26/11/2015 The Papers

how England's cricketers beat Pakistan in Dubai. That is coming up

in Sportsday in the next 15 minutes, straight after the papers.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers

With me are Craig Woodhouse, chief political correspondent at

the Sun and Rowena Mason, political correspondent at the Guardian.

Tomorrow's front pages, starting with the Times, which leads on

Labour's split over bombing in Syria.

It says Jeremy Corbyn's opposition has plunged him into the biggest

The Telegraph also splashes on the turmoil

in Labour over whether to back air strikes on Islamic State targets.

The Syria vote leads the Guardian too. They say David Cameron is

"Cameron's ready for war, but is Britain?"

is the question posed by the Daily Mirror.

The Independent features the kneeling figure

of a man condemned to death in Saudi Arabia, one of 50 who will

"Will Britain protest?" the paper asks.

In the Express, there is hope for sufferers of arthritis. An

injection to ease their agony could be on the way within five years.

As net migration hits a record high, the Daily Mail says it could lead

to an out vote in the forthcoming referendum over

And the Sun says the increase in new arrivals mean our green and pleasant

Let's begin with a couple of the papers which are leading on the same

sort of story, and that is the turmoil within Labour over this vote

on striking against Syria. The Times has it, Labour at war over vote to

bomb ISIS. Frontbench resignations threatened. Labour at war over

airstrikes in Syria. We have just heard as we were coming back on air

that Jeremy Corbyn has pulled out of visiting Oldham to campaign in the

local by-election, this is because of necessary engagements in London

so we are all starting to wonder quite what these engagements are. I

wonder whether that consists of standing up and sacking all those

who opposed him, who say that he is utterly wrong and that they need to

keep written say. The strongest player he could make is to say you

guys don't agree with me, I'm the leader, few pop. Whether he could

fill all those chairs if he purged his Cabinet is another matter

because we're not sure how many agree with him or how many agree

with the rebel faction led by the Shadow Foreign Secretary and Tom

Watson, the deputy party leader. It is an almighty mess that Labour have

managed to get themselves into the day when we are talking about

potentially going to war in foreign country. It must be an extraordinary

time to be reporting on politics for people like you. As Craig says, we

are not headlining the airstrikes itself but what is happening in the

opposition. It is remarkable, and these two front pages are very

similar, The Times in the Independent are very similar, Labour

at war over the airstrikes. There is another possible way out for Jeremy

Corbyn if he does not sack his Shadow Cabinet. He could just offer

them a free vote. That is potentially the best thing for him

to do now. Even though he has said he wants a collective position on

Syria, he is not going to get it. So that is possibly his best option.

The problem with a free vote is a lot of the Shadow Cabinet rebels see

it as making the Labour Party look like it can't make its mind up on an

issue of war, which is a terrible signal to send to the public. The

other thing is if he was going to offer a free vote he could have done

so three weeks ago, avoiding all of this mess. He was meant to be

believed in by his team, and they believe in him. Yukka of poll

suggested that 70% of Labour Party members -- A YouGov poll. The Labour

Party should be listening to the membership, which would seem to put

them in line with the leader of the party. Yes, except to win the

general election you don't just need Labour voters. Let's not forget

Labour had a terrible share of the vote in the most recent general

election and if the aim of a political party is to end up in

government it needs to reach out and if it is not prepared to do that and

it might as well go off into the fringes. We are 4.5 years away from

that. What? Find me a political strategist who thinks you can

rebuild the party's reputation on an issue of War and peace in four

years, I don't think it is possible. That is why we are still talking

about Tony Blair in Iraq. Labour Party is still tainted by that. But

they did go to war. But you can't turn this around in four years,

impossible. Cameron is ready for war, is Britain? Commons divided as

case for war in Syria is raised. We have seen those conservatives oppose

the airstrikes tee years ago now much more inclined to vote for them.

We have an action got a vote yet, have we? That is absolutely true.

One interesting case is Crispin Blunt, the chairman of the Foreign

Affairs Committee. Only a few weeks ago his committee released a very

sceptical report questioning the justification for airstrikes and he

stood up in the Commons today and said he actually now believes the

case has been made by Cameron. So that might have swung a few of the

waverers in the Conservative Party behind him, and also a few of the

Labour side as well. But when we had the debate at the UN, and that

resolution put forward by France, it was to use all means necessary to

combat Islamic State. At the moment we are talking about airstrikes, but

how much further might some kind of intervention have to go before we

get to a diplomatic solution? Cameron was clear in the Commons

today, as have been most experts, you are not going to defeat Islamic

State purely from the air. It will have to require some ground effort.

The West are understandably incredibly nervous about launching a

ground operation in Syria. Indeed, David Cameron, as there are no plans

for British boots on the ground, nor will there be a plan for British

boots on the ground. The issue is, at the moment there are 70,000

freedom fighters knocking around in Syria who might do the job for us.

