

:15:42. > :15:45.been devisive and marginalising the Sunni Arab community and has tried

:15:46. > :15:52.to keep the Kurdish community and the Kurdish leadership out of

:15:53. > :15:58.decision making. We have been very frank about that and called for a

:15:59. > :16:03.change of Government. Your country is quite close to breaking up isn't

:16:04. > :16:08.it ambassador? The country is at a critical test, it needs its partners

:16:09. > :16:14.and its international countries who are involved in its development

:16:15. > :16:18.after 2003. It has been fragile in the politics, now we need to really

:16:19. > :16:27.look at that. But we also know that the wealth of Iraq is, can help in

:16:28. > :16:33.the development, but the politics needs to be looked at and the threat

:16:34. > :16:37.is immediate. One further point, you and President Assad have a common

:16:38. > :16:44.enemy in ISIS, are you now allied therefore effectively with President

:16:45. > :16:48.Assad? We are facing an immediate threat in our own country. We are

:16:49. > :16:56.dealing with that ourselves. The situation in Syria has never helped

:16:57. > :16:59.us. We hope that the situation is addressed regionally, the players

:17:00. > :17:03.who are involved in the fight against terrorism have to work

:17:04. > :17:07.closely together. To that extent I think we are dealing with a

:17:08. > :17:13.situation in Iraq ourselves. Thank you both very much indeed. Time for

:17:14. > :17:16.what is the point of Ed Miliband chapter 5, it is not as if he's in

:17:17. > :17:20.power and having to take unpopular decision. It is not as if he has

:17:21. > :17:25.committed the country to unpopular wars. It is not as if there is the

:17:26. > :17:30.faintest breath of scandal about him, and yet a year out from the

:17:31. > :17:40.next general election polls show he has the appeal oa flatulent dog in a

:17:41. > :17:49.lift. And Labour voters are unlikely to want to vote for him. We get the

:17:50. > :17:50.baron Peter Mandelson of Foy's opinion next. First we have this

:17:51. > :17:54.report. This must be a head-scratching

:17:55. > :17:58.moment for Ed Miliband. It is not as if he hasn't produced radical

:17:59. > :18:03.policies, big thoughts, brave ideas, he has had no contentious foreign

:18:04. > :18:08.policy, no bloody wars, his entire focus has been on those squeezed by

:18:09. > :18:20.recession, and yet his personal poll ratings continue to plum new depths,

:18:21. > :18:24.with less than a year to go. The party of today feels very different

:18:25. > :18:28.to that coined in the mid-1990s as new Labour. The party whose

:18:29. > :18:32.transformation began a decade earlier when Peter Mandelson was

:18:33. > :18:36.working for Neil Kinnock. For too long the Labour Party has viewed

:18:37. > :18:41.television as our persecutor, I want to use television as our tool and

:18:42. > :18:44.servant. We shall be presenting ourselves and putting across our

:18:45. > :18:48.policies and making sure that our spokesmen get the coverage that they

:18:49. > :18:53.can communicate directly with the people. As a sign of their

:18:54. > :18:58.rebranding, the Labour Party adopted the red rose, Neil Kinnock was a

:18:59. > :19:03.keen gardener, Peter Mandelson, legend has it, insisted on the long

:19:04. > :19:07.stem. It was a sign that old style socialism was passed, the red flag

:19:08. > :19:10.as both symbol and song relegated to the backend of conference. In other

:19:11. > :19:16.words, this is where the soapbox would end, and the courtship would

:19:17. > :19:22.begin. Our party, new Labour, our mission new Britain, new Labour, new

:19:23. > :19:27.Britain. LINEBREAK APPLAUSE Peter Mandelson, ongside Blair,

:19:28. > :19:31.Brown and cap women took Labour and the failed state and took it into

:19:32. > :19:35.Labour the new brand. Out went the state, in went the party friends

:19:36. > :19:44.with business and celebses, the party that could crucially befriend

:19:45. > :19:47.the upper-classes and seize the centre ground of politics. But the

:19:48. > :19:54.messenger was not universally popular. Peter Mandelson would at

:19:55. > :19:58.times go by the nom de guerre Bobby, he was often toxic within his own

:19:59. > :20:02.party. He gained a reputation has one of new Labour's most ruthless

:20:03. > :20:07.operators, media savvy, but not always friendly. There were those

