:00:37. > :00:40.It's Sunday afternoon - this is the Sunday Politics.
:00:41. > :00:43.Jeremy Corbyn wants to give everyone in Britain four
:00:44. > :00:45.extra bank holidays - but is the Labour leader up
:00:46. > :00:48.to being Prime Minister if he wins the election in just
:00:49. > :00:54.Theresa May says she wants a stronger hand to deliver Brexit -
:00:55. > :00:56.how will the Conservatives go about getting the bigger
:00:57. > :01:03.I'll be asking Party Chairman, Patrick McLoughlin.
:01:04. > :01:07.And I've been in Paris where voters are going to the polls in first
:01:08. > :01:10.round of the French Presidential election - what could be the impact
:01:11. > :01:16.on the EU and Brexit of this most unpredictable of contests?
:01:17. > :01:24.Will the Remain majority punish the Tories for the decision?
:01:25. > :01:26.Or feel they may not like it but the Tories
:01:27. > :01:41.And with me has always ready for the marathon task of covering a snap
:01:42. > :01:44.general election, even working on bank holidays, the best and
:01:45. > :01:45.brightest political panel in the business. David Wooding, Polly
:01:46. > :01:49.Toynbee and Toby Young. So Labour's big announcement this
:01:50. > :01:51.morning was a crowd pleaser. Four more rainy bank
:01:52. > :01:53.holidays to enjoy - one for each of the patron saints
:01:54. > :01:56.of England, Scotland, But Mr Corbyn probably won't be
:01:57. > :02:02.getting the time off work if he wins And on The Andrew Marr Show this
:02:03. > :02:06.morning he was asked what he would do as Prime Minister
:02:07. > :02:09.if the security services asked him to authorise a drone strike
:02:10. > :02:12.on the leader of Islamic State. What I'd tell them is,
:02:13. > :02:16.give me the information you've got, tell me how accurate that is,
:02:17. > :02:18.tell me what you I'm asking you about decisions you
:02:19. > :02:27.would take as Prime Minister. Can I take you back
:02:28. > :02:30.to the whole point? Is the objective
:02:31. > :02:34.to start more strikes that may kill many innocent
:02:35. > :02:36.people, as has happened? Do you think killing
:02:37. > :02:38.the leader of Isis would be I think the leader of Isis not
:02:39. > :02:47.being around would be helpful, and I'm no supporter or defender
:02:48. > :02:49.in any way of Isis. But I would also argue that
:02:50. > :02:53.the bombing campaign has killed a of whom were virtually prisoners of
:02:54. > :02:56.Isis. So you've got to think
:02:57. > :03:03.about these things. Mr Corbyn earlier. David, is his
:03:04. > :03:08.reply refreshing damaging? It is damaging. He has clearly been
:03:09. > :03:12.freaked to the fire already in the first week, there will be lots of
:03:13. > :03:15.questions on his suitability as a leader and the damage it could cause
:03:16. > :03:19.to our national security over the weeks ahead and Andrew Marr has cut
:03:20. > :03:23.straight to the chase here. The other thing, of course, is the
:03:24. > :03:26.letters of last resort, one of the first duties of a Prime Minister
:03:27. > :03:31.when he walks into No 10 is to sign these letters on his own, on or --
:03:32. > :03:35.or on her own in a room, a very lonely moment, to decide whether he
:03:36. > :03:39.should press the nuclear button and that goes in the Vanguard submarines
:03:40. > :03:43.and is opened in the event of a strike and he has dodged a question
:03:44. > :03:47.so many times. One must wonder what he would do that. He has to make
:03:48. > :03:52.these decisions as Prime Minister. On the Isis point, refreshing or
:03:53. > :03:57.damaging? It sure is his base, the people who support him, that's the
:03:58. > :03:59.sort of thing they support info and maybe his tactic is that's all he's
:04:00. > :04:03.going to get, that is what the polls seem to suggest, in which case they
:04:04. > :04:07.will be pleased, and say yes, the man is a man for these who doesn't
:04:08. > :04:13.press buttons and shoot people down. But if you want to win you have to
:04:14. > :04:17.deal with your own weaknesses and reach out to other people. I think
:04:18. > :04:23.most people would say that's not somebody who could defend the
:04:24. > :04:26.country. I wonder if he was being totally honest in saying he would
:04:27. > :04:31.consider it he would ask for more information. He has previously been
:04:32. > :04:34.on the record as being against drone strikes in principle, he's
:04:35. > :04:38.campaigned against them, he wants to abolish drones. I think Andrew Marr
:04:39. > :04:42.let him off saying it was a drone strike rather than a Navy SEAL or
:04:43. > :04:44.SAS operation and he had the fact that they could be collateral
:04:45. > :04:50.damage. We that's not his position because he condemned the
:04:51. > :04:54.assassination of Osama Bin Laden even though there was no collateral
:04:55. > :04:57.damage. David is right on the Trident point, he fetched the
:04:58. > :05:03.question. We heard Niall Griffiths on this very show saying Trident,
:05:04. > :05:07.the renewal of Trident, would be in the next Labour Party manifesto. It
:05:08. > :05:10.turns out now we don't know and when he was asked he said that remains to
:05:11. > :05:14.be seen, his re-opened a can of worms. What he has said about
:05:15. > :05:18.Trident which was extraordinary was, we will rebuild the submarines but
:05:19. > :05:22.not have any nukes on them which is expensive and useless. And of course
:05:23. > :05:25.the Labour Party were forced soon after that interview to put out a
:05:26. > :05:31.statement saying it is Labour Party policy to renew Trident. So where
:05:32. > :05:35.are we? Do we know what the party's policy is? It is to renew Trident
:05:36. > :05:41.but he has started this review which involves looking at it all again. We
:05:42. > :05:45.know he is a unilateralist to start with but whether he can force this
:05:46. > :05:50.through is dubious. Does it matter, though, if the party policy is in
:05:51. > :05:54.favour of Trident, if the leader is not? The potential Prime Minister is
:05:55. > :05:57.not? They split three ways when they went to vote on it in the Commons.
