:00:15. > :00:19.Tonight, This Week goes back to school. In the political playground,
:00:19. > :00:25.Ed Miliband wants everyone to know he's just an ordinary kid who went
:00:25. > :00:30.to an ordinary skal. I went to my local comprehensive,
:00:30. > :00:35.my comprehensive school education. My comprehensive. The Forwardian's
:00:35. > :00:38.head boy judges if it was an A* performance. Here in Manchester, Ed
:00:38. > :00:42.Miliband wowed the audience and gave the per morance of his
:00:42. > :00:47.political life as he proclaimed himself the guardian of the Tory
:00:47. > :00:50.one naition tradition. But did the political tectonic plates really
:00:50. > :00:56.shift that much? How will the boys from the posh
:00:56. > :01:01.school, masters Cameron and Osborne respond? Are they still planning to
:01:01. > :01:08.jump young Miliband behind the bike sheds? Tory blogger Tim Montgomerie
:01:08. > :01:12.reveals the Tory tactics. As he takes the trip, Ed Miliband might
:01:12. > :01:17.not be so easy to pick on. We look at the homework that goes into a
:01:17. > :01:22.police's performance. The world's hottest classical violin i, Nicola
:01:22. > :01:25.Benedetti knows a thing or two about how practice makes perfect.
:01:25. > :01:30.practice my instrument for five hours a day. To put in a good
:01:30. > :01:38.performance, Andrew, you know that you have to put in a good practice.
:01:38. > :01:43.Flipping heck Tucker what ever happened to Trisha Yates?!
:01:43. > :01:47.Evening all. Welcome to This Week. You find us
:01:47. > :01:53.in shock, shock I tell you, just when we thought that only a Taser
:01:53. > :01:58.to the temples could jolt us from our conference season stupor, or
:01:58. > :02:01.Blue Nun breath was taken away repeatedly by a series of shocks to
:02:01. > :02:05.the political system. Who would have thought that Ed Balls would
:02:05. > :02:10.take a sneaky tief to win a personalty in a Labour Conference
:02:10. > :02:14.footie match -- dive. Or that Keith Vaz, the saintly Keith would be
:02:15. > :02:20.under pressure again to explain his bountively bank accounts? That was
:02:20. > :02:28.as surprising that claims that Jimmy Savile was molesting under
:02:28. > :02:34.age girls. Or Ed Miliband being such a fan of old Ben Disraeli and
:02:34. > :02:38.Funkadelic that Labour's new slogan is One Nation under a Labour groove.
:02:38. > :02:45.It doesn't end. A one time employee of this parish, the former national
:02:45. > :02:49.treasure Diane Abbott has a new Facebook page with as many as 16
:02:49. > :02:55."likes"! Amazing. Or that the seemingly genteel streets of
:02:55. > :02:57.Primrose Hill are actually an urban hell which make The Wire look like
:02:57. > :03:02.Chipping Sodbury and that Ed Miliband had to fight his way
:03:02. > :03:07.through them to get to school every day. He went to a comprehensive by
:03:07. > :03:10.the way, you probably didn't know that. Or that, whereas Mussolini
:03:10. > :03:14.could make the trains run on time, our lot don't seem to be able to
:03:14. > :03:20.run them at all. Speaking of those not fit to pull the leaves of power,
:03:20. > :03:25.I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two main lines to Westminster
:03:25. > :03:31.wisdom, the Orient Express and the Chattanooga choo choo of late
:03:31. > :03:36.political night chat. I speak of course of #littlelordfalconer,
:03:36. > :03:40.that's Charles Falconer and #sadmanonatrain, Michael choo choo
:03:40. > :03:45.Portillo. You must be the Chattanooga choo
:03:45. > :03:50.choo. I guess so. Your moment of the week? Well, before his great
:03:50. > :03:53.speech, Ed Miliband accused the Prime Minister of writing a �40,000
:03:53. > :03:58.cheque to every millionaire. Now, the truth of the matter is that a
:03:58. > :04:02.person earning �1 million is paying �100,000 more in income tax this
:04:02. > :04:07.year than he or she was under the last Labour Government. Next year,
:04:07. > :04:10.when the top rate of tax falls to 45%, that person will be paying
:04:10. > :04:15.about �50,000 more in income tax than they were under the last
:04:15. > :04:20.Labour Government. So not only is it a very strange thing to say that
:04:20. > :04:24.the Government has written a cheque for �40,000 to a millionaire, it
:04:24. > :04:27.betrays an absolutely corrupt way of thinking about life which is the
:04:27. > :04:32.belief that the Government really owns all to money that you and I
:04:32. > :04:36.earn and that anything that the Government is so bountively as to
:04:36. > :04:39.allow us to keep is the Government writing a cheque to us. It's the
:04:39. > :04:44.other way around, we write cheques to the Government. In a week when
:04:44. > :04:47.Ed Miliband was claiming to be centries on One Nation, I thought
:04:47. > :04:52.this actually showed him as having a beyond Soviet understanding of
:04:52. > :04:55.the sources of wealth and who actually owns the wealth of the
:04:55. > :04:59.country. Two porky pies doing the rounds, one from Labour that every
:04:59. > :05:02.millionaire is going to get a cheque for �40,000 - that's not
:05:02. > :05:06.true. The other is the coalition claim that the deficit is falling.
:05:06. > :05:10.That's not true. This financial year it's up 22% already. Your
:05:10. > :05:17.moment? Well, of course, Ed Miliband's speech but also the new
:05:17. > :05:20.Ed ball who is was on show at Manchester Arena. He gave a strong
:05:20. > :05:27.speech too? A very funny speech, Butch Cameron and the flatline Kid.