:20:08. > :20:11.within the party and outside it who would cheer his downfall when it

:20:12. > :20:17.came. He resigned from Government, not once but twice. It was the

:20:18. > :20:22.Mandelson-Campbell spin that gave Labour its shiny new coat as well as

:20:23. > :20:25.its cloak of darkness. The way in which Alastair has conducted his

:20:26. > :20:34.operations when he was in Downing Street, when he bullied and lied his

:20:35. > :20:37.way across our political life, consistently, did more to lower the

:20:38. > :20:47.tone of our political life, our public life, than anything else. And

:20:48. > :20:51.it is perhaps that legacy that has confounded Ed Miliband. A leader

:20:52. > :20:55.that at times doesn't seem to know whether he's coming or going, who

:20:56. > :21:02.poses with a paper one day and apologises next. Tomorrow Team

:21:03. > :21:05.Miliband will announce major policy reforms, among them the end of

:21:06. > :21:09.jobseeker's allowance with the aim of getting those with little

:21:10. > :21:13.training or education into work. The man at the centre may yet struggle.

:21:14. > :21:16.Those around him know the journey from new Labour to what he calls a

:21:17. > :21:23.one-nation Labour Government, they still have a long way to go. With us

:21:24. > :21:26.now is baron Mandelson, the political Prince of Darkness who

:21:27. > :21:30.helped create new Labour and whose career has encompassed spells around

:21:31. > :21:34.the cabinet table in several departments, including business and

:21:35. > :21:39.Northern Ireland. Do you think Ed Miliband is the best leader your

:21:40. > :21:42.party could have? In my view he is the leader we have and therefore the

:21:43. > :21:46.leader I support and somebody who I believe is capable of leading the

:21:47. > :21:52.party to victory. The best possible leader? Let me, if you don't mind,

:21:53. > :21:57.just step out of the way you framed this. We have a year to go between

:21:58. > :22:01.now and the election. In the coming days and weeks and months, the

:22:02. > :22:07.Labour Party will be bringing forward a whole series of quite

:22:08. > :22:11.forward-looking policies. Having policies, though, without those

:22:12. > :22:14.being drawn together into a convincing and vivid narrative. A

:22:15. > :22:18.story about yourself, who you are, what you stand for, what you are

:22:19. > :22:23.going to do for people in the country is not enough. You have

:22:24. > :22:28.really got to put all this, draw it all together, connect the policies,

:22:29. > :22:32.link them back to the leader and give people a real sense of where

:22:33. > :22:36.you are going and what you are going to do. Let me put it the other way,

:22:37. > :22:43.why is he so much worse a leader than Tony Blair? He's a different

:22:44. > :22:49.leader, Jeremy. I mean Tony Blair was consciously moving the Labour

:22:50. > :22:55.Party to the centre ground, away from ideology, away from the

:22:56. > :22:59.either/or of British politics. The either you are sort of for the poor

:23:00. > :23:03.or you are for the rich, or either for the person who works on the

:23:04. > :23:06.factory shop floor, or you are for the executive floor and the

:23:07. > :23:13.boardroom. You are either for Britain or for Europe. What Tony

:23:14. > :23:17.Blair did was to replace either/or with "and". He produced a different

:23:18. > :23:21.form of consensual politics that appealed right across the spectrum

:23:22. > :23:26.of the centre ground, leading it from the left, but consciously

:23:27. > :23:31.making that appeal across the centre ground. Ed Miliband is choosing a

:23:32. > :23:36.different course. It isn't working? What people around him would say is

:23:37. > :23:40.that what needs to do, or what he is doing for the Labour Party and the

:23:41. > :23:46.left is what Mrs Thatcher did for the right in the 1970s and 80s. If

:23:47. > :23:49.that is the case why do 43% of Labour voters according to the

:23:50. > :23:54.latest poll want to see a change of leader? Bring these people on and

:23:55. > :24:00.ask them, Jeremy. I haven't been asked by any opinion pollster. You

:24:01. > :24:06.are a man who knows what is going on in politics? What I know that is

:24:07. > :24:10.going on is Ed is trying to approach politics in a rather different way

:24:11. > :24:13.from the way which Tony Blair and new Labour approached it. Do you

:24:14. > :24:19.think it is working? It may work, it may well be successful. I would say