:05:58. > :06:01.The party agreed they were pro-Trident and when it came to the
:06:02. > :06:06.vote they split three ways. I think it's difficult for them, it's always
:06:07. > :06:10.been a really difficult issue for Labour. The question is whether you
:06:11. > :06:14.want to seal off your negatives, whether you really want to try and
:06:15. > :06:17.reach out to people. There are an awful lot of people who will like
:06:18. > :06:22.what he said, there are an awful lot of people that think we have been
:06:23. > :06:25.involved in terrible wars, we have wasted a lot of money and blood and
:06:26. > :06:30.let's just get back from the whole thing, let's retreat from the world
:06:31. > :06:33.and not try punching above our weight. There is something to be
:06:34. > :06:38.said for that and it is a reasonable argument. He's been true to himself
:06:39. > :06:42.on this. I think he is and Polly is right, lots of people will agree
:06:43. > :06:46.with him, not enough to win a general election, the latest ComRes
:06:47. > :06:49.poll shows Tories on 50% and Labour on 25 and as my colleague James
:06:50. > :06:53.Forsyth in the Spectator said if this was a boxing match it would
:06:54. > :06:54.have been stopped by now by the revelry. We are not stopping, we are
:06:55. > :06:55.going on. So the political parties have had
:06:56. > :06:58.to move into election mode Stand by for battle buses,
:06:59. > :07:02.mail shots and your social media timeline being bombarded
:07:03. > :07:03.by political propoganda. But none of this comes cheap -
:07:04. > :07:09.Adam's been doing his sums. Democracy is priceless but those
:07:10. > :07:14.planes, trains and automobiles used in the last election cost money
:07:15. > :07:16.and we know exactly how much, thanks to the Electoral
:07:17. > :07:22.Commission database. The Conservatives flew David Cameron
:07:23. > :07:26.to every part of the UK in one day on a private plane costing ?29,000,
:07:27. > :07:32.in-flight meals extra. They shelled out ?1.2 million
:07:33. > :07:37.for adverts on Facebook. The most expensive item was their
:07:38. > :07:42.election guru Lynton Crosby. They bought ?2.4 million worth
:07:43. > :07:45.of advice and research from his firm Labour's biggest expenditure
:07:46. > :07:51.was on good old-fashioned leaflets, costing ?7.4 million
:07:52. > :07:54.to print and deliver. Hope they didn't go straight
:07:55. > :07:59.into the recycling. Cheap for all the
:08:00. > :08:08.enjoyment it gave us. To turn a normal minibus
:08:09. > :08:11.into Harriet Harman's pink bus Nick Clegg toured the country doing
:08:12. > :08:17.all manner of stunts transported although the party got a grand's
:08:18. > :08:30.discount when it broke down. Ukip's then leader Nigel Farage
:08:31. > :08:32.was accompanied by bodyguards Nicola Sturgeon's chopper
:08:33. > :08:41.cost the SNP ?35,450. Plaid Cymru spent just over
:08:42. > :08:44.?1,000 on media training And the Greens spent ?6,912
:08:45. > :08:58.promoting their tweets. It adds up to a grand total
:08:59. > :09:02.for all the parties of ?37,560,039. Jabbing at my calculator that works
:09:03. > :09:09.out at less than ?1 per voter. Adam Fleming there -
:09:10. > :09:14.and joining me now is the man responsible for the Conservative
:09:15. > :09:18.election campaigns - for the locals next month
:09:19. > :09:26.and the general election in June - Welcome to the programme. The Crown
:09:27. > :09:29.Prosecution Service is reviewing evidence from 14 police forces that
:09:30. > :09:34.your party breached election spending rules on multiple occasions
:09:35. > :09:40.in the last election. What are you going to do differently this time?
:09:41. > :09:46.Well, the battle buses are part of the National campaign spend. You saw
:09:47. > :09:49.them just on the shot that you did, all three parties had those battle
:09:50. > :09:52.buses so that's why we believe they were part of the national spend and
:09:53. > :09:56.it was declared that way. At least 30 people in your party, MPs and
:09:57. > :10:00.agents, being investigated because they may not have been right to
:10:01. > :10:03.include it in the national spend. Are you saying you are going to do
:10:04. > :10:11.nothing differently this time? You asked me about last time and the way
:10:12. > :10:14.the position is... Was. I asked you about this time. We will take a
:10:15. > :10:21.careful count and make sure that everything that we do is within the
:10:22. > :10:24.law. But as I say, the last election, all three parties had
:10:25. > :10:29.battle buses. It is your party that above all has been investigated by
:10:30. > :10:35.14 police forces. You must surely be taking stock of that and working out
:10:36. > :10:38.how to do some things differently. You are being investigated because
:10:39. > :10:43.you put stuff on the National Ledger which should have been on the local
:10:44. > :10:46.constituency ledger. Are you looking at that again? All of the parties
:10:47. > :10:50.had battle buses and they all put them on their national spend. I
:10:51. > :10:55.don't think any of the parties put them on the local spend. The other
:10:56. > :10:58.battle buses were not full of their party activists. Your party stuffed
:10:59. > :11:04.these battle buses with activists and took them to constituencies.
:11:05. > :11:08.That's the difference. And I ask again, what is different this time?
:11:09. > :11:12.Are you going to run the risk of being investigated yet again? We
:11:13. > :11:17.believe that we fully compliant with the electoral law as it was. What
:11:18. > :11:21.will happen if one of these, or two or three or four or five of these 30
:11:22. > :11:28.people, Tory MPs, or agents running campaigns are charged during the
:11:29. > :11:31.campaign? As I say I believe we properly declared our election
:11:32. > :11:34.expenses. What happens if they are charged? You asking me a
:11:35. > :11:38.hypothetical question, the importance of this election is about
:11:39. > :11:42.who is in Downing Street in seven weeks' time. Let me clarify this,
:11:43. > :11:46.you maintain that in 2015 you did nothing wrong with how you allocated
:11:47. > :11:49.the cost and the activities of the battle buses and you would do
:11:50. > :11:54.exactly the same this time round? What we did at the last election we
:11:55. > :11:59.believe fully complied with the law. So the battle buses this time,
:12:00. > :12:02.stocked full of activists, will still be charged to the national
:12:03. > :12:10.campaign even when they go to local constituencies? Will they? We will
:12:11. > :12:15.be looking at the way we do it, there is new guidance from the
:12:16. > :12:19.Electoral Commission out and we will look at that guidance. It is not the
:12:20. > :12:23.guidance, it is the lawful stop the Electoral Commission said that, if
:12:24. > :12:26.you look at the report they did on us, they said there was one area
:12:27. > :12:30.where we had over claimed, over declared, and another area we had
:12:31. > :12:33.and declared. We haven't worked out what to do
:12:34. > :12:37.yet, have you? We will get on with the campaign and
:12:38. > :12:39.start the campaign and I'm looking forward to the campaign.
:12:40. > :12:42.I'm trying to work out of the campaign is going to be legal or not
:12:43. > :12:46.because last time it seems it could have been illegal.
:12:47. > :12:48.I am sure the campaign will be legal.
:12:49. > :12:53.You started the campaign warning about the prospect of, the coalition
:12:54. > :13:01.of chaos. Mr Corbyn has ruled out a post-election coalition with the SNP
:13:02. > :13:03.and so have the Lib Dems so who is going to be in this coalition?