:05:27. > :05:30.At the end of the day, he attended a meeting of business where you
:05:30. > :05:37.couldn't have found a more immollient, convincing individual
:05:37. > :05:43.than the much-loved Ed Balls. is he on? He's on peace and love
:05:44. > :05:49.and consensus. It will never catch on. I think it will. It's been a
:05:49. > :05:55.rough week for call we Dave. He's had to treat sworn enemy Boris
:05:55. > :06:00.Johnson to a posh lunch at Nancy Cameron's local, make a groveling
:06:00. > :06:10.apology to Richard Branson and explain why his party can't run a
:06:10. > :06:13.
:06:13. > :06:17.railway. Watch Ed Miliband do a Dave at the Labour Party Conference
:06:17. > :06:23.and elop with a Tory political hero in a speech that established the
:06:23. > :06:26.opposition leader as a genuine, well, opponent! How should the
:06:26. > :06:31.Tories respond? We've asked the Conservatives inside man, Tim
:06:31. > :06:34.Montgomerie, to pick up his clubs and give us his take of the week.
:06:34. > :06:39.Whenever I talk to Tory separate jis about the next election, how
:06:39. > :06:42.they are going to win, it's always the same two world answer, Ed
:06:42. > :06:45.Miliband. I ask how they'll cope if the economy doesn't recover, what
:06:45. > :06:52.they'll do if the coalition continues to squabble - it's always
:06:52. > :06:57.the same - Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband. It's almost like a
:06:57. > :07:06.one-club re-election strategy. It's always the Ed Miliband club that
:07:06. > :07:10.they rely on for victory. You can almost understand why.
:07:10. > :07:14.Before the Labour Conference began, just 3% thought Ed Miliband was
:07:14. > :07:18.charismatic. 4% thought he was a natural leader, only 5% thought
:07:18. > :07:23.that he was strong. Now, the speech that he gave this week wasn't
:07:23. > :07:28.exactly a hole in one, but it will give Tory strategists pause for
:07:28. > :07:38.thought. Perhaps he isn't quite the electoral liability that they'd
:07:38. > :07:43.
:07:43. > :07:48.And the fact is, Ed Miliband doesn't have to be that good to win
:07:48. > :07:51.the next general election. Forget the cuts, the unpopularity of the
:07:51. > :07:56.Tories and the NHS, the only thing that really matters in British
:07:56. > :08:00.politics at the moment is the fact that the Lib Dem voters collapsed
:08:00. > :08:05.and UKIP is surging. All the unhappy ex-Lib Dem voters are
:08:05. > :08:10.supporting Labour and all the UKIP voters have largely come from the
:08:10. > :08:14.Tories. Margaret Thatcher won in the 1980s because the right was
:08:14. > :08:20.united and the left was divided. Ed Miliband could get into Number Ten
:08:20. > :08:26.because exactly the opposite is true today.
:08:26. > :08:30.Putter please, caddie... Signs of life from Ed Miliband
:08:30. > :08:33.complete what's been quite a difficult summer for the Prime
:08:33. > :08:38.Minister. Deficit reduction, the central mission of this Government
:08:38. > :08:42.was supposed to be half way around the course by now. Actually, we are
:08:42. > :08:46.stuck in a bunker. Boundary reform was supposed to be the Tory's
:08:46. > :08:49.winning shot. But that's been lost in a water hazard. Next week in
:08:49. > :08:54.Birmingham when Tories gather for their Annual Conference, David
:08:54. > :09:04.Cameron has to show that he's as capable of a comeback as Europe's
:09:04. > :09:04.
:09:04. > :09:10.Ryder Cup team. So what can he do now? He needs the
:09:10. > :09:15.skills of every successful golfer. He needs to show strength and
:09:15. > :09:18.finesse. He certainly needs to be more Euro-Sceptic and tougher on
:09:18. > :09:22.crime but he also needs to deepen his commitment to the National
:09:22. > :09:28.Health Service and to pensioners. Tough and tender, not right, not
:09:28. > :09:38.left, but in touch with the whole common-sense of the British people.
:09:38. > :09:42.
:09:42. > :09:46.A bit more Jack Nicholas and a lot The miracle of Montgomerie joins us
:09:46. > :09:50.from the urban golf in Soho to our little urban studio here in
:09:50. > :09:54.Westminster. Welcome back. Thank you. Tell me, does the Tory high
:09:54. > :09:57.command still think Ed Miliband is the weakest link after this week?
:09:57. > :10:00.Yes, I think they still think he's a liability for Labour. I don't
:10:00. > :10:05.think that they think Health and Safety as bad as perhaps they'd
:10:05. > :10:09.hoped that he was, but his ratings are so bad and they could haven't
:10:09. > :10:13.got much lower. What he's shown is he's capable of giving a good
:10:13. > :10:16.speech, capable of raiding Tory territory, but he still hasn't got
:10:16. > :10:18.answers to the debt problem, he's still on the wrong side of the
:10:18. > :10:22.public on questions like immigration, welfare and crime,
:10:22. > :10:27.he's still not taken any tough decisions and so I think the Tories
:10:27. > :10:33.still think he's run rabble but perhaps not as weak as we'd thought.
:10:33. > :10:37.Are you sure it's the Tory strategy's only election-winning
:10:38. > :10:43.gam bit? Are they really putting all their chips on Mr Bland?
