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I
welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me gatri
none of the leaders of Britain's big
three political parties are popular but
there's unpopular and then there's Ed
miliband having LED labor if LED is the
right word to an embarrassing 29% in the
polls in opposition to one of the worst
governments in recent history now only
14% of the British public think he's
ready to be prime minister he's even
less popular than Nick CL and believe me
that's saying something cue the outbreak
of good old-fashioned backstabbing in
what was once the People's Party with
Tales of letters being drafted calling
on him to go and the metaphorical
Prospect of man in Gray suits paying a
house call on the labor leader to tell
him his time is up our first guest was
once one of those gray suited men in
fact he's a veteran of the Blair Brown
fratricide who once got down and dirty
in 10 Downing Street and survived to
tell the tale he's a man who knows where
the bodies are buried though again only
metaphorically and he knows a thing or
two about the dark arts of the inner
party struggle and Intrigue much of it
but I promise you he's still got some up
his sleeve he's laid out in a blistering
new book Power Trip a decade of policy
plots and spin I'm delighted to be
joined on The Show by demon McBride
demon welcome I must say it's a terrific
fantastic book I can't wait for the next
Edition uh because I know you've kept
one or two
things that's right they don't want a
sequel look it doesn't get much worse
14% of the people think you're fit to be
the Prime Minister Labor's at 29% in the
polls which is uh Michael foot territory
the Mr ster Landslide territory in
1983 uh and only 6 months or so to go uh
where do we go from here I don't know I
think the first thing it would be nice
to see is Ed millerand admitting some
kind of problem exists and instead
there's this just this Defiance just
this head in the sand mentality that
there is no problem I think that the uh
if Michael F marked the last point at
which a biblo file could be a political
leader in Britain Ed millerand marks the
day when the public will no longer vote
for a speak your weight machine a
robotic
uh policy wonk with no visible human
characteristics that's why the demands
on for someone like Alan Johnson isn't
it who speaks human yeah and and that's
why frankly he's he's even more
unpopular than nickl even more unpopular
than David Cameron because at least
those guys who are deeply unpopular
themselves have shown some sort of
humanity people sort of feel they knew
know something about them even with C
it's just a sort of think well you know
we don't like the way you betrayed us
but with mban they feel they know
nothing no they don't understand him at
all the only thing people quote about
him is that he stabbed his own brother
in the back and all they see from him
now is these high fluen speeches that
connect with no one and resonate with no
one and speak to nothing that is about
their ordinary lives the key of those
was the
rambling Soliloquy at the labor
conference about all the people he
bumped into on Hamstead Heath surely he
knows that was a catastrophic blunder
that speech well I mean the bizarre
thing about that was remember he left
out a big section on the deficit and on
immigration
God knows how long that speech would
have been if he included those things it
would have been 80 minutes so what on
Earth possessed them to think that that
was on this big stage this huge
opportunity to reach the British people
that that was the way to go I mean it
just it's fathomless and that's what
gives people no confidence that they can
turn it around because it's not just
you've made a mistake or you've made a
gaff it's that the whole plan is wrong
you've got no sense of how you should be
presenting yourself to people I've been
here before uh and Mia Copa uh I was was
one of those that encouraged Michael
foot to run for the leadership quite
quickly became apparent it was a
disastrous Choice Dennis Healey might
well have beaten uh Thatcher certainly
would not have lost by the same amount I
pressed the late John Smith God Rest his
soul to tell Neil kinnick that he had to
move aside because to me it was
absolutely evident that Neil kinnick
could not uh
win can it happen is it just too late
can Allan Johnson be pressed into coming
forward I think having got through this
week There's no way it's external
pressure that forces Milan or or
pressure from his own party the only
thing that would possibly save us is he
is intrinsically a good man and he
believes in socialist causes he believes
in the lab party and in his heart of
hearts I would hope that at some point
over the next two or three months he
will sit down with people that just care
about him and care about the party and
aren't caring about their own seats or
their own futures or their own careers
and will just think well do I want to go
down in history as leading this party in
a winnable election to a terrible defeat
and ask himself that question if he
thinks that's what's going to happen and
he's got no Prospect to tur it around I
I hope he'd be the person to say look
I've tried my best but it's not going to
work out and I'm asking alen Johnson to
come in and take over for the election
that's almost the only thing I can see
now now there's a rose tinted scenario
here which is that somehow the Tories
keep shooting themselves in the foot
that somehow Milan finds his voice the
expectations will be so low when he goes
into the pre-election leadership debates
that perhaps he surprises everyone with
his eloquence and his arguments and I
