World Television and Business News

White House Communications Director Anita Dunn Quits

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:03:30 +0000

Interim White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn is to step down from her post at the end of this month and return to the Squier Knapp Dunn consulting firm where she is a partner. Dunn has hit the headlines in recent weeks as the battle between the White House and Fox News developed, with Dunn calling the news network "a wing of the Republican Party" on CNN's Reliable Sources. Dan Pfeiffer, the Deputy Communications Director will take over from Dunn when she leaves according to White House sources.

Dunn is a longtime Democratic media consultant and will retain the role as a consultant to the White House on communications and strategic matters. The move has not come as a suprise, as Dunn's role was only seen to be temporary following the shock departure of former Communications Director, Ellen Moran. The handover from Dunn to Pfeiffer is expected to be seamless with the pair both spending many years working together both with the current Obama administration, but also in the political sphere of Senator Ton Daschle and Sen Tim Johnson.

It is expected that relations between the White House and Fox News could be at least partially restored with with departure of Dunn from the White House.

Boris Johnson Hailed 'Knight on a Bike'

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:19:08 +0000

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has been hailed as a 'Knight on a shining bike' by a documentary film maker, after he intervened as the woman was being intimidated by a group of young girls in 'hoodies'. According to climate change activist, Franny Armstrong, she was texting on her phone whilst walking home in Camden, North London, when all of a sudden a group of hooded young girls surrounded her with one wielding an iron pole. Ms Armstrong was pushed up against a car by the group when she called out to a passing cylcist for help, who happened to be the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Johnson, a keen cyclist and staunch advocate of cycling in and around London, chased the girls off calling them 'oiks' in the process, and then insisted on escorting Ms Armstrong to her home. Ms Armstrong told Sky News; "If you find yourself down a dark alleyway and in trouble I think Boris would be of more use than Ken."

A very strange situation and odd story indeed, but kudos to the Mayor of London for taking action when crimes of this sort appear to be seriously on the up in towns and cities across the United Kingdom.

Rough Justice for MP's on Expenses

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:49:23 +0000

It is fully expected that Sir Christopher Kelly is to propose wide ranging reforms to MP's expenses when he delivers his review into the matter next week. He is expected to recommend that amongst other things, that MP's will no longer be able to clame for mortgage interest on second homes. To make matters worse for parliamentarians, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life is also widely anticipated to recommend that there be a big reduction in the number of MP's who can claim for any form of second home allowance at all.

As it stands, only MP's that represent central London constituencies are barred from claiming the generous allowance, but it is expected that all those MP's representing constituencies within a 'reasonable commuting distance' of Westminster will also now be barred. The figure being mooted is that a commuting time of around an hour would be phased in, and if that is the case, it will affect a large number of MP's that are currently doing very well for themselves with a second, most likely very expensive, London home.

Another big change that is thought to be recommended by Sir Christopher, is a ban on MP's employing members of their family to run their constituency offices and to perform other tasks that are currently paid for out of public money. A large number of MP's currently employ members of their family to perform back office administration tasks and are generally paid rather handsomely for it. One MP who publicly acknowledges that she employ's her husband to run her constituency office is Caroline Flint, former Minister of State for Europe before resigning in protest of Gordon Brown's leadership. Under the new regulations, she would no longer be able to do so.

Speaking to Sky News, the former chairman of the standards committee, Sir Alistair Graham, said:

"At first glance this seems a sensible set of proposals. I sincerely hope MPs will accept them. It will be very damaging to our political system if they don't. They have to be taken as a package... if members try to cherry pick the proposals in some way it wouldn't be good for our democracy."

Sky's Political correspondent, Joey Jones said; "Clearly, this will create grave disquiet among MPs who will see their whole way of living thrown up into the air and be looking at very different family circumstances."

Second Postal Strike Likely to go Ahead

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:58:51 +0000

A second postal strike is looking increasingly likely to go ahead as talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers' Union stall. The TUC have been holding crisis talks in a bid to avert a three day stoppage, due to start on Thursday, in which as many as 120,000 postal workers are likely to down tools.

The already bitter dispute looks set to turn even more sour as the CWU reportedly is considering seeking a High Court injunction to prevent Royal Many from using upto 30,000 temporary staff to cover for striking staff. The Royal Mail argues that it normally employs that number of temporary staff at this time of year to cope with the surge of christmas mail traffic, an argument that the union disputes.

The TUC had hoped to find a compromise in the stalemate, but in 48 hours of talks, have so far been unsuccessful. Deputy General of the TUC, Dave Ward has been part of the negotiations and said that the dispute was about workers' terms and conditions and about jobs. He also raised the subject of the Royal Mail's pension deficit which stands at an estimated £10bn, adding that the situation needs to be resolved urgently with Government intervention.

