Browse content similar to 09/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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drummers' political beat. No noisy interruptions for the real Queen as | :00:17. | :00:19. | |
she opens another Parliamentary session. But former Chancellor Nigel | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
Lawson is banging the drum to get out of the EU. | :00:22. | :00:32. | |
:00:32. | :00:32. | ||
Journalist Quentin Letts swaps his drumstick for a cricket bat. Nigel | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
Lawson was banging his drama about Europe. | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
Sir Alex Ferguson can expect a noisy reception for his final game at Old | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
Trafford this weekend, but can our political leaders learn anything | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
from this managerial genius? Broadcaster and Man United fanatic | :00:45. | :00:52. | |
Eamon Holmes thinks they can. been one of our greatest leaders of | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
all time, ruling for an amazing 26 years. I bet Fergie could teach that | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
lot a thing or two. And crashing the cymbals in delight | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
as three women escape from years of captivity in Cleveland, Ohio. But | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
why are we so fascinated by whatever happens across the pond? American | :01:08. | :01:17. | |
comedian Eddie Pepitone tell's us to wise up. Hey, guys, thanks for | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
playing. We exist for your entertainment. | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
The irony is, I love drummers and I love drumming. But please can you | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week, the intriguing bruise on the | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
forehead of BBC current affairs which no amount of make-up can | :01:38. | :01:45. | |
disguise. And you join us tonight in a state of panic, still reeling from | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
the week's political events, when an uprising in golf clubs across the | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
Tory shires triggered a putsch by the United Kingdom Independence | :01:50. | :01:59. | |
Party. Now an attempted Westminster Palace coup is now upon us. And | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
we're already hearing reports that UKIP foot soldiers, loyal to retired | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
wing-commander Nigel "mine's a pint of Spitfire, pork scratchings and a | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
packet of Woodbine" Farage, are now in control of Heathrow, Gatwick, | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
Heart FM, nearly every London taxi, the Dog & Duck, Babestation, and | :02:12. | :02:22. | |
:02:22. | :02:23. | ||
most crucially, the white cliffs of Dover. A curfew has been imposed and | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
the smoking ban lifted. As we speak, members of the Conservative | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
establishment are said to be in full retreat, with Lords Lawson and | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
Lamont already defecting to the insurgents, by declaring they're | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
willing to collaborate with any regime intent on leaving the | :02:34. | :02:43. | |
European Union. And if you fear for our safety, be assured, we've | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
barricaded ourselves inside the This Week studio, with an enormous stack | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
of empty crates of Blue Nun we've somehow managed to collect over the | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
years, and are praying Michael Portillo's article in the Times | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
today, admitting that nice Mr Farage was right about the EU all along, | :02:55. | :03:05. | |
:03:05. | :03:05. | ||
has done just enough to save us from being lined up against the wall. All | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
power to the Farage, we say. And to quisling Portillo. Speaking of | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
personality cults that have got out of control, I'm joined on the sofa | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
tonight by two men who tag along behind me whenever I've got anything | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
important to say. Think of them as the Prince Charles and Camilla | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
Parker-Bowles of late night political chat. I speak, of course, | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
of #manontheleft, Alan "AJ" Johnson, and #sadmanonatrain, Michael "choo | :03:28. | :03:38. | |
:03:38. | :03:45. | ||
choo" Portillo. Michael, your moment of the week? The announcement that | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
the Queen is not going to the Commonwealth heads of government | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
meeting, which is a very long flight. I did not find this very | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
remarkable. The remarkable thing is the fitness of the Queen and the | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
Duke of Edinburgh. So why is it your moment of the week? Because I want | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
to say how amazing it is that they continue in such good health and | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
doing such a fine job. At the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, I was | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
struck by the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh walks absolutely correct, | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
not like an old man. I have seen him walking without holding on to | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
anything. Although I dare say the Prince of Wales and the Duchess will | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
do more things, we will be surprised that even as the Queen advances in | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
age, her duty will require her to do as much as she possibly can, and I | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
think it will be a surprisingly amount. I think it is remarkable she | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
is not going to the Commonwealth conference, because she loves the | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
Commonwealth and this is the first she will not be going to. Alan, your | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
moment rest of it was when I opened the times and saw that my good | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
friend here has become a fan of Nigel Farage. You could have blown | :04:56. | :05:06. | |
:05:06. | :05:06. | ||
me over with a puff of smoke. It may well be more important than Nigel | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
Lawson's intervention, a much younger and more recent conservative | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
