The Politics Show was an hour long BBC One television political programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays, broadcasting usually at midday.

The Politics Show was superseded by Sunday Politics, a weekend version of The Daily Politics, which retains some of the elements of the former show.

History[link]

During 2000, the then BBC Director General Greg Dyke ordered a review of political output from BBC, which was carried out by Fran Unsworth,^[1] leading to a major overhaul of political output in the 2002. A number of flagship programmes were axed, including On the Record, Despatch Box and Westminster Live and replaced with a new raft of programmes. ^[2]

The Politics Show become the Sunday flagship lunchtime politics show hosted by Jeremy Vine. The show retained On the Record's heavyweight agenda and a long-form interview as its centrepiece and contained reports on the big political stories of the week as well as analysing the way these stories will affect people all over the country. The Politics Show also replaced a number of localised political programmes on BBC2, by including a 20-minute opt-out for each of the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fronted by a different presenter for each region, looking into how political stories affect the local area.

In September 2005 Jeremy Vine left the show and was replaced by BBC News presenter Jon Sopel ^[3]. Susanna Reid and Tim Donovan, deputy political editor James Landale and political correspondents Laura Kuenssberg and Jo Coburn have all presented in place of Sopel.

The programme aired for the final time on the 11 December 2011. It was replaced from 15 January 2012 by Sunday Politics, a weekend version of The Daily Politics, hosted by Andrew Neil . ^[4]

The Politics Show Scotland[link]

The Politics Show Scotland was BBC Scotland's main political programme broadcast on Sundays. It followed the same format as the UK version until 2007, when a major overhaul of Scottish political programmes took place, which resulted axing of "Politics Scotland" Friday edition and Holyrood both presented by Iain Macwhirter, and incorporating them into the new programme. The new format resulted in Scotland taking the first 20-30min of the national broadcast then opting-out to provide a full one hour show analysing the big political stories of the week in Scotland. The programme aired for the final time on the 18 December 2011, with a review of 2011.

From 15 January 2012, the programme has been replaced by Sunday Politics Scotland - an opt-out of the national Sunday Politics, which has now replaced The Politics Show. Sunday Politics is itself a weekend version of The Daily Politics, hosted by Andrew Neil (who also hosts the weekday version on Wednesdays - Fridays).

Presenters[link]

• Presenter/Holyrood correspondent: Isabel Frazer
• Political editor: Brian Taylor
• Reporter: Catriona Renton
• Holyrood correspondent: Raymond Buchanan
• Westminster correspondents: David Porter and Tim Reid

• Original Presenter: Glenn Campbell 2003 - 2007, Iain Macwhirter 2007 - 2008

Regional opt-out teams[link]

Northern Ireland[link]

The Northern Irish version usually followed the UK with a 20 minute opt out and returning for the final 10 minutes. However, occasionally when there are big stories in Northern Ireland or election debates, they broadcast for the full hour and don't show the London edition. They also broadcast the full 20 minute NI edition after the late night news on a sunday evening usually 10.20pm to 10.40pm.

• Presenter: Tara Mills (2011-Present - Hosted Politics Show for 4 months after Jims departure and continues on the Sunday Politics in 2012. Also hosts Stormont today for BBC NI)
• Former Presenter - Jim Fitzpatrick (2003-2011 - Left after 2011 Election to become Business Editor on BBC Newsline but is still on the Sunday Politics production team)
• Political editor: Mark Davenport
• Political correspondents: Gareth Gordon, Yvette Shapero and Martina Purdy

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Politics Show at BBC Online

BBC portal

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Rizwan "Riz" Khan (Urdu: ريز خان; born April 1962) is a British^[1] television news reporter and interviewer who until April 2011 hosted his own eponymous television show on Al Jazeera English. He first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN.

Life and career[link]

Khan was born in Aden, South Yemen,^[1] to a Punjabi father^[2] and Gujarati mother. His father's roots are in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, while his mother's roots go back to Kutch, Gujarat. He considers himself a British Pakistani. Khan moved with his family to London, at the age of four. He attended both Springwell Junior and Hounslow Manor Comprehensive Schools and joined the Air Training Corps, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Physiology from the University of Wales, and then completed a postgraduate course in Radio Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.

In 1987 he was selected for the BBC News Trainee scheme - a two-year BBC training system, usually taking only 6 people per course. Khan progressed to jobs as a BBC reporter, producer, and writer, working in both television and radio, and would later become one of the founding News Presenters on BBC World Service Television News. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. In 1993, he moved to CNN International, where he became a senior anchor for the network's global news shows. Events he covered included the 1996 and 1999 coverage of elections in India; the 1997 historic election in Britain; and in April 1998 the unprecedented live coverage from the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj.

In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show CNN: Q&A with Riz Khan, and he has conducted interviews with guests including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, and genomic scientist J. Craig Venter. Khan also secured the world exclusive with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf following his coup in October 1999. Khan also hosted Q&A-Asia with Riz Khan. These interactive shows put world newsmakers and celebrities up for viewer questions live by phone, e-mail, video-mail and fax, along with questions and comments taken from the real-time chatroom that opens half-an-hour before each show.

