Week in Westminster - 09/05/2009

Not the best of times for the Prime Minister Gordon Brown with troubles ranging from mishandling the issue of the Gurkhas to published details of MPs expense claims including his own. Tony Wright Labour chair of the Public Administration Committee looks at the effect these disclosures might have, while government backbenchers Gisela Stuart Chris Mullin and George Mudie judge the Prime Minister’s chances of weathering the storm. One thing is certain given the economic situation, cuts in public spending will have to be made. But where? Conservative Andrew Tyrie who was in the Treasury in the 1980's and Steve Webb Liberal Democrat spokesman on pensions discuss the options. Thirty years ago this week Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. Shirley Williams (now Baroness Williams) a parliamentary colleague from the early 1960s talks about her early years.