:00:10. > :00:13.Good morning from a sunshine splashed Birmingham, where the
:00:13. > :00:17.Conservative Party is gathering for what will be the last major party
:00:17. > :00:23.conference of the season. It has not been -- it has been a hard year
:00:23. > :00:28.for the country. The economy is flat on its back, debt rising and
:00:28. > :00:33.many self-inflicted wounds by ministers. There was a time when
:00:33. > :00:43.David Cameron was able to surprise Britain. He badly needs to do it
:00:43. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:14.If you could take advice and cash it in at the Bank, the Conservative
:01:14. > :01:19.Party would never have to tap a rich donor again. It is pouring in
:01:19. > :01:23.from all sides. But there are basically two themes - those who
:01:23. > :01:28.say, be more intensely conservative, tough on immigration, squeeze more
:01:28. > :01:32.tightly on spending, give the country a vote, and those who say
:01:32. > :01:36.no, stick as near the centre as you can and don't let Ed Miliband Owen
:01:36. > :01:41.that phrase, "one nation". David Cameron's job is easy to describe
:01:41. > :01:45.and harder to achieve. He has to we inspire his party and reassure an
:01:45. > :01:49.increasingly sceptical country that Britain is on the right track. We
:01:49. > :01:53.will hear from the Prime Minister later. Acres of coverage of the
:01:53. > :01:57.challenges facing him in today's papers. The writer and broadcaster
:01:57. > :02:01.Sandi Toksvig and the Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce have been
:02:01. > :02:04.digesting it all for us. Also this morning, Lord Justice Leveson has
:02:04. > :02:09.finished taking evidence about how journalists go about their trade,
:02:09. > :02:13.but what will you recommend and what will his plan B? Former News
:02:13. > :02:17.International journalists are awaiting their court cases to start.
:02:17. > :02:20.Meanwhile, those who have been hacked want assurances that if
:02:20. > :02:25.Leveson wants statutory powers brought in, the Government will do
:02:25. > :02:29.it. I will talk to Hugh Grant later. And a musical treat - and I have a
:02:29. > :02:39.bin talking to Pete Townshend about the early years of The Who, his new
:02:39. > :02:44.
:02:44. > :02:46.book and some of his classic songs. Lots coming up. First, the news
:02:46. > :02:50.from Sally Nugent. The Chancellor, George Osborne, has
:02:50. > :02:54.ruled out a new tax on expensive properties as a way of boosting
:02:54. > :02:57.government revenues. His decision comes as Conservatives gather in
:02:57. > :03:07.Birmingham for the party's conference. Mr Osborne will also
:03:07. > :03:11.announce a freeze on council tax bills and a cap on train fares.
:03:11. > :03:14.Who is the party of One nation now, Prime Minister? Barely out of the
:03:14. > :03:18.car, and the questions began for the Prime Minister. David Cameron
:03:18. > :03:22.arrived in Birmingham last night, well aware that he has had it a few
:03:22. > :03:26.months. Gloomy opinion polls, Labour upbeat after their
:03:26. > :03:30.conference and above all, a struggling economy. But senior
:03:30. > :03:35.Conservatives are defiant. They insist that their ideas will work.
:03:35. > :03:39.We have a plan to get Britain back on track. It is starting to work.
:03:40. > :03:44.The economy is starting to heal. No doubt about how tough it is, but
:03:44. > :03:48.there is no other option. This cannot be solved with more spending,
:03:48. > :03:52.more borrowing and more debt. focused this morning is on ideas to
:03:52. > :03:56.help keep our bills in check. Firstly, council tax bills in
:03:56. > :04:01.England will be frozen again next year. And many rail fares will go
:04:01. > :04:05.up by no more than 1% above inflation. There is also a promise
:04:05. > :04:09.to say no to the next long-term budget for the European Union if it
:04:09. > :04:14.is too high. All our ideas designed to be popular, but cheap, and
:04:14. > :04:18.strike a chord with people. Senior figures in the party are aware that
:04:18. > :04:21.times are tough for many in the country, and times are tough for
:04:21. > :04:26.them politically. They will want to emphasise throughout this
:04:26. > :04:29.conference that they get that, that they get fat activists needed
:04:29. > :04:34.reassuring and people want to be certain that they have a credible
:04:34. > :04:37.plan for getting the economy going again.
:04:37. > :04:41.Celebrities including Hugh Grant and Charlotte Church have written
:04:41. > :04:44.to the Prime Minister, urging him to keep an open mind on regulation
:04:44. > :04:49.of the press. The letter comes in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry,
:04:49. > :04:53.where Grant was among those giving evidence. It has been signed by 60
:04:53. > :04:57.victims of phone hacking, including people involved in the bomb attacks
:04:57. > :05:01.on London in 2005 and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.
:05:01. > :05:05.Andrew will be speaking to Hugh Grant live in the studio about this
:05:05. > :05:08.in a few minutes. A procession and a church service
:05:08. > :05:12.is being held this morning in the town where five-year-old April
:05:12. > :05:17.Jones went missing last Monday. A 46-year-old local man, Mark Bridger,
:05:17. > :05:21.was charged with her abduction and murder yesterday. A search
:05:21. > :05:24.operation is continuing around the town of Machynlleth in mid-Wales.
:05:24. > :05:29.The radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza made his first appearance in
:05:29. > :05:37.an American court, charged with 11 terror offences. He was one of five
:05:37. > :05:43.suspects to be extradited from the UK after a long legal battle.
:05:43. > :05:46.Abu Hamza is now being held in New York, at a maximum-security cell
:05:46. > :05:51.next to the court where he appeared briefly. Two other men extradited
:05:51. > :05:55.with him pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the 1998 US
:05:55. > :05:59.embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Abu Hamza's grey hair and
:05:59. > :06:03.beard were neatly trimmed, but he was without his hook checked
:06:03. > :06:07.prosthetic hand. The judge read him his rights and outlined the counts
:06:07. > :06:13.he will face when he is formally charged and asked to enter a plea
:06:13. > :06:15.on Tuesday. Abu Hamza is facing 11 charges in total, relating to
:06:15. > :06:19.hostage-taking, conspiracy to establish a militant training camp
:06:19. > :06:24.and calling for a holy war in Afghanistan. The terms of his
:06:24. > :06:28.extradition mean he cannot be given the death penalty. Abu Hamza's
:06:28. > :06:32.lawyer asked the court to return his prosthetic hands immediately so
:06:32. > :06:36.that, she said, he could take care of his daily needs in a civilised
:06:36. > :06:39.manner. She also asked for a medical examination because he was
:06:39. > :06:45.suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes. The judge remanded
:06:45. > :06:52.Abu Hamza in custody. I don't think it will take long, probably a year
:06:52. > :06:59.or two before they get to trial. Abu Hamza has alleged that he has
:06:59. > :07:04.medical and mental issues. I am sure they will try to drag it out.
