:00:39. > :00:42.Good morning. A particularly good morning to Andrew Marr, who it is
:00:42. > :00:47.now back home after almost two months in hospital following a
:00:47. > :00:50.stroke. In case you haven't heard, he is continuing his rehabilitation
:00:50. > :00:53.at home and plans to be back at work later this year. In the
:00:54. > :00:57.meantime, a packed programme for you this morning after a week of
:00:57. > :01:02.political drama, most are played out in Hampshire. The papers are
:01:02. > :01:07.full of the fall-out this morning. To help us with that, not two but
:01:07. > :01:10.three insightful paper reviewers. Former Labour MP and Cabinet
:01:10. > :01:14.minister Clare Short, leading blogger, broadcaster and former
:01:14. > :01:18.Conservative candidate Iain Dale and the artistic director of
:01:18. > :01:21.London's Southbank Centre, Jude Kelly. In pretty much every paper
:01:21. > :01:25.today there is plenty on why the Tories failed to take Eastleigh and
:01:25. > :01:28.what they should do now. The Prime Minister says in the Telegraph
:01:29. > :01:36.there will be no lurch to the right. But many are calling for a change
:01:36. > :01:41.in direction. The other big news is Syria's President Assad rounding on
:01:41. > :01:47.the UK. There is also news from Mali that the mastermind behind the
:01:47. > :01:50.Algerian hostage crisis has been killed. There is an awful lot on
:01:50. > :01:54.William Hague's plate this morning. We will be looking for answers on
:01:54. > :01:58.several fronts. Despite much talk of Lib Dem knelt down and an MP
:01:58. > :02:04.that had to quit Parliament because he perverted the course of justice,
:02:04. > :02:08.the party did hang on to Eastleigh after a bruising battle. Tim Farron
:02:08. > :02:10.joins us to explain how they are going to work with their political
:02:10. > :02:15.bedfellows in the two years remaining before the General
:02:15. > :02:19.Election. The UK Independence Party came second. But were they the real
:02:19. > :02:23.winners in Eastleigh? Nigel Farage is here and he is predicting an
:02:23. > :02:27.earthquake in British politics. Plus, one of Hollywood's legendary
:02:27. > :02:30.leading men, Richard Gere, will be telling me why he has returned to
:02:30. > :02:33.the big screen after a long break for a thrilling Wall Street
:02:34. > :02:38.morality tale and why the Chinese government is, in his words,
:02:38. > :02:48.nothing more than the Mafia. There will be music from a young Texan
:02:48. > :02:54.
:02:54. > :02:59.hailed as the future by Barack All that and more coming up. First,
:02:59. > :03:02.the news. Good morning. The militant Islamist
:03:02. > :03:07.leader suspected of masterminding the attack on a gas plant in
:03:07. > :03:11.Algeria in which 37 hostages died, including six British workers, is
:03:11. > :03:16.reported to have been killed. Military commanders in trad say
:03:16. > :03:20.Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed when their troops attacked an insurgent
:03:20. > :03:24.camp in Mali. His death was announced on Chadian state
:03:24. > :03:29.television but has not been confirmed by other sources.
:03:29. > :03:33.He was the man dubbed as uncatchable. He had developed
:03:33. > :03:38.strong ties across the Sahara and was able to operate across borders.
:03:38. > :03:45.He has been declared dead in the past, and once again beat
:03:45. > :03:50.uncatchable man is said to have been caught and killed. Officials
:03:50. > :03:54.from trad broke the news on state television. The senior army officer
:03:54. > :04:00.says that Chadian armed forces in Mali have destroyed the main base
:04:00. > :04:05.of the jihadis and terrorists in the mountains. He says they killed
:04:05. > :04:11.a number of terrorists, including Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Mokhtar
:04:11. > :04:16.Belmokhtar, trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, returned home to
:04:16. > :04:21.Algeria in the 1990s. That is where he planned January's attack on a
:04:21. > :04:28.gas facility. Dozens of oil workers were taken hostage. At least 37 of
:04:28. > :04:33.them were killed. This is the second big claim in two days from
:04:33. > :04:38.the leaders in Trant. The Chadian President is seen here on Friday,
:04:38. > :04:43.claiming that Chadian troops killed another top R Claydon member, one
:04:43. > :04:49.of the most ferocious in the region. -- Al-Qaeda member. Apart from
:04:49. > :04:54.Chadian officials, there is no other confirmation that they have
:04:54. > :04:57.been killed. The Syrian President has accused
:04:57. > :05:02.Britain of being determined to militarised the situation in his
:05:02. > :05:07.country. In an interview for the Sunday Times, President Assad again
:05:07. > :05:10.insisted that he would not stand down or go into exile. It is
:05:10. > :05:14.estimated around 70,000 people have been killed since the conflict
:05:14. > :05:21.started almost two years ago. He said the British government would
:05:21. > :05:27.not be asked to play a role in easing the conflict. How can we
:05:28. > :05:31.expect to ask them to play a role, while it is determined to
:05:31. > :05:36.militarised the problem? How can you ask them to play a role in
:05:36. > :05:42.making the situation better, more stable, how can you expect them to
:05:42. > :05:50.make the violence less, while they want to send military supplies to
:05:50. > :05:56.terrorists? And they don't try to ease the dialogue between Syrians.
:05:56. > :05:59.This is not sensible. The Prime Minister has insisted the
:05:59. > :06:02.Conservatives will stick to their course, despite their performance
:06:03. > :06:07.in the Eastleigh by-election. The Conservatives came third behind
:06:07. > :06:10.the Liberal Democrats and UKIP. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph,
:06:10. > :06:14.David Cameron makes clear there will be no change of direction and
:06:14. > :06:18.he will stick to what he calls the common ground of British politics.
:06:18. > :06:22.Meanwhile, the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has told the same
:06:22. > :06:26.newspaper that he expects a future Conservative government to scrap
:06:26. > :06:30.the Human Rights Act. He said the role of the European Court of Human
:06:30. > :06:34.Rights in UK affairs should be dramatically curtailed.
:06:34. > :06:38.Nurses say their warnings about failures in patient care are being
:06:38. > :06:41.ignored and many believe they are discouraged from speaking out. That
:06:41. > :06:45.is according to a new survey. Researchers for the Nursing Times
:06:45. > :06:49.spoke to more than 800 nurses. More than half said they had reported
:06:49. > :06:52.issues, but many found no appropriate action was taken in
:06:53. > :06:57.response. The Government says it is already taking measures to protect
:06:57. > :07:01.and support whistleblowers in the NHS.
:07:01. > :07:05.Rescuers in Florida have called off the search for Iron Man who
:07:05. > :07:09.disappeared into a sink hole which opened under his house. -- For a
:07:09. > :07:17.man. The Fire Service said there was no signs of life and ended
:07:17. > :07:20.attempts to find Jeff Bush. The wreckage will now be demolished.
:07:20. > :07:24.Neighbours have moved out and have been warned it may never be safe
:07:24. > :07:32.for them to return. I will be back with the headlines just before 10
:07:32. > :07:38.Now, the front pages this morning. Let's start with the Sunday Times.