:13:04. > :13:05.Vince Cable said he was looking towards a possible coalition trying
:13:06. > :13:08.to stop a Conservative government. Is not the leader of the Lib Dems.
:13:09. > :13:15.He's an important voice in the Lib Dems. Who will be in it? Let's see
:13:16. > :13:18.because of the Conservative Party is not re-elected with a strong
:13:19. > :13:21.majority, what will happen? There will be a coalition stopping us
:13:22. > :13:25.doing the things we need to do. Who will be in it? It will be a
:13:26. > :13:29.coalition of the Labour Party, the SNP and the Liberal party. They have
:13:30. > :13:33.ruled it out. I think they would not rule it out if that was the
:13:34. > :13:37.situation. Like Theresa May not ruling out an election and then
:13:38. > :13:40.changing her mind? The things the Prime Minister said were very clear,
:13:41. > :13:44.once she had served Article 50 there was an opportunity, as we know
:13:45. > :13:48.today, there is going to be the start of a new government formed in
:13:49. > :13:52.France and in September we have the German elections. So it was quite
:13:53. > :13:58.right that we didn't get ourselves boxed into a timetable. That is why
:13:59. > :14:01.the Prime Minister took the view that they should be a general
:14:02. > :14:05.election to give her full strength of an electoral mandate when it
:14:06. > :14:12.comes to those negotiations. What about Mr Corbyn's plan for four new
:14:13. > :14:15.bank holidays, good idea? I'm not... If we get Corbyn in No 10 Downing St
:14:16. > :14:20.we will have a permanent bank holiday of the United Kingdom. We
:14:21. > :14:26.will have fewer bank holidays of most other major nations, most about
:14:27. > :14:30.major wealthy nations. What about at least one more? Well, look, he's
:14:31. > :14:35.talked about four bank holidays. Today would be a bank holiday and
:14:36. > :14:39.next Monday would be a bank holiday and the other week was a bank
:14:40. > :14:43.holiday too. I don't think it's very well thought out. It sounded more to
:14:44. > :14:47.me something like you get in school mock elections rather than proper
:14:48. > :14:50.elections. Your party is the self-styled party of the workers and
:14:51. > :14:54.you have no plans to give the workers even one extra bank holiday?
:14:55. > :14:59.What we want to do is ensure Britain is a strong economy and building on
:15:00. > :15:03.the jobs that we have created since 2010. We were told that by reducing
:15:04. > :15:08.public expenditure unemployment in this country would go up,
:15:09. > :15:12.unemployment has gone down and the number of jobs have gone up
:15:13. > :15:16.substantially. But no more bank holidays? Well, we will make our
:15:17. > :15:20.manifesto in due course but I don't think four bank holidays held in
:15:21. > :15:26.April, March and November are very attractive to people. When Ed
:15:27. > :15:35.Miliband as leader of the Labour Party suggested the government
:15:36. > :15:38.should control energy prices by capping them, the Conservatives
:15:39. > :15:42.described that as almost Communist and central planning. Do still take
:15:43. > :15:47.that view? You'll see what we have to say on energy prices. I didn't
:15:48. > :15:51.you about that, I asked you if you take the view... The Prime Minister
:15:52. > :15:54.made a speech at the Conservative Spring conference in which she
:15:55. > :15:57.outlined her dissatisfaction about people who are kept locked on a
:15:58. > :15:59.standard tariff and those are the issues we will address in the next
:16:00. > :16:05.few weeks when the manifesto was published.
:16:06. > :16:11.Would that be an act of communism? You will need to see what we say
:16:12. > :16:17.when we set out the policies. It could be. You could put a Communist
:16:18. > :16:22.act into your manifesto? I don't think you'll find a Communist
:16:23. > :16:26.manifesto in a Conservative manifesto which will be launched...
:16:27. > :16:30.You are planning to control prices? We will address what we think is
:16:31. > :16:34.unfairness in the energy market. Mr Jeremy Corbyn was reluctant this
:16:35. > :16:40.morning to sanction a drone strike. You heard us talking about it
:16:41. > :16:43.earlier against the leader of Islamic State if our intelligence
:16:44. > :16:48.services identified him. What would it achieve? When the Prime Minister
:16:49. > :16:53.gets certain advice in the national interests, she has to act been that.
:16:54. > :16:56.We've seen with Theresa May in her time as Home Secretary and Prime
:16:57. > :17:00.Minister, she's not afraid to take those very difficult decisions. What
:17:01. > :17:04.we say this morning from Jeremy Corbyn was a his tans, a reluctance.
:17:05. > :17:11.I don't think that serves the country well. What would it achieve
:17:12. > :17:15.if we take out the head of Islamic State he's replaced by somebody
:17:16. > :17:21.else. It brings their organisation into difficulties. It undermines
:17:22. > :17:25.their organisation. It shows we'll take every measure to undo an
:17:26. > :17:28.organisation which has organised terrorism in different parts of
:17:29. > :17:31.Europe, the UK. I think it is absolutely right the Prime Minister
:17:32. > :17:36.is prepared to take those kind of measures. Jeremy Corbyn said he
:17:37. > :17:41.wasn't prepared to take that. Because he wasn't sure what it would
:17:42. > :17:46.achieve. The Obama administration launched hundreds of drone strikes
:17:47. > :17:52.in various war zones and we in the west are still under attack on a
:17:53. > :17:58.regular basis. Mr Corbyn's basis was what would it achieve? It would
:17:59. > :18:02.achieve a safer position for the UK overall. The war on terrorists. But
:18:03. > :18:07.the Westminster attack, Paris has just been attacked again? There's
:18:08. > :18:11.been attacks which have been stopped by the intelligence services. We
:18:12. > :18:15.must do all we can to support them. The question was about drone
:18:16. > :18:20.strikes. Whether it is drone strikes or other action, we have to be
:18:21. > :18:23.prepared to act. Let's move on to Brexit. It is the major reason the
:18:24. > :18:28.Prime Minister's called the election? Not the only within but
:18:29. > :18:32.the main reason? It is one of the reasons. Now we start the two-year
:18:33. > :18:37.negotiations and then a year afterwards. Also the way in which
:18:38. > :18:40.certain people said they would try to use in the House of Lords or
:18:41. > :18:47.House of Commons to prevent us making progress. I think you'll put
:18:48. > :18:53.in your manifesto, it is the Government's policy, the Brexit
:18:54. > :19:00.negotiating position will be no more freedom of movement. Leave the
:19:01. > :19:03.single market and no longer under the jurisdiction Europe. You expect
