18/04/2017 100 Days

Hello and welcome to this special edition of One Hundred Days.

I'm Christian Fraser in Westminster, our headlines:

Hello and welcome to this special edition of One Hundred Days.

I'm Christian Fraser in Westminster, our headlines:

Hello and welcome to this special edition of One Hundred Days.

I'm Christian Fraser in Westminster, our headlines:

Theresa May takes the UK by surprise.

The Prime Minister announces a snap election

At this moment of enormous national significance

there should be unity here in Westminster.

The country is coming together, but Westminster is not.

And will the snap election change anything?

And Scotland's First Minister describes it

as a huge political miscalculation -

will this affect her independence bid?

A legal battle is underway in Arkansas,

where authorities are trying to carry out

before one of the drugs required expires.

And President Trump's team is on the move.

his top cabinet members are in some of the world's hot spots.

there would be no general election until 2020.

The country needs stability, she said,

That was the position before the Easter recess.

But while on a walking holiday in Wales last week,

An unelected Prime Minister needs a mandate.

In the polls, here's just one of them from YouGov,

Theresa May and the Conservatives have a commanding lead.

Her allies were telling her there was no better time

So, if this parliament here votes tomorrow

to approve her call for a snap election -

then Britain will vote again in six weeks' time,

They are calling it the Brexit election.

Our political editor Laura Kuensberg begins our coverage.