:07:38. > :07:42.The main story is a clampdown on NHS care for migrants. They say it
:07:42. > :07:47.is pitching for the populist vote. There are preparations to limit the
:07:47. > :07:55.access of immigrants to free health care. It is amid concerns that the
:07:55. > :07:58.NHS is being abused by new arrivals. And top head condemns Hot Fuzz
:07:58. > :08:05.parents. And coverage of The Duchess of Cambridge, what you
:08:05. > :08:11.might call a little bump. The Observer, doctors cry foul at NHS
:08:11. > :08:16.privatisation by stealth. Jessica Ennis, the Olympic Stadium. The
:08:16. > :08:22.Independent, I tried to tell them. This is a doctor that wrote to warn
:08:22. > :08:26.a private out-of-hours health service that its poor care would
:08:26. > :08:32.cause a serious clinical incident. A baby died of pneumonia after his
:08:32. > :08:37.case was downgraded to routine. James Bulger killer groomed me for
:08:37. > :08:43.sex. The Sunday People, a story about an MP that apparently took a
:08:43. > :08:53.Viagra pill and grope somebody. BhS starts 165,000 people to death.
:08:53. > :08:53.
:08:53. > :08:59.These are new and shocking figures, says the Sunday Express. -- the NHS.
:08:59. > :09:04.And Curly Watts, coming back after 10 years away. The Daily Mail, they
:09:04. > :09:12.are talking about a great day for British justice. That is as Tereza
:09:12. > :09:21.make vows to take the UK out of the human Court of Human Rights. Sorry,
:09:22. > :09:24.What shall we start with? It's a long time since I have read all the
:09:24. > :09:32.papers and I feel they are deteriorating and becoming more and
:09:32. > :09:38.more salacious. A fine way to start! Shall we give up now? First
:09:38. > :09:41.story, Eastleigh? That is dominating the papers. A survey of
:09:41. > :09:48.lots of wise heads about what the Tory party can do to get trust back.
:09:48. > :09:51.If you read the suggestions, you have to conclude they cannot do it.
:09:51. > :09:56.The economy is going to be bad for a long time, there are more and
:09:56. > :09:59.more cuts to come. I think it is inevitable that people will not
:10:00. > :10:04.vote Tory or Lib Dem. I think Labour will come back and they will
:10:04. > :10:07.not be able to do much. This happened under Tony Blair, how can
:10:07. > :10:12.Tony Blair regain the trust of the British people? He was elected
:10:13. > :10:16.twice afterwards, so it is not impossible. He got massive
:10:16. > :10:20.parliamentary majorities, which I am sure David Cameron would settle
:10:20. > :10:24.for. This story in a Sunday Times, they have done an analysis of the
:10:24. > :10:28.aftermath of Eastleigh. There is no doubt about it, for the
:10:28. > :10:32.Conservatives it is a disastrous result. It is no good any Tory MP
:10:32. > :10:37.or media pretending otherwise. The question is what to do about it.
:10:37. > :10:41.The one thing they shouldn't do is try to out UKIP UKIP. They cannot
:10:41. > :10:46.do it. But the evidence in the papers is that is what they are
:10:46. > :10:50.trying to do. You have the NHS migrant story, the potential
:10:50. > :10:54.abolition of the European Court of Human Rights. Saying that we will
:10:54. > :11:00.not change and then feeding out these right-wing stories? They say
:11:00. > :11:03.it is a coincidence. Coincidences do not often happen in politics.
:11:03. > :11:08.Especially that one about the European Convention of Human Rights,
:11:08. > :11:13.that is a long way away, if at all, it would go into the Conservative
:11:13. > :11:18.manifesto. But it must be being put out at the moment? Cameron has said,
:11:18. > :11:20.we are not going to move to the right. At the same time, all of the
:11:20. > :11:25.stories are suggesting they are going to go to the right, even
:11:25. > :11:29.those from papers that claim they don't want to. Most people think it
:11:29. > :11:36.is quite a sensible thing to do. I'm not sure that most people do.
:11:36. > :11:39.Most Tories would. Yes. It's a difficult story. So many people
:11:39. > :11:43.conflate Europe with the European Court of Human Rights and they are
:11:43. > :11:48.not the same thing. Tory MPs, a lot of them, think that David Cameron
:11:48. > :11:52.is the problem. He is not the problem, he is an assets to the
:11:52. > :11:56.Tory party. The problem is the Conservative Party itself. Douglas
:11:57. > :12:01.Carswell has an interesting article in the Mail on Sunday, it says it
:12:02. > :12:08.is like HMV, it has not kept with the times. In Eastleigh, they had
:12:08. > :12:11.37,000 votes in 2002. They had 1500 members. They now have 100, most of
:12:11. > :12:15.whom are over 70. This should not have been a surprise. They had done
:12:15. > :12:20.nothing to build up their organisation. All of the parties
:12:20. > :12:24.are losing members. That is true, but the Liberal Democrats had every
:12:24. > :12:28.single councillor, a good election- winning machine. If the Tories
:12:28. > :12:31.cannot win a by-election when you have the Chris Huhne thing in the
:12:31. > :12:36.background, the Lord Rennard allegations, what are we going to
:12:36. > :12:40.do about it? We will be talking that later -- talking about that
:12:40. > :12:44.later in the programme. This is a story about food. I'm not sure I am
:12:44. > :12:50.allowed to say this, but every single paper carries these huge
:12:50. > :12:53.adverts from Tesco. The really big conviction adverts, saying that we
:12:53. > :12:57.completely take the blame for the way that food supplies have been
:12:57. > :13:01.tampered with, ignored or used to drive down the price of food and we
:13:01. > :13:07.are going to change all that. I have had a text message from them,
:13:08. > :13:13.I don't know if other people half. E-mails as well. Next to this we
:13:13. > :13:21.have a whole thing about insects being the planet's next food source.
:13:21. > :13:25.Although it sounds funny, it sounds creepy, this is in the Sunday Times,
:13:25. > :13:30.what they are really talking about is the fact that the investigation
:13:30. > :13:39.into the use of insects across the world is that this probably will be
:13:39. > :13:45.the next source of food. Over my dead body! I ate horse when I was
:13:45. > :13:52.in France, if we had known that is what it was, we would not have been
:13:53. > :13:56.shocked. Honey is actually bee vomit! Because people are so picky
:13:56. > :13:59.about what they think is proper food and what they think is not
:13:59. > :14:05.proper food, some of the food chains that could be astonishingly
:14:05. > :14:12.helpful, insects being one, we have ignored them for years. I predict
:14:12. > :14:16.that we will be eating worms, before they eat us. The President
:14:16. > :14:21.of Syria, giving a rare interview. Really putting the boot into
:14:21. > :14:24.Britain. He used to be a doctor in London. He was not meant to be the
:14:24. > :14:28.President, and then the elder brother killed himself in a road
:14:28. > :14:33.accident and suddenly he is back there. Everybody thought he was a
:14:33. > :14:36.liberal, a humane man, he worked in the health service and he will
:14:36. > :14:45.reform Syria. They talked about a Damascus spring when he went back.
:14:45. > :14:50.His wife is very glamorous. I think it is thought that it is a regime
:14:50. > :14:59.in such a state that it is unreform a ball. But he is saying you are
:14:59. > :15:03.arming Al-Qaeda, giving them weapons. And he says, if you are
:15:03. > :15:11.considering giving imams, how could you ever go to the negotiating
:15:11. > :15:15.table after doing that? It is something that many dictators do,
:15:15. > :15:19.the ability to be completely persuasive to themselves. It's
:15:19. > :15:29.interesting, the way that he attacks Britain. I think that is a
:15:29. > :15:30.
