:00:00. > :00:18.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be
:00:19. > :00:26.Jeff With me are journalist James Rampton and Sian Griffiths,
:00:27. > :00:32.education editor of The Sunday Times.
:00:33. > :00:34.The Sunday Telegraph warns that the Autumn Statement may
:00:35. > :00:37.include a tax raid on middle-class job perks -
:00:38. > :00:42.The Observer claims Europe's leaders are to force the UK into a hard
:00:43. > :00:45.Brexit in a bid to see off any future populist insurgencies that
:00:46. > :00:47.might lead to the break-up of the European Union.
:00:48. > :00:49.The Sunday Times says the Queen is to invite
:00:50. > :00:51.Donald Trump to Windsor - with Ministers hoping
:00:52. > :00:54.she'll help cement ties with the new American President.
:00:55. > :00:57.The Sunday Mail claims that the Duchess of York has
:00:58. > :01:00.launched a legal case against the owners of the now
:01:01. > :01:02.defunct News of the World for 25 million pounds after the fake
:01:03. > :01:06.Sheikh sting that she says destroyed her reputation.
:01:07. > :01:15.The Sunday Mirror's top story is an interview with TV chef
:01:16. > :01:17.Jean-Christophe Novelli, whose new-born son is very ill.
:01:18. > :01:34.the Autumn Statement will give us some people better health checks.
:01:35. > :01:43.What do you make both parts of that? It is clever and as you say, this
:01:44. > :01:49.idea that is going to be a raid on job perks and classes, gym
:01:50. > :01:53.memberships, phone contracts, a lot of companies offer those now and of
:01:54. > :01:57.course they do cost quite a lot in lost income tax out of national
:01:58. > :02:03.insurance contributions so I think it will be a palatable way of
:02:04. > :02:07.getting money back for the state. Even the middle classes can afford
:02:08. > :02:17.it. The Government have made it very clear it is very interested in
:02:18. > :02:22.helping these managing families. Nobody will say working class any
:02:23. > :02:33.more because you can't say that. There has also been squeezed middle.
:02:34. > :02:37.By reading these salary sacrifice middle-class perks that a lot of
:02:38. > :02:43.people who are insecure jobs do enjoy -- by raiding, I think that
:02:44. > :02:48.will be quite popular and I think spending ?1.3 billion to fight
:02:49. > :02:56.congestion on the roads and improve our real services, that's going to
:02:57. > :02:59.be a winner. -- rail. It is very easy to say you're going to spend
:03:00. > :03:05.all this money but as we have seen with Heathrow for example, it might
:03:06. > :03:09.not ever happen. I live near Holloway Road in North London which
:03:10. > :03:15.has been dug up 40 or 50 times in the past two years which creates
:03:16. > :03:18.immense traffic chaos in itself. There's an interesting stat here
:03:19. > :03:26.that says 100 million working days will be lost between now and 2040,
:03:27. > :03:29.which cost 13 billion to the economy due to traffic congestion so if
:03:30. > :03:33.there is some way of solving that alleviating it, that's got to be a
:03:34. > :03:43.good idea because it will help everyone and help business
:03:44. > :03:48.particularly to get from a to B. Is the Chancellor suggesting it is not
:03:49. > :03:53.all about Brexit but it is interesting to find out the tone, a
:03:54. > :03:59.cautious is he going to be? People will be looking at his demeanour.
:04:00. > :04:05.They will and I think they will be other things on the odd statement.
:04:06. > :04:12.We have a story in the Sunday Times -- Autumn Statement. We think he
:04:13. > :04:15.might be spending millions on the expansion of grammar schools so they
:04:16. > :04:20.are other projects I think we will be seen as the week unfolds. As
:04:21. > :04:24.everything is about PR these days, it is very important to give an
:04:25. > :04:29.impression of business as usual. Nigel Lawson was used to say, steady
:04:30. > :04:35.as she goes. That's the impression Philip Hammond was to create for the
:04:36. > :04:41.markets. They hate uncertainty. We seen the plunge of the level of the
:04:42. > :04:46.pound after Brexit. Philip Hammond was to emphasise his own long career
:04:47. > :04:53.in business and quell fears that things are going to become chaotic.
:04:54. > :05:02.Let's move on to the Sunday Times. Queen to invite Trump to Windsor.
:05:03. > :05:09.This is a well worn path but it does them to work with foreign readers.