:24:20. > :24:24.to you that electoral arithmetic is probably on his side. Do you think

:24:25. > :24:31.that it would be more effective were he seen to be more probusiness? I

:24:32. > :24:43.think that he has confused the party's message to business. What he

:24:44. > :24:46.needs to do is embrace the model of a market-based economy where we are

:24:47. > :24:52.supporting business success, but where we also want to see a socially

:24:53. > :24:55.inclusive society with principles and social justice, where we are

:24:56. > :24:59.creating opportunities for people and leaning against inequalities in

:25:00. > :25:04.society in everything we do. How has he muddled the message? Let me make

:25:05. > :25:07.the point. He places a great deal of emphasis on the last of those

:25:08. > :25:11.positions, the social justice, the fairness, the leaning against

:25:12. > :25:16.inequality. I think that's absolutely right for a Labour leader

:25:17. > :25:19.to do so. But he also has to balance that with an explanation of how we

:25:20. > :25:23.are going to bring about economic growth, how we are going to create

:25:24. > :25:27.jobs and how we are going to create conditions in Britain for business

:25:28. > :25:32.to grow and thrive. Which he hasn't done yet? Which he has a year to do.

:25:33. > :25:35.Which he hasn't done yet? He has a year to do. When you look at the way

:25:36. > :25:40.people in this country regard politics and there is a profound

:25:41. > :25:45.disenchantment, I'm sure you would agree, a profound disenchantment

:25:46. > :25:48.with politics and politician, do you accept any of the brain for that?

:25:49. > :25:54.Well I think the condition of politics in Britain today is much

:25:55. > :25:59.weaker than it was 25 years ago. I think politicians are trusted less.

:26:00. > :26:05.Before you? Politicians are trusted less, that's true. People vote less,

:26:06. > :26:11.they support the mainstream parties less than they did 25 years ago, and

:26:12. > :26:15.institutions of central and local Government are not held in such high

:26:16. > :26:20.esteem. But the reason for that, I would say, is to do with the

:26:21. > :26:23.profound impact of economic and social changes on our country. And

:26:24. > :26:27.you don't accept any responsibility for that? I'm not quite sure what

:26:28. > :26:31.charge you are levelling at me. The charge is you got to work on the way

:26:32. > :26:36.that politics happened in this country, you put an emphasis upon

:26:37. > :26:41.spin, you put an emphasis on presentation, you buckled down a

:26:42. > :26:45.really tight control on how the party is operated and the

:26:46. > :26:49.consequence of that is people are disenchanted because the stock

:26:50. > :26:55.response has become "you can't trust politicians". I'm not going to

:26:56. > :26:57.apologise to you and anyone else for making the Labour Party more

:26:58. > :27:01.presentable and putting it in a better light. But I never made the

:27:02. > :27:05.mistake of confusing good communications and good policies. To

:27:06. > :27:08.me you can only have good communications flowing from good

:27:09. > :27:11.policies. You have to have a very real sense of what you stand for and

:27:12. > :27:19.what you are going to do for the country. And no number of photo

:27:20. > :27:22.opportunities, or sound bites, however effective and attractive

:27:23. > :27:27.will substitute for that sense of mission that a political party has

:27:28. > :27:31.got to convey to the public. But the appeal of someone like Nigel Farage

:27:32. > :27:39.is that he's not part of a mainstream party, isn't it? I think

:27:40. > :27:44.it is. Because you have a Government which isn't popular and a position

:27:45. > :27:47.which is not strong enough. For the reasons that I have expressed for

:27:48. > :27:53.which I believe the opposition has a year to put right. So Ian though

:27:54. > :27:59.many of the people who voted for UKIP the other week, polls

:28:00. > :28:03.subsequently say they neither like or agree with UKIP, and nonetheless

:28:04. > :28:06.voted for Nigel Farage in order to send a message to the main parties.

