:00:24. > :00:26.Hello and welcome to Dateline London.
:00:27. > :00:27.The biggest decision of our lifetimes - Brexit.
:00:28. > :00:29.Are we any clearer what it might mean?
:00:30. > :00:33.Plus, Syria - is there any hope left?
:00:34. > :00:36.And Donald Trump promises in the next debate to get tougher
:00:37. > :00:42.If that is an admission he lost the first encounter
:00:43. > :00:45.My guests today are Alex Deane, a conservative commentator,
:00:46. > :00:47.Suzanne Lynch, who is Brussels Correspondent
:00:48. > :00:50.of the Irish Times, Nesrine Malik, who is a Sudanese writer,
:00:51. > :01:05.Brexit, and 100 days after Britain voted to leave the European Union,
:01:06. > :01:09.can Theresa May come up with a plan that will persuade her own
:01:10. > :01:12.ministers, the Conservative Party, the people of Britain and,
:01:13. > :01:20.ultimately, her negotiating partners with in the European Union? It is
:01:21. > :01:25.pretty slow, isn't it? Do you think it is reasonably slow or she should
:01:26. > :01:29.have gone faster? EU it is funny, our last Prime Minister promised he
:01:30. > :01:32.would remain in office and invoke Article 50 immediately. His acts
:01:33. > :01:36.were the other way around. I understand when you're thrust into
:01:37. > :01:38.office, even faster than she might have expected because you were
:01:39. > :01:43.supposed to have a leadership contest. We were only going to have
:01:44. > :01:47.a new Prime Minister two weeks ago on the original timetable. To take
:01:48. > :01:52.your time, evaluate the environment in a considered way. That
:01:53. > :01:56.characterises Theresa May all round. She is a considered and thoughtful
:01:57. > :02:00.person. I think that is probably to the good. If we are going to go
:02:01. > :02:04.through this process, even on the most neutral view is traumatic, it
:02:05. > :02:10.is good to have somebody that takes her time a little bit. I would also
:02:11. > :02:14.say this. I wanted us to leave the European Union and I am glad we
:02:15. > :02:17.voted the way we did. Looking at the environment, I think Article 50 is
:02:18. > :02:20.not fit for purpose. It was never meant to be used and nobody really
:02:21. > :02:25.had a sense of who was going to negotiate on the other side, the
:02:26. > :02:28.side representing those that represent is those not leaving, and
:02:29. > :02:32.how they were supposed to corral the interests and agreements of the
:02:33. > :02:36.member states and European institutions. A delay on our side is
:02:37. > :02:39.going to look very mild, compared to the attempts on the other side, once
:02:40. > :02:43.the process gets going, to court make their position. You don't speak
:02:44. > :02:48.for the other side, but you do report on it. How is it seen in
:02:49. > :02:53.Brussels? I don't really agree. The danger for Theresa May is that we
:02:54. > :02:58.have had clarity, no specifics about what kind of Brexit she wants. In
:02:59. > :03:02.the meantime, the European side have been gathering their troops, if you
:03:03. > :03:05.like. The three main institutions, the European Commission, Parliament
:03:06. > :03:09.and Council, they have appointed negotiation teams. This is familiar
:03:10. > :03:13.turf for Brussels, the issues of trade, the complexity of it all.
