:00:09. > :00:13.They're paying ?130 million in back corporation tax
:00:14. > :00:22.We were following the rules as they were and now we will follow the
:00:23. > :00:24.rules as they are, and we want to move fast to make sure that we pay
:00:25. > :00:28.the right amount of tax. Is Google now in the good
:00:29. > :00:31.books or is this a deal From Russia in the week
:00:32. > :00:34.of the Litvinenko inquiry we have an exclusive
:00:35. > :00:36.interview with this man - one of the last remaining thorns
:00:37. > :00:47.in Putin's side who has made a film The thrust of the film is the
:00:48. > :00:51.corrupt officials are gorging on billions of dollars worth of
:00:52. > :00:57.Russia's wealth, just like the seagulls on these chips.
:00:58. > :00:59.It was ugly and acrimonious but it changed newspapers forever.
:01:00. > :01:04.We revisit the Wapping dispute 30 years on.
:01:05. > :01:14.But they thought they could tough it out and they were wrong.
:01:15. > :01:20.Today Google's doodle was of the man who invented the measure
:01:21. > :01:26.The global company will be hoping the heat is now off them in the UK
:01:27. > :01:28.after they announced less than an hour ago
:01:29. > :01:32.that they are going to pay the Treasury ten years' worth
:01:33. > :01:35.of corporation tax to the tune of ?130 million.
:01:36. > :01:38.Tonight the company told Newsnight that the method for calculating
:01:39. > :01:41.the company's corporation tax liability going forward
:01:42. > :01:44.will have an added component - based on a percentage of revenue
:01:45. > :01:57.Google has agreed to pay more than ?100 million of back taxes
:01:58. > :02:00.after an open audit of its accounts by the tax authorities,
:02:01. > :02:05.And they'll pay more to HMRC going forwards.
:02:06. > :02:12.Google paid just ?20 million in UK taxes in 2013.
:02:13. > :02:14.We have announced we will be paying more tax in the UK.
:02:15. > :02:18.The rules are changing internationally
:02:19. > :02:21.and the UK Government has taken the lead in applying those rules,
:02:22. > :02:24.so we are changing what we are doing here
:02:25. > :02:27.and paying ?130 million in respect of previous years,
:02:28. > :02:29.when the rules were to pay in respect of profits
:02:30. > :02:32.you made in a country and, going forwards, we will also be
:02:33. > :02:34.paying in respect of sales to UK customers.
:02:35. > :02:40.Google's name has become dogged by association with questions
:02:41. > :02:47.For example, an anti-avoidance measure
:02:48. > :02:49.introduced at a Budget last year was dubbed the Google tax.
:02:50. > :02:52.The former chair of the Public Accounts
:02:53. > :02:54.Select Committee was pretty fierce with the company.
:02:55. > :02:58.You are a company which says that you do no evil and I think
:02:59. > :03:00.that you do do evil, in that you use smoke and mirrors
:03:01. > :03:10.Tax is a matter of following the laws that are there internationally.
:03:11. > :03:16.We have all heard today how you define this...
:03:17. > :03:19.But the sums being paid out now will not kill off these concerns.
:03:20. > :03:21.If you look at Google's UK accounts for
:03:22. > :03:23.2013, they report turnover of ?642 million, but that isn't
:03:24. > :03:25.all the money Google makes in Britain.
:03:26. > :03:28.If you look at documents filed by Google in the US,
:03:29. > :03:32.they show that Britain accounts for $5.6 billion
:03:33. > :03:38.of revenues in 2013 alone, rising to $6.5 billion in 2014.
:03:39. > :03:45.But Google earns a lot of money in Britain that doesn't go
:03:46. > :03:50.So this isn't the end of the issue for Google,
:03:51. > :03:52.not least since other European countries would also like more tax
:03:53. > :03:54.from them, so where does it leave Google's
:03:55. > :03:58.My colleague Kamal Ahmed enquired today.
:03:59. > :04:06.How reputationally damaging has the tax controversy been?
:04:07. > :04:08.I think it's right that, where there is
:04:09. > :04:15.public concern and politicians and the press are concerned
:04:16. > :04:17.about international companies, not just
:04:18. > :04:19.us, that you should change when the rules change.
