Browse content similar to 14/09/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Wednesday in Parliament, our look at the best | :00:12. | :00:14. | |
of the day in the Commons and the Lords. | :00:15. | :00:16. | |
It is the Labour Party that is clash over grammar schools. | :00:17. | :00:30. | |
It is the Labour Party that is winning, members of the Labour Party | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
who will take the advantages of a good education for themselvds and | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
pull up the ladder behind them. It is not about pulling up ladders it | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
is providing a ladder for every child. | :00:44. | :00:44. | |
Reflections on what the Chilcot Inquiry report had to say | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
A top senior civil servant faces the questions. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
What should the Cabinet Secretary do under those circumstances? H do not | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
like hypothetical discussions. It is not, it happened. | :01:00. | :01:00. | |
And just how should the Govdrnment proceed with Brexit? | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
There's no shortage of advice for an EU exiting minister | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
Does he not think a sensibld way to deal with something quite so | :01:06. | :01:16. | |
significant and important to the British economy is to analyse the | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
problem first before coming to a conclusion? | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
the Prime Minister has been put under pressure over the govdrnment's | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
controversial plans to create a new generation of state grammar | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
schools in England as a way of improving youngsters' | :01:29. | :01:30. | |
In strong exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions, | :01:31. | :01:32. | |
the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Theresa May of prodtcing | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
a plan for "segregation for the few" and "second-class education | :01:36. | :01:37. | |
The Prime Minister reminded Jeremy Corbyn, who's spent | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
the summer fighting to retahn the Labour leadership, | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
that he had benefited from a grammar school education | :01:48. | :01:49. | |
First, the Labour leader sahd Theresa May's plans had brotght | :01:50. | :01:51. | |
She has brought about the utility of Ofsted and the teaching unions, she | :01:52. | :02:06. | |
has united former Education Secretary is on both sides of the | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
house and truly brought abott a new era of unity in education thinking. | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
I wonder if it is possible for her this morning within the quidt | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
confines of this House to n`me any educational experts who backed her | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
proposals on new grammar schools and more selection. I want to sde more | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
good school places, a diversity of provision of education so that we | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
seek opportunity for all and young people going as far as talents | :02:38. | :02:55. | |
will take them. The evidencd of the effects of selection is this, in | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
Kent, that has a grammar school system, 27% of pupils on frde school | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
meals get five good GCSEs. Why does the Prime Minister want to dxpand a | :03:02. | :03:03. | |
system that can only let chhldren down? Can I say that he needs to | :03:04. | :03:12. | |
stop casting his mind back to the nineteen fifties? | :03:13. | :03:24. | |
What we will be doing is ensuring we are able to provide good school | :03:25. | :03:36. | |
places for the one and a qu`rter million children who are in schools | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
that are failing, inadequatd, or need improvement. The right | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
honourable gentleman believds in equality of outcome, I belidve in | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
equality of opportunity. He believes in levelling down, we believe in | :03:53. | :04:06. | |
levelling up. Mr Speaker, epuality of opportunity is not segregating | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
children at the age of 11. The Secretary of State for Educ`tion | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
suggested on Monday that new grammar schools may be required to set up | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
feeder primary schools in poorer areas. Will children in these feeder | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
primaries get automatic places in the grammar school, or will they be | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
subject to selection? What we are doing is setting up a diverse system | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
that provides more opportunhties. And what the right honourable | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
gentleman appears to be defdnding is the situation we have where there is | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
selection in our system, but it is selection by house price. I think we | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
want to ensure children havd the ability to go where their t`lents | :04:58. | :05:06. | |
take them. Can I remind the right honourable gentleman, gentlx remind, | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
he went to a grammar school. I went to a grammar school. It is what got | :05:12. | :05:20. | |
us where we are today. My shde might be rather happier about that than | :05:21. | :05:30. | |
his. Mr Speaker, the two thhngs the Prime Minister and I have in common | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
is we can both remember the 195 s and we can both remember gohng to a | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
grammar school. My point is this, every child should have the best | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
possible education they can have. We don't need and never should divide | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
children at the age of 11, where the majority end up losing out. I notice | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
she did not answer my questhon about feeder primary schools. On Londay, | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
the Secretary of State for Dducation said, we have not engaged mtch in | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
the reform of grammars, but the government would now stop the | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
process. Can the Prime Minister confirm whether existing gr`mmar | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
schools like those in Kent `nd Buckinghamshire will be good to | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
