Thank you, gentlemen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome to the London Pladion,

brought it a pretty unusual evening.

Now this stage in front of us

has played host to some of the greatest names in British entertainment.

We've had Bruce Brice from the London Pladeum.

Marvin Gay, Tommy Steele, Jimmy Tarbuck, Rod Little,

and the MP for North East Somersets in this line of apostolic succession.

That is in itself unusual, but what is really unusual

is that almost two and a half thousand of you have come here this evening

for an evening of political discussion.

Now, that's...

It doesn't happen very often. We tried to find out the last time it did happen

when an MP drew in crowds of this. It was Lloyd George in 1912.

So, perhaps a bit modern for our guest this evening, but anyway, we're, um, we're, uh,

but the thing is, that is what makes tonight different. It's not that an MP is answering

questions that happens all the time, not that a journalist is asking questions. You can

see that all the time on TV. What makes it extraordinary is that so many of you are here.

So what I'm going to do is invite as many of you as I can

to ask questions and to join in with discussion.

...