:00:00. > :00:08.It's an awkward new year dilemma for Jeremy Corbyn -
:00:09. > :00:11.does he build a Shadow Cabinet more to his liking, but risk a rebellion
:00:12. > :00:20.A day of non-stop reshuffle buzz, but it's not yet looking a night
:00:21. > :00:22.of the long knives for Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary
:00:23. > :00:27.I think it would be a great shame to move a politician
:00:28. > :00:32.who is completely competent and equipped to do the job
:00:33. > :00:34.of Shadow Foreign Secretary on the basis of a disagreement
:00:35. > :00:44.We'll get the latest and the lowdown on Labour's top team,
:00:45. > :00:50.We speak to the Labour MP who lost the party whip for sexting
:00:51. > :00:55.I can't deny the fact that I prefer young women,
:00:56. > :00:58.you know, and different people have different preferences.
:00:59. > :01:11.My last girlfriend was 17 years younger than me.
:01:12. > :01:14.And then we talk to the new director of the National Gallery,
:01:15. > :01:18.I think there can be big changes, particularly the way the gallery
:01:19. > :01:21.presents itself to the outside world, in a sense to that huge
:01:22. > :01:24.number of people who will probably never come to see the National
:01:25. > :01:39.Through the holiday, we were told Jeremy Corbyn
:01:40. > :01:42.was preparing a reshuffle of his Shadow Cabinet.
:01:43. > :01:45.The talk was of a revenge reshuffle, "Corbygeddon".
:01:46. > :01:47.Perhaps a lot of that chat got out of hand.
:01:48. > :01:49.But today, the reshuffle shuffle got going, and yet amazingly,
:01:50. > :01:58.Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle went to speak to Mr Corbyn,
:01:59. > :02:00.but they have said nothing about their positions.
:02:01. > :02:02.Does that suggest they're still in the Shadow Cabinet?
:02:03. > :02:10.Or has the leader not finalised his decisions?
:02:11. > :02:12.Or has he been stymied in his desires?
:02:13. > :02:14.It does seem he has not gone for the nuclear option
:02:15. > :02:16.of sacking his Cabinet opponents forthwith.
:02:17. > :02:17.But nuclear opinions were never his thing.
:02:18. > :02:20.Let's hear about the day and the dilemma from our political
:02:21. > :02:42.Opposition front bench reshuffle. Three words that don't exactly
:02:43. > :02:47.scream compelling must-see drama. Labour after all has just lost a
:02:48. > :02:51.general election. Surely only a few sad obsessives much care who is
:02:52. > :02:56.being promoted or demoted this far from the next one? But actually
:02:57. > :03:01.stick with us, because this opposition front bench reshuffle is
:03:02. > :03:05.a bit different. Why? Well, in this reshuffle some say there's a battle
:03:06. > :03:13.going on for the whole future and heart of the Labour Party. Labour's
:03:14. > :03:18.Shadow Foreign Secretary might not be the biggest Ben in Westminster,
:03:19. > :03:22.but Hilary Benn grew in reputation markedly after the Iraq debate last
:03:23. > :03:26.month. One problem though, he was saying the exact opposite of his
:03:27. > :03:30.leader. For that reason one of Jeremy Corbyn's closest political
:03:31. > :03:37.friends told me Mr Benn can't stay in post. Imagine in Tony Blair's
:03:38. > :03:42.Premiership, if Mo Mowlam our Northern Ireland Secretary had come
:03:43. > :03:47.out and said I am opposed to the Prime Minister negotiate ing with
:03:48. > :03:50.the IRA, he would have moved her. Jeremy's been tolerant about dissent
:03:51. > :03:57.or disagreement, but there's a problem with your front bench
:03:58. > :04:01.spokesman is disagreeing with you. If Hilary Benn had been... Is this a
:04:02. > :04:04.leadership challenge, is it an attempt to undermine the Prime
:04:05. > :04:08.Minister? It is another Labour split. What we are trying to get
:04:09. > :04:14.back on to focusing on key issues like the economy. We must now
:04:15. > :04:17.confront this evil. What particularly irked Mr Corbyn was the
:04:18. > :04:23.reaction in the chamber to Hilary Benn's speech. The cheering, the
:04:24. > :04:29.applause, appalling jingoism, the Labour leader called it.
:04:30. > :04:33.CHEERING. It is the leader's prerogative, it is their right to
:04:34. > :04:40.pick their own team. Of course that's the case, but I think it
:04:41. > :04:44.would be a great shame to move a politician who is completely
:04:45. > :04:49.competent and equipped to do the job of Shadow Foreign Secretary on the
:04:50. > :04:56.basis of a disagreement on a free vote. Not a whipped vote but a free
:04:57. > :04:59.vote. One of Mr Corbyn's key advisers told Newsnight this is
:05:00. > :05:03.emphatically not a revenge reshuffle. More it is an attempt to
:05:04. > :05:08.establish some coherence in some of the Labour Party's policy positions.
