26/01/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

With me are the business academic Melanie Eusebe

and the Daily Mirror's Head of Politics, Jason Beattie.

Let's take a look at those front pages. Most of the focus so far has

been on Theresa May's speech this evening to Republicans in

Philadelphia. That is ahead of her meeting with Donald Trump at the

White House tomorrow afternoon. The Telegraph highlights her pledge

never to repeat what she called the failed policies of Tony Blair and

George W Bush. He was the last Republican president. The Metro

describes the two leaders as the odd couple. The Express says the Brexit

boom and the surge in share prices has given pensions of huge boost

with annual pay-outs at their highest for nearly a decade. The

Guardian has more on their big meeting tomorrow, with a photograph

of Theresa May, highlighting her assertion that she can forge a

strong personal relationship with the new president because opposites

attract. The tie focuses on President Trump's policy towards his

neighbours. The Daily Mirror gives its front page over to the news

about Rory McGrath, who today admitted stalking a former lover.

I think we will probably be guided by the front pages tomorrow morning.

Let's begin with the Metro. Melanie Eusebe, the odd couple, you are from

another of those neighbours of the United States, Canada - do you think

they're and odd couple, or is there some kind of ideological corner

which has emerged? They certainly are an odd couple. Theresa May

again, she mentioned the fact that she is the daughter of a vicar.

Schumacher emphasised that in her speech. However, on the other hand

she also said that we do share the same values as countries as well as

leaders. In terms of the belief in liberty and hard work and those

typical conservative values. Yes, acknowledging the difference but

saying that we can form a new partnership together. Looking at the

next front page, the message coming across, with the Guardian again

saying, opposites attract. Issue making the best of a bad lot, Jason

Beattie, or do you think her team thinks there is a journey or

something that they can work with? Let's go back one step first. Should

she have gone at all? The fact she's the first world leader, it is seen

by some as a great coup. And the Brexiteers are loving it, thinking,

not only is she the first to meet the new president, but she could be

the first to get a new trade deal. And others are saying, is it looking

a little bit needy? Is she fawning, is this an act of desperation? I

think her speech was actually quite canny. It was a difficult hand to

play. Because obviously much about Trump, maybe she could have been a

bit stronger on some of this. Theresa May we know is quite prim,

as we said, the daughter of a vicar, and he's a very brash reality star

billionaire who has made some pretty unpleasant it's about winning. And

she has taken the issue of sexual exportation very seriously when she

was at the Home Office. For in terms of the big geopolitical stuff, I

thought she was quite careful. Sum nudges to trump, saying, look, Nato

IS important. Don't be fooled by Vladimir Putin on the importance of

the United Nations. The bit I find difficult is the message about

shared values. Because I'm not sure Donald Trump HAS any values. And

this way we kind of play up the special relationship. If you listen

to various American presidents over the last 30 years, as I have done,

they talk about the special relationship, and the enduring

relationship, and the lasting relationship, or the historic

relationship. We have taken the special relationship as ours. I

think we over-hype it. That is what really worries me. Very interesting

parallel, the number of the papers, and it is in her speech itself,

Margaret Thatcher really have the back of her mind, she wants that

kind of relationship. This is how the Huffington Post has it - is that

how she will be seen, do you think, in North America, because she's a

woman and leading Britain? I think that inadvertently, she was always

going to be compared to Margaret Thatcher. The circumstances in which

they came to office were also similar. However, I agree with you,

I think the speech was very, very smart. It demonstrated strength in

the areas where I think we needed to see strength, however it was also

almost an olive branch in regards to acknowledging some of those shared

values. I think Donald Trump has spoken of values like patriotism and

nationalism and national pride. Nationalism, in the speech, not as

an excuse, strikingly, to disengage from the world. You have still got

to be a leader in the world, you can't just back off, it was a

striking challenge to America? I think it was a conflicted message.

The one line saying, we are not going to repeat the mistakes of Bush

and Blair and intervene in countries. And in the, but nor are

we going to stand back if there is a threat. And then she says, we must

go on and tackle Daesh in the Middle East. You're thinking, hang on, none

of these go together as one argument! I don't think she fully

resolved that. But I think she did a good job in of resolving it. She

indicated, we are not going to make these countries in our own image. I

come back to this, what image is this any more?! Is this the Trump

image or is this a British image? We do not know what the Trump image is,

is it the snarling, repugnant, nationalistic in the worst sense

president? Theresa May was still trying to cling onto this kind of

traditional partnership. I'm not sure that's entirely possible. What

do you think then, on that point, about the suggestion of what kind of

relationship we might have with Donald Trump, it is almost kind of

crude, it is a business relationship when he said, business deals, trade

deals, 30 days termination contract clause. Will any country really by

up to that just to get a deal with the United States? I think that

Donald Trump will have a sad, rude awakening in regards to negotiation,

international negotiation. I don't think that's possible, quite

friendly. However, I think it's more bravado. It really is. I am not by

any means a person who has voted for Donald Trump. However, I think

there's a lot about drawing a line in the sand and working towards it,

rather than it being, let's just trade and have a good time! There

aren't many jokes out of the stories which are around, but this cartoon

is always one which makes you stop and think, by Matt. We were looking

for some light relief! And we've now got these MPs walking from the House

of Commons chamber, going, I'm just saying, triggering Article 50 would

be a lot easier if we could torture the Romanians. Obviously, the

reference to the problems back home about Article 50, and Donald Trump's

comments about torture, coats, absolutely works. Theresa May on the

plane out today, said, yes, I will raise torture with him. And if he

says, look, if our intelligence sharing with America is based on

them using torture, then that relationship collapses. Now, the

fundamental relationship we have with America before Donald Trump, we

had unprecedented security and defence relationship. And then we

had opposition as America chose leading voice within the European

Union. Should be of those pillars are in danger of collapsing. And

what about the fundamentals of our special relationship? Yet again, it

illustrates how beautifully political her speech was. The towing

the line in regards to Brexit, and she has been towing the line quite

well, and she did so with this one. However, the reality is, the two

positions are untenable. If Donald Trump is saying, water boarding is

permissible, let's fight fire with fire... You would have to change the

law in America before you could even contemplate it. Exactly. Quite

frankly, it would take years for us to untangle that. It is untenable.

It reminds me of our exit struggle right now. Mexican stand-off. Neat

headline from the i on a less than neat relationship. Let's end on the

New York Times, Jason. This interesting piece on the front page

- freshening policy from random Twitter posts. Is this going to be

the shape of things to come for the next four years? Members of his

staff in the White House are saying, these can carry on tweeting. They

say this is his way of getting the message across, because he does not

trust the mainstream media. People like myself, obviously, we just

report alternative facts. The cleverness of Trump is the way he

uses Twitter as a distraction. So, bad news comes along, and you find

him tweeting what looks random but probably is purpose about a TV show,

or the ratings of the Apprentice. And so we all look at that, and we

are not looking over there. It is quite frightening. Melanie Eusebe

and Jason Beattie, we are out of time, unfortunately. That's The

Papers tonight. You can see the front pages online on the BBC News

website. If you missed any of this evening's programme, you can watch

it later on the iPlayer. My thanks to Melanie Eusebe and Jason Beattie.