08/05/2014 This Week

Tonight on This Week, as Jack Bauer and 24 returns to our screens, and

hits the streets of London, this may be the longest night of your life.

The political clock is ticking. It's only 363 days until the general

election. Can Agent Ed Miliband follow protocol and secure victory

at the polls? Blairite journalist and and former trade union official

Dan Hodges thinks time is running out fast for the Labour leader. Ed

Miliband is no action hero. And to be honest, I can't see him being

Prime Minister either. When it comes to the proposed

takeover of AstraZeneca by US rival Pfizer, the Prime Minister and Ed

Miliband clash over whether the ends justify the means. BBC political

operative James Landale is on the mean streets of Westminster. This

issue goes to the heart of the debate that is dominating politics.

Ed Miliband wants to be the man who is taking on the predators for the

people. David Cameron wants to be the man who is bringing business and

jobs to Britain. And a terror plot that's far from

fictional, almost 300 girls kidnapped in Nigeria by Islamist

militants scared of girls being educated. Comic, writer and

campaigner Ruby Wax talks intellectual confidence. And some

people have more confidence than intellect. I'm not naming names,

Andrew. Copy that. I'm Federal Agent Andrew Neil. You

are gonna tell me what I wanna know. It's just a matter of how much you

want it to hurt. Evenin' all. Welcome to a special

halal edition of This Week, where being ritually slaughtered on Blue

Nun is always clearly stated on the menu. Differentiation is the name of

the game this week, with self-styled Deputy PM Nick Clegg deciding to

oppose a Tory plan to jail automatically anyone convicted twice

for carrying a knife. Cleggover dismisses the two-stabs-and-your-out

policy as a headline-grabbing stunt, which makes it a first in British

politics. Not! But it raises an intriguing philosophical question.

Given David Cameron fought the last election promising to "send a

serious, unambiguous message" by automatically jailing anyone

convicted only once for carrying a knife, can the Lib Dems really be

criticised for opposing a policy Call-Me-Dave deemed inadequate at

the last election? Can they? I'll leave you to ponder and get back to

me. Speaking of existential conundrums that make your head

explode, I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two strategic assets the

Americans would love to get their hands on. Think of them as the

AstraZenica and Louisiana Purchase of late night political chat. I

speak, of course, of #sadmanonatrain Michael Portillo and #baffled Diane

Abbott. Welcome, both. Your moment, Michael. Very sadly the ill-health

of Chris Patten means there has been a new chairman of the BBC Trust. I

have always supported the licence fee but have recently come to the

conclusion that it can no longer be justified in terms of competition,

apart from anything else. You now have so many outlets and platforms

in the media that have one, the BBC, with all of its programming and its

website funded by taxpayers in competition with everybody else

seems unjustifiable. I think the BBC needs to get on with thinking about

that. I don't think being chairman of chief executive of the BBC can

any more be about defending the licence fee and trying to squeeze

the most out of the government, and hoping it will keep pace with

inflation. Somebody has to be doing the intellectual exercise of

thinking about a BBC beyond the licence fee. I fear that the last

three years have been lost in that respect. Enjoy your final programme

tonight! I am sure it will be a happy retirement. I assume you have

ruled yourself out. That wasn't your application for the job, was it? I

think that was not a job application! Your moment of the week

is to mark it is a sad story but it was President Goodluck Jonathan's

statement about the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian girls, three

weeks after it occurred. It is a very difficult task. The terrorists

may have melted over the border, but I think the completely inadequate

response of the Nigerian government, I don't think they realised how it

looks to the rest of the world. It looked like he was forced. Exactly.

I also read that some of the mothers went to see his wife and she had one

of them arrested. If ever there was a leader out of touch with his

country, it is him. When you see headlines saying that the SAS are on

the way, you can be sure the SAS will be nowhere near. Yes.

Now, it may have passed you by, but yesterday marked a year to go till

the next general election. Wow! 12 whole months of electioneering,

slogans and junk through your letterbox to look forward to. But

how are the parties shaping up for the fight? Labour, who have led the

opinion polls for most of the Parliament, are now at risk of

losing their lead. This week they've floated a raft of policies and

positions which some call a lurch to the left, and produced a party

political broadcast with a strong class war appeal. Is that a winning

formula? We turned to former Labour man and Daily Telegraph journalist

Dan Hodges. This is his take of the week.

