20/05/2014 The Papers

enEngland's T 20 international. And with three weeks to go before the

World Cup in Brazil, England's footballers have arrived in Portugal

for their first training camp. That is he a all in 15 minutes.

First, the Papers: `` that's all in 15 minutes.

Welcome to our look ahead at the papers W me, Lance Price and Mir an

dra Green. We will start with the Independent. Its front page shows a

man telling off anti`UKIP demonstrators, as party campaigned

in Croydon ahead of Thursday's European and local elections.

Pensioners could add ?1,700 to their annual income according to the Daily

Express, which says ?5.5 million in top`ups goes unclaimed. The

Telegraph carries a warning from George Osborne who says UKIP is a

threat to the economy. The Guardian highlights fighting in

Syria, reporting on rebel attempts to break the stalemate there.

While Lloyds Lloyd's crackdown on high risk mortgage lending in London

is the Financial Times lead. The Mirror is reporting on an inquest

into the death of a 20`year`old job seeker who committed suicide after

applying for more than 40 jobs to no avale. And reporting on recent

developments in the so`called plebgate affair, the Times reports

on claims by the cabinet minister, Mitchell, he alleges an officer at

the centre of the affair boasted he could bring down the Government.

We'll start with the Independent. Nigel Farage, you cannot escape the

guy. He is everywhere, wall`to`wall, on the front of the Independent

there. Apparently he didn't turn up to the meeting in Croydon, did he?

No, he very wisely stayed away T descended into a farce. The

background to this is that clearly, in recent days, the debate about

whether UKIP is a racist party, whether Nigel Farage has used racist

language about Romanian immigrants or whether the fact that he may have

uttered a racist slur doesn't necessarily make him a racist. It

has gone in and credible detail and textual definition but in order to

try to improve they are an inclusive party, UKIP has decided to hold a

street carnival aimed at ethnic minority members of the public in

Croydon. What could possibly have gone wrong? In fact I think it could

have been worse. All that happened was that the steel band who had been

hired to play, refused to when they found out it was a UKIP event. And

there were a lot of scuffles between anti`UKIP, aented racist

demonstrators and supporters of the party and then the poor chap who is

standing for UKIP n Croydon. Who is black. Who is indeed black,

dismissed the Croydon area as "a dump." I shouldn't laugh. Full marks

for frankly expressing his opinion but I don't think it is the

greatest... It is refreshing. That's what the public like about UKIP. It

is. So it would seem. So far, at least, if you judge by the polls, it

doesn't seem to be doing them much damage. Both Miranda and I have

worked in political communications. One of the objectives is to get

yourself talked about. And when you are a small party, which UKIP

obviously are, this kind of publicity, the volume of publicity

is exactly what you want. What they seem to be learning from t and

everybody else in the other parties are scratching their heads saying `

hang on, this should be terrible publicity, and yet there they are,

they seem to be holding on to their poll position, we won't know until

the results of the elections over the weekend whether we are right. If

after all of this, if they come top or o close second, it will be

extraordinary. People will be looking back at this campaign for

years to come and trying to analyse it. If we go to the Guardian,

picking up on that theme, lance, Labour and Tory ratings suffer as

Farage attacks backfire. He really is Teflon Farage, isn't he? Some

people in the Tory Party have been saying, yes, he is a racist and they

have been going for him full`on. Ed Miliband and most of the Labour

Leadership have tried not to do that. They have tried to avoid

calling him a racist. They probably make the correct judgment that those

people who have decided to vote for UKIP don't really ` either they

don't believe t actually, they don't think what Farage is saying amounts

to racism and they like a lot of other things that he is saying,

otherwise they wouldn't be prepared to vote for him. Labour are trying

to avoid that. They are trying to go for the underlying causes of the

build`up of UKIP support, a much more subtle campaign. It looks

neck`and`neck between Labour and UKIP for first position. OK,

Miranda, if you were advising the Liberal Democrats on this, how would

you tackle Mr Farage? What would you say, I don't know, to Mr Clegg?

