ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: This week amid accusations that the government is run by Old Etonians, the Prime Minister used the Foreign Secretary as an example that it isn’t. William Hague he said is the second most important person in the government and he went to a Yorkshire comprehensive. I’m delighted to say the second most important person in the government is about to appear on this programme in just a moment or two. Just before we speak to Mr Hague, the Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans made a very short statement after his arrest and questioning over allegations involving rape and sexual assault, let’s just remind ourselves of what he said … Nigel Evans there, let’s get immediate reaction from the Foreign Secretary William Hague, a very good morning to you Mr Hague. Your reaction to the arrest and questioning of the Deputy Speaker?

WILLIAM HAGUE: Good morning. Well of course we are all very limited in what we can say about this, it’s subject to legal proceedings. I think it’s right to point out, and certainly for me as a long standing friend of his, to point out that he is a very popular and well respected Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker, I think that’s true across the House of Commons actually for MPs of all parties, so we will all be very sorry to see this situation but it’s not possible for us to comment on more detail on something subject to legal proceedings.

DM: Indeed, well let’s move on to the issue of UKIP and its effect on the Conservative. Now as I said, as the second most important man in government, what wise counsel are you offering the number one, the Prime Minister, about how your party responds to UKIP? Do you treat them as Mr Clarke was effectively saying as something that will melt away when their policies are examined come a general election or does it require a policy response?

WH: We do of course have to treat with respect the people who voted in large numbers for UKIP, it’s very clear that they did well in the elections so we do have to respect that. I think in my experience in meeting some of those people on the campaign trail is what they’re actually looking for is a government that does many of the things that we are now doing and as I’ve written in the newspapers this morning, I think we have to get that message across more forcefully, that we have already cut immigration by a third, we’re capping welfare, we’re bringing down the deficit, we are doing everything we can to help hard-working people at a difficult time. We mustn’t be deflected from doing those things or think that there’s some easier answer so it’s not a case of the government changing course but it is a matter of the government pointing out it’s a choice at the next general election between a Conservative Prime Minister and a Labour Prime Minister and we are doing our utmost to tackle those issues that people are concerned about in this country.

DM: What about the individuals and the insults? I mean the Prime Minister seemed to eat his words about the fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists but you still referred in the middle of last week to some of their policies as clown-like.

WH: Well certainly they have policies that don’t add up, don’t remotely add up. Promises of huge increases in defence spending at the same time as reducing taxation. No party that was actually planning to be a government could put forward so many irreconcilable policies, particularly in the financial field so that is fair game I think to point that out and if they want to be taken more seriously and they are getting more votes, well they will get a lot more scrutiny for what they are actually saying and the scrutiny of their policies will turn up that result, that they don’t remotely add up. But as I say, the main thing the government has to do is make sure we make a success of what we are doing, that’s what we will be judged on at the next general election and a general election is not an indulgence as a local election or by-election can be, it is a choice. Do you want a Conservative government that is going to carry on this important work and hold a referendum on the European Union or do you want a Labour government that would go back to all the things that went wrong under Gordon Brown?

DM: Okay, I want to ask you more about that in a moment but you do still think, don’t you, that they are a bit of a laughing matter. I suppose he must be the number three, the Chancellor tweeted a photograph yesterday of a bunch of clowns at some event he was attending, we’ve got a picture of it, I think we can bring it up here, this is the Chancellor’s own Twitter feed and he says ‘No double meaning, I promise’, which of course means exactly the opposite.

WH: Well I think the Chancellor and all of us are allowed a little joke from time to time. They vary enormously, the UKIP candidates, of course is the truth of the matter. Some of them have been attacked and exposed of various things in the national press over the last couple of weeks, others of course are completely different from that, they vary enormously. The main point is that yes people are disappointed with many things, they want to see the government either communicate better or do better or complete its work successfully in a whole range of areas, they are using UKIP as a form of protest vote, it is the popular vehicle at the moment for protest and we’ve seen different parties used in that way over the last 20 or 30 years. They are that vehicle at the moment and we have to be clear that we will succeed in bringing down immigration, capping welfare, keeping down the cost of living for people, bringing down the deficit – these are part of our mission as a government and we need to present that clearly to people over the next two years to the next general election.

DM: What about their core offering, the resentment about Europe? There are those in your party quoted in the papers today saying well look, we really need to get ahead of ourselves here and have a referendum mandate before the general election. What do you think about that?

WH: Well first of all on that, I’m pleased that there is this increased focus now on the commitment David Cameron made in January that a Conservative government after the next general election will seek a new settlement in the European Union for the UK and will then hold a referendum, giving people the choice of whether they want to stay in the European Union on that basis or leave the European Union.

DM: But that’s after the next general election.

