:00:04. > :00:11.Tonight on This Week, it's Politics Under The Hammer. With the launch of
:00:11. > :00:15.the Prime Minister's Help to Buy scheme, will it buy him more votes
:00:15. > :00:17.come the next election? Homes Under The Hammer presenter, Martin
:00:17. > :00:22.Roberts, checks out the policy particulars.
:00:22. > :00:27.Is the government's new Help to Buy scheme a bargain buy, a doer-upper,
:00:27. > :00:34.or one to avoid? I'll be putting it under the hammer.
:00:34. > :00:38.Just like properties, the value of political careers can go down as
:00:38. > :00:40.well as up. As all the main parties reshuffle their teams, the
:00:40. > :00:54.Spectator's Isabel Hardman assesses the political bricks and mortar.
:00:54. > :00:55.Ministers and MPs' jobs came under the hammer this week. I will look at
:00:55. > :00:59.who got the best deals and who was the hammer this week. I will look at
:00:59. > :01:02.sacked to the bargain basement. Footballers love their multi-million
:01:02. > :01:05.pound houses, but young England footballer Jack Wilshire is under
:01:05. > :01:09.fire for saying only English people should play for the national side.
:01:09. > :01:11.England's women's football captain, Casey Stoney, and former Liverpool
:01:11. > :01:24.and England superstar John Barnes are in the This Week house. I was
:01:24. > :01:28.born in Jamaica, but winning my first cap for this week means
:01:28. > :01:30.everything. Join us for some political
:01:30. > :01:34.gazumping. Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week,
:01:34. > :01:38.the show with lower viewing figures than Channel 4's Sex Box, and even
:01:39. > :01:42.lower standards. We begin tonight with a public service warning to
:01:42. > :01:45.those of you at the Home Office. If you see somebody rifling through
:01:45. > :01:50.your wastepaper basket, worry ye not. It's unlikely to be a spy and
:01:50. > :01:52.much more likely to be your new minister, Lib Dem Norman Baker,
:01:52. > :01:57.looking for evidence to corroborate his latest conspiracy theory. He
:01:57. > :02:00.believes, for example, that weapons inspector David Kelly did not commit
:02:00. > :02:06.suicide but was murdered by an Iraqi hit squad. That the X-Files is a
:02:06. > :02:09.documentary series. And that the royal family are actually lizards
:02:10. > :02:15.from planet Zog. He's definitely wrong about Dr Kelly and the
:02:15. > :02:20.X-Files. Anyway, now he's in the Home Office. And people said Nick
:02:20. > :02:23.Clegg didn't have a sense of humour. Sticking with the ridiculous,
:02:23. > :02:26.someone called Diane Abbott believes she can go straight from the total
:02:26. > :02:29.of obscurity that is the shadow public health portfolio, from which
:02:29. > :02:37.she managed to get sacked, to the full-on limelight of being Labour's
:02:37. > :02:41.next candidate for Mayor of London. And they say Norman Baker has a
:02:41. > :02:45.screw loose! Finally, there's Environment Minister Owen "Badger
:02:45. > :02:48.Cull" Paterson. When the little blighters wouldn't just lay down and
:02:48. > :02:53.die, he accused the badgers of "moving the goalposts". Badgers
:02:54. > :02:59.moving goalposts? Norman Baker will soon be on to that one. Speaking of
:02:59. > :03:03.pests, I'm joined on the sofa joined tonightby two little furry creatures
:03:03. > :03:06.who couldn't find the goalposts in a floodlit park. Think of them as the
:03:06. > :03:09.blind leading the blind of late night political chat. I speak, of
:03:09. > :03:28.course, of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson, and #sadmanonatrain Michael
:03:28. > :03:34."Choo Choo" Portillo. Your moment of the week? President cars I of
:03:34. > :03:38.Afghanistan gave an interview to the BBC in which he alleged that the
:03:38. > :03:43.Allied mission in Afghanistan had been a waste of time because his
:03:43. > :03:46.country did not enjoy security. At my moment is the response from a
:03:46. > :03:55.former secretary-general of NATO, my moment is the response from a
:03:55. > :03:59.and General Lord Damm, both of whom said this was unfair and insulting
:03:59. > :04:04.to British troops who had lost their lives and limbs in Afghanistan. Of
:04:04. > :04:07.course, it was not unfair to them, it was a question about the
:04:07. > :04:11.leadership of the mission, the political leadership and the
:04:11. > :04:18.military leadership of the mission. And I thought it was self serving of
:04:18. > :04:20.these gentlemen to dismiss the president of Afghanistan's