:04:20. > :04:23.As a business, we want to focus on building amazing
:04:24. > :04:26.products and hiring people to help the UK make the most of the Internet
:04:27. > :04:30.That is what we want to spend our time doing.
:04:31. > :04:33.It has taken years to complete this audit, which covers a decade of tax,
:04:34. > :04:36.but it isn't over for Google or anyone else.
:04:37. > :04:38.The European Commission is currently looking into whether Ireland has
:04:39. > :04:41.been too favourable to Apple and deals of this size won't take
:04:42. > :04:50.Joining me to discuss this is the economist and director
:04:51. > :04:52.of Tax Research UK, Richard Murphy, one of the lead voices
:04:53. > :04:54.in the campaign to make Google pay more tax,
:04:55. > :05:01.and from the Financial Times, Vanessa Houlder.
:05:02. > :05:10.Richard, who is the winner? Superficially, the UK, we have ?130
:05:11. > :05:13.million. That is a tiny amount of money, Google must be laughing all
:05:14. > :05:18.the way to their bank in Bermuda with this one, to be honest. This is
:05:19. > :05:21.a settlement which seems minuscule in proportion to the amount of tax
:05:22. > :05:25.they have saved, and if the future tax is paid in proportion to this,
:05:26. > :05:31.they are getting a settlement which is extraordinarily small. Do you
:05:32. > :05:37.agree? Hey Jim RC insists this is the right amount of tax, -- Pecs MRC
:05:38. > :05:41.insists this is the right amount of tax, the Treasury says this is a
:05:42. > :05:45.ground-breaking decision, reflecting what the government has been doing,
:05:46. > :05:48.but in terms of public perception Richard is right, people will look
:05:49. > :05:52.at the very large amount of sales going into the many billions of
:05:53. > :05:58.dollars and say, actually it is not very much in relation to that. How
:05:59. > :06:05.did they make such a calculation? Well, we don't know, and we probably
:06:06. > :06:10.will never find out, the details, but they have told us a bit about
:06:11. > :06:15.the mechanisms. As Chris said in the base, they have a cost plus formula
:06:16. > :06:22.which they normally use, and they are adding a slice of Cyres, how do
:06:23. > :06:25.they define that slice? -- sales. No one needs to pay more tax than they
:06:26. > :06:31.are due to play, we should say, but what is not clear, going forward,
:06:32. > :06:34.this is a percentage of the revenue from UK advertising, and it does not
:06:35. > :06:40.define what that percentage is, is that quite unusual? We do not tax
:06:41. > :06:44.corporations, profit taxes on their Cyres, this is unusual, it is the
:06:45. > :06:50.wrong basis for taxation -- on their sales. It raises a question about
:06:51. > :06:53.the international settlement, it looks like Google might not become
:06:54. > :06:57.resident in the UK, it will do an adaptation of the existing scheme
:06:58. > :07:02.which leaves it selling from Ireland, and that leaves it looking
:07:03. > :07:05.like one of these deals which is the revenue did which led them into so
:07:06. > :07:09.much trouble with Parliament and the public and everyone. They must think
:07:10. > :07:14.that this is copper bottoms otherwise they would not have
:07:15. > :07:19.announced it. I agree with Richard, in the way that we were expecting
:07:20. > :07:26.this to pan out, Google announcing they had a permanent presence in the
:07:27. > :07:32.UK, and the signs are that is not what is going to happen. That is a
:07:33. > :07:36.win for Google? It is probable that that is the way it sees the
:07:37. > :07:43.international rules going, and these people are experts, HM RC are
:07:44. > :07:46.experts, this might be a sign of how the settlement is going to pan out
:07:47. > :07:55.for multinationals generally. It makes it less competitive? For the
:07:56. > :08:02.UK? Yes. The UK has been pushing tax competitiveness very strongly for
:08:03. > :08:05.the last five years, and along with that putting pressure on companies
:08:06. > :08:09.to pay their fair share, as well, and my guess is the Treasury will be
:08:10. > :08:13.very pleased with this outcome, it would think it has the best of both
:08:14. > :08:19.of those worlds. I wonder if other global companies will think about
:08:20. > :08:25.this, there's the row with Apple, for example. But them it is also
:08:26. > :08:29.news, but it is very bad news for the OECD and their plans to bring in
:08:30. > :08:33.a new international tax regime if the stands up, but this could be a
:08:34. > :08:38.spoiler by George Osborne, as well. He brought in the diverted profit
:08:39. > :08:42.tax, called the Google tax, as a spoiler to that process, has he done
:08:43. > :08:47.this settlement to spoil the implementation of the agreement?
