05/05/2017 Newsnight

For us it's been tough, you know, let's admit it.

It's been disappointing, but there's been mixed results.

Obviously, we need to gain support and, I tell you,

compared to two years ago, we're doing our best, doing well.

I'm disappointed we've lost seats because our candidates

and our councillors have worked so hard.

We came within 5,000 votes of winning the west of England,

Yeah, it's been a tough night, but it's mixed results and it's

all to play for in terms of the general election.

As far as the general election is concerned,

We will see what happens when the whistle is blown for full-time.

It's not unusual to try and put a brave face on bad news.

But some days, it's harder than others.

With just over a month to go before a general election,

Britain's main opposition party, Labour, is moving backwards.

They've lost seats and mayoralty contests,

They lost to the SNP in Glasgow, they lost to the Tories

in the North of England, they lost to nameless

independents in South Wales - all former heartlands.

For a party whose proud activists calls themselves 'Momentum',

Here - in other words - is a party slipping further away

Some solace for Labour, Ukip had a worse time

The party that clambered aboard a wrecking ball and drove it

through the British political system, emerged with just

one councillor today - a lone soul in Burnley.

Sober faces masking an extraordinary set of results.

Tonight, we analyse the new political landscape

and ask what it could spell for the election in June.

Our political editor, Nick Watt, is in Birmingham.

Let us start with the Tories. Theresa May really doing what she

set out to do, Nick? Yes, that's right. Here I am in Birmingham where

the Conservative Party have ventured into Labour heartlands by capturing

that West Midlands mayoralty. If you take that result and combine it with

the results across Great Britain the Conservative Party is healing for a

decisive victory in next mornt's general election. They are moving

back into parts of Great Britain where they really haven't had much

of an impact for the last 25 years. And, the Conservatives have an 11

point lead in the projected national share. That is higher than Margaret

Thatcher had this time in 1983 and 1987 and that was fold in both those

cases by landslide general election victories. Conservative ministers

they are saying - there is no complacency you can always make a

mistake in the next five weeks. I spoke to a Cabinet Minister this

afternoon who said to me - interestingly, Theresa May's gamble

on that early election was the right one. Your thoughts on Labour

tonight, Nick? The Labour Party are saying that they are still in the

game. They are saying that 11 point Tory lead is narrower than the

opinion poll lead. They are saying - look, they won the Manchester,

George Michael mayoralt and Liverpool decriesively. Senior

Labour figures in private are in despair. They think the party is

heading to a heavy defeat next month. Jeremy Corbyn headed to

Manchester this afternoon to celebrate Andy Burnham victory, but

the new Mayor, well, he was otherwise engaged. On this historic

day we decided to take a look at the five lessons we've learnt from

today. The people of Britain have spoken.

The political ground has shifted and Britain is on course for a

realignment in next month's general election. But just what have we

learnt from the multitude of elections across Great Britain?

Crowing by ministers has been banned by Number Ten. They have little

doubt that Theresa May's decision to call an early general election will

pay off. Strange to think that just a few weeks ago some ministers were

wondering whether her gamble was really that wise. Now, ministers are

drawing parallels with Margaret Thatcher's landslide victories in

1983 and 1987. She triggered those contests a few days after success in

the local elections. Theresa May had no such luxury. She had to go

earlier because ministers felt there was a short window before the Brexit

negotiations are properly under way. Theresa May's two core messages at

the launch of her campaign for the Tory leadership, here in Birmingham

last July, are paying dividends. Her pledge that, yes, Brexit would mean

Brexit has won over Ukip voters. And her insistence that the referendum

result was a cry from people who feel left behind by globalisation

has won over blue collar voters from Ukip and Labour.

In the home of the pay rant saint of Mayism the Tories achieved their

best win of these elections. Street, Andy, the Conservative Party

candidate is duly elected as Mayor for the West Midlands. His success

in the West Midlands Mayoral contest shows that the Conservatives are on

the march in Labour heartlands. The giants of the Labour movement would

be stunned as bastians fell. Glasgow and the land of Michael Foot. They

won Greater Manchester and Liverpool, giving the party some

hope that urban areas may save it from meltdown on the 8th June.