:15:30. > :15:35.surrogate for attacking America. Should Britain be intervening more?
:15:35. > :15:39.I think the question is how we protect the people. There are
:15:39. > :15:45.masses of refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, having a terrible
:15:45. > :15:50.time. We talk of humanitarian corridors? Indeed. That is an
:15:50. > :15:53.alternative to arming the opposition. There is a problem, it
:15:53. > :15:57.was an uprising of the people but nasty elements are getting in there
:15:57. > :16:01.and it is dangerous for everybody. But I think we should look at the
:16:01. > :16:05.no-fly zone and better health for the refugees. Then there is the new
:16:05. > :16:13.leader of the opposition that wants to talk. I think we should get
:16:13. > :16:23.behind him and get into talks. years after Iraq, is that putting
:16:23. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:36.The US don't want any more wars. The Britain got burned. I think
:16:36. > :16:40.from our Government's point of view, there is a growing sense of trying
:16:40. > :16:45.to pacify in these countries. Libya went as well as it could. We will
:16:45. > :16:50.see what happens in five years' time. But there is hypocrisy. Far
:16:50. > :16:56.more people are being killed in Syrian than Libya. We did it in
:16:56. > :17:02.Libya, but not Syria. Some silly people are talking about war in
:17:02. > :17:07.Iran, but protecting the people, not advocating a war. I'm not
:17:07. > :17:15.advocating that we get involved in a war. I'm talking about hypocrisy.
:17:15. > :17:20.Some people are saying - if there, why not here?
:17:20. > :17:27.Another story about Lord Rennard, who dominated the papers last week.
:17:27. > :17:31.Well the Independent have a whizz pering campaign, talk about that. -
:17:31. > :17:37.- whispering campaign. That his old enemies are coming out
:17:37. > :17:40.and taking a stab at him. And the people who have made the
:17:40. > :17:46.allegations, they are credible. When you see them on television,
:17:46. > :17:50.you see what agenda do they have, other than pointing this out. The
:17:50. > :17:55.police involvement. There is no law that has been broken here. Whatever
:17:55. > :18:01.he is alleged to have done, I cannot see any excuse... I want to
:18:01. > :18:11.add, firstly no-one in the country has ever heard of him. Does that
:18:11. > :18:11.
:18:11. > :18:16.matter? Why is it such a big story? He had a powerful role. When I was
:18:16. > :18:23.younger, men were always trying to grope young women. It doesn't make
:18:23. > :18:26.it right. No and things are changing, so it is ro gres. This is
:18:26. > :18:29.because at the moment there is a desire to shift the boundaries of
:18:29. > :18:34.what is acceptable. In the crossfire are all the stories of
:18:34. > :18:37.people being accused or have perpetrated issues around
:18:37. > :18:42.harassment. It is a moment when public attitude to trying to change,
:18:42. > :18:47.for the better. I think there will be... But there is a problem here
:18:47. > :18:51.that on this story and the cardinal Keith O'Brien story, we kind of
:18:51. > :18:55.assume they are builty. The general public will assume there is no
:18:55. > :19:00.smoke without fire. -- they are guilty. It is an unhelpful
:19:00. > :19:04.development in civil society where we automatically assume built.
:19:04. > :19:08.story, your story about the festival at the South Bank. Well,
:19:08. > :19:11.this is the third year to celebrate International Women's Day. It
:19:11. > :19:15.celebrates all kinds of achievements of women and the way
:19:15. > :19:20.that women in civil society still have progress to make. We have got
:19:20. > :19:23.some fantastic performers from all over the world, some of whom are
:19:23. > :19:31.living in marginalised conditions and some celebrating massive
:19:31. > :19:37.progress. We have a person coming to talk about how the impact of a
:19:37. > :19:42.shooting changed the debate in Pakistan. But the main thing in
:19:42. > :19:45.recent years is that women and men want to talk about gender equality
:19:45. > :19:49.in society. And part of the relationship with this is that they
:19:49. > :19:54.want to move the goalposts about how the discussions happen. I think
:19:54. > :20:00.it is a great thing. Gender equality with women living under
:20:00. > :20:03.pressure to be sexually available, to work harder than men so they can
:20:03. > :20:07.be at home with their children. these things have to be discussed.
:20:07. > :20:11.When you are trying to change society, there are swings and
:20:11. > :20:19.roundabouts and slings and arrows. You need to have a lot of debating
:20:19. > :20:25.opportunities. I think the move for feminism was a more dignified life
:20:25. > :20:30.for all of us. It is not a finished story? I'm saying nothing.
:20:31. > :20:35.You have to say something. I can't, you have run out of time. It has to
:20:35. > :20:38.be about men and women. Speak. Fortunately, I think you are in
:20:38. > :20:43.luck. I want to say something - this issue of somebody being guilty
:20:43. > :20:47.before they are proved guilty, it is a tremendous problem about smear
:20:47. > :20:51.campaigns in general. It is also true, very often on the other side
:20:51. > :20:55.of the issue, one of the reasons why women find it difficult to get
:20:55. > :20:59.rape convictions are people so nervous of men being accused of
:20:59. > :21:08.something they haven't done, they end up never really convicting so
:21:08. > :21:13.many men of rape when kshual rape has -- casual rape has happened at
:21:13. > :21:16.enormous proportions. But this story has gone too far.
:21:16. > :21:22.Well there was a smattering of sunshine in parts of the country
:21:22. > :21:29.yesterday and a definite hint of springtime ahead. What is the
:21:29. > :21:31.outlook for the week ahead? Over outlook for the week ahead? Over
:21:31. > :21:35.now to the Weather Centre? More tastes of spring over the next
:21:36. > :21:41.few day bus compared to yesterday not so much sunshine around.
:21:41. > :21:44.If you have plans for the outdoors, it is largely dry. A few spots of
:21:44. > :21:49.rain in parts of Shetland and Hebrides.
:21:49. > :21:55.You can see the satellite. The area peaking out is west Wales. A
:21:55. > :21:59.glorious morning after a frsty start. Sunshine continues. -- a
:21:59. > :22:03.frosty start. Most places will sit under cloudy
:22:03. > :22:06.skies but in central and eastern areas not as chilly as recent days.
:22:06. > :22:14.Dry through the night and with cloud around not as cold as last
:22:14. > :22:18.night. A patchy frost to take us into Monday. Chilly for your Monday
:22:18. > :22:23.morning commute and rather cloudy but a dry morning commute. If
:22:23. > :22:28.anything, through Monday we'll see more sunshine win through. England
:22:28. > :22:33.and Wales will see good spells of hazy sunshine which will help to
:22:33. > :22:38.lift the temperature. Feeling cool around eastern coasts with the wind
:22:38. > :22:42.coming off a chilly North Sea. Warmer still into Tuesday. Feeling
:22:42. > :22:46.pleasant in parts of England and Wales. By Wednesday see swap the
:22:46. > :22:56.sunshine for the cloud and a bit of patchy rain. I give with one hand
:22:56. > :22:57.
:22:57. > :23:00.patchy rain. I give with one hand The Liberal Democrats were jubilant
:23:00. > :23:02.after holding on to Chris Huhne's seat at the Eastleigh by-election
:23:02. > :23:04.on Thursday, but the pictures that dominated the papers afterwards
:23:04. > :23:07.were of Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader,
:23:07. > :23:10.celebrating in style. They may not have won Eastleigh but UKIP'S
:23:10. > :23:14.strong showing in a constituency where they had little track record
:23:14. > :23:19.has given them a boost. So after winning 28% of the vote and pushing
:23:19. > :23:22.the Tories into third place, was it rather more than a protest vote?