:08:48. > :08:52.This is not straightforwardly the diverted profits tax. No, this is
:08:53. > :08:55.the corporation tax, but does the settlement undermines the way that
:08:56. > :09:01.process works, and if it does that is bad news for everybody. There are
:09:02. > :09:04.sounding is coming from France, that Google is actually trying to reach
:09:05. > :09:10.agreements with other European governments, and that will be
:09:11. > :09:13.interesting to watch. 1 billion euros which the French government
:09:14. > :09:22.thinks that Google knows it and we will see what happens. -- owes it.
:09:23. > :09:26.You still going to be campaigning? Heavens, yes, this is a success, but
:09:27. > :09:28.this is a small one, we have a long way to go to get what we really
:09:29. > :09:31.want. Thanks for joining us. The state-sponsored assassination
:09:32. > :09:33.of Alexander Litvinenko raises questions about law and order
:09:34. > :09:36.in Russia, or the lack thereof. One man who is an expert on this
:09:37. > :09:39.subject is Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny,
:09:40. > :09:41.who has several short spells His brother, Oleg, is in jail now,
:09:42. > :09:47.on, critics say, trumped-up charges In a Newsnight exclusive,
:09:48. > :09:53.Alexei Navalny has spoken to John Sweeney about Litvinenko,
:09:54. > :09:55.his own fight to free Russia from corruption and whether
:09:56. > :10:27.it is worth the risk. Welcome to Siberia. Actually, this
:10:28. > :10:33.is Southend. But you don't need a Visa to get to Essex. We are here
:10:34. > :10:37.because Alexei Navalny, the effective leader of the Russian
:10:38. > :10:44.opposition, has declared war on the Seagull, in Russian. That is the
:10:45. > :10:51.name of Vladimir Putin's top law enforcement officer, Russia's
:10:52. > :10:56.prosecutor general. The scourge of the seagulls, Alexei Navalny, is
:10:57. > :11:04.banned from leaving Moscow and rarely gives interviews to the
:11:05. > :11:10.foreign media. He led anti-Putin protests four years ago. More than
:11:11. > :11:15.any other Russian, he is fighting the Kremlin over corruption. How
:11:16. > :11:19.much money is being sucked out of the Russian economy every year?
:11:20. > :11:27.Through corruption, at least something like $50 billion a year.
:11:28. > :11:35.How corrupt do you think is Mr Vladimir Putin? He is the basement
:11:36. > :11:41.of this corruption. He is personally involved in corruption and he is
:11:42. > :11:46.encouraging our officials into corruption, because it is his way of
:11:47. > :11:50.rolling the country. Alexei Navalny knows only too well what happens to
:11:51. > :11:55.people that challenge the Kremlin's power, when you go his friend and
:11:56. > :12:03.opposition leader was shot dead in Moscow. -- one year ago. Boris was
:12:04. > :12:07.my friend and he was shot dead, maybe 100 metres from the Kremlin. I
:12:08. > :12:13.asked him about the strange murder of Alexander Litvinenko. Is it
:12:14. > :12:21.possible to buy polonium in a shop in Russia? That is why I guess your
:12:22. > :12:28.investigation shows it was an FSB operation. The British investigation
:12:29. > :12:34.about Mr Litvinenko, one of the conclusions from the investigation
:12:35. > :12:43.was that Mr Putin personally, probably, was involved it in giving
:12:44. > :12:46.orders to commit such a crime. On Monday, Alexei Navalny will launch
:12:47. > :12:52.the English language version of his documentary on corruption in Russia.