Ukip changed the country by laying the ground for the Brexit vote. But

in their success, they may very well have put themselves out of business.

On the other side there was little sign of a bounce from aggrieved K

Remain supporters, for Britain's two most ro-European parties, the

Liberal Democrats and the SNP, who both earn'ts experienced mixed

results. Is You end with Nicola Sturgeon. Talk us through the SNP's

fortunes today? Do you agree we've reached Peak Nat in the words of

Ruth Davidson? We possible have. You heard in my report that Labour has

lost control of Glasgow. What is interesting. They might be talking

about it in a few decades time today, is the return of the

Conservative Party. 20 years ago they were wiped out in Scotland,

today they are back and back in unexpected places. There is a

Conservative councillor now in the Paisley, one of the most deprived

areas of Scotland. Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish

Conservatives she says that her party is now unquestionably the main

party of the Union in Scotland. She is hoping that in next month's

general election she will pick up tactical votes from people across

the spectrum who do not want to have a second independence referendum.

Nick, thanks very much indeed. Nick Watt there in Birmingham.

West Midlands, Tees Valley, Derbyshire, Lancashire,

These were the places they used to weigh the labour vote,

so certain were they of their heartland support.

Today, they saw them slip out of their grip.

This map, from the Guardian, shows the Labour gains.

And this one shows the Tory gains - they are everywhere.

So where does Labour think they'll win the general election?

Campaign manager, Andrew Gwynne, joins me now from Salford.

Nice of you to join us, Andrew Gwynne. Based on what you have seen

today, do you still believe you can win the general election? Well, of

course we fight elections to win because we are in this game to

change Britain for the better. So, before a single vote has been cast

for the general election, of course we are fighting for every single

Labour vote in every part of the United Kingdom that we will be

contesting. Do you believe you can win it on this result? Of course,

you have to believe in politics that you can win. I do believe that we

can win if we get our message across, our policies across. If

Labour candidates, if Labour Party members hit the ground. Dust

ourselves down, we have taken a bruising today in parts of the

country. I play tribute to Labour candidates and councillors who have

stood for the party and sadly not been elected. You are the head of

campaigns now. You recognise, presumably, you are going to have a

pretty radical shift, in terms ofs how you get that message out now,

what's going to happen? We have five weeks to change the course of the

next five years. That's a massive challenge. It's one I'm up to and

it's one that I know many of my colleagues are up to. What we've got

to do, going forward, is we have to, obviously, launch our manifesto and

get our policies there. We have a transformational vision for the

Britain which is different to the society we live in now. A fairer,

more equal and just society. I'm confident that if we can get that

message out - Those policies are out, aren't they? We have heard a

lot of you campaigning on the issues, police numbers, talked

schools, talked NHS and the crisis. These are presumably what you want

to be talking about that message still hasn't got through to voters

today? That's just the start. I urge you to wait until the 16th May when

we will launch our manifesto. You will see that there are some pretty

radical and forward thinking policies in there. I don't doubt

that we have got a challenge on our hands. It's our duty to make sure

that we Ied fight for every single Labour vote. That we fight to make

sure that as many Labour MPs are returned to parliament on the 8th

June. The trouble is, for Labour, you haven't got - Fight to win. You

haven't got certain members of your party, many members of your party,

behind you, as us know. The MP for Red car wrote this morning, "we've a

lot to learn. The Tories have decimated Teesside, but people still

didn't want to trust us." Sion Simon lost the West Midlands "traditional

working-class votes want a simpler, stronger message they want

patriotism, hard work, law and order." Do you concede that simple

message - whatever the message is from Labour - isn't getting through?

I absolutely know that candidates like Ana Turlly will be fighting for

a Labour victory in red car. I support Anna in that. We need her to

be returned to parliament. We need many more Labour MPs back in

parliament. Absolutely we have to get - We know what you need. What

I'm not hearing from you is the sense of how that could happen now?