:05:09. > :05:13.Namely defence and foreign affairs. But in this is there an admission
:05:14. > :05:17.that Mr Corbyn's plan to usher in a new style of politics based on
:05:18. > :05:22.grown-up disagreements, open discussion, has failed? On the basis
:05:23. > :05:27.of that intelligence, the other name in the frame then is mooria eagle,
:05:28. > :05:29.Shadow Defence Secretary. She favoured renewing Britain's nuclear
:05:30. > :05:36.deterrent. Of course, of course, does not. You are working with Maria
:05:37. > :05:40.Eagle on this defence review. If she were removed midway through that
:05:41. > :05:44.process or even the beginning of that process, what would it say
:05:45. > :05:48.about that review? It is only just starting. We are going to focus on
:05:49. > :05:52.facts. The current episode of Labour's drama may well be concluded
:05:53. > :05:57.some time tomorrow, but the wider story of the battle going on inside
:05:58. > :06:04.the Labour Party looks set to run for a few seasons yet.
:06:05. > :06:06.Well, here with me are Ayesha Hazarika,
:06:07. > :06:07.former special adviser to Harriet Harman,
:06:08. > :06:09.Danny Finkelstein, Conservative peer and columnist in the Times,
:06:10. > :06:18.Owen, you can make sense of what's happened today, why there was all
:06:19. > :06:22.this talk about a reshuffle and then nothing happened? It is not exactly
:06:23. > :06:26.clear what's happening but hopefully tomorrow it will be a tad clearer.
:06:27. > :06:29.What he has to do though, the essentials of what he did when he
:06:30. > :06:33.came to power were right, in terms of the Shadow Cabinet, even though
:06:34. > :06:37.it was done in a chaotic way, because that whole team are not
:06:38. > :06:41.people who've spent years preparing for power with a team around them.
:06:42. > :06:45.It is a unique situation. Where they went wrong in particular, and I said
:06:46. > :06:49.this at the time, was the lack of women this those top four positions.
:06:50. > :06:53.There's lots of capable women on the backbenches and the front bench
:06:54. > :06:56.team. I think what should happen now is an attempt to redress that
:06:57. > :07:02.balance. Particularly with the top four. The same time, I find this
:07:03. > :07:06.navel gazing on behalf of the Labour Party on all sides bleak. We have a
:07:07. > :07:12.Conservative Government now which is going to preside over cuts to
:07:13. > :07:16.universal credit, which will hammer middle of course families for the
:07:17. > :07:22.next few years. Flooding in parts of the country, and cuts to the flood
:07:23. > :07:27.defences. A Government in alliance with a Saudi dictatorship which is a
:07:28. > :07:30.threat to the security of our citizens, and yet we are talking
:07:31. > :07:37.about the make-up of the Labour frontbench. Do you blame Jeremy
:07:38. > :07:47.Corbyn for that or the media? It is everyone. What has to happen is the
:07:48. > :07:49.Labour leadership needs to create an inspiring group that people
:07:50. > :07:54.understand. Part of that is definitely where I can see the
:07:55. > :07:58.problem with Hilary Benn, and man I have huge respect for, but it is an
:07:59. > :08:02.odd situation when on matters of war and peace the leader and the Shadow
:08:03. > :08:07.Foreign Secretary are facing in different directions. I understand
:08:08. > :08:14.the need for could heerns. That should interest been addressed early
:08:15. > :08:18.on, but they've got to focus now above all else on an inspiring
:08:19. > :08:25.credible alternative. Are you saying they should sack Hilary Benn or not?
:08:26. > :08:30.I'm open minded about that. Ky see the point about... I think Emily
:08:31. > :08:36.Thornberry would be a good Foreign Secretary. Airia, I want to keep off
:08:37. > :08:41.the women thing for a moment. Danny, should he sack Hilary Benn?
:08:42. > :08:46.Definitely. Ken living stone is right. I never thought I would hear
:08:47. > :08:50.you say. That The leader of the Labour Party has the right and the
:08:51. > :08:55.duty to create a Shadow Cabinet that can reflect his views. In particular
:08:56. > :08:58.Jeremy Corbyn has got an anti-imperialist view of foreign
:08:59. > :09:02.policy. That's one of the reasons he was elected leader. He has to be a
:09:03. > :09:05.Shadow Cabinet and leadership that reflects that. He didn't have that
:09:06. > :09:10.at the moment. He was forced into the free vote against his wishes.
:09:11. > :09:14.That have happened I said he has to have a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle. He
:09:15. > :09:19.would be wrong to back off doing it. Aisha, would that cause a rebellion
:09:20. > :09:25.in the enter of the right of the party? It would create a huge
:09:26. > :09:29.impasse in the party. He should not sack Jeremy Corbyn... Hilary Benn.
:09:30. > :09:36.Corbyn has credit for trying to do things differently. He should have a
:09:37. > :09:40.broad tent Shadow Cabinet. I think it is something that is ironic to
:09:41. > :09:43.have stood on the new politics and inclusive and then sack somebody
:09:44. > :09:49.because they voted against you, when Jeremy Corbyn has rebelled against
:09:50. > :09:53.the whip many, many, many times. What does Labour stand for on
:09:54. > :09:57.foreign policy if the leader of the party and his Shadow Foreign
:09:58. > :10:03.Secretary don't agree on the core foreign affairs issues? But Jeremy
:10:04. > :10:09.Corbyn isn't going to agree with many of his PLP and Shadow Cabinet.
