Stewart Jackson on Grant Shapps

13:33 Monday 16th March 2015
BBC Radio 4

MARTHA KEARNEY: The Conservative Party Chairman has admitted today that in his own words he “screwed up” over his past business activities. Grants Shapps has faced criticism in the past for using the pseudonym Michael Green as part of his marketing company, which offered advice on how to make money. Michael Green was supposedly a successful businessman. Grant Shapps told LBC three weeks ago this is all before he became an MP.
(TAPE)
GRANT SHAPPS: I thought the discussion here was second jobs whilst people are MPs. So to be absolutely clear, I don’t have a second job, and have never had a second job whilst being an MP. End of story.
(LIVE)
MARTHA KEARNEY: But today’s Guardian has released a recording of Grant Shapps described as having been made in 2006, in which he is posing as Michael Green. This is part of the recording.
(TAPE)
GRANT SHAPPS: I think we’re suggesting if people are listening to this pretty currently, and we’re in the Summer of 2006 whilst we’re recording, a great timescale would be to use the profit diary techniques to make a ton of cash by Christmas.
(LIVE)
MARTHA KEARNEY: So the business How To Corp. was still running in the year after he became an MP. This confusion has emerged in other public comments too. When I interviewed Grant Shapps two years ago, he offered this explanation.
(TAPE)
GRANT SHAPPS: Just so your readers are clear, before I went into politics I used to run a printing company and I also set up a publishing company, and I think sensibly just to keep it separate from politics, I published under a brand name, under a pen name, like any ..
MARTHA KEARNEY: Michael Green.
GRANT SHAPPS: Michael Green.
(LIVE)
MARTHA KEARNEY: So there Grant Shapps was saying that the pseudonym was used before he went into politics. But later in the same interview ..
(TAPE)
GRANT SHAPPS: Just to be clear that the business is actually closed. I haven’t been involved with it for nearly four and a half years. And the business is closed so it’s a really very old, very very old story.
(LIVE)
MARTHA KEARNEY: So there Grant Shapps admits that the business was still running in 2007, two years after he became an MP. The Guardian has published a letter from his lawyers in November which reads: “Mr Shapps MP has at no time misled over the use of a pen name. Indeed I now understand that he openly published his full name alongside business publications, making it clear that he used a pen name merely to separate business and politics, prior to entering Parliament.” In fact How To Corp. which was set up in 2000 was registered at Companies House in 2005, the year of the election. All of this had led to Grant Shapps apology today. He told the BBC he had ” screwed up”, by denying he had a second job while an MP. Mr Shapps said he responded over-firmly at interview on LBC. Labour wants an immediate enquiry into his conduct to establish all the facts in the interests of the public. David Cameron’s official spokesman said this morning, “The Prime Minister has full confidence in Grant Shapps.” We approached the Conservative party for an interview with Grant Shapps but he wasn’t available. They suggested we speak to Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough, and a Member of the Public Accounts Committee. This is an unfortunate position, isn’t it, to say the least, to have your party chairman admitting that he “screwed up” so close to an election.
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Wisbech 2020 Vision gathering pace

17:48 Friday 13th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS BERROW: Detailed proposals aimed at bringing about the wholesale regeneration of Wisbech and its surrounding area have been published. The project is called Wisbech 2020 Vision. It’s a twenty nine point action plan, and it was launched in January 2013. Now the idea is to make Wisbech a good place to work and a nice place to live. This morning there was a meeting to review the progress that’s been made so far. Steve Count is Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, and I asked him what progress has actually been made.
(TAPE)
STEVE COUNT: It was a good news day. There was a whole raft of things that we were able to update people on. I think the big one that most people have been talking about is getting the railway line back to Wisbech. The progress on that has been very good. We’ve completed a GRIP 1 Study and a GRIP 2 Study, and we’re now commissioning and underway with a GRIP 3 Study. And these are the hoops that we have to get through in order to reopen a railway line that will link Wisbech with the national rail network. I think one of the things that people have realised now is that it’s not just good for the people of Wisbech, it’s good for the people of March, Manea, those that are along the line towards Cambridge. And also there’ll be benefits for the people of Cambridge, because if you look at the house prices in Cambridge which I think are quite a bit above £300,000 average, and just over £140,000 is the average prices in Wisbech. If we introduce that into the travel to work area for Cambridge, it’s going to be fantastic news for everyone.
CHRIS BERROW: Infrastructure is a problem in Wisbech. What other problems does it face?
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Dame Fiona Reynolds on leadership and motherhood