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BNP On Question Time - Sky News' Jon Craig's Reaction

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:41:42 +0000

The biggest political story of the week should have been the Royal Mail crisis and the ongoing postal strikes. It instead centered around the far right British National Party, and its leader Nick Griffin. He appeared on the BBC's political debate programme Question Time last night, to much debate and discussion in the press and in public.

Sky News' Jon Craig is another in a long line of political correspondents and pundits to weigh in on Griffin's appearance on the programme, but none of the 'big-hitting' journalists have yet lent their opinion one way or the other, instead deciding to sit on the fence. A case of who dares go first it seems.

Craig, in his reaction decided to go down the route of commenting on how the other panelists performed in the hour-long debate, which seemed, although inevitably, one-sided. He wrote;

Jack Straw got off to a sticky start, coughing at the beginning of his first answer, on Churchill. Then his answer was long, slow and ponderous, but he got better as the programme went on.

As Jack Straw remarked later, Griffin spent a large part of the programme moaning about newspaper coverage. He'd be a "monster" if he'd said everything attributed to him, he said.

Baroness Warsi, despite wearing the biggest poppy on the panel, was a bit lightweight, I thought. Where were the Tory big hitters? She did warm up eventually, though, and I liked the moment when she revealed Griffin shared a platform with Abu Hamza, whom she described as "some nutter from the East End".

Chris Huhne did well, accusig Griffin of "peddling hatred and fear" and mocking him: "Yes Adolf went a bit too far."

But I thought Bonnie Greer didn't look happy at all during the programme. Sitting next to Griffin, she obviously couldn't bear to look at him and avoided all eye contact by staring straight out at the audience. Their clash on the Ku Lux Klan was priceless. Full marks to Bonnie.

Finally, a word of praise to David Dimbleby for the way he chaired the debate. I've been thinking for a while that it was about time his employers pensioned him off.

Pensioned off the political bruiser that is Dimbleby? Never, there is an election only months away don't you know!

Read Jon Craig's blog in full here.

BNP On Question Time - BBC's Nick Robinson's Reaction

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:22:35 +0000

Last night, the BBC's political debate programme, Question Time, aired following a week of discussion up and down the UK as to whether the BBC were right or wrong to let the far right leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, take part. Leading upto the broadcast was the BBC's 10 O'Clock news, in which Nick Robinson, the BBC's Political Editor appeared live from outside the houses of parliament in Westminster. He said that the appearance of Nick Griffin will either lend support to the party or pull it away, instead exposing them for what they really are.

This morning, on his blog, Robinson has taken a look at that very question. He writes;

Exposure can work both ways. For much of the programme, Nick Griffin did not speak to the British people. He talked instead about himself and struggled to explain his past views and actions.

He was not a Holocaust denier, he insisted - but could not say why he had compared those who believed that Hitler killed millions of Jews with those who believed that the Earth was flat.

On the other hand, he could and did say that the "indigenous people of Britain" - by which he insisted he did not mean whites - were themselves victims of genocide. Surprisingly few of them appear to have noticed.

The Ku Klux Klan were not all bad, he went on, but Islam mostly was. And so on and so on.

That is not to say that Nick Griffin did not take the opportunity to make a direct appeal to voters. He presented himself as the moderniser of the far right - the creator of "New BNP". The old BNP had, he conceded, been racist. He had talked of wanting to create an all-white Britain. But now he and his party merely wanted to shut the door to newcomers and were happy to let everyone else stay.

Will that convince many? Probably not, but it may giver cover to those who are fed up that their views and concerns have been ignored. There may well be people who feel that Nick Griffins views are too eccentric or too dangerous to make him a candidate for high office but who, nevertheless, feel that voting for him is a means to give the rest of the political class a mighty big kick.

That, in the end, will be the key to whether the BNP continues to rise or begins to fall.

So, Nick Robinson, whilst passing comment on last nights proceedings, seems to be staying very much on the fence as to how the BNP will do in public opinion following the programme. With an election looming early next year, we should know before very long exactly how well they really did do.

Read Nick Robinson's blog in full here.

BNP on Question Time - The Show Will Go On

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:12:59 +0000

The British National Party's controversial invitation to appear on the BBC's political debate programme, Question Time, has stirred up debate in the UK. Regardless of the opposition by many to the appearance of the party leader, Nick Griffin, the show will go ahead as planned even as debate off the air continues to rage. The BBC's director general, Mark Thompson wrote a column in the Guardian newspaper attempting to explain the BBC's thinking behind allowing Griffin to appear on the programme, saying;

Question Time is an opportunity for the British public to put questions to politicians of every ideological hue. Politicians from the UK's biggest parties appear most frequently, but from time to time representatives of parties with many fewer supporters – from the Scottish Socialists and Respect to the Green party – also take their seats on the stage. Question Time is the most prominent programme of its kind on British television, and we carefully study the support gained in elections by each of the parties, large and small, before deciding who to invite and how frequently they should appear.