:05:10. > :05:14.-- tend to work. Donald Trump invited to meet the Queen as the
:05:15. > :05:21.Government employs its secret weapon to cement ties with the American
:05:22. > :05:26.president. One of the sources is saying that Donald Trump is a
:05:27. > :05:30.massive Anglophile because his mum was Scottish of course and he is
:05:31. > :05:34.really keen to meet the Queen. His late mother loved the Queen. He
:05:35. > :05:41.says, I can't wait to meet her. My mother would be chuffed. He's now
:05:42. > :05:47.the American president but he's also a person and meeting the Queen is a
:05:48. > :05:50.huge thing for anybody. I don't think he has necessarily endeared
:05:51. > :05:55.himself with the Scottish people because of the shenanigans with golf
:05:56. > :06:03.courses. But also, to be a fly on the wall, he has made a career out
:06:04. > :06:07.of saying the unsayable and what is he going to say to the Queen? Even
:06:08. > :06:20.what had immense diplomatic skills, she might be taken aback. Her
:06:21. > :06:28.Majesty will acquit herself fairly well. I did see one of the American
:06:29. > :06:41.papers, he was asked at some point about Trump Towers and its
:06:42. > :06:51.garishness but he said it is based on British architecture. It is more
:06:52. > :06:57.like Louis XIV, over the top garishness. Apparently the elevator
:06:58. > :07:03.door costs more than my house! It is incredible what he has done in terms
:07:04. > :07:12.of extravagance. He has the opulence of the French king which led to the
:07:13. > :07:18.French Revolution! Back to the serious world that we have to cover,
:07:19. > :07:27.the Observer says your's leaders are to force Britain into a hard Brexit
:07:28. > :07:30.-- Europe's leaders. It is hardly surprising that those left in the
:07:31. > :07:40.European Union don't want to give Britain an easy ride. It is
:07:41. > :07:47.something the EU is terrified, that if they see the British getting an
:07:48. > :07:51.easy ride, they are in favour of cake and eating it, if they get it
:07:52. > :07:55.both ways with free movement and immigration, then a right-wing
:07:56. > :08:04.parties are making great strides in Europe, in Holland, in France with
:08:05. > :08:08.Marine Le Pen. Italy is very unstable at the moment. The Prime
:08:09. > :08:13.Minister is likely to lose a vote on the constitution in Italy next week.
:08:14. > :08:17.All of these people might say, why do we need the EU? It would be an
:08:18. > :08:20.almost existential threat to it if they make it easy for the Brits and
:08:21. > :08:24.in that respect, I agree with the EU, give them a hard time and show
:08:25. > :08:29.them it is not easy and you will have a very difficult time as the
:08:30. > :08:37.tumbleweed blows across your economic wilderness. Nigel Farage,
:08:38. > :08:41.he is a divisive figure in her country, surely it is right that if
:08:42. > :08:45.Marine Le Pen wins, it would be game over for the EU, without fans and
:08:46. > :08:50.without her policies the EU would be finished. 60 years of EU integration
:08:51. > :08:58.would be at an end. The way things are going, it is not inconceivable.
:08:59. > :09:05.I'm told by a great number of French experts it is impossible for her to
:09:06. > :09:09.win. Her father was down to the last two and everybody who wasn't in the
:09:10. > :09:14.French National front, which was 60% of the country, ganged up and
:09:15. > :09:21.stopped her father getting in, but it does worry me that it will only
:09:22. > :09:27.be Germany left in the EU, like a Monty Python, when the black natives
:09:28. > :09:42.having his limbs sliced off and he says, I'm fine, I'm fine -- Black
:09:43. > :09:45.night. -- knight. We are much more interested in Renzi's future in
:09:46. > :09:50.Italy and the Chancellor of Germany's future and the next French
:09:51. > :09:57.president. Those are the three largest remaining economies in the
:09:58. > :10:01.EU once we exit, so if one of those pillars was chipped away, it would
:10:02. > :10:07.be cataclysmic for the EU. Let's move on to the Sunday Times. Here's
:10:08. > :10:22.a story we can all enjoy. Tony Blair. Who? He was Prime Minister,
:10:23. > :10:25.elected three times. Oh, that one! I thought he was just a rich man who
:10:26. > :10:34.toured around giving lectures about how brilliant he is. Tony Blair is
:10:35. > :10:45.saying Theresa May is a lightweight and Jeremy Corbyn is a nutter, so
:10:46. > :10:48.I'm back. It's a good headline! Sources are saying that he is
:10:49. > :10:53.positioning himself to play a pivotal role in shaping Britain's
:10:54. > :10:57.Brexit steel and he is scouting out a power base in Westminster and
:10:58. > :11:00.apparently he is setting up an institute close to Whitehall and he
:11:01. > :11:05.has already been holding talks with senior ministers and officials as he
:11:06. > :11:11.tried to re-enter British politics -- tries. He's not impressed with
:11:12. > :11:15.Theresa May, he says she is a lightweight and things Jeremy Corbyn
:11:16. > :11:21.is a nutter and the Tories are screwing up Brexit, so enter Tony
:11:22. > :11:24.Blair to sort it all out. I like the squad, he thinks there is a massive
:11:25. > :11:26.hole in British politics he can fill. I think it is a whole lot of
:11:27. > :11:36.people would want to put him in! A lot of us voted for him in 1987
:11:37. > :11:39.that he was going to change everything and he did for a few
:11:40. > :11:44.years but then the catastrophe that was Iraq destroyed his reputation
:11:45. > :11:50.and since Chilcott, he's been trying to rehabilitate himself, but the
:11:51. > :11:56.damage has been done, it's too late. He says he has an office he is going
:11:57. > :12:02.to fill with 130 staff. That's as big as most medium-sized countries.