:04:20. > :04:24.criticism. It would have been better to meet the point of the criticism,
:04:24. > :04:28.to explain if it has not been a waste of time and effort why it has
:04:28. > :04:33.not been, because he is saying that his country is not secure. If we
:04:33. > :04:37.want to avoid men losing lives and limbs unnecessarily, we need an
:04:37. > :04:43.honest debate about that. You surprise me by the line you have
:04:43. > :04:48.taken, but I like to be surprised. My political moment of the week will
:04:48. > :04:55.not surprise you. It was the car-boot sale otherwise known as the
:04:55. > :05:01.disposal of shares in Royal Mail. Did you buy any? I certainly did
:05:01. > :05:05.not. I believe it was a mistake, compounded by selling it off on the
:05:05. > :05:12.cheap. If they had put another 70p on the shares, the Treasury would
:05:12. > :05:16.have had another £400 million. And I will be very interested to see what
:05:16. > :05:21.the National Audit Office say about this first stage. It is not the
:05:21. > :05:26.first time they have under priced a privatisation. His lot did it all
:05:26. > :05:33.the time. Always in the interests of giving it away. But he knows
:05:33. > :05:37.precisely that the market would have gone another 70p? It is not me, but
:05:37. > :05:44.the stockbrokers are saying it was well under priced. Still a good
:05:44. > :05:46.point. Thank you. I am in an evenhanded mood but it will not
:05:46. > :05:49.last. Now, who do you trust more,
:05:49. > :05:52.politicians or estate agents? Tough call. So when politicians interfere
:05:52. > :05:56.with the housing market, we should really start to worry. With the new
:05:56. > :06:00.phase of the Help to Buy scheme launched this week, the Government
:06:00. > :06:03.wants to make it easier for people who can afford the mortgage payments
:06:04. > :06:07.but not the deposit to buy a home. But it brings with it risks of
:06:07. > :06:10.increased household debt and yet another housing bubble. We turned to
:06:10. > :06:21.Homes Under The Hammer presenter and property expert Martin Roberts. This
:06:21. > :06:28.is his take of the week. Well, I spend my life checking out
:06:28. > :06:33.properties, but for this week I have come to Chesterfield in Derbyshire,
:06:33. > :06:48.to put the government's Help to Buy scheme under the microscope.
:06:48. > :06:53.For those struggling to get on the property ladder or looking to
:06:53. > :06:57.upgrade, it is hard to say that the scheme is anything but a good thing.
:06:58. > :07:02.It is for those people who can't afford mortgage repayments -- who
:07:02. > :07:07.can afford mortgage repayments but cannot raise a deposit. Under the
:07:07. > :07:17.Help to Buy scheme, you only need to find 5%, with the lender coming up
:07:17. > :07:23.with the other 95%. Happy days! So it is all looking pretty rosy. But
:07:23. > :07:26.are there any hidden horrors, or cracks in the plan? Well, it will
:07:26. > :07:29.get more people on the housing ladder, that is for sure. But the
:07:29. > :07:32.interest rate will be higher than if ladder, that is for sure. But the
:07:32. > :07:37.you had a bigger deposit to put down. So you will end up paying a
:07:37. > :07:52.lot more money. I guess it is a case of, you win some, you lose some.
:07:52. > :08:01.This scheme will drive up the prices upwards. Anyone who thinks otherwise
:08:01. > :08:06.is not thinking clearly. At that is not necessarily a bad thing. The
:08:06. > :08:11.market being boosted will help the economy and also stimulate the
:08:11. > :08:16.building industry. Nice bathroom. And if you already own your own
:08:16. > :08:20.house, you can sit at dinner parties and be smug about the fact that the
:08:20. > :08:27.rise in the value of your house is probably more on a weekly basis then
:08:27. > :08:31.you earn from going out to work. Of course, if you have not yet bought a
:08:31. > :08:34.you earn from going out to work. Of house, then rising prices means it
:08:34. > :08:38.is going to cost you more to buy your home. However, getting the
:08:38. > :08:49.all-important mortgage is going to be easier. So think of it as a gift
:08:49. > :08:55.horse, but one that needs feeding. Owning your own home is something we
:08:55. > :08:59.all aspire to. It is part of the British psyche. So any government
:08:59. > :09:08.scheme which helps people with this right of passage is bound to be
:09:08. > :09:13.popular. The Prime Minister will be hoping that his Help to Buy scheme
:09:13. > :09:21.helps to buy him votes, as people move up the property ladder.