This is presumably a wake-up call. You have got a month to go. We know

that you want to return MPs to parliament, we don't know how you're

going to do it. We don't know what is going to be radical enough for

you to get a message across, through Jeremy Corbyn, through John

McDonnell, which hasn't worked so far? Firstly, be patient. Let's see

what's in that manifesto. Secondly, of course we have lessons to learn.

We've also got lessons to learn from the areas where we did well in the

local elections. Places like Greater Manchester where the Tories were

defeated in their own areas. For example - Where your candidate

didn't wait around to see his leader turn-up? The Conservative candidate

in greater man chest, the Greater Manchester. We have lessons to

learn, both bad and good from these elections. I'm not complacent. I'm

looking very carefully at how we build on those issues and we get our

message across. You have to be more than not complacent, don't you? Step

back from this for a second. You are trying to replace a Government that

has imposed seven years of austerity. It's failed to meet

immigration targets. It's failed to reach its deficit targets. It failed

to solve a crisis in the NHS. You are moving backwards. You are losing

your Labour heartlands. You can't begin to make gains in a situation

like that. What's gone wrong? We are making gains in parts of the

country. We increased our majority in Swansea we had a landslide in

Greater Manchester and Merseyside. By a candidate who doesn't believe

in Jeremy Corbyn? Including city regions who do not traditionally

vote for the Labour Party. There are lessons to learn both from the poor

results in parts of the country, but also from some of the good results

in part of the country. Now, we've got a job to do in the next five

weeks and I'm fully focused on the other hand making sure that we get

that Labour message across - that we want to build a Britain for the

many, not the few, and I'm confident that my colleagues, in the Labour

Party, will be doing their bit to make sure that we return as many

Labour MPs and, hopefully, on the 8th June, a Labour Government.

Andrew Gwynne, thank you. Thank you. Whilst the results have been

coming in across the UK, the two candidates vying to be

the President of France have been pitching for votes

on their last day of campaigning. Despite the best efforts

of the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, Centrist Emmanuel

Macron has a substantial lead in opinion polls

ahead of Sunday's poll. Gabriel Gatehouse is in

Paris for us tonight. Take us through what you are seeing

and feeling there? Turnout will be key on Sunday. Emmanuel Macron's

vote is broad, but soft. That is to say that in a recent poll, 60% of

people who said they were planning to vote for him said they were

planning to do so because they didn't like the other option on

offer. Marine Le Pen's vote is narrower, but firmer. Her supporters

are energised. A low turnout could work in her favour. Who trusts the

polls these days I hear you ask after Brexit, after Trump? We had a

dry run here in France. In the first round the opinion polls turned out

to be pretty accurate. We are not in the predicting

business, but the fact remains that one candidate is 20 points ahead in

the opinion polls of the other. We have been taking a deep look at

Emmanuel Macron and asking what his candidacy might tell us about

politics today. The Whirlpool factory makes washing machinings,

not for much longer. The work remembers fighting to save their

jobs. They know it's a lost cost. Next year production will move to

Poland where labour is cheaper and labour laws more liberal. The battle

for this factory really encapsulates what this whole campaign is about.

It's a straight fight between the globalalists and the nationalists.

Emmanuel Macron is is on the side of globalisation.

This is Emanuel's hometown. He could not promise to save their jobs. It

did not go down well. Unemployment in France remain stubbornly at 10%.

Pro testing is done in a certain style, there is beer and pork chops.

Emmanuel Macron is not popular. In an era of rising populism,

Emmanuel Macron is that most despised of creatures, a former

banker turned technocrat, a pro-EU, pro-immigration liberal and yet, he

is the favourite to win on Sunday. So who is he really? This is a

senior adviser to President all on when Emmanuel Macron appeared as if

out of nowhere to take the second most powerful job at the leaves

palace. He was seductive, charming and clever.