:10:43. > :10:46.They've relied too much on him -- Mr Miliband. It's not the only
:10:46. > :10:50.thing. If there are signs of economic recovery that, will give
:10:50. > :10:54.new hope to the Conservatives. The average of the opinion polls has us
:10:54. > :10:58.about 10% behind, that's with the economy contracting. We could
:10:58. > :11:02.become a lot more competitive if voters begin to see that the pain
:11:02. > :11:08.that they've been experiencing, the real pain, has actually been worth
:11:08. > :11:10.Should the Tories change strategy after one good speech by Mr
:11:10. > :11:15.Miliband? Well, they could adopt a strategy,
:11:15. > :11:21.I suppose that could be a change of strategy. You mane they haven't got
:11:21. > :11:26.one? Not at all as far as I can see. I've not heard any articutation of
:11:26. > :11:31.what is Government is about recently. For six months, we have
:11:31. > :11:34.gone into a dormant state. It's been a summer of bred and circuses,
:11:34. > :11:36.the Olympics and the Jubilee have taken the mind off politics but it
:11:36. > :11:41.seems to have taken the Prime Minister and the Chief Executive's
:11:41. > :11:45.mind off politics as well. We are in a very dire situation vis-a-vis
:11:45. > :11:49.the size of the national debt and the deficit as you described. There
:11:49. > :11:53.is a perfectly articulate case for why, even if the strategy doesn't
:11:53. > :11:56.seem to be working well, it's the only strategy and why any other
:11:56. > :11:59.strategy would be extraordinarily difficult. There is a whole lot to
:11:59. > :12:04.be said about how we get people used to the idea that they have to
:12:04. > :12:08.have declining expectations, not rising expectations of the future
:12:09. > :12:11.because the party is over because we have already made the next
:12:11. > :12:14.generation pay for everything we want to do. There is an interesting
:12:14. > :12:17.dialogue about what's happening about the transfer of power from
:12:17. > :12:21.Europe to the east. There is an interesting discussion to be had
:12:21. > :12:25.about the euro. There is a lot to be said about the horrific pensions
:12:25. > :12:28.problem that is eAmericaning. On all these interesting subjects, as
:12:28. > :12:33.far as I know, the Government is completely silent. I'm quite
:12:33. > :12:38.exhausted listening to that. Can I bring Charlie in now? If he has
:12:38. > :12:42.something to say. Of course he has. One well received speech by Mr
:12:42. > :12:48.Miliband doesn't change a leader's fortunes, does it? His poll ratings
:12:48. > :12:52.are still dire? Yep, but the sense you have is that Ed Miliband is
:12:52. > :12:57.making progress getting on top of his party and making progress in
:12:57. > :13:00.terms of improving. So he's got some momentum in a way that Tony
:13:00. > :13:03.Blair had momentum by getting a grip of his party and moving
:13:03. > :13:07.forward. For all the reasons that Michael is saying, if you are the
:13:07. > :13:11.Prime Minister, you've got to make progress wrestling with the
:13:11. > :13:17.problems of the country and it appears to be getting worse and
:13:17. > :13:24.worse for him. He pinned his colours to an improving economy, an
:13:24. > :13:28.external event which is just making no progress. What if the key
:13:28. > :13:33.figures are strong? I don't know. Labour's poll lead is soft. We have
:13:34. > :13:37.seen polls down to five and three. I mean, it bumps around? Good
:13:37. > :13:42.quarters growth could blow the ratings polls out of the water?
:13:42. > :13:48.what is the sense of command of events? It's external events, the
:13:48. > :13:53.politicians look as if it were not in control. The Government's been
:13:53. > :13:57.buffeted around. Exactly. It seems to me, see if you agree with this,
:13:57. > :14:00.that what Mr Miliband did this week was made his party, finally believe
:14:00. > :14:04.that they had chosen the right guy after all? Precisely right.
:14:04. > :14:08.what he's got to to now is convince the country and that's a much
:14:08. > :14:12.bigger ask? I think you are dead right because I came away from
:14:12. > :14:16.Manchester with the party who'd never been going to get rid of Ed
:14:16. > :14:21.Miliband thinking, we've got somebody who could win on his
:14:21. > :14:25.merits and in the past, Michael Foot, Gordon Brown, we have often
:14:25. > :14:30.thought we couldn't win but now we think we can. The Noirs next week
:14:30. > :14:35.are in Birmingham, Tim. How much strubl Mr Cameron in with his own
:14:35. > :14:38.party and supporters -- how much trouble is Mr Cameron in with his
:14:38. > :14:43.own party and supporters in the sense that they don't think he's
:14:43. > :14:48.one of us, them being the Tories, they don't rate him as on the same
:14:48. > :14:51.wavelength? It is a problem and he's completely secure in that
:14:51. > :14:54.there's no threat. The Conservatives look at someone like
:14:54. > :14:59.Boris Johnson who'll be a huge figure in Birmingham next week and
:14:59. > :15:03.they see someone who's won in London, a City which leans Labour,
:15:03. > :15:13.has won in the middle of a recession and he speaks the
:15:13. > :15:21.
:15:21. > :15:29.language. He won't cause any The favours seem to be dwindling,
:15:29. > :15:33.do you agree? Last week you talked about the fact they haven't looked
:15:33. > :15:38.after people. When they were riding high, that didn't matter. Actually,
:15:38. > :15:42.now they are in trouble, they turn round and look for friends in Fleet
:15:42. > :15:45.Street and elsewhere, there aren't any. It is hard from a position of
:15:45. > :15:48.weakness - They don't look for friends in Fleet Street much they
:15:48. > :15:52.have no media operation what so ever. They are not getting in touch
:15:52. > :15:57.with anybody. They are not pulling the strings in Fleet Street or in
:15:57. > :16:02.the BBC or in ITV. There seems to be no media operation what so ever.