# Insects. # We have crickets, bug salad, and we

have Give me five minutes. Three years

ago, when Ed Miliband was first selected, the Labour Party convinced

itself it could go into the next election with an appetising offer

for the electorate. Miliband was a fresh political face, his party was

united behind him and the nation was tired of the austerities diet being

offered by David Cameron and the Tory coalition. Your crickets. Thank

you. But now the election is one year away and the early optimism is

fading. Labour has three main problems. The first is the Ed

Miliband issue. For years, his supporters have been saying, wait

until the voters get to know him. Welcome and they have got to know

him and the more they have got to know him, the less they have liked

him. Too many, he is strange, otherworldly and out of touch. Worm

caviar! And then there is the economy. Not long ago Labour was

telling us we were on the edge of a triple dip recession. Now they are

trying to tell us we are experiencing the wrong kind of

recovery. The reality is, the voters are not swallowing it. And then

there is Labour's policy offer. There is very little on the menu. As

we have seen this week, what there is has pulled Labour from the centre

and lurched Labour to the left. That is not going to whet the appetite of

the average swing voter. Some commentators still think Labour is

on course for victory, but I just don't see. Their lead is too small

and big gap on issues such as leadership and economic competence

is too wide. I think Labour is heading for defeat in 2015, a defeat

Ed Miliband and his party will find tough to swallow.

And from the creepy crawlies at the Archipelago Restaurant in Fitzrovia

to our own little creepy crawlies here in the heart of Westminster,

Dan joins us now. Welcome. Diane, is Labour heading for defeat in the

next election? You are talking about this as if it is a US presidential

election. People vote for a political party and all of the

pollsters, if you talk to them, say that we are going to win. But the

Tories will try to make it a presidential election. They will

try. But Dan is talking about this great economic recovery. It might

look great in Blackheath, but in the rest of the country people know that

the numbers are better, but their lives aren't any better. Have you

been touring the rest of the country? I was in Croydon today. Not

quite the rest of the country. I believe this will be a recovery

without votes, because living standards and confident in the

future is no better. So why are the polls narrowing? We have had a

consistent but small lead and Ike Spector is to keep that. The lead

has been narrowing. Why do you so dislike Ed Miliband? It is not that

I dislike him on a personal level. Obviously he is quite clearly

pursuing the wrong political strategy. I just don't think he is

going to be Prime Minister. Surprisingly, I think he has had an

opportunity to be Prime Minister but the strategy he has pursued and the

strategy Labour is pursuing, if you thought of a worse strategy for

Labour to pursue, you could not come up with much worse. Is the problem

strategy, or personal? Strategy. It is not him? His poll ratings are not

good. In terms of the polling, the problems are that both in terms of

his personal ratings on the leadership issue and on economic

competence, Labour is 20 points behind. That is a huge albatross.

But the big reason Labour is not going to win next year is because

Labour is not trying to win in the classical sense of getting more

votes than the opposition. They are pursuing this 35% strategy and

hoping they will get 35% and the vagaries of the electoral system

will help them stagger over the line. Ed Miliband's personal poll

ratings are not great, but neither were Mrs Thatcher's in 1979. She did

still win and Mr Miliband needs, because of what Dan calls the

vagaries of our electoral system, he only needs 35% of the vote. It will

not be like 1979, because Margaret Thatcher got over 40%, a big number.

What is happening at the moment, it is a vote less election. All the

parties are doing badly apart from UKIP. The polls are showing figures

of 30% Conservatives and 30% for Labour. Both of those figures are

terribly low in case of -- in the case of each party. In each case,

they would normally mean defeat, if it were not for the fact that the

other party is doing just as badly. This is not an election about

whether Ed Miliband can win. It is precisely the last point that Dan

made, whether Labour gets tried over the line in an extraordinary

situation. 30% is the sort of number that for the Conservatives produced

160 seats in 1997, 2001. Not only not a winning position, but

desperately short. What we know is that if Labour and the Conservatives

score the same number, whatever the number, Labour wins. You are all

forgetting that ordinary people, not those like us, they don't start to

focus on general elections until much later on in the cycle. I

believe when they come to focus on this general election, the Tories

are going to be even more unpopular than in 2010 when they lost, and

they will lose again. It is also possible that the opposite will

happen, and if the focus goes on Ed Miliband it will go badly. On what

basis will the Tories be popular next summer? You must be happy that

Ed Miliband seems to be shifting Labour to the left. Chance would be

a fine thing. He is talking about taking the Labour finances Ashgrove

fractures taking the railway franchises back into some form

public ownership. It actually constitutes policies which are

actually very popular. As a practising politician, all things

being equal, I like popular policies and these are popular policies. And

they are popular. But the poll rating is not bearing that out, is

it? I think the big problem for Labour is that the parties are

currently neck and neck, but that is with UKIP currently polling at 12%.