widen admission policies by her government? He is right that what we | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
are consulting on is the diversity of provision in education. We want | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
to ensure all grammar schools do the job we believe is important, which | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
is providing opportunities for a range of pupils and there are many | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
examples of different ways hn which that is done through selecthve | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
education. The Labour Party has stifled opportunity, stifled | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
ambition in this country... It is the Labour Party that is willing, | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
members of the Labour Party who will take the advantages of a good | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
education for themselves and pull up the ladder behind them for other | :07:06. | :07:14. | |
people. Mr Speaker, I am sorry the Prime Minister was unable to help | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
anyone in Kent or Buckinghalshire in the answer to my question and | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
presumably she will have to return to it, but it is not about pulling | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
up ladders, it is about providing a ladder for every child. Could I | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
quote the Chief Inspector of Schools, who said this, the notion | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
that the poor stand to benefit from the return of grammar schools | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
strikes me as palpable, tosh and nonsense, isn't this the case of a | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
government heading backwards to a failed segregation for the few and | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
second-class schooling for the many? Can't we do better than this? I | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
recognise this may well be the last time he has an opportunity to face | :08:03. | :08:04. | |
me across this despatch box. Certainly, sadly... Certainly if his | :08:05. | :08:18. | |
members of Parliament have `nything to do with it. I act set he and I do | :08:19. | :08:28. | |
not agree on everything. Actually, we probably don't agree on `nything, | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
but I must say to him he has made his mark. Let's think of sole of the | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
things the right honourable gentleman has introduced. Hd wants | :08:37. | :08:46. | |
coal mines without minding them submarines without sailing them and | :08:47. | :08:48. | |
he wants to be Labour leader without leading them. One thing we know | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
whoever is Labour leader after their leadership election, it will be the | :08:56. | :08:57. | |
country that loses. Theresa May being less | :08:58. | :08:59. | |
than complimentary to Jeremx Corbyn. Well, the SNP focused on Brdxit last | :09:00. | :09:01. | |
Wednesday and did so again this time, following | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
the admission at the weekend by Home Secretary Amber Rudd that | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
paying for visas to travel in Europe might become a possibility | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
for UK citizens once Millions of people from across the | :09:12. | :09:26. | |
UK depend on freedom of movdment across the EU for business `nd | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
pleasure and they face the prospect of having to apply and posshbly pay | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
for visas. Is the Prime Minhster in favour of protecting visa free | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
travel, yes or no? There was a clear message from the British people at | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
the time of the referendum vote that they wanted to see an end to free | :09:47. | :09:54. | |
movement as it operated, thdy want to see control of the movemdnt of | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
people from the EU into the UK and that is what we will deliver. | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
Meanwhile, a plea for the government to come up with a document setting | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
out the UK's options for its future relationship | :10:05. | :10:06. | |
with the European single market in the light of Brexit has | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
It came from Lord Hannay, a former ambassador | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
who was a British Government representative in the EEC | :10:13. | :10:14. | |
Last week, the Brexit Secretary David Davis, was reportedly slapped | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
down by Theresa May's advisdrs for saying it was "very improbable" | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
that Britain could stay as ` member of the single market, which allows | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
My Lords, would the noble lord the bidders to be prepared to s`y | :10:29. | :10:41. | |
whether the government will produce an objective, factual assessment | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
pointing out the substantial differences between being in the | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
single market, being outsidd the single market in free trade, but not | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
free trade in services and not having access free of custols | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
controls and regulatory burdens and the third option being the WTO | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
option and paying the common external tariff on exports? Will be | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
get the facts on that somethme soon? All I have to add to the st`tement | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
of the government last week is the next milestone will be the | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
triggering of Article 50. Wd are looking at all options which the | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
noble lord eloquently outlined. Will he acknowledged there is a | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
difference between access to the single market and membership of the | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
single market and will he rdcognise the fact there are many countries | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
that have increased their exports to the single market more than we have | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
and are not members of the single market? If we are to have a | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
situation in which EU law continues to be applied to companies hn this | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
country which are not exporting to the EU, then brags it will not mean | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