:16:02. > :16:06.It's puz ling. David Cameron was once the best strategist. In
:16:06. > :16:09.opposition he had a strategy for how to change the reputation of the
:16:10. > :16:15.Conservative Party, move it to the centre ground and win. For the last
:16:15. > :16:24.six months the strategy has disappeared down the plug hole.
:16:24. > :16:29.Miliband's speech was one of the most vabg Kew yus speeches made...
:16:29. > :16:33.Without notes and without content. He is our guest. The speech was
:16:33. > :16:36.without content. The only reason it could be praiseside that people
:16:37. > :16:42.have got used to contentless-free politics. The Prime Minister should
:16:42. > :16:44.not be in a position where he is allowed politics to become
:16:44. > :16:48.contentless because the Prime Minister ought to be putting
:16:48. > :16:52.content into it. What has Mr Cameron to do next week? He has to
:16:52. > :16:56.escape from this idea that he is going to shift left or shift right.
:16:56. > :17:01.He has to be the big Prime Minister in serious times. One of the things
:17:01. > :17:08.I was slightly disappointed last week was the poster they launched
:17:08. > :17:11.against tkharly -- Charlie's party, slightly childish poster, Labour
:17:11. > :17:17.isn't learning. These are serious times. The government's chance is
:17:17. > :17:22.when it looks like it is serious. That it has the lerm solutions to
:17:22. > :17:25.the country's problems. Labour clearly don't. That is an
:17:25. > :17:31.opportunity for the Conservatives. One of the groups that was affected
:17:31. > :17:35.from the speech, from my experience, when I came out of the Hall was the
:17:35. > :17:42.right-wing who said, I spoke to one of the political editors of the
:17:42. > :17:47.Sunday newspaperes who said "this is a game-changer, we are sure he
:17:47. > :17:52.has talent." I'm not sure if it was a vengeful thing. They were almost
:17:52. > :17:57.saying, we are not going to endorse him. They are taking him seriously.
:17:57. > :18:01.Who is this right-wing newspaper editor who won't take David
:18:01. > :18:04.Cameron's calls? We could all speculate. Who do you think it is?
:18:04. > :18:13.You look at neerm every centre- right newspaper on Fleet Street.
:18:13. > :18:16.Which one is not taking the Prime Minister's calls? I do not know.
:18:16. > :18:21.Peter Obourne... He wrote. It I wondered if you knew. It was
:18:21. > :18:25.remarkable if the Mail or the Telegraph won't take the Tory Prime
:18:25. > :18:34.Minister's calls. How difficult is it for Mr Cameron and the Tories to
:18:34. > :18:37.win an overall majority in 2015? It's getting harder and harder. The
:18:38. > :18:43.leader is unlikely to increase his vote. Liberal Democrat votes are
:18:43. > :18:47.coming to us. How difficult? Extraordinarily difficult. Most
:18:47. > :18:52.difficult for any party in government to increase its
:18:52. > :18:59.percentage from the previous time even if everything goes swimmingly.
:18:59. > :19:04.It hasn't. Even Mrs Thatcher didn't do that between 83 and 87. Or Tony
:19:04. > :19:08.Blair either. How difficult? How difficult for an overall Tory
:19:08. > :19:11.majority in 2015? Very difficult. Once they realise it's a problem
:19:11. > :19:15.that is the start for a search for a solution. We need a game-changer
:19:15. > :19:19.to turn things around. We will see if you get that progress in
:19:19. > :19:22.Birmingham next week. Thank you for being with us.
:19:22. > :19:25.Now, don't go to bed and let Mary Berry's bomber jacket give you
:19:25. > :19:27.nightmares, stick with us until the bitter end because, waiting in the
:19:27. > :19:32.wings, superstar violinist, Nicola Benedetti, who performed at the
:19:32. > :19:38.Ryder Cup Closing Ceremony on Sunday.
:19:38. > :19:41.Won a Classical Brit award on Monday.
:19:41. > :19:44.And, now crowns her achievements with a seat on the This Week sofa,
:19:44. > :19:47.proving all those years of practice have finally paid off.
:19:47. > :19:54.And not forgetting that Michael Portillo is gagging to read all
:19:54. > :19:58.your comments about him. So get stuck into 'The Twitter, The
:19:58. > :20:02.Facebook' and the good old missionary position Interweb. Go on,
:20:02. > :20:05.you want to. Now, before this week there was
:20:05. > :20:11.more chance of a pot-bellied South Korean rapper getting to number one
:20:11. > :20:13.than Ed Miliband getting the keys to Downing Street.
:20:13. > :20:23.Thanks to a bravura conference performance, the north London
:20:23. > :20:31.
:20:31. > :20:34.Rubik's Cube Champion is now well and truly top of the Labour charts.
:20:34. > :20:37.So we asked the Guardian's Nick Watt to take the West Coast
:20:37. > :20:47.Mainline franchise to Manchester - before Branson pulls the plug - for
:20:47. > :20:59.
:20:59. > :21:04.It's the 24-hour party conference people gathering here in Manchester.
:21:04. > :21:08.Ed Miliband's favourite album is What's The Story Morning Glory by
:21:08. > :21:11.those two local Gallagher brothers who had the odd falling out in
:21:11. > :21:17.public. What better place for Ed Miliband to seek inspiration as he
:21:17. > :21:26.tries to find a bit of popularity than the spiritual home of
:21:26. > :21:31.Manchester. # What's the story morning glory
:21:31. > :21:35.# Where we need a little time to wake up... #
:21:35. > :21:38.Ed Miliband had one goal this week to follow in the footsteps of all
:21:38. > :21:42.those bands and achieve a breakthrough. Labour may enjoy a
:21:42. > :21:47.comfortable lead in the opinion polls, but David Cameron is way
:21:47. > :21:53.ahead on Prime Ministerial ratings. As a first step, the leader leader
:21:53. > :22:03.needed to show he is not a soleless geek. Perhaps he needs to stop
:22:03. > :22:03.