Well, I think quite interestingly, two things have emerged ` which is

that whereas we have all treated UKIP, up to this set of elections,

as a huge problem for the Conservative Party alone and

actually the other parties have been slightly gleeful that UKIP seems to

be taking so many percentages of traditional Tory voters away from

that party ` it's now emerged also as a big party from the Labour Party

and traditional blue collar areas where people are worried about

employment and worried about they say, the impact of immigration on

wages, for example. For the Liberal Democrats it is a totally different

problem which is that Nick Clegg decided to take on Farage, up close

and personal. So you would have advised him not to do it. No, I

think it was a good thing to do. Partly because, actually... It

didn't work, though, did it? The point where the Lib Dems are in the

polls now, it is a desperate roll of the dice but you are carving out a

different identity. It didn't work, though, did it? I don't think it

worked what the Labour Party decided to do. It is a really muddled

message. So take them on, basically you are saying. Take them on and

call them out on unacceptable language an attitudes but also point

out that they may have a point in diagnosing some of the problems. The

underlying problems But they don't have the solutions. Would that be

your advice? You have to recognise they are addressing deeply`felt

views from a lot of voters in the UK and any other political party would

be mad to deny that. If they accept that, they have to have their own

apps to those problems or some ways of addressing them that isn't the

very simplistic politics that UKIP represents. I think UKIP will do

well. Come a general election in a year's time ` it won't last. The

Tories were trying to out`UKIP, UKIP. Some have suggested they move

to the right to try to outflank them and that didn't work Ed Miliband was

sitting back, hoping that's what the Tories would do. The more the Tories

do that, the more they are playing into Labour's hands. It is

extraordinary, actually there. Have been some studies which suggest

those UKIP supporters won't all fall away when it comes to next year's

general election. I'm wond how sanguine whether Labour and the

Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives should be that

sanguine. A couple of European elections ago, the Greens were doing

high and did incredibly W the general election shortly afterwards,

no. Were they tapping into these deep, underlying problems, people

feel exists? At general election time people decide who they want to

govern the country and we know it'll not be UKIP. Well we heard our

Political Editor question Nigel Farage and a few people he was

talking to in Weymouth earlier in the week. They asked them do they

know what their policies were on the economy, employment and a whole host

of other things. They had no idea. Those could be the issues that could

well decide what happens in the next election. Moving on to the

Telegraph, front page, Miranda. Plebgate texts ` talk of toppling

the Tories. This is a wonderful story for those of us who take an

ongoing interest in this now two`year saga about who said what at

the gates of Downing Street when Andrew Mitchell, then a Cabinet

minister tried to go through on his bicycle. The police at Downing

Street said he could not do that. He admits he swore and shouted at them

but denies using the word "pleb" which was taken as such an insult

that the entire ` well, police solidarity, let's put it that way,

seems to have decide decided so to punish this Cabinet minister so much

so that it will damaged his career. He has fought back and this is the

latest piece which is to say ` I have been at a secret hearing, a

secret investigation being held by the Metropolitan Police which

revealed a text in which these police who are at the centre of the

issue, vowed to bring down the Government over the issue. This is a

really serious accusation, clearly. As Lance and I know, journalists

working in Westminster, boast of the time ` I'm going to get a scalp.

I'm, supposed Cabinet ministers to ridicule and they are going to go.

But for members of the police, as it is alleged to be, to be bringing

down a cabinet minister and saying they can bring down the Government,

extraordinary. This was on a misconduct hearing being held by the

Metropolitan Police into some of the officers allegedly involved in the

whole plebgate affair. What Andrew Mitchell wants is all the minutes,

all the evidence in these hearings, which are supposed to be secret, to

be made public, Lance. That's what he is after. The very fact he is

allowed into them and whoever took the decision to let him in, must

have known he would make use of whatever he heard. He has done it in

this instance by writing a letter to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan

Police. He has done it in his own words and it seems there is nothing

to stop him doing it. I think for the good of police, if they can't

make everything public, they should make as much public as they can.

They say there will be a summary, they'll publish some stuff. But

Mitchell is obviously worried it'll not be enough. If he is going to all

the hearings or as many as they get to, if they leave anything of any

significance out, we'll all know of it. One wonders what police lawyers

would make of that, though? There could be a problem in the future if

he does present all this stuff to be public, when it shouldn't be. The

important thing about this one is that the hearing is over. So the

publication of the story isn't going to prejudice that hearing, which is

an important point. But But previously Andrew Mitchell has in

fact taped conversations, hasn't he, on the advice of his wife, we

gather, which has then altered the story in his favour. He clearly now

is on the look out for any piece of evidence which backs up his case. He

is no mug. On to the statement in the Telegraph, the cartoon, the

Chelsea Flower Show. I'm not sure what that is. It looks like a bee

hive. The comment underneath ` how much and when can I move in? This,

of course a reference to house prices. It is difficult to find

anywhere to live, let alone a beehive. There is a lot of worry

beginning to creep into the Government now. A lot of this

emanating from Mr Carney at the Bank of England, Miranda, that, yes, we

are getting to a bubble stage. Pig Mark Carney has said that a boom in

the housing market, the dangers of the bust to follow it, that is the

biggest danger to the economy and the biggest potential hiccup in the

growth story. David Cameron has been challenged on this, clearly, as has

George Osborne, and the bank has made it clear that they will

intervene if they think the housing market is getting out of hand and

that there is a danger of a crash. But really the figures are

extraordinary. The London area, a 17% rise in house prices in one

year. If you take London and the South East out of the equation, it

is a very different picture. It is a question of what you would do to

calm down London and the South East without damaging growth elsewhere,

which is tricky. Help to buy has been helpful, doing what it says on

the tin, outside London. If the Government reins it in, then it will

cause problems. David Cameron has said that if it is causing problems

then he will look at doing something about it. The building societies

have also been worried, recognising that people are seriously

overstretching themselves in London and the South East, because they

have to to afford the prices being asked. There is no doubt that it is

causing serious problems across the board. Indeed. Finally we will go to

a sports story involving the champions of the Premier League,

Manchester City. This is a weird spat. You should declare an

interest! I have been supporting this team man and boy for a long

time. Even the colour of my tie gives it away! He is the main man at

the team, they are the Premier League champions, Yaya Toure, and it

is his birthday. Happy birthday. I think we should all say it here. But

apparently his agent reckons that the Manchester City board and the

owner of the club did not wish him happy birthday so he is angry and

saying he will leave the club. It is a great story. I respond to it on a

human level because I just love sulking. That is massive sulking.

The Telegraph picture editors have found a fantastic picture of him.

Actually it feels like he is celebrating, though it is probably

just a moment of sulking in an otherwise good day. In our house it

is not really forgetting birthdays but it has been known if people go

into sulks about the forgotten anniversary, for example,

Valentine's Day, then they can last a while. They can go on a little

bit. His agent suggesting that another big player at some big

Russian team, when it was his birthday, he got a present. And he

is upset he did not even get happy birthday, not even a cake. It is a

storm in a team cup and he will be with us next season! `` in a teacup.

There you go. In the next hour we will look at the other stories in

the headlines. At first it is time the Sportsday. `` but first it is

time for Sportsday.