:12:53. > :12:56.The thrust of his film is that the corrupt officials are gorging on
:12:57. > :13:05.billions of dollars worth of Russia's 12, just like the seagulls
:13:06. > :13:09.on these chips -- Russia's wealth. The film alleges multi-million
:13:10. > :13:24.dollar corruption, by the sounds of prosecutor general. Seen here with
:13:25. > :13:28.the Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and the patriarch, Russia's version
:13:29. > :13:35.of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Corruption in Russia is not
:13:36. > :13:39.something like White collar crime or something, and we wanted to show
:13:40. > :14:00.this level of the degradation of Russian power. In the film, he
:14:01. > :14:06.alleges that Artem has been involved at all levels. They have been
:14:07. > :14:11.involved in torture and murder. The hotel is worth 30 million Euros,
:14:12. > :14:21.welcome to the opening ceremony for the pomegranate wellness spa in
:14:22. > :14:27.Greece. Cutting the ribbon, Russian people turned out for the gig, this
:14:28. > :14:32.man said that Russians have an extra chromosome which make them supermen.
:14:33. > :14:42.He is not a geneticist, but the Russian Minister of culture. His
:14:43. > :14:44.business associates have been close to the crime family, allegedly, six
:14:45. > :14:52.years ago the gang committed a massacre. It was a crime, which
:14:53. > :14:58.shook all of Russia, because it was a real massacre and 12 people were
:14:59. > :15:00.killed including four children, one newborn child, they threw him into
:15:01. > :15:13.the fire while he was alive. The film also alleges that he sold a
:15:14. > :15:21.shipping company from underneath its owners. Its director complained
:15:22. > :15:27.about him. The next day, he was found dead with a rope around his
:15:28. > :15:34.neck. Suicide, said the authorities. But, according to the paper from the
:15:35. > :15:42.coroner's office, a trace on his neck showed that it wasn't a
:15:43. > :15:49.suicide. But Russian investigating bodies, they just refused to have
:15:50. > :15:56.any investigation. Newsnight asked this man for a response, but got no
:15:57. > :16:01.answer, but his dad, the prosecutor general, is said of Navalny's film
:16:02. > :16:07.that it was a black PR action and a hatchet job and the information in
:16:08. > :16:11.response it -- presented is deliberately. Fight with no basis in
:16:12. > :16:18.fact, adding that it was paid for by the British and Americans. Navalny
:16:19. > :16:24.isn't just challenging if you people called Seagull. He is also taking
:16:25. > :16:29.aim at the system in Russia, which he thinks is rotten, and, of course,
:16:30. > :16:35.the man in charge of that system, Vladimir Putin.
:16:36. > :16:37.Rupert Murdoch might be making the headlines now for his impending
:16:38. > :16:40.marriage to the former model Jerry Hall, but 30 years ago this
:16:41. > :16:43.weekend he was in the eye of the storm - not for love
:16:44. > :16:47.When his 6,000 printers went on strike, threatening the future
:16:48. > :16:50.of his four titles, Murdoch hoodwinked them by swiftly moving
:16:51. > :16:53.production out of Fleet Street to a brand new plant in Wapping,
:16:54. > :16:57.which he had pretended was for the launch of a new Sunday paper.
:16:58. > :17:10.Stephen Smith takes us back to the dispute.
:17:11. > :17:12.It was mayhem in the streets around Rupert Murdoch's printing
:17:13. > :17:17.Hundreds of police and thousands of demonstrators vied for control
:17:18. > :17:25.of the roads in and out of the plant.
:17:26. > :17:38.The audacity with which it was done, the switch to Wapping.
:17:39. > :17:41.It was very much a Thatcherite phenomenon, the changes in the law
:17:42. > :17:45.And also, the cult of individualism rather than collectivism.
