:00:00. > :00:00.know they are here. More news at the top of the hour.
:00:00. > :00:15.Now it is time for The Week in Parliament.
:00:16. > :00:18.Hello, welcome to the programme. In a week when there has been teary
:00:19. > :00:23.over the collapse of the case against a suspected IRA bomber. Will
:00:24. > :00:28.he do everything in his power to reverse the despicable decision in
:00:29. > :00:32.the John Downey tests are just as can be done? As MPs debate
:00:33. > :00:36.representation in Parliament, we ask what can be done to make the House
:00:37. > :00:45.of Commons look more like the population. And who can forget this?
:00:46. > :00:49.We indulge in a bit of this data. `` nostalgia. David Cameron told the
:00:50. > :00:53.Commons on Wednesday that a dreadful mistake led to the collapse of the
:00:54. > :01:01.trial of a man who may have orchestrated the bombings of Hyde
:01:02. > :01:04.Park in 1982. Government officials wrongly sent him a letter in the
:01:05. > :01:10.thousand and seven telling him he was no longer a wanted man. Such
:01:11. > :01:13.letters have been sent to around 200 Irish republican paramilitary
:01:14. > :01:19.suspects. It is part of the Northern Ireland peace process. Btu P's
:01:20. > :01:26.leader at Westminster made his feelings clear. Does the Prime
:01:27. > :01:31.Minister kept the depths of the hurt among the victim's families and the
:01:32. > :01:35.deep sense of public outrage across the country as a result of the
:01:36. > :01:41.outcome of the John Downey case? He needs to understand that for an
:01:42. > :01:46.official letter of signed by an official to trumpet due process and
:01:47. > :01:50.the courts of this land without any parliamentary legislative or
:01:51. > :01:57.statutory underpinning is deeply offensive. Will he scrap these
:01:58. > :02:02.letters immediately? Will he do everything in his power to reverse
:02:03. > :02:06.the despicable decision in the John Downey case so that justice can be
:02:07. > :02:10.done for the families of the believed? Let me say I completely
:02:11. > :02:15.understand the depth of anger and concern that people will feel across
:02:16. > :02:20.this country about the appalling events that happened in 1982 and the
:02:21. > :02:25.fact that the person responsible is now not going to be appropriately
:02:26. > :02:30.tried. That is absolutely shocking. Our first thought should be with the
:02:31. > :02:34.11 soldiers and their families and friends. It may have happened 32
:02:35. > :02:37.years ago, but anyone who has lost someone in a situation like that
:02:38. > :02:42.will more than today as if it happened yesterday. The man should
:02:43. > :02:47.never have received the letter he received. It was a triple mistake
:02:48. > :02:52.and their mistake that we need to have a rapid factual review to make
:02:53. > :02:55.sure this cannot happen again. Whatever happens we have to stick to
:02:56. > :03:02.the principle that we are a country and the government under the rule of
:03:03. > :03:04.law. For Windows exchangers, it was
:03:05. > :03:08.announced that there is to be an enquiry into the scheme in forming
:03:09. > :03:13.terrorism suspects that there were no longer wanted by the police. On
:03:14. > :03:21.Friday the Northern Ireland assembly was reconvened. This British
:03:22. > :03:26.government and Sinn Fein scheme is and was wrong. Many people
:03:27. > :03:33.considered the impact in the John Downey case of providing an
:03:34. > :03:43.effective amnesty. We are doing what Parliament refused to do. The scheme
:03:44. > :03:50.being used is not an amnesty. It is not a get out of jail free card.