It is a straightforward matter of fact that, with some 6% of the vote and the election of two MEPs in this spring's European elections – and with some success in local elections as well – the BNP has demonstrated a level of support that would normally lead to an occasional invitation to join the panel on Question Time. It is for that reason – not for some misguided desire to be controversial, but for that reason alone – that the invitation has been extended.

For the BBC to say to the BNP (or indeed to any political party), "Yes, you've met the objective criteria for appearing on Question Time, but we have decided that in your case it would be more appropriate if you didn't, but instead appeared on Newsnight or Panorama," would be for us to deny them parity with other parties, presumably on the basis of our own, or somebody else's, qualitative political judgment about the BNP.

Earlier in the week, Wesh Secretary Peter Hain wrote to the BBC Trust, the governing body of the british broadcaster, complaining about Griffin's appearance on the programme. He wasn't the only one to voice his dismay either. Mr Hain said that the BBC had "made one of the biggest mistakes in its proud history". The Trust convened an emergency meeting to consider the compaints put forward to it after BBC management rejected them. Following the meeting, led by former Newsnight editor Richard Tait, the Trust issued a statement. It said;

"We have concluded that the decision as to whether it is appropriate in all the circumstances for the BBC to allow the BNP to participate on Question Time is a question of editorial judgment, which the charter and framework agreement reserve for the director general.

In circumstances where the programme is pre-recorded and edited before transmission it is premature and hypothetical to rule on these criticisms in advance of broadcast. We have written to the director general asking him to engage personally to ensure that the broadcast programme complies with the general law, the BBC's editorial guidelines and all other regulatory requirements."

The statement said the committee was "aware of the debate and public controversy on this issue and that this is a matter of considerable importance to many licence fee payers. Given the trust may be asked in future to determine appeals arising out of the broadcast of this edition of Question Time it would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment."

Meanwhile, Nick Griffin sent a message to his supporters telling them to prepare for a move into the political 'big time' as he prepares to appear before his biggest audience yet, and expected 4 or 5 million viewers. Declaring that his appearance on the programme is "history in the making", he also said;

"Never before have we had the chance to present our patriotic, commonsense solutions to Britain's nightmare situation to the public at large in such a prominent fashion. I will take on the corrupt, treacherous swine destroying our beautiful island nation."

He also claimed that the show would be "a stage-managed farce" and accused the programmes producers of ochastrating 'organised hostility from the audience and panellists intended to suggest that BNP views have minority status.' He said on the matter; "I will, no doubt, be interrupted, shouted down, slandered, put on the spot, and subject to a scrutiny that would be a thousand times more intense than anything directed at other panellists. It will, in other words, be political bloodsport."

Commenting on if he is asked about his comments this week about British military chiefs and their roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said; "One person who should be in the dock alongside Tony Blair is Rupert Murdoch, who, with the Sun and the Times, was the principal cheerleader for the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He was the chief propagandist. Murdoch is to Blair what Julius Streicher was to Adolf Hitler."

On his fellow panalists, he told the Guardian newspaper;

Bonnie Greer, American playwright and critic: "The joker in the pack; knows how to look after herself and may be more of a handful than the others."

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman: "Big hitter. Menzies Campbell would have been more daunting."

Jack Straw, justice secretary: "A very effective advocate."

Sayeeda Warsi, Tory community cohesion spokesman: "Token Asian, Muslim woman on the Conservative team. They were always likely to play a stunt like that."

The Guardian's Mark Lawson has taken a look at the difficulties facing the producers of Question Time, the panelists and the presenter, David Dimbleby, commenting that he has the hardest task;

David Dimbleby has the hardest task tonight. Clearly, the BBC rules which demand impartiality towards all political parties need to be tacitly abandoned: for Griffin to be treated as if he were no more contentious than a Lib Dem spokesperson would be a huge propaganda victory for him. Dimbleby will also need to perfect facial and vocal distancing techniques.

The programme will no doubt be thought provoking and controversial. The kind of television that is must-see.

Future of Teesside's Corus in own hands says boss

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:30:46 +0000

BBC Inside Out takes presenter Chris Jackson to India where he visits the headquarters of Tata Steel – the parent company of steelmaker Corus – where he is told that the Teesside operation must reduce costs and become more competitive in order to survive.

Chris begins his journey in Teesside's Redcar with Corus workers Paul and Billy, who have worked for the company since the mid-Eighties.

They say that ever since they began work at the plant it has been under constant threat of closure. But, in May this year, came their biggest shock – the company's main customer reneged on a 10-year contract. This has left the workforce looking down the barrel of mass redundancies, or even closure by Christmas.

