0:00:00 > 0:00:02does Theresa May have control of her Government and her party?
0:00:02 > 0:00:03to support.
0:00:03 > 0:00:06All right, and at that point we have to end it there.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09My thanks to Rosena and Andrew, and with that it's back to Sarah.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11It's been a tricky week for Theresa May -
0:00:11 > 0:00:12again, you might think.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15She's lost a Cabinet minister and been forced into a reshuffle
0:00:15 > 0:00:18which did little for party unity, to say nothing of losing a Commons
0:00:18 > 0:00:21vote on Brexit and yet more reports of fireworks in Cabinet meetings -
0:00:21 > 0:00:22this time apparently over housing.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25So, is the Prime Minister's time in office going with a bang
0:00:25 > 0:00:26or more of a whimper?
0:00:26 > 0:00:27Well, we sent Ellie Price
0:00:27 > 0:00:29and the entirely unscientific Sunday Politics moodbox
0:00:29 > 0:00:31to Conservative-held Surrey, to find out.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35ALL:Three, two, one.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41# Ignite the light and let it shine...#
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It's a tale of lit fuses, plots, conspiracy, treachery,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48but enough of the recent goings on in the Conservative Party,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52it's firework night here in Guildford and we're asking,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55does Theresa May have control of her Government and her party?
0:00:55 > 0:00:56Yes or no?
0:00:56 > 0:01:01# Baby you're a firework...#
0:01:01 > 0:01:03With all the scandals in Government at the moment
0:01:03 > 0:01:07and Brexit seems to be dragging on a little bit longer than we thought.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10So, at the moment, I don't think she is in control.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16She's too many people sniping at her back, really.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Do you think Theresa May's in control?
0:01:18 > 0:01:19I think she's in control.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22She's in a good job having a tough time.
0:01:22 > 0:01:23No, I don't.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24I think she's a mess.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Even when you read her body language when she's being interviewed
0:01:27 > 0:01:29by people, she doesn't seem like she's in control.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I think she has poor advisers.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39I'm going to put it in the "yes".
0:01:39 > 0:01:43I do think she's struggling but, I still hope, still think she has
0:01:43 > 0:01:46a bit of a grip on them.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48The Queen is England's role.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50It's her birth right.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54She is England's role of this country.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56I'm going to vote for Theresa May.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00I don't think there's anyone who could do a better job.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I think she's had a bit of a poisoned chalice with Brexit but
0:02:03 > 0:02:04I think she could have done better.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The money's not going to where it needs to go.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08I think she should resign, really.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I feel a bit sorry for her, actually.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13I think she's been witch-hunted a little bit.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16She's doing her best.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19With everything that's going on with the Cabinet at the
0:02:19 > 0:02:22moment, I think the Conservative Party is in a real mess, actually.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Very disappointed.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30Well, you get bickering in all parts not just the Conservative Party.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33And that's just sort of par for the course.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35But I'm sure she'll hold everybody together
0:02:35 > 0:02:37despite the current difficulties.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40The Tories weren't in control when they had the referendum
0:02:40 > 0:02:42in the first place for the euro.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45We've had two years of complete chaos.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I don't see an end to it.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Well, I seem to have acquired a few new friends.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The oohs and ahs are over and so the moodbox
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and the result is...
0:02:58 > 0:02:59No.
0:02:59 > 0:03:00The majority of people here in Guildford
0:03:00 > 0:03:03don't think Theresa May is in control.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07CHEERING
0:03:07 > 0:03:09That was Ellie with the entirely unscientific moodbox, and thanks
0:03:09 > 0:03:16to Bushy Hill Junior School in Guildford for having her along.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Let's put the Sorbol question to our panel. Equally unscientific but all
0:03:21 > 0:03:24seasoned Westminster watchers. Is Theresa May in control of her
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Government at the moment or is all of this sex harassment allegations
0:03:29 > 0:03:33swimming around loosening her grip? Depends what you mean by in control.
0:03:33 > 0:03:40All Prime Ministers have a degree of control. They retain the power much
0:03:40 > 0:03:44tat wrongage as we saw with her reshuffle. Didn't go down well with
0:03:44 > 0:03:50her MPs but she did it. You can't be fully in control of these situations
0:03:50 > 0:03:53in effectively what is a hung Parliament. If she won a land sheep
0:03:53 > 0:03:57in the election she would have the authority to do what she wanted. She
0:03:57 > 0:04:01could float over something like this. Stories like this, you could
0:04:01 > 0:04:05say she's perfectly suited for it, the vicar's daughter, the church
0:04:05 > 0:04:08goer, to sort it out. It is much more complicated than that. I don't
0:04:08 > 0:04:12think she will be able to get a full grip of it. There are some practical
0:04:12 > 0:04:17things that need to happen that will happen. I remember with back to
0:04:17 > 0:04:21basics and John Major, that equally vague scandal, what was back to
0:04:21 > 0:04:26basics about? It was still running months afterwards, stories about a
0:04:26 > 0:04:30minister having an affair. This is different. I can see it will be
0:04:30 > 0:04:34impossible for her to fully get to grips with it.Does it provide an
0:04:34 > 0:04:38opportunity for Theresa May to be seen to be taking really serious
0:04:38 > 0:04:41action, trying to root out a bad culture in Westminster and therefore
0:04:41 > 0:04:46get some political credit for it? That opportunity was available to
0:04:46 > 0:04:51her all of last week and she hasn't taken it. What's remarkable for me
0:04:51 > 0:04:55is the near complete breakdown in discipline in the higher ranks the
0:04:55 > 0:05:00Tory Party. It is extraordinary you have Cabinet level ministers who are
0:05:00 > 0:05:03not supporting their colleagues. Ministers and former ministers
0:05:03 > 0:05:07giving interviews in which they slag off their former colleagues. It is
0:05:07 > 0:05:12an absolute unholy mess. There is no sense that she is gripping this. Or
0:05:12 > 0:05:15has any particular solution. I think we can have a lot of sympathy for
0:05:15 > 0:05:19her in terms of finding a solution. How on earth do you grip a problem
0:05:19 > 0:05:28like this where you're talking about apparently an indefinite period of
0:05:28 > 0:05:31retrospective examination of potential faults. 15 years is no
0:05:31 > 0:05:34longer too historic for somebody to dredge up some small thing that may
0:05:34 > 0:05:38or may not have happened to them. It is very difficult for her. But she's
0:05:38 > 0:05:45being battered around by events. Where does this story go next?I
0:05:45 > 0:05:49think the whip's office on every party, Tories, Labour, Liberal
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Democrats, SNP all have their own whipping operations. That seems to
0:05:52 > 0:05:58be the place of it really. This is because, where do we draw the line?