:12:03. > :12:07.More people than we have negotiating trade deals. Exactly, because we
:12:08. > :12:11.can't find any negotiators! His point is there's a vacuum of
:12:12. > :12:14.leadership in British politics, that's effectively what he's saying.
:12:15. > :12:19.And he's right, and I never thought I would say this in a million years,
:12:20. > :12:26.but I agree with George Osborne, who is saying that all the predictions
:12:27. > :12:30.which levers said was project fear, could come true. We don't now what
:12:31. > :12:33.is going to happen after Brexit, to the economy or who we are going to
:12:34. > :12:36.do trade deals with, so apparently Tony Blair has been meeting George
:12:37. > :12:44.Osborne. It might seem like an unholy alliance, but it also might
:12:45. > :12:51.feel like saviours who are talking sense.
:12:52. > :12:56.Tony Blair thinks it will end in tears and bitterness, that Brexit is
:12:57. > :13:07.a car crash that will end in a pile-up. A lot of people think that
:13:08. > :13:14.is a reality. Leaving aside reservations about Tony Blair,
:13:15. > :13:17.Theresa May has said if you don't want to reveal your hand, but there
:13:18. > :13:23.are those who think she doesn't actually have a hand. I think there
:13:24. > :13:30.is a great fear about this pending appeal in the Supreme Court. If the
:13:31. > :13:32.campaigners win that appeal, which seems likely because it would be
:13:33. > :13:43.very unusual for the Supreme Court to overrule a judgment about the
:13:44. > :13:46.sovereignty of Parliament, then the Government is good to be forced to
:13:47. > :13:55.reveal its plans, if it has any. -- going to be forced. The other part
:13:56. > :13:58.of Tony Blair's supposed comeback is his reference to Jeremy Corbyn. It
:13:59. > :14:01.was interesting that Prime Minister's questions this week,
:14:02. > :14:08.given the profound changes in the world and the discontent about how
:14:09. > :14:18.to handle Brexit, the questions about the Supreme Court and so on.
:14:19. > :14:21.Jeremy Corbyn's first question was about the islanders, a worthy cause
:14:22. > :14:24.but hardly top of the agenda for most people who wanted to know what
:14:25. > :14:31.about where their country is is true. All the stories we have been
:14:32. > :14:34.talking about this morning, Brexit is an underlying theme of all of
:14:35. > :14:38.them and I think the uncertainty about where we are heading, it is
:14:39. > :14:42.the major thing that is facing us and for the Leader of the Opposition
:14:43. > :14:49.not to be addressing it at Prime Minister 's questions is wrong.