Brexit? He makes a number of good points earned his right to draw the | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
distinction between access `nd membership and I would add that we | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
must never forget we are negotiating from a position of economic | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
strength. The noble lord in his earlier replies said that the | :12:16. | :12:22. | |
government were busy analyshng the advantages and disadvantages in | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
relation to the single markdt. Does he think a sensible way to deal with | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
something significant and ilportant to the British economy is to analyse | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
the problem before coming to a conclusion? We are looking `t a | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
British economy sector by sdctor to see the impact of Brexit and | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
sounding views from across the economy, which seems a perfdctly | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
logical way to approach this. Does he accept that membership of the | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
single market, short of EU membership, let alone access to it, | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
Intel is a severe loss of sovereignty, especially if we leave | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
the customs union, what Nick Clegg said was a potential tsunamh of red | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
tape? Weren't the promises of taking back control and slashing | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
bureaucracy if we left a work of fiction? We are assessing these | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
options and I am not in a position to comment further. | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
You're watching our round-up of the day | :13:23. | :13:24. | |
What are the lessons from the Chilcot Inquiry | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
The government has confirmed that Concentrix, the US firm acctsed | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
of incorrectly withdrawing tax credits from hundreds of cl`imants, | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
The Treasury Minister, Jane Ellison, was called | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
to the Commons by Labour to explain what was happening. | :13:42. | :13:54. | |
The firm had been employed by the government to cut tax credit | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
But the Concentrix contract was not going to be renewed. | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
And tricky point. Concentrix warily pay for making the right decisions. | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
They would not receive monex for taking someone's money away wrongly. | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
And secondly, ton-macro werd not allowed to engage in fishing | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
expeditions to pick on people at random. But where there was evidence | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
to suggest a claim may not be correct, they wrote to people to see | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
further information to confhrm their eligibility. | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
The contract was not going to be renewed. | :14:28. | :14:29. | |
With a high volume of calls in recent weeks, Concentrix have not | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
been providing the high levdls of customer service that the ptblic | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
expect and which are requirdd in their contract. HMRC has thdrefore | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
given note is that this contract will not be renewed beyond ht and | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
date in May 20 17. HMRC is `lso no longer passing new to Concentrix, | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
but is instead working with them as a matter of emergency to improve the | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
service they provide to clahmants and resolve outstanding casds. I can | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
confirm to the house that 140 HMRC staff have been redeployed with | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
immediate effect to help thdm resolve any issues people are having | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
with their claims as quicklx as possible. | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
How many honourable members across the house had been contacted, as she | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
has, by distress and action was considering often hard-workhng who | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
have had their tax credits cut unfairly, pushing them in m`ny cases | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
into extreme hardship. Will the government now commit to an official | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
investigation into Concentrhx's conduct since it was awarded the | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
contract in 2014, so that wd can determine how this situation was | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
allowed to arise? This is a very congregated system | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
that this government and indeed the previous government, inherited. It | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
is the case that long-term, the right answer is to replace tax | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
credits, as is our intention, because it is an unnecessarhly | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
complex system that we were bequeathed. But we must makd it work | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
while it is in operation, and that is now the focus of our acthvities. | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
With regard to the contract and the decision HMRC have taken, I want to | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
reassure the house monitoring has been taking place on a regular basis | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
throughout the contract, and indeed, HMRC have worked closely with | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
Concentrix, but it is the c`se, as is documented in recent weeks, | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
performance has not been right, and that clearly has been something that | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
we have noted and which we `re now taking action on. | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
I have got cases of women who have had their tax credits stoppdd | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
because they have been told that they are living with a man of whom | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
they have never heard, or indeed, the tenant of the property prior to | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
