- Newsnight
- 16 Jun 08, 03:22 PM
BRITISH TROOPS
Are we paying too high a price for our commitments in Afghanistan? The Defence Secretary Des Browne announced today that troop numbers in Afghanistan will increase to a new high of more than 8,000 by next spring, but is British policy working in the south of the country? Coalition deaths in Afghanistan last month exceeded those in Iraq for the first time. We have the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, and Lord Paddy Ashdown on the programme.
MP's NANNY
Michael Crick has been investigating new allegations about the Conservative Chair Caroline Spelman. Last weekend she defended using parliamentary allowances ten years ago to pay her nanny by saying that the nanny had also been working as her constituency secretary.
ANNAN INTERVIEW
We interview former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on a new call for aid for Africa - but should leaders on the continent do more to solve their own problems?
SOUTH AFRICA
And a special report from Orla Guerin about the wave of xenophobic violence that has swept South Africa, leading to horrific attacks on refugees which were broadcast around the world. But what turned defenceless foreigners into targets, and where does the blame lie?
See Jeremy Paxman tonight at 22.30 on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 2
- Michael Crick
- 16 Jun 08, 01:11 PM
A little noticed fact from last week's Conservative mini-reshuffle is that all three of David Cameron's most important front bench colleagues - George Osborne (Treasury), William Hague (Foreign Affairs) and now Dominic Grieve (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Affairs) - went to Magdalen College, Oxford. I wonder if this has ever happened before in the history of British politics?
This quirk is a little unfortunate perhaps for a party trying to stress its new inclusivity under David Cameron. But then Labour failed dismally in its efforts to exploit the toff factor in the London mayoral race and in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
In my time at Oxford, in the late 1970s, Magdalen was the faction in the University Conservative Association (OUCA) which included most of the more right-wing Thatcherite members, and they ran a powerful machine in student politics. Left-wing Tories such as the Conservative's current immigration spokesman, Damian Green, were associated with Balliol.
A number of weekend papers have reported on the famous incident in the autumn of 1977 when a bunch of Magdalen men, somewhat the worse for drink, dumped Damian Green into the Cherwell River after he had visited the college one evening for dinner. And this gang of Magdalen hearties included Dominic Grieve, who has just taken over as Green's boss in the Conservative Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Affairs team.
I was editor of the Oxford University newspaper (also called Cherwell) at the time and recall running the story as a front-page splash (as it were). I'll try and obtain a copy of the article for the blog as soon as I can.
- Newsnight
- 16 Jun 08, 01:03 PM
Good morning.
Looks busy today.
Bush and Brown meet today and will have a press conference this morning (10.30). As well as apparent differences on Iraq, there is an Afghanistan statement later today. Who should we have on?
We have an interview with Kofi Annan as a new Africa report is published. The Africa panel are asking for the pledges made at Gleneagles Summit in 2005 to be met. Western governments are to be asked for billions more in funding. But why though should the West continue to give so much aid to African Governments when they seem so disinclined to resolve Zimbabwe, Darfur and other conflicts. Is the teacher/pupil model implied by the African panel healthy or effective?
Crick has more on the Caroline Spellman story, I'll explain in the meeting.
What else would you like to do? Which guests would you like on?
Dan
- Newsnight
- 16 Jun 08, 01:03 PM
Good morning.
Looks busy today.
Bush and Brown meet today and will have a press conference this morning (10.30). As well as apparent differences on Iraq, there is an Afghanistan statement later today. Who should we have on?
We have an interview with Kofi Annan as a new Africa report is published. The Africa panel are asking for the pledges made at Gleneagles Summit in 2005 to be met. Western governments are to be asked for billions more in funding. But why though should the West continue to give so much aid to African Governments when they seem so disinclined to resolve Zimbabwe, Darfur and other conflicts. Is the teacher/pupil model implied by the African panel healthy or effective?
Crick has more on the Caroline Spellman story, I'll explain in the meeting.
What else would you like to do? Which guests would you like on?
Dan
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