The next leg of the journey takes Chris on a 5,000 mile trip to Jamshedpur in India, to find out what Corus' owners plan to do about the problems in Teesside. He discovers that not only is Jamshedpur the location of the Tata Steel operation but it is a town owned by the company and populated by its workers.

Here, workers and their families enjoy an above-average standard of living and have access to free hospital care, education, extensive sporting facilities, including golf courses, and consider themselves, and subsequent generations, to have a job for life. In fact, when workers are made redundant, Tata carries on paying their wages for life. It's no wonder that one man Chris speaks to calls Tata bosses "gods".

Tata's paternalistic leanings stem from a belief that industry is for the good of society and should therefore serve the needs of society – it believes the best way this can be done is by taking care of the community.

Of course, that used to happen in Teesside where thousands of families were housed and looked after by their employers – but many of these communities are now long gone.

Chris discovers that, despite a world recession, Tata business is booming – so much so that it has massive expansion plans in India and in Vietnam.

So why is Corus suffering so badly? Chris discovers that many industry experts believe that Tata paid way over the odds for the Corus takeover and therefore won't invest in Corus until it has reduced its debt.

When asked whether he feels the same sense of responsibility for the Teesside workers, Tata's Head of Worldwide Operations, Mr B Muthuraman, says that Tata has a great commitment to people but that business must ensure that it is competitive.

He says the only and best way to prevent unemployment is to reduce costs. He also believes that the Teesside operation should be doing more to make this happen and that its future is in its own hands.

Back in Teesside, Corus worker Paul says: "This is Tata stepping in [in India] saying we'll look after you people that are gonna work for us, build villages for you, have accommodation for you, pay your bills for you and there's a job there for your son and your son's sons. They're doing nothing here."

Corus now only has enough orders to take it through to the end of this year. Whatever happens, unlike the Indian workers, this generation of steel workers is worried that it's the last.

Inside Out is available to UK residents on the BBC's iPlayer for the duration of this week.

BBC documentary lifts lid on Lincolnshire weapons facility

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:18:57 +0000

BBC Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire has lifted the lid on a secretive Lincolnshire facility that's been storing tens of thousands of weapons that have been at the centre of concerns from human rights groups and MPs. The former RAF base at Faldingworth near Market Rasen was once the home for Britain's nuclear weapons – but in recent years it's been the subject of complaints from residents about noise and nuisance following a series of planned explosions at the base. Monday's programme revealed that there's been more happening at the base than local residents have been told.

Amnesty International has told the programme that in July 2005 the base took delivery of a cargo of more than 70,000 Kalashnikovs from Bosnia – weapons that were due to be moved on to arm security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But one investigator who worked for Amnesty has said that the weapons that came into the UK were never counted. The investigator, who has asked to remain anonymous, tells the programme:

"Over the course of an 18-month investigation, we compiled literally thousands of documents to prove that more than 78,000 Kalashnikovs were imported into the United Kingdom and that when these weapons were brought in by ship nobody counted the weapons to check how many were really brought into the country. This was an unusual shipment."

The paperwork shows the weapons were brought into the UK for a Nottingham-based company – Procurement Management Services – but the deal was facilitated by a Yorkshire gun dealer, Gary Hyde, who's a director of York Guns Ltd, of Dunnington near York. Mr Hyde has denied being involved in the deal – but has admitted it was done with the full permission of the British authorities.

However, a committee of MPs has spent the last three years trying to get to the bottom of what happened to the Kalashnikov shipment from Bosnia.

One member of the committee, Leeds West MP John Battle, says: "I'm not sure I know, or our committee knows, where they've gone at all... not had any reports back about what's happened to material that's come out of that conflict. Is there a bonfire somewhere in Britain? Because I've not seen one. Or are they shared round and re-exported? I think it's that end of the deal that I think is still shrouded in mystery, frankly, and dangerous mystery."

A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told Inside Out that the UK's import and export controls are both rigorous and strong.

The Faldingworth site is run by a company called Skydock. Its owner Richard Briggs has told the BBC that the facility is fully licensed and is involved in the transhipment of weapons. He refused to reveal details of specific clients who use the base.

Amnesty International's Oliver Sprague says: "The best way of describing it is that it's a complete mess. There was not the proper government oversight into the process at any stage – from importation to verification.

"There's countless anecdotal evidence that guns are being handed out to people that haven't been properly trained, haven't checked who they are and it's been a bit of a free for all.

"Those weapons may have ended up in the hands of the insurgency because there haven't been proper procedures in place to ensure that they're given out to the right people."

Inside Out also uncovers serious concerns about the Faldingworth base's safety status. Due to the amount of explosives stored there, the base is a top-tier COMAH site (Control of Major Accidents and Hazards). The base has to produce its own safety report – and the programme has learnt that the Health and Safety Executive have asked for it to be rewritten.

