:00:14. > :00:19.Tonight on This Week, as Jack Bauer and 24 returns to our screens, and
:00:20. > :00:29.hits the streets of London, this may be the longest night of your life.
:00:30. > :00:36.The political clock is ticking. It's only 363 days until the general
:00:37. > :00:40.election. Can Agent Ed Miliband follow protocol and secure victory
:00:41. > :00:43.at the polls? Blairite journalist and and former trade union official
:00:44. > :00:55.Dan Hodges thinks time is running out fast for the Labour leader. Ed
:00:56. > :00:57.Miliband is no action hero. And to be honest, I can't see him being
:00:58. > :01:00.Prime Minister either. When it comes to the proposed
:01:01. > :01:04.takeover of AstraZeneca by US rival Pfizer, the Prime Minister and Ed
:01:05. > :01:07.Miliband clash over whether the ends justify the means. BBC political
:01:08. > :01:15.operative James Landale is on the mean streets of Westminster. This
:01:16. > :01:20.issue goes to the heart of the debate that is dominating politics.
:01:21. > :01:24.Ed Miliband wants to be the man who is taking on the predators for the
:01:25. > :01:26.people. David Cameron wants to be the man who is bringing business and
:01:27. > :01:29.jobs to Britain. And a terror plot that's far from
:01:30. > :01:32.fictional, almost 300 girls kidnapped in Nigeria by Islamist
:01:33. > :01:36.militants scared of girls being educated. Comic, writer and
:01:37. > :01:49.campaigner Ruby Wax talks intellectual confidence. And some
:01:50. > :01:54.people have more confidence than intellect. I'm not naming names,
:01:55. > :01:58.Andrew. Copy that. I'm Federal Agent Andrew Neil. You
:01:59. > :02:00.are gonna tell me what I wanna know. It's just a matter of how much you
:02:01. > :02:15.want it to hurt. Evenin' all. Welcome to a special
:02:16. > :02:18.halal edition of This Week, where being ritually slaughtered on Blue
:02:19. > :02:22.Nun is always clearly stated on the menu. Differentiation is the name of
:02:23. > :02:26.the game this week, with self-styled Deputy PM Nick Clegg deciding to
:02:27. > :02:32.oppose a Tory plan to jail automatically anyone convicted twice
:02:33. > :02:35.for carrying a knife. Cleggover dismisses the two-stabs-and-your-out
:02:36. > :02:43.policy as a headline-grabbing stunt, which makes it a first in British
:02:44. > :02:46.politics. Not! But it raises an intriguing philosophical question.
:02:47. > :02:49.Given David Cameron fought the last election promising to "send a
:02:50. > :02:51.serious, unambiguous message" by automatically jailing anyone
:02:52. > :02:55.convicted only once for carrying a knife, can the Lib Dems really be
:02:56. > :03:03.criticised for opposing a policy Call-Me-Dave deemed inadequate at
:03:04. > :03:07.the last election? Can they? I'll leave you to ponder and get back to
:03:08. > :03:10.me. Speaking of existential conundrums that make your head
:03:11. > :03:13.explode, I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two strategic assets the
:03:14. > :03:16.Americans would love to get their hands on. Think of them as the
:03:17. > :03:20.AstraZenica and Louisiana Purchase of late night political chat. I
:03:21. > :03:32.speak, of course, of #sadmanonatrain Michael Portillo and #baffled Diane
:03:33. > :03:38.Abbott. Welcome, both. Your moment, Michael. Very sadly the ill-health
:03:39. > :03:42.of Chris Patten means there has been a new chairman of the BBC Trust. I
:03:43. > :03:46.have always supported the licence fee but have recently come to the
:03:47. > :03:50.conclusion that it can no longer be justified in terms of competition,
:03:51. > :03:54.apart from anything else. You now have so many outlets and platforms
:03:55. > :03:58.in the media that have one, the BBC, with all of its programming and its
:03:59. > :04:02.website funded by taxpayers in competition with everybody else
:04:03. > :04:06.seems unjustifiable. I think the BBC needs to get on with thinking about
:04:07. > :04:11.that. I don't think being chairman of chief executive of the BBC can
:04:12. > :04:14.any more be about defending the licence fee and trying to squeeze
:04:15. > :04:18.the most out of the government, and hoping it will keep pace with
:04:19. > :04:22.inflation. Somebody has to be doing the intellectual exercise of
:04:23. > :04:25.thinking about a BBC beyond the licence fee. I fear that the last
:04:26. > :04:32.three years have been lost in that respect. Enjoy your final programme
:04:33. > :04:38.tonight! I am sure it will be a happy retirement. I assume you have
:04:39. > :04:44.ruled yourself out. That wasn't your application for the job, was it? I
:04:45. > :04:50.think that was not a job application! Your moment of the week
:04:51. > :04:54.is to mark it is a sad story but it was President Goodluck Jonathan's
:04:55. > :04:59.statement about the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian girls, three
:05:00. > :05:04.weeks after it occurred. It is a very difficult task. The terrorists
:05:05. > :05:06.may have melted over the border, but I think the completely inadequate
:05:07. > :05:11.response of the Nigerian government, I don't think they realised how it
:05:12. > :05:18.looks to the rest of the world. It looked like he was forced. Exactly.
:05:19. > :05:22.I also read that some of the mothers went to see his wife and she had one
:05:23. > :05:28.of them arrested. If ever there was a leader out of touch with his
:05:29. > :05:32.country, it is him. When you see headlines saying that the SAS are on
:05:33. > :05:35.the way, you can be sure the SAS will be nowhere near. Yes.
