Woman
When you get back, do you think you would be able to get back direct grant schools?
MT
Direct grants, yes, direct grants. … they are very good. … They give so many youngsters a chance who would never have had a chance like it otherwise.
MT touring factory interview begins; opening question missingMT
I think that their performance has positively led to some of the levels of inflation we're now suffering. For a long time, you know, they refused to put things right. I mean, don't forget that in the last election, uh, Denis Healey, uh, fought it on the basis that he'd got inflation licked and it was down to 8.4 per cent. They also fought on the basis that they were through the worst as far as unemployment is concerned. Well, they weren't. They are trying to undo some of the damage they've done in the last three years. Some of it could have been avoided.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
But the … the result…Stechford by-election…has also been interpreted in some quarters as a public verdict on the Liberal-Labour Pact. Do you think that's really likely, or is it a bit early?
MT
[pauses; intakes breath] I think people are very confused about it, and quite rightly so. First, I think people prefer politicians to make up their mind on merit, on a particular issue, and I think you'll command far more respect if you say what you believe and you stick to what you believe and you stand up for what you believe. What I think the Liberals have done is join forces with the Socialists. There are a lot of Liberals who don't like that. But then they've done something else—they say “we'll support you and keep you in power, but we don't like each thing you're doing as it comes up” . That's not a tenable position. And it's not surprising they're losing the people's respect and people are confused.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
Now fortified by last night's result, are you more determined than ever to try and prise the Liberals away from the government and, uh … uh, bring about an early election? [end p1]
MT
I will do everything I can, because I believe that this Government is already in a minority—it's crumbling—and it's very bad for Britain to be in a position of continual uncertainty. What can your Prime Minister or your Foreign Secretary do? They go overseas for conferences and then someone else back here in Britain is haggling for votes on some particular issue. That's no stance for a nation like Britain.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
Do you think that possibly the vote on the new petrol duty and the road fund license on Monday night may give you some sort of an opportunity?
MT
I hope we'll win on the petrol duty on Monday night, but you can't be certain. If it were a vote on merit we should win. But it's this back … behind the scenes haggling that, um, I think is very confusing and very disturbing.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
Now, another aspect of the Stechford by-election is the fact that the National Front beat the Liberals into third place. Are you concerned that an extremist party in fact did comparatively well?
MT
I'm always concerned if extremists do well. I don't believe Britain likes extremists and I don't believe she wants them. And I don't like them either. I think the great period in Britain—the post-war period—was I think the time, uh, under Harold Macmillan when everyone was coming into the middle and everyone seemed to belong to the middle, and it was a nice, good, big middle and it accommodated everyone. And we got rid of the extremism from politics. And that's what I think we want to do again.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
Is that the sort of government you would lead, a government of the middle?
MT
Oh yes.
Geoff Drewett, Anglia TV
One other point: the opinion polls, of course, predicted the outcome of Stechford—the Conservatives would win. I suppose they're rather less encouraging about your own standing with the public. Are you concerned at all that you may not yet be getting over to people as a potential Prime Minister?
MT
I think it is very much better when you've been Prime Minister. You then have a standing in the office, which you can never have until you have a go.