just saw a pig flying by me there I'm
giving you the optimistic scenario but
the danger is that EDM lean might just
cling on to that optimistic scenario
right the way to a week before the
election and then realize it's too late
and by that stage we're finished I don't
like breaking this news to labor but
this is the okay caral uh because
Scotland will break away yeah if the
Tories get back and then there'll never
be a labor government again I'm not in
labor but I want a labor government and
the people I represent want a labor
government need one to survive yeah uh
so if I could just be heard by Alan
Johnson whom I quite admire actually I'd
say to him you have to show some signal
you really have to but he's just also
too nice a guy isn't he yeah and he will
not not be the one to wield the knife he
wasn't under go Brown remember even
though people thought that he was he was
the man to do so then and so he will not
do it but labor and peas will not grasp
this that this is the win or bust
election and it's it's it's both because
of what will happen in Scotland but as a
consequence of that what that will allow
to happen in England the Tories will
drive through boundary changes which
will totally change the composition of
the elector you'll end up with a sort of
right-wing Coalition sort of you know
brought together stitched up ukip and
the Tories Coalition and then the
dynamic of British
politics and and it's a fearful scenario
will just be drifting from uh center
right to Far Right Center right to far
right that will be the dynamic of
British politics at that stage we will
almost have to sort of form a sort of
new version of the left standing up for
the workers to to have a chance of sort
of busting into that because that's
that's the way things will be and I
talked to lber and PE and they say well
you know nothing ever really changes and
I said well you don't realize this is
the election when it will change they
quite wrong uh about that now the last
thing I suppose the Ed millerand wanted
to come riding over the horizon to give
him his endorsement it was the dreaded
Tony Blair endorsement uh this week how
do you think that will have played well
I mean but but I you know Blair is toxic
within a l part he's toxic within
Britain at the moment and um you know he
gets put into these scenarios where he
still because of the sort of fantasies
that go on in Blair's head he still
thinks of himself as a king maker he
still thinks of himself as wielding this
great influence both with the party and
with the British public and uh you know
it's crazy I mean Ian if I was if I was
at millerand I I I hope I hope I pray
that Ed Milan did not actually caught
that and think that would be useful to
have Tony Blair saying that because what
Ed Milan needs right now are the people
that the British public trust the few
that they trust within the L party to
come out and say right this is the guy
the reason he can't get them to come out
that is that those people are fairly
trustworthy they speak the truth and I
don't think they believe it themselves
they're not prepared to uh to lie you
walked in Downing Street with Gordon
Brown I have a a double-edged
relationship with him he he said uh
recently I was his mentor and his Tor
Mentor uh but the one thing that we saw
in the Scottish referendum Campaign
which we fought every day of uh is that
Gordon Brown is very far from a man past
it he emerged into that debate and saved
the day Britain would not now exist if
it were not for Gordon Brown that's
quite a big claim to make but it's true
yeah it's true though it wasn't
recognized acknowledged by Ed Milan
during the conference un
he he thanked everybody who had actually
almost lost the referendum and didn't
thank the guy Gordon Brown who saved the
referendum yeah uh why can't Gordon come
out of retirement and lead the Scottish
labor party lead the fight back against
the SNP I fear he's the only man that
can do
it I sort of wish he would myself I
think my sympathy with him is that you
know how Riven the Scottish laad party
is with internal Division and I don't
think he he found this in dowy Street
he's very bad at managing if you like a
playground of squabbling children he
doesn't do it well um and you know you
you'd like people to just sort of almost
respect this Father Figure status and
and all sort of settle down but that's
not what you know that's not the way it
works in Scotland that people keep these
sort of feuds going and he's he's been
at the heart of that for the last 40
years so and I don't think he thinks he
can fix that and if you can't fix that I
don't think he thinks he can fix the
scottage well except there's not that
much now that needs fixing in the sense
that they're down to about 10,000
members in the entire country as
compared with the 880,000 members of the
SNP so in a way what you would need is
Gordon Brown given plenty potentially
Powers uh to effectively close down what
was there before and start a new but the
one thing I I must tell you he's got is
immense respect amongst the public in
Scotland and I I don't actually think
there's anybody else that comes remotely
close to that MH yeah I mean I think you
know it's the classic problem with
Gordon I think he'd make a great first
Minister from right now leading the
charge but it's how to get there and I
don't know whether he's got that kind of
energy in him uh to to lead that I think
I think where it's a sort of straight up
and down yes or no fight Gordon's
exactly the man you want making those
convincing arguments in the way that he
did in the for before the referendum but
to sort of try and Stitch together that
that party is is what you mean just
