28/02/2014 The Week in Parliament


28/02/2014

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know they are here. More news at the top of the hour.

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Now it is time for The Week in Parliament.

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Hello, welcome to the programme. In a week when there has been teary

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over the collapse of the case against a suspected IRA bomber. Will

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he do everything in his power to reverse the despicable decision in

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the John Downey tests are just as can be done? As MPs debate

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representation in Parliament, we ask what can be done to make the House

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of Commons look more like the population. And who can forget this?

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We indulge in a bit of this data. `` nostalgia. David Cameron told the

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Commons on Wednesday that a dreadful mistake led to the collapse of the

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trial of a man who may have orchestrated the bombings of Hyde

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Park in 1982. Government officials wrongly sent him a letter in the

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thousand and seven telling him he was no longer a wanted man. Such

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letters have been sent to around 200 Irish republican paramilitary

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suspects. It is part of the Northern Ireland peace process. Btu P's

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leader at Westminster made his feelings clear. Does the Prime

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Minister kept the depths of the hurt among the victim's families and the

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deep sense of public outrage across the country as a result of the

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outcome of the John Downey case? He needs to understand that for an

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official letter of signed by an official to trumpet due process and

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the courts of this land without any parliamentary legislative or

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statutory underpinning is deeply offensive. Will he scrap these

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letters immediately? Will he do everything in his power to reverse

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the despicable decision in the John Downey case so that justice can be

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done for the families of the believed? Let me say I completely

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understand the depth of anger and concern that people will feel across

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this country about the appalling events that happened in 1982 and the

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fact that the person responsible is now not going to be appropriately

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tried. That is absolutely shocking. Our first thought should be with the

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11 soldiers and their families and friends. It may have happened 32

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years ago, but anyone who has lost someone in a situation like that

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will more than today as if it happened yesterday. The man should

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never have received the letter he received. It was a triple mistake

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and their mistake that we need to have a rapid factual review to make

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sure this cannot happen again. Whatever happens we have to stick to

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the principle that we are a country and the government under the rule of

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law. For Windows exchangers, it was

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announced that there is to be an enquiry into the scheme in forming

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terrorism suspects that there were no longer wanted by the police. On

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Friday the Northern Ireland assembly was reconvened. This British

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government and Sinn Fein scheme is and was wrong. Many people

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considered the impact in the John Downey case of providing an

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effective amnesty. We are doing what Parliament refused to do. The scheme

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being used is not an amnesty. It is not a get out of jail free card.

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Some people who have beaten a law and order drum now have difficulty

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accepting the word of the British Attorney General about the legality

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of the scheme. He said that the process to resolve some of the cases

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was a wilful process. The peace process has been brought to the

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point of crisis for no good reason. If there is discussed in the chamber

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today, it must be on the behalf of that is. Its compounds much of the

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trauma. We must sympathise with the victims and survivors of the Hyde

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Park bombing. Family and friends of those killed and all the victims and

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survivors deserve our sympathy. Beckwith has been provoked by the

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situation that has arisen. What can be done to make Parliament

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look more like the population? Just 20% of them are female and less from

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an ethnic minority background. It was the subject of a debate held by

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backbenchers. We should have a representative parliament. That is

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representative. It seems obvious. People should be able to look at

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this place and see somebody who looks or sounds like them. Who has

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an understanding of the life they lead. In 1987 we had for black and

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Asian MPs. It is now up to 27. That is well below the percentage of

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ethnic minorities in the population. For somebody who came to

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this with no personal wealth and family wealth, three point 5`4 years

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as a candidate fighting emotional seat and not knowing whether you

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would achieve your aim of getting elected to Parliament is a really

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big risk. It would put many people off if they had small children. The

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financial commitment is huge. I was proud to be in Cabinet for eight

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years. I am proud of all sorts of things I have done. But probably the

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most important thing I have ever done and the thing I am most proud

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of is to demonstrate to young people, families, employers,

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society, that somebody who has a definable disability can actually

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work on equal terms in a tough environment.

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Just ahead of that debate, I gathered three MPs well placed to

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talk about making Parliament representative. One of the party's

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seven when MPs and recently and sexily went for the party's deputy

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leadership. The Conservatives first black MP.

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And in early and data campaign for labour's adoption of all women

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shortlists. I began by asking why Parliament does not look like the

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public. If you look back 20 or 30 years, it does look more like the

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rest of the population. There is still further to go. Parties have to

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do their own work. But we need to be careful about saying that we should

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have quotas or proportional representation. We need a diverse

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range of people. Is that going to be good enough? I doubt it, if I am

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honest. We have a leadership programme that is specifically

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targeted towards people who would not normally have the opportunity to

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go for Parliament. We have got eight MPs standing down. We have selected

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for six of those. Of those six, five of them are women and two are ethnic

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minorities. One of them is an ethnic minority woman. We are trying hard

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to redress the imbalance that we have got in the Liberal Democrats. I

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think personally for me, I would quite like to see some kind of

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preferred representation. It is not the will of my party. Your party

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have done historically very badly at this. It seems to continue to shoot

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itself in the foot. He stood for the deputy leadership. They chose

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Malcolm Bruce. I think that people have got to recognise the fact that

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women have got an extra day mention to bring in. If you have got an all

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male group, you are not to get the different. When the electric look at

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us, they are looking to find people who look like them. `` electorate.

