:00:00. > :00:00.Now to redeem itself, it just wants to get back to the ASICS British
:00:00. > :00:14.banking. `` back to the basics of reddish banking. Time now for the
:00:15. > :00:25.Week in Parliament. Welcome.
:00:26. > :00:35.Fuel bills are getting bigger, time to cut the big six down to size. How
:00:36. > :00:39.can these profits be fair when people cannot afford to pay? If I
:00:40. > :00:52.don't make a 5% profit, I can't afford to continue employing people.
:00:53. > :00:58.After John Major's intervention, how do former prime ministers see their
:00:59. > :01:01.role? David Cameron will be relatively young when he stands down
:01:02. > :01:05.and he will want to do things. Will it be a new dawn for Wales as
:01:06. > :01:07.David Cameron gives new powers to the Welsh government.
:01:08. > :01:13.Rising domestic fuel bills and the policies of the companies have been
:01:14. > :01:16.continuing to heat up Westminster. Ed Miliband has again painted David
:01:17. > :01:26.Cameron as the champion of the energy companies when they clashed
:01:27. > :01:30.at prime ministers questions. The day before, the big six were facing
:01:31. > :01:34.the heat themselves. It is a competitive market but we
:01:35. > :01:41.are all subject to the same pressures. I firmly believe it would
:01:42. > :01:53.be helpful to depoliticise this debate and get expert and to look at
:01:54. > :01:56.it. Is it not about time you looked at the biggest problem which is that
:01:57. > :02:07.consumers can no longer afford to pay the bills? Never mind
:02:08. > :02:28.depoliticising things. I will answer it clearly. The two key things are,
:02:29. > :02:31.are the profits fair? How can these profits be fair when people cannot
:02:32. > :02:36.afford to pay? The second part is what do you do with the profits? If
:02:37. > :02:39.I do not make a 5% profit in my business, I cannot afford to
:02:40. > :02:43.continue employing 20,000 people who are equally members of our society.
:02:44. > :02:46.It is a fraction of what mobile phone companies and supermarkets
:02:47. > :02:53.make, although it is still a big number. They are there's a
:02:54. > :03:02.suspicion, that you are acting in concert, in terms of everything you
:03:03. > :03:06.say. We have heard it on eco issues and various other things but the
:03:07. > :03:23.question is why is there not more competition? Do you think this
:03:24. > :03:29.market is competitive? I get the sense it is more monopoly than
:03:30. > :03:33.competition. That is my sense. There are more national surprise ``
:03:34. > :03:41.national supply companies in the UK then there are a the other EU
:03:42. > :03:44.countries. There are 15 small suppliers which we did not have a
:03:45. > :03:48.while ago. If you look at the comparison of UK domestic gas
:03:49. > :03:52.prices, with the EU, we are second lowest.
:03:53. > :03:54.On what to do on the subject, a former Conservative prime minister
:03:55. > :04:00.unexpectedly weighed in on the side of consumers. John Major said people
:04:01. > :04:04.might have to choose between heating and eating and that got us thinking.
:04:05. > :04:10.What is the role of an ex`prime minister? Norman Lamont and Peter
:04:11. > :04:16.Hain will give us their thoughts on that.
:04:17. > :04:18.Duncan Smith has been looking at how prime ministers have to grin and
:04:19. > :04:26.bear their predecessors' supposedly helpful interventions.
