:00:10. > :00:16.We'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment -
:00:17. > :00:23.Barack Obama's spokesman says President Donald Trump's accusation
:00:24. > :00:25.that his predecessor ordered his phones to be
:00:26. > :00:31.Sinn Fein describe the Stormont Assembly elections as a watershed
:00:32. > :00:33.after coming within one seat of drawing level with
:00:34. > :00:54.The Unionist majority in the assembly has been ended. And the
:00:55. > :00:55.notion of a permanent or perpetual Unionist majority has been
:00:56. > :00:56.demolished. There are fears for the future
:00:57. > :00:59.of Vauxhall plants in Britain after a French car company
:01:00. > :01:01.which produces Peugeot vehicles reportedly reaches a deal to buy
:01:02. > :01:12.General Motors' European operations. And the other side of the American
:01:13. > :01:14.dream as Donald Trump sets out his vision for the next four
:01:15. > :01:17.years - we assess the Hello and welcome to our look ahead
:01:18. > :01:32.to what the the papers will be With me are the broadcaster
:01:33. > :01:36.Charlie Wolf and the Chief Political Commentator for the Independent,
:01:37. > :01:42.John Rentoul. Tomorrow's front pages
:01:43. > :01:46.starting with... The Observer claims that the UK's
:01:47. > :01:48.privacy watchdog is launching an inquiry into how voter's data
:01:49. > :01:51.is being used during political On the Sunday Telegraph's
:01:52. > :01:57.front page, allegations from President Trump
:01:58. > :02:00.that Barack Obama orchestrated an illegal Watergate-style
:02:01. > :02:03.phone-tapping operation at Trump Tower a month
:02:04. > :02:08.before the US election. The Mail on Sunday alleges that
:02:09. > :02:11.Tony Blair attended a secret meeting at the White House to discuss
:02:12. > :02:17.working for Donald Trump. The Sunday Times claims
:02:18. > :02:20.the Chancellor will use this week's budget to build up a ?60 billion war
:02:21. > :02:23.chest to boost Britain's leads with its own poll,
:02:24. > :02:32.suggesting the majority of the UK is against government plans
:02:33. > :02:36.to cut corporation tax, in favour of the money
:02:37. > :02:39.going towards the NHS. The Sunday Express claims
:02:40. > :02:41.that near ?150 million from the health budget has been
:02:42. > :03:00.spent on overseas aid last year. Those are the front pages. We begin
:03:01. > :03:08.with our chat this evening, good evening, and why don't you kick us
:03:09. > :03:14.off, John. Donald Trump. This is where we left off two weeks ago. He
:03:15. > :03:24.has been tweeting again, in newsrooms around Britain the cry
:03:25. > :03:28.goes up, he has woken up! And this time he accuses Barack Obama of
:03:29. > :03:33.tapping his phones in Trump Tower. What did you make of this when he
:03:34. > :03:38.first heard the story or read the tweets? I did not understand it
:03:39. > :03:43.because I find American politics baffling at the moment. Quite
:03:44. > :03:50.quickly it emerged that this seems rather unlikely because Barack
:03:51. > :03:59.Obama's spokesperson said the former president did not order any such
:04:00. > :04:05.wiretapping. And obviously if Donald Trump's phones were tapped, it would
:04:06. > :04:09.have been ordered by the FBI, not the president. Charlie, you
:04:10. > :04:13.understand the intricacies of US politics. Tell us about this idea of
:04:14. > :04:18.the President not being in a position to order a wiretapping, is
:04:19. > :04:24.that valid? I am not sure if the president does or doesn't, normally,
:04:25. > :04:30.it comes from the FBI or CIA so it is more serious in the sense the
:04:31. > :04:36.initial impression is oh, no, no one is wiretapping this guy, you has
:04:37. > :04:43.gone barmy. It is possible he could legally be wiretapped and given
:04:44. > :04:49.permission. On what grounds? If they think someone in the office is tied
:04:50. > :04:56.into the Russians and this swing of the elections by the Russians or I
:04:57. > :05:01.have heard Donald Trump is into them for money for financing his hotels,
:05:02. > :05:09.all sorts of stories. There was also the line that some are saying that
:05:10. > :05:14.this is a setup, if not from President Obama then from the deep
:05:15. > :05:18.state, these are people holdovers from the Obama administration still
:05:19. > :05:25.working in the White House and they have been leaking stuff. So, some is
:05:26. > :05:30.crazy but... It sounds like a conspiracy theory. But there is an
:05:31. > :05:36.outside chance one should take this with some grain of truth. But
:05:37. > :05:40.Charlie, if the FBI had tapped Donald Trump's phones, surely the
:05:41. > :05:44.director of the FBI would have said something during the election
:05:45. > :05:48.campaigns because he came out and said what the FBI would doing any
:05:49. > :05:54.investigation of Hillary Clinton. I find it the FBI would do this and
:05:55. > :06:04.not tell people. But also they would have to tell... Even being legal,
:06:05. > :06:08.you are talking about, tapping the phones of the candidate to be the
:06:09. > :06:15.next president running against your own party, that is pretty major. And
:06:16. > :06:21.we are hearing more and more about Watergate. What about this idea
:06:22. > :06:27.because Mr Trump is against all of the leaks are taking place. Do you
:06:28. > :06:32.think we may see a return of the White House plumbers going back to
:06:33. > :06:36.Watergate? The plumbers, it was slightly different. They didn't have
:06:37. > :06:42.the permission of the court at the time. One thing about Donald Trump,
:06:43. > :06:49.he is not as unhinged as people make out! There has to be something going
:06:50. > :06:54.on to get his goat and this is his house. This is Trump Towers.