:03:51. > :03:56.Some people who have beaten a law and order drum now have difficulty
:03:57. > :04:01.accepting the word of the British Attorney General about the legality
:04:02. > :04:08.of the scheme. He said that the process to resolve some of the cases
:04:09. > :04:13.was a wilful process. The peace process has been brought to the
:04:14. > :04:23.point of crisis for no good reason. If there is discussed in the chamber
:04:24. > :04:28.today, it must be on the behalf of that is. Its compounds much of the
:04:29. > :04:33.trauma. We must sympathise with the victims and survivors of the Hyde
:04:34. > :04:41.Park bombing. Family and friends of those killed and all the victims and
:04:42. > :04:46.survivors deserve our sympathy. Beckwith has been provoked by the
:04:47. > :04:51.situation that has arisen. What can be done to make Parliament
:04:52. > :05:01.look more like the population? Just 20% of them are female and less from
:05:02. > :05:06.an ethnic minority background. It was the subject of a debate held by
:05:07. > :05:12.backbenchers. We should have a representative parliament. That is
:05:13. > :05:15.representative. It seems obvious. People should be able to look at
:05:16. > :05:19.this place and see somebody who looks or sounds like them. Who has
:05:20. > :05:30.an understanding of the life they lead. In 1987 we had for black and
:05:31. > :05:34.Asian MPs. It is now up to 27. That is well below the percentage of
:05:35. > :05:40.ethnic minorities in the population. For somebody who came to
:05:41. > :05:49.this with no personal wealth and family wealth, three point 5`4 years
:05:50. > :05:52.as a candidate fighting emotional seat and not knowing whether you
:05:53. > :05:59.would achieve your aim of getting elected to Parliament is a really
:06:00. > :06:05.big risk. It would put many people off if they had small children. The
:06:06. > :06:09.financial commitment is huge. I was proud to be in Cabinet for eight
:06:10. > :06:16.years. I am proud of all sorts of things I have done. But probably the
:06:17. > :06:20.most important thing I have ever done and the thing I am most proud
:06:21. > :06:28.of is to demonstrate to young people, families, employers,
:06:29. > :06:33.society, that somebody who has a definable disability can actually
:06:34. > :06:36.work on equal terms in a tough environment.
:06:37. > :06:40.Just ahead of that debate, I gathered three MPs well placed to
:06:41. > :06:48.talk about making Parliament representative. One of the party's
:06:49. > :06:53.seven when MPs and recently and sexily went for the party's deputy
:06:54. > :06:58.leadership. The Conservatives first black MP.
:06:59. > :07:04.And in early and data campaign for labour's adoption of all women
:07:05. > :07:08.shortlists. I began by asking why Parliament does not look like the
:07:09. > :07:12.public. If you look back 20 or 30 years, it does look more like the
:07:13. > :07:21.rest of the population. There is still further to go. Parties have to
:07:22. > :07:25.do their own work. But we need to be careful about saying that we should
:07:26. > :07:34.have quotas or proportional representation. We need a diverse
:07:35. > :07:44.range of people. Is that going to be good enough? I doubt it, if I am
:07:45. > :07:47.honest. We have a leadership programme that is specifically
:07:48. > :07:54.targeted towards people who would not normally have the opportunity to
:07:55. > :08:01.go for Parliament. We have got eight MPs standing down. We have selected
:08:02. > :08:08.for six of those. Of those six, five of them are women and two are ethnic
:08:09. > :08:12.minorities. One of them is an ethnic minority woman. We are trying hard
:08:13. > :08:19.to redress the imbalance that we have got in the Liberal Democrats. I
:08:20. > :08:24.think personally for me, I would quite like to see some kind of
:08:25. > :08:31.preferred representation. It is not the will of my party. Your party
:08:32. > :08:36.have done historically very badly at this. It seems to continue to shoot
:08:37. > :08:45.itself in the foot. He stood for the deputy leadership. They chose
:08:46. > :08:49.Malcolm Bruce. I think that people have got to recognise the fact that
:08:50. > :08:58.women have got an extra day mention to bring in. If you have got an all
:08:59. > :09:03.male group, you are not to get the different. When the electric look at
:09:04. > :09:10.us, they are looking to find people who look like them. `` electorate.