:23:22. > :23:26.Nigel Farage joins me. You must be kick yourself. If you had stood,
:23:26. > :23:29.you could be sitting here as UKIP's first Member of Parliament. We had
:23:29. > :23:33.a very good candidate in Diane James. There is no evidence I would
:23:33. > :23:37.have got any more votes than her. Really? None whatsoever. The reason
:23:37. > :23:41.I didn't stand, is I want to lead the party into the European
:23:41. > :23:46.elections which take place next year, where I believe that we can
:23:46. > :23:50.cause a really historic result. So, we didn't quite get over the line.
:23:50. > :23:53.The postal vote system in by- elections really does count against
:23:53. > :23:58.us, because there isn't time to reach everybody. But, look, no
:23:58. > :24:02.complaints, we are delighted. It is our best of refer parliamentary
:24:02. > :24:06.performance. I think there is every reason to believe there is more to
:24:06. > :24:11.come. If you had stood and won that seat, you could have, if it was
:24:12. > :24:16.really a protest vote you could have lost it clearly at the next
:24:16. > :24:21.election. The protest vote is the default for the establishment.
:24:21. > :24:29.yourself admitted a protest vote. I heard you on the day after. Yes,
:24:29. > :24:35.some people who voted UKIP used it as a chance to stick two fingers up.
:24:35. > :24:41.But 83% of ue skip voters, it has been said, were sending a message
:24:41. > :24:45.to the party -- UKIP. You cannot put a cigarette paper between them
:24:45. > :24:50.on policy. There is nothing to choose, and no-one speaks for us,
:24:50. > :24:53.is what the UKIP voters say. They vote for UKIP on policy. We are
:24:53. > :24:59.saying to people, that we are putting in front of them is a
:24:59. > :25:02.Commons sense idea of how we should control our borders. Of what our
:25:02. > :25:08.relationship with Europe should be and what we should be doing about
:25:08. > :25:11.the looming energy crisis. People vote for UKIP because they see us
:25:11. > :25:17.offering policy solutions. But a lot of them - there was an element
:25:17. > :25:23.of protest vote. They were voting UKIP because they wanted it stop
:25:23. > :25:27.other parties. It was a rejection of the current political class,
:25:27. > :25:31.where it comes to Romania and Bulgaria having full access to
:25:31. > :25:35.Britain next year, all they want to do is sweep it under the carpet. We
:25:35. > :25:41.are prepared to talk about it. next challenge, the local elections
:25:41. > :25:44.in May. You polled about 17% of the vote last time. Give us your
:25:44. > :25:49.predictions? Are we going to see 28% of the vote? We'll fight them
:25:49. > :25:52.on a bigger scale than ever before. I'm hoping we'll put 2,000
:25:52. > :25:55.candidates into the field. As a party we need it establish
:25:55. > :25:58.breakthroughs. The difficulty for UKIP is our support comes from
:25:58. > :26:01.across the spectrum. If you read today's Sunday papers you would
:26:01. > :26:05.think there is a pitch battle between UKIP and the Conservative
:26:05. > :26:08.Party going on. Only one-third of our vote in Eastleigh came from the
:26:08. > :26:11.Conservatives. Two-thirds came from Liberal Democrats, Labour and
:26:12. > :26:15.people who had not voted for anybody for the last 20 years.
:26:15. > :26:19.We'll fight broadly in these elections. We have some ideas where
:26:19. > :26:22.we are going to target and what we need to do in May is make
:26:22. > :26:27.breakthroughs. You really do. You raised your increase of the vote
:26:27. > :26:31.last time around but it translated to one more or. That's your proib.
:26:31. > :26:36.You may get the headlines and take large shares of the votes but it is
:26:36. > :26:41.not translating yet, is it? No, we live under a first past the post
:26:41. > :26:44.system. Normally new parties that come along have a geographical bias,
:26:44. > :26:49.the Scottish National Party, or they draw from a certain segment of
:26:49. > :26:54.the population, be it poor people or rich people and UKIP draws were
:26:54. > :26:57.across the board. Our strength is we exist everywhere. We can do well
:26:58. > :27:01.everywhere in the country but our weakness is we don't have the
:27:02. > :27:06.hotspots where we have clusters of elected councillors. What about
:27:06. > :27:09.television debates. Do you think off strerning case now, or not?
:27:09. > :27:13.Well -- do you think you have a stronger case now? Which will think
:27:13. > :27:19.that depends. Drm has said no. would rather not debate anything.
:27:19. > :27:25.- David Cameron has said no. have to make breakthroughs on local
:27:25. > :27:30.elections and we'll be judged on the European elections in 2014.
:27:30. > :27:35.Quite honestly, if we were at this kind of level, heading up to 2015,
:27:35. > :27:39.fob excluded from those debates would be ludicrous. -- to be
:27:39. > :27:41.excluded. In the papers this mornings there is talk about the
:27:41. > :27:45.European Convention on Human Rights and limiting access to immigrants
:27:45. > :27:49.on the NHS but the Conservatives potentially if they go forward with
:27:49. > :27:52.that will take out the wind out of yourless sails. Jam tomorrow. We
:27:52. > :27:56.hear from the Conservatives promises of what we might do if
:27:56. > :27:59.they win the general election. As we heard the same promises before
:28:00. > :28:05.the election of 2010. The real problem that the Conservatives have
:28:05. > :28:09.got isn't UKIP. The real problem is their own supporters, they look at
:28:09. > :28:14.a Conservative Party that used to talk about wealth creation, low tax,
:28:14. > :28:16.enterprise it. Talks now about gay marriage and windfarms. When these
:28:16. > :28:22.promises are made. No-one believes them any more.
:28:22. > :28:24.1234 thank you very much. -- thank you.
:28:24. > :28:27.Now, listening to that was the President of the Liberal Democrats,
:28:27. > :28:29.Tim Farron, who spent a considerable amount of time in
:28:29. > :28:33.Eastleigh out and about helping to For his party.
:28:33. > :28:38.And he joins me now from his home in Cumbria. You must be exhausted
:28:38. > :28:42.after the week you've had and somewhat relieved. You held on.
:28:42. > :28:46.More than relief. I thought this was a by-election where there was
:28:46. > :28:50.no score-draw. No away point on the table. We either lost by a bit and
:28:50. > :28:54.it was dreadful or we won by however much and it would be almost
:28:54. > :28:56.unspeakable triumph. It is a game- changing result for us from
:28:57. > :28:59.Eastleigh for the Liberal Democrats. Although it is only a by-election
:28:59. > :29:05.and it is important to emphasise it doesn't mean absolutely everything,
:29:05. > :29:08.but you can read a lot from Eastleigh with regard to seats like
:29:08. > :29:13.Eastleigh. In other words the other 56 seats the Liberal Democrats hold.
