18/09/2011 The Politics Show West

And in the west: The Lib Dem MP for Yeovil talks to

me about the econony and a possible political comeback.

Plus the former head of the army on war and conscription, and the local

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2131 seconds

council boss who was so good, they Good afternoon and welcome to the

part of the show which brings you the politics from the west of

England. We're starting the new season with some exclusive

interviews. David Laws from Yeovil had the shortest cabinet career in

history. I'm talking to him about a possible political comeback.

This general ran the army in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he's living in

Wiltshire. I ask him about the war on terror and whether we should

bring back national service. And the council chief executive who is

so good at his job, they decided to fire him! He has done an excellent

job. He left this council in a It's nice to be back after a long

summer, when many of us spend hours huddled under Cooke's under grey

skies. David Laws famously had to resign after the shortest time in

office in modern history. That followed exposure about some

expenses claims. He'd lost his much-loved precede with news of his

personal life plastered over the papers. David Laws joins me now. I

would like to talk to you first about the economy. You are one of

the architects of the recovery plan. A year on, no growth, their jobs.

It's failed, hasn't it? I do not think so. We have been doing the

things we needed to do to get on top of the horrendous boring

position week inherited. We could not go on pouring at that rate.

What we have done is started to rein back on spending. -- we could

not go on borrowing at that rate. For Britain and the world economy,

it has been a very difficult year. We have had a huge increase in

energy prices, food prices, we have had careers in the European Union

with the rest of sovereign default, and in the United States of America.

There is undoubtedly a growth problem. I spoke to you a year ago

adduce that things would go rather well. They have not. Well, there

has been a net creation of jobs in the economy since the general

election last year. Borrowing is starting to fall, which is to be

hugely welcomed. We are in a much better position for the future than

we would otherwise have been. We have stability in United Kingdom

compared with the market in the other parts of the EU, where there

is huge amounts of speculation, high interest rates, threat of

sovereign default. Even America as had a downgrading of its credit

rating. Time for Plan B? I do not think so. That implies we should

throw out of the window our attempts to get borrowing under

control, and to rein back on spending. I think that would be a

bad idea and create deeper problems further down. The government has to

do all the other things it can do to support the plan it has got,

plan a. That means doing more to get investment through and cash

through from the banking system to businesses that have good

investment plans, creating incentives to bring forward

investment now, so we encourage many of those firms with good cash

positions, and reduce the burdens on business. We have to focus this

autumn and doing everything we can to support growth while sticking

with the strategy of getting rid of this mountain of debt we were left

by Labour. Do you want to be part of the team that pushes that

through? Is it time for you to make a comeback? I think that is a

relatively minor issue, the future of David Laws, compared with the

economy. Interesting to ask. What do you have plans? I do not have

plans. It is not for me to decide what my position is. I am still a

big position -- I am still a big supporter in the government. I will

support that government in whatever capacity I can. You when the thick

of it when the coalition deal was being hammered out between the Lib

Dems and the Conservatives. The latest polls suggest you are

running at 9% in terms of support. It has not been good for the Lib

Dems. If it goes on like this, we will be waved goodbye to quite a

few West Country Lib Dem MPs. of all, we have a five-year

parliament. Let's wait to see what happens. If you were advising any

you wanna be MPs about how to fight an election in future, what advice

would you give them? Would you advise them to be up front for the

electorate? I think so. I made mistakes in trying to keep my

private life private. I think that was a mistake. It was the

consequences of trying to maintain that precede that made things

difficult for me -- trying to maintain that privacy. I think that

advice about honesty and transparency is the advice others

ought to be looking to. Are you happier now? I would not say the

last year has been particularly joyous. It has been difficult.

Those things that behind me, and I am focusing on doing my job as MP

for Yeovil. My constituents have been extremely supportive during

this time. I want to repay that I do my job to the best of my

abilities. I want to do what I can to make sure this government does

well in what are very difficult circumstances. OK. Thank you for

coming on the programme. His's a pleasure. Thank you.