:09:11. > :09:25.Were you cross with the result? Was I happy to lose, no. But it will not
:09:26. > :09:32.stop me putting my hand in again. Your party has taken a different
:09:33. > :09:42.approach. You are up to 31% of MPs. Over a third. If you took away the
:09:43. > :09:46.short list, with the change stick? There has been a culture change, but
:09:47. > :09:53.I am a firm believer in the shortlists. I fought to get them put
:09:54. > :10:05.into the rules. They have been vindicated with the use of them. At
:10:06. > :10:14.what point do they stop? My preference and it is a personal one,
:10:15. > :10:22.once we get to parity with then need to go to 40% of men, 40% women and
:10:23. > :10:26.leave the other 10% to be decided. There are other issues as well. We
:10:27. > :10:32.need to make our parliaments more welcoming to people from all walks
:10:33. > :10:38.of life. 16 of our MPs are from black and ethnic minority
:10:39. > :10:44.communities. That is not enough. Would you like shortlists for that?
:10:45. > :10:52.It is a slightly different issue. Women are 51% of the population.
:10:53. > :10:57.Even in communities weather are a large number of people from ethnic
:10:58. > :11:03.minority groups? It is easier to argue for better representation
:11:04. > :11:09.there. 40% of our candidates in London are from black and ethnic
:11:10. > :11:16.minorities in forthcoming elections. 50% of our candidate in
:11:17. > :11:20.European elections are women. We continued to look at how we can
:11:21. > :11:25.properly represent all people in our country. Your party is taking steps
:11:26. > :11:36.forward, but they are tiny. When it comes to whet, something like 26%
:11:37. > :11:42.were women, only 16% are MPs. That is the wrong complexion. We have
:11:43. > :11:48.come from 30 years ago. We have made enormous progress. I was the first
:11:49. > :11:58.black Conservative MP. There were no shortlists. It still seems to be a
:11:59. > :12:06.tiny number. My friend came on as the first Asian MP. We now have 11
:12:07. > :12:12.people of nonwhite MPs. Out of more than 300 Conservatives. We are
:12:13. > :12:19.making progress. We go with the Queen of human nature. We like it
:12:20. > :12:26.meritocracy. We are always turn to be a bit behind the social make`up
:12:27. > :12:30.of the day. And you are happy to like behind the rest of the country?
:12:31. > :12:38.We are always going to be behind. But the results are conclusive. We
:12:39. > :12:42.have the first female prime minister. Who knows what the future
:12:43. > :12:51.will bring. The evidence is absolutely clear. Labour only have
:12:52. > :12:57.male protestant leaders. They have absolutely no people who are
:12:58. > :13:05.nonwhite. The Conservatives are a huge success story. God help us if
:13:06. > :13:11.we ever have failure. The important thing is that women do not want to
:13:12. > :13:19.whet another 200 years. So that they can get reasonable expectations. The
:13:20. > :13:23.plain fact is, it is no good waiting to be handed a quality, you have got
:13:24. > :13:29.to go out and fight for it. We have done that in the Labour Party. In
:13:30. > :13:33.the Conservative party, in my 25 years, I have had battles to but the
:13:34. > :13:38.point is, the Conservative party is based on meritocracy. You have to
:13:39. > :13:53.make your own way. We all want the same make`up of Parliament. What do
:13:54. > :13:57.you mean by meritocracy? If we look at the Blair babes... If you don't
:13:58. > :14:00.mind me saying so, that is a bit down, it is patronising of woman,
:14:01. > :14:04.and I am astonished to hear you use that phrase. I was one of the Tony
:14:05. > :14:16.Blair babes, and I joined the party before Tony Blair did. If I could
:14:17. > :14:19.get a word in edgeways, what I was saying was that that label of the
:14:20. > :14:23.Tony Blair babes is unhelpful, and if you could people into groups and
:14:24. > :14:26.say that you can only be on this list if you're in this group, the
:14:27. > :14:29.are perfectly able that would've made it on their own, a generation
:14:30. > :14:35.later, would have made it on their own, people think, hang on, are they
:14:36. > :14:38.there because of that short list? The final point, this is important,
:14:39. > :14:40.if there is some establishment elite that said this group needs
:14:41. > :14:43.favouritism, that belies an underlying sense that somehow people
:14:44. > :14:54.are not equal, somehow been the establishment to make it happen. I
:14:55. > :14:58.can't let him get away with that. The party's all women short lists
:14:59. > :15:00.were put in the rules by democratic decision of the party conference,
:15:01. > :15:09.not by an establishment elite, in fact, Tony Blair did not want to
:15:10. > :15:16.happen. These parties are doing something, the Lib Dem record is
:15:17. > :15:22.rubbish. We have this view in all abroad Democrats. We have had blood
:15:23. > :15:27.in the floor over this one. The women in the Parliament. We do have
:15:28. > :15:29.women in the Parliament. It is absolutely not fast enough, I
:15:30. > :15:38.totally agree, and Adam, for goodness sake, I like to tell your
:15:39. > :15:42.story, if I may. We don't have time. If you are a woman or from a black
:15:43. > :15:46.eye in order to background and put on the TV, chances are, look at your
:15:47. > :16:00.party and the other parties, they're going to see a white, middle`class
:16:01. > :16:05.man. That is not good enough. It is not good enough. 40% winnable seat
:16:06. > :16:08.at the last election were fought by women, unfortunately we didn't wind
:16:09. > :16:12.them, so you have got to wind the seat in order to be able to do that.