UKIP is not going to get 12% in the general election and the majority of

voters that switch back will go to the Tories. The Lib Dems are polling

at 8% and they are not going to get that in the general election. They

will be up 13 or 14 points, I expect. And that is coming straight

off Labour. At the moment they are at level pegging when Labour should

be at least ten points ahead. By the time of the election next year, the

only way that the polls can go is that the Tories will go up and

Labour will go down. Those figures about the Lib Dems are misleading.

They will hold seats you might not expect. But overall they are going

to lose seats. Isn't Mr Miliband's biggest asset that for the first

time in living memory, the right is divided? Mrs Thatcher benefited from

the left being divided. The right has been divided for 20 years.

Between different political parties. 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 for that

matter, it has been about the Conservatives being terrified of

losing votes to the right. Despite intellectually understanding they

had to fight on the centre ground, in the end they decided to assuage

the Daily Mail and try to shore up their 35%. This is the first

election in which the Tories will face a credible party to their

right. I don't think that is the case. What was there before? It was

UKIP last time. It has become more credible but the Conservatives have

faced the same problem of shifting themselves to the right in order to

avoid being headed off by a right-wing party and losing votes in

the centre. Certainly not after... You are going Lib Dem? Especially

after that preposterous disgraceful political broadcast... It was not

intended for YOU, Dan. Just as well. It is intended for people that voted

Lib Dem because we all love Nick and now they regret it! It would be

wrong to pose as Labour's critical friend because you have moved beyond

that? I don't think anyone is in any doubt about what I think about Ed

Miliband or the Labour Party. Right. Dan thinks that Mr Cameron will be

Prime Minister with an overall majority, am I right? Yes. Diane? Ed

Miliband will be Prime Minister with a small but sufficient overall

majority. An Ed Miliband Prime Ministership is the most likely

outcome. That is not the same as saying that is my prediction. I

agree with what Dan said about the way things can shift and might

shift. What is your prediction? Well, if I were forced to predict

now, I would say Ed Miliband would be Prime Minister. But that is not

my prediction because I think there is a lot that will happen. OK. You

have lost me! I think it is perfectly simple. The viewers will

understand that and that is all that matters to me! We will see if the

viewers understand. Let me know now. Dan, thank you.

Now it's late, Reverend Flowers late, so you're probably wide awake

and feeling rather guilty, so prepare to serve your paltry

sentence. Because waiting in the wings, comic, writer, campaigner,

Ruby Wax is here, to discuss "intellectual confidence". We have

just seen a bit of that. With a certain Diane Abbott. And Michael

Denzil Xavier Portillo. Thank god we're not discussing intellectual

humility or they'd have nothing to say! And remember, if you're too

smart or too stupid for all this, we'd rather not hear from you.

Unfortunately, the BBC insist we inform you about The Twitter, The

Fleecebook and The Interweb. Now, how do you get an MP to run a

four-minute mile? Question them about their expenses. Boom boom! But

it was 60 years ago this week that Sir Roger Bannister broke the then

one-mile record. Always happy to celebrate a great British triumph,

we challenged BBC Deputy Political Editor, James Landale, to get his

spikes on, run round a track like a mad man, and at the same time give

us his in-depth take on the week in Westminster. Will he succeed? I

doubt it. Please look away now if you're of a nervous disposition -

naked wet legs were involved in the making of this film!