:04:27. > :04:29.It is the role many dream of, but there's another inevitable role that
:04:30. > :04:42.all prime ministers will inevitably to fulfil. That of an ex`prime
:04:43. > :04:45.minister. When you do finally take on that role, there is the big
:04:46. > :04:49.question, do you leave your successor alone or are you tempted
:04:50. > :04:53.to tamper? John Major last week called on the current prime minister
:04:54. > :05:03.to consider an emergency tax on the profits of the UK's top energy
:05:04. > :05:07.firms. It would be entirely reasonable for the Chancellor to
:05:08. > :05:11.recoup that money from the company 's, given the scale of their profits
:05:12. > :05:16.and the nature of the very high increases they have proposed. He has
:05:17. > :05:23.not had too much to say since leaving office. His limited
:05:24. > :05:26.interjections have been carefully timed and that is understandable
:05:27. > :05:30.given the pledge of his own predecessor in 1990 to be a very
:05:31. > :05:39.good back`seat driver. I have never knowingly made an uncontroversial
:05:40. > :05:42.speech in my life. Never the less, I hope to be more controversial when
:05:43. > :05:49.we get down to discussing the details. With her handbag in full
:05:50. > :05:52.swing, she would turn out to be a nightmarish back`seat driver for
:05:53. > :06:08.John Major especially when he drove down the road to master it. `` to
:06:09. > :06:22.Maastricht. That's herself sort of the longest sulk and her study from
:06:23. > :06:28.Sir Edward Heath. The Iron Lady soon batted off Edward Heath's criticism
:06:29. > :06:31.but the relationship never thawed. Liking banning the sale of state
:06:32. > :06:41.assets to selling off the family silver. The great thing of the
:06:42. > :06:51.motherboard `` monopoly of the telephone system came up the market.
:06:52. > :06:54.Former Labour Prime ministers seem to be better behaved publicly
:06:55. > :07:08.towards their successors. James Callaghan never really criticised
:07:09. > :07:12.Tony Blair. Tony Blair was noticeably cool about Gordon Brown
:07:13. > :07:15.but managed to bite his lip for the entire time he was in office but
:07:16. > :07:18.this week, he managed to criticise himself over Labour spending, but
:07:19. > :07:22.perhaps that was a swipe at Gordon Brown. Whatever happened to him?
:07:23. > :07:26.This week he described himself as an ex`politician but he is still an MP
:07:27. > :07:33.and he has not had a Labour Prime Minister to criticise, not yet
:07:34. > :07:36.anyway. I am joined by the Conservative
:07:37. > :07:39.former Chancellor Norman Lamont who was John Major's campaign manager,
:07:40. > :07:44.and by Peter Hain who ran as a contender for the deputy leadership
:07:45. > :07:52.of the Labour Party. We have had Gordon Brown talking
:07:53. > :07:55.about an ex`politician. Do ex`prime ministes ever really become
:07:56. > :08:21.ex`politicians? It is an interesting definition as a sitting MP. The rest
:08:22. > :08:25.of us would find that novel, but I find that I feel sorry for former
:08:26. > :08:27.prime ministers because unless you do what Tony Blair did, resign
:08:28. > :08:30.almost immediately, it is quite difficult in Parliament when you
:08:31. > :08:32.have been centrestage and leading the government and negotiating
:08:33. > :08:35.international treaties, and suddenly you are backbencher. It is not clear
:08:36. > :08:45.to yourself what your status is. Do you feel sorry for them? I do not
:08:46. > :08:50.feel sorry for them. It is easier in the House of Lords. Some ex`prime
:08:51. > :08:53.ministers choose not to go. Those who have gone, Margaret Thatcher and
:08:54. > :08:56.Harold Macmillan, have intervened occasionally and used it as a sort
:08:57. > :09:07.of platform. I still think it is difficult. And I do not think there
:09:08. > :09:10.is any one model. Thinking about it, you have some who stay aloof and
:09:11. > :09:13.make the occasional intervention which has an impact because it is
:09:14. > :09:17.occasional, then you have some who continue to fight battles. Margaret
:09:18. > :09:24.Thatcher was in that category and so was Ted Heath. They both fought
:09:25. > :09:29.opposite sides of the same battle but were so involved that they
:09:30. > :09:32.continued to talk about it. On intervention, John Major had
:09:33. > :09:38.intervened on energy bills and said people may have to choose between
:09:39. > :09:46.heating and eating. Do you think that the present Prime Minister
:09:47. > :09:50.found that helpful? When I first heard about it, my first reaction
:09:51. > :09:52.was he had been put up to this by Downing Street to put pressure on
:09:53. > :09:56.the energy companies. Then I realised that was nonsensical. John