07:48 Friday 13th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A question for you. Would the world be a better place if women ran it? You mean they don’t? That is the subject of a major debate at the Cambridge Science Festival. It’s being chaired by Dame Fiona Reynolds, Master of Emmanuel College at Cambridge University. She used to run the National Trust. A mother of three she is, and I spoke to her earlier.
(TAPE)
DAME FIONA REYNOLDS: Well women are brilliant as you know at running organisations. I’ve been lucky in my life to run three charities, each one bigger than the other. But actually the thing I learned really early on is it’s all about people. And although you can’t generalise, of course men are brilliant with people as well, but women are particularly good, and I think they do bring a listening, passion for engaging with people, an a sort of sense we’re all in it together. And I think most organisations succeed when there is that really strong sense of collective vision and purpose.
CHRIS MANN: So where does that leave men? What’s their job? What’s their role?
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David Willetts on the layman and the eight great technologies

17:38 Thursday 12th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS BERROW: Today is BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s first ever Science Day. It coincides with the 21st Cambridge Science Festival. Well later our very own Naked Scientists will be broadcasting live from the Pitt Building in Cambridge as part of the Festival, and they’ll be live on the Mark Forrest Show from seven o’clock. David Willetts is a British Conservative Party politician, and was the Minister of State for Universities and Science until July last year. Well I spoke to him earlier today and asked him why funding for science is such an important thing.
(TAPE)
DAVID WILLETTS: There’s a great story of Margaret Thatcher being presented with advice on whether or not she should invest in British participation in the Large Hadron Collider. And all the cautious official advice was it’s expensive and couldn’t be afforded. But she wrote on the submission, ‘But it’s very interesting, isn’t it?’ So that’s the first reason. And then the second reason is that as a nation that’s strong in science, it helps to drive R&D, it helps us be strong in the high tech industries of the future, it attracts overseas investment. So it’s worthwhile, and it also has an economic benefit.
CHRIS BERROW: There are big problems that the UK is facing at the moment, climate change, energy storage, things like that. And presumably science is one of those things that can help with a huge range of issues.
DAVID WILLETTS: Absolutely, and it can help tackle all the big global challenges, and you’ve given some very good examples, climate change, where you’ve both got to understand it, and also then of course develop technologies to help to deal with it. I think also science has got enormous potential to help us in the life sciences, you know. This amazing discovery from Cambridge of the structure of DNA has over the decades since proved to be one of the great research programmes of all time. And we’re still discovering all these connections between different aspects of our genetic code and our propensity to disease. So that’s an incredibly powerful application of science as well.
CHRIS BERROW: You’ve mentioned technology. Tell me about the concept of the eight great technologies. It’s something that I know you championed during your time as Science Minister.
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Election debates – new platform plan from broadsheet alliance