:05:36. > :05:39.Now, it may have passed you by, but yesterday marked a year to go till
:05:40. > :05:41.the next general election. Wow! 12 whole months of electioneering,
:05:42. > :05:45.slogans and junk through your letterbox to look forward to. But
:05:46. > :05:48.how are the parties shaping up for the fight? Labour, who have led the
:05:49. > :05:52.opinion polls for most of the Parliament, are now at risk of
:05:53. > :05:55.losing their lead. This week they've floated a raft of policies and
:05:56. > :05:58.positions which some call a lurch to the left, and produced a party
:05:59. > :06:02.political broadcast with a strong class war appeal. Is that a winning
:06:03. > :06:05.formula? We turned to former Labour man and Daily Telegraph journalist
:06:06. > :06:22.Dan Hodges. This is his take of the week.
:06:23. > :06:32.# Insects. # We have crickets, bug salad, and we
:06:33. > :06:38.have Give me five minutes. Three years
:06:39. > :06:43.ago, when Ed Miliband was first selected, the Labour Party convinced
:06:44. > :06:49.itself it could go into the next election with an appetising offer
:06:50. > :06:53.for the electorate. Miliband was a fresh political face, his party was
:06:54. > :06:57.united behind him and the nation was tired of the austerities diet being
:06:58. > :07:06.offered by David Cameron and the Tory coalition. Your crickets. Thank
:07:07. > :07:12.you. But now the election is one year away and the early optimism is
:07:13. > :07:16.fading. Labour has three main problems. The first is the Ed
:07:17. > :07:19.Miliband issue. For years, his supporters have been saying, wait
:07:20. > :07:23.until the voters get to know him. Welcome and they have got to know
:07:24. > :07:27.him and the more they have got to know him, the less they have liked
:07:28. > :07:34.him. Too many, he is strange, otherworldly and out of touch. Worm
:07:35. > :07:39.caviar! And then there is the economy. Not long ago Labour was
:07:40. > :07:41.telling us we were on the edge of a triple dip recession. Now they are
:07:42. > :07:45.trying to tell us we are experiencing the wrong kind of
:07:46. > :07:56.recovery. The reality is, the voters are not swallowing it. And then
:07:57. > :08:00.there is Labour's policy offer. There is very little on the menu. As
:08:01. > :08:05.we have seen this week, what there is has pulled Labour from the centre
:08:06. > :08:11.and lurched Labour to the left. That is not going to whet the appetite of
:08:12. > :08:15.the average swing voter. Some commentators still think Labour is
:08:16. > :08:19.on course for victory, but I just don't see. Their lead is too small
:08:20. > :08:24.and big gap on issues such as leadership and economic competence
:08:25. > :08:28.is too wide. I think Labour is heading for defeat in 2015, a defeat
:08:29. > :08:33.Ed Miliband and his party will find tough to swallow.
:08:34. > :08:36.And from the creepy crawlies at the Archipelago Restaurant in Fitzrovia
:08:37. > :08:46.to our own little creepy crawlies here in the heart of Westminster,
:08:47. > :08:51.Dan joins us now. Welcome. Diane, is Labour heading for defeat in the
:08:52. > :08:55.next election? You are talking about this as if it is a US presidential
:08:56. > :08:58.election. People vote for a political party and all of the
:08:59. > :09:04.pollsters, if you talk to them, say that we are going to win. But the
:09:05. > :09:10.Tories will try to make it a presidential election. They will
:09:11. > :09:13.try. But Dan is talking about this great economic recovery. It might
:09:14. > :09:16.look great in Blackheath, but in the rest of the country people know that
:09:17. > :09:22.the numbers are better, but their lives aren't any better. Have you
:09:23. > :09:28.been touring the rest of the country? I was in Croydon today. Not
:09:29. > :09:34.quite the rest of the country. I believe this will be a recovery
:09:35. > :09:41.without votes, because living standards and confident in the
:09:42. > :09:45.future is no better. So why are the polls narrowing? We have had a
:09:46. > :09:51.consistent but small lead and Ike Spector is to keep that. The lead
:09:52. > :09:58.has been narrowing. Why do you so dislike Ed Miliband? It is not that
:09:59. > :10:01.I dislike him on a personal level. Obviously he is quite clearly
:10:02. > :10:05.pursuing the wrong political strategy. I just don't think he is
:10:06. > :10:10.going to be Prime Minister. Surprisingly, I think he has had an
:10:11. > :10:14.opportunity to be Prime Minister but the strategy he has pursued and the
:10:15. > :10:18.strategy Labour is pursuing, if you thought of a worse strategy for
:10:19. > :10:26.Labour to pursue, you could not come up with much worse. Is the problem
:10:27. > :10:32.strategy, or personal? Strategy. It is not him? His poll ratings are not
:10:33. > :10:35.good. In terms of the polling, the problems are that both in terms of
:10:36. > :10:37.his personal ratings on the leadership issue and on economic
:10:38. > :10:43.competence, Labour is 20 points behind. That is a huge albatross.
:10:44. > :10:47.But the big reason Labour is not going to win next year is because
:10:48. > :10:51.Labour is not trying to win in the classical sense of getting more
:10:52. > :10:55.votes than the opposition. They are pursuing this 35% strategy and
:10:56. > :10:57.hoping they will get 35% and the vagaries of the electoral system
:10:58. > :11:04.will help them stagger over the line. Ed Miliband's personal poll
:11:05. > :11:10.ratings are not great, but neither were Mrs Thatcher's in 1979. She did
:11:11. > :11:13.still win and Mr Miliband needs, because of what Dan calls the
:11:14. > :11:20.vagaries of our electoral system, he only needs 35% of the vote. It will
:11:21. > :11:26.not be like 1979, because Margaret Thatcher got over 40%, a big number.