:09:57. > :10:00.Major has played his hand pretty well but I did not think this
:10:01. > :10:15.intervention was his best. He has been generally supportive and
:10:16. > :10:21.intervened occasionally. I did not agree with him and I do not think
:10:22. > :10:24.the government did. Labour seems to have a better record in terms of the
:10:25. > :10:27.ex`prime minister being silent but it seems to be a conservative
:10:28. > :10:30.disease that the former prime minister has something to say. Why
:10:31. > :10:42.is Labour better? They are much more loyal. It was interesting for me as
:10:43. > :10:45.a Labour MP, a big supporter of Ed Miliband, it was very helpful to his
:10:46. > :10:49.cause but the point Norman made, he very rarely says anything and
:10:50. > :10:52.whether or not the windfall tax was the right answer, he puts his finger
:10:53. > :10:55.on the pulse of everybody who has anything to do with the local
:10:56. > :11:04.constituency that energy prices are top concern. Everyone listens
:11:05. > :11:11.closely? It was not a gratuitous remark and he just made it and left
:11:12. > :11:14.it there. I do not regard it as at all helpful to number ten, but Tony
:11:15. > :11:17.Blair has played an interesting role in that because he has an active
:11:18. > :11:21.participant in the Middle East peace process, and because he holds a very
:11:22. > :11:24.strong views and feels strongly that the recommendation to be in Iraq was
:11:25. > :11:36.right and has a certain view, we saw him recently calling for
:11:37. > :11:44.intervention of an unspecified kind. That was the weakness, but lack the
:11:45. > :11:47.weakness of his position. Tony Blair lived in the upper position of
:11:48. > :11:51.trying to justify himself in my leading as he was advocating an
:11:52. > :11:54.attack on Syria because he felt it would put the war in Iraq in a
:11:55. > :11:57.different perspective, and it would seem less remarkable and then if
:11:58. > :12:11.people saw the logic here is reported to have seen. Personally I
:12:12. > :12:18.think he is badly wrong and he goes on and on trying to justify himself.
:12:19. > :12:22.Let's stay global ` we look at the United States they do things
:12:23. > :12:27.differently. An interesting comparison there. Is the American
:12:28. > :12:37.experience something we could learn from? American presidents are set up
:12:38. > :12:44.with the presidential library. They are still called Mr President. You
:12:45. > :12:51.could still be Mr Secretary! Sometimes I am still called
:12:52. > :12:53.Chancellor abroad! I think American presidents follow more the
:12:54. > :13:06.bipartisan model, the John Major model. The tend to do charitable
:13:07. > :13:09.work. An example of somebody who played his cards very well is Jimmy
:13:10. > :13:13.Carter. I was not an admirer of him but he has played a blinder as an
:13:14. > :13:20.ex`president. He has gone to places like North Korea and Cuba. Countries
:13:21. > :13:33.where you need a rotation and need to maintain a link. Does she urged
:13:34. > :13:41.to be treasured. `` arbitration. More successful as an ex`president?
:13:42. > :13:52.Quite possibly. Whereas in power, they may have been hated or
:13:53. > :13:56.distrusted. We were looking about the Conservative disease. You were
:13:57. > :14:09.at the heart of power in the early 90s. Margaret Thatcher declared she
:14:10. > :14:14.would make a good back`seat driver. How did that go down? That went down
:14:15. > :14:17.badly with John Major. He was not upset by her remark but by her
:14:18. > :14:21.continued intervention. My own view is that John Major overreacted to
:14:22. > :14:23.it. I think he could have learned a little hope Mrs Thatcher treated
:14:24. > :14:26.Teddy. `` Ted Heath. When he intended to remain in the House of
:14:27. > :14:29.Commons, she offered him the position of ambassador in
:14:30. > :14:32.Washington. He turned that down and she made the judgement that the two
:14:33. > :14:35.of them could not work together and just ignored everything he said. She
:14:36. > :14:41.was not put out, she just steadfastly lookahead, and ignore
:14:42. > :14:47.them and carried on. I think it was the right thing. There must be
:14:48. > :14:55.temptation for a Prime Minister to go for a populist subject, is that a
:14:56. > :14:59.trap he could fall into? I don't think any of them do that. I can't
:15:00. > :15:03.think of John Major or Tony Blair are doing that. Tony Blair is still
:15:04. > :15:12.a passionate political figure on a substantial figure, and he feels
:15:13. > :15:14.strongly about things. What ex`prime minister is sometimes do, they try
:15:15. > :15:25.to influence how they are perceived, they try to influence their legacy.