:19:04. > :19:09.every Tory MP to fight on that manifesto. What will you do with Ken
:19:10. > :19:13.Clarke and Anna? They will have fought on their manifesto. They will
:19:14. > :19:17.understand the Prime Minister has the authority of the ballot box
:19:18. > :19:22.behind them. Will they fight the election on these positions? I'm
:19:23. > :19:26.sure they'll fight the election supporting the election of a
:19:27. > :19:30.Conservative Government and it's manifesto will quite clearly set
:19:31. > :19:35.out... You know they're against these positions. Ken Clarke has a
:19:36. > :19:39.prod tradition of expressing a certain view. Overall, the party's
:19:40. > :19:43.manifesto, it is not just individuals like Ken Clarke, it is
:19:44. > :19:47.what happens as far as the House of Lords are concerned, people said
:19:48. > :19:51.they'd use the House of Lords to prevent certain measures. You're the
:19:52. > :19:56.party chairman, will it be possible for people like Ken Clarke to fight
:19:57. > :20:02.this election under the Conservative ticket without sub describing to all
:20:03. > :20:07.-- subscribing to all of these Brexit conditions? Ken Clarke will
:20:08. > :20:12.fight as Conservative candidates. That wasn't my question. I know
:20:13. > :20:16.that. Will they be allowed to fight it on their own ticket and not
:20:17. > :20:20.subscribe to what is in your manifesto? The manifesto will be
:20:21. > :20:24.what the Conservative Party fights the General Election on. There will
:20:25. > :20:30.always be cases where people have had different views on different
:20:31. > :20:36.parts of the manifesto. That will be the guiding principles for the
:20:37. > :20:41.party. Philip Hammond says your election promises in 2015, in your
:20:42. > :20:45.manifesto not to raise taxes tied his hands when it came to managing
:20:46. > :20:49.the economy. Do you agree with him? No. The simple fact is we have to do
:20:50. > :20:54.the best things for the economy. We'll set out in our manifesto in a
:20:55. > :20:59.few weeks' time, what the policies will be for the next Parliament. Can
:21:00. > :21:05.I clarify, you don't agree with your Chancellor? What Philip was saying
:21:06. > :21:10.was some of the areas we wants to address as Chancellor, what the
:21:11. > :21:13.party will do, it will set out all the issues we're fighting on. It
:21:14. > :21:17.will set out clearly the choice we have in this country. That's the
:21:18. > :21:21.important thing. Let me put the question to you again. Philip
:21:22. > :21:25.Hammond said this week your election promise in 2015 not to raise taxes
:21:26. > :21:31.had tied his hands when it came to managing the economy. I ask you, do
:21:32. > :21:36.you agree with him? You said no. Philip expressed his view as to what
:21:37. > :21:41.he would like. What I'm saying is in a few weeks' time we'll set the
:21:42. > :21:45.manifesto which will set the policies, agreed with the the
:21:46. > :21:48.Cabinet. He's Chancellor. Doesn't he determine what the economic part of
:21:49. > :21:54.the manifesto is? We'll talk about that in due course. Will you have a
:21:55. > :21:59.lock on the taxes that you locked in 2015 on income tax, VAT, national
:22:00. > :22:06.insurance? That will be decided. You'll see that when we publish the
:22:07. > :22:10.manifesto in a few weeks' time. Will you rule out the possibility taxes
:22:11. > :22:15.may have to rise under a future Conservative Party? Conservative
:22:16. > :22:21.Government. We've taken four million people out of tax. Now, on average,
:22:22. > :22:27.people are paying ?1200 less tax than they were on the same salaries
:22:28. > :22:29.in 2010. I'm very provide of that. I can assure you, the Conservative
:22:30. > :22:33.Party will want to see taxes reduced. It is the Labour Party
:22:34. > :22:39.which will put up taxes. We have the evidence where this he did so.
:22:40. > :22:45.Council tax went up by over 100%. You haven't reduced the tax burden
:22:46. > :22:51.as a percentage of the GDP is now going to reach its highest level
:22:52. > :22:56.since the mid-180s which was when Conservatives were in power. The tax
:22:57. > :22:59.burden in this country under your Government is rising? We've more
:23:00. > :23:02.people paying taxes which is something, because we've a growing
:23:03. > :23:07.economy and more people... What about the tax band? You said you
:23:08. > :23:13.reduced the tax burden on your own Government's figures is rising? We
:23:14. > :23:17.have reduced the tax burden. The threshold at which people start
:23:18. > :23:23.paying. These are tax rates not the tax burden. It is rising. The tax
:23:24. > :23:28.rates have been reduced. You said tax burden. Perhaps I misspoke. Tax
:23:29. > :23:36.rates have been reduced. We'll leave it there. No doubt we'll speak again
:23:37. > :23:37.between now and June Is France now about to make it
:23:38. > :23:42.a hat-trick of shocks The prospect terrifies
:23:43. > :23:45.the governing elite in Paris. But they're no less scared
:23:46. > :23:47.in Brussels and Berlin, given what it could mean
:23:48. > :23:50.for the whole EU project, never mind the huge potential impact
:23:51. > :24:09.on our own Brexit negotiations. 11 candidates are contesting
:24:10. > :24:12.the first round of the presidential Only the top two will go forward
:24:13. > :24:18.to the run-off on May 7th. For the first time since General De
:24:19. > :24:23.Gaulle created the fifth Republic in 1958, it's perfectly possible that
:24:24. > :24:27.no candidate from the ruling parties of the centre-left or the
:24:28. > :24:30.centre-right will even make it The election has been dominated by
:24:31. > :24:37.the hard right in the shape of the who's never been elected
:24:38. > :24:44.to anything and only started his own party
:24:45. > :24:46.a few months ago. And the far left in the form
:24:47. > :24:49.of Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former Trotskyite who has surged
:24:50. > :24:53.in the final weeks of the campaign. The only candidate left from the
:24:54. > :24:56.traditional governing parties is the centre-right's
:24:57. > :24:59.Francois Fillon and he's been struggling to stay in
:25:00. > :25:02.the race ever since it was revealed that his Welsh wife was being paid
:25:03. > :25:07.at generous public expense for a job I've just come across
:25:08. > :25:22.this magazine cover and it kind of sums up the mood
:25:23. > :25:25.of the French people. It's got the five main candidates
:25:26. > :25:28.for President here but it calls them the biggest liar, the biggest cheat,
:25:29. > :25:32.the biggest traitor, the most paranoid, the biggest demagogue,
:25:33. > :25:34.and it says they are the winners The four leading candidates,
:25:35. > :25:45.Le Pen, Melenchon, Macron and Fillon, or in with a chance