France is divided. Emmanuel Macron is running on a programme of

economic liberalisation, reform of the Labour law, string given the

state. Marine Le Pen wants tariff and increased welfare spending,

these are the battle lines in an election in which neither of the two

traditional parties has a candidate. Emmanuel Macron owes his rise to

Francois Hollande who adopted him as his political son. Over the past

five years, this man chronicles his presidency, interviewing him more

than 60 times. When Emmanuel Macron left the Socialist Party to run for

President, President Hollande soared as a betrayal. He has the face of an

angel, but in, he is not an angel, in he is very ambitious and he wants

to succeed. If he had to kill the father, he could do it, he did it.

He is like my curve LE. Emmanuel Macron of course is not the first

successful politician to exhibit a ruthless streak. What bothers some

people about him is precisely the speed of his success. The fact that

he appears to have come from nowhere. In a provincial town north

of Paris where he grew up, we visited the place where he met his

future wife, his drama teacher, 24 years his senior. This man and the

young Emmanuel Macron word drama students together. He was friendly,

easy to talk to, but he was also in a way secretive. They shared a

passion for the theatre but on the subject of his secret love, Macron

never confided in his friend. In fact, we never spoke about it. And I

think, maybe we were good friends because I was not the type of guy to

ask about those kind of things. Like everyone we spoke to, he speaks

about the charm of Macron, but is it genuine or is he still acting? Both,

really deeply both. His desire to help people, to serve his country,

is bound up with his desire to be centre stage. In the town centre,

Emmanuel Macron has his supporters, but if he wins the presidency, he

will do so outside of the party system and without a Parliamentary

base and that is likely to be a problem. Recent attempts to reform

the Labour law have been both ineffective and unpopular. If Macron

becomes President, expect more protests but if he does no one will

be able to say they were not warned. Across Europe, the old duopoly of

centre left and centre right is looking vulnerable. In France, it

may have had its day, the new battle between the globalists and the

Nationalists will not be concluded with the selection, whoever wins on

Sunday. Gabriel Gatehouse reporting. The noisy boy band that is Ukip

fielded 146 councillors So are they suffering

second album syndrome? Is there anything left

for them to do now? Or should they quietly

disband and go home? David Grossman has

been looking at them. Is Ukip a political force that has

run its course? Like the abolitionists, the charters, the

anti-Cornwall league and the suffragettes. All of them faded away

when their principal aims had been secured. Indeed, it is hard to read

last nights results in any other way, just months after the party

secured its single-minded objective and almost complete wipe-out. All

the seats it was defending laws, a single council seat games.

Disappointing that I did not get back in, but unfortunately people

are voting Conservative or Labour, because they think Brexit is

finished. Has the music stopped for a Ukip? This is Boston in

Lincolnshire, the Moors breads at supporting part of the UK. The

county started the night with 13 Ukip councillors but not one dodge

the draft. Ukip voters seem to stampede to the Conservatives. I

always voted Labour and my family were all Labour, I have never voted

for the Tories. We started voting for Ukip and now they have done

their job. I like but the Tory party has to say, much better than Labour

now. It will be Tory for me from now on. Their job is done now. I like

Theresa reason Meynell and I think he is better and you can believe

what she is saying. Membership of the European Union has been a

disaster for us. Ukip was founded by this man as a pushback against

European federalism. Popular support group from its campaign to stop

Britain joining the euro, still remembered in its badge, but it only

really took off after the huge wave of Easton European immigration hit

the UK after 2004. The breakthrough came through in 2009 and they came

second in the European elections and their estimated vote share in the

council elections held on the same day was 9%. Fast forward to 2013 and

Ukip turned in its best domestic performance with 23% of the vote.