:03:14. > :03:16.They are getting ready, if you like. The message seems to be coming from
:03:17. > :03:23.London, from Liam Fox and David Davies, that we are looking at more
:03:24. > :03:26.of a hard Brexit. Maybe Theresa May this weekend will give a bit more
:03:27. > :03:28.clarity about what she wants. At the moment, there is a sense from
:03:29. > :03:32.Brussels that this is the message coming from senior figures in the
:03:33. > :03:37.government, they want to move as far away, a clean Brexit, if you like,
:03:38. > :03:41.and sacrifice may be the economic connections of the single market,
:03:42. > :03:44.the customs union, for control over immigration. Unless we see some
:03:45. > :03:50.specifics from Theresa May, it seems to be the way it is going from the
:03:51. > :03:53.London perspective. When you look at the problem that was supposed to be
:03:54. > :03:57.solved by Brexit, by David Cameron, the problem of management in the
:03:58. > :04:01.Conservative Party, that has not actually happened, had it? Although
:04:02. > :04:05.people are looking at the Prime Minister and thinking you have to
:04:06. > :04:08.take your time and this is complicated, the divisions there are
:04:09. > :04:12.still as apparent as they always work? Yes, and they are not going to
:04:13. > :04:16.get resolved at the conference in Birmingham this week. They will
:04:17. > :04:19.continue, I believe. I don't completely agree that the signals
:04:20. > :04:22.are clear that they want a hard Brexit. One of the ironies is that I
:04:23. > :04:27.suspect what the Prime Minister once is exactly what David Cameron wanted
:04:28. > :04:30.when he started the renegotiations. They want control over immigration
:04:31. > :04:34.and they wanted to stay in the single market, keep our sporting and
:04:35. > :04:42.not jeopardise the City of London's start -- that is. We may be in a
:04:43. > :04:47.similar situation 12 months from now. Now you hear people saying we
:04:48. > :04:57.cannot start negotiations until after the German elections, it
:04:58. > :05:01.pushes it back and back. I agree they are not sure what they want.
:05:02. > :05:04.There is a lot of pandering to people that voted Brexit, saying
:05:05. > :05:10.that we're working on it in a way that you would like us to, but we
:05:11. > :05:13.are working on it, Priti Patel, a Tory member, said on BBC question
:05:14. > :05:19.Time the other day, a really good slogan for the Tory party's racks at
:05:20. > :05:25.plans, we are working on it. It is a difficult situation for Theresa May.
:05:26. > :05:30.I do agree, it is something that was not planned for or arranged, or
:05:31. > :05:34.considered before Brexit. She is inheriting a plan that needs to be
:05:35. > :05:38.done from scratch. At the same time, she does need to give not
:05:39. > :05:41.necessarily specifics, nobody is asking for an itemised list of what
:05:42. > :05:48.is going to happen, but just to give some comfort. After... How long is
:05:49. > :05:52.it now? Three months, after three months, all of these people will
:05:53. > :05:55.have been corralled, all of the Brexit ministers, lawyers appointed,
:05:56. > :06:01.they have come up with something and we don't have an indication of that
:06:02. > :06:03.yet. The difference between the last Government on this one is quite
:06:04. > :06:10.stark, default in the last regime was having no preparation of the
:06:11. > :06:13.eventuality of the side they didn't support winning. That is one of the
:06:14. > :06:16.biggest criticisms you can level at the Conservative Party in recent
:06:17. > :06:21.times. They had no contingency plan for the verdict they didn't want.
:06:22. > :06:24.The reason Theresa May is upsetting some journalists and they are
:06:25. > :06:28.getting frustrated, it may not be that having no plan is the same as
:06:29. > :06:31.you not being told a running commentary about a plan. If you are
:06:32. > :06:36.in a negotiation, it is probably unwise to give advance notice of
:06:37. > :06:41.every bullet point, or even the direction of travel you want to go.
:06:42. > :06:45.It is also unwise not to give any indication at all, which then makes
:06:46. > :06:49.them calculate the worst-case scenario. Ultimately, the stark
:06:50. > :06:54.reality is that Britain is not going to get everything at once. It is not
:06:55. > :06:59.if you have all of the access. The European Union is a much stronger
:07:00. > :07:02.position, 450 million people against 60 million people, 27 countries
:07:03. > :07:06.against one. I accept there is a strong economic power there, but
:07:07. > :07:10.undoubtedly Europe has the stronger hand. Yes, there are German and
:07:11. > :07:15.French exporters, but that is one tiny part of that. Donald Tusk, the
:07:16. > :07:18.head of the Council, said at the Bratislava summit if you weeks ago,
:07:19. > :07:23.I am here to protect my 27 countries. Britain has voted to
:07:24. > :07:28.leave, that is it, are gone. Why would the European Union moved to
:07:29. > :07:35.really... Yes, they will protect their interests, but that is one
:07:36. > :07:37.small part. When you bring in things like passporting, Common
:07:38. > :07:42.agricultural policy, aviation, a myriad of issues that have to be
:07:43. > :07:45.worked out. If Britain are not ready, I think the European Union
:07:46. > :07:50.will be in a stronger position and get a better deal for their side.