:11:27. > :11:32.What is happening at the moment, it is a vote less election. All the
:11:33. > :11:38.parties are doing badly apart from UKIP. The polls are showing figures
:11:39. > :11:41.of 30% Conservatives and 30% for Labour. Both of those figures are
:11:42. > :11:45.terribly low in case of -- in the case of each party. In each case,
:11:46. > :11:49.they would normally mean defeat, if it were not for the fact that the
:11:50. > :11:54.other party is doing just as badly. This is not an election about
:11:55. > :11:57.whether Ed Miliband can win. It is precisely the last point that Dan
:11:58. > :12:03.made, whether Labour gets tried over the line in an extraordinary
:12:04. > :12:08.situation. 30% is the sort of number that for the Conservatives produced
:12:09. > :12:13.160 seats in 1997, 2001. Not only not a winning position, but
:12:14. > :12:17.desperately short. What we know is that if Labour and the Conservatives
:12:18. > :12:22.score the same number, whatever the number, Labour wins. You are all
:12:23. > :12:28.forgetting that ordinary people, not those like us, they don't start to
:12:29. > :12:33.focus on general elections until much later on in the cycle. I
:12:34. > :12:38.believe when they come to focus on this general election, the Tories
:12:39. > :12:43.are going to be even more unpopular than in 2010 when they lost, and
:12:44. > :12:46.they will lose again. It is also possible that the opposite will
:12:47. > :12:52.happen, and if the focus goes on Ed Miliband it will go badly. On what
:12:53. > :12:57.basis will the Tories be popular next summer? You must be happy that
:12:58. > :13:03.Ed Miliband seems to be shifting Labour to the left. Chance would be
:13:04. > :13:11.a fine thing. He is talking about taking the Labour finances Ashgrove
:13:12. > :13:18.fractures taking the railway franchises back into some form
:13:19. > :13:25.public ownership. It actually constitutes policies which are
:13:26. > :13:29.actually very popular. As a practising politician, all things
:13:30. > :13:35.being equal, I like popular policies and these are popular policies. And
:13:36. > :13:41.they are popular. But the poll rating is not bearing that out, is
:13:42. > :13:45.it? I think the big problem for Labour is that the parties are
:13:46. > :13:50.currently neck and neck, but that is with UKIP currently polling at 12%.
:13:51. > :13:53.UKIP is not going to get 12% in the general election and the majority of
:13:54. > :13:58.voters that switch back will go to the Tories. The Lib Dems are polling
:13:59. > :14:02.at 8% and they are not going to get that in the general election. They
:14:03. > :14:07.will be up 13 or 14 points, I expect. And that is coming straight
:14:08. > :14:12.off Labour. At the moment they are at level pegging when Labour should
:14:13. > :14:16.be at least ten points ahead. By the time of the election next year, the
:14:17. > :14:20.only way that the polls can go is that the Tories will go up and
:14:21. > :14:24.Labour will go down. Those figures about the Lib Dems are misleading.
:14:25. > :14:33.They will hold seats you might not expect. But overall they are going
:14:34. > :14:37.to lose seats. Isn't Mr Miliband's biggest asset that for the first
:14:38. > :14:43.time in living memory, the right is divided? Mrs Thatcher benefited from
:14:44. > :14:53.the left being divided. The right has been divided for 20 years.
:14:54. > :15:00.Between different political parties. 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 for that
:15:01. > :15:04.matter, it has been about the Conservatives being terrified of
:15:05. > :15:07.losing votes to the right. Despite intellectually understanding they
:15:08. > :15:14.had to fight on the centre ground, in the end they decided to assuage
:15:15. > :15:17.the Daily Mail and try to shore up their 35%. This is the first
:15:18. > :15:21.election in which the Tories will face a credible party to their
:15:22. > :15:29.right. I don't think that is the case. What was there before? It was
:15:30. > :15:32.UKIP last time. It has become more credible but the Conservatives have
:15:33. > :15:36.faced the same problem of shifting themselves to the right in order to
:15:37. > :15:43.avoid being headed off by a right-wing party and losing votes in
:15:44. > :15:49.the centre. Certainly not after... You are going Lib Dem? Especially
:15:50. > :15:55.after that preposterous disgraceful political broadcast... It was not
:15:56. > :16:01.intended for YOU, Dan. Just as well. It is intended for people that voted
:16:02. > :16:07.Lib Dem because we all love Nick and now they regret it! It would be
:16:08. > :16:11.wrong to pose as Labour's critical friend because you have moved beyond
:16:12. > :16:16.that? I don't think anyone is in any doubt about what I think about Ed
:16:17. > :16:20.Miliband or the Labour Party. Right. Dan thinks that Mr Cameron will be
:16:21. > :16:26.Prime Minister with an overall majority, am I right? Yes. Diane? Ed
:16:27. > :16:33.Miliband will be Prime Minister with a small but sufficient overall
:16:34. > :16:35.majority. An Ed Miliband Prime Ministership is the most likely
:16:36. > :16:39.outcome. That is not the same as saying that is my prediction. I
:16:40. > :16:43.agree with what Dan said about the way things can shift and might
:16:44. > :16:47.shift. What is your prediction? Well, if I were forced to predict
:16:48. > :16:50.now, I would say Ed Miliband would be Prime Minister. But that is not
:16:51. > :16:55.my prediction because I think there is a lot that will happen. OK. You
:16:56. > :16:59.have lost me! I think it is perfectly simple. The viewers will
:17:00. > :17:04.understand that and that is all that matters to me! We will see if the
:17:05. > :17:11.viewers understand. Let me know now. Dan, thank you.