:10:10. > :10:16.He has won the support of the membership but not the PLP. Can the
:10:17. > :10:22.party exist with this broad church approach? That's the bit that looks
:10:23. > :10:27.messy. Within limits. Look, when Tony Blair moved Robin Cook as
:10:28. > :10:33.Foreign Secretary in 2001 he wasn't purging Robin Cook. He was on the
:10:34. > :10:41.basis of Robin Cook having differences in opinion which erupted
:10:42. > :10:45.in the aftermath of the Iraq war. Emily Thornberry isn't a Corbynista.
:10:46. > :10:48.She supported the bombing of Iraq. The differences would be more
:10:49. > :10:50.manageable. When you have a leader and a Shadow Foreign Secretary
:10:51. > :10:54.facing in different directions on and a Shadow Foreign Secretary
:10:55. > :10:57.war and peace it is difficult. I opposed to bombing of Syria but I do
:10:58. > :11:03.think the moment the priorities facing this country are issues of
:11:04. > :11:08.domestic policies. This constant focus on foreign policy issue, all
:11:09. > :11:13.sides have to take responsibility. A certain part of the PLP want him to
:11:14. > :11:18.go, so what he has to do is make sure he keeps with the activists and
:11:19. > :11:24.the members who elected him, and keeps faith with the reason they
:11:25. > :11:28.elected him, for a strong, coherent left-wing platform. He has won the
:11:29. > :11:31.right to put that to people. If you lose half the shadow Cabinet as a
:11:32. > :11:35.result of taking your kind of advice, are you've got a problem. I
:11:36. > :11:41.think only a portion of the PLP would go as far as to rebel against
:11:42. > :11:46.him. Those people are incapable of being bought off by him keeping
:11:47. > :11:51.Hilary Benn. If he keeps Hilary Benn this time they will bank the fact he
:11:52. > :11:56.nearly sacked him and didn't. They will assume they can push him on
:11:57. > :12:01.other issues. He is weak, because he doesn't have the support of the PLP
:12:02. > :12:05.and his Shadow Cabinet. His best bet, and the thing that's
:12:06. > :12:11.frustrating, and so many people have contacted me to say this, we
:12:12. > :12:15.shouldn't be starting 2016 with a massive story about a reshuffle.
:12:16. > :12:24.They had a rail announcement to make today. Correct. The doctors are
:12:25. > :12:31.about to go on strike. Floods et cetera. I want to return to the
:12:32. > :12:34.women issue. We'll watch your fame later.
:12:35. > :12:37.One man who has not been featuring in the reshuffle is the MP
:12:38. > :12:41.This evening he confirmed he is now subject to a police investigation
:12:42. > :12:43.into a historical rape allegation - allegations he described as
:12:44. > :12:47.We talked to him today, but before that investigation became
:12:48. > :12:50.For months, Mr Danczuk's been in the public eye -
:12:51. > :12:52.his relationship with his former wife, Karen, was already
:12:53. > :12:56.His subsequent breakdown played out in the tabloids:
:12:57. > :12:58.Revelations that he sent sexually loaded texts
:12:59. > :13:03.to a 17-year-old girl saw him stripped of the Labour Party whip.
:13:04. > :13:05.Mr Danczuc's reputation was made in the newspapers -
:13:06. > :13:10.Newsnight can reveal that Mr Danczuk has been taking payments
:13:11. > :13:14.from a photo agency that takes pictures of him and sells them
:13:15. > :13:23.Simon Danczuc, you have said that there's no fool like an old fool,
:13:24. > :13:31.but do you accept that this sex thing was wrong?
:13:32. > :13:33.but do you accept that this sexting was wrong?
:13:34. > :13:35.Absolutely, I have said it was inapprropriate and I've
:13:36. > :13:36.apologised for that unreservedly.
:13:37. > :13:38.I think you have to see the context of this.
:13:39. > :13:41.This young woman got in touch with me some months ago.
:13:42. > :13:43.During the course of several months we had
:13:44. > :13:46.exchanges across social media and just at a low point in my life
:13:47. > :13:50.sexual texts and I responded accordingly and I shouldn't have
:13:51. > :14:00.Was it wrong though, because in your defence you have
:14:01. > :14:01.been quoted as saying some men prefer blondes,
:14:02. > :14:03.some men prefer brunettes, you prefer young women.
:14:04. > :14:08.In itself that sounds a bit icky, doesn't it?
:14:09. > :14:15.But I'm just making the point, I can't deny the fact that I prefer
:14:16. > :14:17.young women and different people have different preferences.
:14:18. > :14:20.You know my first wife was ten years younger
:14:21. > :14:24.than me, my second wife was 17 years younger than me.
:14:25. > :14:30.My last girlfriend was 17 years younger than me and I was just
:14:31. > :14:33.making that point, but of course I accept I have made a mistake
:14:34. > :14:35.and I have apologised for that and I think
:14:36. > :14:40.And a 17-year-old, let's just be clear a 17-year-old is too
:14:41. > :14:47.Yeah, absolutely, but you have got to bear in mind this is somebody
:14:48. > :14:50.who I have only ever communicated with
:14:51. > :14:52.across social media, I've never spoken to her,
:14:53. > :14:58.Because the way it has been reported it is almost as if you're
:14:59. > :15:04.Do you accept that that is how it appears?