:16:13. > :16:16.But I want to see parity in my lifetime, I don't think that it's
:16:17. > :16:19.good enough to say, we will try to let everyone fight away on their own
:16:20. > :16:23.merits. Some people have got to have that extra little bit of help, and I
:16:24. > :16:29.don't see any problem at all in enabling that to happen. There are
:16:30. > :16:32.different ways of giving help. You can do it officially to party
:16:33. > :16:35.leaders and governments saying there are quarters, or you can do it
:16:36. > :16:37.unofficially. Our wonderful organisations like Operation Like
:16:38. > :16:40.Vote who do he wonderful job. We have opened doors in the
:16:41. > :16:44.Conservative party to all sorts of people and we are desperate to get
:16:45. > :16:47.them through, and it is beginning to happen. I can say to you guys, it
:16:48. > :16:53.will take longer in the Conservative party. But the quality of people who
:16:54. > :16:56.come through is so much better. That's insulting to women who have
:16:57. > :17:07.come through in the Labour Party, many of whom are of outstanding
:17:08. > :17:11.quality. One question. You had open primaries in the last election. Is
:17:12. > :17:14.that change that you need to make? Grabs open primaries would give you
:17:15. > :17:19.more women, more ethnic minorities than relying on your constituents.
:17:20. > :17:22.There is an underlying assumption that constituents associations are
:17:23. > :17:26.doing the right thing, they are, but they take a litfbaby steps tle more
:17:27. > :17:29.time to do it. This is a deeply conservative, natural way of doing
:17:30. > :17:37.things, let the public have a big input into the candidate are. I
:17:38. > :17:41.think it is a good way forward. It 400 years at the rate you are going
:17:42. > :17:49.before you have parity in your party, and if you think that's good
:17:50. > :17:55.enough... Miles behind, your party is miles behind. I made us be alive
:17:56. > :17:59.to see it. And we may still be talking about it. For now, Lorely
:18:00. > :18:04.Burt, Adam Afryie, and Angela Eagle, thank you for coming in to see us.