:07:51. > :07:56.I'm curious, I never heard the suggestion that Article 50 is not
:07:57. > :08:01.fit for purpose. Really? They never envisaged it happening. What I'm
:08:02. > :08:06.asking is, is it going to work? I have read it quickly. You put it in
:08:07. > :08:10.motion, you cannot stop, that is why everybody is afraid to trigger. It
:08:11. > :08:13.will work in that Britain will leave the European Union. The way it will
:08:14. > :08:18.not work is having any kind of meaningful trade agreement in the
:08:19. > :08:23.two years set aside. The time frame established in the treaty is
:08:24. > :08:28.inadequate. Article 50 is only a couple of sentences, it is tiny. It
:08:29. > :08:34.does say that with unanimous agreement you can extend the period.
:08:35. > :08:39.It will not be unanimity amongst the European countries. This is a small
:08:40. > :08:47.point, what is Liam Fox's job? The trade Secretary, that he cannot do
:08:48. > :08:49.trade deals? He can seek trade agreements with countries outside
:08:50. > :08:55.the European Union. There is nothing to stop him... Well, there is, the
:08:56. > :08:59.European Union preserves a legal right. You can have bilaterals. In
:09:00. > :09:04.effect, the United Kingdom government is not helping in the
:09:05. > :09:07.collaborative discussion we are having, it is likely to say, I will
:09:08. > :09:09.negotiate with other people if I want, what are you going to do about
:09:10. > :09:11.it? We make no apology for returning
:09:12. > :09:14.to the subject of Syria this week - not because there are any magical
:09:15. > :09:16.new solutions, but simply because forgetting the humanitarian
:09:17. > :09:18.catastrophe in what was once a thriving Arab country
:09:19. > :09:20.seems just wrong. So, if the Asad regime is clearly
:09:21. > :09:23.part of the problem, Has Western policy to marginalise,
:09:24. > :09:36.ignore and not negotiate It has been wrong. I think people
:09:37. > :09:40.need to acknowledge that. I think what we suffered from in Syria is
:09:41. > :09:48.the Iraq war hangover. I think unfortunately history will judged
:09:49. > :09:52.both decisions harshly. I think in fear and reluctance to look like
:09:53. > :09:55.people are intervening, and the Western interventionism in the
:09:56. > :10:00.region has been problematic in the past, it has enabled President Assad
:10:01. > :10:04.and strengthened his hand. There is a triumvirate of absolutely
:10:05. > :10:14.reprehensible culprits, between Hezbollah, Assad and Russia, with
:10:15. > :10:17.the West looking on, that has devastated what was until recently
:10:18. > :10:24.one of the most thriving countries in the Arab world. I make no
:10:25. > :10:27.apologies for it to Aleppo, I am really concerned that people are
:10:28. > :10:32.looking at it the way they would look at starving children in East
:10:33. > :10:36.Africa and say, well, it is what it is, it happens once in a while and
:10:37. > :10:41.we can't do anything about it. It is a man-made catastrophe? Yes, people
:10:42. > :10:44.will sit and opine and say that these are political calculations,
:10:45. > :10:50.what can you do about it? We can do something about it. There is a way
:10:51. > :10:54.to highlight, in political circles, in the West, the absolute paralysis
:10:55. > :11:05.that has been the state of play when it comes to Putin and Assad. I
:11:06. > :11:09.wonder in real politic terms, if you have a choice between relative
:11:10. > :11:14.stability in some areas with Assad in power, or some group somehow
:11:15. > :11:18.overthrowing Assad, the western policy, and then indignant fighting
:11:19. > :11:25.each other? In other words, there has always been a flaw within Obama
:11:26. > :11:31.policy? We have been talking about this for five years, the US has
:11:32. > :11:34.never had an effective or coherent policy. Diplomacy has failed,
:11:35. > :11:37.flyovers have failed, limited involvement has failed and the
:11:38. > :11:42.agreement worked out between Secretary John Kerry and separately
:11:43. > :11:48.Sergey Lavrov was a disaster 14 days ago. I don't see a way forward in
:11:49. > :11:55.the waning days of the Obama presidency. I see his ability to
:11:56. > :11:59.influence events as faded. It is significant to bring in the Russian
:12:00. > :12:02.element, it is a year since Russia became involved in the war and it
:12:03. > :12:06.has had quite an impact. It succeeded in shoring up the Assad
:12:07. > :12:11.regime, which was losing ground. It's interesting, the timing.