17:38 Wednesday 11th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS BERROW: Ed Miliband and David Cameron have traded personal insults in a bitter Commons exchange over the proposed General Election TV debates. The Prime Minister says his rival is ‘weak and despicable’. The Labour Leader says his opponent is ‘weak and a bully.’ So are we anywhere nearer to getting these debates on TV? Well I’m joined by our Political Correspondent Paul Rowley. Paul, what do you make of all of this?
PAUL ROWLEY: I have to confess Chris, in more than a quarter of a century at Westminster, I can’t think of a Prime Minister’s Question Time that had so much political invective, so much venom, so much nastiness. David Cameron accused Ed Miliband of being ‘weak and despicable’. Ed Miliband said the Prime Minister was ‘useless’, ‘pathetic’, ‘a bully’ and ‘a chicken’. Have a listen to this, which is pretty X-certificate..
(TAPE)
DAVID CAMERON: The truth is he’s weak and despicable, and wants to crawl to power in Alec Salmond’s pocket. (CHEERS)
ED MILIBAND: Mr. Speaker. If he’s so confident, if he’s so confident, why is he chickening out of the debate with me? (FURTHER CHEERS)
(LIVE)
PAUL ROWLEY: All of which suggests one thing Chris I think, there’s an election in two months time, there’s all to play for, and our politicians are getting decidedly edgy.
CHRIS BERROW: So the big question is, will these debates actually take place?
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Caroline Lucas – getting to grips with pollution in Cambridge

10:37 Tuesday 10th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’ve been talking pollution today. The Leader of Cambridge City Council, Labour’s Lewis Herbert, has told this programme it won’t be long ’til some cars are banned altogether from the city centre. The Council has produced a map of the city’s pollution levels, and it paints a worrying picture. Bus station on Drummer Street the worst affected area, roads like Queens Road, East Road, Newmarket Road and Elizabeth way not much better. Well the traffic around the city causes a whole ring of pollution on the map. So we’ve been asking what the solution is. We’ve had many comments from you saying we need cleaner buses. Perhaps we need a congestion charge, need to get rid of diesel cars. Well I’m pleased to say we’re joined by something of an expert perhaps. Caroline Lucas from the Greens. Morning Caroline.
CAROLINE LUCAS: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: The Greens’ only MP at the moment.
CAROLINE LUCAS: At the moment.
PAUL STAINTON: At the moment.
CAROLINE LUCAS: We’re looking forward to being joined by Rupert Read in Cambridge, and we’ve got someone in Norwich South and Bristol West, all of our targets. So we’re hopeful.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. Even after your faux pas by your Leader do you think? Do you think that’s going to have any impact on your poll ratings?
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Green transport policy for Cambridge

08:25 Monday 9th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: It is the final day of the Green Party conference in Liverpool. Of course everyone building up to the General Election in May. Let’s talk now to Rupert Read, who’s the Green Party’s Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge. Rupert good morning to you.
RUPERT READ: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: I know you spoke on an interesting subject, how to combat UKIP, because obviously for you they’re a challenge as another one of the parties that are potentially in the mix.
RUPERT READ: Yes. So one of the things I was saying when I spoke on this at Liverpool was that UKIP attract some people who are looking to make a vote of protest against the old parties, who are looking to have a real alternative to the failed parties of the past. And what I was saying to conference was we can make a case in the Greens that we’re a much more positive alternative than UKIP. UKIP are only a negative voice. We actually have something to offer, a vision of a genuinely better future, a vision of a sustainable future. And I was also pointing out that sometimes people are very surprised when they hear about UKIP’s policies, for example ..
CHRIS MANN: Well let’s not go into UKIP’s policies right now, because they’re not here to defend themselves. I’m sure we’ll discuss it on a future occasion. But let’s talk about transport.
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Peterborough PFI dispute delays radiotherapy unit

17:10 Friday 6th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A legal wrangle is being blamed for a year-long delay in completing work on a vital new £5 million unit to help fight cancer. The radiotherapy unit at Peterborough City Hospital is now 12 months behind schedule, because of a dispute over the original PFI financial deal. Agency staff are being hired to cope with the workload at an extra cost to the already cash-strapped Trust. However, Trust officials say they cannot calculate the extra cost. Well to get a view on this I was joined earlier on by Peterborough’s MP Stewart Jackson.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: I’m very disappointed Chris, not least because like everyone else in Peterborough and particularly the healthcare professionals, I was delighted when the Government awarded extra funding for what is an extremely important cause, which is this particular unit. And the fact is that this is having impact on clinical work, and it’s making patients wait longer. And that can’t be right. So I’m asking the Trust and the contractors to get together and see if they can resolve this very pressing issue.
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