:15:05. > :15:07.No, well, the only reason it appears like that is because the tabloid
:15:08. > :15:09.newspapers have decided to report it in that way.
:15:10. > :15:12.They have conflated several months of pleasant exchanges
:15:13. > :15:20.of messages into what appears to be from them into just a few days
:15:21. > :15:23.of activity and that is just not the case.
:15:24. > :15:25.Has this young woman Sophina, been in touch with you recently?
:15:26. > :15:29.Yes, she has been in touch, a day or two she sent me a message
:15:30. > :15:31.saying she was sorry for what happened during
:15:32. > :15:33.the course of the last few days and I'm grateful
:15:34. > :15:42.I communicated via the newspapers to say that I was sorry,
:15:43. > :15:44.not just to family and friends and constituents, but also sorry
:15:45. > :15:51.But I was pleased to receive the message from her saying that
:15:52. > :15:54.and I think it shows a sign of maturity on her part.
:15:55. > :15:56.Aren't you fearful though that this work that you've done,
:15:57. > :15:58.particularly what you have done on Cyril Smith,
:15:59. > :16:00.will be tarnished and undermined by the current allegations
:16:01. > :16:07.I have apologised for the mistakes that I have made and my credibility
:16:08. > :16:13.And I have to work harder than ever before.
:16:14. > :16:22.Over the years, do you think that it was
:16:23. > :16:26.to be a mistake for you to court the media in the way that it appears
:16:27. > :16:30.No, I think I have been involved in the media in terms
:16:31. > :16:32.of getting a message across and if you're running
:16:33. > :16:35.a campaign where you want to get certain messages across,
:16:36. > :16:37.then there's a variety of ways of doing it,
:16:38. > :16:39.whether it's doing it in the chamber in Parliament and also
:16:40. > :16:41.whether it's through different forms of media.
:16:42. > :16:47.Look, in the register of members' interests,
:16:48. > :16:49.you got paid ?1,100 by an agency called Famed Flynet,
:16:50. > :16:52.which is a photographic agency, from what we can see,
:16:53. > :16:54.this is an agency that follows you around, takes
:16:55. > :16:56.pictures of you, and then sells them to tabloid newspapers.
:16:57. > :17:03.No, well, what I have done with that organisation is provide
:17:04. > :17:06.media advice and given them ideas about what they might and might
:17:07. > :17:17.That is my choice, if I want to do that type of work, and I don't
:17:18. > :17:20.make any apologies for it, there is nothing against doing that.
:17:21. > :17:22.It provides an insight and some transparency in terms of my life.
:17:23. > :17:24.Not anything that I have ever shied away from.
:17:25. > :17:27.But it could look like you're tipping them off about where
:17:28. > :17:31.you're going to be so they can take photos of you to sell to tabloid
:17:32. > :17:35.Well, but I have just made the point I advised them...
:17:36. > :17:39.No, the point I'm making is I advise them on a whole
:17:40. > :17:42.range of different issues and I have done for some time.
:17:43. > :17:44.Of course I receive payment for that and I
:17:45. > :17:46.declare it properly in the members' register.
:17:47. > :17:49.So that it is transparent and open so they can see it.
:17:50. > :17:54.That's right, about photos and everything else,
:17:55. > :17:58.That is clear in the book of members' interest.
:17:59. > :18:01.I'm declaring what I'm doing and being honest
:18:02. > :18:07.But on this case, sorry I need to press you on this,
:18:08. > :18:10.I mean how many MPs have a relationship,
:18:11. > :18:12.a financial relationship with a photographic
:18:13. > :18:14.agency that is taking pictures of them and then receiving
:18:15. > :18:21.That's surely got to be wrong hasn't it?
:18:22. > :18:30.No, I don't think it's wrong at all actually.
:18:31. > :18:35.How should you view the latest breakdown in relations between Iran
:18:36. > :18:39.Is it religion - the latest instalment of that ancient
:18:40. > :18:42.Is it geo-politics - the rivalry between two
:18:43. > :18:46.Or is it an internal Saudi problem - the killing of a prominent Shia
:18:47. > :18:49.by the Saudis, simply an attempt to pacify hardliners in the country,
:18:50. > :18:54.by showing the authorities can be tough on Shiites?
:18:55. > :18:58.Whatever the cause, antagonism in the Middle East has been
:18:59. > :19:00.the order of the day - other countries weighing
:19:01. > :19:03.We asked the eminent historian Professor Ali Ansari,
:19:04. > :19:06.from St Andrews University to give us his take on the context,
:19:07. > :19:23.cause and consequence of Saudi/Iran trouble.
:19:24. > :19:34.If you look at the contemporary Muslim word, about 90% are Sunnis.