:25:46. > :25:48.of making it to the second round. Only a couple of points separates
:25:49. > :25:50.them in the polls, Frankly, no one has a clue what's
:25:51. > :25:56.going to happen. Of the four, there is a feeling that
:25:57. > :26:02.two of them may be President But the two of them may not find
:26:03. > :26:15.themselves in the second round. Somebody said to me that the man or
:26:16. > :26:28.woman on the Paris Metro has as much a chance of knowing
:26:29. > :26:32.who will win as the greatest experts Because the more expert you are
:26:33. > :26:39.the more you may be wrong. The country has largely
:26:40. > :26:44.stagnated for over a decade. One in ten are unemployed,
:26:45. > :26:47.one in four if you are unlucky Like Britain in the '70s there is
:26:48. > :26:51.the pervasive stench There are three keywords that come
:26:52. > :26:58.to mind. Anger, anger at the elite, and in
:26:59. > :27:05.particular the political elite. And an element of
:27:06. > :27:11.nostalgia for the past. These three words were decisive
:27:12. > :27:15.in the Brexit referendum. They are decisive in
:27:16. > :27:26.the French election. Identity and security has been
:27:27. > :27:30.as important in this election France is a proud nation, it worries
:27:31. > :27:37.about its future in Europe It seems bereft of ideas about how
:27:38. > :27:42.to deal with its largely Muslim migrant population, huge chunks of
:27:43. > :27:45.which are increasingly divorced It is quite simply exhausted by
:27:46. > :27:56.the never-ending Islamist terrorist attacks, the latest only days before
:27:57. > :27:59.voting in the iconic heart of this If Fillon or Macron emerge
:28:00. > :28:10.victorious then there will be continuity of sorts, though Fillon
:28:11. > :28:14.will struggle to implement his Thatcherite agenda and Macron will
:28:15. > :28:18.not be able to count on the support of the French parliament, the
:28:19. > :28:21.National Assembly, for his reforms. But if it's Le Pen or Jean-Luc
:28:22. > :28:27.Melenchon then all bets are off. Both are hardline French
:28:28. > :28:30.nationalists, anti the euro, anti the European Union, anti-fiscal
:28:31. > :28:33.discipline, anti the market, Either in the Elysee Palace
:28:34. > :28:42.would represent an existential Brexit would simply become
:28:43. > :28:51.a sideshow, the negotiations could just peter out as Brussels
:28:52. > :28:55.and Berlin had bigger fish to fry. We're joined now from
:28:56. > :29:07.Paris by the journalist 8th Welcome to the programme.
:29:08. > :29:11.Overshadowing the voting today was yet another appalling terrorist
:29:12. > :29:17.attack in Paris on Thursday night. Do we have any indications of how
:29:18. > :29:21.that's playing into the election? That initially people thought this
:29:22. > :29:27.has been almost foiled in that the police were there as a ramp up. One
:29:28. > :29:31.policeman was killed. But the terrorist did not spray the crowd
:29:32. > :29:37.with bullets. It was seen as not having much of an effect on the
:29:38. > :29:43.election. This has changed. We now know the policeman who was killed, a
:29:44. > :29:48.young man about to the promoted, he was at the Bataclan the night of the
:29:49. > :29:55.terror attack. He was a fighter for LGBT rights. The fact he was
:29:56. > :30:01.promoted, happy within his job, he has this fresh face. Sudden, he's
:30:02. > :30:07.one of us. It took perhaps 48 hours for the French to process this. But
:30:08. > :30:13.now they're angry and this may actually change the game, at least
:30:14. > :30:20.at the margins. To whose advantage? I would say the two who might
:30:21. > :30:24.benefit from this are Marine Le Pen, she's been absolutely
:30:25. > :30:29.anti-immigration, anti-anything. And made no bones about it as she
:30:30. > :30:32.immediately made rather strange announcement in which she'd said if
:30:33. > :30:36.she'd been president none of the terror attacks which happened in
:30:37. > :30:44.France would have happened. Francois Fillon has written a book two years
:30:45. > :30:48.ago called Combating Islamic Terrorism he's has an organised plan
:30:49. > :30:52.in his manifesto. Unlike Emmanuel Macron who stumbled when he was
:30:53. > :30:56.asked the evening this happened what he thought, he said, I can't dream
:30:57. > :31:00.up an anti-terror programme overnight. The question, of course,
:31:01. > :31:04.that arrows was this is not the sort of thing that's just happened
:31:05. > :31:10.overnight. It's been unfortunately the fate of France for many years.
:31:11. > :31:15.Let me ask you this finally, what ever the outcome on May 7th in the
:31:16. > :31:21.second round, who ever wins, would it be fair to say French politics
:31:22. > :31:24.will never be the same again? Yes. Absolutely it's a very strange
:31:25. > :31:28.thing. People have no become really excited about this. You cannot go
:31:29. > :31:33.anywhere without people discussing heatedly this election. The anger
:31:34. > :31:39.that was described is very accurate. Very true. There was this feeling as
:31:40. > :31:44.for the Brexit voters and the Trump voters, vast parts of the people
:31:45. > :31:50.were being talked down to by people who despised them. This has to
:31:51. > :31:55.change. If it doesn't change, we cannot predict what the future will
:31:56. > :32:00.be. We'll know the results or at least the ex-the Poll London time
:32:01. > :32:02.tonight at 8.00pm. Thank for joining us from the glorious heart of your
:32:03. > :32:06.city. Now, the Green Party currently has
:32:07. > :32:09.one MP and they'll be contesting many more seats in June
:32:10. > :32:12.as well as hoping to increase their presence on councils in
:32:13. > :32:14.the local elections on 4th May. Launching their campaign
:32:15. > :32:16.on Thursday, co-leader Caroline Lucas made
:32:17. > :32:18.a pitch to younger voters. When it comes to young
:32:19. > :32:20.people they've been But one crucial way they've been
:32:21. > :32:25.betrayed is by what this generation and this government and the previous
:32:26. > :32:28.ones have been doing when it comes We know we had the hottest year
:32:29. > :32:33.on record last year, you know, you almost think what else does
:32:34. > :32:36.the environment need to be doing All the signs are there
:32:37. > :32:39.and it is young people who are going to be bearing
:32:40. > :32:42.the brunt of a wrecked environment and that's why it's so important
:32:43. > :32:46.that when we come to making that pitch to, yes, the country at large
:32:47. > :32:48.but to young people in particular, I think climate change,
:32:49. > :32:50.the environment, looking after our precious resources,
:32:51. > :32:55.has to be up there. And I'm joined now by the Green
:32:56. > :33:09.MEP, Molly Scott Cato. Welcome back to the programme.