One independent health and safety expert – Dr Ivan Vince – said the Faldingworth report ranked amongst the worst he'd seen.

The owner of Skydock admitted that he'd been asked to revise his report – but said the changes weren't serious in nature. He told the BBC there had been no notifiable incidents at the base in the last 10 years.

Meanwhile, residents living close to the base have expressed their anxiety. One, Kevin Washington, said: "I don't really want this on my doorstep and I think anyone else who lives in rural Lincolnshire and knew what was going on wouldn't want it on their doorstep either."

The programme is available to UK residents via the BBC's iPlayer for the duration of this week.

BBC Could Face Legal Action Over BNP Appearance

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:22:04 +0000

The BBC has been warned that it could face legal action if it allows the British National Party leader, Nick Griffin, to appear on its Question Time programme this week. The Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain has written to the corporation expressing is opposition to the BNP appearing on the programme, which is due to take place on 22nd October, and include appearances by the Justice Secretary Jack Straw and a Tory and Liberal Democrat panellist.

Mr Hain wrote to the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson directly, stating that the BNP is "an unlawful body" following a court ruling on its restrictive membership policies. The BNP was found to be in breach of the Race Relations Act by only allowing "indigenous Caucasian" people to become members. The party have agreed to review their membership criteria in light of the ruling.

In his letter, Hain wrote;

"Now that the BNP have accepted they are at present an unlawful body, it would be perverse of you to maintain that they are just like any other democratically-elected party. On their own admission, at present, they are not.

If you do not review the decision you may run the very serious risk of legal challenge in addition to the moral objections that I make.

In my view, your approach is unreasonable, irrational and unlawful.

In the meantime, surely you have no choice but to rescind the invitation and await the court's final decision on the matter?

You are giving the BNP a legitimacy even they dare not claim in their current unlawful status."

The BBC responded by saying it is "Our understanding is that, if there was an election tomorrow, the BNP would be able to stand. Our audiences, and the electorate, will make up their own minds about the different policies offered by elected politicians."

Question Time is due to air on Thursday night at 22:35 BST.

Fully Nationalise the Royal Mail

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:59:45 +0000

A winter of discontent from postal workers is threatening the very future of the Royal Mail. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Mail is essentially quasi-privatised, being a private company which the government owns a controlling share. On that basis, the Royal Mail has a board of directors, known widely in the press as 'the management'. As a result of restructuring, and cost cutting in an effort to attract private investment and ultimately a profit, the trade union has called strike action for next week which will cripple the postal system in the UK.

The Royal Mail should simply be nationalised 100%. There are quite a few reasons behind this. The advent of private companies being allowed to handle mail for commercial customers has cut to the core the most profitable part of the postal service. On the flipside of this, the Royal Mail is still constitutionally required to deliver this mail to the door. So regardless of whether you use UK Mail, TNT, or any of the other companies available, it will be a Royal Mail delivery person who drops the letters or parcels to their recipient.

A lot of correspondence is also now being sent electronically. Bills are paperless and viewed on the internet. Bank statements are paperless and viewed on the internet. Countless other standard documents are being produced digitally on the internet. Email is also resulting in a lot of traditional post vanishing from the bags of our mailmen and women.

So as a result of all of that, no reforms of the company are going to turn around its fortunes. The Royal Mail will be a loss making organisation with no hope of making a profit, and should be operated as such. The military and the NHS are loss making organisations, to put the argument in to context. The Royal Mail should become an arm of the government, just like the military and the NHS, and thus also have a minister responsible for it. That way, jobs will be retained, there will be no pressure to make money, and ultimately, no management pockets to line with dosh.

A postal system is, even in this day and age of electronic communication, still vitally important to the economy, and the country as a whole. It should be safeguarded and operated as a vital service, not as a profit making company.

Inside Out East Midlands: Des Coleman meets the BNP

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:41:51 +0000

BBC East Midlands Today's Des Coleman sets out to question the British National Party's membership rules and policies for the new series of BBC Inside Out, which aired on BBC One in the East Midlands at 7.30pm, but also available nationally on BBC's iPlayer.

This week, the BNP is being taken to court by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The EHRC claims that the party breaches the Race Relations Act because it only allows white Britons, or "indigenous Caucasians", to become members. Des goes on the trail of the BNP candidates in the East Midlands to find out why he's barred from membership. He also wants to question the party's policies on the voluntary repatriation "of immigrants and their descendants".

Des says: "I came into it with a truly open mind. I didn't want to judge them from things I'd heard about them. I felt the BNP is something that needs to be addressed. What are they really about? I wanted to try and get inside their heads to find out what makes them tick."