:29:13. > :29:18.Perhaps those other 20 or 30 or a few more Liberal Democrat
:29:18. > :29:24.Conservative-held seats where the Liberal Democrats are second. It
:29:24. > :29:27.has showed us that it was a tough thing to go into Government, the
:29:27. > :29:31.alternative was worse but you can campaign from the sidelines. But it
:29:31. > :29:34.was far from a triumph. Your vote plummeted. You lost I think half of
:29:34. > :29:38.the people who voted for you, in the general election, they didn't
:29:38. > :29:42.vote for you this time. Sow fission I'm guessing you have read the
:29:42. > :29:46.papers this last week. We managed to win an election during the
:29:46. > :29:50.backdrop of that. If the Tories can't beat us after the week we've
:29:50. > :29:55.had, crumbs. It is massive for us and massive for the Conservatives
:29:55. > :29:58.to come third in a two-horse race. But you were dug. In Eastleigh
:29:58. > :30:08.where you hold the seats, it is very much your seat. Nationally you
:30:08. > :30:16.
:30:16. > :30:20.Here, Liberal Democrats work hard on the ground and communicate with
:30:20. > :30:25.people regularly, not just when there is an election. That is why
:30:25. > :30:30.you cannot read into the EC result much for the majority of the seats
:30:30. > :30:34.in the country. You can read a lot about what it is like in seats that
:30:34. > :30:38.Liberal Democrat target. It is a good result, but we need to not be
:30:38. > :30:43.complacent about it. Mike point is that nationally you still poll very
:30:43. > :30:48.badly, not looking great ahead of a General Election? Nigel Farage and
:30:48. > :30:53.I were on the same side of beat AV referendum. That was a nice thing
:30:53. > :30:57.to do. We did not win, however. It reminds us that we have a system
:30:57. > :31:02.that does not reward you want the number of votes you get. Our job is
:31:02. > :31:06.to make sure that, while the system is unfair, we have to make sure we
:31:06. > :31:10.use it to the best of our advantage. Eastleigh shows that Lib Dem
:31:10. > :31:14.fortresses are firm. More than any other by-election I have taken part
:31:14. > :31:19.in, there were national issues on the agenda. The national issue,
:31:19. > :31:23.predominantly, was about taxation. The Liberal Democrats are for
:31:23. > :31:28.fairer tax, lower tax for middle- income and low-income people. It
:31:28. > :31:31.was interesting that we managed to cut through on that. With does
:31:31. > :31:35.affirm fortresses you referred to, does that mean that it gives you
:31:35. > :31:41.more muscle in negotiations with your coalition partners? I would
:31:41. > :31:44.hope so. The message with Eastleigh is that it is not popular to offer
:31:44. > :31:49.tax cuts to the wealthy, which I think George Osborne is minded to
:31:49. > :31:52.do. It is popular, not only popular, but sensible, to give tax cuts to
:31:52. > :31:56.people on middle incomes and the lowest incomes. It is fair but it
:31:56. > :32:02.would also help the economy. People on low incomes spend the money that
:32:02. > :32:05.they have, rich people blow it on villas in Tuscany. In the run-up to
:32:05. > :32:09.the budget are we going to see the Lib Dem hand firmly on what is
:32:09. > :32:13.announced? Are we going to see you resisting moves to cut welfare to
:32:13. > :32:17.shore up the defence budget, for example? That would be a ludicrous
:32:17. > :32:21.thing to do. I heard Philip Hammond making those comments. At a time
:32:21. > :32:24.like this, to think it is more important to be investing money
:32:24. > :32:27.into a Trident or something like that, rather than protecting people
:32:27. > :32:33.that are the least well-off in our society, that would be morally
:32:33. > :32:38.wrong as well as economic see stupid. -- economically stupid. We
:32:38. > :32:41.also need to be magnanimous, it is just an election. David Cameron
:32:41. > :32:45.must be tempted to remain on the centre ground, or to move towards
:32:46. > :32:49.it, and not listen to voices from the right. That would be a foolish
:32:49. > :32:54.thing for the country. If he listens to advice from me, it would
:32:54. > :32:57.be a foolish thing for the Conservative Party. If, head of a
:32:57. > :33:00.General Election, one of the key things you will have to do is to
:33:00. > :33:03.make it clear that you may be in a coalition but you are very
:33:03. > :33:07.different in your approach, one of the ways you could do that is the
:33:07. > :33:13.mansion tax. Will you be voting with Labour on the mansion tax?
:33:13. > :33:17.They are keen to push this through. Labour have, interestingly, tried
:33:17. > :33:23.to copy a lot of our ideas. They put a plan through to Parliament on
:33:23. > :33:26.an opposition debate to support a mansion tax. That is an interesting
:33:26. > :33:34.thing. We normally take those notions as the mischief that they
:33:34. > :33:40.are. You could have a real impact. We vote with them? We are all ears,
:33:40. > :33:43.I would say. We are not going to be lured into a parliamentary trap by
:33:43. > :33:47.Labour, but sometimes you have to take things at face value.
:33:47. > :33:53.Richard Gere's film career has seen him play his fair share of heart-
:33:53. > :34:00.throbs. He also does a fine line in moral ambiguity. Ever since his
:34:00. > :34:04.early success in American Gigolo, he has been adept at exploring
:34:04. > :34:10.human nature. In his latest film, are the Triage, he is a billionaire
:34:10. > :34:15.money man hurtling toward self- destruction. He told me why, after
:34:15. > :34:19.a former career break, he came back to play Robert Miller, the kind of
:34:19. > :34:25.Wall Street demon that people love to hate. He is an interesting guide.
:34:25. > :34:30.He is one of those iconic characters, the punching bag of the
:34:30. > :34:35.moment, these rich financial guys that seemed to have it all together.
:34:35. > :34:40.But we pretty effectively deconstructing over two hours.
:34:40. > :34:42.Hopefully we see the human being bare. We don't have to admire
:34:42. > :34:47.everything about him, but I think we can recognise him as ourselves
:34:47. > :34:52.in many ways. You did some pretty extensive research in preparing for
:34:52. > :34:55.this role? People think it was all about learning the terms of the
:34:55. > :35:00.financial markets and understanding at all. The reality is that I don't
:35:00. > :35:04.think they understand it. I don't think they could understand or
:35:04. > :35:14.explain financial instruments, derivatives, insurance on insurance,
:35:14. > :35:16.
:35:16. > :35:22.etc. I'm interested in finding the Did you want our investors to go
:35:22. > :35:27.bankrupt? He wanted people to get really hurt? It is my job! John?
:35:27. > :35:37.It's illegal. And I am your partner. You're not my partner, you work for
:35:37. > :35:37.
:35:37. > :35:47.me. That's right, you work for me. There is a certain cowboy element,
:35:47. > :35:49.
:35:49. > :35:53.I think, in these guys. There is a gambler, a risk-taker. They are
:35:53. > :35:57.looking for the cattle that goes off to the right so they can go
:35:57. > :36:01.running after it. They are thinking out of the box. That is where the
:36:01. > :36:06.energy is, there is a certain drug or taking a chance, gambling and
:36:06. > :36:09.losing, possibly. But with a loss you will fix it somehow, you will
:36:09. > :36:14.come back. The adrenalin rush of that stuff is the make-up I found
:36:14. > :36:20.of these guys. You play him, we start almost rooting for him. We
:36:20. > :36:28.almost like the guy, we want him to come out of this? I apologise!
:36:28. > :36:32.people said this to you? You are almost giving the human side?
:36:32. > :36:36.Friends were very angry with me, you do want to hate these guys.
:36:36. > :36:40.They are the devil incarnate in our lives. But I don't think you could
:36:40. > :36:44.sustain a study of this guy, Robert Miller, for two hours without
:36:44. > :36:49.seeing a human being there. If you did not see what makes him
:36:49. > :36:52.successful, beyond being ruthless. There is real charm. There are
:36:52. > :37:01.human qualities of warmth and awareness. He is aware of what he
:37:01. > :37:10.is doing. We see him many times measuring what he is going to do.