Hello and welcome to the highlight of this summer's sporting fixtures -

the one-mile This Week Chase. 60 years ago Mr Roger Bannister did it

under four minutes. I can tell you, four minutes is a long time in

politics! Today's race is sponsored by Pfizer, that's why Mr Landale is

determined not to get too stiff! That is why he is doing all those

physical jerks. Don't try this at home, children! There's one year to

go until the general election race begins, so today all the runners are

limbering up for the early heats for a place in the local council and the

ambition of every athlete - the chance to go to Europe! And they are

off! For years, the Lib Dems have told us every election is a

two-horse race. Not anymore. The political track is looking crowded

for the euro elections and Nick Clegg's team could come fifth behind

the Greens. We are the only party that have the courage to stand up to

UKIP. The only party relied on to rein in the Conservatives, the only

party to undo the damage done by Labour to our economy. I say - poor

show! A bit of jiggery-pokery going on, just the argy-bargy the

Institute of Government says is going on in coalition. Coalition, my

bottom! The main pushing and shoving this week was over the news that the

Yanks want to join the race - that's right, Pfizer, the American drugs

firm, wants to get its leg over - sorry, takeover of that plucky

British enterprise, AstraZeneca. I and my colleagues across Government

engaged early with both companies to ensure the outcome is positive for

the UK, precisely to avoid previous Government's failures in this type

of situation. The fact is, over the last week, the Government has

compromised the Astra board leading the chairman to urge the Prime

Minister to adopt a neutral position. Finally, Mr Speaker, the

bottom line is this: The assurances the Government has extracted from

Pfizer are simply not worth the paper they are written on. That was

the club junior starting the relay. Then it was time for the senior boys

to pick up the baton, for Ed Miliband it was another chance to

bash a beastly foreign company. For David Cameron, a very real test of

his claim that Britain is winning the global race. Better go! I agree

with what the Business Secretary said yesterday. Let me be clear. The

most important intervention we can make is to back British jobs,

British science, British R, make is to back British jobs,

British medicines and British technology. Is he ruling out or

ruling in using the public interest test on this takeover? If he does

not take action now, and the bid goes through without a proper

assessment, everyone will know he was cheerleading for this bid, not

championing British science and British industry. One team that is

making the running is the UKIPers, they have chosen a new candidate for

the Newark by-election hurdle. As for their leader, Nigel Farage, he's

keen to show us that he has lots of black friends, apparently. Let this

picture of me on the stage with these wonderful men and women from

all their different backgrounds and their united belief in being British

and being part of this country and in wanting this country to be free

and independent and proud. Let this be UKIP's clause for moment. --

Clause IV moment. Black and ethnic minority voters are going to get

more important. A report by a think-tank said they are going to

make up a third of the country by 2050 and, at the moment, not many of

them are voting for David Cameron, which is a bit of a problem if he

wants to run again. Right now Mr David Cameron is well behind the

leaders. He is hoping the growing economy will give him a late surge

in the final straight, but those Tory legs, they are looking pretty

tired. What we have got to have in our country is the politics of the

answer rather than the politics of anger. What we have got to do is fix

these problems. Fix our welfare system so it rewards the

hard-working, fix our immigration system so it benefits the whole of

our country, get our taxes down. So, the election finishing line is

almost in sight, all the politicians desperate to be first past the post.

Except, of course, it is not like that, these are European elections

so it is proportional representation and it is decided by somebody...

Sadly, he tripped over his shoelaces at the last minute and never made

it! AstraZeneca and Pfizer, where are you on this - welcome to

Miranda. Well, pharmaceuticals is one of our few indigenous and highly

successful industries and so I would be pretty nervous of the Pfizer bid.

I'm quite struck by the interventions that have been made,

particularly by a former Chief Executive of AstraZeneca, who

believes that we should be very suspicious of the bid. That would be

my frame of mind. This is a problem for the Prime Minister? It is.

Conservatives, particularly, in recent years - the last 20 or 30

years - have been associated with the free market. Sometimes get a bit

bamboozled by the idea that the free market is the only thing they should

be thinking of. It is one of the things they should be thinking of,

but it is not the only thing. The last Labour Government watered-down

the public interest test? Was it? I take your word for that. And you

should, because it's true. Miranda, do the Lib Dems have a view on this?