:22:03. > :22:08.listening to Oasis. I think the education that I got at this
:22:08. > :22:13.comprehensive was so much more than how to pass exams. It was brks how
:22:13. > :22:16.to look after yourself, it's about the world was a complex place with
:22:16. > :22:21.people of all kinds, all nationalities, all classes and
:22:21. > :22:25.races. That is a really important lesson in life. His big moment was
:22:25. > :22:30.the leader's speech in which he reminded us of something we knew
:22:30. > :22:35.already. I went to my local comprehensive. I'm sorry, I didn't
:22:35. > :22:40.quite catch ta? My comprehensive school education. Yes, Ed Miliband
:22:40. > :22:44.wanted to remind us that he is a thoroughly normal person, unlike,
:22:44. > :22:49.oh, yeah thark bloke who cut taxes for millionaires. Speaking without
:22:49. > :22:56.notes for just over an hour, he declared that she standing on the
:22:56. > :23:00.shoulder of the father of one nation Conservatism, Benjamin
:23:00. > :23:03.Disraeli. One nation a country where everyone has a stake. One
:23:04. > :23:08.nation, a country where prosperity is fairly shared. One nation, where
:23:08. > :23:14.we have a shared destiny, a sense of shared endeavour and a common
:23:14. > :23:20.life that we lead together. That is my vision of one nation. That is my
:23:20. > :23:21.vision of Britain. That is the Britain we must become.
:23:21. > :23:26.APPLAUSE It didn't take long for people in
:23:26. > :23:32.the hall to realise that he pulled it off. One member of the Shadow
:23:32. > :23:36.Cabinet told me that Ed Miliband had finally broken with the labels
:23:36. > :23:39."old" and "new Labour" by rooting his philosophy in the country and
:23:39. > :23:43.not the party. Senior Labour figures were wondering whether
:23:43. > :23:53.Downing Street is now that little bit closer. Then politics is never
:23:53. > :23:58.
:23:58. > :24:02.Ed Miliband's superior from the days of Gordon Brown show head is a
:24:02. > :24:11.force to be reckoned with when he came up with the joke of the week
:24:11. > :24:17.about David Cameron's quip that the Labour lead certificate not quick
:24:17. > :24:27.enough. Let see them ride off into the sunset, Butch Cameron and the
:24:27. > :24:31.Flatline Kid. Right now we are witnessing generous Ed as the
:24:31. > :24:34.Shadow Chancellor outlines spending plans to contrast with the
:24:34. > :24:42.Government's cuts. Before the election austere Ed will spring
:24:42. > :24:45.into action as he says the Government's handling of the
:24:45. > :24:54.country gives him no choice but to accept cuts. The brothers will not
:24:54. > :24:58.be happy. Asking the poorest for further sacrifices for a crisis
:24:58. > :25:02.that they did not cause, is the road to political ruin. For the
:25:02. > :25:06.first time in years, Labour activists left Manchester with
:25:06. > :25:09.smiles on their faces on Virgin trains. Ed Miliband's description
:25:09. > :25:16.of a back of the envelope government appeared to come true as
:25:16. > :25:20.ministers admitted they had mucked up the West Coast franchise and Sir
:25:20. > :25:24.Richard Branson may get to keep his train set afterall. What happened
:25:24. > :25:27.is unacceptable. It's regrettable. I apologise much we have made a big
:25:27. > :25:33.mistake as fart as this Department is concerned. The companies that
:25:33. > :25:38.have put bids in have done nothing wrong. What can you say about the
:25:38. > :25:43.West Coast Main Line fiasco? It is a disgrace that it is going to cost
:25:43. > :25:47.�40 million and perhaps more of taxpayers' money because they have
:25:47. > :25:52.so bungled this franchise. That well-known northerner, David
:25:52. > :25:58.Cameron, is the real fan of Mancunian music. I suppose somebody
:25:58. > :26:05.has to like the Smiths. He will have to raise his game because Ed
:26:05. > :26:11.Miliband may no longer be the Tories great trump card.
:26:11. > :26:16.Nick Watt at the famous Vinyl Exchange record shop in Manchester.
:26:16. > :26:21.Miranda is back from the Lib Dems. Do you think Lib Dem voters will be
:26:21. > :26:25.impressed by the Miliband speech? Everyone was impressed. We weren't
:26:25. > :26:29.expecting anything much. I think they would have been. I have to say,
:26:29. > :26:32.anyone who was listening to the Today programme interview the next
:26:32. > :26:37.morning would have been disappointed. The star dust started
:26:37. > :26:40.to come off quite quickly am he can't keep on giving speeches about
:26:40. > :26:44.the vision thing. He has to convince people with some substance.
:26:44. > :26:50.That will be much, much trickier, I think, even with those traditional
:26:50. > :26:57.Lib Dem voters on the soft left who feel themselves emotionally drawn
:26:57. > :27:01.to the message that Ed Miliband delivered this week. They want more.