:28:07. > :28:11.It is one they have to receive and respond to. How much do you think

:28:12. > :28:15.that the public opposition to politics, politicians, the political

:28:16. > :28:25.process, is to do with the fact that your friends in Government took us

:28:26. > :28:30.into that war in Iraq? I think Iraq does haunt British politics. It is

:28:31. > :28:35.not yet behind us, and I know that many people in the country believe

:28:36. > :28:41.that when the invasion and occupation of Iraq took place, some

:28:42. > :28:45.how the gates of hell were raised to release all that civil strive and

:28:46. > :28:51.all that carnage. I know that there are people who believe that we are

:28:52. > :28:55.sewing at what we reaped. I don't happen to believe it is as simple as

:28:56. > :28:59.that. As a Labour member of parliament, who followed his

:29:00. > :29:04.Government's lead at the time and voted for it, I'm not now going to

:29:05. > :29:10.join Tony Blair's chorus of critics. So you still think it was the right

:29:11. > :29:13.decision? I think that on reflection you could judge that it was a

:29:14. > :29:20.mistake. But this is the crucial point I would make to you, if it was

:29:21. > :29:24.a mistake it was a mistake honestly made. I do not believe, I do not

:29:25. > :29:28.believe that either Tony Blair or the Government as a whole, as some

:29:29. > :29:34.people claim, took the country to war on a lie. I think that's

:29:35. > :29:38.unacceptable and I don't think it is true. Tony Blair was saying even

:29:39. > :29:44.this week that it was still the right thing to do. Do you think he

:29:45. > :29:48.has gone a bit nuts? No I don't think he has gone a bit nuts. I

:29:49. > :29:52.think he's fully entitled to defend his position. I also happen to think

:29:53. > :29:59.he's right to say that where as 25 years ago, when you started on this

:30:00. > :30:05.programme, we had the sort of relative certainties of the Cold War

:30:06. > :30:10.to deal with, we now have the terrible uncertainties of Jihadism,

:30:11. > :30:15.of radical Islam, he is right to point up the dangers of that, and

:30:16. > :30:19.he's right to galvanise and mobilise people to take the action, to adopt

:30:20. > :30:24.the policies to deal with it. Peter Mandelson thank you very much. Now,

:30:25. > :30:28.time for the periodic delight of an interview with the Mayor of London,

:30:29. > :30:32.Boris Johnson. These occasions have a habit of veering from the

:30:33. > :30:36.pedestrian to the extraterrestrial. This time we thought we would jump

:30:37. > :30:41.in part way through on a bicycle, the I a parent pretext was a

:30:42. > :30:46.discussion about cycling in London. Some idiot, I foremeet if it was me

:30:47. > :30:51.or a producer decided to do it on a tandem. Due to cuts the BBC has

:30:52. > :30:56.downsized its fleet, and the only one we could get hold of was

:30:57. > :31:03.manufactured some time before the dinosaurs were wiped out. Jeremy. I

:31:04. > :31:07.have got this wonderful vehicle. Have you ever ridden one of these?

:31:08. > :31:12.No I haven't. Not since I was a child. I think the chances of

:31:13. > :31:17.staying upright are slim? Not since I was a child. That is fantastic.

:31:18. > :31:23.Look at that. I know you want to go on the front, let's have a practice

:31:24. > :31:30.round here first? We better do this. Are we sured for this insured for

:31:31. > :31:33.this? I wouldn't have thought so. I thought with the safer cycling

:31:34. > :31:41.initiative we wouldn't have to think about that? Stand still, I don't

:31:42. > :31:45.want to knock it over. Crikey Moses. I don't know what that is, the

:31:46. > :31:51.camera. I have just kicked that. Ready, steady go. Christ, this is a

:31:52. > :31:56.nightmare! Are you sure about this old man. You are steering. I am

:31:57. > :32:03.steering. I hope. Watch out, watch out. Is your sadd all right, you see

:32:04. > :32:09.that twists. I see, yeah, yeah. Is that meant to twist. Maybe you have

:32:10. > :32:14.a sideways bottom Boris. Have you got any brakes Boris? No hardly,

:32:15. > :32:21.brilliant, keep going. It is your leadership Boris. I feel it is going

:32:22. > :32:26.well, oops! This is the most stupid assignment, I have done warzones

:32:27. > :32:30.that are easier than this! I did this as a special favour to you

:32:31. > :32:36.because I care about you so much Jeremy, you are a landmark of our

:32:37. > :32:41.culture and I wanted to show you how delightful it is to cycle in London.

:32:42. > :32:45.It is not delightful to cycle in London, it is a bloody nightmare?