:12:12. > :12:14.Relationships between Washington and Moscow are so bad on the back of
:12:15. > :12:21.this failed ceasefire. Questions about John Kerry's personal
:12:22. > :12:25.credibility, he put a lot into the deal, he negotiated it personally
:12:26. > :12:28.and it lies in ruins. We are committed the end of the
:12:29. > :12:33.administration in the US, it is not high on the political agenda in the
:12:34. > :12:36.US, where other issues are. Even in Britain, the Labour Party
:12:37. > :12:40.conference, it barely got a mention. Will we see Theresa May even raise
:12:41. > :12:46.it? It is not on the domestic agenda in Britain or the US. In the
:12:47. > :12:50.meantime, Russia is dictating terms. You don't raise political issues you
:12:51. > :12:56.don't have a solution for, I guess? But that has implications. This has
:12:57. > :12:59.been successful, if you like, for Moscow. With very little investment
:13:00. > :13:04.in terms of losses, although we are not entirely sure on that, and
:13:05. > :13:09.costs, it has succeeded in putting itself back at the centre of world
:13:10. > :13:14.diplomacy. If you take away any kind of moral compass, Putin has played a
:13:15. > :13:19.blinder. He has had very great success with little risk to start
:13:20. > :13:25.with, and little lost. The footage we see of Aleppo, much of which is
:13:26. > :13:29.taken by drones, changing the nature of reporting from danger zones, it
:13:30. > :13:36.reveals an almost lunar landscape, or World War II Dresden. It is
:13:37. > :13:41.astonishing to think that 250,000 people are still living in that
:13:42. > :13:45.environment. I think moral impulse is absolute. The second thing is
:13:46. > :13:48.that the spokesman for the Assad regime on the BBC last week was
:13:49. > :13:53.saying we have never attacked our own citizens, we never do that, just
:13:54. > :13:58.terrible denial of obvious truth. The difference between that and the
:13:59. > :14:02.Saddam Hussein regime, when his spokesman lied, is that the Saddam
:14:03. > :14:09.Hussein regime did not get away with it, the Assad regime is. I do think
:14:10. > :14:16.there is huge moral pressure piling up. I am more of a cynic and I think
:14:17. > :14:20.that usually doesn't result in anything. But the footage coming
:14:21. > :14:24.through from Aleppo, the possibility now, because Assad and the Russians
:14:25. > :14:35.are panicking, the possibility to send in ground troops, 6000 ground
:14:36. > :14:41.troops into 11 -- Aleppo, I think that will be the dividing line
:14:42. > :14:48.between if somebody says it will be open combat, it will be something
:14:49. > :14:51.tantamount to cleansing. Are we in the West being hypocritical? The
:14:52. > :14:55.biggest manifestation of the war has been the refugee crisis. People
:14:56. > :15:01.don't want to know about the migration crisis, then they see the
:15:02. > :15:06.awful scenes in Aleppo and don't make the connection it is the same
:15:07. > :15:10.problem. Just the proximity, 40 miles across the board in Turkey,
:15:11. > :15:15.adjacent to Europe, adjacent to Turkey, it has huge ramifications in
:15:16. > :15:19.terms of the refugee crisis and it has not gone away. It will be
:15:20. > :15:22.interesting to see if that debate about whether there should be more
:15:23. > :15:24.intervention. The Clinton-Trump debate this week
:15:25. > :15:26.engaged the interest of more than 80 million Americans
:15:27. > :15:28.and millions more people If Donald Trump really