figure. It will certainly give comfort to Nigel. Last week's show | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
must have been enormously influential, because he appeared and | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
a week later Michael is joining UKIP. We are going to come back to | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
that. That is good!It is, believe Now, after years of mid-table | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
mediocrity and dismal 0-0 draws we were obviously concerned when Diane | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
Abbott announced her retirement from politics and left This Week to spend | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
more time with her constituents, once she worked out how to get to | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
her constituency. Who could possibly fill the knee-high boots of the | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
Hackney left-winger? Fortunately for us, we signed up Alan, a seasoned | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
pro. But with Alex Ferguson announcing his retirement this week, | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
is there anything politicians can learn from the most successful | :05:51. | :05:59. | |
manager in history? We turned to broadcaster and Fergie fanatic | :05:59. | :06:09. | |
:06:09. | :06:19. | ||
Eamonn Holmes for his Take Of The Yesterday, the greatest football | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
manager of all time, the man who was in charge of my team for half my | :06:23. | :06:33. | |
:06:33. | :06:36. | ||
life, stepped down. But, on the +, I have to be thankful he was in the | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
job for a mighty 26 years. He did not have to face the electorate | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
every five years, but think about this, no British Prime Minister has | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
managed that record, and football is probably even tougher than politics | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
to survive and succeed in. So what made him such a great leader, and | :06:56. | :07:06. | |
:07:06. | :07:13. | ||
what might they in their learn from you think there are big egos and | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
strong characters around the Cabinet table, just look inside a Premier | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
League dressing room. The genius of Sir Alex is to make everyone | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
understand that glory and the riches for them flow from being part of a | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
winning team, and the team must always come first. For such an | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
emotional man, sentiment often did not play a part. When the results on | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
the pitch start to suffer, he has always been prepared to drop someone | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
to the bench, or of the team. Keeping people for sentimental | :07:44. | :07:51. | |
reasons will always come back to bite you. He knew how to move with | :07:51. | :08:01. | |
:08:01. | :08:03. | ||
the times. In many ways, you have to say he is pretty prehistoric. That | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
he transcended different generations, embracing the modern. | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
In fact, he textured me twice yesterday. Oh, that is him now. He | :08:12. | :08:20. | |
was a master strategist. And he learned from his defeats, bringing | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
his teams back tougher, stronger. He is fascinated by military history. | :08:25. | :08:33. | |
He understands the strategy for fighting. Where Fergie is really | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
wise is that he does not just give out advice. He knew how to take it, | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
too. And my guess is that he was wise enough to take counsel on his | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
final decision, the toughest of his career, to step away from the | :08:49. | :08:58. | |
touchline of the beautiful game, without being given the red card. I | :08:58. | :09:08. | |
:09:08. | :09:08. | ||
will take my ball and go home now. I would like to point out that that | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
playing surface was not what I would be used to. I have not even | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
introduced you. People might say, he could not kick the ball, and they | :09:19. | :09:25. | |
would be right. That is why you did not bring it with you. Welcome. | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
Surely there are no real similarities between running a | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
football team in controlling a cabinet or political party. | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
course there are. Michael will profess not to be a football fan, | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
but he and Fergie had a lot in common. Like you, he had the odd | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
problem in Europe. The analogies are there. You have been to Old | :09:45. | :09:54. | |
Trafford. I sat in his chair and ran down the tunnel. They are not | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
letting trains into Old Trafford, are they? There is a whole other | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
story there. He comes across for many people, the public figure, as a | :10:05. | :10:11. | |
bit of a dictator, a control freak. A benign dictatorship. In a | :10:11. | :10:18. | |
democracy, that does not work. are right, it does not stack up. | :10:18. | :10:25. | |
cannot throw a hairdryer at a Cabinet member. You cannot refuse to | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
speak to the BBC for years. He knew his audience. In terms of the crowd | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
at Old Trafford, it was interesting. When we were knocked out of the | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
champions league a couple of months ago with a controversial decision | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
where a player was sent off, Fergie got up. It was -- there was such | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
euphoria and it was like a punctured balloon. Ferdie got up and he got | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
everybody to boo the referee. He went like this, and he had that | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
control. You cannot get the Prime Minister to get his cabinet and | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
people to boo the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court. You are right.So | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
the film was completely wrong? are right. The thing about Alex | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
Ferguson was that ultimately he was the ultimate pragmatist. He knew how | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
to take advice. So David Cameron has learned from him. Fergie would be a | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
