:00:14. > :00:16.Hello and welcome to The Week In Parliament.
:00:17. > :00:18.MPs back air strikes against the militant terror group
:00:19. > :00:26.The ayes to the right, 397, the noes to the left 223, so
:00:27. > :00:34.The debate exposes the rifts within the Labour party.
:00:35. > :00:37.It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria.
:00:38. > :00:46.And that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for this motion tonight.
:00:47. > :00:49.Also in the programme - we look back at David Cameron's
:00:50. > :00:53.And join me later in the programme from the
:00:54. > :00:56.Political Studies Association annual awards in Westminster.
:00:57. > :01:01.And a decision to allow British air strikes against the terror
:01:02. > :01:07.The week in Parliament was dominated by Wednesday's events.
:01:08. > :01:09.Ordinary business - including Prime Minister's Questions
:01:10. > :01:13.- was swept aside for a marathon, 10 hour discussion in which more
:01:14. > :01:21.But it wasn't just the decision on air strikes that emerged.
:01:22. > :01:24.Divisions within the Labour party bubbled to the surface.
:01:25. > :01:27.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's views were at odds with many in
:01:28. > :01:32.his top team, including the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn.
:01:33. > :01:38.The debate began, naturally enough, with the government case.
:01:39. > :01:46.The question before the house today is how we keep the British people
:01:47. > :01:51.And Mr Speaker let me be clear from the outset.
:01:52. > :01:54.This is not about whether we want to fight terrorism,
:01:55. > :02:01.The prime minister said air strikes would be effective and he defended
:02:02. > :02:03.his claim there were 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria,
:02:04. > :02:06.saying it was the estimate of the Joint Intelligence Committee -
:02:07. > :02:15.And I hope that at the end of it all, the House will come
:02:16. > :02:17.together in large numbers for Britain to play its part
:02:18. > :02:20.in defeating these evil extremists and taking the action that is needed
:02:21. > :02:28.The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the prime minister had not made
:02:29. > :02:33.To oppose another war and intervention, in my view,
:02:34. > :02:37.is actually not pacifism, it is hard-headed common-sense,
:02:38. > :02:43.which I think we should be thinking about today in this House.
:02:44. > :02:45.To resist Isil's determination to draw the western powers back
:02:46. > :02:49.into the heart of the Middle East is not to turn our back on our allies,
:02:50. > :02:55.it is refusing to play into the hands of ISIL which is what I
:02:56. > :03:02.Backbench contributions continued for the rest of the day.
:03:03. > :03:08.To my mind, Isil is such a clear and present danger to the civilised
:03:09. > :03:10.world that if all necessary means are endorsed by the Security
:03:11. > :03:18.Our French allies have explicitly asked us for such support and I
:03:19. > :03:21.invite the house to consider how we would feel and what we would say
:03:22. > :03:24.if what took place in Paris had happened in London, if we had
:03:25. > :03:36.explicitly asked France for support and France had refused.
:03:37. > :03:41.We should be tackling the ideology and the sectarianism
:03:42. > :03:47.that feeds the extremism that these groups including Daesh feed off.
:03:48. > :03:50.That is a long-term strategy, you cannot do it overnight, but again I
:03:51. > :03:57.I am not going to be a party to killing innocent civilians
:03:58. > :04:08.The SNP were uniformly against the motion and leader
:04:09. > :04:12.Angus Robertson also raised the point of Scotland's views.
:04:13. > :04:19.The UK Government, Mr Speaker, is going to have a huge problem
:04:20. > :04:21.with legitimacy and mandate for this operation in Scotland.
:04:22. > :04:25.It may well win the vote tonight, but it will do so with the support
:04:26. > :04:32.The Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and DUP Westminster
:04:33. > :04:37.leader Nigel Dodds both expressed support for the government.
:04:38. > :04:40.Over in the House of Lords, the day was devoted to talking
:04:41. > :04:44.about the government's proposal - although peers did not vote.
:04:45. > :04:48.While military force alone cannot defeat Daesh, they cannot be
:04:49. > :04:54.defeated without military force, I think that is a very obvious point.