:09:21. > :09:24.And from a home under the hammer in Derbyshire to our own little home
:09:24. > :09:34.under the hammer here in the heart of Westminster, Martin Roberts joins
:09:34. > :09:45.us now. Let me go to these two. Michael, is this ad economics but
:09:45. > :09:49.good politics? Yes. -- bad economics. Although whether it is ad
:09:49. > :09:53.economics, even that is finely balanced. The government is arguing
:09:53. > :09:58.there is a kind of market failure and the banks are not willing to
:09:58. > :10:00.make 95% mortgages available, which they did historically. So the
:10:00. > :10:06.government is intervening to make that good. But that will drive up
:10:06. > :10:09.property prices. You help someone to the property ladder but drive up
:10:09. > :10:11.property prices, meaning other people are even further from getting
:10:11. > :10:18.onto the ladder than they were before. It may well be good politics
:10:18. > :10:26.but it is ad economics. He has brought this forwards. -- bad
:10:26. > :10:30.economics. I can understand stage one. It seems to me if this works we
:10:30. > :10:36.will get economic growth based on debt. And we will get the banks
:10:36. > :10:41.subsidised to lend to housing. As an industry, that takes us back to how
:10:41. > :10:46.the bubble was blown up in the first place. There is a back to the future
:10:46. > :10:50.element. You make a good point. This is designed to pump more money into
:10:50. > :10:55.housing by government guarantees, even by the government putting some
:10:55. > :11:03.in in the first place, but house prices were already rising before
:11:03. > :11:07.Help To Buy. Many people say it is not housing that needs credit, but
:11:07. > :11:09.small and medium-sized businesses, and they are not getting it, and
:11:09. > :11:13.small and medium-sized businesses, this will attract even more of this
:11:13. > :11:18.credit into housing. Do you think it is one or the other? As I understand
:11:18. > :11:23.it, this will bring in government funds. All that they are doing is
:11:23. > :11:26.offering insurance policies to banks and building societies which
:11:26. > :11:27.basically say, it's somebody defaults on the loan, we will cover
:11:27. > :11:50.the loss but there is a charge which defaults on the loan, we will cover
:11:50. > :11:55.medium-sized as Mrs. -- businesses. Whatever it is, you could do the
:11:55. > :11:58.equivalent for small business. That would be great and I'm not against
:11:58. > :12:05.that, but at least it is a positive step to get the market moving. Put
:12:05. > :12:09.aside the economics, I would not underestimate the popularity of
:12:09. > :12:13.this. If a lot of people get a foot on the housing market because of
:12:13. > :12:17.this extra guarantee, it will be the Tory equivalent of Mr Miliband's
:12:17. > :12:23.energy price freeze, which is very popular. May be. That is why it
:12:23. > :12:29.could be good politics and bad economics. We were trying not to go
:12:29. > :12:32.to business as usual. George Osborne was telling us he wants to
:12:32. > :12:37.reposition the economy, and I think he is right, towards industry and
:12:37. > :12:41.exports and away from debt. And it seems this is going to blow up that
:12:41. > :12:47.housing bubble again, and you are going to have this fixation with
:12:47. > :12:51.high house prices. I was talking about this earlier. I was with a
:12:51. > :12:57.German film crew and they cannot understand the obsession with owning
:12:57. > :13:02.houses, not renting them. But is Labour opposed to this? I am sure.
:13:02. > :13:08.Don't ask me, I am not on the front bench. We have a new Shadow Housing
:13:08. > :13:11.Minister this week. The big thing we would focus on is to deal with
:13:11. > :13:17.demand by building more houses, and this does nothing for that. I think
:13:17. > :13:21.Alan is out of date. There is no obsession with house ownership in
:13:21. > :13:23.Britain that is visible in the statistics any more. The proportion
:13:23. > :13:31.of home ownership is falling very fast. Because they can't afford it.
:13:31. > :13:35.Many European countries have higher levels of homeownership than we do.
:13:35. > :13:45.I remember reading that. Seriously, they do. You have been reading the
:13:45. > :13:50.Beano again. We have fallen. It is a really serious matter that under a
:13:50. > :13:53.Conservative government the proportion of homeownership is
:13:53. > :13:58.falling. And I understand why they make this intervention, but as I
:13:58. > :14:02.said, it has two aspects. It helps certain people get on the housing
:14:02. > :14:06.ladder, and they may be grateful. But people excluded by the higher
:14:06. > :14:09.prices will not ease so aware that they have been prevented from
:14:09. > :14:16.entering the housing ladder because general prices have gone up. Here is
:14:16. > :14:22.the smoking gun. Many people will take out mortgages of 95% of value.
:14:22. > :14:27.They will do so and have mortgage payments at a time when mortgages
:14:27. > :14:32.are at historic lows. All it will take is for interest rates to go up
:14:32. > :14:35.and house prices to fall by just five cent, and they will be in
:14:35. > :14:44.negative equity with a debt they cannot service. You are completely
:14:44. > :14:48.right. So why are we doing it? It goes back to the point of giving
:14:48. > :14:55.people the chance to own their own home. We are a nation of people who
:14:55. > :14:56.aspire to own their own homes. To give an opportunity for people who
:14:56. > :15:01.saw that opportunity for that give an opportunity for people who
:15:01. > :15:04.fantastic feeling, which I hope you have all had, the first night in
:15:04. > :15:12.your own home when you think, this is mine. This is wonderful idea
:15:12. > :15:16.listen. It is true! In the last few years, we have in so intent on
:15:16. > :15:19.making sure people are not repossessed that we pursued a
:15:19. > :15:23.low-interest policy, so very few people have been repossessed. There
:15:24. > :15:26.has been no adjustment of house prices equivalent to that which
:15:26. > :15:31.occurred in the United States or Ireland. Consequently, house prices
:15:31. > :15:35.have remained out of reach for most people. Young people now are not
:15:35. > :15:37.having the experience that we had. We were on the housing ladder in our
:15:37. > :15:43.having the experience that we had. 20s and 30s. There are young people
:15:43. > :15:44.in their 30s and 40s living in student type accommodation, with six
:15:44. > :16:04.people in the house. The idea of a job for life has gone
:16:04. > :16:11.now. People have to be more mobile. Should not more people be renting?