Vince Cable is the Business Secretary, so they have to. Well,

hold on. There can be a Lib Dem view and a Vince the Cable view? That is

true. I think it is about striking a balance because it's been very

striking, I think, that The Financial Times has said hold on a

minute our science base is so important that we should look at

this very carefully, it has been very striking, the intervention from

the Swedish Finance Minister saying you can't believe the pledges from

Pfizer and we have suffered in Sweden. So, you know, it is a moment

where you, as Michael says, it can't just be about principles of openness

to foreign investment, it has also got to be about if you choose to

have industrial strategies on certain industries and if a

challenge comes along to undermine your strategy, you do have to think

twice about whether you let it go through. You don't have to look in

the crystal ball, you can read the record. Pfizer has a history. First

of all, everyone believes they want to come here because of the tax

arrangements. OK. They have a history of asset-stripping companies

they have taken over and selling off the constituent parts. That is what

people... Why didn't Ed Miliband want to meet the Chief Executive

when the Chief Executive of Pfizer offered to come and see him?

Miliband could have said... No... We know you are an asset-stripper and

he would have got a lot of kudos. But he turned down the meeting. What

was the reason for that? The reality - that is a distraction. He said he

was too busy campaigning to meet him. Ed Miliband doesn't know

whether to trust him or not because he didn't meet him! It's given the

Government certain assurances, Pfizer, it would continue with the

R in Cambridge, which is the existing AstraZeneca plant. The

European headquarters would be placed here and there are other

things. What do you do if they break them? Exactly. You wouldn't be able

to hold them to those pledges. I think the Government, you know, has

to make a political gut decision. On the one hand, it is also plausible

that if AstraZeneca is joined to Pfizer so that people in Britain are

working for the largest pharmaceutical conglomerate in the

world with some of the best pharmaceutical properties, that

could be very advantageous. It is also possible to argue that it would

be stripped out of Britain and taken somewhere else. We have some amazing

pharmaceutical patents in AstraZeneca and you can see why

Pfizer would want to get hold of them. They are falling off the

patent cliff, most of the drugs which they have made a lot of money

now are going out of patent and will become generic, which is why their

pipeline... You talking about AstraZeneca or Pfizer? AstraZeneca.

The recent drugs that AstraZeneca have done well with were developed

in Maryland. I wonder if AstraZeneca is the big British Champion that

British politicians seem to think it is. It employed 50,000 people

worldwide. Most of it - a lot of its research is done in Maryland. It has

closed research facilities in Britain as well. It is interesting -

7,000 jobs on a day when 19,000 jobs are being lost in bhaR clays. --

Barclays. Pfizer's promises remind me of Krafts's promises in relation

to Cadbury's. It is not just about the tax come pe division, though. --

competition, though. There is this question of the NHS has a testing

ground for pharmaceutical discoveries. Gordon Brown, as Prime

Minister, was very hot on this. He was hot on the fact that we have got

a good research base. We have the ideal place to test it. The NHS is

not the ideal place anymore. It is not being used by most of the big

pharmaceuticals, it takes too long and it is too slow, so much of

AstraZeneca's testing is done in Europe. It is probably the

explanation of why we have had a very successful pharmaceutical

industry that they had a tame NHS to fund their research. Should - at the

moment, as I understand it, the Government has very little power to

stop this in the end. I think at the end, the power lies with Brussels to

stop this, or let it go ahead. Should the British Government have

the power to stop this? I think Pfizer said that if they - if the

British Government indicates it doesn't support this bid, it will

withdraw. I think it should indicate it doesn't support the bid. That

would stop it? That is what Pfizer are saying. Let me move on to ethnic

minority voters. There is a report out this week, it showed that the

Tories have a real problem with ethnic minority voters in that they

don't get them. Why? It is a huge problem. Partly because the Tories

have ceased to articulate some messages that were attractive in the

Thatcher days - we were the party of aspiration. And for Asian voters,

particularly Indian and Pakistani voters, that seemed to go down

extremely well. Margaret Thatcher took enormous care to appear at

Asian social events and to socialise with prominent British Asians.

