Browse content similar to 17/08/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The Garden Bridge across the Thames in London. | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
We love to sneer. That's the brilliant thing about the democracy | :00:08. | :00:21. | |
of our country, that we can all say what we want. But people need to | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
spot through all of that what our people's separate agendas. | :00:27. | :00:28. | |
We'll ask the chairman of the Garden Bridge Trust | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
A year ago, this young Conservative activist killed himself. | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
He said he'd been bullied by a more senior party worker. | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
Today the Conservatives published their own inquiry | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
And yes, they knew it was a risk to put that particular man in charge. | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
So did the party properly discharge its duty of care | :00:50. | :00:51. | |
And guess who's finally hauled Steve Smith off | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
You know how public money so often gets spent in London - | :01:00. | :01:14. | |
sprucing it up, attracting tourists, hosting Olympics. | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
And you know how hard it is for other parts | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
of the country to get the same financial attention. | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
Well, there is one London project that has come to typify the problem | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
more than any other - it's costing the taxpayer | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
It's not even something that all Londoners want. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
It is a garden bridge across the Thames. | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
It's amazing how controversial it has turned out to be. | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
The designer Thomas Heatherwick - famous for the Olympic | :01:41. | :01:54. | |
torch - is behind it, backed by Joanne Lumley. | :01:55. | :01:56. | |
But can it be dismissed as a celebrity-promoted indulgence? | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
Or is it a cost-effective investment for the national taxpayer? | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
At nearly 370 metres long, and covered with flowers, shrubs and | :02:01. | :02:11. | |
trees, the Garden Bridge Is no ordinary river crossing. It is | :02:12. | :02:13. | |
hoping to be an attraction in itself, as well as Regis in | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
congestion in a busy part of London. It has attracted ?60 million of | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
taxpayer money. Few would argue that the designs for the Garden Bridge | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
are unimpressive, but plenty of people don't want it ever to be | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
built, and they are asking questions, like, will the money ever | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
be had for it to go ahead? It appears that the finances are more | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
precarious than anyone has previously admitted. If we could all | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
slow down for a moment, look up... Many supporters have made their case | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
passionately. This was an example of Britain at its best, proof that we | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
could bear to be ground-breaking. I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, when | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
nothing happened. It felt like Britain was stuck and a bit | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
paralysed was it was cities like Paris and Barcelona that dared to | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
create future culture. And amenity, and celebrate the public dimension. | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
The idea of a free garden that open longer than any of the Royal Parks, | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
for all of us, is a thrilling thing. But the bridge is not having an easy | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
ride. Transport For London have conceded that the procurement | :03:39. | :03:40. | |
process was neither is open or as fair as it should have been, and in | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
July, Newsnight reported that the Government is deciding whether or | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
not to continue underwriting the project. If it doesn't, the bridge | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
is finished. On top of that, the Garden Bridge Trust is yet to buy | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
the land they need on both sides of the river, plus the National Audit | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
Office and Charity commission are investigating. The major problem | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
could well be the money. If the bridge is ever going to be built, | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
the team behind it need to raise ?175 million. They got ?60 million | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
from us, the taxpayers, leaving 115 million to come from the private | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
sector, companies and individuals. Newsnight has learned that several | :04:23. | :04:24. | |
funders have pulled out in the last year, and what we have been led to | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
believe is a ?30 million shortfall is actually more like ?52 million. | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
Newsnight has analysed or public statements made by the Garden Bridge | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
Trust and asked further questions about its finances. This graph shows | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
that despite ongoing claims of successful fundraising, for the 14 | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
months up to this June, the shortfall remained broadly | :04:53. | :04:55. | |
consistent, at around ?30 million. When we queried this with the Trust, | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
that shortfall appear to have widened by more than ?20 million. | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
The Trust said it had raised ?34 million of private money in 2014, | :05:06. | :05:15. | |
