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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Joining me now is the Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister, Jeremy Browne, a very good morning to you Mr Browne. Okay, you’ve been campaigning hard against each other as coalition partners in Eastleigh do you think whatever the result the bad blood can be put behind you and you can really bond as a coalition given all the economic problems you are facing?

JEREMY BROWNE: Actually I disagree with Lord Lawson, I don’t think the health of the coalition is nearly as bad as he implies, I think we’re working very well together and actually we’ve had a strong reminder in the last few days of the need for us to have a coherent joined up government that’s working to try and get to grips with the country’s problems but at the same time of course we’ve got the by-election in Eastleigh, people would expect us, two separate parties, to be fighting that by-election hard and we are, we are putting all our effort into it and obviously we want to have a good result.

DM: So your message to Lib Dem activists who’ve been teeming there on the ground is presumably if you do win, you don’t crow about it, you don’t want to rub the Conservatives nose in it?

JB: I think we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. We’re on Sunday, the election is on Thursday, the energy in the Lib Dem campaign is absolutely fantastic. I was there twice in the last week and the number of activists who are coming in, the people who are living there, are really up for it. We have the best candidate in Mike Thornton I think, people generally across the parties I think acknowledge that. We have the strongest track record at local level, year in year out, helping the people of Eastleigh, not just turning up when by-elections are being held but you’ve got to close out the deal. Like England at Twickenham yesterday, in the last quarter of the game, you’ve got to finish the job and we have four days still to go and we’ve got to finish the job and it’s very close.

DM: But we saw the dejection on the French side, let us continue with that. So your opponents put everything into it, their captain is there, the Prime Minister has been in this constituency, it is a blow to them isn’t it, if they lose?

JB: Well absolutely, every party wants to win and we the Liberal Democrats want to win, it’s a seat we’ve held for 19 years. You’ve got to think that actually the last time the Conservatives won a general election they won Eastleigh with a majority of almost 18,000 votes. That’s a pretty high bar, let’s see how they get on. Of course the last time Labour went on to win a general election and win power back, they finished second in the Eastleigh by-election and their campaign has been an absolute shambles and I think they look like they’re going to finish fourth on Thursday but we’ll see what happens. It’s very close, the Liberal Democrats have fought an extremely hard campaign but I think we’ve fought on the right issues and actually what’s interesting, what’s striking of course is the London media keep writing the Lib Dems off, keep saying we haven’t got a hope but actually there we are, a lot of people on the doorstep are very positive about us, they like our candidate and I’m pretty optimistic about Thursday but we’ve got four or five days and we’ve got to make sure we seal the deal.

DM: Interesting to hear. Now you think by-elections and Lib Dems, often in the past you used to think of Lord Rennard, you must have worked with him a lot, you must know the man, what did you first think when you heard of these allegations against him?

JB: Well I was surprised. People always say all these rumours were going around, there weren’t rumours that I’ve ever heard and it’s worth saying that Lord Rennard denies them accusations that have been made and it’s worth putting that on the record because sometimes you read the newspapers and you might think the accusations have been accepted when of course they haven’t but we are going to have a proper investigation, two types of investigation actually as a party, one to look at the specific accusations against Lord Rennard but a second investigation to look at the overall procedures that we have as a party when people or if people make complaints of this sort so we’re very up front about it, that the Liberal Democrats stand for openness and equality and we want to make sure that we as a party represent the best values of the party and if there’s any reason to believe that we have fallen short of those standards we want to rectify that.

DM: Vince Cable was speaking earlier on Marr, speaking about those investigations, talking about an independent element, what form will that take? Is it fully independent or overseen by Lib Dems?

JB: My understanding is what we’re looking at initially is bringing on board the people within the party structures who have obvious expertise and a record of integrity within the party obviously as well but if we can introduce an independent element, people who are not Liberal Democrat members but can lend us their expertise in looking at how we can have the best procedures then may give people even more confidence that it’s being done well.

DM: What about what the BBC did with Savile and related issues, they brought in someone from outside with expertise? Why not do that? If Lib Dems are involved people are going to say look, it’s not entirely independent.

JB: Well let’s see but I think actually the party has moved pretty speedily and I don't think we can be accused of being slow off the mark. This has only emerged in the last two days, three days or so and already we’ve instigated both a particular inquiry into the particular allegations and a more general review and we want to have an independent element to that review if we can and I can assure people who are watching this that we want to live up to the highest standards. We have had hundreds and hundreds of people coming down to Eastleigh, they’re inspired by our candidate, they’re inspired by our campaign but they’re inspired by our values as a party as well and we want to live up to those standards for ourselves.

DM: But can you assure us, with your knowledge of Lord Rennard’s character that, as you said earlier, this came as a surprise to you?

JB: Yes, people always say of course everybody knows the gossip and I have to say maybe I’m not good enough at listening to the gossip but I’ve never heard these allegations before. I’m not casting aspersions one way or the other, I don’t doubt the sincerity of people who have been on television, they have their thing to say, Lord Rennard has made his statement, let’s see what the outcome of the investigation is but it’s certainly not a rumour that I was aware of and you’re right, I’ve known Lord Rennard for about 20 years or so and I haven’t heard these allegations before.

DM: But interestingly you hadn’t heard about and, as we understand it, your leader hadn’t either.

JB: Yes, he was not aware of these allegations. I mean I haven’t spoken to Nick Clegg in the last few days but he was not aware of these allegations and so he has put together these two reviews, one into the specific accusations and one into the party’s procedures and let’s see how they conclude.

DM: Okay Mr Browne, thank you very much indeed. Jeremy Browne there, the Home Office Minister.