:17:46. > :17:49.Many, though not all journalists, at Rupert Murdoch's titles came
:17:50. > :17:51.to when the papers decamp from Fleet Street
:17:52. > :17:57.6000 other workers had been given notice after
:17:58. > :18:01.What did the dispute look like inside
:18:02. > :18:15.Apart from the computer blowing up about half a dozen times, the rest
:18:16. > :18:20.of it has been absolutely fantastic. It was a nightmare in the sense that
:18:21. > :18:25.I had three bodyguards, I was driven in, and everybody knew the cars was
:18:26. > :18:29.not especially when we came out of the factory, there was shouting and
:18:30. > :18:37.early aching and generally trying to cause a problem. What Murdoch and
:18:38. > :18:44.Coe were turning their backs on was cold, hot metal technology. As well
:18:45. > :18:48.as the alleged Spanish customs of the print unions. They were not only
:18:49. > :18:54.getting their share but everybody else's. They were taking money home
:18:55. > :19:02.in wheelbarrows, were checking -- working virtually no hours, refusing
:19:03. > :19:04.to embrace new technology. To make any change,
:19:05. > :19:09.to embrace new technology. To make lasting years. They were not moving
:19:10. > :19:13.with the times. Therefore, they paid the price and, actually, they
:19:14. > :19:19.deserve it. There were undoubtedly people who were double jobbing it,
:19:20. > :19:25.signing on, as Mickey Mouse etc. In a way, the boss class colluded. They
:19:26. > :19:32.wanted their product out, sharpish and soon as. Other proprietors
:19:33. > :19:36.subsequently said that -- showed that negotiations could be carried
:19:37. > :19:42.out in a civilised fashion. Murdoch showed -- chose not to. He is very
:19:43. > :19:45.clever. It was a long ago dispute over a product nobody cares about
:19:46. > :19:51.any more, or so we are always being told. In fact, there are still at
:19:52. > :19:57.least two sides to be dispute. Didn't allow Murdoch and other less
:19:58. > :20:04.obtrusive proprietors to put off the end of newsprint, or was it an end
:20:05. > :20:10.-- a moment of infamy in the history of workers' relations? In a way, you
:20:11. > :20:15.miss the smell because the plant isn't where the papers are made by
:20:16. > :20:22.the journalists, but honestly, the conditions were shocking, kind of
:20:23. > :20:27.medieval, and the idea of dropping lead into a molten pot and mucking
:20:28. > :20:32.about with it, it is quaint, but the truth of the matter is, a
:20:33. > :20:36.ten-year-old could do it today. It is a time that has come and gone.
:20:37. > :20:39.With me from New York is Sir Harry Evans, editor
:20:40. > :20:42.of the Times newspaper under Rupert Murdoch in the early 1980s,
:20:43. > :20:44.and Ann Field, who was involved with the Sogat print union
:20:45. > :20:58.Harry Evans, how did Rupert Murdoch operate during that whole Wapping
:20:59. > :21:07.time? Was he leading from the front or was it all from behind? He led
:21:08. > :21:10.from behind by absolutely brilliant planning before the Wapping
:21:11. > :21:16.confrontation took place. I had by that time left the Times, I was
:21:17. > :21:20.editor of the Sunday times, and my recollection of all of this was how
:21:21. > :21:26.very hard it was at the Sunday Times to get into one -- get into
:21:27. > :21:31.operation what was lovingly called new technology, computer
:21:32. > :21:38.typesetting, and just efficiency. So the actual Wapping dispute
:21:39. > :21:43.overshadowed the previous seven or eight years when the management at
:21:44. > :21:48.the Sunday Times, and I was on board so I agreed with it, tried very to
:21:49. > :21:55.introduce computers, offered lifetime guarantees for the workers,
:21:56. > :21:59.but we didn't get it. On top of that, the Sunday Times was sabotaged
:22:00. > :22:07.week after week in the press room. We were very close to the print
:22:08. > :22:12.people, the people who put the type. By the way, I have a high
:22:13. > :22:13.appreciation of their skills in a previous speaker does. He doesn't
:22:14. > :22:19.understand what was really happening. Having said that, the
:22:20. > :22:26.press room unions were completely hostile. When I published the final
:22:27. > :22:32.thalidomide investigation, which had taken eight years, they sabotaged
:22:33. > :22:37.the run. Were you shocked that he managed to hoodwink the print unions
:22:38. > :22:46.by that new plant at Wapping? Were you quite shocked? I wouldn't say
:22:47. > :22:54.shocked but impressed. I don't want to sound like a complete boot in the
:22:55. > :22:57.face employer, but all of the journalists, who were very
:22:58. > :23:03.frustrated, frustrated with the management of the company, of
:23:04. > :23:09.course, but also very frustrated with the guys in the press rooms,
:23:10. > :23:12.who actually sabotaged the work of their colleagues upstairs. So I
:23:13. > :23:20.wasn't shocked at what happened. I thought nothing would ever break the
:23:21. > :23:24.complete deadlock. Ann Field, were you impressed or shocked when,
:23:25. > :23:31.suddenly, the move to Wapping happened and left you high and dry?