firebrand politician and we do not get many of those nowadays. | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
thought the film was completely right. Metaphorically, by ministers | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
can throw hairdryers at their Cabinet, and those who do were | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
successful for a while. Margaret Thatcher had her handbag, a strategy | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
that worked for 11 years. I worked closely with two Prime Minister 's. | :11:46. | :11:48. | |
Margaret Thatcher frightened me and I work hard every time I turned up | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
to a meeting, extremely well briefed and I was on my toes. John Major did | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
not and I turned up caring less about what I did. Motivation is | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
crucial. However, even Margaret Thatcher, and this is an | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
extraordinary fault in prime ministers, even Margaret Thatcher, | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
when appointed her ministers, never told them what she expected of them. | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
There is a simple lesson. Why does a prime minister not say, I expect | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
you, within the next year or two, to have delivered this and this. I am | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
sure Ferdie told the players exact what was expected. -- Ferdie. | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
also told them they were the best, and they responded to that. He also | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
told them he wanted the best out of them and would not settle for second | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
best, which are a lot of little leaders, for various reasons, do, in | :12:40. | :12:48. | |
their Cabinet or their teams. want to give a balanced cabinet, | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
whether different factions, genders, et cetera. I think there is an | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
incredible statistic about Ferguson, which shows he knew how to | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
keep an advantage. 39 years in management, 1500 games for | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
Manchester United, and his teams never lost 12 to zero lead, in that | :13:05. | :13:15. | |
:13:15. | :13:17. | ||
time. -- they never lost a two nil lead. Often in politics, succession | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
is very clunky. This succession has been beautifully timed, nurtured and | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
cultivated. I think the thing is that however much we, as United | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
fans, are in mourning, and however Sir Alex may not have wanted to let | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
go of the rains, we all realise that David Moyes is available this week, | :13:35. | :13:42. | |
this month, and now is probably the time to go, however painful. | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
other thing that came out of your film, and reading about it, is that | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
it did not matter how big a star you were for Alex Ferguson, but the team | :13:51. | :13:58. | |
was always bigger. Again, I can think of Margaret Thatcher. She got | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
rid of Jeffrey Howell. She let Nigel Lawson go. Ultimately, these losses | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
were fatal to her, but it took a long time. Nigel Lawson left the | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
Cabinet in 1988, and she did not go for another two years. She | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
absolutely took the view that the superstars had to go. The contrast | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
is, Tony Blair would never let Gordon Brown go, and I think he | :14:21. | :14:30. | |
would have been long as Prime Minister if he had. The more I study | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
Sir Alex Ferguson, the more I think he has in common with Margaret | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
Thatcher as the Conservative socialist, mainly from his point of | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
view, than anyone else, because he had his favourites as well, as she | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
had and he'd put his arms around them, the Cantonas, for example. | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
believed in globalisation. conflict resolution, which was to | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
win, win, win, beat everybody in sight. That's how he resolved | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
conflict. Does the political world ever look at leadership elsewhere, | :14:58. | :15:06. | |
as indeed the world's most successful football manager? If they | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
do, they don't push it on to anyone else -- pass it on to anyone else. | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
When I became an MP, there was no training, there was no direction, as | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
Michael said, as to where you should go. I think if we are looking at | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
that leadership, we are not passing the leadership skills on. Do you | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
agree? Politics is amateurish. There is no training for it, no | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
objectives, no targets. There's no attempt to create a team spirit. On | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
the whole, people don't even get media training. Do you know what, my | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
friend, football was like that as well. One of the great things about | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
Sir Alex Ferguson is, he crossed various generations. A lot of people | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
would say, he's a dinosaur, belongs to a different age. His real skill | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
was to adapt to each age, build new teams, time after time. He survived | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
through a huge transformation of the game and was as happy after the | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
transformation as he had been before? Absolutely and he was a | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
great believe in new technology. He's fundamentally behind this | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
incredible training centre that Manchester United have at Carrington | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
and all the latest medical advances, he'd bring those forward into the | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
game, like Arsene Wenger would be now and the Mourinhos and all those | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
would be like that now. Better than any politician, he's managed his | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