:04:55. > :04:56.When they enslave women, when they murder hostages,
:04:57. > :05:01.when they persecute minorities, they are not seeking a negotiation.
:05:02. > :05:06.The just war criteria have to my mind been met, but while there
:05:07. > :05:12.is, while they are necessary, they are not by themselves
:05:13. > :05:19.Where we can end up doing the right thing in such a wrong way
:05:20. > :05:25.Back to the Commons - and Labour's shadow foreign
:05:26. > :05:29.secretary summed up - in a speech that shone a spotlight on the splits
:05:30. > :05:39.Not just their brutality but their belief that they are superior to
:05:40. > :05:46.every single one of us tonight and all of the people that we represent.
:05:47. > :05:51.They hold us in contempt and my view, Mr Speaker, is that we
:05:52. > :06:01.It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria.
:06:02. > :06:05.And that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for this motion tonight.
:06:06. > :06:15.What sort of the country would be, if we ignored,
:06:16. > :06:17.if we ignored the calls for help from our nearest neighbours,
:06:18. > :06:28.The final vote - 397 for to 223 against -
:06:29. > :06:33.saw a thumping majority in favour of extending airstrikes into Syria.
:06:34. > :06:39.A total of 66 Labour MPs sided with the government.
:06:40. > :06:41.The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was forced to grant colleagues
:06:42. > :06:45.a free vote and many Labour Mps openly expressed dissent.
:06:46. > :06:49.What does that mean for his leadership of the party?
:06:50. > :06:51.Earlier I spoke to Professor Rodney Barker
:06:52. > :06:58.You can be quite sure that if it turns out that Jeremy Corbyn
:06:59. > :07:00.actually, by providing an alternative
:07:01. > :07:07.narrative, a different story, provides an alternative to the SNP.
:07:08. > :07:13.One of the reasons why the SNP was able to wipe the floor
:07:14. > :07:16.with Labour at the last General Election was precisely because they
:07:17. > :07:20.rejected the idea, both as a policy and as a principle, of austerity.
:07:21. > :07:26.Well, if that works for Jeremy Corbyn
:07:27. > :07:32.and if that engages the electorate, then we will see a change of heart,
:07:33. > :07:36.of purely pragmatic reasons in the Parliamentary Labour Party.
:07:37. > :07:39.I mean, talking about the difficulty of managing
:07:40. > :07:44.those MPs and Hilary Benn's speech at the end of the Syria debate.
:07:45. > :07:49.That has made a huge impact, will that make life more difficult
:07:50. > :07:59.Because although it was arguing for a different policy for Jeremy
:08:00. > :08:03.Corbyn, there was very little in the grounds of the speech, with which
:08:04. > :08:09.Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters or anybody else could disagree.
:08:10. > :08:11.Because basically the speech was about a horrible
:08:12. > :08:19.Nobody is going to, because they wouldn't, believe that there was
:08:20. > :08:25.Of course nobody wants to be influenced, threatened, governed,
:08:26. > :08:31.Well, it was an enormously dramatic speech
:08:32. > :08:44.Not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are
:08:45. > :08:49.superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight.
:08:50. > :08:51.And all of the people that we represent.
:08:52. > :08:58.They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt
:08:59. > :09:01.and they hold our democracy, the means by which we will make
:09:02. > :09:12.It was a brilliant piece of Parliamentary rhetoric.
:09:13. > :09:20.Because on the one hand, for the public at large,
:09:21. > :09:27.he spoke of a deeply unpleasant, contemporary enemy.
:09:28. > :09:30.But remembering that he is also talking to Labour backbenchers
:09:31. > :09:35.and to traditional socialists, he remembered to call them fascists.
:09:36. > :09:37.He remembered to talk about the International Brigade and
:09:38. > :09:43.the Spanish Civil War so that there is an ideological continuity there.
:09:44. > :09:55.He was not attempting substantially to justify bombing as a tactic.
:09:56. > :09:57.He was simply concerned to say, these are extraordinarily unpleasant
:09:58. > :10:07.Does this mean that there could be some shift in the continental plates
:10:08. > :10:10.of politics and are we seeing the Labour Party with its leader
:10:11. > :10:15.going one way and Labour MPs going the other, could there be a split?
