28/01/2016 This Week

As the beloved sitcom Dad's Army marches onto the big screen,

we're calling up volunteers to join the This Week Home Guard.

Europe struggles to deal with the biggest migration crisis

We look at the leadership - or lack of it - from

Writer and commentator Douglas Murray is standing to attention.

Who do you think you're kidding if you think the EU is going to be

around for much longer? On the home front,

Chancellor George Osborne and the Government come under attack

over Google's tax deal. The BBC's James Landale

has his privates on parade. Some MPs are wondering if George

Osborne is getting more clumsy, more a captain mannering in a muddle than

a steady bank manager for the nation.

And as Dad's Army has its premiere in London this week,

we look at how to keep in step with changing times,

with light entertainment legend Bobby Davro!

Come on Jones. Yes Mr Mainwaring. I'm going to be on This Week, and

they like it up 'em. Evenin' all, welcome to This Week,

a week in which the bien-pensants of our public discourse worked

themselves into one of those self-righteous lathers

at which they excel after Call-Me-Dave used PMQs

to refer to the poor folks of the Calais Jungle Camp

as a bunch of migrants. Cue instant outrage from everyone,

especially those who've stayed curiously schtum about rather more

serious events involving recent Everyone, that is, bar

Comrade Corbyn, who didn't seem to realise just how offended

he was supposed to be and spent the rest of the week

burnishing his offence in a bid And, of course, by raising such

a hue and cry they played right Because they didn't seem to notice

that the PM's loose talk was one of those "spontaneous" retorts

which he pre-scripts every And with his chosen successor,

Boy George Osborne, on the ropes for hailing Google's handing over

of a few luncheon vouchers and a small postal order in lieu

of back-tax to HMRC as a "major success" the PM had to do

the political equivalent of throwing Which he duly did, with his clumsy

but contrived bunch Said bien pensants duly devoured it,

while Google jumped on the private jet to Bermuda to stash away a few

more tax-free billions and Boy George lived

to fight another day. Save to observe how our political

classes these days are much more comfortable obsessing

about inappropriate language than devising policies which might

actually improve the wellbeing Speaking of those who always get

the wrong end of the stick, I'm joined on the sofa tonight

by two good reasons to go to bed. Think of them as the 'Netflix and

Chill' of late-night political chat. I'm told that means something I

didn't realise. I speak, of course, of

Caroline Flint and #sadmanonatrain This week brought the death of Cecil

Parkinson and my former boss. He was doing very well indeed until he was

involved in a sex scandal. Many people would have the idea that

Margaret Thatcher was a prude. But this was rather liberal on sexual

matters. She was surrounded by gay people amongst her advisers. Did she

know? Yes, she knew. When Cecil said he was involved in this scandal she

appointed him to the Cabinet after the 1983 election. Obviously it

brought his career down. I never heard him whinge about it and it is

a good lesson that you just live with your mistakes. And get on with

it. Caroline? It's been quite a serious week, so my moment of the

week was supporting my colleague Toby perk inlaunching a petition to

have a national anthem for England. When it comes to the sporting events

Wales have theirs, and Scotland. We have God Save The Queen. Nothing

wrong with that, but we feel we should have a national anthem. If

any viewers want to have a debate, do so. Maybe we could sing Jerusalem

or Land of Hope and Glory if we win... Do you like Jerusalem? I like

Jerusalem... So do I. But people have been saying Land of Hope and

Glory. And you save God Save The Queen for whenner the United

Kingdom. In Murrayfield they play flower of Scotland and then God Save

The Queen, which jars. Yum is about England, whereas Land of Hope and

Glory is about the island. So yum, get on to the petition.

This week we've seen political leaders across Europe continue

to struggle with the ongoing migrant crisis, with fresh border controls

sprinting up everywhere, the fate of Schengen in the balance,

Germany and Sweden starting to deport tens of thousands

of failed asylum seekers, even plans to cut Greece off

by closing its border with Macedonia.

So, is the European Union at risk of falling apart?

Writer Douglas Murray thinks so, so we sent him back to the time

MUSIC: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, by Handel.