Did she surprise them? Did she surprise you? Did Theresa May even

surprise herself? Her biggest decision as Prime Minister taken

only days ago. I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet where we

agreed that the government should call a general election to be held

on the 8th of June. That was not her plan. But she says to get Brexit

done, she needs more support around here. In recent weeks, Labour have

threatened to vote against the final agreement we reach with the European

Union. The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business

of government to a standstill. The Scottish National Party say they

will vote against the legislation that formally repealed Britain's

membership of the European Union. And unelected members of the House

of Lords have vowed to fight as every step of the way. Our opponents

believe because the government's majority is so small that our

resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course, they

are wrong. So, tomorrow there will be a vote in parliament that will

all but certainly get the process going and if you are in any doubt

about how the Tories will bring your choice... I have only recently and

reluctantly come to this conclusion. Since I became Prime Minister, I

have said that they should be no election until 2020, but now I have

concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability

for the years ahead is to hold the selection and secure support for the

decisions I must take. Most of her ministers had been in the dark. Only

in the last three days did she decide. Theresa May only moved in

the year 279 days ago, and she said consistently there should be no

early general election. But quite simply she has changed her mind and

what happens next to Theresa May will be up to you. Labour will

support to moral's vote to boost the bottom, even though the weakness of

Jeremy Corbyn is one of the reasons why an early election is on. Yet his

supporters hope his ideas can cut through. I welcome the opportunity

for us, to put the keys to the people of Britain to stand up

against this government and its failed economic agenda, which has

left our NHS in problems, which has left our schools are underfunded and

so many people uncertain. We want to put a case out there for the people

of Britain of a society that cares for all, an economy that works for

all and a Brexit that works for all. More than ever, perhaps, this

election will not just be about what happened here. The whole country's

Constitution. The Tories will not promise another vote on independence

in Scotland, but a Nicola Sturgeon well. This is a biggest U-turn in

recent political history but it is very clear that the announcement

today is one all about the narrow interests of her own party, not the

interests of the country overall. On the road already as planned for the

local elections, the Lib Dems the opportunity to come back from rock

bottom. It is an opportunity for the people of this country to change the

direction of this country, to decide that they do not want a hard Brexit,

they want to keep Britain in the single market and indeed it is an

opportunity for us to have a decent, strong opposition in this country

that we desperately need. How many more times are you going to change

your mind Prime Minister? When and Theresa May is get some

political problems but the hurly-burly of any political

campaign causes some problems too, just ask anybody who has ever left

at this address. and David Lammy from

the Labour party. Welcome, all of you. Thanks for

being with us. I was always conscious, Dominic, when I saw the

Prime Minister going to Europe, that she must have felt she was the only

one sitting at the table without a mandate and that must have played on

her mind. She has certainly got a mandate for a referendum, with 34

million people participating. I think the truth is that she did not

ideally want to go to an election but she knows it is necessary,

necessary to give us the best chance of getting the best out of these

negotiations but also to keep the economy firing on all the wonders

and to deal with some of these pressing social issues, education

for youngsters to social care. This is about leadership and the

comparison between her and Jeremy Corbyn in this, looking back to some

socialist paradigms from the 70s or the Lib Dems wanting to tear up the

result, is going to be stark and clear for the country. It certainly

helps if you are now two pro Minister rather than one who has

been shovelled into the job on the back of a referendum vote. In terms

of the Brexit negotiations, we have got the biggest direct democratic

mandate and living history but it is clear, I think, to the Prime

Minister, having taken advice from senior ministers, that to do all the

things that this government wants to achieve, yes on Brexit but also the

economy and some of those pressing social justice issues that she has

talked a lot about, she will need to have the mandate from the people and

I think, as I said, this will be about leadership and all those

areas. So, David, the Conservatives are going to campaign on leadership.

We will speak to the Lib in moment but they will campaign on Brexit,

what is Jeremy Corbyn going to campaign on question I watched him

in buying them dropping about the NHS, housing, education, you didn't

mention Brexit. -- talking about. I have been an MP for 17 years. I

cannot see any scenario in which the next two and a half months we are

going to be able to run an election solely on the issue of Brexit. Of

course it will be on the button but if you have elderly parents, you

care about the collapse of care system. If you're waiting seven

hours A, you care about the fact the images of the crisis. If you

have a child in state school, you are aware of the huge cuts to

education funding. Those are the bread-and-butter issues. Yes, Brexit

was also about living standards, of course it was, and that will be

central to the discussion, but right across the general election cycle,

as night follows day, people will come back to the ordinary issues

that matter to them and I think Jeremy was right. When you go out

campaigning, as you may do towards the end of this week, and put out

your literature, are you going to have Jeremy Corbyn pictured? Jeremy

is my next door neighbours so of course, he wants my campaign last

time round! In that context, you're asking the wrong person! Will you

take him to the doorstep? I will hope he will not be in the top and

constituency and that is because we are not usually described as a

marginal! I hope he gets around the country. Tim Farron was in the South

West today, where he is open to do well, not so well in 2015 of course.

They lost a lot of MPs down there, the Lib Dems. I hear the already

booked, the literature is already there ready to go. There is 300

candidates, so the Lib Dems were prepared for this? We had prepared

for a possible snap general election in autumn last year. So we have had

candidates in players who have been campaigning in anticipation of that

election. They were kept in post because we pushed it back to the end

of May. Now we have got the election and are ready for it and looking

forward to fighting the campaign, and the Prime Minister has chosen

the territory that we would want to fight the election. She wants to go

for hard Brexit, we think the UK should stay in the single market and

Customs union and we will make that a central feature of her campaign

because millions of jobs, the livelihood of millions of Britons,

depend on it. The bright spot for you was Richmond Park in south-west

London, where you took a seat, overturning a huge majority for a

former Conservative MP, but he did not do too well in stalk and I am

wondering north of Watford, basically, I've country going to

thank you for are running the issues of the referendum? Well, what we are

council by-elections, another barometer of how parties are doing,

all across the country, it does not matter where it is,

please is supposedly ordered that wouldn't remain, we are making more

games than all of the other parties. So even in Stoke-on-Trent, for

instance, we have even made advances. I think, had the

Manchester by-election taken place in fact been intended, we would also

got a very good result there. We may well have taken that the from

Labour. What is a good majority? That is for the pundits in the

media. She has took until the backbencher. If you are a politician

going into a general election, the last thing you want to do is make

assumptions or be presumptuous about the voters. They get to decide but

we have got a terrific record on creating almost 3 million new jobs.