:10:16. > :10:19.I do not think they're going to see anything like the Social Democratic
:10:20. > :10:23.Party, which at least for some Labour MPs would be a rather horrid
:10:24. > :10:34.It is very difficult to set up a new political party, the electorate is
:10:35. > :10:41.They like the labels or dislike the labels they know
:10:42. > :10:50.and new parties flourish briefly, but then tend to wither.
:10:51. > :10:53.Thank you very much indeed for joining us.
:10:54. > :10:56.The planned strike by junior doctors in England was suspended this week.
:10:57. > :10:59.But before the news came through - and faced with three days
:11:00. > :11:01.of industrial action - the Health Secretary gave a
:11:02. > :11:15.Following last week's spending review, no one can be in any doubt
:11:16. > :11:22.about this government's commitment to the NHS. Additional resources
:11:23. > :11:26.have to be matched with even safer surfaces for patients. -- services.
:11:27. > :11:29.That is why on the back of mounting academic evidence that mortality
:11:30. > :11:35.rates are higher as weak against them during the week we have made a
:11:36. > :11:39.manifesto commitment to deliver truly seven-day hospital services
:11:40. > :11:42.for urgent and emergency care. Our plans are deliberate and --
:11:43. > :11:46.deliberately intended to be better for doctors, more generous rates for
:11:47. > :11:50.we can work than those offered to police officers, fire officers and
:11:51. > :11:55.pilots. They protect pay for all junior doctors working within their
:11:56. > :12:01.legal contracted hours, compensating for a reduction in anti-social hours
:12:02. > :12:05.with the basic pay rise averaging 11% and average pay maintained. They
:12:06. > :12:11.reduced the maximum hours a doctor can work on anyone week from 91 to
:12:12. > :12:14.72 hours and stop altogether the practice of acts being doctors to
:12:15. > :12:18.work five nights in a row. Many studies have concluded that the
:12:19. > :12:22.needs to be much more research into why there is a weekend of acts being
:12:23. > :12:24.doctors to work five nights in a row. Many studies have concluded
:12:25. > :12:51.that the needs to be much more research into why there is a weekend
:12:52. > :12:53.Many studies have concluded there needs to be much more research
:12:54. > :12:57.into why there is a weekend effect so that we can make sure we focus
:12:58. > :13:00.So will the Health Secretary today commit to commissioning new
:13:01. > :13:02.independent research into how reforming staffing arrangements
:13:03. > :13:05.at the weekend might help improve the quality of weekend services?
:13:06. > :13:08.And does he understand that part of the problem has been that he has
:13:09. > :13:10.implied that junior doctors are to blame
:13:11. > :13:12.for differential mortality amongst patients admitted at the weekend?
:13:13. > :13:15.Well, Mr Speaker, what an interesting response from somebody
:13:16. > :13:16.who has never championed seven-day services
:13:17. > :13:19.and has never been prepared to stand up for patients.
:13:20. > :13:21.We keep talking about extra people dying at weekends.
:13:22. > :13:24.If I could just again stress, it is not excess deaths at weekends,
:13:25. > :13:26.implying that hospitals are like the Mary Celeste.
:13:27. > :13:28.It is excess deaths of people admitted at weekends
:13:29. > :13:32.Junior doctors are already covering the weekends.
:13:33. > :13:33.It is the additional services to diagnose
:13:34. > :13:39.Unfortunately, the Secretary of State in some previous statements
:13:40. > :13:42.has moved from talking about excess deaths to talking about the
:13:43. > :13:44.consultant opt-out clause which only applies to routine work and I'm
:13:45. > :13:49.sorry, a toenail clinic on a Sunday will not save lives.
:13:50. > :13:52.from the worlds of politics, the press and academia gathered in
:13:53. > :13:56.London this week for the Political Studies Association annual awards.
:13:57. > :14:01.Our man at the ceremony was Alex Partridge.
:14:02. > :14:04.a stone's throw from the Palace of Westminster.
:14:05. > :14:06.The tables are set, the glasses are gleaming.