stepping down? I think so.Without being thrown out, without going or | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
being forced to leave, without losing? That's very difficult to do | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
because obviously ego plays a part in it and, for him again, it very | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
definitely is the politics of conviction. He was absolutely | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
convinced always that his way was the right way and he was able to | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
bring people along with him with that again a Thatcher way. Going by | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
the records, his way usually was right. A big question before you go. | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
I have got to get up in three hours so can you just... Which ego is more | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
difficult to handle if you were Sir Alex Ferguson or yourself - is it | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
Cristiano Ronaldo or Michael Portillo? Oh, Portillo.I would | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
agree. A prima donna, yes. Totally agree, I mean, Ronaldo, pfff... | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
get rid of him. This is not antiforeign... He could command a | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
lot of money on the transfer market. Let's get rid of him. Babe station | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
would be in for him! Six Cornflake packet tops didn't hack it. Good to | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
see you. Thank you very much.It may be late here in the UK, but spare a | :17:44. | :17:54. | |
:17:54. | :17:55. | ||
fought for the stateside viewers. Cracking open the Blue Nun. Stand up | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
comedian Eddy Peppertone is here to explain the endless fascination with | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
all things all American. For those who prefer something all | :18:04. | :18:12. | |
together less fascinating, fill your boots: | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
We like to mix things up a little here, so we thought this would be | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
just the week to give you a cricket themed film. After all, it's not on | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
the front-pages or the back pages, there have been no scandals, no | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
resignations or significant losses to speak of. Imran Khan is in bed | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
but he doesn't play cricket any more! Obviously, there was no better | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
time to send Quentin Letts off to his spiritual home to give us his | :18:39. | :18:47. | |
round-up of the political week. Big story of the week wasn't in | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
politics, it was in the world of sport. Football. Something called | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
association football. Rotten old game! Cricket, that's the one for | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
It's the start of the cricket season and it's the start of the | :19:02. | :19:12. | |
:19:12. | :19:37. | ||
David Cameron's been facing all sorts of tricky deliveries this | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
week. For some reason, all the bowlers seem to have been called | :19:41. | :19:51. | |
:19:51. | :19:55. | ||
Nigel. The PM's certainly needed a '80s test star Nigel Lawson sent out | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
a right little fizzer. He suggested that Britain come out of the EU all | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
together. The reason this was such a tricky | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
ball is that Lord Lawson's the first senior Tory to advocate pulling | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
stumps on Brussels all together, and he's a former Chancellor, so his | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
economic analysis bears some scrutiny. He knows his sums. | :20:16. | :20:24. | |
The attempt to overregulate and cut down to size the financial services | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
sector is extremely damaging to one of our biggest industries. So the | :20:28. | :20:35. | |
economic minus is a very big one. Good shot, Sir, said another | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
troublesome Nigel! The world feels a less lonely place for me today. I | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
think that somebody of his magnitude saying look, this thing is gone, the | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
economic argument is we'd be better off out of it, and anyway David | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
Cameron's renegotiation is bound to fail is a huge boost to the | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
Euro-sceptic cause of the UK. leaves Captain Cameron with | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
difficulties about his field placings. Do they all need to move | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
around to the right a bit more? Even if they do that, will the bar mist | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
army pay any attention, or is just the wider electorate asleep in the | :21:07. | :21:15. | |
stands? Farage wasn't snoozing. He's had a | :21:15. | :21:21. | |
tidy little spell. How's that? ! We has precipitated a batting collapse | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
from almost the entire British establishment. Time for David | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
Cameron to call in the senior professional. My Government will | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
bring forward a Bill that further reforms Britain's immigration | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
system. The Bill will ensure that this country attracts people who | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
will contribute and deters those who will not. | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
A point Cameron was keen to drive home. For the first time, we'll look | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
to ensure everyone's immigration status is checked before getting | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
access to a private rented home, for the first time we are going to | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
ensure anyone not eligible for free health care foots the bill for the | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
health care through themselves or their Government, and for the first | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
time, foreign nationals who commit serious crimes will, whenever | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
possible be deported first and appeal second from their home | :22:09. | :22:15. | |
country. David Cameron's tactics could work. | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
The immigration stuff may prove popular and by dropping cigarette | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
packaging rules and alcohol minimum pricing, he's going to please some | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