them having occupied it. Thdy have had their benefits withdrawn. What | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
we need to know is how quickly these cases can be reviewed. | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
We're putting significant additional resources, with immediate effect, | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
onto those helplines to makd sure we can resolve that, and I am | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
reassured, and I will obviotsly be talking to HMRC consistentlx on this | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
fact, as soon as we can resolve the fact of a case, we can get loney | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
into people's accounts in a matter of a short number of days. | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
Stuart Jose. I'm delighted that the Concdntix | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
contract is not to be renewdd. That will come as some comforts, at | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
least, to those who have bedn affected then by their activity | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
This contract was designed to save ?1 billion in fraud and overpayment. | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
Minister tells us 300 billion has been saved. How much of the | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
so-called savings work as a result of false accusations by Concentrix | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
against tax credit recipients? And if there were somewhere between 120 | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
and perhaps many thousands of people affected, why was this contract not | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
cancelled sooner? Is it not, surely, with this fiasco | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
around this particular contract time for a full review of | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
outsourcing to private comp`nies in the welfare system? And acttally, | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
looking at both whether it hs appropriate at all, or if it is | :18:02. | :18:04. | |
going to continue to be dond, what better provision is done by civil | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
servants to oversee these contracts to ensure this sort of thing never | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
happens again? Well, again, I would urge mdmbers to | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
keep a degree of perspectivd. There are lots of contracts that deliver | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
what we want, and indeed, it is worth noting again, this contract | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
delivered more than ?280 million in savings for the taxpayer. | :18:30. | :18:30. | |
The Education Secretary has said she won't press ahead with plans | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
to scrap the role of parent governors in schools in England | :18:34. | :18:35. | |
Justine Greening told the Education Committee that parent | :18:36. | :18:37. | |
governors played a vital role in school improvement. | :18:38. | :18:39. | |
She said the key aim of her policies was to improve social mobilhty. | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
But that prompted more questions about the controversial plans | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
What is your vision about the purpose of education? What do you | :18:50. | :19:05. | |
think it is? Our Prime Minister has talkdd about | :19:06. | :19:07. | |
making sure that Britain is a country where everyone can be | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
successful, no matter where they starts. And education is cldarly at | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
the heart of how we're going to ensure that happens. I don't believe | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
that anybody starting --'s starting point in life should define where | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
they finish. I didn't accept that for myself, I don't think wd should | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
accept it for anyone else. The key question I want to get | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
straight to is how and why xou think grammar schools will improvd social | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
mobility, when there is a stfficient lack of evidence, and also, the | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
evidence suggests the opposhte in areas such as Kent. | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
For the children in grammar schools, particularly children on frde school | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
meals, their progress comes on in leaps and bounds, and actually, the | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
grammar schools are closing the attainment gap that we have between | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
disadvantaged children, who are on free school meals, and other | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
children, and doing a great job of doing that. So they absolutdly have | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
something to offer, and helping is make sure that children don't get | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
left behind, but if they have been left behind, catch up. I thhnk the | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
real prize is making sure that they do that, but at the same tile, play | :20:16. | :20:23. | |
a role bettering other schools around them as well. | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
That is the real prize. But do you accept that is based on a concept | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
and an idea that there is no evidence to suggest, or to prove, | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
that grammar schools do havd the power to pull up other schools? And | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
what about the stigma and disincentive it causes to those who | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
do not get into the grammar school? Do you worry about that in terms of | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
social mobility? I think there is evidence, `nd a lot | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
of good work of grammar is `lready in working closely with othdr | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
schools. What we want to sed, though, is that become the norm and | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
we want to drive it further, faster, and we want grammars to do lore but | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
we think that there is a successful approach their that we really need | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
to look at. And so we want to get on with it. When Michael Gove would | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
have sat here and talk about what he wanted to do in terms of ac`demies | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
and how much more broadly hd wanted to do that, or indeed, Lord Dennis, | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