:14:07. > :14:11.all ready for the Political Studies Association annual awards.
:14:12. > :14:17.The night when the academics have their say on our politicians.
:14:18. > :14:20.The Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, who has raised concerns
:14:21. > :14:22.about health reforms, won the Parliamentarian Of The Year award.
:14:23. > :14:26.There is a lot of similarity between being a GP and being a politician.
:14:27. > :14:31.Except nobody takes their clothes off in my room anymore.
:14:32. > :14:33.To have an opportunity within politics to talk about something you
:14:34. > :14:36.really love and which you are passionate about... For me, that is
:14:37. > :14:40.and social care and public health, and to have an opportunity to be
:14:41. > :14:42.able to talk about that within Parliament,
:14:43. > :14:52.And then to have some recognition from an organisation
:14:53. > :14:57.like the Political Studies Association,
:14:58. > :15:00.that means a huge amount, so I am immensely grateful.
:15:01. > :15:02.The Political Studies Association Communicator award went to
:15:03. > :15:05.Professor John Curtice who heads the team producing
:15:06. > :15:09.He recalled the drama of this year's survey.
:15:10. > :15:12.Finally, but by no means least, a big thank you to Paddy Ashdown
:15:13. > :15:14.for once again disbelieving what the exit polls said
:15:15. > :15:20.Our honest, scientific, academic and journalistic job was to tell
:15:21. > :15:29.So at the end of the day, that was what we had to do, whether
:15:30. > :15:33.The BBC's deputy political editor James Landau won Broadcaster
:15:34. > :15:36.His general election reports included interviews with party
:15:37. > :15:49.Most prime ministers would speculate about their future,
:15:50. > :15:53.but in a striking admission that will shake the election campaign,
:15:54. > :15:56.he told me and the country that he had a sell-by date.
:15:57. > :15:58.Would you go for a third term? No.
:15:59. > :16:00.I think... I'm standing for a full second term.
:16:01. > :16:03.I'm not saying that all prime ministers definitely go mad,
:16:04. > :16:05.or even go mad at the same rate, but I think...
:16:06. > :16:08.You know, I think I have more to bring to this job.
:16:09. > :16:12.The economy turned round, the deficit is half down,
:16:13. > :16:15.What a ghastly trip down memory lane!
:16:16. > :16:18.I now know that no-one is ever going to let me back into their kitchen.
:16:19. > :16:21.Which, given my culinary skills, is not a bad thing.
:16:22. > :16:23.When I went outside, the press officer said,
:16:24. > :16:27.I said, "Some of it was quite interesting."
:16:28. > :16:30.And the press officer said, "I think the third term stuff was
:16:31. > :16:32.I said, "Mmm, not too bad, I suppose."
:16:33. > :16:36.Because I didn't want to give them too much of a heads up.
:16:37. > :16:38.And there was a Lifetime Achievement award for Labour's Harriet Harman
:16:39. > :16:40.who has twice served as interim party leader.
:16:41. > :16:45.She shared her theory about the three ages of the woman politician.
:16:46. > :16:47.For the woman politician, in her youth -
:16:48. > :16:54.distractingly pretty, a bit flaky, obviously not reliable.
:16:55. > :16:59.she is a write-off, much too much on her hands.
:17:00. > :17:04.And then, just when her children have grown up and
:17:05. > :17:14.So, my question is, when is a woman politician in her prime?
:17:15. > :17:16.And I think that now that you have given me this,
:17:17. > :17:19.I have decided that my prime is now.
:17:20. > :17:24.And you can watch the full awards programme, the
:17:25. > :17:28.Oscars of the political world, on BBC Parliament at 9pm on Saturday
:17:29. > :17:34.Now, a look at some of the other stories of the week.
:17:35. > :17:37.Seb Coe, one-time Olympic gold medallist, now president
:17:38. > :17:42.of the world athletics body, the IAAF, faced a committee of MPs.