:37:10. > :37:16.He does it, it's a bad trice, but a human traits. Pretty Woman is one
:37:16. > :37:21.of the films that made your name... Speaking of red dresses! There you
:37:21. > :37:25.go, I had not thought of that. What a connection. This was a film they
:37:25. > :37:32.really have to convince you to do? I didn't get it, I didn't
:37:32. > :37:40.understand it. First of all, I thought it was just a suit. You can
:37:40. > :37:46.get any body, put him in a suit, I Would you consider spending the
:37:46. > :37:51.week with me? I will pay you to be at my beck and call. Look, I would
:37:51. > :38:01.love to be your beck and call girl. You are a rich, good-looking guy.
:38:01. > :38:04.
:38:04. > :38:08.You could get any of those goals Then I met Juliet. I took a phone
:38:08. > :38:12.call and she was writing something down on a piece of paper. She
:38:12. > :38:17.turned it around and it said, please do this. How could you
:38:17. > :38:22.resist? It ended up being one of the best experiences I have had.
:38:22. > :38:26.could have been so different for you. You were a talented gymnast,
:38:26. > :38:30.you went to university on a gymnastics scholarship. You were a
:38:30. > :38:34.talented musician, trumpet, piano and guitar? If I stayed with
:38:34. > :38:40.gymnastics, I would not be speaking to you right now. We could have
:38:40. > :38:45.seen you at the Olympics? Highly unlikely. But you were good? I was
:38:45. > :38:50.OK, enough to get me into college. Music? Music is OK. I was surprised
:38:50. > :38:54.how many times I have brought music into movies. Music is definitely a
:38:55. > :38:59.part of my life, it is still there, hours-a-day. Do you play with other
:38:59. > :39:03.people on your own? It is out of the marketplace, out of anybody
:39:03. > :39:08.else's world. It is what I want, whenever I want to do it. You had
:39:08. > :39:13.something like 100 guitars that you sold off? You are going to make me
:39:13. > :39:18.cry. This is the weeping moment you have been waiting for. She is going
:39:18. > :39:24.to make me cry. Is there a Kleenex here? You sell them, though? For $1
:39:24. > :39:29.million? Yes, it went right into the Tibetan work. I wanted to ask
:39:29. > :39:36.you about that as well. You have been very, very active in that. 30,
:39:36. > :39:43.40 years. What to do make, nowadays, of Washington, Hollywood rolling
:39:43. > :39:47.out the carpet, in Krishan LEA, -- increasingly, to Chinese leaders?
:39:47. > :39:52.Do you feel let down? It's understandable. We have to create
:39:52. > :39:56.tracks where people can balance these things. The reality is that
:39:56. > :40:01.China needs owes as much as we need them, economically. They are in the
:40:01. > :40:05.system now. They cannot pull out. What we have to do is be unified.
:40:05. > :40:10.If we do care about human rights, and we do care about the rural poor,
:40:10. > :40:18.we have to stick together. The Chinese government, the Communist
:40:18. > :40:23.Party, it is really skillful at separating countries. We have to be
:40:23. > :40:27.careful about this. There is not the danger that economic muscle
:40:27. > :40:31.overshadows human rights? Of course it does, that we have to be clear
:40:31. > :40:34.about his. On a one-to-one basis, there is not a person I have ever
:40:34. > :40:38.met that was not on the side of the Tibetans, or the Chinese people,
:40:38. > :40:45.which are in the same state and have the same issues. The Demon
:40:45. > :40:51.here is the Chinese Communist Party. It behaves like a mafia. Actor and
:40:51. > :40:56.activist Richard Gere. The civil war in Syria has been
:40:56. > :41:00.raging for two years. 1 million people have fled the country as
:41:00. > :41:05.refugees. Last week, America announced they were giving $60
:41:05. > :41:09.million in what they are calling non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition
:41:09. > :41:15.groups, the first direct supplies to the rebels. But what they really
:41:15. > :41:19.want is weapons. Will they get them? I am joined by William Hague.
:41:19. > :41:23.$60 million from America, will you be matching that? We will be giving
:41:23. > :41:28.more assistance. Money? I will announce in Parliament what that
:41:28. > :41:35.will consist of. That will involve more equipment to help save lives
:41:35. > :41:40.in Syria. Many people have been killed in this conflict, by the
:41:40. > :41:44.Assad regime. We will be doing more and we will have to steadily do
:41:44. > :41:48.more, faced with this situation. The longer this goes on, the
:41:48. > :41:52.greater the danger that extremism takes hold, the greater the danger
:41:52. > :41:59.of destabilising neighbouring countries. I saw that for myself in
:41:59. > :42:04.Lebanon, 10 days ago. The greater the extreme humanitarian distress
:42:04. > :42:08.involved. We cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch those.
:42:08. > :42:11.Britain will be giving money, will be giving some money to match what
:42:11. > :42:16.America has done to provide non- lethal equipment? We will be doing
:42:16. > :42:19.more. What we're doing is co- ordinated. Yes, it is co-ordinated
:42:19. > :42:23.with the United States and other allies. I have had a lot of
:42:23. > :42:26.discussions with John Kerry about this. We will be doing more and we
:42:27. > :42:30.will have to steadily do more if there is no diplomatic or political
:42:30. > :42:35.breakthrough. The situation in Syria now is too dangerous to the
:42:35. > :42:44.peace and security of that entire region. And, thereby, the world, to
:42:44. > :42:47.ignore it. We will continue to give enormous amounts in it to relieve
:42:47. > :42:50.humanitarian distress. But we will have to do more to assist the
:42:50. > :42:55.opposition on the ground. You used that word, more, several times
:42:55. > :42:58.already. You're not saying it translates into money. Could
:42:58. > :43:03.translate into arms eventually? don't think we can rule that out
:43:03. > :43:07.for the future. I will not be announcing arms to the Syrian
:43:07. > :43:12.opposition this week. We have agreed in the European Union last
:43:12. > :43:17.week amendments to the arms embargo, to allow others to send a wider
:43:17. > :43:21.range of non-lethal equipment that will do more to save lives. A wider
:43:21. > :43:26.range... But this is military equipment? You are allowed to send
:43:27. > :43:31.flak jackets, night-vision goggles, armoured vehicles? You will
:43:31. > :43:34.understand that I am going to explain the details to Parliament.
:43:34. > :43:39.I believe very strongly in ministers making announcements to
:43:39. > :43:43.Parliament. I don't rule out anything for the future. If this is
:43:43. > :43:47.going to go on for months or years, and it has gone on for two already,
:43:47. > :43:51.tens of thousands of people more are going to die. Countries like
:43:51. > :43:55.Iraq and Jordan are going to be destabilised. It is not something
:43:55. > :43:59.that we can ignore. I know people say, why do we have to do anything
:43:59. > :44:04.or be involved? These are the reasons. We cannot sit it out in
:44:04. > :44:07.Syria. You cannot sit it out, you say you will not rule out giving
:44:07. > :44:11.alms to the Syrian opposition. How do you ever know, if that happens,
:44:11. > :44:16.how do you know whose hands these end up in? The opposition is not
:44:16. > :44:23.some homogenous group? I am not saying we are doing that. But you
:44:23. > :44:25.haven't excluded it. If ever we get into that situation, the risks of
:44:25. > :44:31.arms falling into the wrong hands is one of the great constraints and
:44:31. > :44:35.one of the reasons we do not do it now. But these are a balance of
:44:35. > :44:39.risks. You can reach that point where humanitarian need is so great
:44:39. > :44:43.that you have to do something new in order to save lives. That is why
:44:43. > :44:47.I do not rule it out of the future. You will have seen is into this
:44:47. > :44:51.morning, a very rare interview the President Assad has given. He
:44:51. > :44:55.talked about bullying Britain. How Britain is fanning the flames. He
:44:55. > :45:05.says, how can we expect Britain to make the violence less when they
:45:05. > :45:06.