:23:32. > :23:36.The real word is shock and disgust at the overnight dismissal of 5500
:23:37. > :23:44.people. Kelvin MacKenzie says that there were avenues open for new
:23:45. > :23:48.technology discussions... There were no avenues open. Murdoch laid down
:23:49. > :23:54.an ultimatum in the autumn of 1985, after a period of silence of about
:23:55. > :23:58.five months, where the trade unions were pressing the company for
:23:59. > :24:02.negotiations on the move to Wapping. The company said that they were not
:24:03. > :24:12.prepared to discuss anything about the move. Unless we agreed to lesser
:24:13. > :24:17.conditions for the London post, which was a fictional newspaper
:24:18. > :24:21.which never existed. The long-term ramifications for this, one way of
:24:22. > :24:28.putting it is is that he was ahead of his time. I wonder if you agree?
:24:29. > :24:31.No, I actually think he acted like a barbarian, ignoring all basic human
:24:32. > :24:38.rights and dignity of workers, and it was a conspiracy, nothing to do
:24:39. > :24:42.with formal, proper negotiations. Harry Evans, what do you think the
:24:43. > :24:51.ramifications were for journalism, looking back? Just a quick comment,
:24:52. > :24:58.I was in the management of the Times newspapers forced we were very
:24:59. > :25:03.civilised. We tried for 12 months. The previous speaker, who is totally
:25:04. > :25:07.sincere, has no experience of what it is like for the journalists and
:25:08. > :25:12.the press men when your work is destroyed. You have been offering
:25:13. > :25:17.lifetime guarantees, all of this, to get new technology, so I have a
:25:18. > :25:20.different view. But I wasn't part. Many of my journalists were in
:25:21. > :25:26.Wapping and didn't like what they saw. Having said that, obviously,
:25:27. > :25:30.the decline of print associated with the rise of digital has made
:25:31. > :25:36.investigative journalism more difficult to be sustainable, and you
:25:37. > :25:40.have seen a serious decline in long-term investigations. It is so
:25:41. > :25:45.sad to me, so very, very sad, that all of those crafts men, with whom I
:25:46. > :25:51.worked for 15 years, getting out the paper, having very good results,
:25:52. > :25:54.ending cervical cancer, all of these things, were sabotaged by the
:25:55. > :26:03.complete disunity among the print unions. Do you think there is an in
:26:04. > :26:09.security now in the whole medium? I am sure you are right, no question.
:26:10. > :26:14.Nowadays, the people who are falling by the wayside by the journalists. I
:26:15. > :26:18.have total sympathy. The people I worked with on the print site were
:26:19. > :26:23.at absolutely wonderful, all of them. They were desperate to keep
:26:24. > :26:29.the paper. They were frustrated week after week by the engineers in the
:26:30. > :26:37.press room. The NGA in the composing room at a different view. The thing
:26:38. > :26:42.to do, now, is the fact, when you say shocked about Murdoch, listen, I
:26:43. > :26:46.had my own battles with Murdoch and I have written about them. That is
:26:47. > :26:49.one reason I am not in the UK. Thank you, both.
:26:50. > :26:52.The funeral was held today in Israel of one of Britain's most
:26:53. > :26:53.influential, philanthropic and cultured non-grand grandees
:26:54. > :26:58.Lord Weidenfeld got out of Austria at the age of 19
:26:59. > :27:00.with his parents after the German invasion,
:27:01. > :27:02.but not before fighting a duel with a Nazi.