:17:43. > :17:45.The long-standing problem of drugs in sport erupted into a huge
:17:46. > :17:50.scandal earlier this year when a German TV documentary claimed that
:17:51. > :17:54.blood doping had been carried out on a massive scale by athletes in
:17:55. > :17:57.Russia with Russian officials and the IAAF involved
:17:58. > :18:12.After that came a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency
:18:13. > :18:14.which found corruption and bribery practices at the highest levels
:18:15. > :18:20.Straight question, do you really think you can do this?
:18:21. > :18:23.That you can break this culture, if it does exist? Yes. I have to.
:18:24. > :18:26.Because if I don't, there are no tomorrows for the sport.
:18:27. > :18:29.Is the IAAF a corrupt organisation? No, it's not a corrupt organisation.
:18:30. > :18:32.Some very, very serious allegations have been made about former members
:18:33. > :18:40.But I don't believe that the IAAF, across all its organisation
:18:41. > :18:43.and across the vast majority of people that are involved in
:18:44. > :18:51.by the Commons Treasury committee this week.
:18:52. > :18:54.A Labour MP wanted to know how much preparation had been going on
:18:55. > :18:57.at the top of government for a UK exit from the European Union.
:18:58. > :19:02.So, are you seriously saying that we are already committed to a
:19:03. > :19:06.referendum, the renegotiation is under way and that neither you,
:19:07. > :19:08.nor the Prime Minister, nor the civil
:19:09. > :19:12.morning after a referendum for the Prime Minister to come
:19:13. > :19:15.forward to the country and say, you voted out, this is the course of
:19:16. > :19:20.Because that would be a recipe for market chaos, wouldn't it?
:19:21. > :19:23.It is perfectly reasonable, and Mark is absolutely right to say this,
:19:24. > :19:25.that the British civil service supports the objectives of
:19:26. > :19:28.the government, and the objectives of the government are to find
:19:29. > :19:30.an improvement in our relationship with the European Union
:19:31. > :19:36.And there have been fresh calls for a tax on sugary soft drinks.
:19:37. > :19:39.But ministers have so far rejected the idea,
:19:40. > :19:42.despite a Health Committee report published this week which called for
:19:43. > :19:47.In a debate in Westminster Hall, the rise in obesity,
:19:48. > :19:52.in particular among children, was described as a "health emergency".
:19:53. > :19:56.And I think we face a real health emergency in this country,
:19:57. > :20:03.equivalent to an epidemic and sugar is one of the worst culprits.
:20:04. > :20:06.There is sugar added to processed food and it actually changes
:20:07. > :20:11.Should the government step back, should any
:20:12. > :20:15.of us feel it is acceptable that we are condemning the one in four,
:20:16. > :20:19.a quarter of the most disadvantaged children in Britain,
:20:20. > :20:27.And if there is something we can do about it that simply nudges
:20:28. > :20:31.a different way, I think we could look at the possibilities
:20:32. > :20:35.in this and say, how different would those children's life chances be?
:20:36. > :20:37.The size of both Houses of Parliament came under scrutiny
:20:38. > :20:42.A Lib Dem peer asked whether plans to cut the number of MPs
:20:43. > :20:45.through boundary changesmight lead to a reduction in the number
:20:46. > :20:51.Does the Minister agree that there is no other first chamber
:20:52. > :20:54.of a democratic parliament in the Western world which has
:20:55. > :20:57.as high a proportion of people who are caught up in government
:20:58. > :21:02.Would you also agree that that is partly the cause of tensions
:21:03. > :21:07.and the Commons as a result does not do its work in scrutiny
:21:08. > :21:09.and holding the government to account
:21:10. > :21:13.as a democratic Parliament ought to do?
:21:14. > :21:17.And as we reduce the number of MPs, it is vital to reduce the number of
:21:18. > :21:23.There are a number of comparisons to be made between the other place
:21:24. > :21:27.14.6% of the other place can be appointed for ministers
:21:28. > :21:29.and that compares with Australia where ministers account
:21:30. > :21:32.for 23% of their Parliament and New Zealand,
:21:33. > :21:35.where also 23% of their Parliament comprises ministers.
:21:36. > :21:38.I, for one, think that the other place does a very good job although
:21:39. > :21:42.I would like to pay tribute to this place as well in its role performing
:21:43. > :21:46.an excellent role of legislative acupuncture, which can be quite
:21:47. > :21:48.painful for those standing in this place,
:21:49. > :21:51.but can be quite good for the nation as a whole.