:17:12. > :17:14.Now it's late, Reverend Flowers late, so you're probably wide awake
:17:15. > :17:17.and feeling rather guilty, so prepare to serve your paltry
:17:18. > :17:20.sentence. Because waiting in the wings, comic, writer, campaigner,
:17:21. > :17:24.Ruby Wax is here, to discuss "intellectual confidence". We have
:17:25. > :17:27.just seen a bit of that. With a certain Diane Abbott. And Michael
:17:28. > :17:30.Denzil Xavier Portillo. Thank god we're not discussing intellectual
:17:31. > :17:35.humility or they'd have nothing to say! And remember, if you're too
:17:36. > :17:37.smart or too stupid for all this, we'd rather not hear from you.
:17:38. > :17:42.Unfortunately, the BBC insist we inform you about The Twitter, The
:17:43. > :17:46.Fleecebook and The Interweb. Now, how do you get an MP to run a
:17:47. > :17:50.four-minute mile? Question them about their expenses. Boom boom! But
:17:51. > :17:54.it was 60 years ago this week that Sir Roger Bannister broke the then
:17:55. > :17:56.one-mile record. Always happy to celebrate a great British triumph,
:17:57. > :18:00.we challenged BBC Deputy Political Editor, James Landale, to get his
:18:01. > :18:04.spikes on, run round a track like a mad man, and at the same time give
:18:05. > :18:12.us his in-depth take on the week in Westminster. Will he succeed? I
:18:13. > :18:15.doubt it. Please look away now if you're of a nervous disposition -
:18:16. > :18:24.naked wet legs were involved in the making of this film!
:18:25. > :18:32.Hello and welcome to the highlight of this summer's sporting fixtures -
:18:33. > :18:36.the one-mile This Week Chase. 60 years ago Mr Roger Bannister did it
:18:37. > :18:41.under four minutes. I can tell you, four minutes is a long time in
:18:42. > :18:46.politics! Today's race is sponsored by Pfizer, that's why Mr Landale is
:18:47. > :18:50.determined not to get too stiff! That is why he is doing all those
:18:51. > :18:57.physical jerks. Don't try this at home, children! There's one year to
:18:58. > :19:02.go until the general election race begins, so today all the runners are
:19:03. > :19:07.limbering up for the early heats for a place in the local council and the
:19:08. > :19:13.ambition of every athlete - the chance to go to Europe! And they are
:19:14. > :19:17.off! For years, the Lib Dems have told us every election is a
:19:18. > :19:22.two-horse race. Not anymore. The political track is looking crowded
:19:23. > :19:28.for the euro elections and Nick Clegg's team could come fifth behind
:19:29. > :19:39.the Greens. We are the only party that have the courage to stand up to
:19:40. > :19:44.UKIP. The only party relied on to rein in the Conservatives, the only
:19:45. > :19:54.party to undo the damage done by Labour to our economy. I say - poor
:19:55. > :19:59.show! A bit of jiggery-pokery going on, just the argy-bargy the
:20:00. > :20:08.Institute of Government says is going on in coalition. Coalition, my
:20:09. > :20:13.bottom! The main pushing and shoving this week was over the news that the
:20:14. > :20:20.Yanks want to join the race - that's right, Pfizer, the American drugs
:20:21. > :20:24.firm, wants to get its leg over - sorry, takeover of that plucky
:20:25. > :20:28.British enterprise, AstraZeneca. I and my colleagues across Government
:20:29. > :20:33.engaged early with both companies to ensure the outcome is positive for
:20:34. > :20:38.the UK, precisely to avoid previous Government's failures in this type
:20:39. > :20:42.of situation. The fact is, over the last week, the Government has
:20:43. > :20:44.compromised the Astra board leading the chairman to urge the Prime
:20:45. > :20:49.Minister to adopt a neutral position. Finally, Mr Speaker, the
:20:50. > :20:52.bottom line is this: The assurances the Government has extracted from
:20:53. > :21:00.Pfizer are simply not worth the paper they are written on. That was
:21:01. > :21:05.the club junior starting the relay. Then it was time for the senior boys
:21:06. > :21:09.to pick up the baton, for Ed Miliband it was another chance to
:21:10. > :21:13.bash a beastly foreign company. For David Cameron, a very real test of
:21:14. > :21:19.his claim that Britain is winning the global race. Better go! I agree
:21:20. > :21:23.with what the Business Secretary said yesterday. Let me be clear. The
:21:24. > :21:26.most important intervention we can make is to back British jobs,
:21:27. > :21:29.British science, British R, make is to back British jobs,
:21:30. > :21:35.British medicines and British technology. Is he ruling out or
:21:36. > :21:39.ruling in using the public interest test on this takeover? If he does
:21:40. > :21:43.not take action now, and the bid goes through without a proper
:21:44. > :21:47.assessment, everyone will know he was cheerleading for this bid, not
:21:48. > :21:51.championing British science and British industry. One team that is
:21:52. > :21:59.making the running is the UKIPers, they have chosen a new candidate for
:22:00. > :22:04.the Newark by-election hurdle. As for their leader, Nigel Farage, he's
:22:05. > :22:09.keen to show us that he has lots of black friends, apparently. Let this
:22:10. > :22:14.picture of me on the stage with these wonderful men and women from
:22:15. > :22:18.all their different backgrounds and their united belief in being British
:22:19. > :22:24.and being part of this country and in wanting this country to be free
:22:25. > :22:31.and independent and proud. Let this be UKIP's clause for moment. --
:22:32. > :22:35.Clause IV moment. Black and ethnic minority voters are going to get
:22:36. > :22:39.more important. A report by a think-tank said they are going to
:22:40. > :22:43.make up a third of the country by 2050 and, at the moment, not many of
:22:44. > :22:47.them are voting for David Cameron, which is a bit of a problem if he
:22:48. > :22:51.wants to run again. Right now Mr David Cameron is well behind the
:22:52. > :22:56.leaders. He is hoping the growing economy will give him a late surge
:22:57. > :23:00.in the final straight, but those Tory legs, they are looking pretty
:23:01. > :23:04.tired. What we have got to have in our country is the politics of the
:23:05. > :23:09.answer rather than the politics of anger. What we have got to do is fix
:23:10. > :23:12.these problems. Fix our welfare system so it rewards the
:23:13. > :23:18.hard-working, fix our immigration system so it benefits the whole of
:23:19. > :23:21.our country, get our taxes down. So, the election finishing line is
:23:22. > :23:26.almost in sight, all the politicians desperate to be first past the post.