:27:01. > :27:06.He waches wasn't that rude about Mr Clegg or the Lib Dems is that
:27:06. > :27:09.because he doesn't think you matter any more or should we read more
:27:09. > :27:14.into that? Both parties need to start being nicer to each other
:27:14. > :27:18.just in case, don't they? The Lib Dems... Just in case what? Just in
:27:18. > :27:23.case. The Lib Dems sent a rude campaigning poster to Manchester on
:27:23. > :27:27.the day after his very successful speech. Which I thought was badly
:27:27. > :27:31.judged. You know, the air has turned blue between Labour and the
:27:31. > :27:35.Lib Dems for the last two-and-a- half years. I think they need to
:27:36. > :27:39.stop it. Do you think we should be nicer to the Liberal Democrat
:27:39. > :27:43.leadership? Don't we want their votes. Having the Liberal Democrats
:27:43. > :27:47.run to the left now trim to the right, isn't tht time when Labour
:27:47. > :27:50.should be saying about the Liberal Democrats, forget them, you can't
:27:50. > :27:55.trust them? Then after the general election maybe see where it all
:27:55. > :28:00.ends up. The idea that we should be talking to either Clegg or Cable
:28:00. > :28:05.seems, to me, to be ridiculous. me come on to - I don't know
:28:05. > :28:10.whether you know this or not, em emwent to a comprehensive. I was
:28:10. > :28:13.unaware of that. A chap on the telly said that. I'm glad I filled
:28:13. > :28:18.you in there on your knowledge. Does it matter to be a leader what
:28:18. > :28:24.school you went to now? You are a boy of Tony Blair, you went to the
:28:24. > :28:27.poshest school in Scotland. It didn't do him harm. It's your
:28:27. > :28:32.ability to connection with the electorate. Regardless of school?
:28:32. > :28:37.Regardless of school. The greatest person for expressing the recession
:28:37. > :28:42.in America was Franklin Roosevelt who was a posh highly educated
:28:42. > :28:46.individual. I don't think it's the school, it's, do you listen? Can
:28:46. > :28:50.you express what people are feeling? Michael described the
:28:50. > :28:53.speech as vabg Kew yus, there was little policy in. It did it express
:28:53. > :28:58.what the country was feeling and what it wanted? The idea things are
:28:58. > :29:08.tough, we want to come together and try and solve it. Not a complicated
:29:08. > :29:27.
:29:27. > :29:31.Many think about Ed Miliband saying he went to a comprehensive school.
:29:31. > :29:35.I mean, does that rule you out from being a Labour Leader, that you
:29:35. > :29:39.went to a posh school? There are a number of reasons why I'm ruled out.
:29:39. > :29:43.Not you personally but that sort of thing? I don't think it does. I
:29:43. > :29:48.think the critical thing is the ability to express what a
:29:48. > :29:52.significant section of the population are feeling, the Romney
:29:52. > :29:57.problem in saying 47% will never vote for me because they're benefit
:29:57. > :30:07.te pen dent indicates a person expressly looking at things through
:30:07. > :30:10.
:30:10. > :30:13.his own background -- dependent. What do you think of it all? About
:30:13. > :30:16.the schooling? Yes. It's interesting that it's become such
:30:16. > :30:20.an issue for David Cameron and that's a kind of failure because it
:30:20. > :30:24.wasn't an issue for Tony Blair for whatever reason. I mean, my
:30:24. > :30:30.goodness, he was public school, Oxford and he was a Paris ter. If
:30:30. > :30:33.anything, set you apart from the public, that is a lethal
:30:33. > :30:38.combination -- barrister. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to
:30:38. > :30:42.be a problem for Boris Johnson who went to Eton and Oxford, identical.
:30:43. > :30:46.Yet somehow there's this warmth around Boris. Not a problem for
:30:46. > :30:51.Cameron. It wasn't a prb for Mr Cameron for some time. The fact he
:30:51. > :30:55.ended up surrounded by so many of the same sort of people became a
:30:55. > :31:00.problem. Your lot are pretty posh as well? That last point is very,
:31:00. > :31:04.very important. The tribal thing? That's right. It's the idea that
:31:04. > :31:08.there's a magic circle of all these people who've known each other
:31:08. > :31:11.since they were 15 and perhaps have their own way of communicating, how
:31:11. > :31:13.does anyone else break into that. That's damaging to a Government
:31:13. > :31:17.because you have blind spots on policy, it's in terms of the
:31:17. > :31:21.substance of what you are doing, it's dangerous. It matters when
:31:21. > :31:24.their policies aren't working and they've said this is what's going
:31:24. > :31:29.to happen in relation to the economy and it's not happening as
:31:29. > :31:35.they described, so all this becomes proxys for disconnection. I think
:31:35. > :31:38.Ed Miliband is still divorced from the public by something even more
:31:38. > :31:43.lethal than a public school education and that is
:31:43. > :31:49.intellectualism. David Cameron is not an intellectual and Ed Miliband
:31:49. > :31:53.is. The public don't warm to that. There's a good point there because
:31:53. > :31:57.Mr Bland, he may claim he's one of the lads from the local komp but
:31:57. > :32:02.the voters sense he's from a privileged background, that he's
:32:02. > :32:09.part of an elite, different from David Cameron's elite. When I was
:32:09. > :32:13.15, I tkpid not -- I did not come home and have dinner with Tony Benn
:32:13. > :32:18.or a Professor, maybe he did. goes back to the point we started
:32:19. > :32:22.with which was the fact that he was having tea with Carl Marx every
:32:22. > :32:26.evening does not necessarily mean he cannot connect with the
:32:26. > :32:30.electorate. Surprised he didn't end up as a right-wing Tory. Any
:32:30. > :32:35.mileage for the Tories claiming that all this One Nation stuff,
:32:35. > :32:40.stealing the clothes of Benjamin Disraeli is cover for moving the
:32:40. > :32:46.party to the left? I mentioned that his position on tax, his attitude
:32:46. > :32:49.to tax is highly left-wing, but as far as what the Tory tax are
:32:50. > :32:52.concerned, no, the Tories need to forget about the Labour Party and
:32:52. > :32:58.talk about what it is they are trying to do in Government. That's
:32:58. > :33:04.what they have to get on to. We have this West Coast rail fiyas
:33:04. > :33:10.toe it says here, -- fiasco. You are Mr Choo choo, give us your take
:33:10. > :33:16.on it? It's a fiasco.