This week we've talked about red doors, removing migrants' belongings

in Denmark and whether the Prime Minister should have used the word.

But we're no closer to talking about the thing that really matters,

politicians seem to be tearing themselves apart about the EU

but at this rate the EU may not even be around in 2017.

The free movement of peoples is over.

Germany and Sweden are talking about expelling tens of thousands

of people, and politicians seem willing to blame absolutely

Politicians are trying to follow public opinion.

But public opinion is notoriously fickle.

Last year there seemed to be only political capital to be gained

from being open hearted and generous towards anyone who wanted to come

But after the attacks in Paris, New Year's Eve in Cologne

and a spate of rapes and murders in Sweden,

Our politicians still talk ever closer union, but across Europe

the borders are going back up, people are retreating back

into their nation states and the whole EU project

Even the European Commission's Vice-President this week admitted

that most of the people who came into Europe in the last year are not

asylum seekers and ought not to be here.

All across Europe people sense that our identities are at risk.

Only two things really matter with immigration -

the speed at which it happens and who is coming.

The speed in Europe in recent years has been far too fast and there's

now a general realisation that a lot of the people coming are never

The absurdity of all this is that whilst these huge movements

are going on across our Continent David Cameron and other

politicians in Europe are quibbling about minor issues

Like some character in a children's cartoon, the EU's legs

The problem is it doesn't seem to realise it has already run

From Dennis Severs' house, where visitors' imaginations

are the canvas, to a complete void of imagination here in Westminster,

I take your point, even the French Prime Minister said that the EU is

in grave danger. But why won't the EU economist by

in grave danger. But why won't the EU economist -- exist by 2017? The

EU has gone through the eurozone crisis in recent years and it has

just about survived. It is likely to stagger through another set of

crises in years ahead. But the other block of the EU is this issue of

ever-closer political union, and that's not possible any more.

Everyone is going the opposite way. The borders across Europe are going

up. People are relying on their own nation states, not on the EU. That's

different from the EU not falling apart. Isn't this an example of the

British Euro-sceptics, you always underestimate the ability of the EU

to muddle through? Yes, there is that law of nature that says that

things that cannot go on won't. The EU shows there's a version of this

that's true, things that cannot go on often do. The migration crisis,

I've travelled around Europe in the last couple of years watching this.

The migration crisis seems to be representing a different problem. It

is bigger than the eurozone crisis. Even if Douglas is over-egging it a

bit, the referendum is probably going a be fought against a backdrop

of crisis of failure, from Europe the Schengen. That doesn't help

people like the Schengen. That doesn't help

people -- like you who want to stay in. Particularly in this last year,

and in some ways the fact that countries are reinstating their

borders I suppose some people would see that as a weakness but that's

recognising that the European Union, we are not part of Schengen for

example, the European Union can exist while acknowledging the role

of the nation state as well. I do believe, but you are right Andrew,

there are lots of good reasons why we should stay in the European

Union. The backdrop of this problem that we are facing throughout the

European Union in terms of migration and beyond, undoubtedly will be part

of that backdrop to the debate. Some of them are incredible. Hungary has

built a fence on its border. Denmark is demanding that people hand over

their assets when they arrive. Cuddly socially democratic Sweden is

going to deport 80,000 asylum seefrjts new border controls, even

on the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo, the most potent symbol of a