:32:46. > :32:48.This is I must say the most difficult machine I have tried to

:32:49. > :32:54.cycle on. Newsnight pro-Kurd this. This is like being the back half of

:32:55. > :32:59.a pantomime horse? It is. Crikey. Well done, you are doing good. This

:33:00. > :33:06.is death. Don't give up now! Good afternoon. People screaming "there's

:33:07. > :33:13.Boris" does it happen a lot? A lot. Normally they shout "you Tory

:33:14. > :33:21.tosser"! Watch out, there is a Banksy. It is a real Banksy!

:33:22. > :33:25.Preserved culture. Jesus Christ there's the police. I'll do the

:33:26. > :33:37.talking, I'll do the talking, all right. You leave it to me. I have

:33:38. > :33:47.been here before! Good afternoon! Good afternoon. OK. I looked at the

:33:48. > :33:51.figures earlier, there is nearly 5,000 people killed on, or injured

:33:52. > :34:00.on bicycles sorry, every year? The total number of serious injuries was

:34:01. > :34:04.457 last year. And the number of those killed was exactly the same,

:34:05. > :34:10.even though cycling continues to rise. Good afternoon. Where are you

:34:11. > :34:19.on helmets Boris? # Rain drops keep falling on my head

:34:20. > :34:24.# Dee-dee-de-de. Where are you on helmets? I'm pro. Didn't you hear

:34:25. > :34:29.the neurosurgeon say the other day? I'm not a mandatory helmet user, I

:34:30. > :34:34.don't believe they should be compulsory, but I wear one, I

:34:35. > :34:40.generally wear one. We are getting off here. Full marks. Well done.

:34:41. > :34:45.Smash it up a bit more, come on. Thanks, sorry. It is a horrible

:34:46. > :34:51.bike, isn't it? It is a real bastard isn't it! Boris I would like to ask

:34:52. > :34:57.you why the Barclays bike scheme has been such a failure? What do you

:34:58. > :35:03.mean. It is such a howling success. Why are they giving up sponsoring

:35:04. > :35:08.it? Just so we get some clarity on that, it is the most successful bike

:35:09. > :35:14.hire scheme in the world. The bikes are rubbish and the company

:35:15. > :35:18.sponsoring it are giving it up? The bikes are beautiful. They are

:35:19. > :35:24.lumbering, uncomfortable? Compared to that thing it is the Rolls-Royce.

:35:25. > :35:31.Compared to a 1901 tandem they are. Isn't the real problem here is they

:35:32. > :35:36.are known not as Barclays banks, but Boris bikes, which is a misnomer,

:35:37. > :35:43.because it wasn't your idea? In fact it was the bicycle was invented, or

:35:44. > :35:51.I think the metal... We don't want the history of bloody bicycles?

:35:52. > :36:07.Dennis Johnson! Was he an, ancestor of yours? I claim without much

:36:08. > :36:12.authenticate proof. The hard is Shard is there, what do you make of

:36:13. > :36:18.it? It looks like a cocktail stick with a pickled onion. It is

:36:19. > :36:23.foreign-owned? I think actually you will find it is... It is a monument

:36:24. > :36:27.of vainity? It is filling up and monument to confidence in the London

:36:28. > :36:31.economy. How many Londoners are living in that building? In that

:36:32. > :36:39.building so far not a lot. But I can tell you that in London as a whole,

:36:40. > :36:43.by volume sales to foreigners, including the Irish, by the way and

:36:44. > :36:50.all other EU nationals are only running at 6%. The issue for London

:36:51. > :36:56.now is how do we make sure that this sense of, that we don't encourage or

:36:57. > :36:59.have any more of this sense of he is strangement between London and the

:37:00. > :37:03.rest of the UK, because people feel that London is incredibly

:37:04. > :37:09.successful. It is a separate country isn't? It isn't, it is absolutely

:37:10. > :37:14.integral to the whole of the economy of the UK. To give you one example,

:37:15. > :37:20.tourism which generates about ?19 billion for the UK economy, 63% of

:37:21. > :37:24.all tourists to Britain come to London first. What I'm trying to get

:37:25. > :37:28.over to you is what is good for London is good for the whole of the

:37:29. > :37:33.UK economy. Do you want to cycle back to City Hall? This is Jeremy's

:37:34. > :37:37.valedictory programme. I want to say on behalf of Jeremy's many, many

:37:38. > :37:41.admirers that there will be a lot of people who are very sad to see him

:37:42. > :37:50.go. He has kept the nation entertained, if not always awake!