We have taken 4 million of the lowest paid out of income tax. Tom

was talking about education. Actually, sorry, David, we have got

1.8 million more children in state schools deemed good or outstanding

than we had in 2010. We are looking forward to running on a record but

also a positive vision, not looking back to the 1970s and socialist

utopia, not ripping up the referendum trying to pretend that we

do not have a duty to follow through on the will of the British people.

We are the ones actually with a positive agenda today putting

forward. They are shaking their heads. We can do this more, we have

got six weeks! Thank you very much indeed.

I suppose one of the things that strikes me listening to that

discussion is the sense in which this is going to be a really unusual

election. I mean, 83 was the last big landslide for the Tories, 1997

for labour and already there seems to be an expectation that it is not

going to be much of a cliffhanger. Well, you could say that at the

moment but we know that politics is pretty unpredictable at the moment.

I think winter is me was walking in the -- I think when Theresa May was

walking in the Welsh hills, I think she probably reflected on some of

these polls, there has been no sitting prime ministers since 1983

for the Conservatives who are violating the ball flight she has at

the moment but we also know that holes must not always be trusted. We

have seen that over the last three years. The other thing that she will

also consider, John, is that she has only a smallish majority and there

will be times along this path of negotiation on Brexit were she will

have to compromise and it is much easier to compromise if you do not

have to keep looking over your shoulder at the backbenchers. The

third thing, and I was just making this point to Dominic, is that when

she goes to Europe, it does strengthening her hand as she is

sitting there with the majority, with a mandate from the British

people for the things that she is probably

going to be denied Conservative Party manifesto.

And I guess a lot of people around the world must be bewildered by the

idea that you could call a snap election, particularly when Britain

passed a law that was meant to prevent that. Anyway! Let us move

on. And for more on the reaction

from Europe to today's announcement, with the BBC's

Gavin Lee in Brussels. There was a real shock actually. It

get a sense that there was no pre-warning from Theresa May because

I was sitting in the usual press briefing, where all of the issues on

the European Union agenda, and the officials are presenting the head of

the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said, when I asked him

about what his first response was, said he knew nothing, what is this?

I think there was a genuine sense of shock. Obviously article that he has

already been triggered so, in a sense, presumably it is going to be

a five-week hiatus while they are busy fighting the election and

nobody is there negotiating. Yes, but there was already some ground

amid a privately between EU officials and British Brexit

officials, given the fact there was the French elections and it was a

period of calm, allowing the EU officials to get their ducks in

order, really, when it came to how they would negotiate this, which is

about a 5-6 week period. She has chosen that time. Behind the scenes,

what is interesting, in the UK some MPs were seeing this strengthens

Theresa May 's hand. If she wins this election, she goes in with a

stronger voice. The EU officials I have spoken to the actually what

this might do is give a single channel to talk to, and any chance

of behind-the-scenes hard Brexit years having an effect on the talks

might go away. They know if Theresa May wins this election, there may be

a single channel, that her vision is a stronger if that is reinforced in

the polls. Thank you very much.

Well, with me now is Michael Gove - former Education and Justice

Secretary for the Conservative Party.

He is one of the chief architect for Brexit. I keep coming to talk to us.

Just telling me that you are very excited to be going camping again

shortly but he did not know. You were at Notting Hill tube station! I

had no idea. My wife rang the other was getting on the tube and asked me

what was going on, she had no idea. My wife rang the other was getting

on the tube and asked me what was going on, she is a press conference

and I had no idea. Made it clear that she wanted to have a second

independence referendum and really tried to put, you know, tried to

undermine Teresa's progress, I thought I might be a strong case but

everybody said that it was not going to happen. You could have knocked me

down with a feather when the news broke. In the next few weeks, I

would imagine the Prime Minister is going to put together her manifesto,

and one would expect the manifesto will be her blueprint for Brexit.