borderless EU. Maybe the EU dream is in tatters. I'm a big fan of the

bridge. You said about deporting asylum seekers. From what I

understand where the Swedes have been interviewing people they found

45% of people weren't actually what they defined as legitimate asylum

seekers. So there's a big issue and part of the problem is how across

the European Union, and Greece is part of this, do we make sure that

we separate out the people who are involved in organised crime, people

who are just coming here who may have been kicked out before, and

make sure that we are sensitive, which we have to be, to those

vulnerable people. Good luck to Sweden who want to deport 80,000. If

the European Commission is correct in saying that 60% of the people

coming here in the last year ought not to be here. That means that

Germany now has to deport three quarters of a million people. Nobody

can possibly think that Germany is going to do that. Michael it is

clear that EU is in some sort of crisis, maybe the most serious

crisis of its existence. But is it terminal? It is certainly

fundamental. I see an emerging disagreement between people like Mrs

Merkel who think we should be admitting large numbers of

immigrants, and others in south-eastern Europe who take the

view that immigration must be opposed if for no other reason to

stop further cultural diversity. There is an idea that the EU ought

to be a subset of Christendom. That's been prevalent in Germany and

France. And the Polish Government. I said south-east Europe. That's why

over the years we never admitted Turkey. And the second thing is the

way in which the EU reverts the bullying tactics when things get

difficult. There's been bullying of various countries to take in a

difficult. There's been bullying of various countries to take in -- a

number of imgrants. Greece is on its knees because it is part of the

euro. Greece is unfortunately positioned geographically so it

receives vast numbers of refugees and it has been told it is to blame

for this crisis, and a fence may be built between it and Macedonia so

the immigrants don't move out of Greece. It takes you to the heart of

the lack of democracy in the European Union. The Prime Minister

is going to trumpet that he has a new deal. Isn't the blunt truth that

nothing he is going to bring back will address or be involved with any

of these really serious issues that now face Europe? The most notable

demand he is making is about the payment of benefits to European

Union citizens who've arrived in this country and are unemployed.

That has nothing to do with what is presently going on, which is

literally millions of people entering from beyond the European

Union with demands at the moment in abeyance, that we should take great

quotas of people. Germany made a decision to take vast numbers.

?LINEBREAK Is there a chance that a strong Franco German lead could pull

it around? No. I know all of the people invested in the Europe

project. I can't see a way through this particular crisis. I give you

an example. About the people coming in themselves, there is a massive

amount of miss information and misguided ideas about this. But

actually, people don't know who is coming in. If you go to the points

of entry, there is no working system to work out who is coming in. Even

Angela Merkel realises this. After Cologne, the Angela Merkel

government said they don't want people coming with 21st century

Europe views on women's rights. Last year, after allowing 1.1 million

people in, they said maybe they don't want more anti-somites in

Germany. A very strange thing in Germany, because of Holocaust guilt,

among other thing, Germany has now imported more anti-somites than it

has for decades. It does not know if they are anti-somites or detest

women, it does not even know where most of the people come from. It

does not know their names. There is no workable system. The EU is to

blame. Looking at the political fallout,

right-wing, quite hard in some cases, are now in power, on the rise

in Hungary, #30e8d, Finland, Denmark, France, even Sweden. The

hard left is doing well in Greece, Spain, Portugal. Are you sure a good

social Democrat like you still wants to be a member of this club? I do

think what the European Union provides in terms of trade and other

things that we enjoy in terms of sharing and tackling crime, that is

still a big issue, I think we have demonstrated we can have our own

borders here in the UK, that is something that other states are

looking at. It does not mean it is the end of the EU.

What about Schengen? Maybe around that.

Sevenenen was shot the moment Paris happened in November. What Michael

said, you said about democracy, and bullying everyone, I think when they

looked at the map of the EU it is all very well to have open borders

but what they never gave attention to was the external border in places

like Greece and elsewhere. They have not got, clearly, the resources to

deal with what is happening. But it is lamentably badly policed.

And idea of free movement within them. As for the idea whether it has

knock-on effects for our membership in the EU, people say they don't

have a problem with leaving a burning building, most do. But there

is more of an innocent I have to leave a burning building but if it

turns out that most of the people leaving are the arsonists.

In a year, will we be in or out of the EU? I think we will be scared

into it. I think so, yes. I think we are staying in. But it still does

not see us solving the problem we are seeing happening across Europe.

Now it's late, McDonald's All-Day Breakfast late,

so put down the Egg McMuffin and pour yourself another Blue Nun.

You're going to need it, because waiting in the wings,

Bobby Davro is here to talk about the turbulence

on the Shanghai Composite Index and yield spread between

And if you believe that, you'll believe anything -

on The Twitter, The Fleecebook, The MySpace reunited,

the What's Up Doc, The Spy Glass, and Gordon Brown's

Now, a new Banksy was 'thrown up' on the streets of London this week.