of his own supporters. The opposition predictably gave it all | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
the slow hand clap. The lesson for the Prime Minister | :22:31. | :22:38. | |
is, you can't out-Farage Farage. Three wasted years, three wasted | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
years. Today another wasted chance and no answers speech. Out of touch, | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
out of ideas, standing up for the wrong people and unable to bring the | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
change the country needs. David Cameron did well yesterday, | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
certainly catching everything that came his way. | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
Ooh, just like me! This is a Queen's Speech that will back aspiration and | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
those who want to get on. This is a Queen's Speech that will make our | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
country competitive once again. Thises a Queen's Speech that will | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
cut our deficit, grow our economy, deliver a better future four our | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
children and help us to win the global race and I commend it to the | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
House. Danger has not passed. David | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
Cameron's going to need one of these. A cricketer's box. The reason | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
- Nadine Dorries is back. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
star of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Has been readmitted to the | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
Conservative Parliamentary party and, when Nadine is around, you need | :23:34. | :23:42. | |
protection! Right! I'm ready for her. | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
Meanwhile, one of the deputy speakers of the House of Commons, | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
Nigel Evans, the third Nigel, was arrested on suspicion of rape and | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
sexual assault. Funny old game, cricket, funny old game politics. | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
The complaints are completely false and I cannot understand why they | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
have been made, especially as I have continued to socialise with one as | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
recently as last week. I appreciate the way the police have | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
handled this in such a sensitive manner, and I would like to thank my | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
colleagues, friends and members of the public who 've expressed their | :24:15. | :24:22. | |
support and like me a sense of incee dullty at these events. Sticky | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
wickets being hit for six and tonked out of the ground, it all happens at | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
Westminster as the main leaders know all too well after the last few days | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
-- incredulity. You coming then? Time for the 19th | :24:37. | :24:45. | |
hole... Silly fool, he's got the wrong game! | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
Two Quentin let for the price of one. Miranda is back, thank you for | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
joining us again. Good evening. Michael Portillo, after writing in | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
the Times that you thought we should leave the EU, when did you come to | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
that view? A while ago.You 've never said they should leave the | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
European Union? Since David Cameron said there would be a referendum I | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
said I would vote out. Do you remember that? I remember Michael | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
being critical of the tactics. That's a different matter. But I | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
must say, I'm surprised that you are surprised. If the Prime Minister | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
gives you an opportunity... surprised that you're surprised that | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
he's surprised... Why shouldn't people express their view as to how | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
they'd vote in the referendum in the event of this occurring? When we had | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
Nigel Farage on the programme last week, you said Tories should do | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
nothing in response. This is not a response to UKIP. The timing's | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
purely fortuitous? What I said to Nigel Farage last week, was that I | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
agreed that it was not right-wing to be Euro-sceptic and secondly, you | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
told him I was a Euro-sceptic. What does all this mean if it doesn't | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
mean we want to leave the European Union? It means in David Cameron's | :26:11. | :26:18. | |
eyes is, you go and get a better deal, as he'd see it. But he'll not | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
get a better deal. I know that you think that, but not every | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
Euro-sceptic wants to leave the Europe. No, and that in a way is the | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
disgrace of the whole thing. The people offering the referendum are | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
saying, we want to whinge and complain about the European Union, | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
but we'll recommend you all stay in because we are not brave enough to | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
leave the European Union. The things they aidify as being wrong with our | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
relationship with the European Union are fundamental and they'll not be | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
solved by a little renegotiation. If the Prime Minister is serious about | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
offering us a referendum, and he's only partly serious because the | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
chances of his being in office are not very high, but if he's serious, | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
he must expect people to express their view about what we should do, | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
stay or leave. But the negotiation, he has to win the next election, | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
whatever the outcome though, he'll say stay, in he'll say you have to | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
vote yes? Sure he will.Because you think in the end his heart is that | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