:19:35. > :19:41.They're considered the more orthodox branch and 10% in Iran, Iraq, and
:19:42. > :19:45.elsewhere are Shias. The main differences are partly theological
:19:46. > :19:52.and another part being on the succession to the prophet, which
:19:53. > :19:58.goes back centuries and these two conflicts, one political and one
:19:59. > :20:04.intellectual are the ones that divide the Muslim communities. The
:20:05. > :20:17.disputes around the succession of prophet come to the head between the
:20:18. > :20:25.conflict between the grandson of the prophet and the Yadid and they clash
:20:26. > :20:36.in what is now southern Iraq around 680AD and in an uneven contest where
:20:37. > :20:45.one side is outnumbered, they're slaughtered and that is is seminal
:20:46. > :20:50.moment, the seminal martyrdom that crystallises Shia identity for the
:20:51. > :20:56.future. These divides are not inevitable. During the Iran/Iraq
:20:57. > :21:04.war, Shias fought against the Iranians. They may have done so less
:21:05. > :21:08.willingly. The Iranians were scathing about them and didn't them
:21:09. > :21:21.to be to be true Shia. The Iraqi state in some ways worked. The real
:21:22. > :21:28.problem now is that there could be potential frictions emerging in the
:21:29. > :21:39.Persian gulf, you can find stuff in Bahrain, Iraq and Syria. The real
:21:40. > :21:43.issue with the break down in Saudi/Iran relations is the finding
:21:44. > :21:50.of a solution in Syria is going to be more difficult. And so the
:21:51. > :21:53.relative optimism we may have had at the end of 2015 now we are going to
:21:54. > :21:56.find ourselves in a much more difficult situation.
:21:57. > :21:59.A little earlier, I managed to get the Iranian position
:22:00. > :22:01.from Professor Mohammad Morandi from the University of Tehran.
:22:02. > :22:03.I began by asking him if he saw Saudi/Iran problems,
:22:04. > :22:10.as simply part of an ancient religious conflict?
:22:11. > :22:24.I don't think people here in Tehran would view it that way. Instead of
:22:25. > :22:29.being Shia, Sunni conflict, people think it is Waha versus everyone
:22:30. > :22:34.else. The Saudi have been promoting their brand of Islam which in the
:22:35. > :22:40.view of most people in Iran is an extreme ideology. In addition, the
:22:41. > :22:47.Saudis have been founding extremist groups across the board in the
:22:48. > :22:50.region in Syria, Yemen and created a catastrophe that is going to
:22:51. > :23:03.influence and affect the people here for generations to come. I hear your
:23:04. > :23:11.blaming Wahbism, but looking at from the point of view of the west, your
:23:12. > :23:19.own country, Iran executed 700 people in the fist half of last
:23:20. > :23:26.year. They're not innocent of intervening in neighbouring
:23:27. > :23:31.countries, what difference is there? First, I don't know where you got
:23:32. > :23:38.the number 700. I don't think that is at all accurate. Almost all of
:23:39. > :23:47.the people who have faced capital punishment in Iran were executed
:23:48. > :23:51.because of drug offences. Major drug offences and those drug offences are
:23:52. > :23:59.as a result of the western occupation of Afghanistan. With
:24:00. > :24:04.regards with comparing Iran to Saudi Arabian, Iran has a constitution and
:24:05. > :24:09.elections for the Parliament and the presidency and indirect elections
:24:10. > :24:22.for the leadership. But Saudi Arabia is a family dictatorship. Because of
:24:23. > :24:26.its wealth and because western country have used Wahabism, they
:24:27. > :24:33.have remained aligned with Saudi Arabia. When people were starting to
:24:34. > :24:37.ehope Saudi arab ya and Iran would talk over their differences and a
:24:38. > :24:41.settlement may exist, just tell me how this ends and whether despite
:24:42. > :24:46.the conflict, the two countries can co-operate to make a difference in
:24:47. > :24:51.Syria, where both of you are intervening. Well I think the
:24:52. > :25:00.Iranians again believe that they have done more than the Saudis in
:25:01. > :25:04.trying to bring about rapprochement in the previous Iranian
:25:05. > :25:08.administration they went to Saudi Arabia, but the foreign minister
:25:09. > :25:16.never came to Iran and more recently when hundred of Iranians were killed
:25:17. > :25:22.during the Haj pilgrimage, the Iranians didn't break off relations,
:25:23. > :25:26.although the Saudis never expressed condolences or accepted
:25:27. > :25:36.responsibility. So they have been trying hard to work with Saudi
:25:37. > :25:42.Arabia. Thank you. We should point oit that figure of 700 executions in
:25:43. > :25:45.Iran came from an Amnesty International report on the country.
:25:46. > :25:47.Let's return now to where we began tonight -
:25:48. > :25:49.the politics of the Labour Party
:25:50. > :25:53.You'd think that shunting people around the cabinet or shadow cabinet
:25:54. > :25:56.table should be relatively easy - it can't be harder than coming up
:25:57. > :25:58.a seating plan for an Islington dinner party, can it?
:25:59. > :26:00.Well, history suggests it's harder than it looks -
:26:01. > :26:02.it's multidimensional, and given the paucity of women
:26:03. > :26:04.in most cabinets and shadow cabinets, it certainly isn't
:26:05. > :26:08.as simple as a case of a boy-girl-boy-girl configuration.