:33:10. > :33:13.Promised to scrap university tuition fees, increase NHS funding, rollback
:33:14. > :33:17.cuts to local councils spending, how much would that cost and how would
:33:18. > :33:20.you pay for it? Like the other parties we haven't got a costed
:33:21. > :33:23.manifesto yet, it's only a few days since the election was announced so
:33:24. > :33:27.I will come back and explain the figures. You don't know? Like every
:33:28. > :33:33.party we have not produced accosted manifesto yet, we produced one last
:33:34. > :33:36.time but public spending figures have changed so we're not in a
:33:37. > :33:41.position to do that but we will be in a week or so. What taxes would
:33:42. > :33:45.you like to consider raising? We would consider having higher taxes
:33:46. > :33:50.for the better off in society. I think we need to increase the amount
:33:51. > :33:53.of tax wealthier people pay. How do you define better off? I'm not
:33:54. > :33:59.entirely clear what the precise number would be but I think 100,000
:34:00. > :34:03.people would pay a bit more, 150,000 quite considerably more but the real
:34:04. > :34:06.focus needs to be on companies avoiding paying taxes. I work on
:34:07. > :34:09.that a lot in my role in the European Parliament, we see an
:34:10. > :34:12.enormous amount of tax avoidance by companies moving profits from
:34:13. > :34:16.country to country and we need European corporation to make that
:34:17. > :34:22.successful. It has not made much difference yet. We have made lots of
:34:23. > :34:25.changes. Google turned over $1 billion and only paid 25 million in
:34:26. > :34:30.taxes last year. There was a significant fine introduced by the
:34:31. > :34:34.competition commission on Apple and in the case of Google we must change
:34:35. > :34:40.the laws so that people cannot move profits from country to country.
:34:41. > :34:43.Everybody wants to do it. But you couldn't face a big spending
:34:44. > :34:47.programme on the ability to do that. You'd have to increase other taxes.
:34:48. > :34:50.If you look at the cost of free student tuition, tuition fees and
:34:51. > :34:54.also maintenance grants to students, that would come in at about 10
:34:55. > :34:57.billion a year. One way of paying for that would be to remove the
:34:58. > :35:01.upper threshold on National Insurance, bringing in 20 billion a
:35:02. > :35:05.year, that's the order of magnitude we are talking about. It is not
:35:06. > :35:09.vast, and some of the proposals we have... That would be an increase on
:35:10. > :35:16.the better of tax? National Insurance on people earning...
:35:17. > :35:20.People earning above 42,000. You would have another 10% tax above
:35:21. > :35:26.42,000? I can't remember exactly how much the National Insurance rate
:35:27. > :35:30.changes by. But in government figures it would be 28 billion
:35:31. > :35:33.raised. I think it is up to 45, a bit more you pay a marginal rate of
:35:34. > :35:38.40%, you would have them pay a marginal rate of over 50%? We would
:35:39. > :35:42.put the National Insurance rate on higher incomes the same as it is on
:35:43. > :35:46.lower incomes. If you are a school head of an English department on 50,
:35:47. > :35:52.60,000 a year you would face a marginal rate under U of over 50%?
:35:53. > :35:57.It is not useful to do this as a mental maths exercise but if you
:35:58. > :36:01.look at other proposals would could have a landlord licensing system,
:36:02. > :36:04.longer term leases on properties, so young people particularly, but also
:36:05. > :36:07.older people who rent, could have more security which needn't cost
:36:08. > :36:12.anything. We could insist on landlords paying for that. The
:36:13. > :36:15.mental arithmetic seems clear but we will come back to that. How is the
:36:16. > :36:20.Progressive Alliance coming? It is going well, I have heard of a lot of
:36:21. > :36:25.interest at local level. Winterset this in contest, context, lots of
:36:26. > :36:30.progressives are concerned about the crisis in public services, prisons,
:36:31. > :36:33.social care system, and also about the Tories' hard extreme Brexit they
:36:34. > :36:38.are threatening. You want the left to come together? Theresa May has
:36:39. > :36:41.given us opportunity, she has taken a risk because she has problems with
:36:42. > :36:44.backbenchers, she doesn't think she can get through Brexit with a small
:36:45. > :36:48.majority so there is an opportunity and we are saying progressives must
:36:49. > :36:51.come together to corporate, Conservatives are effective at using
:36:52. > :36:56.the first-past-the-post system and we have to become effective as well.
:36:57. > :36:59.Do you accept this Progressive Alliance cannot become the
:37:00. > :37:03.government and Mr Corbyn is the Prime Minister? How could it happen
:37:04. > :37:07.otherwise? I think that is a secondary question. For me the
:37:08. > :37:10.primary question is who do people choose to vote for? Aluminium
:37:11. > :37:14.government afterwards comes after the election. In most countries that
:37:15. > :37:17.is the case. I understand that but we have the system we have and you
:37:18. > :37:21.accept this Progressive Alliance cannot be in power and thus mystical
:37:22. > :37:24.Burmese Prime Minister? Personally I think Mr Corbyn is less of a threat
:37:25. > :37:27.to the country than Theresa May, she has shown herself to be an
:37:28. > :37:33.authoritarian leader and she has said she doesn't want to have
:37:34. > :37:36.dissidents, which I would say is reasonable opposition, and what we
:37:37. > :37:38.are suggesting at the moment is there is a way of avoiding that very
:37:39. > :37:41.hard Brexit and damage to public services. You'd be happy to pay the
:37:42. > :37:46.price of having Mr Corbyn as Prime Minister? I do not see that as a
:37:47. > :37:49.price. People have the choice of Jeremy Corbyn or Theresa May as
:37:50. > :37:54.Prime Minister, that's the system that works. You would prefer Mr
:37:55. > :37:57.Corbyn? I would but votes are translated into seats and the
:37:58. > :37:59.Progressive Alliance is a step towards that.
:38:00. > :38:01.It's just gone 3:50pm, you're watching the Sunday Politics.
:38:02. > :38:03.We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, Wales
:38:04. > :38:04.and Northern Ireland who leave us now.
:38:05. > :01:08.Coming up here in 20 minutes, the Week Ahead.