?17.8 million in 2015, and a further ?11 million this year. Add on the 60 | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
million of taxpayer cash, and you get to ?122.8 million, leaving the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
bridge short of ?52 million. A spokesperson also explained that | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
last year a small number of pledges made by interested organisations did | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
not progress to formal funding contracts. It took until the month | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
of May this year until we got any kind of breakdown of where the money | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
was coming from to pay for the bridge, and when it came, it turned | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
out large numbers of donors didn't want us to know who they were. There | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
have been huge issues with the funding right from the start, with | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
60 million public funds going in, but also amounts of fund raising, we | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
don't know who it is coming from, whether it is individuals or | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
companies, so many have chosen to remain anonymous, which is unusual | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
when you want to sponsor and promote a project or stop we need to | :06:10. | :06:12. | |
understand the issues with these people and companies. Are there | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
conflicts of interest? Raising money for these kinds of project is rarely | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
simple, and when they get negative press, it doesn't help. We love to | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
sneer. That is the brilliant thing about the democracy of our country, | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
we can all say what we want. People need to spot through all about what | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
people's separate agendas are, wanting to believe that somehow | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
there is something other than just wanting to do something great for | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
all of us. Ultimately, whether the bridge is ever built is out of the | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
hands of its supporters. It is politicians, both Labour and | :06:56. | :06:57. | |
Conservative, who will decide whether it has a future. | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
Joining me to answer the serious concerns on the funding and future | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
of the Garden Bridge is Lord Mervyn Davies, | :07:07. | :07:08. | |
We have to talk about the finances, which are so open eight. The | :07:09. | :07:17. | |
estimated cost is ?175 million. More like 185 because of the delays. OK. | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
You have raised how much privately? There are 38 committed sponsors who | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
have raised nearly ?70 million. The pipeline is very strong, so I would | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
say, when you look at these images, this is an iconic project, well | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
governed, I think it is important to remember the history of this. It was | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
started by Transport For London, then the Trust took over in May of | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
2015. We have an experienced group of trustees will stop the funding | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
has good momentum, and inevitably with a project like this, there was | :07:59. | :08:06. | |
some opposition. Last year, there was talk of having raised ?85 | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
million privately cos I don't understand the discrepancy between | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
what you are saying, 70, and this 85. In June of this year, you've | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
mentioned ?83 million. I have heard ?63 million. There are a lot of | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
figures. The figure is ?69.5 million, call it 70. We have had one | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
or two mac that have gone away, maybe because of the uncertainty. | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
One of them was because of a change of chief executive in the company, | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
but I think it is important to note that the project as good momentum on | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
fundraising. To be blunt, it looks like you're moving backwards. You | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
have lost more money over the last year 's... Look, we have satisfied | :08:51. | :09:00. | |
nearly 90 conditions for Westminster and Lambeth Council. We have good | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
momentum on planning, on our partnership with the Secretary of | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
State, the Department for Transport, and also Transport For London, so | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
they sit at the table of the trust. I would say with confidence that we | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
as a group of trustees believe we will raise the money. OK. A lot of | :09:21. | :09:32. | |
the money is anonymous. No, 38 committed sponsors who have signed | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
commitments... They are not anonymous. How many of the 38 would | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
not be anonymous? A number of them will only announce their inclusion | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
as donors when the building work starts. We don't have to worry about | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
conflict-of-interest? No. There are five donors, and I have raised money | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
for the Royal Academy, for the breakthrough breast Cancer, a number | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
of situations where great UK philanthropies want their names to | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
be out of the limelight, so we do have five anonymous donors. You are | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
saying, because it is 40 million at the moment of anonymous pledge | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