Last week, we were all remembering where we were when those planes hit

the twin towers exactly 10 years ago. Our next guest, General Sir

Mike Jackson, was in charge of the British army through many of the

events that followed. He now lives in Wiltshire, and we'll be meeting

him soon. First, let's look back at 10 years of conflict.

The day they say changed the world. The shockwaves felt all the way

here in the west. And a new role for our armed forces At war in

afghanistan. 1st Battalion Rifles are there now. Another soldier was

lost this week. Since then, the people of Wootton

Bassett have been remembering every lost life. 2003, and another war,

this time in Iraq. And demos on our streets in the west against the

invasion. 40 commando Royal Marines based near Taunton were some of the

first in action. This man, General Sir Mike Jackson, was in charge of

the army. He's been outspoken about our role in the conflict. And now

the need to save money meaning budget cuts to the army, and more

troops to be axed. For the 1st Battallion, the fight goes on in

Afghanistan. Next month will mark the 10th anniversary of the

invasion. The war on terror still ongoing.

We've seen him in that film. Now let's talk to him. General Sir Mike

Jackson, thank you for joining us. Then 10 years ago, you were in the

thick of vet after September 11th, rushing back to gritter -- you were

in the thick of it. You're rushing back to Britain. Have you ever

thought, perhaps I should have done something else? In broad terms, as

I look back, no. Not forgetting, it is the duty of the armed forces to

follow the direction other duly elected government of the day. They

have the awesome responsibility of taking decisions about whether or

not to use military force. It is our job to give military advice,

but the decision-making rests with the politicians. I think what you

were asking his, looking back error with those 10 years, should we have

done the things we did? -- looking back a move that those 10 years. I

am not going to second guess in retrospect. Hindsight is wonderful.

Things can seem very serious and grave, as they did. I am interested

in his relationship with politicians. He added 45 years in

the army. Most of our politicians have not done any time. -- you did

45 years in the army. Did you sometimes find it difficult to take

orders from these guys? I do not think I did. Why do I say that? As

a soldier, you understand what the constitutional position is. As you

get higher up, that political and military interface becomes more

part of your life. At the end of the day, if you're asked to do

something, with which you disagree, you can put your advice forward to

say, I do not think this a good idea, but one that is done, you

really only have two courses. One is to bite your lip and get on with

it, because it is your constitutional duty. The other is

to say, you'll have to find someone else to do this. What would you say

about the reductions in defence spending, particularly the cuts in

manpower within the army? 7,000 fewer troops by 2015. Yes. The Army

I joined in late 1961 was just under 200,000, if my memory serves

me correctly. We now have an army which is half, and going to be a

little more than the less than half of that number. The Cold War is

over. I have concerned. I always thought for our country, the sort

of size we are at with the global responsibilities that we have

undertaken, that an army of around 100,000, a regular Armley of around

100,000, was about right. -- a regular army of about 100,000. We

are now looking at an army, both regular and reserves, of about

125,000. You amalgamated regiments famously when you were the boss.

What will happen to deal with these cut? The structure of the infantry

is almost a subset of this. I am sure there is not time to rehearse

the arguments for putting the infantry and a large regiment basis,

which is what happened in the middle of the last decade. On the

assumption that the army is going to shrink by some 7,000, there

about, it is inevitable the infantry would have to take their

share. Proportionally, that would be around 2,500. The Army Board

will have to look again at how to reduce the infantry without causing

too much pain and grief. It is not an easy job, I assure you.

finally, we have seen the riots in London and elsewhere, some copycat

stuff here in the West Country, and people have said what the youth of

today meets, some people have said, his National Service. As a

professional soldier, what do you think of that? I am afraid not a

great deal. It seems to me you can have one of two things. You can

either have a fighting Armed Forces with real military capability are

you can have a form of sort of uniform social service. I am not

sure you can have both in one organisation. I would entirely

encouraged to keep the armed forces professional as they are. If

separately, the mood of the country or whatever is that youngsters

should have some form of hierarchical organisation,

disciplined organisation to which they must be members for a few

months, a year, I do not know, that is a different issue. That should

be set up as something different to the Armed Forces, and apart from.