Criticising the apparent use of teargas on people in the Calais

"Jungle" camp, the mural - based on a poster for musical

Les Miserables - showed a girl with tears in her eyes as a can

It was painted in Knightsbridge, opposite the French Embassy,

but it wasn't long before building developers covered up the piece,

No doubt the developers will soon be auctioning off the artwork

and giving all the proceeds to a charity in Calais.

So we decided to turn to another world famous street artist -

the mysterious 'Landsy' - who's busy working on his latest

project at the 'Graffik Gallery street art workshop' in Ladbroke

This is his roundup of the political week.

Landsy, to call him an artist is almost to insult him. He is a poet,

annage tarter, a fill as for, a man who drops bombs on the imagination

that reverberate around the world. Landsy is the name, this is my game.

Working in the shadows, popping up to do jobs here and there, avoiding

the authorities the best that I can. A bit like Google, really. Google

has paid little tax in the UKs. But this week coughed up a cheque for

?130 million. A major success said George Osborne, others said no, just

3% on the UK profits, as the row grew, the Chancellor bunked off,

leaving his junior minister to face the flak. The minister says that the

deal does not amount to a 3% tax rate for Google. So for the sake of

public confidence, can you say what the tax rate is. Good question.

No... Because of taxpayer confident shalt... This row could cut up rough

for the Tories. If it creates the image of a party supporting friends

in big business, while making the rest of us pay in taxes. Some

wonder, George Osborne is using his political edge, certainly, Jeremy

Corbyn had sharp questions to ask. Why is there one rule for big

multinational companies, and another for ordinary small businesses and

self-employed workers? The Prime Minister was in a bit of a hole, so

he came out fighting. Saying Labour had collected no tax from Google

while it was in office and attacked the party leadership with language

that not all like. They met with the unions, they gave

them flying pickets. They met with the Argentinians, they gave them the

Falklands. They met with a bunch of migrants in Calais, they said that

they could come to Britain. The only people they never stood up for, was

the British people and hard working taxpayers.

Now, Labour said that "bunch migrants" was inproto-Pre-Budget

Report. Why did David Cameron use it? Was he distracting from the

Google row, or revealing his inner flashman? Certainly, Calais was not

only on the minds of politicians. My rival, a chap called Banksy, you may

have heard of him. Did a throw up on the French embassy, criticising the

French government for apparently using tear gas in Calais. David

Cameron thinks that Labour's open immigration policy would attract

more people to Calais, tear gas or not. Some MPs think had is spraying

this language about migrants to contrast Labour's position with the

immigration controls that the Prime Minister is hoping to negotiate as

part of his I reform. The landscape and urban

enenvironment is bankis's authenticity, he does not need

museums and gal ruchings he speaks of the truth of the people, not the

establishment. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to

David Cameron getting a deal on EU reform is the refugee crisis. Today

the government offered to take in a few more children. If EU leaders are

spending time focussing on refugees, they may not have enough time to

agree a deal on reform. Downing Street have pencilled in a date for

the referendum in June but Nicola, Queen of Scots warned against going

for an early poll. The Scottish election is in May,

indeed, the Welsh, Northern Irish and London elections are in May. To

have a referendum campaign starting in parallel is disrespectful to the

important elections. The truth is that no-one knows when

the referendum is going to take place. When it does, perhaps Lord

Rose, the man in charge of the campaign to stay in the EU will

remember the name of the organisation he leads, or at least

have no nor blackouts. I'm the chairman of Ocado, sorry,

I'll stay in Britain... I will start again. I'm chairman Rose, I'm chair

of the stay in Britain campaign. So, at the end of a curious week at

Westminster, where there was a sense that everything was on hold, waiting

for the European debate to begin in earnest.