:07:04. > :07:09.In the 1990s, Abu Hamza used London's Finsbury Park mosque as a
:07:09. > :07:13.platform for his messages of hatred. At first dismissed as just a
:07:13. > :07:17.troublemaker, is angry sermons went on to inspire acts of violence. For
:07:17. > :07:23.years, Abu Hamza has been the face of Britain's battle against
:07:23. > :07:27.extremism. Now it is America which seeks to bring him to justice.
:07:27. > :07:32.In Formula One, the defending world champion Sebastian Vettel has won
:07:32. > :07:35.the Japanese Grand Prix. The wind takes Vettel within four points of
:07:35. > :07:40.the Formula One championship lead. After his rival Fernando Alonso
:07:40. > :07:47.crashed out of the race at the first turn. More headlines just
:07:48. > :07:52.before 10 o'clock. Now to the front pages. The
:07:52. > :07:55.Observer has got the celebrity phone hacking story, already
:07:55. > :08:01.accusing the Prime Minister of betrayal. We will talk about that
:08:01. > :08:08.later. There is a great deal in the papers also about the appalling
:08:09. > :08:17.Jimmy Savile allegations and the pressure on the BBC. De Independent
:08:17. > :08:23.has full coverage of that. Cow all was a good class Coward, says
:08:23. > :08:28.somebody in the Sun, and who are we to disagree? The Sunday Times has
:08:28. > :08:36.got the Conservatives will win embattled strivers. And there is
:08:36. > :08:39.another version of the same story in the Mail on Sunday. Osborne: my
:08:39. > :08:46.tax gift to middle England. I will be asking the Prime Minister about
:08:46. > :08:50.that later. Meanwhile, Sandi Toksvig and Andrew Pierce, welcome.
:08:50. > :08:56.Andrew, as a seasoned political observer, let's start with some of
:08:56. > :09:00.the huge amount of politics in the papers today. David Cameron, after
:09:00. > :09:04.the successful Lib Dem conference and Ed Miliband doing much better
:09:04. > :09:09.than expected, will really have to deliver next week. According to the
:09:09. > :09:12.Daily Mail on Sunday, he will have to echo Margaret Thatcher and there
:09:12. > :09:16.will be no few terms, because that could land Britain in the same mass
:09:16. > :09:21.as countries like Greece and Spain. If you go to the Sunday Mirror,
:09:21. > :09:26.they have identified not one, but 30 U-turns since David Cameron
:09:26. > :09:31.became prime minister. There were the pasty tax, the caravan tax, VAT,
:09:31. > :09:35.selling off the forests. It is difficult, because we actually like
:09:35. > :09:40.you turns. If it is a policy that is not working, it is better to U-
:09:40. > :09:44.turn than crashing to the wall. They did a U-turn on the trains as
:09:44. > :09:47.well. It is a fantastic story. I never thought I would see a story
:09:47. > :09:53.in the Sunday Telegraph that says we should a re-nationalised
:09:53. > :09:58.railways. They got their sums wrong by 410 million, quite a lot. It is
:09:58. > :10:05.all to do with passenger numbers and inflation and things you would
:10:05. > :10:09.think were fundamental to a franchise. They talk about we
:10:09. > :10:12.nationalised its East Coast Main Line. Last year, it enjoyed better
:10:12. > :10:16.punctuality than Virgin bus stop satisfaction is up. More seats,
:10:16. > :10:24.more passengers and a new destination has been added. They
:10:24. > :10:29.added more than �350 million to the taxpayer. Ed Miliband went on about
:10:29. > :10:33.an incompetent coalition government. 24 hours later, we have huge
:10:33. > :10:38.incompetence on an epic scale. is great for the political
:10:38. > :10:42.satirists. Speaking of satire, some political fund. The Tories have a
:10:42. > :10:47.new blonde bombshell called Boris Johnson. The Observer is looking at
:10:47. > :10:52.his poll ratings. He has 51 to David Cameron's 29, George Osborne
:10:52. > :10:59.a mere 11. They are asking which Tory could bring over wavering
:10:59. > :11:05.voters? Cameron gets 16, Osborne gets two, Boris Johnson 62. Boris
:11:05. > :11:10.is the big show in town on Tuesday. The Observer are wondering what
:11:10. > :11:13.they do with him. He is their greatest asset? There he is as
:11:13. > :11:18.mayor of London, not in the House of Commons. He is no doubt hugely
:11:19. > :11:26.enjoying it, but is he a real threat to David Cameron? Or a, he
:11:26. > :11:33.does not have a seat. Zac Goldsmith said he might. He would have to
:11:33. > :11:38.work hard for a nice seat that he wants, like a Kensington & Chelsea.
:11:38. > :11:41.But one must be careful about the fool who everybody thinks that is
:11:41. > :11:47.dismissal. Ronald Reagan, when he announced he was standing for
:11:47. > :11:52.President, everybody thought it was hilarious. Speaking of fools, this
:11:52. > :11:55.is almost too easy for me, Jeremy Hunt. He always makes me think of
:11:55. > :12:00.the child that adults have allowed to sit at a grown-up table, and
:12:00. > :12:03.then he does not behave. I would have thought that just before the
:12:03. > :12:08.conference starts, that bringing up the subject of abortion would not
:12:08. > :12:11.be everybody's pet topic. He has said he would like the time to be
:12:11. > :12:17.reduced to 12 weeks, despite there being no medical evidence
:12:17. > :12:22.whatsoever for this being a good idea. No improvements have taken
:12:22. > :12:28.place below 23 weeks. He is not the most popular person. He is one of
:12:28. > :12:32.those people who is failing upwards. A Gill, the writer, said that all
:12:32. > :12:37.his life, he had failed upwards. He was the first person to use the
:12:37. > :12:42.phrase. It applies to many people. After Jeremy Hunt's problems in the
:12:42. > :12:49.Culture Secretary, perhaps Rupert Murdoch suggested the abortion
:12:49. > :12:55.angle. Moving on, the Conservative Party. Lord Ashcroft has written a
:12:55. > :12:58.dowry. He is a former deputy chairman of the party and was a big
:12:58. > :13:03.bankroll of them. He says he was summoned by Grant Shapps, the
:13:03. > :13:08.chairman, to see him. I wonder what it was about. Was it questioning
:13:08. > :13:13.the reshuffle, panning the strategy for attacking Ed Miliband, pointing
:13:13. > :13:17.out that a third of Tories say they might vote for someone else? Grant
:13:17. > :13:23.Shapps then cancelled the meeting. To be a fly on the wall when that
:13:23. > :13:29.takes place. And that is from the loyal paper. And not as many Tory
:13:29. > :13:33.MPs turning up this year as you thought? I think a massive number
:13:33. > :13:39.of Tory MPs aren't coming. It is too expensive, many are
:13:39. > :13:43.disillusioned. It will be a case of Hunt the MP this week. Well, Jeremy
:13:43. > :13:47.Hunt maybe the only MP. American politics has so much more
:13:47. > :13:52.razzmatazz than ours. The last time Mitt Romney tried to get the
:13:52. > :13:58.Republican nomination, he spent $40 million, �25 million, of his own
:13:58. > :14:01.money. It is astonishing that everybody agrees that the wives are
:14:01. > :14:07.much more popular, and they wish they were the candidates. And you
:14:07. > :14:11.think, well, why aren't they? Anne Romany is managing to depict
:14:11. > :14:15.herself as some kind of woman of the people. She has a stable of
:14:15. > :14:22.dressage horses, four houses, one of which is being fitted with a car
:14:22. > :14:27.lift. Surely you have a Khalid? Obviously, just to get in the car!