:27:03. > :27:05.He worked in London for the BBC Monitoring Service
:27:06. > :27:07.after which he co- founded the publishing house
:27:08. > :27:12.He published De Gaulle, Harold Wilson, Kissinger and a host
:27:13. > :27:17.Here he is talking to Hard Talk in 2015, about his bold decision
:27:18. > :27:20.to publish Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
:27:21. > :27:25.I was very impressed by Nabokov firstly.
:27:26. > :27:27.I read his earlier works, I knew his background,
:27:28. > :27:34.Also people like Graham Greene, whom I value, etc, encouraged me
:27:35. > :27:38.to fight the battle and I think we blazed the trail for a change
:27:39. > :27:47.When Lord Weidenfeld died he was in the midst of setting up
:27:48. > :27:49.a charity to help Syrian and Iraq Christians persecuted
:27:50. > :27:52.One of his closest friends, whom he also published,
:27:53. > :28:04.was the writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefiori.
:28:05. > :28:12.When you met him at first, what was he like? He was wonderful, and
:28:13. > :28:18.amazing friend. He existed in this rarefied world, international,
:28:19. > :28:23.Cosmopolitan, sophisticated. When you were talking to him at his
:28:24. > :28:30.apartment, full of Francis Bacons and Renaissance Popes, you felt that
:28:31. > :28:38.you could be in the chancellery of Cardinal reseller or in the palace
:28:39. > :28:45.of a floral time prints. What drove him? It wasn't just to have these
:28:46. > :28:50.things. He was first and foremost an amazing publisher who published
:28:51. > :29:00.everyone from Nabokov, Hook, Edna Rob Brydon, Antonia Fraser. -- Pope.
:29:01. > :29:04.He was also a philanthropist. He really believed in building bridges
:29:05. > :29:09.between Jews and Germans, between the three great Abraham Lincoln
:29:10. > :29:18.religions. From his very deathbed, he was trying to help Syrian
:29:19. > :29:28.Christians -- the three great Abrahamic religions. He was a whit.
:29:29. > :29:33.When you were with him, the conversation, he knew his art, his
:29:34. > :29:39.music. Of course, the written word. He was enormously good fun. And he
:29:40. > :29:42.was enormously kind to everyone. I was just one of the very young
:29:43. > :29:48.writers who he encouraged and helped. When you were with him,
:29:49. > :29:53.again, he was a character who seemed to belong in a variety of great
:29:54. > :30:03.works. He was a Christian character. He could have been in a novel by
:30:04. > :30:09.Disraeli. -- Proustian character. Do you think that bringing outsiders in
:30:10. > :30:16.to bring a new kind of culture, do you need that? He arrived as a
:30:17. > :30:19.refugee from the Nazis. He was a last blossoming of that now
:30:20. > :30:27.blossoming Jewish-Viennese culture which was so persist -- so
:30:28. > :30:30.sophisticated and both high and low, witty and playful. He brought back
:30:31. > :30:35.to England and he was a huge ornament to Europe. He led an
:30:36. > :30:41.extraordinarily long life. You wonder if, with his passing, you
:30:42. > :30:49.treasure the memory, because there are very few people like him left.
:30:50. > :30:54.Even his generation, he was a one-off, but he was one of those
:30:55. > :30:59.amazingly talented, mainly Jewish refugees from Middle Europe. He was
:31:00. > :31:05.very generous. There was nobody like him and there won't be again. You
:31:06. > :31:11.knew him when he was much younger and he encouraged you and nurtured
:31:12. > :31:15.you. Do you have a favourite memory? The way he would ring up and say in
:31:16. > :31:24.his soft Viennese voice, Simon, come over for a quick tour de reason. We
:31:25. > :31:30.would have an amazing chat about great people, Chancellor Kohl, John
:31:31. > :31:35.Paul II, the Pope, any of the amazing people he published. He
:31:36. > :31:41.lived in a great world but he was extremely generous with that
:31:42. > :31:46.greatness. Lord Biden felt, whose funeral was held today in Israel.
:31:47. > :31:50.That is all we have time for. -- Lord Weidenfeld. Emily will be with
:31:51. > :31:52.you on Monday.