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Were you cross with the result? Was I happy to lose, no. But it will not

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stop me putting my hand in again. Your party has taken a different

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approach. You are up to 31% of MPs. Over a third. If you took away the

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short list, with the change stick? There has been a culture change, but

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I am a firm believer in the shortlists. I fought to get them put

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into the rules. They have been vindicated with the use of them. At

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what point do they stop? My preference and it is a personal one,

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once we get to parity with then need to go to 40% of men, 40% women and

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leave the other 10% to be decided. There are other issues as well. We

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need to make our parliaments more welcoming to people from all walks

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of life. 16 of our MPs are from black and ethnic minority

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communities. That is not enough. Would you like shortlists for that?

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It is a slightly different issue. Women are 51% of the population.

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Even in communities weather are a large number of people from ethnic

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minority groups? It is easier to argue for better representation

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there. 40% of our candidates in London are from black and ethnic

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minorities in forthcoming elections. 50% of our candidate in

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European elections are women. We continued to look at how we can

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properly represent all people in our country. Your party is taking steps

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forward, but they are tiny. When it comes to whet, something like 26%

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were women, only 16% are MPs. That is the wrong complexion. We have

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come from 30 years ago. We have made enormous progress. I was the first

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black Conservative MP. There were no shortlists. It still seems to be a

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tiny number. My friend came on as the first Asian MP. We now have 11

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people of nonwhite MPs. Out of more than 300 Conservatives. We are

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making progress. We go with the Queen of human nature. We like it

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meritocracy. We are always turn to be a bit behind the social make`up

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of the day. And you are happy to like behind the rest of the country?

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We are always going to be behind. But the results are conclusive. We

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have the first female prime minister. Who knows what the future

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will bring. The evidence is absolutely clear. Labour only have

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male protestant leaders. They have absolutely no people who are

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nonwhite. The Conservatives are a huge success story. God help us if

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we ever have failure. The important thing is that women do not want to

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whet another 200 years. So that they can get reasonable expectations. The

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plain fact is, it is no good waiting to be handed a quality, you have got

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to go out and fight for it. We have done that in the Labour Party. In

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the Conservative party, in my 25 years, I have had battles to but the

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point is, the Conservative party is based on meritocracy. You have to

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make your own way. We all want the same make`up of Parliament. What do

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you mean by meritocracy? If we look at the Blair babes... If you don't

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mind me saying so, that is a bit down, it is patronising of woman,

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and I am astonished to hear you use that phrase. I was one of the Tony

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Blair babes, and I joined the party before Tony Blair did. If I could

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get a word in edgeways, what I was saying was that that label of the

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Tony Blair babes is unhelpful, and if you could people into groups and

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say that you can only be on this list if you're in this group, the

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are perfectly able that would've made it on their own, a generation

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later, would have made it on their own, people think, hang on, are they

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there because of that short list? The final point, this is important,

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if there is some establishment elite that said this group needs

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favouritism, that belies an underlying sense that somehow people

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are not equal, somehow been the establishment to make it happen. I

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can't let him get away with that. The party's all women short lists

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were put in the rules by democratic decision of the party conference,

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not by an establishment elite, in fact, Tony Blair did not want to

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happen. These parties are doing something, the Lib Dem record is

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rubbish. We have this view in all abroad Democrats. We have had blood

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in the floor over this one. The women in the Parliament. We do have

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women in the Parliament. It is absolutely not fast enough, I

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totally agree, and Adam, for goodness sake, I like to tell your

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story, if I may. We don't have time. If you are a woman or from a black

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eye in order to background and put on the TV, chances are, look at your

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party and the other parties, they're going to see a white, middle`class

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man. That is not good enough. It is not good enough. 40% winnable seat

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at the last election were fought by women, unfortunately we didn't wind

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them, so you have got to wind the seat in order to be able to do that.

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But I want to see parity in my lifetime, I don't think that it's

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good enough to say, we will try to let everyone fight away on their own

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merits. Some people have got to have that extra little bit of help, and I

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don't see any problem at all in enabling that to happen. There are

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different ways of giving help. You can do it officially to party

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leaders and governments saying there are quarters, or you can do it

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unofficially. Our wonderful organisations like Operation Like

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Vote who do he wonderful job. We have opened doors in the

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Conservative party to all sorts of people and we are desperate to get

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them through, and it is beginning to happen. I can say to you guys, it

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will take longer in the Conservative party. But the quality of people who

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come through is so much better. That's insulting to women who have

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come through in the Labour Party, many of whom are of outstanding

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quality. One question. You had open primaries in the last election. Is

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that change that you need to make? Grabs open primaries would give you

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more women, more ethnic minorities than relying on your constituents.