They slipped the following year, but came first in the European

Parliament elections. In the general election of 2015, they got 13% and

3.8 million votes. But yesterday, post the Brexit referendum, their

projected vote share has plummeted to just 5%. I think it is over for

Ukip, job done, we were instrumental in making sure we got the referendum

and we played a part in making sure we won the referendum and now what

we need to make sure we do is that Theresa May has a big mandate on

June the 8th to make sure she gets on with it. So might the party that

Nigel Farage helped found go the same way as the anti-slavery

movement, commemorated in this Westminster memorial? If, in two

years' time, we have not got back our territorial fishing waters and

immigration is not under control and we are still paying billions of

pounds to the European club, then having raised expectations to this

level, and having not delivered, you could see a Ukip stronger than it

has ever been. The current Ukip leader has declined all requests for

interviews today, but in a statement said that the party had been the

victim of its own success. It is hard to believe that in two decades,

Ukip went from this to alter in the cause of the nation's history. Few

would argue that we would have had the EU referendum without it and

yet, there is no gratitude in politics and of Ukip want an encore,

it will have to continually renew its relevance. David Grossman there.

Gerard Batten is the Ukip MEP for London and Brexit spokesman.

Very nice of you to come in. We heard from Theresa May today and

from other party leaders, but we did not see Paul Nuttall at all. I don't

know where he is. I have sent him messages but I do not know where he

was. The rumour was that he was hiding in his house. He has done

that before, he goes into hiding when he does not want to face

people. He has been busy and he is entitled to a rest. This is why I am

speaking to you. He is the leader of your party and he cannot be

connecting well with voters. I am the Brexit spokesperson and what I

think will be relevant is what has been discussed there. We are a

victim of her own success. Politics is a funny business. The

Conservative Party have got a surge of votes partly on the back of 25

years of hard work by Ukip and the fact that we got the referendum and

the fact that we won it and this is probably the most undeserved

political victory in British political history. We had Mrs May

who was a Remainer, a Conservative government that can pay to remain

and now they have the task of taking us out and were Ukip will be

relevant is because soon it will become apparent that Mrs May is not

going to deliver the they voted for. Nigel

Farage said if in two years' time, it is hard to write a manifesto

around that, clearly people like the track she is on because she has had

an extraordinary electoral day-to-day. They are not coming back

to you for that. I think it will be quicker. If you read the White Paper

on what the government plans to do, they plan to take us out of the EU

in name but in substance we will be members. The election is in one

month, how many candidates will you field? You have lost one of your key

donors, you do not seem to have the voter base. He has not been a key

donor for a long time. We always come up with the money. We do not

have that take business or the unions but we always come up for the

money. I do not know how many candidates there will be. I am not

at the centre of the planning. We fielded about 600 last time and we

will do as many as we can. We are suffering from the problem that

people think Theresa May will deliver Brexit. You could just say,

are job is done. Pack up, go home. Our job is to get Britain out of the

European Union and what has happened since last year is nothing except

they triggered Article 50, the wrong way to go about it, nothing has

happened and nothing will happen for two years and not a single lot of

peeled,. That does not look like leaving to me. Is it right to go on

fairly odd minority issues, will that be helpful? Personally, that

was a press conference that was planned a long time ago.

Unfortunately it looked like we were leading the campaign on the burqa,

but that was just an issue. You do not want to run as an anti-Islamic

party? There are elements, it is a bad cultural integration. It is

about defending rights under our laws and customs. That is what that

is about and that is a part of a bigger package and made a mistake it

was making it appear we were leading on it which we are not. One month

ago you were writing that we should stop calling it Islam, we should

return to what the West used to call it, it is a death cult, steeped in

violence and bloodshed, perfectly rational fear of Islam. What part of

those factual statements would people argue with? I guess voters

are arguing with it, they heard you say that and you have only got one

re-elected counsellor at night. I do not think, they did not vote for our

councillors because of that. I think the reason we lost is because so

many people actually do think that our job is done and think that

Theresa May will deliver. Our job is not done and Theresa May will not

deliver. You said he probably needs a rest? I

didn't say he was locked up in his house. You said that. He has run a

campaign. The hard one is yet to come? More reason for him to have a

rest on Friday night then. Is you don't have a problem with that? No,

I don't. Paul works very hard. I see him work very hard all the time. I'm

happy to do this and talk about where we're going on Brexit. It's

not whether we see him, it's whether the public sees him. From today's

result you would suggest there has been a failure to connect somewhere

with the voters? You have seen people on there tonight saying that

they think, you Ukip's job is done. That is because we were so

successful in doing what we did in getting the referendum and winning

the referendum. So many people who actually think that Theresa May is

going to deliver this Brexit. She is not. If you look at what they plan

to do, at the end of three years, after the referendum nothing will

have changed. We have seen stories of 100 billion euros. Which I think

was cooked up between Juncker and Mrs May. You are not sure who the

voters trust? I'm not sure they trust anybody. They can trust Ukip

because we have done what we said over the last 20 years. Thank you.