money, as we understand it, and that is rather a lot, but you are saying | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
that will disappear, or most of it. There will be five donors. I would | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
like to add another thing, when people talk about the Government | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
talk about -- when people talk about the Government contribution. The | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
money from Transport For London we are very paying over a longer | :10:33. | :10:43. | |
period. We are also paying back but might we have been charged VAT, so | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
the Government gives as ?30 million in one hand and takes it back | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
through VAT. I have to ask this, because so far you have not built | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
anything or acquired the land at either end of the bridge, and yet, I | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
think you spent ?36 million. That is 20% of the entire cost of the | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
project. It is about what it cost in today's prices to build the | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
millennium Bridge. You could build a bridge for the money you have spent, | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
and we have nothing to show for it. You like to get the planning, | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
construction and all the work they have done, it is hugely expensive. | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
?10 million was spent by Transport For London before the trust even got | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
started, so actually, the monitoring of the cost... To be clear, the ?36 | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
million includes ?10 million before the Trust ever became involved? The | :11:40. | :11:49. | |
36 has been spent since the trust was created. We have wide experience | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
at the Trust and all that money has been spent in preparation for | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
digging in the Thames, getting licences and getting us ready. That | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
doesn't cost tens of millions of pounds. Getting this ready, getting | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
the construction, the prototypes, the design, that takes time. Has a | :12:07. | :12:13. | |
lot of it been spent on fundraising? No. The actual running costs of the | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
trust and fundraising has been financed by a private family. It is | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
going to be a formidable challenge, because you not only have to raise | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
the ?185 million, minus the public's contribution, their results are the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
ongoing running cost, and the authorities want to know that you | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
have the money to run the thing. And I think that you want a pot of ?50 | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
million from which you can invest and earn some money to keep it | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
going. We have money that has been pledged for an endowment for the | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
running of the bridge. That was included in the 70 million? It is | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
separate. You have more money than that? It is separate. We will hold | :12:55. | :13:04. | |
events. We have got planning... There are many ways of raising | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
money. In order to get planning, with Lambeth and with Westminster, | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
we had to present, and to the Government, a detailed business case | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
on how the bridge would be maintained and run afterwards. So | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
all we need to do, we have done the planning, we now need to do a deal | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
to get the land, and we are there. And the rest of the money. Just that | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
small thing! We, as a group of trustees, are very confident that we | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
can get the money. When we look at a project like this, I wonder, because | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
it attracts people to say, procurement was very strange, and we | :13:47. | :13:49. | |
won't go into that now. People object to the money, people don't | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
like the design. If the country wanted projects like this, you would | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
have to break a few eggs in order to create an omelette. If that means | :13:59. | :14:06. | |
riding roughshod over procurement rules, so be it. No, no, no. That is | :14:07. | :14:14. | |
the truth of it, isn't it? It is not. I have a bank CEO and chairman. | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
We have to have good governance, the right skills at trustee level, which | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
we have, then I think you have to be very resilient. This is an iconic | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
project, and I think it is wonderful for Britain. It sums up what is | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
great about Britain. It is creative, imaginative, and I think on an | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
evening like this in London, visitors, Londoners, walking across | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
a bridge with 27,000 perennials, 270 trees, you know, it will be magical. | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
Not nice, magical. 2018 or 2019? 2019. | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
Last summer, 21 year old Elliot Johnson took | :15:00. | :15:01. | |
In one of the letters he left, he said he'd been bullied | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
and betrayed, and he singled out a man called Mark Clarke, | :15:06. | :15:07. | |
the man running the Conservative Road Trip 2015, a roving | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
Elliot's death prompted questions to be asked | :15:11. | :15:12. | |
Should it have known that Mark Clarke was a bully? | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