"At some stages of the filming I found myself getting angry at what they were saying. I wanted to plead with them and say 'look it’s not as simple as you're making out'. It's not just about colour. You can't blame this country's problems on immigrants. It's not as simple as that."

He continues: "I then started to think I could change their minds. I thought I could make them think differently. I thought, naively, that I could be that voice of reason. But I felt as if I let myself down and other people of colour down because I felt I'd achieved nothing."

By his own admission, Des did not know much about the BNP and what it actually stood for before filming for BBC Inside Out began. During his investigation he learns that tens of thousands of people vote BNP, with the East Midlands being one of its most fertile voting grounds. He discovers how the party taps into a grassroots discontent with mainstream political parties and how the BNP's views on immigration and "British jobs for British workers", strike a chord in many communities.

During the summer, the BNP was out in force in the region, campaigning in the local and European elections. But for Des, chasing BNP candidates for interviews proves an uncomfortable journey.

Des says: "For me the crux of this boils down to their entry requirements for the party. You have to be what they call 'indigenous Caucasian' to join. But 'non-indigenous Caucasian' doesn't just apply to people whose colour you can see. If you go back a generation or two that phrase could apply to anyone."

Sky News Poll Shows Voters Back The Tories - But Not Osborne

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:26:30 +0000

The Conservatives have increased their lead over Labour but most voters do not believe George Osborne would make the best Chancellor, the latest Sky News/YouGov poll suggests. As the Conservative Party Conference continues in Manchester, 43% of people say they would vote Conservative if there was a General Election tomorrow, up two points. Labour have also increased their share, nudging up a point to 29% but the Liberal Democrats have dropped by the same amount to 17%.

But while the Conservatives' chances of forming the next Government remain strong, the public are less supportive of their shadow chancellor. Asked who would make the better Chancellor if the Party won the election, 21% picked George Osborne on the day of his keynote speech to delegates. In contrast, 28% prefer shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke, who held the post from 1993 to 1997 under John Major.

More than half - 51% - said they do not know who would be best in the Treasury.

The Sky News/YouGov poll also shows ambivalence over one of Mr Osborne's main proposals - increasing the retirement age to 66 in 2016. Voters are divided, with 44% supporting the move and the same proportion opposing it. A freeze on public sector pay wins more support as 63% back the plan, compared to 23% who disagree.

YouGov asked 1,039 British adults on October 6th and 7th.

Each day, Sky News will be delivering daily YouGov opinion polls to its viewers, based on a fresh sample of over 1000 adults online carried out every weekday throughout Great Britain all this week. The daily polls will allow viewers, as well as Sky News’ political team, to analyse the effects that different announcements and speeches during both the Labour and Conservative party conferences are having on voter opinion. The daily online YouGov polls will measure fluctuations in voting intentions across the two weeks, as well as asking respondents to register their opinion on different topical questions coming out of the conferences each day.

Sky News Poll shows Tories Lose Osborne 'Bounce' In Latest Poll

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:23:09 +0000

The Conservatives’ lead over Labour has dropped from 14 points to nine on the day David Cameron addresses the party conference. Yesterday's "Osborne bounce" appears to be wiped out in the Sky News/YouGov daily voting intentions poll which puts the Conservatives on 40%, down three points on yesterday.

Labour are up two points on 31% and the Lib Dems are up too, from 17% to 18%.

The Conservative leader has defended the party's strategy of telling voters to expect a period of austerity under a Conservative government, but 41% of people still think the party is not being honest with the public about the economic measures they will take.

Nearly half (49%) said they thought the main priority of a Conservative government would be to protect the interests of the rich as opposed to 34% who said they would protect those on average incomes. And 60% of those asked said they did not believe Mr Cameron understood "the problems normal people face in their everyday lives".

YouGov interviewed 1,074 people between 7th and 8th October.

The daily online YouGov polls will measure fluctuations in voting intentions across the two weeks, as well as asking respondents to register their opinion on different topical questions coming out of the conferences each day.

Conservatives Fail to Ignite Support

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:58:27 +0000

Support for the Conservatives is climbing during the party's conference, though the latest Sky News/YouGov poll shows their lead over Labour remains static. In the latest daily voting intentions poll, the Conservatives are up one point on 41%, 13 points ahead of Labour who are up one point on 28% and the Liberal Democrats who are down two points from yesterday to 18%.

On the second day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, voters of today’s poll were also asked a series of questions on David Cameron and the Conservative Party.

Asked if they thought David Cameron is, broadly speaking, in touch with the concerns of voters 38% agreed. The majority of people however (43%) think he is out of touch and 19% don’t know. The same percentage (38%) agreed that the leader of the Conservative Party is trustworthy, but a slightly lower percentage (35%) think he is not trustworthy and nearly a third (27%) said they didn’t know.