:23:27. > :23:30.Except, of course, it is not like that, these are European elections
:23:31. > :23:43.so it is proportional representation and it is decided by somebody...
:23:44. > :23:49.Sadly, he tripped over his shoelaces at the last minute and never made
:23:50. > :23:54.it! AstraZeneca and Pfizer, where are you on this - welcome to
:23:55. > :24:01.Miranda. Well, pharmaceuticals is one of our few indigenous and highly
:24:02. > :24:06.successful industries and so I would be pretty nervous of the Pfizer bid.
:24:07. > :24:09.I'm quite struck by the interventions that have been made,
:24:10. > :24:15.particularly by a former Chief Executive of AstraZeneca, who
:24:16. > :24:19.believes that we should be very suspicious of the bid. That would be
:24:20. > :24:24.my frame of mind. This is a problem for the Prime Minister? It is.
:24:25. > :24:28.Conservatives, particularly, in recent years - the last 20 or 30
:24:29. > :24:33.years - have been associated with the free market. Sometimes get a bit
:24:34. > :24:36.bamboozled by the idea that the free market is the only thing they should
:24:37. > :24:39.be thinking of. It is one of the things they should be thinking of,
:24:40. > :24:43.but it is not the only thing. The last Labour Government watered-down
:24:44. > :24:47.the public interest test? Was it? I take your word for that. And you
:24:48. > :24:51.should, because it's true. Miranda, do the Lib Dems have a view on this?
:24:52. > :24:57.Vince Cable is the Business Secretary, so they have to. Well,
:24:58. > :25:05.hold on. There can be a Lib Dem view and a Vince the Cable view? That is
:25:06. > :25:09.true. I think it is about striking a balance because it's been very
:25:10. > :25:13.striking, I think, that The Financial Times has said hold on a
:25:14. > :25:17.minute our science base is so important that we should look at
:25:18. > :25:20.this very carefully, it has been very striking, the intervention from
:25:21. > :25:23.the Swedish Finance Minister saying you can't believe the pledges from
:25:24. > :25:29.Pfizer and we have suffered in Sweden. So, you know, it is a moment
:25:30. > :25:34.where you, as Michael says, it can't just be about principles of openness
:25:35. > :25:44.to foreign investment, it has also got to be about if you choose to
:25:45. > :25:48.have industrial strategies on certain industries and if a
:25:49. > :25:52.challenge comes along to undermine your strategy, you do have to think
:25:53. > :25:56.twice about whether you let it go through. You don't have to look in
:25:57. > :26:00.the crystal ball, you can read the record. Pfizer has a history. First
:26:01. > :26:04.of all, everyone believes they want to come here because of the tax
:26:05. > :26:08.arrangements. OK. They have a history of asset-stripping companies
:26:09. > :26:11.they have taken over and selling off the constituent parts. That is what
:26:12. > :26:15.people... Why didn't Ed Miliband want to meet the Chief Executive
:26:16. > :26:21.when the Chief Executive of Pfizer offered to come and see him?
:26:22. > :26:24.Miliband could have said... No... We know you are an asset-stripper and
:26:25. > :26:28.he would have got a lot of kudos. But he turned down the meeting. What
:26:29. > :26:33.was the reason for that? The reality - that is a distraction. He said he
:26:34. > :26:38.was too busy campaigning to meet him. Ed Miliband doesn't know
:26:39. > :26:42.whether to trust him or not because he didn't meet him! It's given the
:26:43. > :26:48.Government certain assurances, Pfizer, it would continue with the
:26:49. > :26:50.R in Cambridge, which is the existing AstraZeneca plant. The
:26:51. > :26:55.European headquarters would be placed here and there are other
:26:56. > :26:59.things. What do you do if they break them? Exactly. You wouldn't be able
:27:00. > :27:04.to hold them to those pledges. I think the Government, you know, has
:27:05. > :27:10.to make a political gut decision. On the one hand, it is also plausible
:27:11. > :27:15.that if AstraZeneca is joined to Pfizer so that people in Britain are
:27:16. > :27:18.working for the largest pharmaceutical conglomerate in the
:27:19. > :27:21.world with some of the best pharmaceutical properties, that
:27:22. > :27:26.could be very advantageous. It is also possible to argue that it would
:27:27. > :27:31.be stripped out of Britain and taken somewhere else. We have some amazing
:27:32. > :27:35.pharmaceutical patents in AstraZeneca and you can see why
:27:36. > :27:40.Pfizer would want to get hold of them. They are falling off the
:27:41. > :27:45.patent cliff, most of the drugs which they have made a lot of money
:27:46. > :27:50.now are going out of patent and will become generic, which is why their
:27:51. > :27:56.pipeline... You talking about AstraZeneca or Pfizer? AstraZeneca.