Well, Mr Clarke has always denied the charge, but today came | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
the results of the official Conservative Party inquiry. | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
From the law firm Clifford Chance, it identified 13 alleged victims | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
of bullying and inappropriate behaviour, as well as six | :15:27. | :15:28. | |
Yes, the party's top managers did know that Mr Clarke had | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
But on the specific issue of whether the two chairmen | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
of the party knew last year of bullying of activists, | :15:40. | :15:41. | |
James Clayton has been reporting on this story since last summer. | :15:42. | :15:51. | |
If anyone expected the law firm Clifford Chance's report into | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
allegations of bullying harassment and inappropriate behaviour to lay | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
blame at the feet of senior party figures they would be sorely | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
disappointed. On the face of it the report cleared both the men | :16:08. | :16:10. | |
responsible for running the party at the time. Its verdict on Lord | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
Feldman was that there was no evidence he was aware of allegations | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
of bullying or harassment of young activists by Mr Clarke or those | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
associated with prior to the August 14, 2016 complaint. That was the | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
complaint made by Elliot Johnson. The same assessment was given to | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Grant Shapps. This is despite 12 other individuals complaining of | :16:37. | :16:39. | |
bullying or inappropriate behaviour by Mark Clarke on the previous 20 | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
months. It's led some to call the report are quite large but a closer | :16:44. | :16:46. | |
look reveals a striking number of warnings which were missed or | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
ignored by the Conservative Party hierarchy. In 2014 when Mark Clarke | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
was being considered for a rollback CC HQ Grant Shapps exam did his | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
candidate file when he ran as a parliamentary candidate in tooting. | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
The findings published today show that candidate report included: the | :17:05. | :17:13. | |
report also said that the then campaign director Lord Gilbert | :17:14. | :17:25. | |
recalled: Paul Abbott was Grant Shapps chief of staff, in 2014, | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
before Mark Clarke was hired he was told: the report also says that Mr | :17:32. | :17:41. | |
Abbott sent Mark Clarke an e-mail about a Conservative future | :17:42. | :17:55. | |
election, describing: the attitude of senior party figures to Mark | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
Clarke was simply summed up in one e-mail from Grant Shapps to Tory | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
election guru Sir Lynton Crosby, he had contacted Grant Shapps is about | :18:03. | :18:10. | |
Mark Clarke. Grant Shapps replied explaining he was aware of the | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
reputation of Mark Clarke but employing him was a calculated risk. | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
Although the enquiry found that Lord Feldman had not been aware of any | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
allegations of Mark Clarke bullying activists before 2015 the report | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
intriguer winger revealed that following the complaint from Elliot | :18:28. | :18:29. | |
Johnson he wrote in an internal correspondence that he had: when | :18:30. | :18:38. | |
asked to clarify his comments he said he was referring to his | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
competence as a campaign organiser. On one specific allegation brought | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
by Newsnight last September the report said it found no evidence to | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
corroborate the claim that Lord Feldman had been handed a dossier | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
about the behaviour of Mark Clarke by Ben Howlett as far back as 2011. | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
The enquiry found the MP had met up with Lord Feldman and handed him a | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
set of papers which mentioned Mark Clarke but they had only discussed | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
political concerns about him and other young activists. Despite the | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
report exonerating senior figures it has left many wondering how so many | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
complaints could have been made to the Conservative Party about Mark | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
Clarke form must of bullying to sexually inappropriate behaviour, | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
all of which he denies without any responsibility being taken by those | :19:26. | :19:26. | |
who ran the party. Now at the centre of | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
it all, Mark Clarke. His solicitors told Clifford Chance | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
that "the allegations made against Mr Clarke are wholly untrue | :19:33. | :19:34. | |
and unsubstantiated. Many are based on totally | :19:35. | :19:36. | |
fabricated media reports". Mr Clarke said he has been | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
cooperating with the police and won't respond to allegations | :19:40. | :19:41. | |
while the police investigation into Elliot Johnson's | :19:42. | :19:43. | |
death is ongoing. Earlier, I spoke to Elliot Johnson's | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
father, who received a summary I began by asking what he made | :19:49. | :19:50. | |
of it. We received an additional letter | :19:51. | :20:06. | |
from Patrick McLoughlin with the summary. He says that the report | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
states that the Conservative Party acted entirely properly. However in | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
the very next sentence they go on to say that they are making changes to | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