those are important steps forward, but I think they are based on a | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
clear sense of how our policies are based on a clear sense of how | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
grammars are doing. 99% of the maggot or outstanding, -- 98% of | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
them are good or outstanding. But we need to make sure all to have access | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
to a good or outstanding school place. | :21:42. | :21:42. | |
The inquiry by Sir John Chilcot and his team into the 2003 hnvasion | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
of Iraq and the aftermath was, to say the least, | :21:46. | :21:47. | |
The Chilcot report ran to 12 volumes and some 2.5 million words. | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
It took a long time coming, but when it was finally | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
published, its conclusion were strong. | :21:56. | :21:57. | |
Chilcot concluded there had been a rush to war without peaceful | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
options looked at and that there had been too little planning | :22:02. | :22:03. | |
A Commons committee is now inquiring into the inquiry. | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
Facing the questions was thd head of the civil service. | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
First, did Chilcot have to take quite so long? | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
I mean, a lot of people think that the breadth of the terms of | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
reference, the fact that thdre was no budget, there was no suggested | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
end date, made it as open-ended as possible, so that the grass should | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
be as long as possible that all these issues were going to be kicked | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
into. And this has not been an exercise that really has improved | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
accountability. All the people that were involved have left polhtics. | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
I think that is a travesty. I think it is a very authoritative `nd brand | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
is a piece of work, there h`s been found to be my most observers. -, | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
Branson. Heitinga characterhsation of the way in which the terls of | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
reference were set out in order to kick this into the long grass is | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
completely wrong. I don't think that's true in the slightest. I | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
think the expectation was that it would not be more than a ye`r or so | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
before it concluded. That w`s the intention. And while I agred with | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
your conclusion that it would have been desirable to have got darlier | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
conclusions, if you like, I don t think you can attribute that to | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
anyone's bad faith. I think the enquiry team work incrediblx hard | :23:29. | :23:30. | |
and produced an outstanding afford. So on to the criticisms | :23:31. | :23:32. | |
in the Chilcot report about a haste within Downing Street to go | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
to war in Iraq. I think a lot of this is not so much | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
a binary question, have you got the right meetings all the right people | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
on the meetings. It is how those meetings operate in practicd, which | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
is a much more subjective and difficult to analyse issue. But it | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
is by far and away the most important thing, in my view, about | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
the whole Chilcott enquiry, is, do you have a culture in which senior | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
officials and ministers meeting around external experts feel that it | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
is possible to offer an altdrnative view to the prevailing wisdom, so as | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
to avoid groupthink. A lot of what went wrong in Iraq is, a genuinely | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
held view about what the intelligence mental what we`pons of | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
mass destruction were there, and which turned out to be wrong. But in | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
the many, many meetings, whdther there were ministers or not, many | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
meetings took place... Yes, but when the Prime Minhster | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
sent another letter to the President of the United States, using those | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
now very famous words, "I whll be with you whatever," he was `dvised | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
by officials that this position should be shared with other Cabinet | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
colleagues before he sent the letter, and he refused to do so | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
What should the Cabinet Secretary do under the circumstances? | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
I don't really like getting involved in hypothetical the sessions. | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
It's not hypothetical! It h`ppened! You are asking me what I wotld do | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
now. What with the Cabinet Secretary do under such circumstances? I think | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
in that situation, the Cabinet Secretary should seek a one,on-one | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
meeting with the Prime Minister to speak to them directly and say to | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
them they really must share this collectively. It is going to become | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
government policy. That is the way the Cabinet works. | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
But officials did that and ht didn't happen. | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
It carried on. I I don't know whether they did they didn't. | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
He was behaving like a preshdent instead of a Prime Minister. | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
I certainly agree with you, but private members to the Primd | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
Minister to the president of the letters they should meet collective | :25:41. | :25:41. | |
approval and would be today. Until then, from me, | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
Keith Macdougall, goodbye. | :25:47. | :25:53. |