The same questions were asked about the Conservative Party in general. 35% of people questioned think it is in touch with people’s concerns but half (50%) think it is out of touch, with15% unsure. Under a third of people (31%) think that the Conservative Party is trustworthy but 45% voted it not trustworthy with a quarter (25%) saying they didn’t know.

When asked which party would handle problems facing the country best, 32% thought that the Conservatives would manage unemployment better than Labour on 25%, and the Liberal Democrats on 10%. Voters in the poll also suggested that the Conservatives would manage the economy better (34%) than Labour who scored 28%, and the Liberal Democrats with, again, only 10% of the vote.

Voters were also asked whether they supported or opposed the Conservatives’ new employment policy which proposes the retesting of current recipients of Incapacity Benefit with a view to moving those deemed fit to work over to Jobseekers Allowance which pays less per week. An overwhelming 70% supported the policy, with 35% strongly supporting and 35% tending to support the policy. Just 24% opposed the policy, with 13% tending to oppose and 11% strongly opposing to the policy.

Each day, Sky News will be delivering daily YouGov opinion polls to its viewers, based on a fresh sample of over 1000 adults online carried out every weekday throughout Great Britain all this week.

The daily polls will allow viewers, as well as Sky News’ political team, to analyse the effects that different announcements and speeches during both the Labour and Conservative party conferences are having on voter opinion.

Almost two-thirds who intend to vote Conservative will do so mainly as a vote against Gordon Brown and record of Labour Party, poll suggests

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:38:03 +0000

Almost two-thirds (64%) of those who intend to vote Conservative at the next election will do so mainly as a vote against Gordon Brown and the record of the Labour Party, according to an opinion poll carried out by ORB for BBC Two's Newsnight. The poll asked: "Which of the following three statements best describes why you will vote or are leaning towards the Conservative party in the General Election?"

Seventeen per cent said their vote was mainly a vote against Gordon Brown and 47% that it was mainly a vote against the record of the Labour party. Just over a third, 34%, said their vote is mainly a vote for David Cameron and the Conservative Party. The poll also showed that half of people, 50%, think that David Cameron would make the best Prime Minister, compared to 23% for Gordon Brown and 11% for Nick Clegg.

A clear majority, 59%, of people also had a favourable or very favourable opinion of David Cameron with 39% having an unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of him. Gordon Brown had almost the reverse of that reaction with 38% of those polled having a favourable or very favourable opinion of the Prime Minister and 61% having an unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion.

Asked about a series of traits and policy areas, David Cameron and the Conservatives out-polled Gordon Brown and the Labour Party in almost all of them. More of those asked thought David Cameron is "providing strong leadership" (51%) and "Will be tough on Crime" (51%) than Gordon Brown, 21% and 18%, and Nick Clegg, 10% and 9%, respectively.

David Cameron and the Conservatives were also ahead amongst those polled on who has "definite plans and goals for Britain's future" (43%) and "Will prioritise families" (42%). Gordon Brown and the Labour Party were 23% and 24% and Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats were 12% and 15% respectively.

But on two issues that seemed to matter greatly to those polled – the economy and the NHS – findings were much closer.

Thirty-four per cent of those asked said Gordon Brown and Labour would stand up for the NHS, with 33% saying that of the Conservatives and 13% of the Liberal Democrats. On the issue of who will stand up for ordinary people in an economic crisis, Labour and Conservatives were also neck and neck – 31% said Gordon Brown and 30% David Cameron, with 18% saying Nick Clegg. But asked who they would trust more to fix the economy, those polled gave David Cameron a slight lead with 35% saying the Conservatives and 32% saying the Labour Party and Gordon Brown; 11% said Nick Clegg.

The opinion poll is part of an exercise conducted for BBC Two's Newsnight for the conference season. Newsnight has invited American pollster Cornell Belcher to find out what the public in the UK make of their politicians. His fourth film focussing on opinions towards David Cameron and the Conservative Party was shown on last night's Newsnight (5 October).

Cornell Belcher employs many of the polling techniques he developed when working for the Democratic Party and Barack Obama ahead of last year's Presidential election. On his first visit to Britain, Belcher was teamed up with British pollster Johnny Heald and his research company ORB who carried out the polling and organised the focus groups on behalf of Belcher.

As well as the opinion poll, he has conducted focus groups in marginal seats.

Public view on Afghanistan remains constant, poll suggests

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:27:19 +0000

An ICM poll conducted for a special BBC Radio 4 debate, Afghanistan: Is It Mission Impossible?, found that 37% of those asked supported British military operations in Afghanistan, 56% are opposed, 1% refused to answer the question and 6% didn't know.

The results are in line with those found in a similar poll conducted almost three years ago.