:14:27. > :14:34.It is extraordinary. I did quite like Michelle Obama, but she goes
:14:34. > :14:39.to the gym every day at 4:30am. That is not right. Deeply wrong.
:14:39. > :14:44.What time do you go to the gym? don't go at all. I take pride in
:14:44. > :14:49.this. Hugh Grant, who you will be talking to later, was at the Labour
:14:49. > :14:54.Party conference, taking his campaign for statutory regulation
:14:54. > :14:59.for the media. In the Mail on Sunday, we have his fourth campaign
:14:59. > :15:02.for ethics and good conduct rather unravelled in the bar late at night
:15:02. > :15:08.at the Labour Party conference, when he got into a spat with
:15:08. > :15:12.Harriet Harman's assistant, and there was a four-letter to rape,
:15:12. > :15:22.but he has apologised. Not the best way to conduct business for --
:15:22. > :15:30.
:15:30. > :15:38.there was a four-letter tirade. We must get on to the coverage of
:15:38. > :15:47.the Jimmy Savell. I like this one, they have discovered a literary
:15:47. > :15:50.gene. My father and grandfather were writers. Is it Alec Reid gene
:15:50. > :15:57.or simply good practice in the home? You're surrounded by people
:15:58. > :16:03.writing and so you start writing yourself. Karl Marx would say it is
:16:03. > :16:10.your cultural capital. Independent on Sunday have done a
:16:10. > :16:17.big investigation. Asking why it has taken so long for this story to
:16:17. > :16:27.come out and that people have known for a long time. Calling for a
:16:27. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:34.serious inquiry. A leading figure is behind this inquiry but it is
:16:34. > :16:37.interesting to ask why it did not come out before. This is an
:16:37. > :16:44.astonishing cover-up in my opinion. Should it be referred to the
:16:44. > :16:49.Leveson inquiry? In the 1980s I had to say that things were different.
:16:49. > :16:54.I was once unpleasantly groped whilst I was broadcasting by a
:16:54. > :17:00.famous individual foot shall remain nameless. When I told the staff
:17:00. > :17:06.what happened afterwards everyone thought it was amusing. This was in
:17:06. > :17:10.the early 1980s. So I have to say that there was a kind of shrub to
:17:10. > :17:16.shoulder approach to the whole thing, so that does not surprise me.
:17:16. > :17:25.I had also heard those stories when I was working at the BBC.
:17:25. > :17:35.Kershaw says that she was also groped was she was on air. Well it
:17:35. > :17:35.
:17:35. > :17:40.has been said that there should be a full police inquiry. But it was
:17:40. > :17:47.not something that anybody talked about. So many people are coming
:17:47. > :17:52.out and saying it happened to them. There was a culture of young girls
:17:52. > :17:58.being seen as acceptably easy prey by rock stars, by people in
:17:59. > :18:04.television, it seems. Since then we have had Childline and there has
:18:04. > :18:09.been a cultural change. This is not just about groping, these are very
:18:09. > :18:14.serious allegations. I'm not sure that it has changed completely, if
:18:14. > :18:21.I'm honest with you. There is still a sense of the very famous thinking
:18:21. > :18:27.they can get away with all kinds of things. Nick Ferrari in expressed
:18:27. > :18:35.writing saying that he used to call Jimmy Savell on a regular basis and
:18:35. > :18:39.used to answer with the line, she told me she was 16. Shocking.
:18:39. > :18:46.Let us find something else to talk about was stop this is a positive
:18:46. > :18:52.story about the Army bomb disposal year-old, it has taken him three
:18:52. > :18:58.years. He was given at 10% chance of survival and he is now starting
:18:58. > :19:03.to walk with prosthetic limbs. have written a play about the
:19:03. > :19:09.mental impact on returning service people. I even feel passionate
:19:09. > :19:13.about it. We can see the person who has physically been very injured
:19:13. > :19:20.but it is the person who is shattered in side who I am
:19:20. > :19:30.extremely concerned about. The people applying for stress related
:19:30. > :19:36.conditions has risen by 10%. And unafraid it is a ticking timebomb.
:19:36. > :19:39.David Cameron wants to announce an increase in the number of
:19:39. > :19:42.reservists but they are almost twice as likely to suffer from
:19:42. > :19:48.depression after they have been out because they do not have the
:19:48. > :19:53.support of constant contact with their fellow soldiers or mental
:19:53. > :19:57.health support teams. But the mental health teams that were
:19:57. > :20:07.promised have not yet fully materialised and we must get that
:20:07. > :20:08.
:20:08. > :20:18.sorted out. Have we run through all the stories? We must finish on this,
:20:18. > :20:20.
:20:20. > :20:24.do not sell jam in recycled jars. Another edict to ignore.
:20:24. > :20:28.Birmingham is looking absolutely gorgeous in the autumn sunshine. I
:20:29. > :20:35.wonder how much more of that they wonder how much more of that they
:20:35. > :20:41.is to come across the country. Another lovely autumn day for many
:20:41. > :20:48.and we continue with plenty of sunny weather to enjoy. Elsewhere
:20:48. > :20:54.across the Midlands and across East Anglia we have some pretty dense
:20:54. > :20:59.fog patches this morning and they could linger until the end of the
:20:59. > :21:05.morning. But once those lift temperatures will begin to rise.
:21:05. > :21:11.The cloud the thickening in the south-west later and a few showers
:21:11. > :21:19.in the north-west of Scotland. But it may feel a bit warmer event
:21:19. > :21:25.yesterday. Tonight we see that cloud moving north, leading to some
:21:25. > :21:33.heavy patches of rain. Some fog around in central Scotland on
:21:33. > :21:37.Monday morning. It will be a wet start to the rush hour on Monday
:21:37. > :21:42.morning in the south-west of England. But the rain easing off in
:21:42. > :21:52.the afternoon. And it will be another find date with some long
:21:52. > :21:53.
:21:53. > :21:57.another find date with some long spells of sunshine. -- fine day.