Britain's future belongs in Europe? No, no, no, his heart is not in that | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
at all. No, no. So why is he saying it? He and the Chancellor of the | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
Exchequer and the others know, as well as I do that the relationship | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
between the UK and Europe is fundamentally flaw and disastrous, | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
but the Government doesn't have the courage to say the solution is to | :27:34. | :27:36. | |
leave the European Union. There's no way you can say the Prime Minister's | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
heart is in it. I wouldn't accuse him of that! Shouldn't you have led | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
the way on this, rather than jumping on the bandwagon after Mr Lamont and | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
Lawson and UKIP doing well last week? Well, I have been saying to | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
anyone who's asked me since the Prime Minister announced there would | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
be a referendum that I would vote out. To me...Let me just continue. | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
One thing that astonished me was that the entourage, who're close to | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
the Government, looked at me in incredulity" You would vote to | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
leave". They are as surprised as we are? Why is it extraordinary to | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
think this relationship... Do you think he's jumping on a bandwagon? | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
No, there was a lot of passion in his argument and his real argument | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
is about the way the Single Currency is going and the view that it was an | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
outrageous act of arrogance to force countries like Greece, Spain and | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
others into the Single Currency. Michael appears to be following the | :28:36. | :28:43. | |
UKIP line on the basis of now is the time to leave the European Union and | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
I think he's been unfair to the Prime Minister because if you are | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
the Prime Minister of this country and you have this obsession on his | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
benches with Europe and this keeps coming up over and again, you have | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
to try and diffuse it some way. I think there was a lot of cynicism in | :28:57. | :29:03. | |
going back to Brussels and trying to get that. Like Michael, I don't | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
think anything will come from that. I sympathise with the Prime Minister | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
given that on their benches, they are still obsessing about Europe. | :29:13. | :29:23. | |
Given that, Miranda, how would you therefore say what the implications | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
are. This enormously Euro-sceptic party is in coalition with the most | :29:29. | :29:39. | |
:29:39. | :29:45. | ||
party for David Cameron to handle in terms of party management. Everybody | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
knows that the Lib Dems unashamedly pro-European. Actually, this is | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
quite interesting, because you are starting to get a discussion of the | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
merits of the case. I profoundly hope that, you have had a rash of | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
people coming out in The Times this week, which has doing a let's get | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
out series, there is now an opportunity for the people who have | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
been a bit hopeless in arguing the pro-case, to explain why it is a | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
false spectre. This idea that we cannot build trading ties with the | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
rising economies of Asia, for example, whilst we are in the EU, is | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
completely bonkers. We do not need to leave the EU to trade with the | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
rest of the world. Michael's point was that Europe is lumbered with the | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
euro and the Eurozone and all it covers, and this will not be | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
resolved quickly, and for the next ten years the Euro elite will obsess | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
about the euro and how to save the Eurozone - correct me if I am not | :30:43. | :30:50. | |
summarising you properly. And that there is no future in that. The | :30:50. | :30:57. | |
world is moving on and passing us by. Countries who operate on the | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
European continent but are not heart of the use still have to operate | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
under the trading law. So even if you feel passionately that the use | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
should go back to something that is more akin to an economic and trading | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
relationship, rather than something broader, it is madness for the UK to | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
be outside of the European Union, because we have to operate under | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
those trading rules, so we want to be in there making sure the British | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
perspective is represented. We have important allies. Europe is not some | :31:26. | :31:33. | |
Franco-German machine. But its obsession is with the Euro. The | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
Eurozone and trying to get that right dominates everything else, and | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
the price the European elite is prepared to make ordinary people pay | :31:40. | :31:46. | |
to keep the Eurozone intact is a price he does not want to pay, and | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
increasingly European people may not want to pay. 57% youth unemployment | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
in Spain, for a start. Absolutely. There was a problem with democratic | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
consent across the European Union. You mean there is not any. There is | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
a huge democratic deficit. You have UKIP here and similar sorts of | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
movements in other European countries, which are trying to say, | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
we want our democratic rights asserted. But to say the UK at this | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
moment in history should get out across this is a particular problem | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