:27:57. > :28:01.The recent drugs that AstraZeneca have done well with were developed
:28:02. > :28:06.in Maryland. I wonder if AstraZeneca is the big British Champion that
:28:07. > :28:10.British politicians seem to think it is. It employed 50,000 people
:28:11. > :28:15.worldwide. Most of it - a lot of its research is done in Maryland. It has
:28:16. > :28:20.closed research facilities in Britain as well. It is interesting -
:28:21. > :28:28.7,000 jobs on a day when 19,000 jobs are being lost in bhaR clays. --
:28:29. > :28:34.Barclays. Pfizer's promises remind me of Krafts's promises in relation
:28:35. > :28:38.to Cadbury's. It is not just about the tax come pe division, though. --
:28:39. > :28:42.competition, though. There is this question of the NHS has a testing
:28:43. > :28:45.ground for pharmaceutical discoveries. Gordon Brown, as Prime
:28:46. > :28:49.Minister, was very hot on this. He was hot on the fact that we have got
:28:50. > :28:53.a good research base. We have the ideal place to test it. The NHS is
:28:54. > :28:57.not the ideal place anymore. It is not being used by most of the big
:28:58. > :29:01.pharmaceuticals, it takes too long and it is too slow, so much of
:29:02. > :29:05.AstraZeneca's testing is done in Europe. It is probably the
:29:06. > :29:10.explanation of why we have had a very successful pharmaceutical
:29:11. > :29:15.industry that they had a tame NHS to fund their research. Should - at the
:29:16. > :29:22.moment, as I understand it, the Government has very little power to
:29:23. > :29:27.stop this in the end. I think at the end, the power lies with Brussels to
:29:28. > :29:30.stop this, or let it go ahead. Should the British Government have
:29:31. > :29:35.the power to stop this? I think Pfizer said that if they - if the
:29:36. > :29:38.British Government indicates it doesn't support this bid, it will
:29:39. > :29:42.withdraw. I think it should indicate it doesn't support the bid. That
:29:43. > :29:47.would stop it? That is what Pfizer are saying. Let me move on to ethnic
:29:48. > :29:52.minority voters. There is a report out this week, it showed that the
:29:53. > :29:55.Tories have a real problem with ethnic minority voters in that they
:29:56. > :30:00.don't get them. Why? It is a huge problem. Partly because the Tories
:30:01. > :30:08.have ceased to articulate some messages that were attractive in the
:30:09. > :30:12.Thatcher days - we were the party of aspiration. And for Asian voters,
:30:13. > :30:16.particularly Indian and Pakistani voters, that seemed to go down
:30:17. > :30:22.extremely well. Margaret Thatcher took enormous care to appear at
:30:23. > :30:29.Asian social events and to socialise with prominent British Asians.
:30:30. > :30:36.I think the second thing is that if you decide as a party that you want
:30:37. > :30:41.to go on saying immigration needs to be reined in, it is quite difficult,
:30:42. > :30:45.in the year of those who are first-generation immigrants, or
:30:46. > :30:49.immigrate -- immigrants themselves, it is difficult to distinguish
:30:50. > :30:55.between a party saying, we don't want many immigrants, and something
:30:56. > :30:58.different, saying we don't like people who are immigrants or
:30:59. > :31:02.descended from immigrants. It sounds the same. So I think what the
:31:03. > :31:06.Conservatives are doing is that in the very short term they are hoping
:31:07. > :31:12.they can shore up their dwindling, ageing traditional vote, by heading
:31:13. > :31:15.off UKIP, by talking about immigration. What they are doing
:31:16. > :31:19.strategically is driving away the voters of the future. So the
:31:20. > :31:23.discussion we just had about what will happen at the next election is,
:31:24. > :31:26.in my view, of secondary importance. It is what will happen
:31:27. > :31:31.to the Conservative Party in the longer term that is of primary
:31:32. > :31:34.importance. The Prime Minister is focused on the near-term, shoring up
:31:35. > :31:38.the vote for the next election, without a thought to the strategic
:31:39. > :31:43.question of how the Tory party will survive. Were you in Crest --
:31:44. > :31:53.impressed with UKIP's diversity display? The polling shows that I
:31:54. > :31:58.think one third of people think that UKIP is anti-immigrant, in the worst
:31:59. > :32:02.sense. He was trying to send a message saying that is a media myth
:32:03. > :32:08.and here are the pictures to prove it. It will have no impact, because
:32:09. > :32:13.the thing about anti-immigrant rhetoric, the Republicans have this
:32:14. > :32:16.problem. They went on and on about illegal immigrants, but then legal
:32:17. > :32:20.immigrants fled from the Republicans. It is what Michael was
:32:21. > :32:25.saying, you hear this anti-immigrant rhetoric, and even though you are
:32:26. > :32:33.here legally, you believe that party doesn't like you. Between us we have
:32:34. > :32:40.three immigrant parents. That's right. Is Nick Clegg right to oppose
:32:41. > :32:43.tougher sentences for knife crime? I think he probably is but I'm not
:32:44. > :32:50.sure whether the motives are entirely pure. I know, what an awful
:32:51. > :32:53.slur! But I think he is right because I don't think you should
:32:54. > :32:58.make sentencing policy on the basis of what makes good headlines. You
:32:59. > :33:02.should think about the evidence. There are many young people who
:33:03. > :33:08.carry knives, unfortunately, and that is the reality. If you say the
:33:09. > :33:11.second time a young person for whatever reason feels they need to
:33:12. > :33:15.carry a knife, if you put them into a criminal class, lock them up where
:33:16. > :33:20.they will probably become someone who is more likely to have a career
:33:21. > :33:25.of crime ahead of them than not, it is a bad idea. Are you dismayed that
:33:26. > :33:27.Mr Miliband has joined the government in this policy and is
:33:28. > :33:32.Nick Clegg is the one taking the liberal line against it? And can
:33:33. > :33:38.boast about that in the pages of the Guardian? I am dismayed. What is the
:33:39. > :33:41.point of taking kids who happen to be carrying knives, putting them in
:33:42. > :33:47.prison where they can become highly skilled career criminals? It is a
:33:48. > :33:51.trend of governments try to stop the courts using their discretion, but
:33:52. > :33:54.that is what courts are there for. Miranda, thank you very much.