:45:07. > :45:12.want to send military supplies to $:/STARTFEED. He is presiding over
:45:12. > :45:17.the slaughter and we are, Britain, are sending food and blankets and
:45:17. > :45:21.med dl supplies to the people there in his name. We are sending medical
:45:21. > :45:29.supplies to look after the people abused by the soldiers working for
:45:29. > :45:33.this man. Like Brahimi bra, who is a softly-spoken diplomat - Brahimi.
:45:33. > :45:37.That Assad thinks and is told by his inner circle that all of this
:45:37. > :45:41.is an international conspiracy, not the rebellion and revolt of his own
:45:41. > :45:46.people. I think this will go down as one of the most delusional
:45:46. > :45:51.interviews any national lieder has given in modern times. -- leader.
:45:51. > :45:57.He has a point in one sense: is this going to end the conflict? If
:45:57. > :46:00.we go down that path and the rebels are armed, there is no guaranteed
:46:00. > :46:04.it would end the conflict? saying we have to do what we can to
:46:05. > :46:08.save lives, lives he is bringing to a terrible end. Of course, we'll
:46:08. > :46:12.never waiver in trying to seek a diplomatic and political solution
:46:12. > :46:16.to the situation in Syria. He has now had two years of opportunities
:46:16. > :46:24.to sit down in real dialogue and has refused every opportunity to do
:46:24. > :46:28.so. Even though the national coalition, their leader, the
:46:28. > :46:33.opposition leader, Mr Al-Khatib, bravely offered dialogue with the
:46:33. > :46:37.Assad regime, they have not taken that up. We'll never stop pursuing
:46:37. > :46:41.that. There isn't a military-only solution. The Russian Foreign
:46:41. > :46:44.Minister will be here in London in the next ten days and we'll have
:46:44. > :46:47.another major discussion about Syria, to see whether we can make
:46:47. > :46:51.some diplomatic breakthrough, but there is no sign of that at the
:46:51. > :46:54.movement hence we have to do more to try to protect people, protect
:46:54. > :46:59.civilen life in Syria and neighbouring countries. -- civilian
:46:59. > :47:03.life. Let's turn to the subject of Eastleigh. What went wrong for the
:47:03. > :47:08.Tories? Well I think something went wrong for all of the main political
:47:08. > :47:12.parties. Not UKIP. They are not main. We must take seriously
:47:12. > :47:16.people's concerns in by-election results but the statistics of by-
:47:16. > :47:20.elections, as you know, can be argued in every direction. I was
:47:20. > :47:23.elected in a by-election 24 years ago. The result in my constituency
:47:23. > :47:27.in the following five general elections has borne no resemblance
:47:27. > :47:30.at all to that by-election result. It is dangerous to extrapolate from
:47:30. > :47:39.by-election bus as the Prime Minister said in his particle this
:47:39. > :47:43.morning, there are people who know the country was going downhill with
:47:43. > :47:49.Labour, so they are not voting Labour. So you are brushing it off.
:47:49. > :47:53.Complacent? No, we are not, people are impatient for us to sort these
:47:53. > :47:59.things out. I think what we have to do is make sure we follow-up and
:47:59. > :48:02.comun Kate properly the things we are succeeding in as a Government.
:48:02. > :48:06.-- communicating. Of the the immigration figures came out, down
:48:06. > :48:10.by one-third. Welfare spending bringing brought under control. 2
:48:10. > :48:13.million people lifted out of income tax. You know full-well that the
:48:14. > :48:17.criticism of the Conservatives right now is that they are not in
:48:17. > :48:21.touch with their grass roots. You are not in touch with your core
:48:21. > :48:25.supporters. All kinds of coverage in the papers today. One over the
:48:25. > :48:30.weekend - put simply this is just one newspaper, "Electors are sick
:48:30. > :48:37.and tired of a guilded out of touch Metropolitan elite which seems more
:48:37. > :48:41.concerned about posturing over gay marriage, overseas aid and
:48:41. > :48:45.windmills than helping those whose income is shrinking every month."
:48:45. > :48:47.That's the main problem, isn't it? I don't think it is. David Cameron
:48:47. > :48:52.has argued that the Conservative Party must stay on the common
:48:52. > :48:56.ground. Not the middle ground? it is not about try ang lating a
:48:56. > :48:59.point in politics about us and other parties and it is certainly
:48:59. > :49:02.not about a lurch in any direction. It is about making a success of
:49:02. > :49:06.these things that this Government, in the most challenging
:49:06. > :49:10.circumstances of any Government in modern times, given the inheritance
:49:10. > :49:13.we were left, has set about doing. Bringing down the deficit by one-
:49:13. > :49:16.quarter. Brenging down the rate of business tax sharply. -- bringk
:49:17. > :49:20.down. Freezing council tax for three years. Having more
:49:20. > :49:28.apprenticeships than we have ever had before. We have one million
:49:28. > :49:32.more private sector jobs. Stkpwhroo look at UKIP. Some of the - -- Look
:49:32. > :49:39.at UKIP some people seem to be drawn to them because of the fears
:49:39. > :49:42.of immigrations, particularly numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians
:49:42. > :49:47.coming to this country next you have estimates. How many do you
:49:47. > :49:53.think there Will be coming or is it scare among snerg No we don't have
:49:53. > :49:57.estimates. The figures came out this week, immigration down by one-
:49:57. > :50:02.third. I'm talking about Romanians and Bulgarians. I know but there
:50:02. > :50:06.are no secret estimates. We have the figures of what is happening,
:50:06. > :50:09.coming down thanks to the policies of the government. In a by-election
:50:09. > :50:13.people can have an indulgence but a general election is a choice. At
:50:13. > :50:17.the next general election, do people want a Government that has
:50:17. > :50:20.really brought down immigration, this one? Or a Labour Government
:50:20. > :50:25.that threw open the doors completely. Let me ask you two
:50:25. > :50:31.points: first of all, by Romanians and Bulgarians are you saying you
:50:31. > :50:35.have no idea, there are no assessments, you have no clue.
:50:35. > :50:40.Migration Watch is saying 250,000 people over the next five years.
:50:40. > :50:44.don't think anybody can give you a forecast. The European Union is the
:50:44. > :50:48.free movement of people and British people benefit enormous will from
:50:48. > :50:51.that. Yes, we will have that but we will be careful to make sure that
:50:51. > :50:55.benefit tourism comes to an end. That has to be tackled so people
:50:55. > :50:59.are not drawn to one - not drawn to our country or any country in
:51:00. > :51:04.particular, just by being attracted by the benefits system. Migration
:51:04. > :51:09.Watch's figures, you think it is impossible to guess, it is
:51:09. > :51:13.nonsense? I think it is guesswork. That is worrying, so you have no
:51:13. > :51:18.clue how many people are going to come to this country next year?