:15:29. > :15:31.is a fat-shaming, ill-informed, tax-avoiding misogynist
:15:32. > :15:32.who routinely insults people of other races why is this
:15:33. > :15:44.election even close? Do we miss the point about Donald
:15:45. > :15:48.Trump, outside the United States? Do we just not get why tens of millions
:15:49. > :15:52.of people would vote for him? Yes, you do miss the point. In general,
:15:53. > :15:58.you don't understand. You started with an electorate that has maybe
:15:59. > :16:00.42% favouring one side and 42 the other. People are evenly split
:16:01. > :16:06.between the Republican and Democrat point of view. It starts off fairly
:16:07. > :16:11.even. This election is about 6% or 8% of the people in the middle.
:16:12. > :16:17.Trump is taking a very unorthodox, radical, improvised... He's not
:16:18. > :16:21.listening to advisers, he is doing things his own way and tossing the
:16:22. > :16:27.dice. Did not work for him this week, it might next week. In
:16:28. > :16:31.general, Europe does not understand just how divided America is and how
:16:32. > :16:36.this election is all about this small group of swing voters that
:16:37. > :16:38.they are trying to appeal to. European journalists have patronised
:16:39. > :16:43.Ronald Reagan and various others. But this isn't Ronald Reagan, is it?
:16:44. > :16:47.But the fact he's even further away from the political consensus may be
:16:48. > :16:51.part of his appeal. Part of the answer that question may also lie in
:16:52. > :16:55.the way it is framed. If you only list the supposed faults of one
:16:56. > :16:59.candidate, you're going to with a particular view of the debate. If we
:17:00. > :17:03.decided to list the cartoon sins of Hilary Clinton on the other,
:17:04. > :17:08.standing by her man while covering up systematic abuse of women, the
:17:09. > :17:11.e-mail cover-up and abuse of her position as Secretary of State,
:17:12. > :17:15.Benghazi and so forth, you might come to a more balanced view, which
:17:16. > :17:19.is that they are both terrible candidates. I think it is really
:17:20. > :17:22.interesting what Alex said. One of the reasons why Donald Trump is in
:17:23. > :17:27.the position he is today, where everybody is thinking how has this
:17:28. > :17:32.happened, is because of this false equivalence. It is this desire to
:17:33. > :17:36.not come across as patronising or a liberal snob, saying they are both
:17:37. > :17:40.terrible. The New York Times today deep investigation into the e-mails,
:17:41. > :17:42.completely unwarranted, because they wanted to look like they were giving
:17:43. > :17:48.both candidates the level of scrutiny. The false equivalence, the
:17:49. > :17:52.interesting story is not the normalisation of Donald Trump, it is
:17:53. > :18:02.the demonisation of Hillary. Donald Trump is a creep. Hillary is a
:18:03. > :18:05.slightly... Let's concede she is moderately corrupt, inept or
:18:06. > :18:09.problematic. If you compare that to all of the other sitting presidents
:18:10. > :18:13.they have hard, e-mail scandals, corruption, bribery scandals, trade
:18:14. > :18:17.deal scandals, it is not comparable. I think this false equivalence is
:18:18. > :18:20.one of the reasons that Donald Trump is where he is today. To answer your
:18:21. > :18:24.question, does it matter that he does all of these things, it does
:18:25. > :18:28.not, because people are being tribal in their voting for Trump. The most
:18:29. > :18:33.interesting thing is that they don't care about his lies. There is a