Would that be fair? Yes, I think it will be. The Prime Minister clearly

feels that when it comes to making sure that we can implement our

departure from the European Union on her terms, then having won an

election, which I am confident she will, having her own mandate and

manifesto, which the country has endorsed, will strengthen her hand

hugely. Not just in negotiating with Brussels but also in dealing with

the political problems here. The House of Lords is full of people who

are deeply disappointed with the Brexit result, have not come to

terms with that, once too frustrated and a mandate will allow to raise up

to be able to ensure that the former Brexit the people voted for and that

she believes then can I be permitted. -- will allow Theresa May

to be sure. The debate within the Conservative

Party within the next few weeks will be something to be watched, because

Robbie backbenchers who will not want to compromise on some of the

issues related to the negotiation. One of the things that has been

striking ever since she became pregnant as, even though there have

been individuals, such as Ken Clarke, overall she has enjoyed a

greater degree of unity and support than many people might have

imagined. -- since she became Prime Minister. Having someone who was a

reluctant the men are in charge of the party, determined to implement

Brexit infill, has actually worked in terms of reassuring both remain

and Brexit falters that the Prime Minister will respect the result but

will do so in a way which is statesman-like. David Cameron used

to quit effectively in previous election campaigns. He wanted you to

be devious the party, particularly within the media. Do you think

Theresa May -- to represent the party. Do you think she will do the

same? I think we will see a lot of a talented range of ministers, Amber

Rudd, the Home Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, the party chairman. You

were one of the chief architects of Brexit, you will not be brought into

the fold? I am a backbencher now. I will be fighting my constituency and

I will be there on the stump helping colleagues in some of the seats that

we hope to win. So I am a fit soldier. I will do what I can to

help in any capacity, but I suspect that the real stars of this election

campaign will be people like Amber red, Patrick McLoughlin, Patel and

Michael Fallon. You have just confirms you are going to run again.

What about George Osborne, I think you will. Even though he has taken

up the job at the Evening Standard? Absolutely. I think George is a

great asset to public light. I hope he stays in Parliament and I think

you will. He will be able to campaign as well as run a newspaper

You can keep up to date with the latest news and weather throughout

the day via our Twitter feed I think you will be able to be an MP and run

a newspaper as. As for what happens during the campaign, I don't know

but I should say that in the last election he was both Chancellor of

the Exchequer and a campaigner both in his constituency and campaigns

elsewhere. He is talented and I think George is more than capable of

running a highly effective campaign represented middle of tartan and

also making sure that he contributed not always as well. Thank you for

coming to talk to us. -- for the people of his constituency.

We have heard a lot of English MPs talking about this being a Brexit

negotiation. I can imagine the view north of the border is different.

Let's get the view from Edinburgh now -

our Scotland Editor Sarah Smith is there.

If you are an SNP leader, you would say this election was about whether

there was a vote on Scottish independence?

That is almost certainly what the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon will be

sent. Nicola Sturgeon has come out today and said she thinks it is very

opportunistic of the Prime Minister to call this election. It does not

sound as if she is the port of the idea that but that will not stop

going and campaigning as hard as she can, seeing that every good for the

SNP as a vote for another independence referendum. You will

remember, although Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants motherboard, and

although the Scottish Parliament has voted to say there should be another

vote on Scottish independence, the Prime Minister has said that cannot

be won until well after the UK has left the EU. -- she want another

fault. That issue of whether they should be one and whether it should

be sooner than that will dominate the election in Scotland. If the SNP

do really were, they can use that to bolster Girardi made as to why they

should have an independence referendum. But they did so well in

2015, in the last general election, the 156 out of the 59 seats in

Scotland, they cannot do better than that and it is difficult to see how

they can do as well as that again. If they lose even just a handful of

seats, their opponents will seize on that and the their support has gone

down, meaning voters do not want another referendum on independence.

So it is fraught with difficulty on both sides.

Fascinating stuff. Thank you very much indeed.

Joe Twyman from the polling service YouGov is with me.

We have been talking about the alleged that the Prime Minister has.

You have been tracking voting intentions for some weeks now. Tell

of that about them. Over the last months, in fact over the last few

years, the Conservatives have done extremely well. You usually expect

mid-term blues during the parliamentary campaign but that is

usually for the government, not the opposition. Consistently, we have

seen the Conservatives well ahead and most recently, 21 points ahead.