:16:11. > :16:14.Yes it is the simple answer to that. Looking at the rental market and
:16:14. > :16:21.some of the problems there is something the Government will have
:16:21. > :16:28.to address. I think many people now have come to the conclusion that
:16:29. > :16:33.they would rather rent. If we are still a nation obsessed with owning
:16:33. > :16:41.our own homes, are you not part of that problem? Yes, it is all down
:16:41. > :16:48.to meet. Homes Under The Hammer is not just about that. It is about
:16:48. > :16:52.voyeurism. Location and location and houses here, the TV is packed
:16:52. > :17:02.with them. It is all my fault, I am sorry. I started my career on an --
:17:02. > :17:09.as an adviser on housing policy. It used to be at the centre of a
:17:09. > :17:13.political debate and here we are with its still at the periphery of
:17:13. > :17:17.the debate. If you look at the record of the coalition and the
:17:17. > :17:23.last Labour Government, it is not good. We have spent a lot of money
:17:23. > :17:28.on doing their houses up,, but you are right, it was a peripheral
:17:28. > :17:33.issue. But now it is a central issue because it has become one of
:17:33. > :17:40.those issues if it is the Labour Party, people say we failed when we
:17:40. > :17:45.were in power, now people say it is impossible to get a house under the
:17:45. > :17:53.Conservative Government. Good to see you. Michael and Alan may be
:17:53. > :17:59.mid-table mediocrities, but that does not mean you should take your
:17:59. > :18:03.ball away just yet. Stick with us because you have not seen any
:18:03. > :18:07.action so far. England captain Casey Stoney and former England
:18:07. > :18:12.superstar John Barnes are here to talk about representing your
:18:12. > :18:17.country. And we move from national pride to your international shame,
:18:17. > :18:26.with your sullen grumblings on the Twitter, the fleece would -- please
:18:26. > :18:29.book and the internet. Now, sometimes even we lose the will to
:18:29. > :18:33.live, usually when interviewing Tory chairman Grant Shapps. And he
:18:33. > :18:34.didn't fail to disappoint this week with his soul-destroying
:18:34. > :18:37.description of the government's mid-level musical chairs exercise
:18:37. > :18:40.as a reshuffle for hard-working people. Dear God, where is a badger
:18:40. > :18:43.culler with a telescopic rifle sight when you need one? Anyway,
:18:43. > :18:46.despite the low drama of the week's events, we were still able to raise
:18:46. > :18:48.our own game and turned to Isabel Hardman from the Spectator for how
:18:48. > :19:14.round-up of the political week. In politics, as in netball, it is
:19:14. > :19:18.tough booking a new team and I did not envy the party leaders as they
:19:18. > :19:21.reached for their key players this week, packing old faces back to the
:19:21. > :19:26.reached for their key players this backbenches and promoting new
:19:26. > :19:35.talent. They are hoping it will put them in a new position for the
:19:35. > :19:43.election. Many of those promoted this week must be about as famous
:19:43. > :19:48.as the stars of the netball world, but team was poor and did very well.
:19:48. > :19:54.Those coached by George, were put into Government for the first time.
:19:54. > :19:58.This was hailed as the flat cap reshuffled with promotion for
:19:58. > :20:08.northerners, women and ethnic minorities. There must be a general
:20:08. > :20:13.election coming up. Labour MPs who had warned the Blairite strip back
:20:13. > :20:20.in the day were not so popular with T Miller Band. Liam Byrne, Stephen
:20:20. > :20:25.Twigg and Jim Murphy all took a hit. Diane Abbott was sent off as
:20:25. > :20:30.Labour's Public Health Minister. Political journalists were Allsop -
:20:30. > :20:38.- sacked by the sacking of Jeremy Browne. Back on court, after the
:20:38. > :20:41.conference season, the first Prime Minister's Questions was an attack
:20:42. > :20:47.and defence came over who has the best energy policy. Nobody wants.