:33:55. > :33:57.Now, political parties have always contained deep thinkers, big-brained
:33:58. > :33:59.people who wrestle with the big philosophical questions of the day
:34:00. > :34:02.providing intellectual foundations for a party's programme for
:34:03. > :34:05.government. One only has to think of Keith Joseph in the Conservative
:34:06. > :34:08.Party, Gordon Brown in the Labour Party, Sarah Teather in the Liberal
:34:09. > :34:14.Democrats. Great minds that didn't think alike, to which we can now
:34:15. > :34:17.apparently add Ed Miliband. And that's why we've decided to stroke
:34:18. > :34:29.our chin and put intellectual confidence in this week's spotlight.
:34:30. > :34:35.Ed Miliband chose a strange tactic in shedding his nerdy reputation
:34:36. > :34:40.this week, bragging about how big his brain is. He claimed he had more
:34:41. > :34:46.intellectual self-confidence than David Cameron, something the Prime
:34:47. > :34:51.Minister took exception to. Let me make this point because I worry it
:34:52. > :34:54.may be lost in this debate. And I know, of course, he thinks he is
:34:55. > :35:00.extremely clever, and we all know that, but he may have missed this
:35:01. > :35:04.point. UKIP also seized on the potency of mocking his bold claim.
:35:05. > :35:10.They showed that they are anti-IQ, two, with their by-election
:35:11. > :35:12.candidate appealing to the common-sense voter, by dismissing
:35:13. > :35:17.the Labour leader as to intellectual. One exam board wants
:35:18. > :35:23.to make the intellectual more accessible by proposing a more
:35:24. > :35:29.accessible English A-level, studying Russell Brand's views on drugs, and
:35:30. > :35:34.tweets. The Department for Education called the idea rubbish, but is it
:35:35. > :35:38.intellectual snobbery? And while we are arguing over how best to teach,
:35:39. > :35:44.in Nigeria, Boko Haram do not want Western teaching at all. The
:35:45. > :35:49.Islamist terror group has abducted almost 300 schoolgirls, kidnapped
:35:50. > :35:54.just for being educated. They are extremists and do not really
:35:55. > :35:59.understand Islam. Is lan says it is your duty to get an education. So
:36:00. > :36:06.how do you instil intellectual confidence, and why is showing off
:36:07. > :36:12.your big brain such a big deal? We are joined by Ruby wax. Welcome.
:36:13. > :36:19.What is intellectual confidence? That is what you use when you want
:36:20. > :36:24.to lose an election. It is not streetsmart? It certainly isn't. If
:36:25. > :36:28.you are unconscious enough to use something that arrogant, I would say
:36:29. > :36:33.it flips you to the downside of intelligent. Dare I say stupid? We
:36:34. > :36:40.should learn from Sarah Pailin. He should have said he is a hockey mum.
:36:41. > :36:47.That is the new Vogue, to say, I am the people. Clearly, he didn't learn
:36:48. > :36:50.from that woman. You are looking at me disapprovingly. I am depressed by
:36:51. > :36:58.what you say, although I think it might be true. Does British society
:36:59. > :37:05.value intellectual abilities? When I first got to this country, I'm not
:37:06. > :37:11.sure. People would say, I have been to Eton. It was like turkeys finding
:37:12. > :37:18.their own. It was a club you could not crash, and it was smug. To an
:37:19. > :37:22.American, may the best guy who ripped you off win. In this country,
:37:23. > :37:27.it was like a club and I wanted to crash it, but I never felt I could.