Labour on 23, the Conservatives on 44. There is a margin of error

associated with all pause, it might be 42, might be 46, might be 25, but

it is still a significant need them please, one big enough that Theresa

May thinks she can convert to have a three figure majority. But the polls

are they are at the moment and the only other snapshot of public

opinion at the time. Things will change with the campaign.

We have not talked about the UK Independence Party, who were

instrumental in the Brexit vote. Some are suggesting that they might

get squeezed a little bit, because Brexit has already happened. They

have been a fall in the side of the Conservatives for some years, so

what do you think might happen to the Ukip vote? Well, with Ukip, they

have lost their leader, a charismatic figure, a lot of their

funding and their reason for existence and their MP. They are not

a good position. They certainly have the potential and 2015 to start

taking votes away from Labour in the Northern industrial towns. Whether

they can organise and mobilise to the degree that is required for that

remains uncertain. I think they are going to be very tough time of but

politics is looking for an antiestablishment candidate not just

in this country but, as we have seen, in other countries. Maybe they

can position themselves there but it is certainly a tough task.

As for Labour, we had a by-election in Stoke Central, a big Brexit area,

there were almost 70% and it was a labour hole. It does not necessarily

follow that in those areas where Brexit was particularly strong that

Labour might struggle. We do not know the degree to which Britain has

redefined British politics yet. Has it gone as far as Scotland did with

the Scottish referendum were everything becomes about that, I

doubt it. The Lib Dems were hopeful that had entered. Labour needs to

improve on their performance at the last election. That is a fight,

nothing to do with blogging. They need to win back supporters of

Conservatives in the south east. -- that is a fact, nothing to do with

Paul's. They needed to win over new voters, nonvoters. The evidence from

by-elections, local elections and council elections is that has not

happened yet. And so, as it stands, they are in a very difficult

position. Thank you very much for being with

us. Joe... Christian, sorry, we have

talked about policies, we have talked about polls, take me through

procedure. What has to happen now? Was a thing brought in some years

ago called the fixed violence act which means that there should not be

-- there should be five years between one election and the next

and to overcome but you have to have a vote in the parliament, in the

House of Commons across the road, and two thirds of the MPs have to

vote in favour. We would be seeing today that the Prime Minister has

called an election. She has not, she has indicated she wants a snap

election and needs the support of the Lib Dems, labour and you have

just heard that they are going to war along with that. Also you would

think the SNP. It would be quite interesting to see the court

tomorrow because, of course, Nicola Sturgeon, as you were hearing from

Sarah, has been quite critical of the Prime Minister. How will they

vote tomorrow? We will see. I would suspect they would probably all vote

in favour of it. OK, christian, thank you very much

indeed. A lot more still to come on this fascinating day at Westminster

in London. Police in the US state

of Pennsylvania say a man wanted in

connection with a murder They say Steve Stephens

was spotted by officers and shot himself

after a brief pursuit. A nationwide manhunt had been

launched for Stephens after a grandfather was shot dead

in Cleveland, Ohio, and footage of the incident posted

on the social media website. French security forces have arrested

two Islamist militants suspected of planning an attack before

the presidential election on Sunday. Reports said guns and bomb-making

chemicals were found in raids The French Interior Minister said

an attack was imminent. Measures have been taken

to protect the candidates. At least one of the men identified

was with Islamic State. Archaeologists in Egypt say

they've unearthed a tomb and discovered

a new collection of mummies. The find includes colourfully

decorated wooden coffins and more

than 1,000 statuettes. It's believed the tomb belonged

to a nobleman who worked as a judge. the tombs have escaped

looting by robbers. You're watching

One Hundred Days from BBC news. Still to come for viewers on the

BBC News Channel and BBC World News: While President Trump's top

cabinet team goes global, we report on how he's concentrating

on America first. And the prisoners on death row

in Arkansas who've had a stay

of execution after a legal battle. We hear from one of the men

waiting to hear his fate. That's still to come

on One Hundred Days, from BBC News. Well, it is quiet on the weather

front of you and it is going to be a frosty one, particularly across the

southern half of the UK. Last night, frosty in the north. This coming

night, with clear skies, the South will get the