But one thing you don't have to wait for, is another Landsy throw-up! The

latest work, I can tell you it will be iconic. It captures the

Zeitgiest, the signature speaking of religion, the trade, the

industrialisation of the western world. Landsy is an artist to be

spoken about in the same breath as Picasso, mat year, and Andy Warhol.

He is a genius. Landsy in his workshop at the

Graffik Gallery on Portobello Road with absolutely no artistic

assistant from the fantastic Jay Jamil. Welcome back Miranda.

Not been a great week for Chancellor George Osborne?

Was it another political misjudgement for George Osborne

to take to twitter to claim that this deal

Why has George Osborne been getting this wrong? Obviously the remark

about Google was a big error. He politicised the deal when he did

that? This is broader than this. This is the sort of thing that makes

people really indignant. This lies behind the Donald Trump phenomena.

When people feel that the system is rigged for rich people and the

people in power, they get very, very narked. Yes, for the moment, George

Osborne is in the firing line but it is more important than that. It is

that capitalism is despised by the people meant to support it.

Caroline, it is an open goal for Labour. They have taken, rightly,

advantage of it. But for the caveat that the reason that Google paid so

little tax until now is because of the tax regime it agreed with the

last Labour government. I accept that. There is something about these

big firms, don't Forget about Google and some big online companies, for

quite a while, some of them were not making that much money it is only

recently that Twitter has paid adverts and trading and the same for

Facebook, I am not using it as an excuse but also at the time before

the crash, we were getting something like ?40 billion of revenue from

financial services, when the crash happened, that crashed as well.

Then, of course, looking around at what else was happening in the terms

of the tax take became more important. The fact is we have had

ten years and at the end of the ten years the question that people are

asking themselves is: Is this deal worth it? The commentators, the

public are right to question the amount of money that they are

paying. I don't think it is enough at all.

Michael is right is adds to the populist uprising against big

business and the main parties. You could take the view that the last

Labour government, the coalition government, this government have not

been up to the task of ensuring that Google, Apple, Amazon, even Vodafone

have paid their share? The point is well made and after the crash, they

have now had to go after the other sectors more aggressively. But it is

worth remembering the famous Mandelson quote, he went on to say

as long as they paid their taxes. It has to be those two things for the

populous to feel comfortable. Michael is right to read a bigger

anti-elite message into this. There must be people who feel as I

do, that you feel like a chump if you pay the right amount of tax. You

feel very, very stupid you do that. For most of us, there is no place to

hide. Exactly.

And the Prime Minister of policy reform in Downing Street, he was

interesting this week on the BBC but the lobbying power of the big

companies. Politicians, they, certainly in the early day, they

loved to be associated with Google, Apple it was all modern and

forward-looking and we are paying a price? It is all about being cool.

Moving with the movers and the shakers. This is the future.

Actually, part of the problem with some of that as well, it is a

problem we are dealing with as a country, we were thinking that

globalisation was great. It would work for us, in the last Labour

government we thought that but we forgot that most people in these

communities are not working with these companies. They felt left

behind. They have been left behind. Yes,

they have. 27 meetings with officials with Google, one was given

a tsar job. It is not right. Last year 18 million people did not have

their telephone call answered by. MRC. If they cannot answer the call

to the British public, 18 million but they can spare time for a deal

that nobody thinks is a good deal, there is something wrong.

We are all beating up on the deal but from the left and from the

right, from the position of complete ignorance? We don't know the basis

on which the deal has been made. Tomorrow's economist, way at the

back of the magazine reveals that the ?130 million is on top of ?120

million that has been paid by Google. I have never seen that

anywhere before. So that takes the total to ?250 million. We still

don't know if it is enough, we have know idea of the basis on which HMRC

settled, and what the options are. Maybe it is a good thing for the

European Commission to look at it. Probably so. You are right about the

lack of transparency, Caroline asked this question, rightly at PMQs on

the issue but the idea that Google can say that they don't have anyone

working in the UK, on any activities, they have a bid to build

a huge ?1 billion headquarters in Central London! It will be a pop-up

headquarters! It will not be permanent. Gone the next day. They

have more saleses people working in the UK than Ireland.