:18:05. > :18:07.It's 30 years since the satirical puppet show Spitting Image burst
:18:08. > :18:13.onto our TV screens and had the politicians running for cover. It
:18:14. > :18:18.ran for 131 episodes from 1984 to 1996. To mark this anniversary, the
:18:19. > :18:23.Cartoon Museum in London is hosting a special exhibition. But the
:18:24. > :18:28.question is, three decades on, is TV political satire dead, as one of the
:18:29. > :18:30.show's creators recently suggested? Our reporter Sam Francis went along
:18:31. > :18:43.to the opening night to find out. At 10pm on Sunday the 26th of
:18:44. > :18:49.February 1984, British television witnessed the birth of a new
:18:50. > :18:51.phenomenon. Spitting Image, a satirical puppet show which would
:18:52. > :18:57.push the boundaries of taste and decency. Public figures were
:18:58. > :19:03.ridiculed any cruise, cruel but very funny way. A lot of politicians may
:19:04. > :19:06.have hidden behind the sofa and cringed at seeing themselves
:19:07. > :19:12.caricatured, but if he did not feature, it probably meant they were
:19:13. > :19:15.not important enough. The show ran on ITV for 12 years, and at its
:19:16. > :19:22.height attracted more than 15 million viewers. John Lloyd, one of
:19:23. > :19:31.the creators said that in the UK we don't meet any satirical TV any
:19:32. > :19:37.more. Can that be right? I wish I hadn't said that. Yet has not
:19:38. > :19:41.rightly corrected me, of course there is satire on television. The
:19:42. > :19:46.Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You Matt. TV isn't the most important
:19:47. > :19:49.thing, but there are terrific people working there, if you look at David
:19:50. > :20:03.Mitchell, Charlie Brooker, Christmas, endless names. `` Chris
:20:04. > :20:06.Morris. He's just a grumpy old man, he doesn't want anyone to surpass
:20:07. > :20:10.his career. That's what it's about. It's not like it was in my day! As
:20:11. > :20:17.politicians have become or polished, professional and media savvy, does
:20:18. > :20:20.that make them harder to satirise? I don't quite understand when you have
:20:21. > :20:22.a government is money mentally preposterous as this one, it has
:20:23. > :20:30.everything going for it, it has stepped down some, this mismatch of
:20:31. > :20:35.the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. `` Steptoe and son. By his David
:20:36. > :20:37.Cameron the first premise in my lifetime who's not regularly
:20:38. > :20:42.impersonated on television? He has one of the most' walks in the world.
:20:43. > :20:52.1980s we had spitting image, and it was suited to the time because we
:20:53. > :20:55.both believe what we were seeing. If you stick a pin in modern
:20:56. > :20:58.politicians, they are also smooth and so likeable and so reasonable,
:20:59. > :21:11.and you can't really tell who's on which side, and in the 1980s, the
:21:12. > :21:14.politicians were rotten. Norman Tebbit went out and said sound bites
:21:15. > :21:18.that were a gift to satirists because he said what he meant, the
:21:19. > :21:23.pill was not sugared. Mrs Thatcher was the same, she said what she
:21:24. > :21:29.meant. They are so controlled by their spin doctors, the one thing we
:21:30. > :21:32.cannot control is laughter. These to be complicit in the laughter but now
:21:33. > :21:35.they're too frightened. If you start laughing at any government, that is
:21:36. > :21:39.the first chip in chipped away that eventually leads to their collapse.
:21:40. > :21:44.What is the future hold for TV satire? Let's have a government that
:21:45. > :21:52.starts kicking, and we will see whether they deserve something back.
:21:53. > :21:55.In the dying days of the coalition, with a general election next year,
:21:56. > :22:04.will we see more no holds barred satire on the box? TV bosses, over
:22:05. > :22:07.to you. Time now for our regular snippet of
:22:08. > :22:10.Euro news. The European Parliament has been holding its regular meeting
:22:11. > :22:15.in Strasbourg, while back home MPs and Peers welcomed a distinguished
:22:16. > :22:21.German guest. Here's our reporter, Alasdair
:22:22. > :22:23.Rendell. After months of arguments and negotiations, MEPs finally back
:22:24. > :22:27.in package of laws to toughen rules on tobacco products. There will be
:22:28. > :22:31.larger warnings and menthol and other flavoured cigarettes will be
:22:32. > :22:36.banned. It also paves the way for title break regulation `` tighter
:22:37. > :22:46.regulation of E cigarettes. Improved growth figures were reported. That
:22:47. > :22:49.is upgrading his earlier estimate. He warned the deployment would
:22:50. > :22:54.remain at historically high levels well into 2015. The German
:22:55. > :22:59.Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a visit to London where she addressed
:23:00. > :23:02.MPs and Peers in the Royal Gallery. She praised the partnership between
:23:03. > :23:05.the UK and Germany, but told the assembled crowd that those hoping
:23:06. > :23:14.for her to back EU Treaty reform would be in for a disappointment.
:23:15. > :23:18.Alisdair Rendell with a quick look at all things European ` at the end
:23:19. > :23:19.of a week dominated by fury over the collapse of a case of a suspected
:23:20. > :23:43.IRA bomber. Whether that not take any notice of
:23:44. > :23:45.meteorologist and that is why spring is starting on a cold night.