Until April 2011, Khan had his own show, Riz Khan, on Al Jazeera English, in which he interviewed analysts and policy-makers and invited viewers to interact with them via phone, email, SMS messages or fax.^[3]

Khan speaks Urdu and Hindi^[4] and also understands other South Asian languages such as Punjabi and Kutchi. He has studied French, and can understand some other European languages, including Swedish and Norwegian.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 he authored his first book, Al-Waleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince, published by Harper Collins.

In 2011 he authored a preface for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report "Attacks on the Press 2010",^[5] which examined working conditions for journalists in more than 100 countries.^[6]

References[link]

• "Why I'm Joining Al Jazeera", op-ed by Riz Khan, The Wall Street Journal, 13 June 2005, p. A1
• "Q&A CNN Anchor: Riz Khan". India Today. February 19, 2001.

External links[link]

• Riz Khan's official website
• Profile at Al Jazeera English^{[dead link]}
• MySpace Profile
• Interview with Baron Dave Romm of KFAI-FM at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2, 2008 and picture

This article about a journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes
George Cruikshank's illustration of Guy Fawkes, published in William Harrison Ainsworth's 1840 novel
Details
Parents	Edward Fawkes, Edith (née Blake or Jackson)
Born	(1570-04-13)13 April 1570 (presumed) York, England
Alias(es)	Guido Fawkes, John Johnson
Occupation	Soldier; Alférez
Plot
Role	Explosives
Enlisted	20 May 1604
Captured	5 November 1605
Conviction(s)	High treason
Penalty	Hanged, drawn and quartered
Died	31 January 1606(1606-01-31) (aged 35) Westminster, London, England
Cause	Hanged

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Fawkes was born and educated in York. His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes later converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England.

Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually he broke. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the mutilation that followed.

Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a firework display.

Early life[link]

Childhood[link]

Fawkes was baptised at the church of St. Michael le Belfrey

Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in Stonegate, York. He was the second of four children born to Edward Fawkes, a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York,^{[nb 1]} and his wife, Edith.^{[nb 2]} Guy's parents were regular communicants of the Church of England, as were his paternal grandparents; his grandmother, born Ellen Harrington, was the daughter of a prominent merchant, who served as Lord Mayor of York in 1536.^[4] However, Guy's mother's family were recusant Catholics, and his cousin, Richard Cowling, became a Jesuit priest.^[5] Guy was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir Guy Fairfax of Steeton.^[6]

The date of Fawkes' birth is unknown, but he was baptised in the church of St. Michael le Belfrey on 16 April. As the customary gap between birth and baptism was three days, he was probably born about 13 April.^[5] In 1568, Edith had given birth to a daughter named Anne, but the child died aged about seven weeks, in November that year. She bore two more children after Guy: Anne (b. 1572), and Elizabeth (b. 1575). Both were married, in 1599 and 1594 respectively.^[6][7]

In 1579, when Guy was eight years old, his father died. His mother remarried several years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge (or Denis Bainbridge) of Scotton, Harrogate. Fawkes may have become a Catholic through the Baynbrigge family's recusant tendencies, and also the Catholic branches of the Pulleyn and Percy families of Scotton,^[8] but also from his time at St. Peter's School in York. A governor of the school had spent about 20 years in prison for recusancy, and its headmaster, John Pulleyn, came from a family of noted Yorkshire recusants, the Pulleyns of Blubberhouses. In her 1915 work The Pulleynes of Yorkshire, author Catharine Pullein suggested that Fawkes's Catholic education came from his Harrington relatives, who were known for harbouring priests, one of whom later accompanied Fawkes to Flanders in 1592–1593.^[9] Fawkes's fellow students included John Wright and his brother Christopher (both later involved with Fawkes in the Gunpowder plot) and Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne and Robert Middleton, who became priests (the latter executed in 1601).^[10]

After leaving school Fawkes entered the service of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. The Viscount took a dislike to Fawkes and after a short time dismissed him; he was subsequently employed by Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu, who succeeded his grandfather at the age of 18.^[11] At least one source claims that Fawkes married and had a son, but no known contemporary accounts confirm this.^{[12][nb 3]}

Military career[link]

In October 1591 Fawkes sold the estate in Clifton that he had inherited from his father.^{[nb 4]} He travelled to the continent to fight in the Eighty Years War for Catholic Spain against the new Dutch Republic and, from 1595 until the Peace of Vervins in 1598, France. Although England was not by then engaged in land operations against Spain, the two countries were still at war, and the Spanish Armada of 1588 was only five years in the past. He joined Sir William Stanley, an English Catholic and veteran commander in his mid-fifties who had raised an army in Ireland to fight in Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands. Stanley had been held in high regard by Elizabeth I, but following his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587 he, and most of his troops, had switched sides to serve Spain. Fawkes became an alférez or junior officer, fought well at the siege of Calais in 1596, and by 1603 had been recommended for a captaincy.^[3] That year, he travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He used the occasion to adopt the Italian version of his name, Guido, and in his memorandum described James I as "a heretic", who intended "to have all of the Papist sect driven out of England." He denounced Scotland, and the King's favourites among the Scottish nobles, writing "it will not be possible to reconcile these two nations, as they are, for very long".^[13] Although he was received politely, the court of Philip III was unwilling to offer him any support.^[14]

Gunpowder Plot[link]

A contemporary engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by Crispijn van de Passe. Fawkes is third from the right.