Despite the rising casualty rate among British soldiers and widespread concerns about corruption in the presidential election in Afghanistan, the poll suggests that opposition to the operation has risen only slightly and support for it remains level too.

Poll details

Poll results comparing 2009 to 2006:
Support 37% – 31%
Oppose 56% – 53%
Refused 1% – 3%
Don't Know 6% – 14%

Afghanistan: Is It Mission Impossible?, chaired by Eddie Mair, will be broadcast on Radio 4 tomorrow (Wednesday 7 October) at 8.00pm.

Expert participants in the debate include:

Francesc Vendrell, who was the European Union's Special Representative for Afghanistan from 2002 until last year. Before that he was the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan;

Brigadier Buster Howes, who is the Head of Overseas Operations at the MoD;

Eric Joyce, a former Major in the Army and now Labour MP. Last month he resigned as an aide to the Defence Secretary, calling on Gordon Brown to make clear to the British people that the Afghanistan campaign was "time limited".

Others taking part in the debate are Lindsey German, a senior organiser of the Stop the War Coalition, and Dr John Mackinlay, a counter-insurgency expert from Kings College London.

Sky News Poll says current system for voting MP’s into Parliament should be updated

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:44:12 +0000

The results of a YouGov opinion poll for Sky News shows that 59% of 1078 people questioned believe that Gordon Brown’s suggestion for a referendum on whether Britain should switch to the alternative vote system, from the current first-past-the-post system is a good idea. 22% thought it was a bad idea, with 19% unsure.

The question was included in a Sky News survey of over 1000 adults after Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Conference yesterday (Survey carried out between 29 – 30 September). The people surveyed were also asked how they would vote if a referendum was held on whether to stick with a first-past-the-post system or switch to the alternative vote for electing MP’s. 43% of people questioned voted in favour of the new system, 26% would rather stick with the current system, 9% wouldn’t vote and 21% were unsure.

Gordon Brown also promised that, if re-elected, Labour would allow voters in individual constituencies to vote on whether to recall their MP by having a local referendum on whether they should remain an MP or not. This would give voters a means to sack badly behaved MP’s. 76% of people questioned believe that these local referendums were a good idea, 12% were against it, with 12% also not knowing how they felt about local referendums.

Voter intentions from the sample of adults were measured at 37% for Conservatives, 30% for Labour, 21% for the Lib Dems whilst 12% said they would vote for another party.

The people surveyed were also asked if Gordon Brown was doing well or badly. 64% believed the Prime Minister was doing badly while 32% were happy with his performance.

When asked if Gordon Brown should be replaced as both Labour leader and prime minister 47% of 1078 people questioned believe that he should, with 38% of people polled believing that he should stay on.

Sky News will be delivering daily YouGov opinion polls to its viewers, based on a fresh sample of over 1000 adults online carried out every weekday throughout Great Britain all this week and next week.

Sky News Poll shows Labour support has dramatically increased in the last week

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:14:11 +0000

The results of a daily YouGov opinion poll for Sky News show that from a low of 24% at the end of last week, voter intentions in support of Labour have increased dramatically to 30%. Conservative support over that period has fluctuated between 40% and 37%, with today’s voter intention level at 37%, and support for the Lib Dems in that period has gone from a high of 21%, down to a low of 18% and back up to 21% again today.

The results are being delivered as part of a daily YouGov opinion polls of 1000 adult Sky News viewers. The survey is based on a fresh sample of 1000 adults online carried out every weekday throughout Great Britain all this week and next week.

The Sun Ditches Labour

kevin.coy@worldbusinessnews.co.uk (Kevin Coy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:37:24 +0000

The Sun newspaper, a red top tabloid, has taken its support from Labour and is now backing the Conservatives. The news comes as a bitter blow for the prime minister who gave his make or break speech yesterday at the last Labour party conference before the next genreal election.

The paper says on its front page; "after 12 long years in power, Labour has lost its way, and now its has lost us too".

The Sun came out and supported Labour in the 1997 election when the party was led by Tony Blair, who led them to a landslide victory.

George Pascoe-Watson, the Sun's political editor, told the BBC: "The prime minister failed to convince us he was the right man for the country. We feel it's time for a new leader"

Talking abour the prime minister's speech in Brighton on Tuesday, Pascoe-Watson expressed disappointment at the "30 seconds that he spent on Afghanistan - a campaign which we have been running very very hard.

"And of course the Sun has always said that Gordon Brown promised us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, he's failed to deliver that promise and that's a huge issue for the Sun."

Mr Pascoe-Watson said the paper believed that Tory leader David Cameron had "the vision, the energy, the drive, the ideas to take the country forward".

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the Sun had "timed its big political switch... for maximum impact both in terms of gaining attention for the paper and taking the gloss off Mr Brown's big day".