in the Eurozone is madness. I hope we get the proper debate about in or | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
out. Let Michael reply and we can start the debate. Part of it is | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
economic, that the European Union is led by a lot of ideologues, who want | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
the European Union more than anything else and expect other | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
people to pay any price for it. And the price is very, very high. It is | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
also that they are going to be so obsessed with the Euro for so long | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
that they are unaware that they need to compete with the rest of the | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
world, so Europe is becoming less competitive. One of the responses of | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
the European Union is to say because European citizens are suffering, we | :33:00. | :33:02. | |
have two increase the welfare state, making ourselves less | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
competitive. At another level, it is different. I believe we are, the | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
British people, suited to being in the European Union. It is like | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
saying, why isn't a fish a stag. It simply is not. We are not | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
temperamentally suited to the European Union. It has worried me, | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
and this is why I thought I would write an article rather than telling | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
other people how I would vote, is that the weakness demonstrated why | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
the government in saying, we will have a referendum but we recommend | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
that we stay in, that weakness means the political establishment in this | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
country will never be strong enough to leave, meaning it will always be | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
weak enough to go into the full European Union. And if we do not | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
leave now, we will eventually be sucked into the whole thing, the | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
euro, the Eurozone and all the catastrophe that is occurring on the | :33:52. | :33:59. | |
continent. Allen, if Michael is right and you are right that any | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
attempt at renegotiation will produce pennies, like Wilson in | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
1975, if you are right there was to be a vote between the choice of the | :34:07. | :34:13. | |
British people bash the status quo of Europe, and getting out, this | :34:13. | :34:20. | |
country would probably vote to get out. I don't know.That is why you | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
will not give them the vote. We gave them the vote in 1975-76. But the | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
view that the Conservative party of -- the Conservative party's problems | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
about Europe, that is a problem with the Conservatives, not the rest of | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
the British people. There is a case to say the argument for Europe has | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
gone by default. People stopped arguing, for some reason when the | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
Britain and Europe movement and the single currency argument finished, | :34:52. | :34:56. | |
nobody bothered to make the arguing for Europe any more, and in that | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
sense it is good to have the debate. But it is very much a Conservative | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
party view. Cameron is responding to a Conservative party problem that he | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
got defeated on over and over again, the issue that it is terrible to | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
give workers any protection, it all comes from Europe, the argument | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
about immigration. Michael did not use any of those arguments, but that | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
is a problem for the Prime Minister. He has to find a way out of it, so | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
he invents this renegotiation. final question to you. It is not | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
exactly helpful to the coalition. This is salt in the wound, is it | :35:32. | :35:39. | |
not? I do not see it like that. It is such a domestic party issue. And | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
tomorrow's Guardian, Nigel Lawson's intervention is described as | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
throwing a grenade into a small building. That small building is the | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
Conservative party. It is not the preoccupation of the mass of people. | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
UKIP supporters are more concerned about the economy than about | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
Britain's place in Europe. Thank you. | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
Now, One Direction have done it, Prince Harry's about to do it. But | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
even we were taken aback at reports this week that Daily Mail columnist | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
Melanie Philips has decided the one thing America lacks is a decent dose | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
of social conservatism, and decided to have a crack at breaking America. | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
And in order to give her British Invasion some commercial teeth, | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
she's re-branded herself with a fancy website and a funky new logo. | :36:20. | :36:22. | |
You can now buy, online, a Melanie Philips baseball cap for �23.20, | :36:22. | :36:30. | |
excluding delivery. And no, this is not a joke, this is capitalism in | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
all its glory. So why are we so obsessed with everything Yankee? We | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
decided to find out and put our fascination with America in this | :36:37. | :36:47. | |
:36:47. | :37:01. | ||
and a child held captive for years in an otherwise unremarkable | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
Cleveland house has not just dominated the news in the US but in | :37:04. | :37:11. | |
the UK, too. It follows wall-to-wall coverage of the Boston bombings, the | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
subsequent manhunt, not to mention Guant?namo hunger strikes, targeted | :37:15. | :37:23. | |
drone strikes and 3-D printed guns. So why do we have such an insatiable | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
appetite for all American stories? Do shared values and language | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