In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth.^[15][16] Fawkes was described by the Jesuit priest and former school friend Oswald Tesimond as "pleasant of approach and cheerful of manner, opposed to quarrels and strife ... loyal to his friends". Tesimond also claimed Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism which endeared him to his fellow conspirators.^[3] The author Antonia Fraser describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action ... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies."^[5]

The first meeting of the five central conspirators took place on Sunday 20 May 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the fashionable Strand district of London.^{[nb 5]} Catesby had already proposed at an earlier meeting with Thomas Wintour and John Wright to kill the King and his government by blowing up "the Parliament House with gunpowder". Wintour, who at first objected to the plan, was convinced by Catesby to travel to the continent to seek help. Wintour met with the Constable of Castile, the exiled Welsh spy Hugh Owen,^[18] and Sir William Stanley, who said that Catesby would receive no support from Spain. Owen did, however, introduce Wintour to Fawkes, who had by then been away from England for many years, and thus was largely unknown in the country. Wintour and Fawkes were contemporaries; each was militant, and had first-hand experience of the unwillingness of the Spaniards to help. Wintour told Fawkes of their plan to "doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spaine healped us nott",^[3] and thus in April 1604 the two men returned to England.^[17] Wintour's news did not surprise Catesby; despite positive noises from the Spanish authorities, he feared that "the deeds would nott answere".^{[nb 6]}

One of the conspirators, Thomas Percy was promoted in June 1604, gaining access to a house in London which belonged to John Whynniard, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe. Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy.^[20] The contemporaneous account of the prosecution (taken from Thomas Wintour's confession)^[21] claimed that the conspirators attempted to dig a tunnel from beneath Whynniard's house to Parliament, although this story may have been a government fabrication; no evidence for the existence of a tunnel was presented by the prosecution, and no trace of one has ever been found; Fawkes himself did not admit the existence of such a scheme until his fifth interrogation, but even then he could not locate the tunnel.^[22] If the story is true, however, by December 1604 the conspirators were busy tunnelling from their rented house to the House of Lords. They ceased their efforts when, during tunnelling, they heard a noise from above. Fawkes was sent out to investigate, and returned with the news that the tenant's widow was clearing out a nearby undercroft, directly beneath the House of Lords.^[3][23]

The plotters purchased the lease to the room, which also belonged to John Whynniard. Unused and filthy, it was considered an ideal hiding place for the gunpowder the plotters planned to store.^[24] According to Fawkes, 20 barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by 16 more on 20 July.^[25] On 28 July however, the ever-present threat of the plague delayed the opening of Parliament until Tuesday, 5 November.^[26]

Overseas[link]

In an attempt to gain foreign support, in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters' plan.^[27] At some point during this trip his name made its way into the files of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who employed a network of spies across Europe. One of these spies, Captain William Turner, may have been responsible. Although the information he provided to Salisbury usually amounted to no more than a vague pattern of invasion reports, and included nothing which regarded the Gunpowder Plot, on 21 April he told how Fawkes was to be brought by Tesimond to England. Fawkes was a well known Flemish mercenary, and would be introduced to "Mr Catesby" and "honourable friends of the nobility and others who would have arms and horses in readiness".^[28] Turner's report did not, however, mention Fawkes's pseudonym in England, John Johnson, and did not reach Cecil until late in November, well after the plot had been discovered.^[3][29]

It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it.^[30] Fawkes's final role in the plot was settled during a series of meetings in October. He was to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames. Simultaneously, a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Acts of regicide were frowned upon, and Fawkes would therefore head to the continent, where he would explain to the Catholic powers his holy duty to kill the King and his retinue.^[31]

Discovery[link]

Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot (c. 1823), Henry Perronet Briggs

A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would be present at Parliament during the opening.^[32] On the evening of 26 October, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament".^[33] Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter – informed by one of Monteagle's servants – the conspirators resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax".^[34] Fawkes checked the undercroft on 30 October, and reported that nothing had been disturbed.^[35] Monteagle's suspicions had been aroused however, and the letter was shown to King James. The King ordered Sir Thomas Knyvet to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away".^[3] He was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.^[36]

Torture[link]

Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the King's Privy Chamber, where he remained defiant. When asked by one of the lords what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."^[37] He identified himself as a 36-year-old Catholic from Netherdale in Yorkshire, and gave his father's name as Thomas and his mother's as Edith Jackson. Wounds on his body noted by his questioners he explained as the effects of pleurisy. Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so. His steadfast manner earned him the admiration of King James, who described Fawkes as possessing "a Roman resolution".^[38]