:21:57. > :22:02.Not so bad then. After months of taking evidence from celebrities
:22:02. > :22:07.and other victims of phone hacking, Lord Justice Leveson is pondering
:22:07. > :22:11.his recommendation. Campaigners against media intrusion hope he
:22:11. > :22:17.will call for independent body to regulate newspapers and punish
:22:17. > :22:20.wrongdoing. Newspaper editors are alarmed by the idea of the state
:22:20. > :22:22.interfering in what we choose to read. The actor Hugh Grant has
:22:22. > :22:28.become a leading figure in the Hacked Off campaign for tougher
:22:28. > :22:32.regulation and he joins me now. Good morning. He appeared in the
:22:32. > :22:38.Mail on Sunday as we just heard this morning, can we agreed that
:22:38. > :22:46.people from well known and perhaps behave slightly foolishly in public,
:22:46. > :22:51.deserved what they get? On the whole, yes. I have no problem with
:22:51. > :22:55.that piece of tittle-tattle! question here, you are concerned
:22:55. > :23:02.about how the Prime Minister is going to respond to whatever it
:23:02. > :23:06.Lord Leveson suggests? In the middle of that great public outcry
:23:06. > :23:12.about what happened to Milly Dowler, the Prime Minister quite correctly
:23:12. > :23:17.set up a huge public inquiry. We heard at that inquiry an avalanche
:23:17. > :23:24.of really terrifying evidence about the hacking of phones of murder
:23:24. > :23:28.victims or victims of the London bombings or of the families of
:23:28. > :23:31.soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Orders mandarin of people who died
:23:31. > :23:36.at the Hillsborough disaster. And people think how can they get away
:23:37. > :23:41.with this? The answer turned out to be that the police had been
:23:41. > :23:45.somewhat compromised, that money had changed hands. And the
:23:45. > :23:49.government had turned the other way while this was going on because of
:23:49. > :23:56.fear for their votes, they did not want people turning against them.
:23:56. > :24:00.And in some cases, personal fears. The newspapers had portfolios on
:24:00. > :24:04.individual ministers. So the Prime Minister then came to the inquiry
:24:04. > :24:11.and again quite admirably is said he was appalled by what he had
:24:11. > :24:16.heard. In the end any new system of regulation to deal with the press
:24:16. > :24:20.has to satisfy not politicians and their friends in the media but has
:24:20. > :24:25.to satisfy victims, ordinary victims, forget the so-called
:24:25. > :24:29.celebrities. It has to satisfy ordinary victims of these crimes.
:24:29. > :24:36.That was terrific. But then it suddenly a few weeks ago we start
:24:36. > :24:42.to get strange rumblings from ministers, it saying that the
:24:42. > :24:48.Leveson inquiry was a waste of time. We get these odd articles in the
:24:48. > :24:52.Times as saying close sources, reliable sources at Number 10 say
:24:52. > :24:56.the government has already decided not even to listen to the Leveson
:24:56. > :25:01.inquiry and to go with yet more self regulation of the press. The
:25:01. > :25:08.system that has been proven to fell for 50 years and which the victims
:25:08. > :25:14.have all rejected. Including the family of Milly Dowler. There are a
:25:14. > :25:19.couple of likely possibilities. One is what newspaper editors want, a
:25:19. > :25:23.form of self regulation. A new form of regulation with tougher
:25:23. > :25:28.penalties and all the rest of it. And the other is the possibility of
:25:28. > :25:33.something backed by legislation. Years but the Prime Minister last
:25:33. > :25:39.year about this, and you said, when you as Prime Minister undertake to
:25:40. > :25:47.implement whatever Leveson asks. That is correct. He said if it is
:25:47. > :25:50.not crazy, I will do it. That is why these articles in the Times,
:25:50. > :25:55.political experts say it is impossible that they could exist
:25:55. > :26:00.without a nod and a wink from Number 10. And that is so worrying
:26:00. > :26:03.to people who signed up to this letter. What do you say to the
:26:03. > :26:09.newspaper industry has say, terrible things have happened, but
:26:09. > :26:12.the danger of politicians being able to regulate what people can
:26:12. > :26:15.read in the newspapers is a real one and something we have resisted
:26:15. > :26:21.throughout our history in this country and we must not take that
:26:21. > :26:25.direction. There is no one who has any intention of State regulation
:26:26. > :26:31.of the content of newspapers. That would be apparent to me and to any
:26:31. > :26:35.of the victims. All that may come out of the Leveson inquiry is the
:26:35. > :26:39.suggestion that instead of the press regulating themselves, a
:26:39. > :26:44.system that has proven to have failed, for there to be an
:26:44. > :26:48.independent regulator, independent of the newspaper industry but also
:26:48. > :26:53.of government. So the only bidder statute but might be required would
:26:53. > :26:57.be to set the thing up in the first place. It is the way that
:26:57. > :27:04.solicitors and doctors are now regulated. And they are not
:27:04. > :27:07.complaining. It is the tiny statute required to set this up. Otherwise
:27:07. > :27:14.the danger is that newspaper editors will say, what is this new
:27:14. > :27:19.body, we're not doing what you say. Soap you just need that tiny
:27:19. > :27:24.statute to set the thing up. I do not see the slightest danger to
:27:24. > :27:30.freedom of expression, freedom of speech from that. A lot of people
:27:30. > :27:34.would say, this is not a tiny piece of legislation. This is a big move.
:27:34. > :27:38.Because once politicians become involved in setting something up,
:27:38. > :27:47.the next time and newspaper does something infuriating to them,
:27:47. > :27:54.perhaps gets hold of a disc on expenses, there will be calls to
:27:54. > :27:59.tighten up the regulatory system. And you are setting down on a
:28:00. > :28:05.slippery slope. A dangerous path. do not think anyone really finds
:28:05. > :28:09.that credible as a concern except the newspaper executives themselves.
:28:09. > :28:14.That is an important distinction. I say executives because it is only
:28:14. > :28:19.executives, the people interested in making money from journalism,
:28:19. > :28:27.from newspapers, that are worried about this. Journalists themselves
:28:27. > :28:31.share our concerns. Will working journalists are terrified in their
:28:31. > :28:36.newsrooms. They're not allowed to write what they want, they would
:28:36. > :28:43.have a big corporation bearing down and then asking him to write about
:28:43. > :28:51.how terrible Muslims are. Thank you very much indeed. A my be
:28:51. > :28:54.the? Only a tiny bit! -- am I a bleeding?
:28:54. > :28:56.So there's an example of the kind of conundrum that arrives on the
:28:56. > :29:00.prime minister's desk almost every week. Once Lord Leveson reports,
:29:00. > :29:10.David Cameron must decide. Aside from the Jubilee and the Olympics,
:29:10. > :29:12.