WH: But that’s the time. It is after the general election for two reasons, first of all we want to give people that choice, people need to know what is the improved relationship that we could obtain with the European Union before they vote otherwise they would be just asking that question in the referendum campaign and secondly we don’t have a Conservative majority in the House of Commons now, that’s why we have a coalition so we’re not in a position to bring about a referendum that the other two parties on current form are opposed to so those two things have to be borne in mind. We are prepared, as the Prime Minister has said the other day and the Home Secretary said yesterday, to look at ways of strengthening that commitment, of demonstrating the strength of that commitment to a referendum but we have taken no decision yet about that and everyone has to bear in mind we don’t have a Conservative majority in the House of Commons of today.

DM: Is that what you’re saying, Foreign Secretary, that in effect if you did have a majority that you would perhaps go closer to that route and if you really believe that, why not put it to the House anyway and see if the other two parties support a referendum giving the Prime Minister then a mandate which would strengthen his hands in those negotiations?

WH: Well we haven’t ruled that out or other options. We have never ruled out such options and so over the last few months since the Prime Minister’s speech in January, but we do just have to bear in mind and all Conservative MPs have to bear in mind that key point I’m making, we don’t have a majority in the House of Commons. That is of course a disadvantage in putting forward proposals that both the other main parties disagree with because it is likely in such a situation that our proposal would be defeated in the current House of Commons. That’s a constraint but of course we haven’t ruled that out, we will be considering the options on this.

DM: And one specific policy we are hearing may be going, may not be there in the Queen’s Speech, this commitment, it’s in the coalition agreement to spend 0.7% of gross national product by 2013 on overseas aid. If you don’t put that into legislation that would be quite popular with many of your own party and indeed UKIP supporters.

WH: The main thing on this is that we are meeting the commitment, we are going to be spending 0.7% of …

DM: But there is a commitment to put it into legislation.

WH: Well you’ll have to wait for the Queen’s speech obviously, which is on Wednesday. I would get into terrible trouble if I pre-empted the Queen’s speech which is only a few days away but the main point is, irrespective of legislation, of being for or against legislation on it, is are we actually meeting the commitment to spend the money and that’s our international commitment. As far as I’m concerned as Foreign Secretary we have a commitment that we will do that and we are going to be meeting that commitment.

DM: Foreign Secretary, I want to move on obviously to Syria, at the moment a very concerning situation developing of course for so many months and years. First of all on this issue of strikes, explosions in Damascus itself, what have you heard about whether they were carried out by the Israelis or not?

WH: We don’t have any official confirmation of that. There have been some sources in Israel saying that this has been an Israeli air strike but I will wait before commenting in detail on that before official confirmation of that but what I can say is that these events and many other events of recent days, do show the increasing danger to the peace of that entire region from the Syria crisis just getting worse and worse. Lebanon is constantly threatened by being destabilised, huge numbers of refugees are crossing the border, Jordan is under incredible strain and Israel has made very clear that it will act if it believes that important weapon systems are being transferred to Hezbollah and that of course may be behind some of the recent Israeli, what is speculated about as Israeli strikes. So you can see the threat to the whole peace of the region and that’s why we have to maintain our diplomatic efforts to resolve this crisis and keep increasing the assistance we give to the Syrian opposition, the National Coalition, because I think it is only when they are in a stronger situation, on current trends it is only when they are in a stronger situation, the Assad regime will seriously negotiate an end to this crisis.

DM: But what is your, what is the UK’s attitude to the Israeli actions? We know about the one last week and the one earlier in the year, do you condemn or condone them?

WH: Well as I say, we don’t have official confirmation of that so I’m not going to go any further on that subject beyond what I’ve said already. It does illustrate the dangers to the peace of the region but we’ll have to know more about exactly what has happened before pronouncing on these events …

DM: Sorry to interrupt but it has been well documented that they have intervened militarily previously, what is your attitude to that? Are they free to take such actions to protect their perceived interests?

WH: All countries have to look after their own national security of course and are able to take actions to protect their own national security so no, I haven’t condemned what Israel has done in relation to Syria in the past but on these latest events we do need official confirmation on what has happened before I go any further on that but Israel will act to protect its national security. We do have to respect that, we do have to be very concerned about the position of other countries and we have to be concerned about the position of people in Syria who are being massacred, who are having Scud missiles fired at them, who have bombs dropped on them, we have credible reports of chemical weapons being used against them and who most of the world is denying the means to defend themselves. That’s why the longer this goes on, the stronger the case becomes for lifting the arms embargos on the National Coalition, on the Syrian opposition, if we are left with no other alternative to that.

DM: Mr Hague, we are very grateful for you sparing the time to talk to us. The Foreign Secretary there, thank you very much.