James's admiration did not, however, prevent him from ordering on 6 November that "John Johnson" be tortured, to reveal the names of his co-conspirators.^[39] He directed that the torture be light at first, referring to the use of manacles, but more severe if necessary, authorising the use of the rack: "the gentler Tortures are to be first used unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur [and so by degrees proceeding to the worst]".^[37][40] Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London. The King composed a list of questions to be put to "Johnson", such as "as to what he is, For I can never yet hear of any man that knows him", "When and where he learned to speak French?", and "If he was a Papist, who brought him up in it?"^[41] The room in which Fawkes was interrogated subsequently became known as the Guy Fawkes Room.^[42]

Fawkes's signature of "Guido", made soon after his torture, is a barely evident scrawl compared to a later instance.

Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, supervised the torture and obtained Fawkes's confession.^[37] He searched his prisoner, and found a letter, addressed to Guy Fawkes. To Waad's surprise, "Johnson" remained silent, revealing nothing about the plot or its authors.^[43] On the night of 6 November he spoke with Waad, who reported to Salisbury "He [Johnson] told us that since he undertook this action he did every day pray to God he might perform that which might be for the advancement of the Catholic Faith and saving his own soul". According to Waad, Fawkes managed to rest through the night, despite his being warned that he would be interrogated until "I had gotton the inwards secret of his thoughts and all his complices".^[44] His composure was broken at some point during the following day.^[45]

The observer Sir Edward Hoby remarked "Since Johnson's being in the Tower, he beginneth to speak English". Fawkes revealed his true identity on 7 November, and told his interrogators that there were five people involved in the plot to kill the King. He began to reveal their names on 8 November, and told how they intended to place Princess Elizabeth on the throne. His third confession, on 9 November, implicated Francis Tresham. Following the Ridolfi plot of 1571 prisoners were made to dictate their confessions, before copying and signing them, if they still could.^[46] Although it is uncertain if he was subjected to the horrors of the rack, Fawkes's signature, little more than a scrawl, bears testament to the suffering he endured at the hands of his interrogators.^[47]

Trial and execution[link]

The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators.^{[nb 7]} They were kept in the Star Chamber before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The King and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.^[49]

A 1606 etching by Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher, depicting Fawkes's execution

The outcome was never in doubt. The jury found all of the defendants guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham proclaimed them guilty of high treason.^[50] The Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".^[51] Fawkes's and Tresham's testimony regarding the Spanish treason was read aloud, as well as confessions related specifically to the Gunpowder Plot. The last piece of evidence offered was a conversation between Fawkes and Wintour, who had been kept in adjacent cells. The two men apparently thought they had been speaking in private, but their conversation was intercepted by a government spy. When the prisoners were allowed to speak, Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment.^[52]

On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and three others — Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, and Robert Keyes — were dragged (i.e. drawn) from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy.^[53] His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.^[37][54] His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered,^[55] and as was the custom,^[56] his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.^[57]

Legacy[link]

Procession of a Guy (1864)

On 5 November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, "always provided that 'this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder'".^[3] An Act of Parliament^{[nb 8]} designated each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance", and remained in force until 1859.^[58] Although he was only one of 13 conspirators, Fawkes is today the individual most associated with the failed Plot.^[59]

In Britain, 5 November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night^[60] and Bonfire Night; the latter can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605.^[61] Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom to burn an effigy (usually the Pope) after 1673, when the heir presumptive, James, Duke of York made his conversion to Catholicism public.^[3] Effigies of other notable figures who have become targets for the public's ire, such as Paul Kruger and Margaret Thatcher, have also found their way onto the bonfires,^[62] although most modern effigies are of Fawkes.^[58] The "guy" is normally created by children, from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask.^[58] During the 19th century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and was used to refer to any male person.^[58][63]

William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason, portrays Fawkes in a generally sympathetic light,^[64] and transformed him in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character". Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and penny dreadfuls such as The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes; or, The Conspirators of Old London, published in about 1905.^[65] Fawkes is sometimes referred to as "the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions".^[66]

References[link]

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links[link]

Media related to Guy Fawkes at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Guy Fawkes at Wikiquote

• Guy Fawkes story from the BBC, including archive video clips

The Right Honourable Ed Miliband MP
Miliband in August 2010
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 September 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Deputy	Harriet Harman
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 September 2010
Deputy	Harriet Harman
Preceded by	Gordon Brown
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
In office 3 October 2008 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Chris Huhne
Minister for the Cabinet Office Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 28 June 2007 – 3 October 2008
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Hilary Armstrong
Succeeded by	Liam Byrne
Minister for the Third Sector
In office 6 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Phil Hope
Member of Parliament for Doncaster North
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Kevin Hughes
Majority	10,909 (26.3%)
Personal details
Born	Edward Samuel Miliband (1969-12-24) 24 December 1969 (age 42) London, England, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Justine Thornton (m. 2011–present)
Relations	Ralph Miliband (father) David Miliband (brother)
Alma mater	Corpus Christi College, Oxford London School of Economics

Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969)^[1] is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the South Yorkshire constituency of Doncaster North since 2005 and served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He and his brother, David Miliband, were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Edward, Lord Stanley, and Oliver Stanley in 1938.