:29:12. > :29:15.it's been a tough year for the country. Mr Cameron told us that by
:29:15. > :29:17.now the pain of austerity would have produced some kind of economic
:29:17. > :29:19.reward. But it hasn't. Debt is going up, and there's no sign of
:29:19. > :29:22.growth. Meanwhile noises off, from the health secretary on abortion,
:29:22. > :29:24.the chief whip on the police and Boris on almost everything, can't
:29:24. > :29:27.have helped. This week my next guest really has to catch the
:29:27. > :29:34.country's attention. And in the words of one Tory MP, bring some
:29:34. > :29:38.sunshine back. I should probably start by asking you about your
:29:38. > :29:44.branch. You told him that if what Lord Leveson suggested was not
:29:44. > :29:48.crazy, you would implement it. Is that still the case? Absolutely. We
:29:48. > :29:53.have to remember why this was set up in the first place. If you read
:29:53. > :29:58.the evidence from the family of Milly Dowler or Madeleine McCann,
:29:58. > :30:03.it truly is shocking. The status quo is not acceptable. That is why
:30:03. > :30:07.the inquiry was set up. But I don't think we have to wait for Lord
:30:07. > :30:13.Leveson to produce his report. But I'm clear that we must deal with
:30:14. > :30:17.the situation. We need a regulatory system that works. That works for
:30:17. > :30:23.ordinary people can get caught up in this world and are treated very
:30:23. > :30:28.badly. To be crystal clear, if Lord Leveson suggests something that
:30:28. > :30:32.requires a statute, a new piece of legislation, that will happen?
:30:32. > :30:40.must wait for what Lord Justice Leveson says. I do not want to
:30:40. > :30:45.prejudge it. If it was not crazy, it will do it. It is unlikely to
:30:45. > :30:48.see him coming up with something crazy. But if it means to go
:30:48. > :30:56.through Parliament, you will stand by that pledge was MAC we have to
:30:56. > :31:01.wait until he produces his report. No point asking someone to set up
:31:01. > :31:06.this massive inquiry. I'm sure you're debate brings up many of
:31:06. > :31:09.these issues, how to get the balance right. We do not want
:31:09. > :31:13.heavy-handed state intervention. The press must be free to uncover
:31:13. > :31:18.wrongdoing, to follow the evidence and do the job in our democracy
:31:18. > :31:24.that they need to do. But on the other hand people have been abused,
:31:24. > :31:28.people's lives have been torn up by press intrusion. Let him do his
:31:28. > :31:33.work. I think this goes right across the parties. We all want to
:31:33. > :31:37.put in place in sensible regulatory system. We are hoping that Lord
:31:37. > :31:47.Justice Leveson will crack this problem for us. But we must let him
:31:47. > :31:58.
:31:58. > :32:02.On the Jimmy Savile affair, if there are questions which should be
:32:02. > :32:07.pursued by the police, everybody has to ask themselves the question
:32:07. > :32:13.as to whether there is new evidence that need to be looked at. But from
:32:13. > :32:19.what I have read, just as a consumer of the media, shocking
:32:19. > :32:28.things have been said. Let's turn to the most important issue, the
:32:28. > :32:32.economy. It has been flat on its back. Debt is increasing. As the
:32:32. > :32:35.former prime minister Sir John Major said on this show a while ago,
:32:35. > :32:42.do you think there are signs of growth out there? Has the darkest
:32:42. > :32:46.hour passed? These are tough times, no doubt about it. This government
:32:46. > :32:50.has had to make tough decisions, which have meant the deficit we
:32:50. > :32:54.inherited, one of the biggest anywhere in the world, bigger than
:32:54. > :32:59.Greece's, we have cut by a quarter in two years. I am not an economic
:32:59. > :33:04.forecaster, so I can't tell you exactly what is happening in terms
:33:04. > :33:09.of the day-to-day growth. But our economy is rebalancing. We
:33:09. > :33:13.inherited an economy that was too reliant on debt, too reliant on
:33:13. > :33:16.government spending, too reliant on immigration and housing booms, and
:33:17. > :33:21.did not have enough jobs in the private sector. In the last two
:33:22. > :33:25.years, we have seen 1 million net new jobs in the private sector.
:33:25. > :33:30.Companies like Jaguar Land Rover, here in the West Midlands, are
:33:30. > :33:34.expanding. We are now making and exporting new things. We are seeing
:33:34. > :33:41.sectors like aerospace, life sciences, things where Britain has
:33:41. > :33:47.an advantage and great talent expanding. Last year, more
:33:47. > :33:50.buildings were -- businesses were set up than any year in our history.
:33:51. > :33:55.That is the best long-term hope for the British economy. There is a
:33:55. > :34:00.global race going on. Some countries will make it, and some
:34:00. > :34:04.will not. I am determined that Britain will make it. We have had
:34:04. > :34:08.three-quarters of recession in a row, when plenty of other countries
:34:08. > :34:13.are growing, however slowly. We have a terrible unemployment
:34:13. > :34:17.situation still, and because of that, government debt is going up.
:34:17. > :34:22.The very thing you said you would come into power to get down is
:34:22. > :34:26.going in the opposite direction. When will you get on top of debt?
:34:26. > :34:32.We have cut the deficit by one quarter in two years. We inherited
:34:32. > :34:36.a budget deficit of 11%. It is down to 8%. Deficit is the annual
:34:36. > :34:41.overdraft, and we have cut that by a quarter in two years. It is too
:34:41. > :34:45.early to say where this year's figures will end up. It is a
:34:45. > :34:50.challenging situation. You only have to switch on your TV and look
:34:50. > :34:54.at what is happening in the Eurozone. These are difficult times.
:34:55. > :35:03.But the key thing is that the economy is rebalancing. We have
:35:03. > :35:08.seen 1 million net new jobs and new businesses being created. Last week,
:35:08. > :35:13.with Labour, they had nothing to say about the deficit. This is the
:35:13. > :35:18.central question of British politics, how we get out of debt
:35:18. > :35:22.and get growth. Let me pursue you on that one. Nick Clegg, at his
:35:23. > :35:28.party conference, said that whoever came into power in 2015 would have
:35:28. > :35:32.to introduce another tranche of austerity - more squeezers, more
:35:32. > :35:36.cuts because of the size of the problem. He is right. And it
:35:36. > :35:44.happens before that, because we have to find �16 billion of
:35:44. > :35:50.spending reductions of before the year 2015. It starts before the
:35:50. > :35:55.general election. I want us to be the party that levels with the
:35:55. > :36:00.British public and talks plainly about what needs to be done. We
:36:00. > :36:04.have to find those spending reductions. If we want to avoid
:36:04. > :36:07.cuts in hospitals, schools and the services we rely on, we have to
:36:07. > :36:14.look at things like the welfare budget, where we are still spending
:36:14. > :36:19.�80 billion on working-age welfare. That is not the disability benefits
:36:19. > :36:22.or the pensions, but working age welfare. So you need to squeeze
:36:22. > :36:26.welfare before the general election? We are looking at what we
:36:26. > :36:31.can do to make sure that welfare is helping people into work. When we
:36:31. > :36:35.came in, there were some families who were getting up to �60,000 of
:36:35. > :36:39.housing benefit per family. We have stopped that in the teeth of
:36:40. > :36:45.opposition from the Labour Party. We have kept welfare, but we need
:36:45. > :36:50.to go further. When you say we, you mean the coalition government. Nick
:36:50. > :36:54.Clegg has said he will not allow a squeeze on welfare and more
:36:54. > :36:58.austerity unless people at the top pay more. I was coming to that. As
:36:58. > :37:02.we make these changes, it is important not only to recognise
:37:02. > :37:07.that if you don't deal with pay, welfare and pensions, you will
:37:07. > :37:11.always have to cut department spending, and that hits schools and
:37:11. > :37:15.hospitals and things we rely on. Secondly, you have to make sure you
:37:15. > :37:21.are seen to be fair. Under this government, we have always done
:37:21. > :37:28.that. The top ten % in this country have paid ten times more towards
:37:28. > :37:32.reducing the deficit down the bottom 10%. Looking forward, when I
:37:32. > :37:37.said to Nick Clegg, are you really suggesting that a Conservative-led
:37:37. > :37:42.coalition can bring forward new measures to further tax the people
:37:42. > :37:46.at the top?, he said yes. I said, will you persuade George Osborne
:37:46. > :37:50.and David Cameron? He said yes. Are you going to bring forward measures
:37:50. > :37:56.of any kind, a mansion tax, a wealth tax, an increase in council
:37:56. > :38:01.tax bands, to hit wealthier taxpayers? We will make sure the
:38:01. > :38:07.rich pay their fair share Thunderbird and is probably shared.
