the transcript is online btw if you can't watch the video.
[PDF] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/29111503.pdf
[PDF] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/29111503.pdf
AM: When we first talked, I think at the time of the Labour Party
conference, we talked about some of these issues, and you said
you thought matters of peace and war should be left to individual
conscience, it was such an important matter. And as a result of
that are you going to whip Labour MPs one way or another?
JC: No decision has been made on that yet. I will go and find out
what MPs think. Obviously there are strong views on both
directions. We’ll have a further discussion about this. My view –
AM: You can’t really whip them, can you?
JC: Well, my view about the membership of the Labour Party is
they must have a voice. Labour MPs need to listen to that voice,
need to try and understand where people are coming from on
this, and we will come to a decision as a party. But, I say this,
why can’t the government –
AM: So they have their own consciences and intelligences as MPs.
JC: Of course they do.
AM: And they presumably have to use those consciences.
JC: We will make that decision, not at this moment, later on.
AM: I understand that. I still ask you again, given –
JC: I thought you would. It’s your job.
AM: It’s my job. Given your background, given your own history,
you can’t really whip Labour MPs to vote against the government
if they believe something else.
JC: Listen, I understand dissent. I understand disagreement from
leadership. I talk to people who don’t agree with me, I talk to
people who agree with me, just as when I was a backbencher
myself I often talked to people with whom I actually had some
disagreements, but it doesn’t have to be abusive, it doesn’t have
to be personal, it doesn’t have to be nasty, it can be respectful,
and I’m respectful of differences of opinion within our party.
AM: And just to clear up the kind of – the kind of legal basis of all
of this – not the legal base, but the traditional base of it. Diane
Abbott says this decision on whipping or not whipping is for the
leader, is for you alone. But there’s been a suggestion that
actually it is something that could be decided by the Shadow
Cabinet, so which is it?
JC: It’s the leader who decides.
AM: The leader who decides. Alright, that’s fair. And you will make
up your mind when?
JC: I’ll make up my mind in due course.
AM: In due course, alright.
JC: Do you want to be the first to know?
AM: I was hoping we’d all be the first to know.
JC: No, no, you can’t be the first to know this morning, it’s Sunday
morning.