Born in London, Miliband graduated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford and the London School of Economics, becoming first a television journalist and then a Labour Party researcher, before rising to become one of Chancellor Gordon Brown's confidants and Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers.

As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed Miliband as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 28 June 2007. He was subsequently promoted to the new post of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, a position he held from 3 October 2008 to 11 May 2010. On 25 September 2010, he was elected Leader of the Labour Party.

Background and early life[link]

Born in London, Miliband is the younger son of Polish Jewish immigrants. His mother, Marion Kozak, a human rights campaigner and early CND member, survived the Holocaust thanks to being protected by Roman Catholic Poles.^[2][3][4] His father, Ralph Miliband, was a Belgian-born Marxist academic, who fled with his parents to England during World War II.^[5][3] Due to his father's employment as a teacher, Miliband spent two spells living in Boston, Massachusetts, one year when he was seven, and one junior high school term when he was twelve.^[6]

Miliband was educated at Primrose Hill Primary School, Camden and then Haverstock Comprehensive School in Chalk Farm, North London. He completed his A Levels and was a violinist whilst at school.^[7] As a teenager, he reviewed films and plays on LBC Radio's Young London programme as one of its "Three O'Clock Reviewers", and worked as an intern to Tony Benn.^[8] Miliband read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, taking a Bachelor of Arts, followed by the London School of Economics, where he obtained a Masters in Economics.^[7]

Early political career[link]

Special adviser[link]

Miliband worked as special advisers Gordon Brown from 1997 to 2002.^[9] In 1999, Miliband was involved in the process of building Labour's manifesto for the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections.^[10] Initially doing so in an informal capacity, he was spotted leaving the Scottish Labour Party's headquarters on the night that a key policy meeting was held, involving the Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar and senior party officials, to consider the party's election strategy and details of Labour's manifesto. As a result, Miliband temporarily resigned from his post as a Special Adviser at the Treasury, to work on the Scottish election campaign full-time.^[11] It was reported that part of Miliband's Scottish role was to take charge of Labour's rebuttal operation.^[12]

Harvard[link]

On 25 July 2002, it was announced that Miliband would take a 12-month unpaid sabbatical from the Treasury to be a visiting scholar at the Centre for European Studies of Harvard University for two semesters.^[13] He spent his time at Harvard teaching economics,^[14] and stayed there after September 2003 for an additional semester teaching a course titled "What's Left? The Politics of Social Justice".^[15] During this time, he was granted "access" to Senator John Kerry and reported to Brown on the Presidential hopeful's progress.^[16] Returning to the UK after Christmas, in January 2004 he was appointed Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers as a replacement for Ed Balls, with specific responsibility for directing the UK's long-term economic planning.^[17]

Member of Parliament[link]

In early 2005, Miliband resigned from the Treasury to stand for election. Kevin Hughes, then the Labour MP for Doncaster North, announced in February of that year that he would be standing down at the next election due to being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Miliband applied for selection to be the Labour candidate in the safe Labour seat and won, beating off a close challenge from Michael Dugher, then a special advisor to Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.^[18] Gordon Brown visited Doncaster North during the general election campaign to support his former adviser.^[19] Miliband was elected to Parliament on 5 May 2005, with over 50% of the vote and a majority of 12,656. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 23 May, responding to comments made by future Speaker John Bercow.^[20] In Tony Blair's cabinet reshuffle in May 2006, he was made the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, as Minister for the Third Sector, with responsibility for voluntary and charity organisations.^[21][22]

Cabinet[link]

In June 2007, when Brown became Prime Minister, Miliband was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and promoted to the Cabinet.^[23] This meant that he and his brother David Miliband became the first brothers to serve in Cabinet since Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938.^[24] He was given the task of drafting Labour's manifesto for the next general election.^[25]

On 3 October 2008, Miliband was promoted to Secretary of State for the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change^[26] in a Cabinet reshuffle. On 16 October, Miliband announced that the British government would legislate to oblige itself to cut greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, rather than the 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions previously announced.^[27]

Miliband with Richard Lambert, Director of the CBI, at Climate Change Summit 2008

Whilst Secretary of State, Miliband attended the UK premiere of The Age of Stupid, where he was ambushed by actor Pete Postlethwaite, who threatened to return his OBE and vote for any party other than Labour if the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station was given the go-ahead by the government.^[28] A month later, Miliband announced a change to the government's policy on coal, saying that new coal-fired power station would be able to receive government consent unless they could effectively capture and bury 25% of the emissions they produces immediately, with a view to seeing that rise to 100% of emissions by 2025. This, a government source told the Guardian, effectively represented “a complete rewrite of UK energy policy for the future”.^[29]