the way that they, the volunteer leaders operate as a code of conduct | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
and making changes to the complaints procedure. So what is it? Have they | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
acted entirely properly or having Ortis De Villiers? It interesting | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
that it does imply, or does report that clearly senior figures in the | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
party when they started the road trip which son was involved in, the | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
new that this chap, Mark Clarke, had let's call it an interesting | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
history, that he came with quite a lot of baggage. As I remember Grant | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
Shapps said Mark Clarke came with a chequered history so they were aware | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
of it and prepare to take a risk, take a gamble. The report tells us | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
that a phrase was used by Grant Shapps that this is an "Calculated | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
risk". He's a good campaigner but there is this other history. It's a | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
risk too far, you cannot take a calculated risk with a person like | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
that when you are dealing with young people. A lot of people see you | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
should have been talking to the enquiry but you were reluctant, you | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
did not want to have anything to do with it, why? We saw it as a | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
whitewash from the start, this was run by the Conservative Party, they | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
chose their own solicitors, not independent, and they were paying | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
for it so how can it possibly be independent? Our view was that they | :21:45. | :21:51. | |
wanted to use us as some kind of cover, you might say. Some kind of | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
gloss over the enquiry. We were not prepared to be used as a tool in | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
that way. You have quite a lot of anger at the Conservative Party and | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
the way they dealt with your son. Would you at least concede that | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
looking back on it, as the coroner found in the inquest earlier this | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
year, his tragic death was a more complicated tragedy than simply the | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
bullying by Mark Clarke? The coroner said he believed himself to have | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
failed with money, politics, with his parents and filled with life. We | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
have had our own psychologist report conducted and he said that people | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
put into that kind of extreme pressure, youngsters especially, do | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
react in those ways, make claims they have failed in life and with | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
money. They are lost, they are losing track of the reality of their | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
lives, and I think Eliot was no different. Nothing to do with him | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
being gay or finding that difficult? Nothing to do with that at all. | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
Elliott was openly gay, he was badly bullied, badly treated by people | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
within the Conservative Party and his employer responded by actually | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
making things worse. I know it's been a difficult year for you, thank | :23:11. | :23:12. | |
you so much for talking to us. In the last week, Russia has accused | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
Ukraine of instigating Ukraine has denied it, | :23:17. | :23:18. | |
and there has been a war There have been other reported | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
incidents between the countries, So after a long period | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
in which Ukraine has been in the background, | :23:26. | :23:28. | |
should we worry that a cold war I spoke to the Ukrainian ambassador | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
here, Natalia Galibarenki, and asked her what support Ukraine | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
hopes for from the West. We expect that the West will not be | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
tricked by the Russian so there is a strict sanction | :23:44. | :23:52. | |
policy, there is also a policy of support to Ukraine, | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
and I think that our Western So, sanctions against | :23:56. | :23:57. | |
Russia, support... Let me ask you this: Do you think | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
the West is resigned now to Crimea Of course, there is a tendency | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
of accepting the real politik. The fact that Russia | :24:08. | :24:15. | |
is controlling Crimea, even nevertheless that Ukraine | :24:16. | :24:24. | |
are striving to do everything we can to have Crimea | :24:25. | :24:26. | |
on the top of the agenda Do you think it will come | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
back at some point? I think so, you know, | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
because we cannot be sure that people who are living | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
on the peninsula now are really happy with the Russian | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
authoritarian regime, because we are receiving information | :24:41. | :24:42. | |
and confirmations that there is already a crackdown | :24:43. | :24:44. | |
on human rights in Crimea. People are not really that happy | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
about the restriction of their rights, so our idea | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
is that we will not be fighting for Crimea on a battlefield, | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
we will be trying to create a success story in Ukraine to show | :24:58. | :25:00. | |
people on the peninsula, look, you would be better | :25:01. | :25:03. | |