:14:50. > :14:52.Although I am left of centre, I think Jeremy Corbyn is a potential
:14:53. > :14:56.disaster for democracy because we need a very serious opposition to
:14:57. > :14:58.bogus Government to account, particularly in these extremely
:14:59. > :15:02.uncertain times when no one knows how it is going to pan out. We need
:15:03. > :15:15.a leader who will say Theresa May, what I never you doing? -- what on
:15:16. > :15:19.earth are you doing? Jeremy Corbyn did eventually mention Brexit and so
:15:20. > :15:25.on, but the implication of what Tony Blair is doing, or hoping to do, is
:15:26. > :15:28.that there is a centre ground in Britain which is not being
:15:29. > :15:41.represented by a strong voice in Parliament or elsewhere. I can see
:15:42. > :15:44.him as a kingmaker for a comeback by Osborne. I don't think he is totally
:15:45. > :15:49.discredited and I wouldn't wish this at all but if the economy does crash
:15:50. > :15:52.and burn, Osborne might be able to come back to centre stage and say,
:15:53. > :16:09.this is what I predicted, here I am, usage. I loved your story in the
:16:10. > :16:13.Sunday Times. Oxford students pick classism officer because
:16:14. > :16:21.working-class students have been told, did you get that from Primark?
:16:22. > :16:29.Michael insults, micro aggressions. -- micro insults. This is an issue
:16:30. > :16:34.with students, the rights of the working classes. We have heard
:16:35. > :16:41.officers to support... Do you mean the working class or the squeezed
:16:42. > :16:46.middle? The top universities are very small proportions of
:16:47. > :16:49.working-class students -- Oxford and Cambridge have tiny proportions, but
:16:50. > :16:51.this is funny and serious at the same time because student unions
:16:52. > :16:58.have defended the rights of transgender students, lesbian and
:16:59. > :17:09.guy mag students, and now the rate of working-class students -- gay
:17:10. > :17:19.students. It sounds silly and ridiculous and bizarre, and lots of
:17:20. > :17:24.student unions have chav evenings where they dress up as Vicky Pollard
:17:25. > :17:29.and get drunk and that is offensive to working-class students on campus.
:17:30. > :17:35.The thing about Oxford is you have this huge divide between privately
:17:36. > :17:38.educated students are incredibly wealthy and a small minority of
:17:39. > :17:44.working-class students on bursaries and there is a real tension, a
:17:45. > :17:47.social division. Students who come from working-class backgrounds do
:17:48. > :17:51.have difficulties getting into universities. That is the principal
:17:52. > :18:00.difficulty. Somebody saying, did you get your calls from Primark, on a
:18:01. > :18:02.scale of zero to ten, that is lower for people from working-class
:18:03. > :18:07.backgrounds. That is indicative of a whole attitude. I agree with you
:18:08. > :18:12.that if you hope these events were you looking down your nose at
:18:13. > :18:14.so-called chavs, it does bespeak a white attitude that somehow people
:18:15. > :18:32.from public schools are superior and no better -- know better. The Linden
:18:33. > :18:39.club highlights it will. -- Bullingdon. There is a massive
:18:40. > :18:42.disparity with working-class students and universities. The
:18:43. > :18:47.question is, why are they not going there? It is not about classism, a
:18:48. > :18:56.classism officer is not going to solve anything. My daughter has just
:18:57. > :19:00.left Lady Margaret hall in Oxford where they have started a scheme
:19:01. > :19:03.which will give 12 students from disadvantaged backgrounds a year's
:19:04. > :19:08.free tuition at Oxford at the college to see if they like it and
:19:09. > :19:14.they are suitable for it. It not dependent on A-levels. It is done
:19:15. > :19:17.through interview and an assessment of their potential. I think that is
:19:18. > :19:27.a brilliant scheme and is the sort of thing that Oxford should be
:19:28. > :19:40.doing. The final story of the day. Our future Prime Minister Ed Balls,
:19:41. > :19:47.the most popular politician in the country? I always try to get back to
:19:48. > :19:52.watch Ed Balls on Strictly anti-surpassed himself yesterday, he
:19:53. > :20:02.descended from the ceiling playing a flaming piano, playing Great Balls
:20:03. > :20:10.Of Fire and he had me in stitches. We love the Eddie the Eagle figure,
:20:11. > :20:13.we love the person who tries. Same with John Sergeant and Ann
:20:14. > :20:19.Widdecombe, we love the idea of someone fighting against the odds.
:20:20. > :20:22.We love an underdog in this country. Having said that, if Tony Blair is
:20:23. > :20:29.looking for a figurehead to take over the middle ground, who better
:20:30. > :20:36.than this guy who is winning more votes than the Labour Party every
:20:37. > :20:37.week? Maybe Tony Blair should go on Strictly!
:20:38. > :21:07.Just a reminder, we take a look at tomorrow s front pages every
:21:08. > :21:09.It was a stormy wake up thanks to Angus, it is