:15:26. > :15:32.All ex`ministers do that as well. Except us! I am not sure. I'm not
:15:33. > :15:34.sure I make myself an exception. Some comments are designed to
:15:35. > :15:37.influence the debate and as Peter says, how people are perceived
:15:38. > :15:45.changes after they leave office but then maybe in the decade after that
:15:46. > :15:50.and after that. These arguments are never closed. I remember one thing
:15:51. > :15:56.Mrs Thatcher said to me, that there are no final victories in politics.
:15:57. > :15:58.The arguments go on, they are reopened and you can be Prime
:15:59. > :16:10.Minister and that, another Prime Minister can alter this. David
:16:11. > :16:13.Cameron is a relatively young man. What would be the ideal strategy for
:16:14. > :16:27.him to start thinking about being annexed by Minister? `` and ex`
:16:28. > :16:30.prime minister. At an ex`Prime Minister as soon as possible.
:16:31. > :16:33.Because he is young, that has been an issue for Tony Blair, and in a
:16:34. > :16:37.weight maybe for John Major, although he is taken an interesting
:16:38. > :16:40.course. David Cameron will be young when he stands down and he will want
:16:41. > :16:45.to do things, as Tony Blair has wanted to do things. I would expect
:16:46. > :16:48.him to fit more into the Blair mould of somebody being active on some
:16:49. > :16:56.stage somewhere, not in the gratuitous sense but wanting to say
:16:57. > :16:59.things and do things. I guess like Tony has been, not wanting to be
:17:00. > :17:02.unhelpful to successors, because he is still passionate about the Labour
:17:03. > :17:09.Party and I imagine David Cameron will still be passionate about the
:17:10. > :17:15.Conservative Party. A difficult path to tread? I think David Cameron has
:17:16. > :17:18.interests outside politics and he really enjoys family life and he
:17:19. > :17:28.will spend a lot of time trying to live a normal life. Goodness knows
:17:29. > :17:31.when this will happen but I hope he will be there in the next
:17:32. > :17:39.Parliament, but I would think, as you said, Peter, he would follow the
:17:40. > :17:42.Blair model. I imagine him getting involved in charitable work and
:17:43. > :17:45.overseas aid, but I think he would do his best to be constructive and
:17:46. > :18:02.helpful to whoever succeeded him, but I think he has another life
:18:03. > :18:06.outside politics. Talking of prime ministers, David Cameron and Nick
:18:07. > :18:17.Clegg have been at the Welsh assembly. If there is a yes vote in
:18:18. > :18:23.the referendum, that could be controlled over portions of income
:18:24. > :18:31.tax. It is a turnaround from when the Prime Minister spoke earlier,
:18:32. > :18:34.one month ago. They are completely absurdist via powers were as of the
:18:35. > :18:46.people in Wales wants to know results. How are we going to raise
:18:47. > :18:52.school standards? I think the government has given in too much to
:18:53. > :18:59.the teaching unions. That was then, what is this saying in our? It is
:19:00. > :19:06.hard to find anyone quite as enthusiastic. He is there in the
:19:07. > :19:14.bubble in Cardiff, announcing a big changes. He sees it as a sharing in
:19:15. > :19:27.a new era of accountable government. At the moment, the government relies
:19:28. > :19:30.on Westminster for all its spending. Both sides of the coalition have
:19:31. > :19:36.come around to the same conclusion but for different reasons.