And a very good point. The department of industry, basically

exist to have a relationship with big companies and so national

policy-making is completely distorted by the relationship. Some

of these things are to do with tax, some are to do with contracts, where

they are placed, and others to do with foreign policy. The country's

foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia is determined by the relationship of

BAEE, so there are really big issues.

The key issue going forward is whether there are rules now in place

that ensure these global hi-tech companies will now pay a proper rate

of tax? Will pay the same rate of tax that domestically based British

companies pay. I'm not sure that they are.

We've got the diverted profits tax. I think the EU are looking at this

as well, but the headlines of this is what you have traded, this is

your profit and this is what you have paid. That would be helpful.

Particularly multinationals who are trading all over, they should be

forced to say what was their revenue in this country, what was their

profit in this country, and what tax they paid. And it would then be much

easier to pin them down on these ridiculous claims like for example

they should not be taxed on activities they carry out here. One

idea is that HMRC hadn't on challenged them. It is an

interesting case. The European Commission at the moment is looking

into the deal that Apple did with Ireland, it is Holland, Luxembourg

and Belgium who've done all these deals which have stopped us from

getting these tax. They could be up for 8 billion. On the left and right

there wouldn't be complaints about that. We learn that the Prime

Minister may have done a deal to get his four-year of no in-work welfare

payments for migrants who come to this country, except that to use

that as a break he needs to get a majority of the other 27 members of

the EU to implement it for a short period of time. I would suggest that

the Euro-sceptics will be raising a glass of Blue Nun if that's all

these managed to get. He set out with four points. Three of which are

pretty risible because they don't require any agreement really. One of

them is this point about paying benefits to EU migrants. I don't

know whether there's going a be a deal and I don't know who is going

to vote or who isn't. But the point to hold on to is this is a complete

irrelevance. It must be doing him a lot of damage in his credibility of

other leaders. While they are wrestling with something that's

monstrous, huge, the end of the European Union, he is coming up with

this tiny point about paying benefits to EU citizens. We have to

leave it there. Miranda, good to see you, we've missed you.

When spare bedrooms went un-taxed - and victims of domestic violence

and carers of mentally and physically disabled children

weren't pursued through the courts by the Government?

And the Common Market was a beacon of economic growth and prosperity.

Happy days - and that's why we're putting 'how times change' in this

Throughout history young people have questioned the values held by their

parents. A Tory politician from a different era former Thatcher

favourite Cecil Parkinson passed away this week. In 1983 he was

forced to resign from the Cabinet after it was revealed that his

former secretary was carrying his child. Would we expect a married MP

to do the same these days? Times certainly change, a survey this week

claimed kids now spend more time online than watching television. Who

knows what they'll make of the new cinematic reboot of Dad's Army,

which premiered this week. A 1970s sitcom loved by those who remembered

the real Home Guard. Should we blame the parents? Pyjamas in public would

have been unthinkable once upon a time but a Darlington eacher asked

parents to ditch the nightmare. REPORTER: You don't think it sets a

wrong example? I don't think so. TV's Bobby Davro was acceptable in

the 1980s but whether it is policies or entertainment you have to adapt

to survive. What exactly do you know about this bargain hunting lark?

Absolutely nothing. This week, proof that telly was always better in the

good old days. And we are joined by Bobby Davro. We are going to talk

about changing times. But let's get on to the seminal debate this week

which puts everything n to the seminal debate this week which puts

everything else into a corner - should you wear pyjamas on the

school run or in public? A Darlington head teacher wrote to

parents to say we don't like you to do that. Pyjamas fine but my giraffe

onesie I don't think is visible. I took my youngest child to school

today and I wore my dressing gown over my jeans. Why? I didn't get out

of the car. She's so embarrassed by me I have to park around the corner.

I I don't think anything of it. I think you should get dressed when

taking your kids to school. Does it matter if you don't get out of the

car? Yes it matters. The child knows. A tyre might burst. I was

stopped in my dressing gown by armed police once. You made your name in

the 1980s. You got massive audiences. Over 10 million viewers.