Firstly, that is not quite enough, secondly, that -- they are not in

the right place, and thirdly, are they going to take our orders? Only

by building country by country are we going to get this. Let's move on

and talk about the Sun. I told you it might be all right once we got

started. Green and pleasant crammed. Immigration figures, net

immigration of 336,000 people, but they are coming from within the EU

so there is not much you can do about it even if you wanted to. This

is the most embarrassing him for David Cameron who promised to get

immigration down to the tens of thousands. As someone pointed out,

336,000 is lots of tens of thousands. More than half are coming

from outside the EU, but it we are meant to be able to control. So it

is a real mess, and very embarrassing to David Cameron. And

it is hard to see how this comes down. Because everything we have

tried so far isn't working. We need to make Britain less popular

destination, and that wouldn't be good for any of us, would it? I

suppose that is what argument, it is not an argument that is taken by

people in the tourist industry, I'm sure. Well, the truth of the matter

is most of these people are coming in for work. They are either coming

here because they've got jobs, about 64% of them, or they are coming here

to find work. It is because our economy is roaring ahead while other

economies are not doing very well. So that is the reason they are

coming here. The one thing the government will never tell you or

don't shout very loudly, but think-tanks do, is that actually

part of the reason our GDP is soaring ahead is because we have so

many immigrants coming here and working. So there is this kind of

bizarre thing that George Osborne might stand up and say our GDP is

going to be this much higher in the future. This is part of the reason

why. But the Daily Mail looks at the potential backlash, as it sees it.

Migration crisis could push the UK out of Europe. A stark warning from

the Foreign Secretary. Well, the thing about immigration is that it

is tied in so closely the arguments about the European Union now, and

there are definite worries in Number 10 and the wider Cabinet that the

migrant crisis in Europe, and the sort of breakdown of the sort of

freedom of movement throughout the EU is going to have a real effect on

the EU referendum when we have it in 2017. When we finally have it. It is

up to the politicians to make the argument whichever way, isn't it?

Yes, and this is what Hammond was saying in Rome yesterday. What he

was trying to say to other European leaders is look, if you don't give

us what we want in terms of tightening migrant benefits, then

Britain might leave. He wasn't saying because 386,000 people were

coming to the UK we might leave, he was using this as a stick to beat

Europe because they don't like our idea of blocking European migrants

being able to claim benefits for four years. Telegraph, patients

unable to claim benefits. What is new about this headline? Not a

massive amount, although the problem is getting worse. What is

significant is the row over the NHS. So this is a very timely

intervention from the National Audit Office who found one in ten people

can't get an appointment when they want to. There is a real postcode

lottery out there. Everard is finding it inconvenient, and GPs are

stretched partly because of the stories we are talking about --

everyone. At the government will seize on this and say it is yet more

evidence about why we need to build a truly seven-day a week NHS. Is

that why? Many are leaving as well. That is part of the problem, and

there are huge strains on money in the NHS. George Osborne is trying to

head some of that off by promising extra billions for the service over

the next four years in his Spending Review. But there are sort of these

signs that things are very stretched at the moment. GPs, this is one of

them. There is also the risk of an accident and emergency winter crisis

which could happen later in the year. On the FT, ?1 billion raid

with move to make Whitehall pay market rates. If you are in a fancy

building you will have to pay more to use it, even if you are a

government department. That is the thrust of it, isn't it it is quite

an audacious thing for the Treasury to do, really. It is basically

asking its own departments to pay it back for the space that they use,

which are government buildings anyway. You have to think that they

must be trying to make government departments downsize, make sure they

are using the space efficiently, perhaps even move out the outer

parts of London. They will all be squashed. It is one of the more

bizarre moves in yesterday's Autumn Statement, this creation of a

government property unit which is all of a sudden going to be granted

control over all of those marvellous ministries in a bid to make the

relevant ministers use their space more efficiently. Whether it means

renting out office space, I don't want to see all the government

departments move out to Croydon or Salford or whatever. I think there

is something quite special about them all being concentrated in

Whitehall. And easier for you. Go back easier for me, but it adds a

special feel to the place. The voice in my ear wonders whether the

Treasury will charge itself. It is going to, to the tune of ?30 million

a year. There you go, you don't have to read the paper now, do you? How

long have we got? About one minute. The Times, ?1 billion Black Friday

hinge. -- binge. This is some kind of American invention that wasn't

part of British culture of years ago, and now we see people fighting

in the streets to get a TV they don't want. Some shops have written

back, having been part of it a few years ago, they now say they do not

want anything to do with it. I think ASDA brought it over from the UK to

America -- from America to the UK, and has cancelled it. Maybe that is

a marketing ploy in itself, some shoppers might had there to try and

get some peace and quiet. Exercise caution, we are warned, or avoid the

shops completely. Wear body armour, if last year is anything to go by. I

wouldn't go anywhere near it, a scrum for Christmas Hagens. So if

you were hoping for a present from Craig this Christmas you might be

out of luck. Even if you are busy on Monday, there is something happening

in the Labour Party. You are going nowhere. That is it for the papers

this hour. Coming up next, assume in Ollie is in his chair, Sportsday.