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There is an underlying assumption that constituents associations are

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doing the right thing, they are, but they take a litfbaby steps tle more

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time to do it. This is a deeply conservative, natural way of doing

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things, let the public have a big input into the candidate are. I

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think it is a good way forward. It 400 years at the rate you are going

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before you have parity in your party, and if you think that's good

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enough... Miles behind, your party is miles behind. I made us be alive

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to see it. And we may still be talking about it. For now, Lorely

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Burt, Adam Afryie, and Angela Eagle, thank you for coming in to see us.

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It's 30 years since the satirical puppet show Spitting Image burst

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onto our TV screens and had the politicians running for cover. It

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ran for 131 episodes from 1984 to 1996. To mark this anniversary, the

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Cartoon Museum in London is hosting a special exhibition. But the

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question is, three decades on, is TV political satire dead, as one of the

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show's creators recently suggested? Our reporter Sam Francis went along

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to the opening night to find out. At 10pm on Sunday the 26th of

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February 1984, British television witnessed the birth of a new

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phenomenon. Spitting Image, a satirical puppet show which would

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push the boundaries of taste and decency. Public figures were

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ridiculed any cruise, cruel but very funny way. A lot of politicians may

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have hidden behind the sofa and cringed at seeing themselves

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caricatured, but if he did not feature, it probably meant they were

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not important enough. The show ran on ITV for 12 years, and at its

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height attracted more than 15 million viewers. John Lloyd, one of

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the creators said that in the UK we don't meet any satirical TV any

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more. Can that be right? I wish I hadn't said that. Yet has not

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rightly corrected me, of course there is satire on television. The

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Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You Matt. TV isn't the most important

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thing, but there are terrific people working there, if you look at David

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Mitchell, Charlie Brooker, Christmas, endless names. `` Chris

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Morris. He's just a grumpy old man, he doesn't want anyone to surpass

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his career. That's what it's about. It's not like it was in my day! As

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politicians have become or polished, professional and media savvy, does

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that make them harder to satirise? I don't quite understand when you have

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a government is money mentally preposterous as this one, it has

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everything going for it, it has stepped down some, this mismatch of

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the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. `` Steptoe and son. By his David

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Cameron the first premise in my lifetime who's not regularly

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impersonated on television? He has one of the most' walks in the world.

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1980s we had spitting image, and it was suited to the time because we

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both believe what we were seeing. If you stick a pin in modern

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politicians, they are also smooth and so likeable and so reasonable,

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and you can't really tell who's on which side, and in the 1980s, the

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politicians were rotten. Norman Tebbit went out and said sound bites

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that were a gift to satirists because he said what he meant, the

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pill was not sugared. Mrs Thatcher was the same, she said what she

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meant. They are so controlled by their spin doctors, the one thing we

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cannot control is laughter. These to be complicit in the laughter but now

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they're too frightened. If you start laughing at any government, that is

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the first chip in chipped away that eventually leads to their collapse.

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What is the future hold for TV satire? Let's have a government that

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starts kicking, and we will see whether they deserve something back.

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In the dying days of the coalition, with a general election next year,

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will we see more no holds barred satire on the box? TV bosses, over

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to you. Time now for our regular snippet of

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Euro news. The European Parliament has been holding its regular meeting

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in Strasbourg, while back home MPs and Peers welcomed a distinguished

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German guest. Here's our reporter, Alasdair

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Rendell. After months of arguments and negotiations, MEPs finally back

:22:22.:22:23.

in package of laws to toughen rules on tobacco products. There will be

:22:24.:22:27.

larger warnings and menthol and other flavoured cigarettes will be

:22:28.:22:31.

banned. It also paves the way for title break regulation `` tighter

:22:32.:22:36.

regulation of E cigarettes. Improved growth figures were reported. That

:22:37.:22:46.

is upgrading his earlier estimate. He warned the deployment would

:22:47.:22:49.

remain at historically high levels well into 2015. The German

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Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a visit to London where she addressed

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MPs and Peers in the Royal Gallery. She praised the partnership between

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the UK and Germany, but told the assembled crowd that those hoping

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for her to back EU Treaty reform would be in for a disappointment.

:23:06.:23:14.

Alisdair Rendell with a quick look at all things European ` at the end

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of a week dominated by fury over the collapse of a case of a suspected

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IRA bomber. Whether that not take any notice of

:23:20.:23:43.

meteorologist and that is why spring is starting on a cold night.

:23:44.:23:45.

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