finally then um you've never been a of
course but you know how politics in the
Heart of Darkness that is Westminster
operates the Tories have their own
problems uh Europe for all of the time
nearly 30 years I've been in Parliament
has been a fisure at the heart of the
Tory party is it possible the Tory party
itself could break apart over this well
I think it's perfectly possible the way
the best way labor might still win this
election is the Tories imploding and and
blowing themselves in the foot if you
like because because the problem they've
got is that for them another coalition
government will not be enough they've
spent they you know David Cameron has
spent the last four years telling his
backbenches if only we'd won a majority
if only we can deliver a majority next
time around we'll be able to do the
things you want us to do if they can't
do that then the T party tears itself
apart again and you end up with this
split um where some people will say well
the only way of securing that is to
throw a lot in totally with ukip and uh
and that means abandoning support for
Europe in a referendum and you know a
significant chunk of the Tory will
refused to do that and so I think they
could tear themselves apart now and
hopefully from my point of view they
tear themselves apart before the
election not not wait till after Jam
McBride author of power trip it's a
fantastic read I must tell you thanks
for joining us after the break a report
from the front in Syria the medical
front that is where it must sometimes
feel like the trenches of the first
world war we'll be right
back welcome back to Sputnik more than 3
years into the Civil War and foreign
invasion of Syria the medical services
available to the hundreds of thousands
of dead and wounded could scarcely be
more strained sanctions and War have
transformed a medical front in Syria
into Killing Fields what Heroes
therefore are the doctors and nurses who
have remained at their post any of whom
could have walked into a lucrative
surgical job in the Gulf at any time yet
in instead they have chosen to remain in
their $100 a month sanctions bound and
War torn country because well their
dignity and honor is more important one
such doctor is Mr Ahmed Al kadur
cardiothoracic surgeon and the
personification of that dignity and I'm
glad to say he joins us now Mr Ahmed in
your case it's even more extraordinary
you were working and living here in
Britain for the last 17 years in safe
with decent salary uh but you've decided
to go back to Syria in the midst of all
of this why first of all thank you very
much for this opportunity and the
greeting to you to your uh program here
from my people in
Syria uh I in the beginning of this
crisis I decided to go to Syria to do
some charity operation and enjoyed it
very much so uh some of the local
charities wanted this trips to do uh
heart surgery on my own people and uh
with very cheap prices comparing to to
England and then uh a few months back uh
I found a lot of Syrian doctors decided
to leave the country and to go outside
uh for lucrative jobs as you mentioned
in your introduction so I just and I got
the opportunity to go and work in one of
the uh main leading hospitals at
Damascus University so I decided to take
my family and go live there I enjoy
helping my own people uh it's a good
experience for me it's a progression in
my
career uh so I decided take this
decision and uh go there uh offer my
help uh encourage people uh encourage my
colleague to stay there keep the country
United in this difficult time and how is
it is it uh as bad as it looks on
television uh Damascus people people in
Damascus uh they insist to
live uh they insist to stay they insist
to keep their countries
United of course sanctions and the war
affected the country very badly
especially the health system uh Health
surface comparing with NS for example in
UK If we say before the crisis started
let's say Syrian health system was
offering 70% comparing to NSS now is
about 30% let's say because of the
sanctions because of the security uh
people die they can't travel to Damascus
the so the health uh the hospitals only
available now in big cities like
Damascus or Latakia taros uh all other
places this war ruined the hospitals
ruin the schools ruin this war ruin
everything even the uh architecture
Heritage which we've got uh I've been
operating in
Damascus uh people they come from all
over Syria even they are freely to come
from raka idb where are under control of
Isis they travel to Damascus they took
the trouble traveling to Damascus uh and
appear operating on such a lot of people
and do they stay or go back they go back
after I do a hard job I say look please
be careful of yourself I did a hard job
I don't want you to lose your life on
the way so now many people will be
shocked that on top of all this there
are sanctions on uh Syria uh I know
intimately the regime of sanctions that
was imposed on Iraq and what the
consequences for the Health Care System
were in that tell us about the sanctions
well because of the sanctions uh Syria
transferred from exporter to medicine to
uh to getting as much as possible bit
and pieces from there and there the
trader refused to to sign long-term
contract with hospitals because of the
currency instability they cannot sign a
long-term contract of supply for
hospital so I end up buying uh little
bit there little bit there with double
or trouble the price and that raise the
cost of everything Health Service the
equipment equipment sometimes is not
available so we have to stop operation
for silly things sometimes something not
available uh because of the security uh
on the road uh some Supply didn't reach
