ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now speculation is building that North Korea is preparing to launch a ballistic missile of some form. The US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Chinese President yesterday and said that the two countries are committed to defusing tensions. In a moment I’ll speak to the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, for his views. Well let’s say a very good morning to the Shadow Foreign Secretary and let’s talk about North Korea, how do you solve that problem and this idea coming from, not a new idea of course, coming from the Secretary of State, the US Secretary of State, about China and the US working together to do something about North Korea. Isn’t the problem always going to be here that China is never going to push as hard as the United States because ultimately they do not want North Korea, if there ever were to be reunification, they do not want North Korea falling into the sphere of influence of the United States.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well historically that’s been the case, there’s been a real worry that they could see American troops and an American ally on China’s mainland border. On the other hand there was a very strong statement issued by China’s new premier making clear that no one country had the right to destabilise the region and that was taken as a positive sign before John Kerry’s visit. In some ways beyond the words that John Kerry offered yesterday and I welcome them, I think what was more significant was the announcement that the American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be travelling to Beijing in the coming days along with senior intelligence officials from the United States and that suggested to me that there was a commitment to work together as well as to speak together to try and resolve this problem because frankly it’s not in China’s interests to see either the collapse of the North Korean regime or to see an even greater level of tension in that particular region.

DM: I see. While we’re on North Korea, what do you think of this row involving the BBC and an undercover reporter travelling with London School of Economics students? We just heard there didn’t we the representative of the National Union of Students and they feel in a way the BBC endangered their students on this trip.

DA: I think it will be for the BBC to address those questions which are being asked by the London School of Economics. We have got a national broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, it’s not really for politicians to resolve those editorial decisions but there are clearly issues which will need to be addressed.

DM: Do you think there will be an investigation?

DA: Listen, it’s for the BBC to respond to what we heard on the news this morning.

DM: Okay. Let me move on, no international affairs and moving to Syria, I mean the dire situation which still persists there and now there are rumours, well it’s gone beyond rumours, that chemical weapons have been used.

DA: Yes, there were very worrying reports in recent days specifically in relation to chemical weapons but even before those reports we’ve now seen more than 70,000 casualties. I saw for myself many Syrian displaced people in Jordan when I visited the Al-Zaatari refugee camp recently. It is a desperate, desperate humanitarian situation but frankly whether it is the West or whether it is Russia and China, both sides of the international divide over the past couple of years, they still have a common interest in avoiding a Somalia in the Levant, if you like, a descent of this country even after Assad into total chaos and that’s why I welcome the fact that it was discussed yesterday between John Kerry and the between the Chinese government. My hope is that this will be followed up in direct bilateral discussions between John Kerry and the United States. The truth is that Putin is most likely to give a hearing to the United States, more so I would say even than Europe and in that case I think given the scale of the humanitarian suffering, there does now need to be the kind of shuffle diplomacy John Kerry is showing towards North Korea, shown towards Syria and whether that is John Kerry getting on a plane to Moscow, whether that is direct talks between Putin and President Obama, I think there is a real urgency to having those discussion.

DM: I wanted to ask about bilateral discussions on a different issue of course, Europe, between the Prime Minister David Cameron and Angela Merkel. Of course this last week was meant to be the start of the big campaign about repatriation of powers or whatever it is, of course interrupted by the death of Baroness Thatcher. Nevertheless it seems he made a bit of headway with Angela Merkel.

DA: I don’t really think so. For all of the warm words and attractive pictures, what David Cameron said I think will be pretty cold comfort to his back benchers. The truth is, only months after the speech on Europe that he made, he is still marooned, the Prime Minister, between where his back benchers are on one side and where other European leaders are. You mentioned repatriation, that’s perfectly reasonable, the Prime Minister has talked about repatriation a lot, so has the Foreign Secretary. The word repatriation was never mentioned in the entire speech that the Prime Minister made at the end of January and that’s because he’s trying to bridge an almost unbridgeable gap between the demands that he has made of Europe in the past and that his back benchers continue to make, and actually what the rest of Europe can actually consider so no doubt Angela Merkel was working hard to make him feel welcome in the visit with the family over the last couple of days and it’s good that they have those discussions but I don’t get any sense there’s any fundamental movement between Europe and between the position that the Prime Minister has actually adopted.

DM: Okay, well we mentioned it there, the death of Baroness Thatcher and I know you and many of your front bench colleagues are going to the funeral on Wednesday. What do you make of this senior Labour minister, a source quoted in the Observer today saying that some Labour figures feel that the funeral is being over-militaristic?

DA: Well I’m a Presbyterian, I would by inclination err towards something rather more simple than what we will see but my sense is this is not the week to be having those discussions, there’s going to be a funeral …

DM: Why not, it’s costing a lot of money?

DA: Let me make the point. The funeral will happen on Wednesday and reasonably there has to be concern for the feelings of the family at what is first and foremost a funeral. I think once the funeral has passed there could and should be discussions as to what are the appropriate ways to mark the passing of British Prime Ministers because inevitably there has been controversy over a figure that was so divisive as Margaret Thatcher but I think it’s unfortunate that in addition to differences of opinion as to her time in office, there is now such disagreement in relation as to something as basic as a funeral and I hope once we’re past this funeral there will be an opportunity in rather calmer times to think what is the appropriate way for Britain to acknowledge Britain’s Prime Ministers, whatever their political background.

DM: And this appropriateness test in your book, should that be applied to those who may demonstrate, protest during the course of the funeral itself? Would you say this is actually a funeral, this is not the time. You may be a Labour supporter, you may violently oppose her policies as I know you do, but you’re going along to the funeral. There are others, as I say Labour members, who say no, we want to line the route of the procession and turn our backs or whatever that may be, what would you say to them?

DA: I disagreed with Thatcherism back in the 80s, I disagree with it still today but I do think there is a responsibility on us to conduct ourselves to conduct ourselves with an appropriate degree of decorum and respect for a family that are laying to rest one of their own. That being said, even Margaret Thatcher would accept that she was a figure who disdained compromise and expected very robust debate and I expect that there probably will be people who will make clear their feelings in the course of the coming days but I hope they do that in a way that is appropriate and fitting to the fact that there is going to be a funeral on Wednesday.

DM: Okay, Douglas Alexander thank you very much indeed, Shadow Foreign Secretary there.