Well, we have assembled a new political panel

Paul Mason, Guardian columnist, is here, as is Ian Dale, LBC Radio

presenter and Polly McKenzie, special advisor to

Great to have you all here. Paul, this was an overwhelmingly good day

for the Tories, wasn't it, you presumably concede it?

Overwhelmingly good day for hard Brexit. We have seen dramatic events

of substance. It's not been a week of flimflam. Theresa May picked a

real fight with the European Union. Walked away dramatically - she did

her own bit. Walked away and created a diplomatic situation which I think

has drama advertised in the minds of former Ukip voters the whole

situation. We have an alliance of Tories and Ukip. That is new. That

can win any election it wants to. Aggressive alliance isn't going to

work? It he redoubles the need for that half of British politics that

believes in progressive politician, globalalism, we need to stop

fighting each other. We need to work out, it's entirely possible, how we

can stop that Tory Ukip alliance taking Britain off the cliff edge

into an economic catastrophe. Into WTO rules which isn't a cliff edge.

Let's see the Tory manifesto calling for it. That's the - into nobody is

saying that they want to go down that direction. It's not the

disaster that people try to present it as. It's the way we trade with

the rest of the world, as you well know. Ian, if you are right and if

this is going to direct towards a big majority in a month's time. This

is the chance for her to do a radical manifesto, isn't it? She can

push through anything she wanted. Will she? I don't think she will.

She has been a cautious politicians. Over the past few weeks she proved

to be anything but a cautious politicians. First of all by calling

the election. Second of all, doing the speech on Tuesday and Wednesday

in Downing Street where she took the fight to the European Commission.

Paul is right. I think it did have quite an effect. There is talk of a

Tory Ukip alliance. I understand why Paul says that that. It's the

Conservatives trying to win back the Ukip votes they have lost over the

last 25 years? It's not an alliance Doctor Who alien they absorbed Ukip

voters. That's what parties do. The Labour Party sometimes, sounds like,

it doesn't want anybody who ever voted Tory to vote for it because

they are toxic. Where is the remain vote then? It's not going to the Lib

Dems. There hasn't been the resurgence that you were expecting.

Where are the remainers in this? It's been, no question, disaint

poking night for the Lib Dems and who would have hoped to do better.

Specially in the leave areas it's proved it's not possible to just,

sort of, win back areas that the Lib Dems had once before. In remain

areas where the Lib Dems have a presence there have been points of

light, good results for the Lib Dems. Paul is basically right. I

don't think I've ever said that before. We need to find a way. None

of the parties of the left have anything to challenge Theresa May

her popularity, her poise. Something about her people like. Something

needs to change. If she's ever going to stop being Prime I have staunch

Minister. Labour voters ringing in saying - I voted Labour every

election I could do. There's something about Theresa May I like.