Otherwise, our military capability would suffer quite grievously.

General Sir Mike Jackson, thank you very much for joining us.

Back now to civvy street. Expensive and unnecessary, or a

vital part of any big council? There are some starkly differing

views of the role of chief executives in local government

around the West. Wiltshire are getting rid of theirs. After a long

hard look, neighbours Bath and North East Somerset are keeping

theirs. Paul Barltrop reports. Two big councils. Two different

looks. The old and traditional. The new and changing.

Here in Trowbridge they've got builders in. Wiltshire is

refurbishing headquarters so they can bring more staff in and cut

down the number of offices. Like many local authorities, they're

learning to do things very differently, but no comparable

councils in the west have gone so far as to get rid of their chief

executive. Andrew Kerr was only appointed to

the job 20 months ago by council leader Jane Scott. Relations seemed

good. At this budget briefing last year, they were confident about the

cuts to come. But now he's become the latest casualty. He has done an

excellent job. He has left this council in a really good position,

a strong position, and a position which we can go down this radical

change. If he is that good, why not keep him? We have to make the

decision whether we keep the money in frontline services or whether we

get rid of some of our corporate capacity.

Instead of one chief executive and four corporate directors, the plan

is for Wiltshire to have three, and no one above them.

When you have lots of senior people on the same man, sometimes it takes

one person to say now. They can always be two against one, and that

will make the decision. The man who'll lose his job sees it

differently. Andrew Kerr warns Wiltshire may come to regret it. He

certainly does. I believe we have done a very good job, and I believe

that that model is the best for local government. There are a

number of councils trying to run without a chief executive, they

have all gone back to running with a chief executive eventually forced

stop. Opposition councillors and unions

who'd previously criticised the chief executive's pay now worry

about his departure. If the proposals go through, it will leave

us with a Soviet Star troika of three individuals responsible for

collectively running the council -- Soviet style troika. Nobody will be

in charge. I cannot conceive of a situation were set care �1 billion

organisation a year can run without someone at the helm. -- I cannot

conceive of a situation where around �1 billion organisation ear

can run without someone at the helm. Down the road in Bath, tradition

has trumped change. Bath and North East somerset council has also

looked at losing its top officer. On Thursday they decided against.

There are other models around and we consider them all. We concluded,

across parties and senior management, with the unions, but

for Bath and North-East Somerset, we were happier with a chief

executive model. But others see it differently. Two

decades ago, John Redwood was a local government minister. He's

been a councillor. Nowadays, he's an outspoken critic of the top job.

It is an excellent idea. I do not think you need a chief executive in

a council. A chief executive and the private sector is men are

responsible for getting revenue in, and making sure the company is

selling enough. You do have to do that a council. You just send

people to prison if they do not paid the bill you demand. They job

pay strategy -- they draw up a strategy, but that is decided by

politicians. They might control the costs. In my experience, most chief

executives of councils do not do that anyway.

Back in Wiltshire, the council's transformation is well under way.

We'll be able to guage its success once the building work's finished

in 2014. We'll see the impact of its new management structure much

earlier. Finally, today, news the west is to

lose an MP in a shake-up of our constituency boundaries. The

government wants to reduce the number of MPs in Parliament by 50.

That means one seat would go by changing boundaries in Wiltshire

and Dorset, with one constituency straddling the border.

principle we are doing means that roads are more equal weight. Even

the Labour Party do not disagree with the principle. Colleagues need

to hold on to that, deal with the inevitable difficulties without

falling out, then I think colleagues will support this.

And that's it from the west this week. The Politics Show continues

with Jo Coburn in London and Andrew Neil in Birmingham. Next week, it's

Labour's turn to hold their conference. We'll be talking to the

Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo. If you want to get in touch with your