Miliband represented the UK at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, from which emerged a global commitment to provide an additional US$10 billion a year to fight the effects of climate change, with an additional $100 billion a year provided by 2020.^[30] The conference was not able to achieve a legally-binding agreement. Miliband accused China of deliberately foiling attempts at a binding agreement; China explicitly denied this, accusing British politicians of engaging in a "political scheme".^[31]

During the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, Miliband was named by the Daily Telegraph as one of the "saints" of the scandal, due to his claiming one of the lowest amounts of expenses in the House of Commons and submitting no claims that later had to be paid back.^[32]

Leadership of the Labour Party[link]

Leadership election[link]

Miliband giving his first leader's speech at the 2010 Labour Party Conference

Following the formation of the coalition government on 11 May 2010, Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect. In accordance with the Labour constitution, Deputy Leader Harriet Harman took over as Acting Leader and Leader of the Opposition. On 14 May 2010, following his brother's announcement of his own candidacy the day earlier, Miliband announced that he would stand as a candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party.^[33] He launched his campaign during a speech given at a Fabian Society conference at the School of Oriental and African Studies^[34][35] and was nominated by 62 fellow Labour MPs. The other candidates were left-wing backbencher Diane Abbott, Shadow Education Secretary Ed Balls, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham and his elder brother, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

On 23 May, former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock announced that he would endorse Miliband's campaign to become the next Leader, saying that he had "the capacity to inspire people" and that he had "strong values and the ability to 'lift' people".^[36] Other senior Labour figures who backed Miliband included former Deputy Leaders Roy Hattersley and Margaret Beckett. By 9 June, the deadline for entry into the Labour leadership contest, Miliband had been nominated by just over 24% of the Parliamentary Labour Party, double the amount required. By September, Miliband had received the support of six trade unions, including both Unite and UNISON, 151 of the Constituency Labour Parties, three affiliated socialist societies, and half of the Labour MEPs.^[37]

Ed Miliband won the election, the result of which was announced on 25 September 2010, after second, third and fourth preferences votes were counted, with the support of 50.654% of the electoral college, defeating his brother by 1.3%.^[38] In the fourth and final stage of the redistribution of votes after three candidates had been eliminated, Ed Miliband led in the trade unions and affiliated organisations third of the electoral college (19.93% of the total to David's 13.40%), but in both the MPs and MEPs section (15.52% to 17.81%), and Constituency Labour Party section (15.20% to 18.14%), came second. In the final round, Ed Miliband won with a total of 175,519 votes to David's 147,220 votes.^[39]

Leader of the Opposition[link]

Miliband conducting a public Q&A in November 2011

On becoming Leader of the Labour Party on 25 September 2010, Miliband also became Leader of the Opposition. At the age of 40, he was the youngest Labour Leader since World War II.^[40] He had his first Prime Minister's Questions as Labour Leader on 13 October 2010, raising questions about the government's announced removal of a non-means tested child benefit.^[41] During the 2011 military intervention in Libya, Miliband supported UK military action against Colonel Gaddafi.^[42] Miliband spoke at a large "March for the Alternative" rally held in London on 26 March 2011 to protest against cuts to public spending, though he was criticised by some for comparing it to the anti-apartheid and American civil rights movements.^[43][44][45]

A June 2011 poll result from Ipsos MORI found Labour 2 percentage points ahead of the Tories, but Miliband's personal rating was low, being rated as less popular than Iain Duncan Smith at a similar stage in his opposition leadership.^[46] The same organisation's polling did find that Miliband's personal ratings in his first full year of leadership were better than David Cameron's during his first full year as Conservative Leader in 2006 however.^[47]

In July 2011, following the revelation that the News of the World had paid private investigators to hack into the phones of Milly Dowler, as well as the families of murder victims and deceased servicemen, Miliband called for News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks to resign, urged David Cameron to establish a public and judge-led inquiry into the scandal and announced that he would force a Commons vote on whether to block the News International bid for a controlling stake in BSkyB. He also called for the Press Complaints Commission to be abolished – later repeated by Cameron and Nick Clegg – and called into question Cameron's judgement in hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson to be his Director of Communications.^[48] Cameron later took the unusual step of saying that the government would back Miliband's motion that the BSkyB bid should be dropped, and an hour before Miliband's motion was due to be debated, News International announced that it would drop it.^[49][50]

Following the riots in England in August 2011, Miliband called for a public inquiry into the events, and insisted that society had "to avoid simplistic answers". The call for a government inquiry was rejected by David Cameron, prompting Miliband to say that he would set up his own.^[51] In a BBC Radio 4 interview shortly after the riots, Miliband spoke of an irresponsibility that not only applied to the people involved in the riots, but "wherever we find it in our society. We've seen in the past few years...MPs' expenses, what happened in the banks". Miliband also stated that Labour did not do enough to tackle moral problems during their 13 years in office.^[52] In December 2011 Miliband appointed Tim Livesey, a former adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to be his full-time Chief of Staff.^[53]