:38:07. > :38:10.Yes, we cut the last top rate of tax, because it was uncompetitive,
:38:10. > :38:16.but we raised four times as much from the richest in our country by
:38:16. > :38:20.putting extra stamp duty on expensive houses, by pursuing tax
:38:20. > :38:23.evasion and aggressive tax avoidance by capping the number of
:38:23. > :38:27.reliefs people have. We will take further action to make sure the
:38:27. > :38:34.richest people in our country pays a fair share towards deficit
:38:34. > :38:39.reduction. I will not announce George Osborne's budget in advance.
:38:39. > :38:42.Give us an indication. I do not believe we should be a country
:38:42. > :38:48.where if you work hard and saved and buy yourself a house and try
:38:48. > :38:58.and pay down the mortgage, I don't want to be a country that comes
:38:58. > :39:01.after you every year with a massive tax. By that, you in a mansion tax?
:39:01. > :39:06.But when people buy a very expensive properties, I will not
:39:07. > :39:14.announce the measures here on your programme, but we will always be
:39:14. > :39:18.fair and be seen to be fair. Without asking for the measures,
:39:18. > :39:22.people who are the wealthiest, people who have the broadest
:39:22. > :39:26.shoulders, will pay more tax under this government, and it will happen
:39:26. > :39:31.before the next general election - yes or no? Yes, and it is happening
:39:31. > :39:35.already. The richest 10% in our country are not already -- not only
:39:35. > :39:40.paying more income tax, they are paying a greater percentage of the
:39:40. > :39:43.total income tax take than they ever did under Labour. That top
:39:43. > :39:49.rate of tax had to go because it was higher than France, Germany and
:39:49. > :39:53.Italy. You cannot run an enterprise, free market economy where you want
:39:53. > :39:57.investment, jobs and growth, if you have a top rate of tax that is
:39:58. > :40:01.completely uncompetitive and raises virtually no money. The Government
:40:01. > :40:06.believes in being fair and will make sure the broadest backs bear
:40:06. > :40:11.the hardest burden. Presumably, we will not see it going down to 30p,
:40:11. > :40:19.as some of your members would like? Taxes are a matter for the
:40:19. > :40:22.Chancellor. Let's move to what you were saying about welfare. A lot of
:40:22. > :40:28.Conservatives feel that the Government has not done enough to
:40:28. > :40:33.look at what the state does, and trinket in a more radical way than
:40:33. > :40:37.you have done so far off. Some people are talking about ending
:40:37. > :40:40.universal benefit. People who are pretty well off perhaps should not
:40:40. > :40:47.get all of the kickbacks from the state that they get at the moment,
:40:47. > :40:51.be it help with child welfare or whatever, but they should be an end
:40:51. > :40:56.to universalism and a new look at the welfare state. We will look at
:40:56. > :41:00.all of these issues. You can judge the Government by what it has done.
:41:00. > :41:04.We have said to better-off people, we have to take away your child
:41:04. > :41:09.benefit. Unpopular, but necessary. We looked at tax credits, which
:41:09. > :41:13.when we got him, Members of Parliament were getting tax credits.
:41:13. > :41:17.We have stopped that. We also looked at things like housing
:41:17. > :41:21.benefit, where bills were just going up and up. We have control
:41:21. > :41:27.that. Further steps need to be taken and we need to look at the
:41:27. > :41:31.choices we make. Take young people. You leave school, go to college,
:41:31. > :41:35.work hard, get a job. You don't have any chance of having housing
:41:35. > :41:41.benefit. You probably live at home with mum and dad, often into your
:41:41. > :41:45.thirties. If you don't go to college, signed on, don't get a job,
:41:45. > :41:50.get housing benefit, and if you get a job, you probably used for
:41:50. > :41:53.housing benefit. We need to look at the signals we send in welfare. You
:41:53. > :41:58.should recognise the welfare cap we put in place, showing that no
:41:58. > :42:02.family should be better off in welfare than in work. That was a
:42:02. > :42:06.sensible and popular thing to do. There is more to be done, but the
:42:06. > :42:10.promise I made at the last election to Britain's pensioners, when I
:42:10. > :42:14.said we would not take away their winter fuel allowance, free TV
:42:14. > :42:18.licence, free bus pass, that promise stands. Doesn't sound like
:42:18. > :42:23.you will do much with the welfare budget, then. We have done a huge
:42:23. > :42:30.amount. Judge us by what we have done. People said for years, you
:42:30. > :42:34.cannot cap welfare. We did. Pippa said you can't reform public sector
:42:34. > :42:37.pensions. We cut costs in half. We are a radical government that
:42:37. > :42:44.recognised that Britain is in a global race and countries that
:42:44. > :42:48.succeed will be the ones that deal with their bloated welfare systems,
:42:48. > :42:51.reform education. There is something more vital, which is that
:42:51. > :42:54.the countries that succeed will be the ones that realise that you have
:42:54. > :42:58.to unlock the aspirations of all the people in your country, those
:42:58. > :43:02.who want to work hard and get on and what that first home, that
:43:02. > :43:08.first flat, that first job. What will you do for the hard-pressed
:43:08. > :43:11.middle? The hard-pressed middle include many of those people.
:43:11. > :43:17.First-time buyers, if you don't have the Bank of mum and dad, you
:43:17. > :43:22.are probably in your thirties. You have to save for years. Welfare?
:43:23. > :43:31.Today, we have announced that we build capped the increase in
:43:31. > :43:35.welfare -- the increase in rail fares to 1% above inflation. If you
:43:35. > :43:38.have worked hard, page your income tax, your national insurance, you
:43:38. > :43:43.have got your take-home pay and then there is a massive bill from
:43:43. > :43:46.the council, we have kept it for three years in a row. Turning to
:43:47. > :43:50.Europe, a lot of people at this conference are very confused as to
:43:50. > :43:56.whether you really want a referendum on Britain's future in
:43:56. > :44:00.Europe or you fundamentally don't want one. Europe is changing. The
:44:00. > :44:04.single currency is integrating rapidly. This presents a great
:44:04. > :44:09.opportunity for Britain to get the sort of deal we have always wanted.