:20:47. > :20:52.On Monday the Prime Minister said there is a certain amount you can
:20:52. > :21:00.do freezing energy prices. The Chancellor said it was something,
:21:00. > :21:06.and I quote out of Das Capital. Is fizzing energy prices a good idea
:21:06. > :21:11.or a Communist plot? I will leave the Communist plots to him. What
:21:11. > :21:16.this Government is doing is legislating to put people on to the
:21:16. > :21:21.lowest energy tariffs. That is a real step forward. But I have to
:21:21. > :21:26.say on the issue of promising a freeze, this is a classic case of
:21:26. > :21:32.him saying one thing and doing another. Month after month he
:21:32. > :21:37.produced policy after policy, it regulation after regulation, target
:21:37. > :21:45.after target, all of which put prices up. Ed Balls is finding it
:21:46. > :21:52.hard to handle the passing. Now that the IMF has handled his growth
:21:52. > :21:58.forecast for the UK... Six months ago we were worried about growth in
:21:58. > :22:03.the UK not coming back, but we have been pleasantly surprised. Ed Balls
:22:03. > :22:08.got all sulky he was not in charge of the purse-strings when the good
:22:08. > :22:13.results came through. After three years of flat Laughlin, finally we
:22:13. > :22:19.are getting growth back, but for families whose living standards are
:22:19. > :22:24.falling, this is no recovery at all. The IMF says, build their homes and
:22:24. > :22:29.get people back to work and George Osborne should act. One man who is
:22:29. > :22:35.not a team player is Adam Afriyie come at an ambitious Tory
:22:35. > :22:39.backbencher, who has had his eyes on the job for a long time. But the
:22:39. > :22:45.only thing is every time he shoots, he does not score. He wanted to
:22:45. > :22:50.bring forward the date of the EU referendum to October, 2014,
:22:50. > :22:56.thinking it would cause mayhem in Tory ranks. Sadly, no-one seemed
:22:56. > :23:03.that bothered. Has he done the impossible and united the Tories on
:23:03. > :23:09.Europe? We are having a referendum -- by having a referendum in 2014
:23:09. > :23:13.it kick-starts the negotiations will stop the European Union would
:23:13. > :23:17.need to accommodate, and make some changes, so they would persuade the
:23:17. > :23:25.British public to stay if that is what they want. 12 months is ample
:23:25. > :23:31.time for this kind of negotiating. The three teams have been working
:23:31. > :23:35.together on press regulation, but like all teams, there is jostling
:23:35. > :23:40.for position over who has got the best deal for the press. The
:23:40. > :23:45.committee of the Privy Council is an able to recommend the press
:23:45. > :23:47.proposal for a Royal Charter to be granted. Whilst there are areas
:23:47. > :23:53.where it is acceptable, it is granted. Whilst there are areas
:23:53. > :23:56.unable to comply with some important Leveson Inquiry
:23:56. > :24:02.principles and Government policy, such as in the area of independence
:24:02. > :24:08.and access to arbitration. Expect one hell of a scrum on this one.
:24:08. > :24:13.The newspapers are just not moving. Meanwhile, back at base, the new
:24:13. > :24:17.ministers are trying to work out their new portfolios and make sure
:24:17. > :24:23.they do not drop any catches when it comes to their first time at the
:24:23. > :24:34.dispatch box. Time for the team chant. Keeping it real! It is
:24:34. > :24:41.exhausting watching that. Isabel Hardman on the court with popcorn
:24:41. > :24:50.and netball. We are joined in our own top corner by the Lib Dem's
:24:50. > :24:54.Miranda Green. This is a middle- ranking reshuffle. Matthew Hancock
:24:54. > :25:00.Miranda Green. This is a middle- is a person we will all have heard
:25:00. > :25:04.of quite sharply. I imagine he will be in the Cabinet quite soon.
:25:04. > :25:09.Esther McVey is a lady I have known for many years, a former TV
:25:09. > :25:16.presenter, very nice and down-to- earth and very sincere. I imagine
:25:16. > :25:20.she will be in the Cabinet. The are moves that anticipate movement into
:25:20. > :25:25.the Cabinet between now and the next election. It is clearly an
:25:25. > :25:29.attempt to change the Brant from being too posh. Although Matthew
:25:29. > :25:39.does not help. He only went to Eton. being too posh. Although Matthew
:25:39. > :25:45.Overall the ones who have got the coverage, the ones who you will see
:25:45. > :25:52.most on TV, does it matter that they her only in B division at the
:25:52. > :25:55.moment? It is easier to register as a minister of state that a
:25:55. > :26:00.parliament Secretary. Some ministers of state get quite a lot
:26:00. > :26:04.of attention. They will be pushed forward even in their present
:26:04. > :26:09.positions, but you cannot go into the Cabinet until you have been a
:26:09. > :26:16.minister of state. The big question in all these reshuffles his why did
:26:16. > :26:22.Nick Clegg replace Jeremy Browne with Norman Baker? That is the
:26:22. > :26:33.overwhelming question looking at the reshuffle. She agrees with your
:26:33. > :26:39.question. You cannot agree with a question that begins with why? You
:26:39. > :26:45.have to answer the question. And I will. As the reshuffle unfolded I
:26:45. > :26:50.was left open-mouthed by this reshuffle myself. Jeremy Browne is
:26:50. > :26:57.a very talented individual. But what Nick Clegg was doing was about
:26:57. > :27:00.positioning or 2015. The Lib Dems in the Home Office have let a few
:27:00. > :27:07.things happen that have been embarrassing. He wanted to put
:27:07. > :27:13.somebody in their and somebody in whom the party had faith. They have
:27:13. > :27:15.faith in Norman Baker? Everybody thinks he has done very well as a
:27:15. > :27:20.faith in Norman Baker? Everybody minister in transport. That is true,
:27:20. > :27:30.but it is a dysfunctional department. They could not get the
:27:30. > :27:35.cost benefits RT Hon H has to. Jeremy Hunt is the Health Secretary.