I think the second thing is that if you decide as a party that you want

to go on saying immigration needs to be reined in, it is quite difficult,

in the year of those who are first-generation immigrants, or

immigrate -- immigrants themselves, it is difficult to distinguish

between a party saying, we don't want many immigrants, and something

different, saying we don't like people who are immigrants or

descended from immigrants. It sounds the same. So I think what the

Conservatives are doing is that in the very short term they are hoping

they can shore up their dwindling, ageing traditional vote, by heading

off UKIP, by talking about immigration. What they are doing

strategically is driving away the voters of the future. So the

discussion we just had about what will happen at the next election is,

in my view, of secondary importance. It is what will happen

to the Conservative Party in the longer term that is of primary

importance. The Prime Minister is focused on the near-term, shoring up

the vote for the next election, without a thought to the strategic

question of how the Tory party will survive. Were you in Crest --

impressed with UKIP's diversity display? The polling shows that I

think one third of people think that UKIP is anti-immigrant, in the worst

sense. He was trying to send a message saying that is a media myth

and here are the pictures to prove it. It will have no impact, because

the thing about anti-immigrant rhetoric, the Republicans have this

problem. They went on and on about illegal immigrants, but then legal

immigrants fled from the Republicans. It is what Michael was

saying, you hear this anti-immigrant rhetoric, and even though you are

here legally, you believe that party doesn't like you. Between us we have

three immigrant parents. That's right. Is Nick Clegg right to oppose

tougher sentences for knife crime? I think he probably is but I'm not

sure whether the motives are entirely pure. I know, what an awful

slur! But I think he is right because I don't think you should

make sentencing policy on the basis of what makes good headlines. You

should think about the evidence. There are many young people who

carry knives, unfortunately, and that is the reality. If you say the

second time a young person for whatever reason feels they need to

carry a knife, if you put them into a criminal class, lock them up where

they will probably become someone who is more likely to have a career

of crime ahead of them than not, it is a bad idea. Are you dismayed that

Mr Miliband has joined the government in this policy and is

Nick Clegg is the one taking the liberal line against it? And can

boast about that in the pages of the Guardian? I am dismayed. What is the

point of taking kids who happen to be carrying knives, putting them in

prison where they can become highly skilled career criminals? It is a

trend of governments try to stop the courts using their discretion, but

that is what courts are there for. Miranda, thank you very much.

Now, political parties have always contained deep thinkers, big-brained

people who wrestle with the big philosophical questions of the day

providing intellectual foundations for a party's programme for

government. One only has to think of Keith Joseph in the Conservative

Party, Gordon Brown in the Labour Party, Sarah Teather in the Liberal

Democrats. Great minds that didn't think alike, to which we can now

apparently add Ed Miliband. And that's why we've decided to stroke

our chin and put intellectual confidence in this week's spotlight.

Ed Miliband chose a strange tactic in shedding his nerdy reputation

this week, bragging about how big his brain is. He claimed he had more

intellectual self-confidence than David Cameron, something the Prime

Minister took exception to. Let me make this point because I worry it

may be lost in this debate. And I know, of course, he thinks he is

extremely clever, and we all know that, but he may have missed this

point. UKIP also seized on the potency of mocking his bold claim.

They showed that they are anti-IQ, two, with their by-election

candidate appealing to the common-sense voter, by dismissing

the Labour leader as to intellectual. One exam board wants

to make the intellectual more accessible by proposing a more

accessible English A-level, studying Russell Brand's views on drugs, and

tweets. The Department for Education called the idea rubbish, but is it

intellectual snobbery? And while we are arguing over how best to teach,

in Nigeria, Boko Haram do not want Western teaching at all. The

Islamist terror group has abducted almost 300 schoolgirls, kidnapped

just for being educated. They are extremists and do not really

understand Islam. Is lan says it is your duty to get an education. So

how do you instil intellectual confidence, and why is showing off

your big brain such a big deal? We are joined by Ruby wax. Welcome.

What is intellectual confidence? That is what you use when you want

to lose an election. It is not streetsmart? It certainly isn't. If

you are unconscious enough to use something that arrogant, I would say

it flips you to the downside of intelligent. Dare I say stupid? We

should learn from Sarah Pailin. He should have said he is a hockey mum.

That is the new Vogue, to say, I am the people. Clearly, he didn't learn

from that woman. You are looking at me disapprovingly. I am depressed by

what you say, although I think it might be true. Does British society

value intellectual abilities? When I first got to this country, I'm not

sure. People would say, I have been to Eton. It was like turkeys finding

their own. It was a club you could not crash, and it was smug. To an

American, may the best guy who ripped you off win. In this country,

it was like a club and I wanted to crash it, but I never felt I could.