with us in Ukraine. What about the West | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
and its support for Ukraine? You want sanctions against Russia | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
and support for Ukraine, you've been clear about that, | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
but is the commitment, do you think, of the | :25:15. | :25:16. | |
West really there? If I was to be really ambitious, | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
I would be expecting from the West more military and technical | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
support to the Ukraine. On the other hand, I do | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
understand their argument about, for example, not providing lethal | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
weapons to Ukraine, because they are afraid | :25:37. | :25:38. | |
about the escalation Did the West betray you, | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
do you think, when Crimea was taken, when the war was going | :25:44. | :25:51. | |
on in the Russian end of Ukraine? The only country who betrayed | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
Ukraine was Russia. For years, we were thinking of them | :25:55. | :25:56. | |
as our good neighbour, You know, I even know people | :25:57. | :25:59. | |
in Kiev who are saying, we will never be a victim of any | :26:00. | :26:07. | |
external aggression because we have the Russian Black Sea Fleet | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
stationed in Crimea. Two years ago, we had | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
no armed forces. We were not prepared to encounter | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
Russian aggression. But now, like the situation in | :26:20. | :26:22. | |
Donbas showed, because of the great level of patriotism in Ukraine, | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
we were capable of curbing them We have been hardliners | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
on the Russian issue within the EU. Maybe the EU is going | :26:34. | :26:44. | |
to change policy. The good news is that this country | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
will not just withdraw from all of the continent, | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
so I think that even irrespective of the status, | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
London will be playing a major, important role in all these | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
international affairs and also My idea and hope is that the UK | :27:02. | :27:03. | |
will remain staunch Ambassador, thank | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
you very much indeed. With four days of Olympic action to | :27:09. | :27:23. | |
go it's all about the fight for second place in the medals table, | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
Team GB versus China. Meanwhile from a couch in London team Steve Smith | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
is fighting for a first-place finish, were just not sure of what | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
the contest is. Tonight however, it is Angela Rippon's time to shine. | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
Look, it is either this or Evan and another | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
You know, we discovered Radio 3 hadn't spent their full Olympics war | :27:45. | :28:05. | |
chest so we hired Cal here to essay the Brazilian song book for us. | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
This is a stupendous ride from Laura Trott. | :28:10. | :28:33. | |
And she is engaged to another top cyclist, also a Brit. | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
Do you think they have got a tandem at home? | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
The derny bike is slowly making its way... | :28:44. | :28:45. | |
There goes the derny bike. | :28:46. | :28:46. | |
Because he is the only one not peddling. | :28:47. | :28:56. | |
Have you got any cycling music? | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
He has got to close the gap and towards the line, | :29:00. | :29:11. | |
Bolt wins a gold in less than ten seconds, Andy Murray has | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
four hours to win gold, I mean, you know, come on. | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
I mean, if it took Usain Bolt four hours to do the 100 metres | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
I would say that's a clear. | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
Oh! Oh! | :29:32. | :29:32. | |
The white flag went up is what he is saying. | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
Let's have a look, we can see the official just a left-hand side | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
He is celebrating and that's his reaction | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
Throw the coach in, go on, you've got to throw the coach in. One of | :29:46. | :30:04. | |
the joys I have two seed is looking at those amazing masculine | :30:05. | :30:10. | |
physiques, they are just beautiful. Everyone is talking about Top Gear, | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
you were the first presenter, if Tony hall, who I know watches this, | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
if he got down on his knees and said Angela, please, come back? I would | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
say find somebody else. If you are going to have a successful programme | :30:27. | :30:29. | |
you how to think who is going to be watching it and what their | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
expectation is. We never think about that. You have do think who is | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
watching it and what do they want from the presenters. Everyone is | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
getting very excited about Strictly Come Dancing. Yes. Give me a rhythm. | :30:44. | :30:51. | |
You have been watching throne of games. You know what we say at the | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
BBC, no refunds. I'll Very long time viewers of this show | :30:56. | :31:03. | |
might remember we weren't always very kind to John Major back | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
when he was Prime Minister. We weren't always respectful | :31:11. | :31:12. | |
of his cones hotline or his back However it's now been pointed out | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
that his decision to divert lottery cash to elite sport is in fact | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
the main reason for Team GBs So whatever else he might have got | :31:20. | :31:22. | |
wrong, credit where it's due. | :31:23. | :31:27. |