:33:16. > :33:19.Consensus breaks out. Insight. a complete shambles in which both
:33:19. > :33:24.civil servant and ministers are culpable because I cannot believe
:33:24. > :33:29.that ministers who were in position, not Patrick McLoughlin, but the two
:33:29. > :33:33.who were there before, I cannot believe that they couldn't ask
:33:33. > :33:37.civil servants the right questions to find out. From the moment
:33:37. > :33:42.Richard Branson began to agitate, ministers should have started
:33:42. > :33:45.saying, this is getting serious, it will end in court, you better tell
:33:45. > :33:49.me a good case here. Although I think ministers are responsible, I
:33:49. > :33:53.also think that we don't have nearly enough civil servant
:33:53. > :33:57.accountability in this country. Let me just give you a... I want to
:33:57. > :34:02.come on to that. If Miss Greening or Villiers was still at transport,
:34:02. > :34:05.their positions at the moment would be entenable, would they not?
:34:06. > :34:11.would be running very fast. point you were going to make?
:34:11. > :34:17.example, it turned out that there was, what was it, an �18 billion or,
:34:17. > :34:22.no, a �38 billion hole in the Ministry of Defence accounts under
:34:22. > :34:25.Labour. I knew it would be our fault. No. I was told not to be
:34:25. > :34:28.partisan and you were. I'm not being part Stan. The Permanent
:34:28. > :34:30.Secretary signs off on the accounts of the Ministry of Defence. No
:34:30. > :34:35.Permanent Secretary's ever been held to account for the fact that
:34:35. > :34:37.there was a �38 billion hole in the Ministry of Defence. There is no
:34:37. > :34:42.accountability for civil servants at the moment. The ministers are
:34:42. > :34:45.not going to get away with total deniability, but I do sometimes
:34:45. > :34:48.wonder whether our Civil Service these days is the Rolls-Royce
:34:48. > :34:51.machine of mythical British bureaucracy. They've obviously
:34:51. > :34:55.messed up here, but the reason it's fallen apart is because there's
:34:55. > :35:00.about to be a court case, the only test that Justine Greening had to
:35:00. > :35:05.satisfy was to reach a rational decision in order to satisfy the
:35:05. > :35:09.legal test. That presumably involved as a minimum explain to me
:35:09. > :35:15.rationally... The rate of return this group was going to get was
:35:15. > :35:19.unfathomable. Final thought? think it would be very healthy this
:35:19. > :35:24.Lazarus-return like return from the dead from Ed Miliband. If you have
:35:24. > :35:29.a dangerous looking opposition, perhaps the Government will get
:35:29. > :35:34.into let shambolic fiascos. We are all on the F-word. Miranda, thank
:35:34. > :35:38.you. It's the Italian word for bottle. You probably didn't know
:35:38. > :35:48.that, and why should you?! It takes a great deal of effort to make
:35:48. > :35:49.
:35:49. > :35:53.television look this effortless. I've been in rehearsals all day
:35:53. > :35:56.practising my South Korean dance moves. I know who is number one,
:35:56. > :36:00.you know. Charles has been in wardrobe all day deciding whether
:36:00. > :36:05.to wear a tie or not and you can see the result there. As everyone
:36:05. > :36:09.in BBC make-up knows, Michael's quiff doesn't just build itself,
:36:09. > :36:13.you know. That's why Ed Miliband's impressed us so much, by speaking
:36:13. > :36:23.without notes for 70 minutes and that's why we've decided to put
:36:23. > :36:34.
:36:34. > :36:39.practice makes perfect in this Chasical bread winner neck la
:36:39. > :36:44.Benedetti puts her success down to fashionable hard work and practices
:36:44. > :36:48.five hours a day -- Nicola Benedetti. Ed Miliband lived up to
:36:48. > :36:53.his tkpeecky reputation when he memorised his 6,000 word conference
:36:53. > :36:57.speech and performed without notes or a safety net. Only one problem,
:36:57. > :37:02.where's my speech? Ever keen the shake off his school swat image, he
:37:02. > :37:06.was at pains to give the credit to pure passion rather than revision.
:37:07. > :37:11.I'll let you into a secret. The notes for the speech, such that
:37:11. > :37:18.they were with 6,000 words and I had a limit of 7,500. I tried to
:37:18. > :37:23.say what I believe. In States, there's no such bashfulness when
:37:23. > :37:29.the Americans went into battle with facts and figures. 23 million
:37:29. > :37:37.people out of work. When the President took office 32 million
:37:37. > :37:41.people on food stamps, 47 million on food stamps today. Ever the
:37:41. > :37:44.grafter, Obama even managed to remember his wife's anniversary.
:37:44. > :37:50.want to wish you, sweetie happy anniversary, a year from now we'll
:37:50. > :37:54.not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people. After years of X
:37:54. > :38:04.Factor-style quick fix success, could it be that practice really
:38:04. > :38:04.
:38:05. > :38:10.does make perfect? Great stuff. What was the ork ork you were
:38:10. > :38:12.playing with there? The BBC Symphony Orchestra. Two Scots
:38:12. > :38:18.together here, can we agree there is no substitute for hard work?
:38:18. > :38:23.Right, we can. I thought you were going to ask something else there.
