I was expelled against my will I spent
uh a lot of money and a lot of time
trying to avoid expulsion on lawyers and
all the rest at my expulsion
hearing uh Mr Michael foot the previous
leader of the party Mr Ben the greatest
uh labor parliamentarian of all time and
Mr Corbin uh were my uh character
Witnesses if you like asking the
national executive not to expel me so of
course uh I regretted uh being expelled
but having been expelled I wasn't going
to uh as it were retire from the field
so I continued my battle in another form
and as you implied in your introduction
I did tell Mr Blair on the day I was
expelled that he would Ru the day and
they Liv to Ru the day but it goes
without saying that Jeremy Corbin has my
absolute uh
loyalty and support and love uh and I
wish him uh every success is being a
good and honest man
unelectable I doubt that and if it is
what would we prefer a bad dishonest man
would that be better if uh if that were
held to be electable what's the point in
being elected for bad intentions or
dishonest purposes so I have faith in
the British people and the contest when
it comes if God spares him
2020 uh will be a very interesting one
and it will be a different one because
David Cameron will have retired and the
conservatives having laid waste to the
public services and proved even more
divisive in their second term than they
were able to be in their first will be
quite an enfeebled uh political force I
think and their leader will either be
George or should I say Gideon Osborne
for that is his name uh Gideon Osborne
of the Bullington club uh I know that's
a rival uh outfit to yours uh but it's
uh it just isn't but okay but it it is
uh it describes him I think he's a pasty
faed product of the of the English
ruling Elite and I don't think that cuts
a lot of mustard in the country or if
there's a crash in in 2018 which some
predict there will be the leader is
likely to be Boris Johnson also of Eaton
and the bulington club uh I think Jeremy
Corbin against Boris Johnson or Jeremy
Corbin against George Osborne uh will be
a much closer contest than the pundits
would like you to believe here and now
and this brings me on to my next
question which is Julian Assange um as
you probably aware this Union voted
recently and held a referendum on
whether or not we would give a platform
to Mr Assange and the overwhelming
majority of our membership voted in
favor and Mr Assange is shedu to speak
here by video link on the 11th of
November you came under intense fire
from anti- rape campaigners over your
comments in relation to the allegations
that were leveled against Mr Sange and
you said that they have no basis because
having sex with a woman when she is
asleep is not rape you then defended
these sexual allegations assault
allegations against Mr Assange by
stating that they amounted to no more
than bad sexual EA
I just wanted to ask you more bit bit
more about that and to ask you how you
feel justified in defending that
position when the law in this country is
very clear in noting that consent is
required every time someone has
sex uh well that's that last point is
actually not the case you're obviously
not a law student I actually am okay you
are in that case in in that
[Applause]
case in in that case we've got problems
uh it is a defense against an accusation
of rape that reasonable grounds to
assume consent that happens to be the
law Julian Assan should receive the
Nobel Peace
Prize Julian Assange has performed a
service to the
world to those of in acquiring mind as I
presume all of you are or you wouldn't
be here to every journalist in the world
to every broadcaster in the world Julian
Assange ought to be a hero and the
reason he's in this fix and it is a fix
I can assure you his situation in the
Ecuador embassy in a single room for all
these years now is a real fix
the reason that he's in this fix is
nothing whatsoever to do with
allegations and they are only
allegations made after the fact long
after the fact uh by women that he uh
slept with in
Sweden they are everything to do with
the determination of the United States
of America to do to Julian Assange what
they've done to Chelsea Manning to get
him in front of a secretly assembled
grand jury and send him to prison for
the rest of his life I
regret the words that I used in sticking
up for Julian
Assange I regret the fact that those
words the way that I expressed my
position have given my enemies
opportunities to attack me and attack
him and I'm sorry that I upset some
people in including some that I I
personally
respect uh and know uh that I gave them
offense by the way in which I expressed
my view but my view doesn't
change that aange is being set up set up
so that he can be extradited to the
United
States no means no in sexual Affairs
rape is a hideous
crime that should be
prosecuted and if convicted punished
most
severely rape is a hideous
thing but Julian Assange has never been
charged with rape has never been charged
actually with any sexual offense let
alone convicted of one and I'm therefore
glad that the Cambridge students uh did
what they should have done done in the
referendum in the last few days and that
Julian will be able to speak for himself
to you on the 11th of November okay
moving on to the next topic then um in
February 2013 you walked out of a debate
in Oxford on the motion Israel should
withdraw immediately from the West Bank
when you found out that the opponent in
the debate was Israeli do you regret
doing that and do you think it was right
to refuse to talk to someone just
because he was Israeli in that situation
well I talk to Israelis all the time in
fact one particular Israeli perhaps the
finest Israel I speak to almost every
day uh Professor Elan papy of now exter
University formerly professor of History
hia University is an Israeli Jew with
whom I work very closely so it has
nothing to do with the nationality of
the person involved I work with lots of
Israelis but my policy is no recognition
no
normalization so I cannot behave towards
an Israeli supporter of the apartheid
state uh in the way that I would deal
with either an Israeli opponent of the
aparte state or a citizen of any other
country how much of a charge sheet have
you assembled here well it's not a
charge sheet it's just questions it
feels a bit like a trial well it's not
it's questions yeah uh uh you know there
are some contemporary burning British
issues that I really hope we have time
to get on to we will get to them uh I'm
uh in a and have always been even when I
was in the labor party in a luxurious
position uh that I don't really care
whether I'm a member of parliament or
not I don't see it as a
career uh I I stand by what I believe in
by I obey my conscience even if I was
the last man standing who believed what
I was saying I'd still say it whether it
led to defeat or Victory is a secondary
matter you do know that the BBC is the
British State TV if the BBC asked me to
have a show on the BBC I would of course
accept it on the provisor that nobody
told me what to say or what not to say
and that's what I do on press tv it's
what I do with my wife on on Russia
today we have a weekly show there no one
has ever would ever and if they did it
would be the end
ever asked me told me what to say and
what not to say so frankly I'll take a
television platform on any television
station even Fox
News no no I mean that as long as Fox
News didn't try to tell me what to say
and what not to say well that was just a
stream of ad hominum personal abuse that
was one insult after another one
Distortion after another one quote taken
out of context after another so candidly
I don't regard your question as worthy
of my
response I have no problem about working
with Israelis who are against the aparte
state my problem is aord
recognition to Israeli supporters of
aparte you're an intelligent audience
you must be able to discern the
difference between these categories so I
went to the debate believing that I'd be
debating against a supporter of Israel
when I discovered that I was debating
against an Israeli supporter of a
partite of military age who I now
realize I now know served in the Israeli
military I have no intention of
affording recognition with such uh to
such uh people any more than I would
have done with a buor supporting a party
in South Africa I'm not sure why you're
fixated on this there are plenty of
other people that he could debate with
just not with me um if what you believe
well clearly you do believe that what
this country desires what this country
in fact needs is conviction politics and
people who speak the truth and mean what
they say and it's undeniable that that
is what you do but if if that is what
you do why is it in case the country has
not seen fit but your constituency has
not seen fit to support you and reelect
you but I've been elected six times to
the House of Commons twice as a respect
Member of Parliament in rock in in Rock
Solid labor seats and I'm running for
mayor of London and I'm doing quite well
I promise this so let's postpone that
question uh until next May shall
we