:37:51. > :37:54.For many, many years, and has been an adornment to broadcasting. That

:37:55. > :38:02.is quite enough from you Boris, come on. Bloody hell Boris this is a

:38:03. > :38:07.nightmare. Watch out team, watch out. OK, I'm following you, with gut

:38:08. > :38:13.and determination Jeremy, here we go. We're on the wrong side of the

:38:14. > :38:18.road. No, it is a one way street. I have Mr Paxman on the back I have to

:38:19. > :38:23.take exceptional care. I'm carrying the last remaining one-nation

:38:24. > :38:29.Conservative in the BBC. It is a precious cargo. You have to watch

:38:30. > :38:34.out for aggressive drivers. Ease off a bit, that is good, well done.

:38:35. > :38:38.Don't take your hand over Boris, don't wave, don't do anything silly.

:38:39. > :38:46.That's good, we need the money shot, we will crash into this bolard! I

:38:47. > :38:55.think it was your idea. Right turn here Jeremy, right turn. OK. Good

:38:56. > :39:04.evening, hello. Good evening. Here we go! Well done. Well that was

:39:05. > :39:10.Boris Johnson. Now Michael Howard, did you? No Jeremy I didn't, but

:39:11. > :39:15.feel free to ask another 11 times. No that is fine, thank you very

:39:16. > :39:20.much. Moving on he can land expects, the country's footballers must live

:39:21. > :39:25.their World Cup match against Uruguay tomorrow or return early

:39:26. > :39:29.from Brazil. Easier said than done, the country has a population,

:39:30. > :39:33.although only a bit bigger than Greater Manchester, yet it has won

:39:34. > :39:37.the World Cup twice, once more than England have managed. Their squad

:39:38. > :39:42.includes Luis Suarez, the Liverpool striker was Player of the Year in

:39:43. > :39:51.the Premier League although he has also a less glittering reputation

:39:52. > :40:10.for biting lumps out of opponents. This piece contains some flash

:40:11. > :40:17.photographyer It is not quite World Cup fever,

:40:18. > :40:23.World Cup bit of a high temperature more like. It is not that the people

:40:24. > :40:27.are indifferent, far from it. But like English fans they have seen

:40:28. > :40:33.their team lose the opening match of the tournament. Tomorrow is do or

:40:34. > :40:41.die. A lot rests on Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Gifted but controversial. He

:40:42. > :40:47.seems to embody the national football philosophy, "guts,

:40:48. > :40:50.ferocity, fighting spirit". Newsnight dropped in on a typical

:40:51. > :41:07.office to gauge the mood. This ad for a finance company revels

:41:08. > :41:15.in Suarez's bad boy image. His hypercompetitiveness, even his habit

:41:16. > :41:25.of diving. Some people are on the pitch, they think it's finito! The

:41:26. > :41:28.signature Uruguayan combo of guile and grit has served the country

:41:29. > :41:35.well. The team won the first-ever World Cup on home soil back in 1930,

:41:36. > :41:47.beating Argentina. The old centinary stadium has seen better days. You

:41:48. > :41:55.see the replica of the jewels JulesRemet. The man who tends the

:41:56. > :42:01.honours here, he shares a name with the England skipper. 15-times the

:42:02. > :42:10.American cup, two Olympic Games, two World Cups, I can't explain. It is a

:42:11. > :42:13.miracle. Football is just your life. We asked a young sports analyst to

:42:14. > :42:18.account for this success in a country of just over three million

:42:19. > :42:24.people. It is like a religion we have, it is a feeling we have since

:42:25. > :42:31.the very, very little kids. We are born with football. I mean the first

:42:32. > :42:39.gift you got when you are a boy is a ball. Yes, these are the deceptively

:42:40. > :42:44.charmings to the who -- tots who grow up to put their opponents on

:42:45. > :42:49.the back foot. At four or five they are encouraged to play for fun, at

:42:50. > :42:53.least at first. This football nursery produced a certain Suarez L,

:42:54. > :43:00.and this is the man who discovered him. What was it about him that made

:43:01. > :43:03.him special? TRANSLATION: He was fast, very fast, he scored a lot of

:43:04. > :43:12.goals and would dribble past everyone and then score. How did you

:43:13. > :43:15.help Suarez develop? I taught him how to dribble and pass the ball to