:18:34. > :18:38.sense that there is a contract between Donald Trump and his
:18:39. > :18:42.supporters, I am lying to them but not to you. He has to get more to
:18:43. > :18:46.win. He was close a week ago to getting into a commanding position
:18:47. > :18:50.in the polls. He has to move beyond the people he has this contract with
:18:51. > :18:55.and attract other people. That wasn't me, so I wanted to come back
:18:56. > :18:57.in. I wasn't seeking to draw what you have tamed false equivalence
:18:58. > :19:00.between the candidates. I was seeking to correct what I thought
:19:01. > :19:04.was Gavin's one eyed introduction saying all of the sins of Donald
:19:05. > :19:09.Trump, why is this even close? If you want my view, she is a much
:19:10. > :19:13.worse candidate than him, she systematically corrupt, she is part
:19:14. > :19:17.of the Democratic machine that would abuse office on the same way as her
:19:18. > :19:24.husband. Donald Trump just comes across as a bit of an idiot. In the
:19:25. > :19:28.17 years of this show, has there been a large understatement? In the
:19:29. > :19:30.next couple of weeks, and Clinton could be entering difficult
:19:31. > :19:35.territory. It has been a tough week for Donald Trump, the debate did not
:19:36. > :19:38.go his way. The scandal about Miss Universe, the Washington Post has
:19:39. > :19:41.been doing digging about his charity. We have seen in his
:19:42. > :19:49.speeches since Monday, he has come back at the Clinton Global
:19:50. > :19:53.Initiative, Clinton Foundation... Which made millions of dollars. He
:19:54. > :19:57.will come back this, the and comfortable link between big
:19:58. > :20:00.business and politics at the Clintons symbolise for a lot of
:20:01. > :20:06.people. The Clintons made over $100 million in fees on this. And
:20:07. > :20:11.Benghazi and some of the other things? I think it will even
:20:12. > :20:14.overshadow that. It was a huge issue for the Bernie Sanders supporters.
:20:15. > :20:18.The Democrats that did not support Hillary, this is their big theme,
:20:19. > :20:22.anti-globalisation, anti-big business. How are they going to
:20:23. > :20:26.respond to that? Will we see some of them going libertarian, the third
:20:27. > :20:30.candidate? I think the Clinton candidate is worried about that. One
:20:31. > :20:35.of the things that came up, you touched on it, the question of false
:20:36. > :20:43.equivalence. In terms of reporting, this is unique, this election.
:20:44. > :20:48.People who try to be fair, balanced and as reasonably objective as they
:20:49. > :20:51.might possibly be an outcome in some cases, saying that this candidate
:20:52. > :20:58.effectively is a liar, pointed to Donald Trump. This is a in American
:20:59. > :21:02.journalism? Yes, the New York Times executive editor, they have taken
:21:03. > :21:11.the position that they are going to brand Trump a liar. That is quite
:21:12. > :21:14.unprecedented. And he has been given four Pinocchios from the Washington
:21:15. > :21:18.Post, they're funny way of saying the same thing? People are blaming
:21:19. > :21:23.the press as if it is our fault that he has come so far. I don't buy
:21:24. > :21:27.that. When a candidate is nominated, we report what they say, we
:21:28. > :21:30.challenge it, investigated and look into it and report what is right and
:21:31. > :21:35.wrong, look into their past. But I don't think it is our job to save
:21:36. > :21:41.this person is unfit or that person is unfit. It is not our tradition.
