declaring his involvement in helping britain s former prime minister, borisjohnson, secure a loan. thousands of people in new zealand are left without power as parts of the country endure the start of a severe storm with warnings of more destruction to come. you re watching bbc news. now it s time for political thinking with nick robinson hello and welcome to political thinking. the row about how and why a rapist called adam ended up in a women s prison has shone a spotlight on a debate which in truth, has been raging notjust for months, but for years. at the centre of that debate is the charity and campaigning organisation stonewall. my guest on political thinking this week is the new chair of stonewall. he s iain anderson and he s got a cv that might surprise you. he s a lifelong conservative. he went to school with michael gove in aberdeen and he ended up running a leadership campaign for ken clarke. he s also a westminster insider who s operated behind the scenes at very
providing refuge for asylum seekers on merseyside in northwest england. now it s time for political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking. the row about how and why a rapist called adam ended up in a women s prison has shone a spotlight on a debate which in truth, has been raging notjust for months, but for years. at the centre of that debate is the charity and campaigning organisation stonewall. my guest on political thinking this week is the new chair of stonewall. he s ian anderson and he s got a cv that might surprise you. he s a lifelong conservative. he went to school with michael gove in aberdeen and he ended up running a leadership campaign for ken clarke. he s also a westminster insider who s operated behind the scenes at very high level with ministers of all political parties. he set up and he now runs one of the largest lobbying firms in britain, cicero. he now fears that we are entering an american style culture war and we might in b
see and the conservative party i see now is not the one that i knew. explain to people who might not understand, why is that a painful process ? you are a highly successful businessman, not ma serving politician. you are happily married. you happen to run this campaigning organisation we are talking about. why would something that somebody would do casually, election, who should i choose this year? why would that be a painful process? i thought about politics all my life. when i was 16, i saw the movie all the president s men, and that was before i even got to university. ijust thought, right, i want to be around politics in some way. i was a journalist for a while. i was a political activist. i worked for some politicians. and people who love politics, who don tjust casually look at it,
explained to people who might not understand, why is that a painful process? you are a highly successful businessman. you are happily married. you happen to run this campaigning organisation we are talking about. why would something that somebody would do casually, election, who should i choose this year? why would that be a painful process? i year? why would that be a painful rocess? ., ., . , process? i thought about politics all my life- when i was 16, i saw the movie all the president s men, and that was before i even got to university. ijust thought, right, i want to be around politics in some way. i was a journalist for a while. i was a political activist. i worked for some politicians. and people who love politics, who don tjust casually look at it. as you approach general election, it s in your dna. i m not a tribal person, but i ve been part of a tribe.