And in these days, going to Eton is a sign that your mum and dad had a

tonne of money. In those days, it was still something that was

considered, for an American, a superior intellect. Now, I know they

all liked to wear nappies, but back then I thought it measured a higher

IQ. It is possible that the emerging markets, India, China, they seem to

put more value on education and intellect for their kids. To call it

intellect is offensive. Does that mean you had a good IQ, or you did

well on a test? Intellect is not that. That is just memorising. If

you are creative... If you don't have curiosity, you are a moron. Did

you just memorise the book and regurgitate it? Let's make it wider,

what a real intellectual is. I am a blank slate, but I will ask the

right questions and give the appearance of being intelligent. Was

it wise of him to claim to be more intellectually confident than the

Prime Minister? His father was a genuine intellectual, however you

define it. But I think he forgot that historically the British are

suspicious of intellectuals. Clever politicians, even if they are

intellectual... I don't want him reading history books on holiday. I

want him to meet the people. Clever politicians have always hidden that

they are intellectuals. Are you intellectually confident? I am

curious. I lack some intellectual confidence and I admire those who

have it. That is a very British thing to say. That humble thing, I

am not buying it, because he looks intellectually confident. The United

States had as a President William Jefferson Clinton, with an

extraordinary IQ. I think it was great that such a gifted man was in

the presidency. But he hid it. Actually, I think the range of

issues on which he was absolutely confident was an advantage to the

presidency. I am proud that in the Conservative government today I

would say that people like Oliver N and David Willetts are some of the

most intellectual people we have had in government. I think they add

enormously to the government. Nobody is saying you are an idiot, but you

just don't say, I am one of the great... You have invalidated who

you are. I am not saying Ed Miliband should have said that but the knee

jerk reaction that we despise intellectuals is wrong. If we are

lucky enough to get some people who are very, very bright to go into

politics, I think we should be really pleased at that. But our

leaders do try to hide their intellect. It is very British. These

are all clever men. When you get very successful British people, they

always say, I was just walking down the street and I became chairman of

this multinational company. Of course, it wasn't like that but they

love to be self-deprecating. But now, when they choose leaders, the

guys who come at the top of the class are not necessarily hired. I

associate high intellect with asp urges, because they have pinpoint

vision. Let's talk about Richard Branson, someone who's good with

people. That is who is being hired. Let's be more personable. Boris, I

am not his greatest supporter, but he does things nobody else can do.

For instance, he presents programmes on television about Roman and

classical history which are clearly intellectual, and it does him no

damage whatsoever. I just want to note that and admire it. But he

carries it off by pretending to be a buffoon. Nobody is questioning that

you have to be smart to get this job. It's no big deal. I don't know

what I'm doing on this show, really. I will tell you,

intellectual confidence is that I wrote a book called saving the

world, and I'm here to plug it. -- seine New World. Do intellects make

good leaders? I just said it, that I don't think, they are smart, but if

they say it, it is offensive to the common man. Of course you have to be

smart. Nobody is questioning that. I guess what we are talking about is

whether you should say it. No, you should not. President Kennedy hosted

a dinner for 14 Nobel Prize winners and began his speech by saying,

there has never been a great collection of brain power under this

roof since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. A very good joke, one of the

best. Good luck with the book. You did not mention that I graduated

from Oxford. In September. So I can understand those words. You are

intellectually confident. I am now. You are not meant to say it. In

August I was a moron but now I wear a square hat. I am confident.

That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us. We're giving Lou

Lou's a miss tonight and heading over to Kebabylon on the Holloway

Road for an extra-large lamb shawarma. We've no idea whether the

meat's halal or kosher - we're just praying it's actually meat. But with

Nick Clegg launching his party's local election campaign this week,

at the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London - I kid you not, This Week

viewers - we leave you tonight with the Lib Dem leader's rousing speech

to the party-hard faithful, and his call to arms in the air.

Nighty-night. Don't let Ravey Clegg bite.

We are the only party in this election that has the courage to

stand up to UKIP. The only party relied upon to reign in the

Conservatives. The only party to undo the damage done by Labour to

our economy. The only party that will deliver a stronger economy and

a fairer society. Thank you very much.

# Can you feel it. # with three brand-new comedies

to brighten up your spring. You cannot present the weather

dripping with sex appeal. No sex appeal, the way I did it -

that's the way to do it. All a good mountain man needs

is a stout set of legs, a bar of tablet and a bobble hat.

There you go. Why can't the rest of us have a go?

There's a good reason.