:26:09. > :26:10.But let's think about the gender issue facing
:26:11. > :26:17.Ayesha Hazarika was special advisor to Harriet Harman and has made
:26:18. > :26:19.a short film on the subject for us, based on her conversations
:26:20. > :26:33.Women have been key to the success of the Labour Party since its birth.
:26:34. > :26:37.Strong female figures have served the party as MPs,
:26:38. > :26:41.Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Leaders.
:26:42. > :26:44.And I believe that Labour's the only party that has really,
:26:45. > :26:46.truly championed policies that have made a difference to women's lives.
:26:47. > :26:52.Since our new leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was elected,
:26:53. > :26:54.I think there's a problem with women in the Labour Party.
:26:55. > :26:56.We have a male leader, a male Deputy Leader,
:26:57. > :27:03.a male General Secretary, all our mayoral candidates are male.
:27:04. > :27:06.And here we are in 2016 and we still haven't managed to ever
:27:07. > :27:16.Until we recently, I was a Labour special advisor, working for former
:27:17. > :27:26.I invited Harriet to relive the glory days of pink
:27:27. > :27:33.transportation in a very special Newsnight limo.
:27:34. > :27:35.Harriet, thank you so much for coming.
:27:36. > :27:43.Does it remind you of fond memories of the pink bus?
:27:44. > :27:46.It does - they would have been fonder memories if we had actually
:27:47. > :27:53.How does it make you feel that we have an all-male sweep
:27:54. > :28:00.Well I just think we can't have a men-only
:28:01. > :28:03.leadership when we are the party for women and for equality.
:28:04. > :28:05.And women in this country expect to see men and
:28:06. > :28:06.women working together on equal terms.
:28:07. > :28:09.That is what the Labour Party believes in and we can't
:28:10. > :28:12.have an all-male leadership again therefore we have I have to change
:28:13. > :28:18.So you would like to see the rules changed?
:28:19. > :28:20.Yes, to stop there being all-male leadership.
:28:21. > :28:22.In terms of your advice or your hope for
:28:23. > :28:25.the women in the PLP and the many women in the Shadow Cabinet,
:28:26. > :28:28.we shouldn't overlook the fact that we
:28:29. > :28:32.have 50/50 in the Shadow Cabinet, what do you want to see them do?
:28:33. > :28:35.The truth is that women's rights are never going to be taken forward
:28:36. > :28:37.by men in the party, whether they are
:28:38. > :28:41.men on the left, whether they're men on the centre, or men on the right.
:28:42. > :28:44.The truth is it is women in the party, Labour women,
:28:45. > :28:45.that will take forward women's rights and even
:28:46. > :28:48.though we haven't got any women in the top leadership,
:28:49. > :28:50.that makes it even more important for them to put
:28:51. > :28:52.themselves forward and you know be proponents for women
:28:53. > :29:02.One of the party's new MPs, Jess Phillips, aims to do just that.
:29:03. > :29:09.But she's concerned that others aren't putting up enough of a fight.
:29:10. > :29:11.I thought we would do old Labour beer and sandwiches,
:29:12. > :29:18.Do you think the culture within the Labour Party is changing,
:29:19. > :29:20.do you think it has become more misogynistic?
:29:21. > :29:24.What I think is more worrying about the
:29:25. > :29:31.culture in the Labour Party is it's very left-wing feminists are putting
:29:32. > :29:33.up with a lot more than they would have from any other man,
:29:34. > :29:37.because Jeremy Corbyn is saying is it.
:29:38. > :29:46.Had Tony Blair not given any of the top
:29:47. > :29:49.jobs to a woman, had that same make-up of his team existed,
:29:50. > :29:51.people would rightly have been up in arms,
:29:52. > :29:54.but it's sort a bit like some people in the Labour Party are accepting
:29:55. > :29:57.sort of low level non-violent misogyny, because it's Jeremy Corbyn
:29:58. > :30:01.in the future? at the title at some point
:30:02. > :30:06.Absolutely, I would consider doing it, a long time in the future. It is
:30:07. > :30:11.not something I am planning on doing soon but it is something I would do
:30:12. > :30:14.in the future, yes. Over the summer, six great women went for the leader
:30:15. > :30:18.and deputy roles and none were successful. The current Labour
:30:19. > :30:23.Shadow Cabinet does have more women than men, which is to be welcomed.
:30:24. > :30:27.The shadow women and qualities Minister is Kate Green. She's been
:30:28. > :30:33.looking at what can be done to make sure we don't ever again have an
:30:34. > :30:37.all-male team. It is no discredit whatsoever to Jeremy, to Tom or
:30:38. > :30:43.Siddiq, who fought a very fair campaign and won, that we ended up
:30:44. > :30:47.with an all-male line-up. What it made me feel instantly is once and
:30:48. > :30:54.for all we have to make sure this can never happen again. There is
:30:55. > :30:59.another potential problem looming for Labour women in Westminster, the
:31:00. > :31:03.forthcoming changes to boundaries, which would reduce the number of
:31:04. > :31:09.seats. This is likely to create a battle for the ones that remain. The
:31:10. > :31:12.share of the women's parliamentary Labour Party, Dawn Butler, believes
:31:13. > :31:15.those held by women should be protected. With these boundary
:31:16. > :31:22.changes it will be a fight, literally a fight. My fear is that
:31:23. > :31:27.women will be picked off. So that is a really big fear for me, so I have
:31:28. > :31:30.written to the leader and the Deputy Leader, because Tom is doing the
:31:31. > :31:38.review on how the party structures work et cetera. So yes, absolutely.