:01:09. > :01:10.Coming up here in 20 on issues like the NHS. Run out of
:01:11. > :01:18.time. Andrew, back to you. Now, Ukip have made their first
:01:19. > :01:24.significant policy announcement of the election campaign today
:01:25. > :01:29.with a call for a ban on wearing But is it a policy that will meet
:01:30. > :01:36.with the approval of the man who bankrolled the party's last
:01:37. > :01:43.general election campaign? Hello, Andrew. Let me see if I can
:01:44. > :01:48.clarify some things, are you a member of Ukip? I a patron of Ukip
:01:49. > :01:53.so I don't stop being a member. So you are still a member? I am,
:01:54. > :02:00.apparently for life. Are you still hoping to bankroll Ukip? Not at the
:02:01. > :02:04.moment. Why is that? The internal problems we have had in Ukip have
:02:05. > :02:09.been aired, and a lot needs to happen in the party in terms of
:02:10. > :02:13.professionalising it and I think it is ill-prepared for this general
:02:14. > :02:22.election. Are you going to run in Clacton? I will be if selected. For
:02:23. > :02:26.Ukip? Yes. Have you been to Clacton? I've been with Nigel Mansell on the
:02:27. > :02:30.campaign. You will run for a constituency you've only been in
:02:31. > :02:35.once? Yes, why does that surprise you? You know nothing about it. I've
:02:36. > :02:40.just recently decided to become the candidate there. Did you know where
:02:41. > :02:43.it is? Of course I do, your piece the other night was completely
:02:44. > :02:48.wrong. I said I knew where it was but I didn't know much about it.
:02:49. > :02:58.Maybe the people of Clacton will regard you as a carpetbagger? Why?
:02:59. > :03:01.Because you have never been there. Most politicians are carpetbaggers
:03:02. > :03:06.and I will be there for the right reasons. I thought it was because of
:03:07. > :03:10.your visceral hatred of Douglas Carswell. He only lasted 24 hours
:03:11. > :03:14.after I announced my candidacy so we will see what happens. The main
:03:15. > :03:17.thing I am going to Clacton on Monday to meet the Ukip councillors,
:03:18. > :03:21.see what the issues are and see if they want me as a candidate. They
:03:22. > :03:28.may not want me. Who do you think you will be up against? The
:03:29. > :03:32.potential Conservative candidate. Who in Ukip? I don't suppose anyone
:03:33. > :03:40.in Ukip will stand against me, I wouldn't have thought. Really? I
:03:41. > :03:45.would have thought. Money talks! Why do you say that? You talked about
:03:46. > :03:48.having a pirate radio station to blast into Clacton so it is not
:03:49. > :03:52.covered by the election rules. You've been talking about financing
:03:53. > :03:58.a sort of right-wing Momentum movement. I just wonder, has
:03:59. > :04:01.politics now just become a Richmond's hobby? From my
:04:02. > :04:05.perspective the reason I'm interested in it is if you have
:04:06. > :04:07.looked at what has happened in the country, it's clear the
:04:08. > :04:16.Conservatives will have a massive majority. -- has politics become a
:04:17. > :04:21.rich man's hobby. Only putting up candidates not against Brexit MPs.
:04:22. > :04:24.Is Ukip over? I don't think so. The electoral maths is interesting
:04:25. > :04:34.because first-past-the-post effectively could help Ukip in this
:04:35. > :04:38.example. Ukip got one MP with 4 million votes. What we are seeing is
:04:39. > :04:41.the total collapse of Labour. In that situation there are certain
:04:42. > :04:45.seats up north in Hartlepool and other seats like that, the total
:04:46. > :04:51.collapse of the Labour Party could help Ukip to win a few seats. Is
:04:52. > :04:54.Ukip over? It looks that way, yes. They haven't made much of a dent in
:04:55. > :04:57.Labour's vote in the north, they don't really have a defining issue
:04:58. > :05:02.anymore and all the polls we have seen published since the election
:05:03. > :05:07.was called show Ukip vote is going to the Conservatives. Is Ukip over?
:05:08. > :05:11.It always happens when the Conservative Party goes far to the
:05:12. > :05:16.right, really hard Brexit, there is no space for BMP, Ukip and all of
:05:17. > :05:21.that. Are you associating the BNP with Ukip? Or that, movements to the
:05:22. > :05:26.right of the Conservatives get eaten up one the Conservatives move as far
:05:27. > :05:31.right as Theresa May has done. I think what your enterprise shows is
:05:32. > :05:34.how it's really time to reform funding of political parties. It is
:05:35. > :05:39.disgraceful that very rich people can move in and bankroll the Brexit
:05:40. > :05:46.campaigned to the extent that they did. We need proper state funding of
:05:47. > :05:54.parties. The union is bankrolling Labour. I assume the reform would
:05:55. > :05:57.include trade unions? Indeed. Ukip has lost its talisman in Nigel
:05:58. > :06:02.Farage, it was a one-man party, I have to say, people like Tim. Having
:06:03. > :06:06.voted for Brexit its reason to be has gone. It will still take votes
:06:07. > :06:10.from Labour and the Conservatives but probably only from the don't
:06:11. > :06:14.knows. There are seats in certain places where if enough Tories back
:06:15. > :06:20.Ukip dated when. Hartlepool is an example. Were the Tories will never
:06:21. > :06:24.win. The demise of Ukip has been forecasted many times before but I
:06:25. > :06:27.don't see a Tory candidate winning in a place like Hartlepool. So we
:06:28. > :06:32.could see, and I think we will see, the total collapse of the Labour
:06:33. > :06:35.vote. We shall see. The leader of the party of which you say you are
:06:36. > :06:41.still a patron, Paul Nuttall, said he would ban the Burcea and the
:06:42. > :06:49.niqab in public, what is your view? -- the niqab and the Burcea? I'm not
:06:50. > :06:53.in agreement with that. If it is a security issue at airports or public
:06:54. > :06:56.transport it could be acceptable but I'm not in favour of curtailing
:06:57. > :07:01.people's writes. You have gone further than him, haven't you? You
:07:02. > :07:05.tweeted you wanted to ban Muslim immigration. In my view the problem
:07:06. > :07:07.we have had with the lack of integration in certain communities
:07:08. > :07:12.has come about through mass open-door immigration. If you are a
:07:13. > :07:18.must win you wouldn't be allowed in? What I said in the tweet was I think
:07:19. > :07:24.they should be a ban on immigration... You said Muslim
:07:25. > :07:26.immigration. That's what I believe. If you are a world famous doctor
:07:27. > :07:30.coming to help one of our big teaching hospitals in this country
:07:31. > :07:33.because you are a Muslim you could not get in? We have to start
:07:34. > :07:36.somewhere, there are huge problems in areas where 20% of the population
:07:37. > :07:42.don't speak the language, they haven't integrated. You should read
:07:43. > :07:47.the rest of the tweet, it is control of immigration from a 10-year ban on
:07:48. > :07:51.unskilled immigration. The first thing you said was to ban Muslim
:07:52. > :07:55.immigration, it is in black and white. I have said that, I do not