:37:28. > :37:32.And in these days, going to Eton is a sign that your mum and dad had a
:37:33. > :37:36.tonne of money. In those days, it was still something that was
:37:37. > :37:41.considered, for an American, a superior intellect. Now, I know they
:37:42. > :37:48.all liked to wear nappies, but back then I thought it measured a higher
:37:49. > :37:54.IQ. It is possible that the emerging markets, India, China, they seem to
:37:55. > :37:59.put more value on education and intellect for their kids. To call it
:38:00. > :38:03.intellect is offensive. Does that mean you had a good IQ, or you did
:38:04. > :38:09.well on a test? Intellect is not that. That is just memorising. If
:38:10. > :38:13.you are creative... If you don't have curiosity, you are a moron. Did
:38:14. > :38:19.you just memorise the book and regurgitate it? Let's make it wider,
:38:20. > :38:23.what a real intellectual is. I am a blank slate, but I will ask the
:38:24. > :38:28.right questions and give the appearance of being intelligent. Was
:38:29. > :38:34.it wise of him to claim to be more intellectually confident than the
:38:35. > :38:37.Prime Minister? His father was a genuine intellectual, however you
:38:38. > :38:41.define it. But I think he forgot that historically the British are
:38:42. > :38:48.suspicious of intellectuals. Clever politicians, even if they are
:38:49. > :38:53.intellectual... I don't want him reading history books on holiday. I
:38:54. > :39:00.want him to meet the people. Clever politicians have always hidden that
:39:01. > :39:04.they are intellectuals. Are you intellectually confident? I am
:39:05. > :39:09.curious. I lack some intellectual confidence and I admire those who
:39:10. > :39:13.have it. That is a very British thing to say. That humble thing, I
:39:14. > :39:23.am not buying it, because he looks intellectually confident. The United
:39:24. > :39:26.States had as a President William Jefferson Clinton, with an
:39:27. > :39:34.extraordinary IQ. I think it was great that such a gifted man was in
:39:35. > :39:38.the presidency. But he hid it. Actually, I think the range of
:39:39. > :39:42.issues on which he was absolutely confident was an advantage to the
:39:43. > :39:45.presidency. I am proud that in the Conservative government today I
:39:46. > :39:49.would say that people like Oliver N and David Willetts are some of the
:39:50. > :39:55.most intellectual people we have had in government. I think they add
:39:56. > :40:01.enormously to the government. Nobody is saying you are an idiot, but you
:40:02. > :40:06.just don't say, I am one of the great... You have invalidated who
:40:07. > :40:09.you are. I am not saying Ed Miliband should have said that but the knee
:40:10. > :40:14.jerk reaction that we despise intellectuals is wrong. If we are
:40:15. > :40:18.lucky enough to get some people who are very, very bright to go into
:40:19. > :40:23.politics, I think we should be really pleased at that. But our
:40:24. > :40:30.leaders do try to hide their intellect. It is very British. These
:40:31. > :40:35.are all clever men. When you get very successful British people, they
:40:36. > :40:38.always say, I was just walking down the street and I became chairman of
:40:39. > :40:43.this multinational company. Of course, it wasn't like that but they
:40:44. > :40:47.love to be self-deprecating. But now, when they choose leaders, the
:40:48. > :40:53.guys who come at the top of the class are not necessarily hired. I
:40:54. > :40:58.associate high intellect with asp urges, because they have pinpoint
:40:59. > :41:03.vision. Let's talk about Richard Branson, someone who's good with
:41:04. > :41:11.people. That is who is being hired. Let's be more personable. Boris, I
:41:12. > :41:14.am not his greatest supporter, but he does things nobody else can do.
:41:15. > :41:19.For instance, he presents programmes on television about Roman and
:41:20. > :41:25.classical history which are clearly intellectual, and it does him no
:41:26. > :41:31.damage whatsoever. I just want to note that and admire it. But he
:41:32. > :41:34.carries it off by pretending to be a buffoon. Nobody is questioning that
:41:35. > :41:39.you have to be smart to get this job. It's no big deal. I don't know
:41:40. > :41:44.what I'm doing on this show, really. I will tell you,
:41:45. > :41:52.intellectual confidence is that I wrote a book called saving the
:41:53. > :42:03.world, and I'm here to plug it. -- seine New World. Do intellects make
:42:04. > :42:10.good leaders? I just said it, that I don't think, they are smart, but if
:42:11. > :42:15.they say it, it is offensive to the common man. Of course you have to be
:42:16. > :42:18.smart. Nobody is questioning that. I guess what we are talking about is
:42:19. > :42:23.whether you should say it. No, you should not. President Kennedy hosted
:42:24. > :42:28.a dinner for 14 Nobel Prize winners and began his speech by saying,
:42:29. > :42:31.there has never been a great collection of brain power under this
:42:32. > :42:40.roof since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. A very good joke, one of the
:42:41. > :42:46.best. Good luck with the book. You did not mention that I graduated
:42:47. > :42:53.from Oxford. In September. So I can understand those words. You are
:42:54. > :42:58.intellectually confident. I am now. You are not meant to say it. In
:42:59. > :43:02.August I was a moron but now I wear a square hat. I am confident.
:43:03. > :43:06.That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us. We're giving Lou
:43:07. > :43:09.Lou's a miss tonight and heading over to Kebabylon on the Holloway
:43:10. > :43:12.Road for an extra-large lamb shawarma. We've no idea whether the
:43:13. > :43:15.meat's halal or kosher - we're just praying it's actually meat. But with
:43:16. > :43:18.Nick Clegg launching his party's local election campaign this week,
:43:19. > :43:23.at the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London - I kid you not, This Week
:43:24. > :43:26.viewers - we leave you tonight with the Lib Dem leader's rousing speech
:43:27. > :43:30.to the party-hard faithful, and his call to arms in the air.
:43:31. > :43:39.Nighty-night. Don't let Ravey Clegg bite.
:43:40. > :43:47.We are the only party in this election that has the courage to
:43:48. > :43:54.stand up to UKIP. The only party relied upon to reign in the
:43:55. > :44:03.Conservatives. The only party to undo the damage done by Labour to
:44:04. > :44:07.our economy. The only party that will deliver a stronger economy and
:44:08. > :44:11.a fairer society. Thank you very much.
:44:12. > :44:20.# Can you feel it. # with three brand-new comedies
:44:21. > :44:24.to brighten up your spring. You cannot present the weather
:44:25. > :44:31.dripping with sex appeal. No sex appeal, the way I did it -
:44:32. > :44:36.that's the way to do it. All a good mountain man needs
:44:37. > :44:39.is a stout set of legs, a bar of tablet and a bobble hat.
:44:40. > :44:42.There you go. Why can't the rest of us have a go?
:44:43. > :44:46.There's a good reason.