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Going forward what mechanisms are put in place to top this helping
0:06:01 > 0:06:06again. To take allegations seriously, report them and
0:06:06 > 0:06:10investigate them independently. Or is there a bigger job to go back
0:06:10 > 0:06:15into the past retrospective, who knew what when as Nia said about
0:06:15 > 0:06:20Kelvin Hopkins. This is a Shadow Defence Secretary saying what did
0:06:20 > 0:06:24the Labour Party leader know about Kelvin Hopkins' allegations when he
0:06:24 > 0:06:29promoted him? Theresa May is unable to do the retrospective bit. She's
0:06:29 > 0:06:34simply too weak. I asked this of Number Ten last week. Why are you
0:06:34 > 0:06:37not more front-foot the on this. They said they would be if they
0:06:37 > 0:06:42possibly could be. She's running a minority Government. She cannot be
0:06:42 > 0:06:46seen to be going after a witch-hunt on her own people. So, I think this
0:06:46 > 0:06:55goes on. Enof thebly what the whips new -- inevitably what the whips
0:06:55 > 0:07:04knew will be parment. Amber Rudd did the same thing on Andrew Marr.They
0:07:04 > 0:07:09are being precise about the fact they didn't know anything. Sarah
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Newton said she heard no allegations about her flock, the the MPs she was
0:07:13 > 0:07:20in charge of rather than rumours about any other Tories.Amber Rudd
0:07:20 > 0:07:25say, I do not recognise the more lurid allegations. What about the
0:07:25 > 0:07:29less lurid once? So, this smells very, very bad indeed.Jeremy
0:07:29 > 0:07:35Corbyn's going to have to answer some of these questions as well?
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Yeah, but the whip's thing is a red herring. Their remit is to get the
0:07:40 > 0:07:43vote out for the Government fundamentally. Everybody knows that.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46They are not there, it is one of the problems. They are not there to be
0:07:46 > 0:07:51moral guides to these MPs. They are there to win votes for the
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Government or the opposition if that becomes possible. And deal brutally
0:07:55 > 0:07:59with MPs to make sure they get out and vote. Of course they knew
0:07:59 > 0:08:04virtually everything. But whether they were obliged to act as moral
0:08:04 > 0:08:08guard yawns in these situations, I don't think they were. It was not
0:08:08 > 0:08:12part of their job. Maybe you need moral guardians in there but not the
0:08:12 > 0:08:17whips.Normally, less than three-weeks out from a budget that's
0:08:17 > 0:08:20what we'd been talking about. Dominating our conversation. Given
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that's set for November 22nd, is that an opportunity for the
0:08:23 > 0:08:28Government to seize back control of the story?Philip Hammond may be
0:08:28 > 0:08:31glad we're not spending too much time talking about the budget. It
0:08:31 > 0:08:35should be an opportunity for the Government to seize the agenda, draw
0:08:35 > 0:08:39a line under all of this. I think one of the very difficult as pects
0:08:39 > 0:08:43of this so-called scandal for the Government to manage is knowing
0:08:43 > 0:08:47quite how long it will run. In the normal scheme of things they lose
0:08:47 > 0:08:51steam after a couple of weeks. But there are so many potential gayses
0:08:51 > 0:08:56that could come out, it might run longer than that. Rather like the
0:08:56 > 0:08:59expenses scandal. But there is an opportunity at the budget to reset
0:08:59 > 0:09:04the' again da. I just don't think Philip Hammond will take it. I think
0:09:04 > 0:09:08he's a very caution Chancellor. At the moment, there is a feeling
0:09:08 > 0:09:14Theresa May's leadership is so weak it will be too dangerous for them to
0:09:14 > 0:09:19do anything particularly dram attic why. I expect a steady as you go
0:09:19 > 0:09:23budget where they will be hoping not to make any mistakes.You say there
0:09:23 > 0:09:29is disagreement in the Cabinet about what should be in the budget?
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Disagreement between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. The
0:09:34 > 0:09:38witch-hunt is hiding a huge story which is the incredible dysfunction
0:09:38 > 0:09:42between Number Ten and number 11. Philip Hammond and Theresa May can't
0:09:42 > 0:09:46bear to be in the same room with each other let alone agreeing what's
0:09:46 > 0:09:50in the budget. It is coming down to housing. Everybody agrees it has to
0:09:50 > 0:09:56be the centrepiece of the budget. They have to get more houses built.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Philip Hammond wands that bee deregulation. Theresa May wants to
0:10:01 > 0:10:04are borrow up to 50 billion merchandise more for the Government
0:10:04 > 0:10:06to build for themselves.
0:10:06 > 0:10:07That's all for today.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09There's no Sunday Politics next weekend
0:10:09 > 0:10:11while Parliament is in recess,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14but I'll be back here at 11am on BBC One in two weeks' time.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Until then, bye bye.