:27:35. > :27:41.And he thinks homoeopathy is a great idea. Norman Baker is in good
:27:41. > :27:49.company. The yardstick is Jeremy hands? Michael, you must have been
:27:49. > :27:54.distraught when you learnt that Diane had been fired. I was
:27:54. > :27:58.disappointed for her because obviously she had decided to leave
:27:58. > :28:02.this great programme to do something else in politics. She
:28:02. > :28:07.wanted to do something serious and she had taken what appeared to be
:28:07. > :28:13.quite a lowly position as she took it seriously and was committed, so
:28:13. > :28:18.I am disappointed for her. Why would Ed Miliband do such a thing?
:28:18. > :28:22.You just mentioned about the London Mayor. I do not know if she was
:28:22. > :28:28.You just mentioned about the London asked to step down. To somebody who
:28:28. > :28:32.has been an eminent person in this programme, I do not know how Ed
:28:32. > :28:41.Miliband could possibly do that. Can I talk about the Tory
:28:41. > :28:49.reshuffle? My favourite minister is a guy called Greg Clarke. All these
:28:49. > :28:57.young and I become -- up and coming 2010 intake, I hope Greg Clarke has
:28:57. > :29:01.not been pushed down. He moved from Treasury into the Cabinet Office,
:29:01. > :29:06.but still has responsibility for cities and he is one of their
:29:06. > :29:10.success stories. You must have been distraught on this Blairite purge
:29:10. > :29:17.of your old colleagues by Mr Ed Miliband. Stephen Twigg, Liam Byrne,
:29:17. > :29:23.Jim Murphy. I do not think you could call it a Blairite perch with
:29:23. > :29:33.Charlie Faulkner coming backing, Douglas Alexander picking up a
:29:33. > :29:42.strategic role. Tristram Hunt. He is going to education. And dreary
:29:42. > :29:47.dead hero. A great appointment. I do not think you could say this is
:29:47. > :29:54.a Blairite purge. Did they approach you? No, they did not, sadly. So
:29:54. > :30:00.they got rid of dire and they did but ask you. What is he thinking
:30:00. > :30:06.of? That is a hole so that that was ignored. He is not making friends
:30:06. > :30:12.in this programme. On a scale of 1- 10, how surprised would you be if
:30:12. > :30:22.Diane was Labour's London Mayor candidate, 10 being gobsmacked?
:30:22. > :30:33.Four. I think that should be six, if ten is gobsmacked. I think she would
:30:33. > :30:36.be an outstanding candidate in the sense that everybody knows who she
:30:36. > :30:42.is, which is the first and most important thing. That did help
:30:42. > :30:46.Boris. Presumably the Labour Party would like to have somebody else,
:30:46. > :30:52.but she will be fast out of the starting blocks because she is
:30:52. > :30:56.known. As a Londoner, I always feel disappointed when I turn up to vote
:30:56. > :31:00.in the mayoral elections, because I think all of the parties should do
:31:00. > :31:09.better with their candidates. I am still hoping that Alan will change
:31:09. > :31:12.his mind. As a Lib Dem candidate? She could be a Lib Dem candidate,
:31:12. > :31:20.having become a household name from being on this programme. You could
:31:20. > :31:23.stand, Alan. I could stand but I would have to stop being a member of
:31:23. > :31:29.parliament and would have to leave the House of Commons. He is a
:31:29. > :31:38.Londoner by birth. And authentic Londoner. Let me go on to the
:31:38. > :31:45.economy, a serious manner -- matter. Labour is betting a lot on living
:31:45. > :31:48.standards. But the polls show that voters blame Labour more for the
:31:48. > :31:54.squeeze on living standards than they do the coalition. If the
:31:54. > :31:57.economy gathers pace, living standards will be rising quite
:31:57. > :32:02.strongly by the election, so it is a risky strategy. Risky, but the right
:32:02. > :32:06.strongly by the election, so it is a thing to do, and it made the weather
:32:06. > :32:10.for the Tory party conference that followed it. I am not going to leave
:32:10. > :32:16.this point alone. If you want to tell me George Osborne has been a
:32:16. > :32:21.successful Chancellor, I want to tell you... That was not what I was
:32:21. > :32:26.saying. Why do you assume that living standards will rise between
:32:26. > :32:37.now and the election? I am not saying they will. The IMF has
:32:37. > :32:44.doubled its forecast for Britain's growth. The OECD says we are the
:32:44. > :32:54.fastest-growing economy in the G-7. If this recovery turns out to be
:32:54. > :32:58.strong, Labour's strategy is in trouble. That is why the switch
:32:59. > :33:02.about squeeze on living standards was the right time to do that,
:33:03. > :33:10.because you cannot bet everything on saying, we predicted this. It is all
:33:10. > :33:16.perfectly valid, but it is like a cracked record after a while. Also,
:33:16. > :33:18.I do not think you can assume that a turnaround in the economy
:33:18. > :33:24.necessarily favours the government, actually. Because once people feel
:33:24. > :33:30.more secure, they might go with this Labour agenda of who benefits.