When I asked them what it is, they can't explain what it is. I think

that's a very interesting phenomenon. List of foreign workers

who we are going to expel from the British workforce. Please. That

played well among racist voters. Amber Rudd, Theresa May the Tory

Conference was a racist horse and pony show. This is why Labour can't

make progress. We can stop it. Labour has to change one thing. In

four weeks? Absolutely. It needs to talk about Brexit. The one thing

Labour is doing wrong, YouGov showed all party voters the number one

issue for them is Brexit. For most of them the number two issues is

immigration. You are saying Corbyn and McDonnell should stop talk of

NHS - They should reframe it what Britain you want after Brexit. When

Theresa May maded that speech the instinct of the Labour machine was,

don't talk about it, don't respond. It's about something we haven't

really - an issue we don't own. They needed to own that issue. Labour are

deeply split on whether we should be leaving at all and exactly what kind

of approach you should have. Whether it's a free market or socialist

approach? Let me answer. Today proves that any attempt to win back

that part of the electorate that is pro-Brexit is a fool's errand for

Labour. Manchester, Andy Burnham won in almost every ward. Manchester is

full of Tories. Plenty of Tories, skilled workers and middle-class

people. Appealing to the inner soul of progress i politics Burnham did

well. He walked away from Jeremy Corbyn tonight. They want a

traditional, simple message. That that is what Sion Simon said.

Patriotism, hard work, law and order. Is that where the Labour vote

is? No. I don't buy that. You called part of the Tory vote Rayses. I'm

sorry. Amber Rudd and Theresa May at their conference wanted us to make

list of foreign workers. They were your voters before they went to Ukip

and the Tories. The Labour movement. , the Labour Party is a line drawn

through working-class communities, between people who support globalism

and internationalism and anti-racism and people who don't. It always

existed. We will fight this battle in favour of our principles. The

problem is - The challenge - And the Greens and the SNP should be on the

same side. If you have got these blue collar workers, people who

voted Brexit, who were left behind, who saw wages stagnant she has to

deliver for thoem them, not just about Brexit, it may not Sol all the

problems, about everything pels their life? Of course. Everyone

wants politicians to deliver. The reason Jeremy Corbyn isn't

delivering at the moment is because he's not actually - he hasn't got a

positive vision. We hear doom and gloom about poverty and the rest of

it. There are problems in society, I get that. If you are a politician

that can't do what Tony Blair did in 1997 offer a positive vision, the

sunny uplands, to the aspirational middle-classes you are not going to

win you can't just win appealing to people who have massive problems in

their lives. Is Tim Farron the aspirational, sunny uplands

candidate from the progressive alliance then? Tim is - has got a

clear and coherent vision and a party unified behind it. Could you

have an alliance with anyone else? The challenge for anyone wanting to

form a political alliance is not wanting to draw lines and tell other

people they are racist or patriotic or not patriotic. That is the

challenge for anyone involved in politics who is naturally very

tribal and wants to point out the differences. To be honest, I don't

think there is anyone outside of the Conservative Party, doing a

brilliant job of unionifying people who disagree with them, who isening

maing to do that, looking beyond themselves and trying to

collaborate. Back in history, all successful parties are coalitions.

They build coalitions between people who believe in 60%, 70% of their

platforms. Theresa May won't believe in 100% of the policy platform she

puts forward. No-one does in their party. Reagan and Clinton appealed

to people outside their own parties as did Thatcher and Blair. Jeremy

Corbyn isn't doing that at the moment. Theresa May is the most

successful politician at doing this. There is no aspiration when you look

at Jeremy Corbyn? Absolutely not. A Labour spokesman said wait for the

manifesto. We have to get the manifesto passed by a committee.

That manifesto will be exactly what you want, aspirational, not just for

poor people, for middle-class people. We heard no policies so far.

All the policies - I would agree there's been a - 20 point plan

earlier this week. What will come will be a four or five point plan

that has to out drama the drama queen of Downing Street. I think it

will. That's why I'm hoping hopeful we can stop a Tory Government. We

have run out of time. Thank you all very much. Thank you for coming in.

Well, what a pretty exciting day in politics, wasn't it?

We wouldn't want you to take that adrenaline with you to bed.

So we thought we'd send you off with a reading of something

from the Boring Conference, being held tomorrow.

A list of every sneeze one man has made since 2007.

Birmingham, moderate - cropping an image with

Birmingham, moderate - checking credit card

Moderate to strong - detonating an Angry Bird.

Moderate - reading Amazon reviews by, not about, James Ward.

Moderate - vegetarian hotdog-style sandwich is prepared.

There is going to be a lot more clouded sky in England and Wales for

the first part of the weekend, the odd early shower