:21:52. > :21:55.A Labour peer asked if he had read reports of plans to cut the
:21:56. > :22:03.How does he reconcile this with the introduction of peers two by two,
:22:04. > :22:15.It's always good to see the noble Lord on such fighting form.
:22:16. > :22:18.All I would like to say is that I did read that,
:22:19. > :22:21.I always read the newspapers on a Sunday morning, obviously.
:22:22. > :22:23.It is always interesting to read about what might or might
:22:24. > :22:27.I will say, though, what might happen to the noble Lord,
:22:28. > :22:31.The Tory peer Lord Strathclyde was asked to review the workings of the
:22:32. > :22:37.House of Lords after it inflicted a number of defeats on the government.
:22:38. > :22:40.And six new peers were admitted to the House this week.
:22:41. > :22:42.That brings the total on our ermine-o-meter to 840.
:22:43. > :22:44.The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has had a busy week.
:22:45. > :22:46.But on Sunday, he passes a significant milestone.
:22:47. > :22:52.It's ten years on the 6th of December since David Cameron
:22:53. > :22:56.beat David Davis to be elected leader of the Conservative Party.
:22:57. > :22:59.Here is a countdown of ten memorable moments of Mr Cameron's decade
:23:00. > :23:06.Ten. Where better to start than at the beginning?
:23:07. > :23:09.David Cameron elected by a margin of more than two to one over
:23:10. > :23:17.If we have the courage to grab it, to seize it, the bravery to fight
:23:18. > :23:21.for it with every ounce of vigour and passion in our bodies,
:23:22. > :23:28.Nine. Cameron's first appearance at Prime Minister's Question Time
:23:29. > :23:46.contained a stark message for his opposite number, Tony Blair.
:23:47. > :23:51.was the future, once. Eight. Taking the Tories in a new direction,
:23:52. > :23:53.from "vote blue go green" to "hug a hoodie."
:23:54. > :23:56.The hoodie is a response to a problem.
:23:57. > :23:59.Seven. Mr Cameron took part in the first televised debates
:24:00. > :24:02.between the main party leaders in the 2010 election campaign.
:24:03. > :24:05.He didn't quite manage to lead his party to victory that year,
:24:06. > :24:08.but he did lead them into the history books and into coalition
:24:09. > :24:14.Six. The Bloody Sunday killings were unjustified and unjustifiable,
:24:15. > :24:19.David Cameron told the House of Commons in 2010.
:24:20. > :24:31.Speaking after the Saville report into the 1970s
:24:32. > :24:39.which heavily criticised the British Army's conduct,
:24:40. > :24:41.Mr Cameron said, he was deeply sorry.
:24:42. > :24:44.On behalf of the government, indeed, on behalf of our country,
:24:45. > :24:47.Five. Mr Cameron's leadership style didn't always go down well.
:24:48. > :24:49.Calm down, dear. Calm down. Listen...
:24:50. > :24:50.UPROAR. Listen, listen to the doctor.
:24:51. > :24:53.Four. In 2011, he led the coalition to win a decisive vote
:24:54. > :24:55.in the Commons to support UN-backed action in Libya.
:24:56. > :24:58.Three. David Cameron held a referendum in 2014 on the question
:24:59. > :25:05.And won. Voters decisively rejected independence.
:25:06. > :25:11.This is our home and I could not bear to see it torn apart.
:25:12. > :25:13.Two. And he was back in Number Ten after winning
:25:14. > :25:20.This time, with a Conservative majority in the House of Commons.
:25:21. > :25:23.One. Ten years on from winning over the Conservative Party,
:25:24. > :25:25.Mr Cameron is travelling around Europe
:25:26. > :25:28.as he attempts to reform Britain's relationship with the EU
:25:29. > :25:33.ahead of a referendum on the UK's membership.
:25:34. > :25:38.Don't forget our daily round-up of what is going on in Westminster.
:25:39. > :25:42.You can watch it every night on BBC Parliament at 11 o'clock.