a hospital where I I've been working for
example we we had to stop the service
for a week because there was a lack of
oxygen because the oxygen Factory uh a
uh controlled by by uh these Rebels so
they didn't reach the hospital so a lot
of difficulties going on but we're
trying to do our best to keep the
systems going a lot of people I can see
a lot of people are dying because they
couldn't reach the hospital on time if
if you got an emergency overnight nobody
uh uh could have travel overnight
because it's not safe to travel to the
hospital so uh a lot of difficulty is
associated with this war with the
security situation in the country in
Iraq uh the excuse was that medical
material had a dual use that it had
potentially military use as well as uh
this they employed as a tactic against
even pencils because a pencil can write
a note or it can the graphite in it if
you amassed 500 trillion pencils might
make uh enough for a for a bomb uh the
sanctions on Iraq were different though
to the sanctions on Syria just explain
what restrictions there are apart from
the currency
instability yeah we cannot import a lot
of materials for example I do hard
surgery I need a lot of equipment from
major companies major major companies
not allowed to to to to send materials
to Syria because of
sanctions most of the Traders they uh
their accounts uh outside uh being
closed because they are they got
Connection in Syria uh so uh most of
Traders they they left their business
because they couldn't afford to to to
bring into Syria uh any any products or
any medical products uh medicines or or
equipment for operations or or
instruments for the hospitals itself
even as I said to you local Supply is
even sometimes difficult to transport
between factories and the hospitals so
all this contri Ed to to the healthy
crisis so do you receive equipment in
different ways and maybe through
Charities or invo sometimes Charities
sometimes personal helps as I said we we
have to to pay as I said double or
trible the price of the same product is
being sold somewhere else much much
cheaper in in Lebanon or something we
have to to get the same product to Syria
with a trible price so what is the I
mean there obviously the trauma injuries
uh wounds and uh and so on from the
actual fighting and explosions and so on
but what are what are the other health
impacts of living through this uh
horrific uh period psychological illness
for example must be multiplying multiply
sometimes when when um I got my child is
7 years old H before I convinced him to
go there I said look my dad we have to
go help my own people work but but he he
said to me you can see on the TV people
shopping heads and say Allah abbar where
you we going to go and he was really
scared it took me a while to convince
him to go and uh really uh we he wake at
night few times hearing the bombing from
our he scared a few times and then uh I
encouraged him that we have to stay we
have to be brave this our homeland we
need to keep United we we need to stay
here otherwise we're going to lose our
land forever like other people and now
he start to realize and he's braver than
before and this is in Damascus that's in
Damascus so imagine imagine in homes
about uh there was assassination a month
back killed more than 50 children in one
school in the m in homes but people in
Syria insist to to stay and to to fight
for their independent and to keep United
and by the end of the day we don't want
to lose Syria as we uh as as Iraqi
people lost their Iraq you mention or
Libyan lost Libya so I got many friends
Libyan friend Iraqi friend they have no
hope in the future I still got hope
Syria will recover if we reach a
peaceful
agreement by negotiation by spreading
the peace Mission by by by the help of
real friend of Syria real friends who
can go to Damascus and and announce a
meeting of reconciliation from Damascus
itself we don't want the friends outside
the uh
funding uh terroristic group there and
there for uh for other goals you see how
can uh in a word or two uh how can
people help your work I think uh
sanctions affecting normal people this
should be lifted
immediately
sanctions I think real friends of uh
Syria uh should help uh Syria by pushing
into uh negotiation and uh peaceful uh
agreement between all syrians between
all syrians the talk should be between
all serence between all parties without
excluding anybody and I'm pretty sure uh
uh the situation uh without Outsider
interference will be much better I think
the situation got inflamed by uh by The
Outsiders well I'm I'm practically
speechless uh so it remains only for me
to thank you for coming on
and now it's your turn to tell us what
you think through the portals of social
media what's rattling gri well how deep
is the crisis in at with labor actually
Steve Connor makes a point that if melet
stood down now he's been he would be
seen as a crumbling under pressure and
labor would suffer as a result and where
will Western policy end in Syria takes
replies that the West wants another Iraq
and Libya but Palestine is also at stake
if false undoubtedly the Palestine
question and Syria are now as they have
always been inextricably
entwined uh but uh it seems to me that
the cour is set in Syria for perhaps
decades more of this war of attrition I
really don't see any ending uh even in
my lifetime I must
say well unfortunately that's all that
we've got for this week and
unfortunately that's the end of the the
show please keep in touch with us on
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today it's goodbye from me and from me
George Galloway it's been marvelous
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