:38:23. > :38:28.Absolutely. Definitely not with the violin. That's what I know about
:38:28. > :38:32.most. So how much would you say - you've obviously got enormous
:38:32. > :38:36.talent - but how much would you say your success is due to the natural
:38:36. > :38:40.talent but also the practice that you consistently to? I think there
:38:40. > :38:46.are certain things being a musician you have to have a natural ability
:38:46. > :38:50.for, so a sensitivity to rhythm, to tone and a sort of a willingness to
:38:50. > :38:54.want to share music with people. That's a really important thing.
:38:54. > :38:59.But there is no exception to any good instrumentalist. There are
:38:59. > :39:03.lots and lots of talented ones I went to school with, the ones that
:39:04. > :39:08.didn't practice. How often do you practice? Every day. Every day?
:39:08. > :39:13.hours. For hours? Yes. So even at your level now, you still have to
:39:13. > :39:19.put in that amount of time to be that good? If I don't practice for
:39:19. > :39:24.two days, I immediately feel my fingers are not in shape. That's
:39:24. > :39:30.how much practice is required. Also, the amount of repertory you are
:39:30. > :39:35.learning is enormous so it's a constant, constant daily routine.
:39:35. > :39:42.You are at the opposite end now of our popular culture where Equitable
:39:42. > :39:46.now be famous with no talent at all, you just have to appear in maiden
:39:46. > :39:55.Chelsea with a combined IQ of the ten people in that in single
:39:55. > :39:58.figures or TOWIE. As a result, they'll be making a lot of money?
:39:58. > :40:03.I'm sure they are all making a lot of minute and also encouraging a
:40:03. > :40:08.lot of people into a direction of chasing fame for whatever that is,
:40:08. > :40:16.without any understanding of how vacuous it is and how there's
:40:16. > :40:20.nothing really to chase. A lot of whatiful is my biggest success is
:40:20. > :40:25.the feeling that the daily discipline's given me. That's what
:40:25. > :40:29.stabilises me and makes me happy and feel like I'm fulfilled and
:40:29. > :40:32.like I'm achieving. It's that daily ability to work on something,
:40:32. > :40:38.there's something in that discipline that enriches you that
:40:38. > :40:41.gives you a core. But back in the day and like you
:40:41. > :40:45.now, people became famous because they were good at something, they
:40:45. > :40:49.were better than most other people at something? Celebrated for
:40:49. > :40:52.something. They won Wimbledon or were wonderful dancers or actors,
:40:53. > :40:58.today you can be famous for big famous? Yes, that seems to be the
:40:58. > :41:02.way that we are going and everybody seems to - I mean it's all stemming
:41:02. > :41:06.from money-making - everyone can buy into it and make something from
:41:06. > :41:12.it. It continues and I try every chance I have to speak to anyone or
:41:12. > :41:15.to have any sort of platform to try to say something sub Setantaive,
:41:15. > :41:22.something that's not empty and that's definitely not about fame
:41:22. > :41:27.for the sake of fame. It's a very, very dangerous game. And there
:41:27. > :41:31.would be no shame, Charlie, in Ed Miliband admitting that that wasn't
:41:31. > :41:34.an effortless performance. He put a hell of a lot of work into it?
:41:34. > :41:39.at all. Indeed, I think the product of a lot of hard work with that
:41:39. > :41:43.speech and yes, you are right, there's lots and lots of mayor
:41:43. > :41:49.Trish shus fame around. If you think about violinists like Nicola
:41:49. > :41:52.or tennis players like Andy Murray, they could never achieve now with
:41:52. > :41:57.so much spotlight on them without the degree of hard work and
:41:57. > :42:01.practice that twos on. One feels that Fred Perry, and this may be
:42:01. > :42:06.unfair, wasn't remotely working as hard as Andy Murray was to get to
:42:06. > :42:10.the position he was. There was no TOWIE, but it was more amateurish.
:42:10. > :42:15.I don't think you succeed in the way Nicola does without being
:42:15. > :42:18.dedicated day after day, hour after hour. Absolutely. Those at the very
:42:19. > :42:23.top are probably working harder than ever to stay at the top
:42:24. > :42:28.because competition is fierce? competition is fierce. In the music
:42:28. > :42:34.business, my goodness, there are so many instrumentals popping up all
:42:34. > :42:37.over the place and we all have to put in that daily - there are no
:42:37. > :42:41.short cuts, that's the only consistency for the people that
:42:41. > :42:45.have made it - they've all put in the work. All the other factors
:42:45. > :42:49.change but the consistency is... The pressure gets higher and
:42:49. > :42:52.higher? I sat up a few nights working with Margaret Thatcher on
:42:52. > :42:56.her conference speeches, she was fanatical about them, not only
:42:56. > :42:59.conference peoples but parentry speeches as well. At the time I
:42:59. > :43:06.felt she put if too much work because she would work through the
:43:06. > :43:15.night, she was exhausted by the process. -- Parliamentary speeches.
:43:15. > :43:19.30 years later, we remember some of the statements like "the lady's not
:43:19. > :43:29.for turning". Can we have a quick burst from this wonderful
:43:29. > :43:42.
:43:42. > :43:46.instrument, Nicola? Sure. I'm Play quietly in the background
:43:46. > :43:49.while I'm reading. It's better than my voice. That's your lot for
:43:49. > :43:59.tonight, Phoebes, but not for us, because it's Marxist history night
:43:59. > :44:00.
:44:00. > :44:03.at Annabels and we are off to justify the sub Jew gaition and
:44:03. > :44:06.miserableness of millions. We couldn't leave you or Nicola who's
:44:06. > :44:12.playing beautifully without a musical goodbye from the great Ed
:44:12. > :44:18.Balls of fire, Labour's very own lich rar chi or Les Dawson should