:07:56. > :07:59.dispute that. I was questioning that. There is my answer, you cannot
:08:00. > :08:03.tell somebody's will adjust freedoms but what you can do is stop adding
:08:04. > :08:09.to the problem. Doesn't that sound a bit like the BNP? It's as like BNP
:08:10. > :08:12.and like Trump. Its, we hate Muslims, fine, if that is what you
:08:13. > :08:17.are standing for, that is clear. The final word is we have had open-door
:08:18. > :08:20.mass immigration from the Conservative Party, we've had it
:08:21. > :08:24.from the Labour Party and its fine if you are in north London to say
:08:25. > :08:27.these things, if you live in Oldham and your community has been
:08:28. > :08:30.radically changed and you have a whole population not integrating in,
:08:31. > :08:34.not speaking the language, something has got to be done. We had better
:08:35. > :08:37.leave it there. Thank you for coming in. I am en route to Clacton. We
:08:38. > :08:40.will see how you get on there. Now, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron
:08:41. > :08:42.was on TV earlier today and he was asked again
:08:43. > :08:45.about an issue that he's been asked about repeatedly -
:08:46. > :08:47.his attitude to homosexuality. when they asked you whether gay sex
:08:48. > :08:57.was a sin. Come on, Robert, I've been
:08:58. > :08:59.asked this question loads few days and I have been clear,
:09:00. > :09:03.even in the House of Commons, It's possible I'm not the only
:09:04. > :09:13.person getting tired Probably, but then why don't
:09:14. > :09:26.you just close it down? Toby Young, why does he get into
:09:27. > :09:31.such a mess over this? I mean, he is leader of the Liberal Democrats. Its
:09:32. > :09:34.2017. I guess the reason he keeps refusing to answer that question is
:09:35. > :09:41.because what the implication is that he does think that homosexual acts
:09:42. > :09:46.are sinful, and he cannot bring himself not to say that, or to say
:09:47. > :09:48.what Robert Peston and others want him to say because he is an
:09:49. > :09:53.evangelical Christian who converted at the age of 20, 21, and clearly he
:09:54. > :09:58.really struggles with this issue and I think it will be really difficult
:09:59. > :10:01.for the Lib Dems to promote, or even Lib Dem candidates like Vince Cable,
:10:02. > :10:04.to promote the idea of the Progressive Alliance even though Tim
:10:05. > :10:13.has ruled it out, if he is not prepared to say I don't think
:10:14. > :10:16.homosexual acts are sinful. What is your view? It is disastrous if that
:10:17. > :10:19.is what he really thinks but Preston did not push the hard. I'm not sure
:10:20. > :10:21.he understood the difference about the question between gay sex and
:10:22. > :10:26.being gay. I think he just thought he was going on saying I'm not
:10:27. > :10:29.anti-gay. He needs to command immediately and clarify it. If you
:10:30. > :10:33.are right and he does actually think it is a sin he is in real trouble.
:10:34. > :10:38.There is a slight parallel with what police said before about Jeremy
:10:39. > :10:42.Corbyn, how his unilateral nuclear policy would appeal to the hard core
:10:43. > :10:47.of the left. The problem for Tim Farron with what he is saying here,
:10:48. > :10:55.while he is an evangelical Christian, this will not appeal to
:10:56. > :10:58.traditional Liberal Democrats. An LGBT community member cannot
:10:59. > :11:02.possibly vote for an MP who believes that a sexual act between
:11:03. > :11:06.homosexuals is sinful. He has not made that clear. Of course, he wants
:11:07. > :11:10.to stop Brexit as well so he is neither liberal nor democratic. He
:11:11. > :11:14.will have seven weeks to make it clear because I am sure he will be
:11:15. > :11:19.asked again. We have the chairman of the Conservative Party on earlier,
:11:20. > :11:22.Polly. An important figure for the Tory campaign. What did you make of
:11:23. > :11:27.what he said? I don't think he will have him on very often, he didn't do
:11:28. > :11:30.brilliantly. I think they will bring back chemical Ali, Michael Fallon,
:11:31. > :11:37.he can say anything with a straight face, he can say black is white.
:11:38. > :11:42.Michael Fallon, chemical Ali? Why do you say that? He can absolutely say
:11:43. > :11:49.black is white. For instance if you look back at what he said, you
:11:50. > :11:53.challenged him about the energy policy, when Ed Miliband came out
:11:54. > :11:58.with it, he said any kind of freeze would stop investment, the lights
:11:59. > :12:03.will go out. You have him on, he will say the exact opposite. He is
:12:04. > :12:07.magic at that. But I don't think your guy today was up to the job. If
:12:08. > :12:16.Michael Fallon was chemical Ali, or we should say chemical Fally,
:12:17. > :12:21.Patrick was more like comical Ali. The whole Iraq war is rushing back
:12:22. > :12:24.at me. He is the warm up comedian, there is another six weeks to go,
:12:25. > :12:30.just getting things started. What did you think? I don't think he was
:12:31. > :12:34.too bad, it was difficult for him to say exactly what was in the 2050
:12:35. > :12:37.manifesto is going to be replicated in the Conservatives' manifesto
:12:38. > :12:40.during this general election, he doesn't want to be seen rowing back
:12:41. > :12:44.on stuff but on the other hand I don't think he can conceal the fact
:12:45. > :12:48.they will be far fewer commitments in this Conservative manifesto than
:12:49. > :12:51.in the last one, as you and I know, it was full of rash promises last
:12:52. > :12:59.time because they thought they would have to trade a lot of them away in
:13:00. > :13:02.the negotiations with the Liberal Democrats to form a second coalition
:13:03. > :13:04.so they are saddled with policies they don't particularly want to be
:13:05. > :13:06.hemmed in by. The forthcoming Conservative manifesto will be much
:13:07. > :13:10.lighter and shorter with fewer commitments. Different? Some stuff
:13:11. > :13:14.jumped from the 2050 manifesto? I think so but we will see a
:13:15. > :13:16.commitment to run schools to overcome that hurdle in the next
:13:17. > :13:20.parliament and I don't think, in spite of what you think, Polly, that
:13:21. > :13:23.it will be a hard tack to the right. I think if anything the mood music
:13:24. > :13:29.of the Conservative manifesto will be a centrist inclusive one. The
:13:30. > :13:33.mood music will be because the specifics would be there. She is
:13:34. > :13:36.good at saying governing for everybody and the many and not the
:13:37. > :13:41.few but when you look at the hard facts of what her and Hammond's
:13:42. > :13:44.budget looks like, you look at her hard Brexit, it's a very different
:13:45. > :13:52.story. Or that, the music has stopped for this week! Thank you. I
:13:53. > :13:59.will be back next week at the normal time of 11am on Sunday morning. On
:14:00. > :14:04.BBC One The Daily Politics is back at midday tomorrow and we will be on
:14:05. > :14:05.every day next week on BBC Two. Remember, if it's Sunday, it is The
:14:06. > :14:35.Sunday Politics. There'll be a couple of hours of
:14:36. > :14:38.just fantastic music, really,