:31:39. > :31:42.It is a huge worry for me. The kind of long term changes that Labour
:31:43. > :31:47.women want will take time to introduce, but some changes are
:31:48. > :31:52.happening right now. Tonight it is all about the reshuffle. My strong
:31:53. > :31:56.advice to Jeremy is, if you want to shake things up for the better, make
:31:57. > :31:58.sure that women get some of those top positions in the Shadow Cabinet.
:31:59. > :32:05.It cannot just be jobs for the boys. Well, Ayesha is still with us
:32:06. > :32:13.and we're also joined by Cat Smith, Evening to you both. Does Jeremy
:32:14. > :32:18.Corbyn get an easy time on this because he comes from a more
:32:19. > :32:28.left-wing part of the political spectrum? I think it is right that
:32:29. > :32:33.we ask what our politicians are doing to promote gender equality in
:32:34. > :32:37.the party. Jeremy Corbyn has set the standard by having a Shadow Cabinet
:32:38. > :32:41.more than 50% made up of women when the rest of the party has a way to
:32:42. > :32:44.go. The constituency party chairs, a third of them are women. If you look
:32:45. > :32:51.at Labour leaders in local government, it is a long way lagging
:32:52. > :32:55.behind the parliamentary Labour Party. These are the important
:32:56. > :32:59.issues we should be addressing. So you are addressing that the party
:33:00. > :33:02.has a problem, not Jeremy Corbyn personally? I would say society has
:33:03. > :33:04.a problem with promoting women into positions of responsibility. Sexism
:33:05. > :33:08.exist, patriarchy exists and it operates in the Labour Party as much
:33:09. > :33:11.as any other sphere of society. Would you like in the reshuffle
:33:12. > :33:14.Jeremy Corbyn to put a woman in one of the top jobs? I dare ask the
:33:15. > :33:18.question, what do you think the top jobs are? The role of the opposition
:33:19. > :33:21.is to hold the Government to account for the spending decisions they
:33:22. > :33:25.make. Health and education are the second and third biggest spending
:33:26. > :33:28.deficits. We already have women. I would like to continue to see a
:33:29. > :33:35.Shadow Cabinet that's majority women in the way that it already is.
:33:36. > :33:39.Ayesha, this concern with the top jobs as opposed to the number of
:33:40. > :33:43.people in the cabinet, sitting round the table, that's pretty recent
:33:44. > :33:50.isn't it? Tony Blair didn't have a woman in what we traditionally call
:33:51. > :33:53.the top jobs until 2006. He had been in power when he put Margaret
:33:54. > :33:57.Beckett into the Foreign Office? We always want to feel we are making
:33:58. > :34:05.progress. The Labour Party has been the party for women. We pride
:34:06. > :34:11.ourselves on making progress. It is not Jeremy's fault that the party
:34:12. > :34:14.elected a clean sweep at the top. Everyone at the top, in terms of
:34:15. > :34:17.where the power lies, are men. You're being churlish aren't you?
:34:18. > :34:20.More than half the cabinet are women. You've got women in some of
:34:21. > :34:26.the key jobs, if not the key jobs? What I think Jeremy should do is do
:34:27. > :34:31.a job swap with Angela Eagle and John McDonnell. If all the jobs are
:34:32. > :34:47.equally of merit why don't we see Angela's do a job swap job
:34:48. > :35:24.The bunker around Jeremy Corbyn is very male as well. That is true. The
:35:25. > :35:27.power is in the hands of the members who elected Jeremy Corbyn as leader
:35:28. > :35:30.of the Labour Party and Tom Watson as the Deputy Leader and Sadiq Khan
:35:31. > :35:33.as the Mayor of London. There were plenty of women candidates. Some of
:35:34. > :35:37.whom I backed in these elections. It's the will of the membership. The
:35:38. > :35:42.membership gave Jeremy Corbyn a clear mandate, bigger than Tony
:35:43. > :35:46.Blair's mandate when elected leader. He has a big mandate isn't isn't
:35:47. > :35:51.afraid to use it, but he has the power of appointment. We all know
:35:52. > :35:54.that the top jobs are important. I think it does look bad for the
:35:55. > :36:00.Labour Party to not have a single one of those four top jobs held by a
:36:01. > :36:07.woman when we have got so many able women. That's down to the position
:36:08. > :36:09.of the members isn't it? The members don't choose the Shadow Cabinet and
:36:10. > :36:14.the Shadow Cabinet is majority women. What looks bad is the
:36:15. > :36:23.Conservative Party, which doesn't pride itself on these issues in the
:36:24. > :36:26.same way as Labour does, did provide how many decades ago, 1975, a woman
:36:27. > :36:28.Prime Minister. A woman leader and then a woman Prime Minister. That
:36:29. > :36:34.must rankle doesn't it? Not particularly. I think the Margaret
:36:35. > :36:40.Thatcher being Prime Minister, when you put one woman being in power,
:36:41. > :36:43.that doesn't necessarily shift the culture of the party. The
:36:44. > :36:52.Conservative Party's cabinet is made up of 32% women. Women. We need to
:36:53. > :36:54.leave it there. Ayesha, thank you, thank you both very much.