:51:18. > :51:25.am saying it would be guesswork. The important thing is to Mick sure
:51:25. > :51:29.people aren't drawn artificially into Britain -- make sure. Most
:51:29. > :51:34.Bulgarian and Romanian people don't live in Britain, that's not where
:51:34. > :51:38.their diaspora has gone. That can be of some reassurance. But there
:51:38. > :51:43.isn't a magic or secret figure. We should continue to bring down the
:51:43. > :51:47.total of immigration into this country. And put people off come?
:51:47. > :51:50.There is a story in one of the Papeers this morning saying new
:51:50. > :51:55.immigrants will potentially have their access to the NHS limited. --
:51:55. > :51:58.in the papers. It is important that there aren't artificial perverse
:51:58. > :52:02.incentives for people to come to the UK. So you are looking at it?
:52:02. > :52:05.Yes, we are looking in Government at what more we can do to make sure
:52:05. > :52:09.that is controlled. That that is fair across Europe. And I think
:52:09. > :52:12.people would expect us to do that. That's absolutely right. Again
:52:12. > :52:15.something that never happened over the last Government and the next
:52:15. > :52:20.general election will be a choice between tackling these sorts of
:52:20. > :52:24.things, or the last Government that never did any of it. And you would
:52:24. > :52:31.curb benefits for new immigrants? Benefit tourism can't be allow. We
:52:31. > :52:35.are getting the benefit system under control. We are introducing a
:52:35. > :52:38.cap on benefits, so no family on benefits can receive more than the
:52:38. > :52:41.average household can receive by going out to work. These are
:52:41. > :52:45.essential reforms, our reforms of housing benefit. Essential reforms
:52:45. > :52:49.of the benefit system. The next jeng election is a choice - do you
:52:49. > :52:52.want -- general election. Do you want to go back to Ed Balls running
:52:52. > :52:56.the economy and no discipline or do you want the difficult challenges,
:52:56. > :53:01.the hard work we are having to put in to make these changes? Ity
:53:01. > :53:05.people want the changes. Difficult challenges, looking ahead, a Budget
:53:05. > :53:08.with a Spending Review, defence cuts and welfare cuts. Do you think
:53:08. > :53:12.welfare cuts is the way to go? will have to wait for the Spending
:53:12. > :53:15.Review. We have worked hard and Iain Duncan Smith has done a
:53:15. > :53:19.brilliant job bringing the benefit system under control. Philip
:53:19. > :53:24.Hammond has done a difficult job balancing the books. And he has
:53:24. > :53:27.made it clear he can take no more. Well, we will - of course,
:53:27. > :53:31.ministers will discuss the next spending round over the next few
:53:31. > :53:35.weeks and months. Any announcements on that you will have to wait for.
:53:35. > :53:38.My colleagues are doing an outstanding piece of work in making
:53:38. > :53:43.sure that this country can live within its means. We have brought
:53:43. > :53:48.down the deficit by one-quarter and we have to go on doing it. We won't
:53:48. > :53:52.be diverted by by-elections or local elections. We can't be.
:53:52. > :53:56.me ask you about another big story, the European Convention on Human
:53:56. > :53:59.Rights. Are we potentially leaving that? That will be something in the
:53:59. > :54:02.Conservative manifesto? We have already sought reform of the
:54:02. > :54:05.European Court of Human Rights with some success over the last couple
:54:05. > :54:08.of years. I think the stories you have seen today are speculation
:54:08. > :54:13.about a future manifesto. It is a couple of years away. We are
:54:13. > :54:16.getting well ahead of ourselves on that. Not true? It is speculation
:54:16. > :54:19.about a future manifesto. I cannot give you any more than that. I must
:54:19. > :54:24.ask you one thing about Mali overnight and the reports that the
:54:24. > :54:27.lead ever, the man behind the Algerian crisis, the crisis at the
:54:27. > :54:31.gas plant, has been killed. Is that a significant step towards getting
:54:31. > :54:35.the sort of terrorism in North Africa under control? It would be a
:54:35. > :54:41.blow to terrorism. These are frorps Chadian soldiers who have been
:54:41. > :54:45.doing a lot of fighting in northern Mali. -- reports from. We cannot
:54:45. > :54:48.confirm that. I stress that it. Would be a blow to terrorism and
:54:48. > :54:52.the criminal network around this man but it doesn't mean the
:54:52. > :54:55.problems of Mali will be at an end. There is a lot to do to promote a
:54:55. > :54:59.political process in Mali. Elections, legitimate Government
:54:59. > :55:05.and so on. That work has to go on. Thank you very much.
:55:05. > :55:09.Now, over to Sian for the news headlines.
:55:09. > :55:13.Thank you. The President of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron has
:55:13. > :55:17.described the party's victory in the Eastleigh by-election as a gym-
:55:17. > :55:20.change result. He said it vindicated the decision to go into
:55:20. > :55:25.coalition. -- game had of changing. He warned 9 Conservatives they
:55:25. > :55:31.would be foolish to lurch to the right. Eye kip same second. Its
:55:31. > :55:36.leader Nigel farge insisted that success couldn't be dismissed as a
:55:36. > :55:39.protest vote. -- UKIP's leader, Nigel Farage. They vote UKIP on
:55:40. > :55:43.policy. We are saying to people we are putting in front of them is a
:55:43. > :55:47.common sense idea of how we should control our borders, of what our
:55:47. > :55:50.relationship with Europe should be and what we should be doing about
:55:50. > :55:53.the looming energy crisis. Foreign Secretary has said the
:55:53. > :55:57.British Government will do more to help the opposition forces in Syria.
:55:57. > :56:02.William Hague will anounges details to Parliament this week of --
:56:02. > :56:07.announce details to Parliament of a wider range of non-lethal equipment
:56:07. > :56:16.to be sent there. He said the UK did not rule out arming the rebels
:56:16. > :56:22.at some stage in the future if the situation continued to deteriorate.
:56:22. > :56:26.A terrorist leader, who is thought to have ordered the attack on a gas
:56:26. > :56:28.plant. Has been chilled in Chad. It has been reported that Mokhtar
:56:28. > :56:32.Belmokhtar has been killed. There has been no independent
:56:32. > :56:37.confirmation of his death. That's all from me. The next news on BBC
:56:37. > :56:42.One is at midday. Back to Sophie in a moment but first here is what is
:56:42. > :56:47.coming up after this show. Join us live from St Albans where we will
:56:47. > :56:54.be asking should protesters be sued. We have two No Dash for Gas
:56:54. > :57:03.activists who are facing a �5 million claim.
:57:03. > :57:09.And we will ask should you die, in honour for St Alban.
:57:09. > :57:17.Time has almost beaten us this morning. But here, right now, Gary
:57:17. > :57:25.clarbg junior, with Ain't Messin' Round. -- Gary Clark Junior.
:57:26. > :57:35.# I don't believe in competition # Ain't nobody else like me around
:57:36. > :57:37.
:57:37. > :57:43.# I don't need your imposition # Continue ain't that hard to
:57:43. > :57:51.figure it out # Give it up yeah
:57:51. > :58:01.# Play cool # Give it up, yeah
:58:01. > :58:04.
:58:04. > :58:14.# Play cool # Give it up now
:58:14. > :58:47.
:58:47. > :58:57.# Give it up, yeah # Play it cool
:58:57. > :59:01.