:19:37. > :19:42.Conservatives have been anti` devolution. It is amazing what three
:19:43. > :19:47.years being blamed for everything that goes wrong does for you. David
:19:48. > :19:55.Cameron now says accountable government is the way forward. What
:19:56. > :20:00.will we see it changed? Borrowing powers. That is important in order
:20:01. > :20:07.to improve motorways and build a hospital. Stamp duties. That was
:20:08. > :20:13.argued over within the coalition. There are a pizza big differences on
:20:14. > :20:19.either side of the border. The big one is the devolution after a
:20:20. > :20:24.referendum of the power to vary income tax. That has not been seen
:20:25. > :20:33.in Wales before. That would really be big news. It would transform
:20:34. > :20:43.political debate. More devolution. Is that mean a reduction of MPs in
:20:44. > :20:50.Westminster? Further down the line that will be it, big issue. Scotland
:20:51. > :20:58.had a reduction in MPs. Wales has not had that. The presiding officer
:20:59. > :21:05.wants plenty more officers to monitor this. Thank you for joining
:21:06. > :21:09.us. Now, a look at some of the other stories around Parliament in the
:21:10. > :21:11.last seven days. The row over free schools was stepped up on Wednesday,
:21:12. > :21:14.when the Shadow Education Secretary told the Commons he wanted
:21:15. > :21:19.unqualified teachers to be replaced by qualified ones. The surprising
:21:20. > :21:22.truth, Mr Speaker, is that under this Government you need more
:21:23. > :21:27.qualifications to get a job in a burger bar than you do to teach in
:21:28. > :21:34.an English school. We need to train teachers up, not talk them down.
:21:35. > :21:36.Under Labour, an act was passed which allowed unqualified teachers
:21:37. > :21:44.and there are fewer unqualified teachers now in our schools than
:21:45. > :21:48.when Labour were in government. The storm of St Jude leaves a trail of
:21:49. > :21:51.destruction. The trees come down, the trains stop running, and a crane
:21:52. > :21:54.crashes down on the Cabinet Office. Parliament braved these hazards, but
:21:55. > :22:00.there was a reduced service in some parts. I hope you will agree this is
:22:01. > :22:03.an appropriate time to deal with winter resilience because of the
:22:04. > :22:13.weather problems today, we are without someone misses and also some
:22:14. > :22:15.members. I am impressed by the resilience the transport network has
:22:16. > :22:19.shown, especially given the large numbers of trees that are pollen on
:22:20. > :22:28.real Weyline 's `` that have fallen on railway lines and a surface water
:22:29. > :22:31.flooding. Is it time to put CCTV cameras in these? Taxi drivers at
:22:32. > :22:35.risk of violent attacks would be much safer if cameras were in their
:22:36. > :22:45.cabs, says an MP introducing a bill in the Commons. Two or three people
:22:46. > :22:48.get in your taxi and as they get to their destination, they say, we will
:22:49. > :22:53.just not pay. What evidence that the taxi driver have two say a crime has
:22:54. > :22:56.been committed? The number of assaults that can occur in disputes
:22:57. > :23:01.between drivers and passengers is horrifying, and that can lead to
:23:02. > :23:05.murder. And getting the full flavour of debate. The minimum sugar content
:23:06. > :23:09.in jam and marmalade is scheduled to go down from 60% to 50%. An MP with
:23:10. > :23:16.a taste for a fight promises there'll be no jam tomorrow. By
:23:17. > :23:19.reducing the percentage of total sugar, the characteristic jail in
:23:20. > :23:23.the consistency of jams, jellies and marmalade will be lost. The result
:23:24. > :23:26.will be a homogenised spreadable sludge which does not there any
:23:27. > :23:35.resemblance to the product we know in England and enjoy as British jam.
:23:36. > :23:38.You're watching the Week in Parliament, after a week when the
:23:39. > :23:53.energy debate again generated more heat than light.
:23:54. > :24:00.Wet weather to start the night. It will coincide with some of the
:24:01. > :24:08.fireworks and bonfires going on. There will also be problems with
:24:09. > :24:17.fog. Also frost problems in the Midlands. Brain arriving in northern
:24:18. > :24:23.Ireland in the morning, crossing. Frosty start with fog problems
:24:24. > :24:27.lingering for some time. Some of the rain turning into showers as it
:24:28. > :24:28.crosses the Irish