explain why it's politics has asked in its grip, whether it be | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
presidential elections, or presidential one-liners? Some things | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
are beyond my control, for example this controversy about Jay-Z going | :37:42. | :37:49. | |
to Cuba. It is unbelievable. I have 99 problems, and now Jay-Z is one. | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
May be the fascination is not entirely one-way, with Prince | :37:53. | :38:00. | |
Harry's wild West adventure staring excitement in Washington, DC, if not | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
the casinos of Las Vegas. Are we right to give so much attention to | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
the world's only superpower? Or do we risk ignoring the rest of the | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
world in the process? Never let it be said that we would ever be so | :38:13. | :38:20. | |
starstruck. Welcome to the show. It is the | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
richest, most powerful country in the world, it almost speaks | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
English. Really, we should not be surprised that the Brits are | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
obsessed with it. Yes, well, I think you are obsessed with America's on | :38:34. | :38:43. | |
Basque. Do you know what I mean? America has all the culture, the | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
Hollywood movies, the action movies. They are just an extension, | :38:48. | :38:55. | |
I think, of American militarism. It is just this big, explosive thing. | :38:55. | :39:02. | |
And I think that you guys, being a little reserved, I think you guys | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
like look at America and go, my gosh, look at that, they are | :39:07. | :39:17. | |
:39:17. | :39:17. | ||
exploding everything! And you get drawn to the emotional, it is ramped | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
up emotionally in America. But it is also on music summer television, | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
movies. American popular culture is the most powerful popular culture in | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
the world and we have no barriers to it because we share the same | :39:30. | :39:39. | |
language. The French, Germans and others, they have some... Americans | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
are very provincial, too. Though I understand that. That is what annoys | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
us. We are obsessed with America but they could not give a monkeys about | :39:48. | :39:58. | |
:39:58. | :40:02. | ||
us unless it is the Royal family. Actually, the tissue culture, I am a | :40:02. | :40:09. | |
comedian and I grew up loving Monty Python's flying Circus. Absolutely | :40:09. | :40:15. | |
adoring it. Douglas Adams, hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, all | :40:15. | :40:24. | |
of that stuff. It is a two-way thing. One of the reasons why we are | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
interested in America is because what happens there are usually | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
happens here about six months or a year later, whether it is | :40:31. | :40:38. | |
multichannel television, cat next Apple, the latest technology, all of | :40:38. | :40:46. | |
the big companies are American companies. The French, the Germans, | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
the Spanish are just as drawn to America as we are, but they have the | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
language barrier. But why so many kids in Europe speak English is that | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
there is such cultural domination by the United States that they have to | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
learning wish to participate. One of the things that the British get is | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
the feeling of non-provincialism if they understand the United States, | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
and it is easy to understand because the language is the same. You | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
suddenly feel you are living in a community of 350 million. And the | :41:15. | :41:24. | |
language for the political class, who are obsessed, with some who | :41:24. | :41:30. | |
carry the biography of Johnson, that is a love of language. Unless you | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
have the language commie cannot follow it as closely as you can | :41:33. | :41:41. | |
follow Washington. Yes, that is part of the fascination but it is also | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
the history. It is such a young country and they are so proud of | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
their country. We are more understated and we like the fact | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
that Americans appreciate our Royal family. But we see such bash macro | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
something we find difficult to comprehend, which is a gut feeling | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
that their nation, a patriotism that lives and breathes, and you can see | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
it all the time. The fact that all of that could have been ours if we | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
had not made the wrong decisions are few hundred years ago. Are you proud | :42:13. | :42:22. | |
of America? You know what, I am not proud of part of America that stands | :42:22. | :42:29. | |
around chanting USA, because I think... We do not like that bit | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
either. I do not like that bit, we are the best. But to be the country | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
that the rest of the world looks to for ideas and trends. That is nice. | :42:42. | :42:48. | |
And being in America, as a comedian I am more of a critic. I am more of | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
a critic of the homogenised culture, the corporate culture. I am | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
a little disappointed in President Obama not being as left as I thought | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
he was going to be. We are running out of time, but you are working | :43:03. | :43:13. | |
:43:13. | :43:16. | ||
here at the moment. At the Soho Theatre until May 25. We will give | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
him his medication! That's your lot for tonight, folks. | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
But not for us. We're giving Annabel's a miss tonight. Michael | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
needs an early night. Organising a British withdrawal from the European | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
Union isn't something you do with a hangover. So we've decided to join | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
him at his hostel for some Blue Nun cocoa, a snuggle, and an early night | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
under his John Major memorial duvet. So we leave you tonight, in the week | :43:39. | :43:42. |