:21:42. > :21:48.But you did have major, major newspapers that have always gone
:21:49. > :21:51.Republican, endorsing... I used to work for the Dallas and Houston
:21:52. > :21:56.paper, they both broke hundreds of years of tradition to denounce
:21:57. > :22:00.Donald Trump. I think it had zero effect, what newspapers say. It is
:22:01. > :22:04.interesting you raised that very good point, it has challenged the
:22:05. > :22:10.limitations of reporting in America. People have broken cover. It is not
:22:11. > :22:16.a reporter's position job to say if a candidate is fit or unfit, but,
:22:17. > :22:21.recently, the pearl clutching has ceased. People are saying the birth
:22:22. > :22:25.of thing was a lie. That is when a New York Times came out and said it
:22:26. > :22:32.was a lie. The birth thing was encouraged by the Clinton camp. It
:22:33. > :22:36.is still a lie. A liar by Hillary Clinton. You all said it is not up
:22:37. > :22:41.to the media to determine if the media are unfit or not. You do a
:22:42. > :22:45.pretty good job of... If you listen to what I am saying, I am not saying
:22:46. > :22:49.he is unfit, I am saying he has a strong appeal and I expected to get
:22:50. > :22:51.close again. But he took a radical approach to the debate and I don't
:22:52. > :22:55.think you would argue it worked. He didn't listen to a single adviser.
:22:56. > :23:02.He did not prepare, he did it off the cuff. Sometimes it works, this
:23:03. > :23:13.time it didn't. One of the interesting things about Trump's
:23:14. > :23:20.history is how an -- unRepublican he is. I don't find him a good
:23:21. > :23:25.candidate, he is populist, protectionist, against free trade.
:23:26. > :23:29.Better than my list! Those other reasons I don't like him. No offence
:23:30. > :23:32.to anybody here, but I think the steering that is done to Donald
:23:33. > :23:38.Trump helped his cause. As somebody who campaigned or Brexit, being
:23:39. > :23:44.sneered at is very helpful. A famous phrase about Roosevelt, second-class
:23:45. > :23:48.intellect, first-class temperament. Temperament as part of the issue.
:23:49. > :23:53.You might say that neither of them has a temperament that is
:23:54. > :23:56.particularly appealing. But this is somebody with a nuclear football
:23:57. > :23:59.behind him, and temperament could be an important issue. Is that the guy
:24:00. > :24:04.you want to have the finger on the pulse? I think that applies to both
:24:05. > :24:09.candidates, it is a deeply unpleasant election, that is not
:24:10. > :24:15.false equivalence. I would not disagree in terms of foreign policy.
:24:16. > :24:19.That is why the US is so important. Trump's comments on Putin, it is a
:24:20. > :24:25.very delicate time for relationships between Washington and Moscow. Trump
:24:26. > :24:29.saying he admires Putin, at this moment, I think that is very
:24:30. > :24:35.serious. I think somebody needs to probe him on that. Millions of
:24:36. > :24:43.American voters will want to think that America can be closer to Russia
:24:44. > :24:47.than it is now. Will they? Well, have a better relationship with
:24:48. > :24:51.Russia than it does now. This is why the debate was so disappointing.
:24:52. > :24:54.Trump's position on Nato is very radical and interesting, I would
:24:55. > :24:58.love to hear an articular defence of it. He's talking about throwing up
:24:59. > :25:02.the defence plan that has worked since 1945. But there was no talk of
:25:03. > :25:09.this, the debate was all about Miss Universe, it was an odd debate. I
:25:10. > :25:14.would like to hear serious foreign policy justification. The point he
:25:15. > :25:17.made about swing voters, if we put aside what our views are about the
:25:18. > :25:22.candidates, what they are fighting for his swing voters. What Trump
:25:23. > :25:25.keeps doing is playing to his own gallery. The difference in their
:25:26. > :25:29.positions is that Trump needs to make a case, a strong case, that he
:25:30. > :25:33.is not this erotic person. If he doesn't come I think people will
:25:34. > :25:39.default to Hillary as they say their pair of hands. Or third candidates,
:25:40. > :25:42.this is a fear, if you do not vote for Hillary, Obama was saying it has
:25:43. > :25:44.these implications. That's it for Dateline
:25:45. > :25:45.London for this week. You can comment on the programme
:25:46. > :25:48.on Twitter @gavinesler and also We are back next week at the same
:25:49. > :25:53.time - please make a date