:33:30. > :33:35.Counterintuitively, I think the more people feel uneasy about the state
:33:35. > :33:39.of the economy, the more it favours the status quo parties being in
:33:39. > :33:42.power. One of the reasons I do not think living standards will rise is
:33:42. > :33:47.that when you have massive EU immigration, you can have economic
:33:47. > :33:52.growth taken up largely by immigrants taking the work at lower
:33:52. > :33:55.wages. We shall see. Now, Home Secretary Theresa May, the woman who
:33:55. > :33:58.once dubbed her party the "nasty party", now says she wants to
:33:58. > :34:02."create a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants", which begs
:34:02. > :34:09.the question, has she never read the Daily Mail? But what about those
:34:09. > :34:13.immigrants here perfectly legally and who would like to play sport for
:34:13. > :34:17.the country in which they reside? A row has broken out over the issue,
:34:17. > :34:18.and that's why we've decided to put representing your country in this
:34:18. > :34:40.week's Spotlight. Arsenal and England for all are Jack
:34:40. > :34:43.Wilshire kicked off a big ball of controversy this week, claiming that
:34:43. > :34:48.only English people should be eligible to play for the national
:34:48. > :34:52.side. Sports stars piled into question his remarks. Former
:34:52. > :34:57.footballing greats came to his defence. Just because you have lived
:34:57. > :35:03.in England for five years, I do not think it means you can play for the
:35:03. > :35:07.national team. Forcing the FA chairman to call for extra time to
:35:07. > :35:12.clarify who deserves to wear the three lions on their chest. It is an
:35:12. > :35:17.issue the FA will look at, and we will look at what the rules say, and
:35:17. > :35:23.then we will make some decisions. And with the government's
:35:23. > :35:26.controversial vans given the boot I the Advertising Standards Authority,
:35:26. > :35:31.Jack Wilshire's comments gave the Twitter comedians a gaping open
:35:31. > :35:35.goal. So does it matter who represents a country, in sport or in
:35:35. > :35:45.politics? If it knows, should home-grown talent always take
:35:45. > :35:49.precedence over talented imports? That is quite frightening at that
:35:49. > :35:54.time of night. John and Casey have joined us. Was Jack Wilshire right
:35:54. > :36:01.to say only English people should play for England. It depends on your
:36:01. > :36:05.interpretation of English. Alan Shearer has said you have to be born
:36:05. > :36:12.in England to play, which I do not agree with. You were not. And nor
:36:12. > :36:22.was Terry Butcher. I think what Jack meant was that if you are looking at
:36:22. > :36:27.the case of Adnan Januzaj, I don't believe that a 16-year-old who plays
:36:27. > :36:33.for Manchester United, five years after coming here he can play for
:36:33. > :36:37.England. With others, we came here to live. After being here for a
:36:37. > :36:39.period of time, we developed foot tall and played for England. So I
:36:39. > :36:40.agree with him if that is what tall and played for England. So I
:36:41. > :36:49.meant. -- foot tall. What do you tall and played for England. So I
:36:49. > :36:53.make of his comments? I agree that they have been blown out of
:36:53. > :36:57.proportion and taken out of context. We have a couple of players in the
:36:57. > :37:01.squad who were not born in England but now play for England and are
:37:01. > :37:04.passionate about it. If you are born here, you can play, but you do not
:37:05. > :37:11.have to be. What should the criteria be that determine if you can play
:37:11. > :37:15.for England Western Mark if you can get a British passport. The
:37:15. > :37:20.interesting thing is great Dyke and the FA's take on this. They are
:37:21. > :37:23.complaining that there are too many foreign players in the Premier
:37:23. > :37:29.League, which is stifling the growth of England players. On the other
:37:29. > :37:33.hand, they are saying, if we can exercise a law to get 16-year-olds
:37:33. > :37:38.to be in the country and play, they want to be all things to all men.
:37:38. > :37:41.For the FA to say that, when they have irresponsibility to the team
:37:41. > :37:44.For the FA to say that, when they and to grassroots as well what
:37:44. > :37:48.message are they sending two kids saying, you can grow up to play, but
:37:48. > :37:55.when the best Italian 16-year-old comes here, he will play for
:37:55. > :37:56.England. The FA are wrong to push that. Does it make a difference at
:37:56. > :38:03.what age you come to the country? I that. Does it make a difference at
:38:03. > :38:08.think so, and the reasons you come here make a difference. If you come
:38:08. > :38:12.at 16 or 17, you have not grown up here, no one has invested any time
:38:12. > :38:26.in you. He came here to play foot tall. That is not the right way to
:38:26. > :38:30.look at it. I came when I was 12 and a half, but not to play. These
:38:30. > :38:40.players who are coming here at 16 are already superstars in their own
:38:40. > :38:44.country. Fabric gas was a superstar. Is it not the rule that you have to
:38:44. > :38:50.be here five years after your 18th birthday? So I don't think that is
:38:50. > :38:55.going to be an issue. If you come here at 12 and are not affiliated
:38:55. > :38:59.with a club, but if you come as a 16, 17-year-old, already a
:38:59. > :39:08.professional of a certain quality in Italy, Spain, Belgium, and then we
:39:08. > :39:11.see you can play for us... Should they be allowed to play here if they
:39:11. > :39:17.stay for a long while, or should they never be allowed to? I think
:39:17. > :39:20.you are sending the wrong message. I think the FA has to say that we
:39:20. > :39:27.believe we have to develop our own talent, whatever that talent is.