:36:55. > :36:57.There is just time in these first days of 2016, to catch one
:36:58. > :36:59.of the great art exhibitions of 2015.
:37:00. > :37:01.Goya's Portraits at the National Gallery -
:37:02. > :37:07.of some of our leading cultural institutions.
:37:08. > :37:09.Yes, there are fresh backsides on the big
:37:10. > :37:12.the Tate galleries in London, and the National Gallery itself.
:37:13. > :37:19.Stephen Smith has this exclusive interview with the new man
:37:20. > :37:36.at the National Gallery, Gabriele Finaldi.
:37:37. > :37:50.I'm impressed by Goya's extraordinary range. One of the many
:37:51. > :37:52.hardships of this job is a private tour of the National Gallery's great
:37:53. > :37:59.Goya show in the company tour of the National Gallery's great
:38:00. > :38:08.museum's former Spanish expert. She has two rings, one of which has her
:38:09. > :38:11.name on it, Australian be a, and the other has Goya's name on it. That
:38:12. > :38:14.moment of reflection, that moment of thought before the brush touches the
:38:15. > :38:17.canvass. The son of an Italian father, Gabriele Finaldi was raised
:38:18. > :38:20.in London, and after a spell at the prestigious Prado gallery in Madrid,
:38:21. > :38:23.he is back on his old turf. I live in Catford in South London and have
:38:24. > :38:26.done since the 1970s, very proud of that. I come from quite a large
:38:27. > :38:32.family. I'm the eldest of 8 brothers and sisters. I've got six children
:38:33. > :38:39.of my own. Not too many of your predecessors I suspect hail from
:38:40. > :38:43.Catford. People may find that endearing, if that isn't
:38:44. > :38:47.patronising, that you are not limoed in from Knightsbridge. It might be
:38:48. > :38:54.patronising, that you are not limoed quite nice to live in Knightsbridge
:38:55. > :38:58.for central London, but for the moment that's impossible. This is a
:38:59. > :39:05.man of parts. I used to play in a dance band as a young man. It was
:39:06. > :39:21.how I got my way through early years of marriage and early years of PhD
:39:22. > :39:25.wrench. Early years of PhD research. I like to accompany people singing
:39:26. > :39:29.and so on. It is a case of musical chairs at our great cultural
:39:30. > :39:45.institutions. The heads of the two at a time
:39:46. > :39:56.galleries in London go on to other things, although Sir Nicholas Serota
:39:57. > :40:02.stays put. It is an interesting change in the museum landscape in
:40:03. > :40:06.London. I think that offers new possibilities for collaboration.
:40:07. > :40:12.Perhaps a bit of a generational thing. Some of our more senior
:40:13. > :40:21.colleagues are moving on to other activities. I think of Neil McGregor
:40:22. > :40:26.at the British Museum, and there's a sense in which we are moving into a
:40:27. > :40:32.different sort of period in museums. Mr Gabriele Finaldi says the
:40:33. > :40:39.industrial dispute over outsourcing which closed some galleries last
:40:40. > :40:41.year has been resolved and he promises mix of old subjects and
:40:42. > :40:46.favourites. There can be changes, particularly the way the gallery
:40:47. > :40:52.presents to its the outside world, in terms of to people who may never
:40:53. > :40:55.come to the National Gallery. Clearly the technology, the
:40:56. > :41:00.development in what can happen in digital has been so extraordinary
:41:01. > :41:04.over last few years, and so many other museums are doing magnificent
:41:05. > :41:09.things, that gallery can reach nowt a way it hasn't done before. The
:41:10. > :41:13.gallery has probably more knowledge about its own collection than any
:41:14. > :41:25.other museum in the world. That's knowledge that we want to share,
:41:26. > :41:32.that we want to put out. You come across the most beautiful objects
:41:33. > :41:35.ever made by human beings. They might be to do with war, with faith,
:41:36. > :41:41.with family. But we leave you with a preview
:41:42. > :41:45.of the work of young independent film maker,
:41:46. > :41:47.Charlie Lyne, who is annoyed at the charges levied on young,
:41:48. > :41:50.independent film-makers by the British Board of Film
:41:51. > :41:53.Classification. To watch and classify a film,
:41:54. > :41:56.the board charges more than ?7 So to annoy the classifiers,
:41:57. > :42:04.Charlie is raising money online to submit the longest film
:42:05. > :42:07.he can purely consisting of a single In fact, he's raised enough
:42:08. > :42:10.to make it a ten-hour epic. But some of his supporters now
:42:11. > :42:14.want him to to add a few sound effects and the occasional
:42:15. > :42:16.obscene flash frame, just to make sure the
:42:17. > :42:19.censors don't nod off.