More than 10 million. Would it be fair to say people don't want stale

of entertainment any more? They should bring back entertainment for

performers of my era, Still Live at the Apollo. Russ Abbot and people

like myself were doing comedy sketch shows and Saturday Night and Friday

Night Live were doing their programmes and we couldn't compete.

I had 8 years of Saturday night social worker at the same time. Did

you try to change with the times, or did you think, I've had my time and

it has moved on to something I don't do? Not at all. I had a platform to

do my stuff. The thing I find frustrating is that I'm still keen

on and ambitious and I'm still contemporary, but unfortunately they

put you in a box and say, you belong in the '80s. Is that because people

think that what you did in the '80s they would now find unacceptable? I

do come di clubs now with a lot of the young comedians and the

youngster Haas come, my children's age group, in their 20s, they have

forgotten what jokes are, because most of the comedy now is

observational. It is quite brave to put money into making a movie of

Dad's Army don't you think? I haven't seen it yet. It is very

brave, because it is such an iconic bunch of characters. I used to do

them back in the '80s. It is great they've given a chance to bring it

out there to the youngsters. You are a big fan of Dad's Army. I love

Dad's Army. It is a brave thing to do, because we have a mind'sy image

of it, a younger generation it means nothing. My children when they had

it back on again, when you've lived a long time some perhaps come back

and you can see Dad's Army on the TV I think today. But it is pretty

brave. I love going to the cinema, so I will see it. From what I've

heard, it has got good reviews and they've got a great cast. They've

got a brilliant cast. They did a documentary recently, the Making of

Dad's Army, and John Sessions played Captain Mainwaring. He was superb.

Interesting to see if it plays abroad. Speaking of changing times,

would Cecil Parkinson, if what happened was repeated today, would

he still have to resign, would his Cabinet career be over? I think it

would actually. What made him resign in the end, it was that Sarah Keys

kept filling the newspapers with extra stuff. It was so

distrancting... And her father got involved. He couldn't do his job any

more, because he spent his entire time responding. That would happen,

the appetite of the media to take the next phase of the story until

the Minister was brought down. It would be the same. Bobby, is it true

that Tony Blair booked you for Cherie's 60th birthday? Yes, a

friend of a friend. The and the great thing is I'm not a political

Impressionist like Rory Bremner. I did John John Major. Basically it

was Jools Holland slowed down. And I found I could do Tony Blair. When I

introduced myself as Tony Blair, he was standing behind Cherie and I

said, now a few words from our sponsor and host Tony Blair. The

they looked to Tony and I said, ladies and gentlemen, it is great to

have you here, we couldn't afford him, so we've got Bobby Davro. And

you are touring the country? I am indeed.

That's your lot for tonight folks - but not for us,

because it's tax-free night at Lou Lou's -

if you fancy tagging along, just Google the address.

But we leave you tonight with Shirley Williams,

who retired today from Parliament, with a valedictory speech.

First elected to the House of Commons in 1964, a member

of the House of Lords since 1993, she even found the time to become

a regular on the This Week sofa over the years.

The Palace of Westminster won't be the same without her.

Nighty-night, don't let Shirl the Girl bite.

Well, I'm retiring partly because I have in front of me my right

honourable and noble friend Lord Steel who may have passed a recent

reform of the House of Lords which enabled someone like me to retire.

It wasn't intended. Well, I have to say at least it had the advantage of

my not having to lose my capacities entirely before I departed from the

House of Lords. Very to say to my fellow politicians, why can't you

get together and propose regardless of party ways in which we can

sustain the NHS over many years? Because it is one of the great

institutions of the world. One that's based on a degree of

commitment to public service, which is quite extraordinary. So in

concluding I hand over to my colleagues here, I hope, careful and

very I think cherishing support for the great public sector institutions

I've spoken about which are part of the weft of this country's wellbeing

and ask them to think very hard before allowing the United Kingdom

to withdraw from its major duty of the world, the one it will encounter

and deliver through the European Union. Hear, hear. .

The Government thought it was the right thing to do.

They're going to make me the Demon of Peckham.