:43:16. > :43:19.his team-mates. Players have to learn to pass to each other. In the

:43:20. > :43:25.beginning he was a bit too individual, but as he went through

:43:26. > :43:29.the system he grew as a player. You weren't responsible for teaching him

:43:30. > :43:38.the biting as well were you? No, no, no. The training ground of Uruguay's

:43:39. > :43:42.top club, where Suarez came as a teenager, it is spartan by the

:43:43. > :43:46.standards that players or Chelsea at Manchester City are used to. But for

:43:47. > :43:51.a time it was home for the rookie. How often have you heard it said of

:43:52. > :43:54.some future superstar of the game that he lived, ate and slept

:43:55. > :44:01.football. That was pretty much literally the case for the young

:44:02. > :44:07.Luis Suarez, here in his digs at the club, he could tuck up and dream of

:44:08. > :44:12.international star dem beneath his team's own coverlet. As well as

:44:13. > :44:17.Suarez's huge talent, there were discipline issues. It is claimed he

:44:18. > :44:22.once head butted a referee. TRANSLATION: It is not really like

:44:23. > :44:25.that, he burst out from between two or three players and collided with

:44:26. > :44:28.the referee head on. While you could say he was a bit wound up about the

:44:29. > :44:34.way the match was going, the actual collision was just an accident. At

:44:35. > :44:39.all events Suarez was given a red card. Perhaps only in Uruguay could

:44:40. > :44:46.a youthful ban like that be linked to a gunman attempting a hit on

:44:47. > :44:54.investigative journalist, there is no suggestion that Luis Suarez

:44:55. > :44:58.himself was involved in any crime. TRANSLATION: This incident resulted

:44:59. > :45:02.in the referee making a formal complaint with his union and the

:45:03. > :45:06.Uraguayan Football Association. Because of this the President of

:45:07. > :45:11.Uruguayan youth football tried to cover up Suarez's behaviour. 11 days

:45:12. > :45:16.after this complaint I was shot on my doorstep, this whole episode was

:45:17. > :45:19.orchestrated by the President of Uraguayan youth football who wanted

:45:20. > :45:25.to protect Suarez at that time. The hit man that was contracted was made

:45:26. > :45:30.to kill me. But he was remorseful at the last moment. When he pointed his

:45:31. > :45:35.gun at my head he changed his mind and shot me in the leg. The gunman

:45:36. > :45:44.was convicted and sent to prison over the failed hit, as was the

:45:45. > :45:50.soccer official who paid for it. To quote Bill Shankley's old addage, in

:45:51. > :45:58.Uruguay football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important

:45:59. > :46:06.than that. What of the measuring -- mercurial Suarez himself, I tracked

:46:07. > :46:10.him down as a guest in a celebration for the Queen's birthday. There is a

:46:11. > :46:14.great expectation, and I think if the game can be played well, a clean

:46:15. > :46:17.game, and exciting with lots of goals I think whatever the result we

:46:18. > :46:21.will be able to live with it. And you want England to win? I want

:46:22. > :46:27.England to win. You are allowed to say that? I don't know if I I am,

:46:28. > :46:34.but I want England to win. Soon the talking will stop about who is the

:46:35. > :46:37.best team on paper or cardboard. And once glittering careers may enter a

:46:38. > :46:41.new phase. That's it, in the tradition of

:46:42. > :46:45.deranged news anchors I ought to ask you all to go to your windows throw

:46:46. > :46:51.them up and scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any

:46:52. > :46:55.more", this is England so I will say thank you for watching Newsnight, I

:46:56. > :47:01.hope you continue to enjoy it, good night and goodbye.

:47:02. > :47:05.# I'd like to build # The world a home

:47:06. > :47:09.# And furnish it with love # Grow apple trees

:47:10. > :47:13.# And money bees # And snow white

:47:14. > :47:17.# Turtle doves # I'd like to teach the world to

:47:18. > :47:23.sing # In perfect harmony

:47:24. > :47:30.# I'd like to hold it in my arms # And keep it company

:47:31. > :47:37.# I'd like to see the world for once # All standing hand in hand

:47:38. > :47:38.# And hear them echo through the hills

:47:39. > :47:51.# For peace throughout the Tomorrow's weather more of the same,

:47:52. > :47:56.I don't know why they make such a fuss about it.