:39:27. > :39:31.Players at 15, 16, we have not developed them. It is not just when
:39:31. > :39:38.they come, but the stage of their football development. You may then
:39:38. > :39:41.be in a difficult position if a player has acquired a British
:39:41. > :39:45.passport and cannot play for the national team. The FA has to make
:39:45. > :39:51.the rule from their perspective but cannot have it both ways. They
:39:51. > :39:56.cannot complain about players in the Premier League and then say they
:39:56. > :39:59.want to exercise this rule. Players from particular countries try to
:39:59. > :40:03.retain their identity, so they say they will not do that. But in
:40:03. > :40:07.England, it seems we are willing to give up our identity. In the
:40:07. > :40:10.national team, it would be nice to have an antidote to what is
:40:10. > :40:15.happening in the clubs. Many people are fed up that at their local club,
:40:15. > :40:19.ten out of 11 players come from a foreign country. At least in the
:40:19. > :40:25.national team, to see people who have grown up inside the system. The
:40:25. > :40:29.temptation to bend the rules is pretty good. It is hard to say no to
:40:29. > :40:36.getting Kevin Pietersen, or John Barnes. Everybody craves success. In
:40:36. > :40:41.this country we crave success at an international level because we have
:40:41. > :40:46.not had it for so long. But it is different to cricket and other
:40:46. > :40:50.sports. We have 30% of players in the first teams who are English, 70%
:40:50. > :40:58.foreign. In cricket, you do not have that problem. For Kevin Pietersen
:40:58. > :41:02.and Mo Farah, they are not preventing an English kid from
:41:02. > :41:05.having an opportunity. It is one of the interesting things that happens
:41:05. > :41:12.to a country when it becomes an immigrant nation with a more diverse
:41:12. > :41:20.population. When I was a kid, all of the players were white. They were
:41:20. > :41:26.all British. I remember the Celtic team in 1968, every one of the team
:41:26. > :41:33.that won the European cup had been born within 30 miles of the ground.
:41:33. > :41:37.It is a different world now. If you get someone like Ibrahimovic, who is
:41:37. > :41:42.an immigrant to Sweden, played for the national team, that is not the
:41:42. > :41:48.issue. Who is to say that we are the only country that are patriotic?
:41:48. > :41:53.There was no chance of the Arsenal midfielder playing for England. He
:41:53. > :41:56.always wanted to play for Spain. This kid now, he might want to play
:41:56. > :42:02.for Belgium. Why do we think they have not got a tied to their home
:42:02. > :42:06.country? He has not said he wants to play for England. He may want to
:42:06. > :42:13.play for Albania, more likely for Belgium. Has it happened in your
:42:13. > :42:17.team? Not yet. There are more international players. In politics,
:42:17. > :42:24.it does not happen often. I say that knowing that case of Peter Hain. But
:42:24. > :42:32.they are the exceptions that prove the rule. Boris Johnson was born in
:42:33. > :42:43.New York. Of Turkish origin. You can tell from his Brooklyn accent. -- in
:42:43. > :42:50.politics, it is not 70% of politicians. In football, that is
:42:50. > :42:54.the situation. It is a special case. People watching will think,
:42:54. > :42:59.actually, as long as we win, as long as the English cricket team wins,
:42:59. > :43:05.the English footballers. That will be the day! But the rugby team, the
:43:05. > :43:08.cricket team, the Olympic stars. The Germans did not say that. They
:43:08. > :43:20.decided to develop young players, and look how good they are now.
:43:20. > :43:21.Thank you both. That is your lot. I have to prepare for interview with
:43:22. > :43:23.Thank you both. That is your lot. I Diane Abbott.
:43:23. > :43:27.That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us, because it's Diane's
:43:27. > :43:30.coming out party at Annabel's tonight, and we're off to join Her
:43:30. > :43:33.Majesty in our regular booth. And after three long years in the shadow
:43:33. > :43:36.public health team promoting sensible drinking whilst trying to
:43:36. > :43:39.keep her face straight, she's certainly making up for lost time.
:43:39. > :43:42.Save some for us, Diane! But we leave you tonight with exclusive
:43:42. > :43:46.footage of the moments after Ed Miliband told her to pack her front
:43:46. > :43:49.bench bags. Night night, don't let politics bite.