:44:09. > :44:12.Let's be at the heart of a free- trading open-market Europe, but we
:44:12. > :44:16.don't want endless political integration. The opportunity will
:44:16. > :44:20.open up over time to get a new settlement. When we get that after
:44:20. > :44:26.the next election, we should have new consent for that settlement. It
:44:26. > :44:33.will either take place through a referendum or at a general election.
:44:33. > :44:37.New settlement, new consent. wonder how much that new settlement
:44:37. > :44:42.will re- right where we are at the moment. Theresa May has said this
:44:42. > :44:46.morning that she would like to see the whole question of Inter Europe
:44:46. > :44:50.migration, people who are part of the EU, looked at again. Not those
:44:50. > :44:54.who are part of the system, but the freedom to work and travel across
:44:54. > :44:58.Europe. She thinks that needs to be put back into the pot. I agree.
:44:58. > :45:01.That is why we are having the balance of competences review. We
:45:01. > :45:06.will go through all the things we have in our relationship with
:45:06. > :45:11.Europe and work out what is good for Britain and where we need to
:45:11. > :45:14.change. I believe in the single market and free movement. Two weeks
:45:14. > :45:19.ago, I visited two factories in a week and asked the question, how
:45:19. > :45:24.many people do you employ from other EU countries? In one, it was
:45:24. > :45:28.60%. In the other, it was 50%. We have so many unemployed people in
:45:28. > :45:33.our country that we want to train and educate and get people back
:45:33. > :45:36.into work. We have to do better on welfare reform. Can you really
:45:37. > :45:41.reopen something as fundamental as the free movement of people across
:45:41. > :45:46.the EU? It is absolutely right to go through every topic and see what
:45:46. > :45:52.is in Britain's interests. We have already capped immigration from
:45:53. > :45:56.outside the EU. We are shutting down the bogus colleges that Labour
:45:56. > :46:01.allowed to go on for a year after year, when people were just coming
:46:01. > :46:11.to work. This is a radical government, acting on the things
:46:11. > :46:18.
:46:18. > :46:22.When you have the single currency there will, time when you need to
:46:22. > :46:26.have to a European budgets. One for the single currency because they
:46:26. > :46:31.will have to support each other much more. And perhaps a wider
:46:31. > :46:35.budget for everybody else. We will not achieve that this time but it
:46:35. > :46:41.is an indicator of the way that Europe is going. Before that
:46:41. > :46:48.happens, the European budget is set to rise considerably. Would you try
:46:48. > :46:53.to stop that happening? necessary, yes. There are annual
:46:53. > :46:59.budgets and last year we achieved something that was in real terms
:46:59. > :47:04.big freeze. We said we cannot go on pouring money into the European
:47:04. > :47:10.Union when we're cutting budgets at home. And the next thing is a
:47:10. > :47:13.multi-year framework for the European budget that Texas from
:47:13. > :47:18.2014 for five or seven years. That is something all European countries
:47:18. > :47:26.have to agree on. My approach is that if we cannot get a deal that
:47:26. > :47:31.has proper control of that budget, I will not agree. Would you veto
:47:32. > :47:36.any increase in the Budget? I will not lay out my Nicosia in strategy.
:47:36. > :47:41.But people in Europe know I mean what I say. I sat around that
:47:41. > :47:47.country, as said that is not in the interests of Britain and I'm not
:47:47. > :47:52.signing. They know I'm capable of refusing. That is as clear as we're
:47:52. > :47:57.going to get on that one. Returning to the referendum question, you
:47:57. > :48:01.said there would be a new settlement and when that happens
:48:01. > :48:05.you would take that to the people. That does not sound as if you are
:48:05. > :48:11.in favour of an in or out referendum by the Nile or in the
:48:11. > :48:16.future. I think the problem with that, as straight yes or no, I'm
:48:16. > :48:22.not happy with the status quo so I do not want to say yes to that.
:48:22. > :48:29.Byatt also believe it would not be a good idea to leave Europe, are
:48:29. > :48:34.businesses badly need that a single market. I think UKIP is a complete
:48:34. > :48:40.waste of time. But most people in our country to not actually want to
:48:40. > :48:44.leave the European Union, they want to change it. I want to change it
:48:44. > :48:47.and a Conservative only government could go and change it, could have
:48:47. > :48:51.that we need Association. Especially as you see Europe
:48:51. > :48:55.opening up in all the ways I have explained. Let me ask about
:48:55. > :49:00.Afghanistan. It has been a long time since the House of Commons had
:49:00. > :49:04.a proper debate about the war in Afghanistan. In terms of the dead
:49:04. > :49:10.and wounded, psychologically scarred British soldiers coming
:49:10. > :49:14.back, it has been terrible. It was always sold to this country as
:49:14. > :49:18.worthwhile because we were training up an Afghan national army and
:49:18. > :49:24.police who would within a couple of years be ready to take over the
:49:24. > :49:30.country. Instead, these people are killing our people. I put it to you
:49:30. > :49:35.that the strategy has failed and it would be honest to accept that.
:49:35. > :49:40.think about this more than anything. I feel deeply responsible for the
:49:40. > :49:44.young people we send out there. The level of loss is extremely
:49:44. > :49:48.upsetting and heartbreaking for the whole country. But I think we have
:49:48. > :49:53.to be careful about what is actually happening. We are training
:49:53. > :49:57.up Afghan police and soldiers and they are increasingly capable. I
:49:57. > :50:02.was in one of the three areas we control and I sat down with the
:50:02. > :50:06.colonel with his meant and he showed me patrol base after a
:50:06. > :50:13.patrol base that on previous tours were occupied by British soldiers,
:50:13. > :50:16.now occupied by Afghan soldiers. These so-called green on blue
:50:16. > :50:20.attacks are hideous and we need to do everything we can to stop that.
