ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well Friday’s headlines should have been about UKIP gaining a second MP at the expense of the Conservatives but of course it became instead about an ill-judged tweet and raised questions about Labour’s working class support.  So how much has the Emily Thornberry episode damaged Labour?  I am joined now by one of her former front bench colleagues, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Chris Leslie.  A very good morning to you Mr Leslie, it is still reverberating isn’t it?  We just had Diane Abbott on the programme saying Mr Miliband was wrong to sack Emily Thornberry.  

CHRIS LESLIE:  Well Emily made a mistake, she has apologised for it, she’s paid the price for it.  I think from my point of view, from a lot of my Labour colleagues, we have got to make sure we don’t get distracted into some sort of self-absorbed navel gazing, we focus and concentrate on the issues that the vast majority of the public really do want to focus on, how we are going to make sure that those on lower and middle incomes actually do get a share of any economic recovery that’s coming, the concerns people have about the NHS, making sure that we make government work better for the vast majority of people and why David Cameron must go.  

DM: But was Ed Miliband right to sack Emily Thornberry?  

CHRIS LESLIE:  I think he was right to be decisive, I think we’ve dealt with this particular issue, I think it’s important that we send our signals constantly that we are standing on behalf of the vast majority of working people.  It says it on the back of our party membership card, we want power, wealth and opportunity in the hands of the many and not the few and Labour will always stand for that.    

DM: Given the constituency that Emily Thornberry represents, given her background, do you not think she understands that?  

CHRIS LESLIE:  Of course she does.  She made a mistake and I think the proportionate response, she’s paid the price, she’s lost her job in Shadow Cabinet and I think we now need to avoid getting too distracted on this particular process, focus on what the public want us to be talking about. They’re fed up with the sort of trickle down Tory economics and if you want real disconnection where the wealthiest 1% seem to be the ones benefitting from the greater share of the cake while the 90 odd percent of the rest are seeing their share actually shrinking and that is the real issue and we must focus on that.  

DM: You have been saying this for quite a while and clearly it is not getting through in places but isn’t part of the problem where you are all coming from including the leader, that actually a lot of you haven’t had real jobs before you became MPs and moved on into in some cases Cabinet positions and shadow Cabinet positions?

CHRIS LESLIE:  Look I actually don’t think … again that is a distraction and we can talk about where people have come from historically, what their backgrounds are, what their CVs but most people want to know where you are going and what you are saying and what your policies are.   

DM:  So you are saying that Ed Miliband can get it, born and raised in North London to North London intellectuals, a political wonk so to speak but does he get the concerns of the man whose house Emily Thornberry took a photograph of?  He fully understands him?  

CHRIS LESLIE: Ed Miliband represents Doncaster North, I represent Nottingham East.  Every single week we see people who have suffered constantly under this government of being isolated, left alone and left to fend for themselves in a way that … we should have an inclusive government that cares about a fairer society. That’s going to be the choice at the next election and people I think need to now focus and knuckle down on that particular question.

DM: Okay, last question, you feel respect do you when you see a white van?  

CHRIS LESLIE:  When I see a white van I think look, there’s a van …

DM: That’s what Ed Miliband said.

CHRIS LESLIE: … you think construction trade, building trade.

DM: But do you think respect?

CHRIS LESLIE: I think what you need to do is make sure that you get to this issue, this issue was about when people put a flag outside their window, when they have certain characteristics, everybody is entitled to express themselves in whatever way they want and of course you have got to be respectful of that but ultimately we can’t get distracted, our opponents would love it if somehow Labour didn’t stand for the vast majority. We do, we always will and we always have.  

DM: It is undeniable though that some members in the extreme right in the past have used this flag so if a member of the BNP hung it outside his window, and there are members of the BNP out there who have done that or are doing it, you would still feel respect?

CHRIS LESLIE:  It’s been hijacked though of course by those things.  I am proud to be English, I’m proud to be British and we all have different ways of expressing our patriotism but at the end of the day we can get into the semiotics of all these kind of questions – do you stand up for the vast majority or not?  You must be judged by your actions and what you promise to do, that is the key.  
DM: And I promise to talk about some of these actions you want to be judged by, you want to sell of more of the family silver.   

CHRIS LESLIE:  Well we’ve got the Chancellor who has failed to tackle the deficit, national debt …

DM: You want to sell off more of the nation’s assets?  

CHRIS LESLIE: … the national debt is still a problem, what we have to do is take the tough decisions to make sure step by step that we can prove to the public that we can deal with the deficit in a fairer way and get the national debt down.  

DM: But selling off things that we own?

CHRIS LESLIE: There are certain properties, you’d been amazed.  I’ve been looking through as part of our zero base review of all of the assets that the government owns and you’d be astonished what the government actually owns, properties, restaurants, clubs, bars, all sorts of things.  I’ve set out a few examples today that we think actually you should just reappraise and say are they providing the right value or could we realise that value and use it to pay down the national debt and so over the next few weeks as part of our zero base review, step by step, people want to know what is our approach going to be to getting the public finances in order and I think today gives you a few examples.  

DM: But a bit of a mixed message, I have seen the list here and …

CHRIS LESLIE: Surprising isn’t it?

DM: Well it’s surprising but really a drop in the ocean when it comes to the size of the debt and the deficit but a mixed message. You want to buy back the railways but you want to sell off these restaurants and hotels, what are you in favour of?

CHRIS LESLIE:  We can’t buy back the railways but what we want to do is make sure that we still have a level playing field so that if you do have public ownership in certain areas then they can compete for franchises.  

DM: Why is the state better at running railways and not restaurants?

CHRIS LESLIE: Look, there are certain essential factors where of course the public services have got to play their role, we created the NHS, we value that but when it comes to a restaurant in a park or when it comes to a conference centre, we’ve got to make some tough decisions here and say actually should we realise that value and get rid of the national debt and the deficit in a fairer way, that’s the key difference between us and the Tories.  

DM: Okay, Mr Leslie, thank you very much indeed, Chris Leslie there.