In his first speech of 2012, Miliband said that if Labour won the next general election that the times would be difficult economically, but that Labour was still the only party capable of delivering "fairness". He also said he would tackle "vested interests", citing energy and rail companies.^[54] Following the announcement in late January 2012 that the Chief Executive Officer of the nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, would receive a bonus worth £950,000, Miliband called the amount "disgraceful", and urged David Cameron to act to prevent the bonus. Cameron refused, saying that it was a matter for the RBS board, leading Miliband to announce that Labour would force a Commons vote on whether or not the government should block it. Hester announced that he would forego his bonus, and Miliband said that Labour would carry on with a Commons vote regardless, focussing instead on the bonuses of other RBS executives.^[55][56] Following George Galloway's unexpected win in the March by-election in Bradford West, Miliband announced he would lead an inquiry into the result, saying, it "could not be dismissed as a one-off".^[57] In April 2012, in the midst of a debate about the nature of political party funding, Miliband called on David Cameron to institute a £5,000 cap on donations from individuals and organisations to political parties, after it had been suggested that the government favoured a cap of £50,000.^[58]

Local elections[link]

Miliband's first electoral tests as Labour Leader came in the elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and various councils across England, excluding London on 5 May 2011. The results for Labour were described as a "mixed bag", with the party performing well in Wales – falling just one seat short of an overall majority and forming the next Welsh Government on its own – and making large gains from the Liberal Democrats in northern councils, including Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. Results were less encouraging in the south of England however, and results in Scotland were described as a "disaster", with Labour losing nine seats to the SNP, which went on to gain the Parliament's first ever majority.^[59] Miliband commented positively in regard to the results and said that following the poor showings in Scotland "lessons must still be learnt".^[59][60]

Miliband launched Labour's campaign for the 2012 local elections with a speech in Birmingham, accusing the government of "betrayal", and claiming that it "lacked the values" that Britain needed.^[61] The results for Labour were described as a "big success", with the party building on its performance the previous year in the north of England and Wales, consolidating its position in northern cities and winning control of places such as Cardiff and Swansea.^[62] Labour also performed well in the Midlands and South of England, winning control of a number of councils including Birmingham, Norwich, Plymouth and Southampton.^[62] Labour were less successful in Scotland than England and Wales, but results were nevertheless encouraging, as Labour were able to retain control of Glasgow despite predictions that they would not.^[62] Overall, Labour gained over 800 councillors and control of 22 councils.^[62]

Shadow Cabinet appointments[link]

The first election to the Shadow Cabinet that took place under Miliband's leadership was on 7 October 2010. Ending days of speculation, David Miliband announced that he would not seek election to the Shadow Cabinet on 29 September, the day nominations closed, saying he wanted to avoid "constant comparison" with his brother Ed.^[63] The three other defeated candidates for the Labour leadership all stood in the election, though Diane Abbott failed to win enough votes to gain a place. Following the election, Miliband unveiled his Shadow Cabinet on 8 October 2010. Amongst others he appointed Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Yvette Cooper was chosen as Shadow Foreign Secretary, and both defeated Labour leadership candidates Ed Balls and Andy Burnham were given senior roles, becoming Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Education Secretary respectively. Burnham was additionally given responsibility for overseeing Labour's election co-ordination. Sadiq Khan, who managed Miliband's successful leadership campaign, was appointed Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Lord Chancellor, and continuing Deputy Leader Harriet Harman continued to shadow Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, as well as being made Shadow International Development Secretary.^[64] Alan Johnson would later resign from his position, stepping down for "personal reasons" on 20 January 2011, necessitating Miliband's first reshuffle, in which he made Balls Shadow Chancellor, Cooper Shadow Home Secretary and Douglas Alexander Shadow Foreign Secretary.^[65]

On 24 June 2011, it was reported that Miliband was seeking to change the decades-old rule that Labour's Shadow Cabinet would be elected every two years, instead wanting to adopt a system where he alone had the authority to select its members. Miliband later confirmed the story, claiming that the rule represented "a legacy of Labour's past in opposition".^[66] On 5 July, Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly to back the rule change, paving the way for NEC and Conference approval, which was attained in September 2011.^[67] This allows Miliband to be the first Leader of the Labour Party to have the authority to pick his own Shadow Cabinet.^[68]

On 7 October 2011, Miliband reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet. John Denham, John Healey and Shaun Woodward announced that they were stepping down, whilst Meg Hillier, Ann McKechin and Baroness Scotland also left the Shadow Cabinet. Veteran MPs Tom Watson, Jon Trickett, Stephen Twigg and Vernon Coaker were promoted to the Shadow Cabinet, as were several of the 2010 intake, including Chuka Umunna, Margaret Curran and Rachel Reeves, with Liz Kendall and Michael Dugher given the right to attend Shadow Cabinet. Lord Wood and Emily Thornberry were also made Shadow Cabinet attendees.^[69]

On 15 May 2012, Miliband appointed Owen Smith to replace Peter Hain – who retired from frontline politics – as Shadow Welsh Secretary, and also promoted Jon Cruddas to the Shadow Cabinet, putting him in charge of overseeing Labour's ongoing policy review with a view to draft Labour's manifesto for the next election.^[70]