:50:20. > :50:25.But we are actually on track to deliver an Afghan army and police
:50:25. > :50:30.capable of doing the job we are doing now. We will not leave behind
:50:30. > :50:33.some perfect country with a perfect government. But we can't leave
:50:33. > :50:40.behind and it Afghanistan that is strong enough to stop it once again
:50:40. > :50:46.becoming a haven of terror. In your mind, is there a hard, final date
:50:46. > :50:54.for the exit of British troops? Absolutely. By the end of 2014. The
:50:54. > :51:00.question is between now and where we need to be, what is the pace of
:51:00. > :51:03.handing over to the Afghan army. That is things discussed and a
:51:03. > :51:08.short we can come up with a sensible set of steps to see those
:51:08. > :51:13.numbers reduced. A lot of people say this is the problem. If you are
:51:13. > :51:18.the Taliban, the bad guys, you only have to hang on until 2014 and then
:51:18. > :51:23.you can come back again. And it is impossible to win this kind of war
:51:23. > :51:27.to a deadline. I would put it completely the other way round. The
:51:27. > :51:33.Taliban would most like as to say that they would be -- that we would
:51:33. > :51:37.be there for ever. That is their recruiting staff. What the people
:51:38. > :51:43.there want is to hand over to an army that is capable. Let us talk
:51:43. > :51:49.about walk local issues. There has been an huge flurry of fascination
:51:49. > :51:54.with Boris Johnson. How long he is going to be here. He's not going to
:51:54. > :51:59.be listening to Europe speech. You have had this fantastic summit over
:51:59. > :52:06.a pint in some pub. How do you regard him? He is a man of enormous
:52:06. > :52:11.talent but he also has flaws. Give us your opinion of Boris? I think
:52:11. > :52:16.he is a fantastic mayor of London and an enormous credit to the
:52:16. > :52:22.Conservative Party. I like having other people in the party who are
:52:22. > :52:27.popular, who get out there, who explain our vision and values. And
:52:27. > :52:32.Boris Johnson is fantastic at that. People warm to him and it is great
:52:32. > :52:37.that we have figures like that in the party. I have said to him, when
:52:37. > :52:41.you have done your job as London mayor, do not think your job in
:52:41. > :52:45.politics is over. That would not have occurred to him for a second!
:52:45. > :52:51.I think he has a huge amount to offer and I would encourage him to
:52:51. > :52:58.do that. Let me ask you about Jeremy Hunt to raise the question
:52:58. > :53:03.of a radical cut in the term of abortion. He was asked a question
:53:03. > :53:10.because the previously voted for 12 weeks limit. He said that he stuck
:53:10. > :53:13.with that opinion. Would you welcome if fresh vote in the House
:53:13. > :53:19.of Commons on this issue. You made it clear it would be a free vote.
:53:19. > :53:24.Is it time to debate this again? The government does not have plans
:53:24. > :53:28.to bring forth legislation. We do have a vote from time to time about
:53:28. > :53:34.these issues. Under this government will now have the ability of
:53:34. > :53:39.Parliament to decide what it wants to vote for. My own opinion is that
:53:39. > :53:46.a modest reduction from 24 weeks, I would vote for that. I voted
:53:46. > :53:51.against told weeks. But it is a vote of conscience issue. And the
:53:51. > :53:55.health secretary is entitled to have his own opinion. But it is not
:53:55. > :54:00.the government's you. Last week Ed Miliband by common consent did well
:54:00. > :54:05.in terms of his party speech and so on. What would you say to those
:54:05. > :54:12.people the say that Labour cannot win under Ed Miliband. That is not
:54:12. > :54:16.true, is it? I have never taking anything for granted and I never
:54:16. > :54:19.would. The central question of British politics right now is how
:54:19. > :54:27.do we get out of the difficult straits were in, how to deal with
:54:27. > :54:30.the debt and the deficit, grow the economy, the Conservatives are
:54:30. > :54:35.talking that language and taking that action. I did not hear
:54:35. > :54:38.anything from the Labour Party on any of those issues. So it is not
:54:38. > :54:43.the speech that matters of what you're going to do. This week in
:54:43. > :54:47.Birmingham you will hear in huge detail how we get the people who
:54:47. > :54:53.want to get on and make something of their lives, that is what it is
:54:53. > :54:56.about. Now for the news headlines.
:54:56. > :55:01.David Cameron has said the government will make sure the rich
:55:01. > :55:07.pay their fair share, paying a greater percentage of their income
:55:07. > :55:11.in tax. But he indicated that a mansion tax would not go ahead. Mr
:55:11. > :55:15.Cameron also said the government must find more spending cuts to
:55:15. > :55:19.would just the budget deficit and said he would love again at the
:55:19. > :55:22.free movement of migrants from other European countries.
:55:22. > :55:26.Celebrities including Hugh Grant had written to the Prime Minister
:55:26. > :55:30.urging him to keep an open mind on regulation of the press. The letter
:55:30. > :55:33.comes in the wake of the Lord Leveson inquiry. Speaking on this
:55:33. > :55:38.programme Hugh Grant said he was concerned there was pressure from
:55:38. > :55:48.within government to prevent tough regulation. That's all from me for
:55:48. > :55:54.now. Back to you, Andrew. On Sunday Morning Live up to nine
:55:54. > :56:00.out of 10 of us believe we should stop people spending their benefits
:56:00. > :56:04.on drink, drugs of gambling. Is it time to reduce the limits on
:56:04. > :56:11.abortion? And what kind of Leader Plus modern Britain what. Join us
:56:11. > :56:14.at 10 o'clock. Just before we go this morning, a
:56:14. > :56:17.sneak preview of a big interview coming up in next week's programme.
:56:17. > :56:19.Among the rock legends who burst onto the scene in the 1960s, they
:56:19. > :56:21.don't come much greater than Pete Townshend, the guitarist and
:56:21. > :56:25.songwriter for The Who. Hits like My Generation defined the era and
:56:25. > :56:27.have become classics. In his only television interview, to coincide
:56:27. > :56:29.with the publication of his autobiography, he talked candidly
:56:29. > :56:32.to me about the rock and roll lifestyle, his guitar-smashing
:56:32. > :56:36.stage antics, and how he came to be on Britain's register of sex
:56:36. > :56:45.offenders. But most importantly, of course, about the music, and what
:56:45. > :56:51.it means to him. And he even gave us an exclusive performance.
:56:51. > :57:01.Songs do sometimes reveals something that you do not intend. I
:57:01. > :57:08.
:57:08. > :57:15.wrote this song about a villain. It was a project called Life House
:57:15. > :57:21.which was on the radio as a play. The villain at the end of the piece
:57:21. > :57:27.sing this song about the fact that he feels he has betrayed his
:57:27. > :57:32.friends and the people around him. It is as simple as that. When I
:57:32. > :57:42.played it once in Germany, I realised that in a sense it was a
:57:42. > :57:46.
:57:46. > :57:53.song about being white and blue eyed. And wrong! It is also of
:57:53. > :58:03.course a song about me. And about the fact that three members of the
:58:03. > :58:19.
:58:19. > :58:29.band have blue eyes. # No-one knows what it's like to be
:58:29. > :58:30.
:58:30. > :58:40.the bad man, to be the sad man, behind blue eyes.
:58:40. > :58:45.
:58:45. > :58:52.# No-one knows what it's like to be hated. # But my dream's still as
:58:52. > :58:57.empty as my conscience seems to be. Whenever I sing it I think that I
:58:57. > :59:03.wrote those words about everyone else. But it is kind of about my
:59:03. > :59:07.own life, who I am perceived to be. It does perform that function.
:59:07. > :59:09.Pete Townshend. And you can see the full interview next Sunday, when
:59:09. > :59:12.we'll be back in our regular studio in London. But at the slightly