Policies and views[link]

Self-description of views[link]

Miliband speaking at the 2007 Labour
Party Conference

Miliband has described himself as a new type of Labour politician, looking to move beyond the divisiveness of Blairism and Brownism, and calling for an end to the "factionalism and psychodramas" of Labour's past. He has also repeatedly spoken of the requirement for a "new politics".^[71] During the Labour leadership campaign, he described himself as a socialist, and has spoken out against some of the actions of the Blair Government, including criticising its record on civil liberties and stating that he would not have backed the Iraq War.^[72] He has also made calls for the UK to adopt a "capitalism that works for the people".^[73] Though he wasn't in Parliament at the time of the 2003 vote, he remains a strong critic of the Iraq War.^[74] He has, however, backed UK military action and intervention in Afghanistan and Libya respectively. He also backs same-sex marriage, supports making the UK's 50p top rate of tax permanent, as well as the institution of a new financial transaction tax, mutualising Northern Rock, putting limits on top salaries, scrapping tuition fees in favour of a graduate tax, implementing a living wage policy and the scrapping of the ID cards policy, and has spoken in favour of a "National Care Service".^[75][76]

Though Labour remained officially neutral, he in a personal capacity supported the ultimately unsuccessful "Yes to AV" campaign in the Alternative Vote referendum on 5 May 2011, saying that it would benefit Britain's "progressive majority".^[77][78] In September 2011, Miliband stated that a future Labour Government would immediately cut the cap on tuition fees for university students from £9,000 per year to £6,000, though he also stated that he remained committed to a graduate tax in the long-run.^[79] Together with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Miliband has also promoted a "five-point plan for jobs and growth" aimed at helping the UK economy, involving extending the bonus tax on banks pioneered by Alistair Darling, bringing forward planned long-term investment to help reduce unemployment, cutting the rate of VAT from 20% back to 17.5%, cutting VAT on home improvements to 5% for a temporary one year period, and instigating a one year national insurance break to encourage employers to hire more employees.^[80] Miliband has also endorsed the Blue Labour trend in the Labour Party, which was founded by Maurice Glasman . Blue Labour talks about family and friendships at the heart of society, rather than just material wealth, it also offers a very strong critique of the free-market as well as the big state. This was seen to have influenced his 2011 Conference Speech, signalling "predatory and productive capitalism".^[81][82]

In March 2012 Miliband pledged his support for same sex marriage. As he signed an equal marriage pledge, he said, "I strongly agree gay and lesbian couples should have an equal right to marry and deserve the same recognition from the state and society as anyone else."^[83]

Comments on other politicians[link]

Miliband has criticised Conservative Leader and Prime Minister David Cameron for "sacrificing everything on the altar of deficit reduction", and has accused him of being guilty of practising "old politics", citing alleged broken promises on areas such as crime, policing, bank bonuses, and child benefit.^[84]

Miliband has also been particularly critical of Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg following the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement, accusing him of "betrayal" and of "selling-out" his party's voters. He has also stated that he would demand the resignation of Nick Clegg as a precursor to any future Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition.^[85] In the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum, Miliband refused to share a platform with Clegg, stating that he had become "too toxic" a brand, and that he would harm the "Yes to AV" campaign. He did, however, share platforms during the campaign with former Liberal Democrat Leaders Lord Ashdown and Charles Kennedy, as well as current Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, the Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas and Business Secretary Vince Cable, among others.^[86] Since becoming Labour Leader, Miliband has made a number of speeches aimed at winning over disaffected Liberal Democrats, identifying a difference between the "Orange Book" Lib Dems who were closer to the Conservatives and Lib Dems who were on the centre-left, offering the latter a role in helping Labour's policy review.^[84]

Miliband has previously spoken positively of his brother David, praising his record as Foreign Secretary, and saying that "his door was always open" following David's decision not to stand for the Shadow Cabinet in 2010.^[87] When asked to choose the greatest British Prime Minister, Miliband answered with Labour's post-war Prime Minister and longest-serving Leader, Clement Attlee.^[88] He has also spoken positively of his two immediate predecessors as Labour Leader, former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, praising their leadership and records in government.^[89]

Personal life[link]

Miliband is married to Justine Thornton, a Cambridge-educated barrister.^[90] The pair met in 2002 and lived together in North London, before becoming engaged in March 2010.^[91][92] They have two sons, born 2009 and 2010.^[93] Miliband is Jewish, though not religious.^[94][95] After marrying Thornton in a civil ceremony on 27 May 2011, he paid tribute to his Jewish heritage by following the tradition of breaking a glass.^[96][97] Miliband wrote: "Like many others from Holocaust families, I have a paradoxical relationship with this history. On one level I feel intimately connected with it – this happened to my parents and grandparents. On another, it feels like a totally different world."^[98]

Styles[link]

• Ed Miliband (1969–2005)
• Ed Miliband MP (2005–2007)
• The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP (2007–present)

References[link]