:06:55. > :06:58.Something must have happened, he heard it from someone in his
:06:59. > :07:04.administration or national security so it is true the place was bugged.
:07:05. > :07:10.We can almost state that one. What do you make of him broadcasting this
:07:11. > :07:16.via Twitter instead of, closed-door meetings about this. He is a genius
:07:17. > :07:20.at PR. The nose have it get publicity for his messages and he
:07:21. > :07:29.uses Twitter like no politician before. Shall we turn to the Daily
:07:30. > :07:36.Mail? The mail on Sunday, Tony Blair's secret White House summit.
:07:37. > :07:41.What has Tony Blair been up to? Supposedly, Jarrod Kushner, the
:07:42. > :07:46.President's son-in-law, his main man for the Middle East and talking
:07:47. > :07:52.about, they may solve the Middle East like Donald Trump talked about!
:07:53. > :07:55.Tony Blair has had some experience in that area so he had a secret
:07:56. > :08:01.meeting with Jarrod Kushner in the White House and I think he realises
:08:02. > :08:07.Donald Trump is the only guy that can afford him! Tony Blair obviously
:08:08. > :08:12.being an optimist believes he can solve the Middle East and that is
:08:13. > :08:15.what he was trying to do when he was the Quartet Representative. There
:08:16. > :08:19.was an extraordinary story just after Donald Trump is election when
:08:20. > :08:24.Tony Blair happened to be at the same restaurant as Jarrod Kushner
:08:25. > :08:31.and if anchor and just one pass the table. And they happen to be in the
:08:32. > :08:34.same airport and had the Jets parked next to each other. It seemed a grid
:08:35. > :08:39.lives and from that arose some meetings and we will see whether
:08:40. > :08:49.this leads to any formal role for Tony Blair. If Nigel Farage can do
:08:50. > :08:56.it why not? Tony Blair, his heart is in the right place, years experience
:08:57. > :08:59.and Donald Trump appreciates people with experience. Does he still have
:09:00. > :09:08.the credibility after everything that has happened to? With whom? He
:09:09. > :09:12.does with the Israeli side, it may be possible the Palestinians have
:09:13. > :09:20.had enough of him but he does understand the issues. And also he
:09:21. > :09:24.would have good relations with the Saudis, Jordanians etc. And from
:09:25. > :09:28.what he said with his news conference with Benjamin yet know
:09:29. > :09:31.who was a new plan and from what I gather they will leave the
:09:32. > :09:37.Palestinians at -- Benjamin Netanyahu. The Egyptians, Jordanians
:09:38. > :09:40.are now almost allies of the Israelis and let's work it out and
:09:41. > :09:47.then they would tell the Palestinians this is how the land
:09:48. > :09:51.lies and what they will do. Turning to the Sunday Times. All though they
:09:52. > :09:59.have a picture of Donald Trump, to explain that picture, confirmation
:10:00. > :10:09.that he does use a sticky tape to secure his ties! There are other
:10:10. > :10:12.brands of time. You know, considering his daughter and his
:10:13. > :10:22.wife are models, in the modelling world, they use masking tape. I
:10:23. > :10:30.wouldn't know! His wife did that for him. Leaving the tape behind, the
:10:31. > :10:34.Chancellor's ?60 billion Brexit fighting fund. The budget is coming
:10:35. > :10:40.up next week on Wednesday and there is an awful lot in the papers about
:10:41. > :10:43.prebudget speculation. Philip Hammond's prebudget massaging
:10:44. > :10:49.expectations, it will not have a big giveaway, the phrase is... They
:10:50. > :10:55.quote him as saying, I cannot find it, something about not having some
:10:56. > :11:00.huge giveaway in the budget. So, I take from that that there may be a
:11:01. > :11:05.small giveaway. Bigger than expected so everyone feels good. He wants to
:11:06. > :11:10.boost Britain's resilience. Some of the things mentioned here are these
:11:11. > :11:19.tea levels, what did you make of that, technical the macro technical
:11:20. > :11:23.education for 16 to 19-year-olds. This is part of the British
:11:24. > :11:29.government's attempt since 1945 to try to get equality for vocational
:11:30. > :11:33.and academic qualifications. It will not work. It is ever half ?1 billion
:11:34. > :11:38.allocated to it but it will make no difference. I imagine people
:11:39. > :11:43.screaming saying 60 billion, where will you find that money from? The
:11:44. > :11:48.government is still borrowing vast amounts of money. The point is he
:11:49. > :11:51.will be ?12 billion a year better off than he thought and he says I
:11:52. > :11:59.will not splurge that money, I will bank it and pay off the deficit and
:12:00. > :12:02.be prudent and he has a dig at George Osborne saying every time
:12:03. > :12:08.George Osborne got extra money from the forecasts he spent it. He is
:12:09. > :12:14.trying to dampen expectations. This leads us into the Independent. If he
:12:15. > :12:19.was going to spend it, the people would say save the NHS. This is one
:12:20. > :12:31.of these not fake news, manufactured news. Charles! On what grounds? I
:12:32. > :12:40.hear John write them. The grammar is in great at times. Opinions are like
:12:41. > :12:44.bellybuttons. The majority of British people want Theresa made to
:12:45. > :12:49.stop cuts in corporation tax and spend the money on the NHS. If it
:12:50. > :12:58.was as simple as paying off the money, it would have been done in
:12:59. > :13:02.John Major's day. It is like the stories during the war, the Iraqi
:13:03. > :13:06.war, the money would be better spent. I used that on my son, you
:13:07. > :13:13.wanted a big collared a this year, Butlins or wherever and we could do
:13:14. > :13:17.that, but we would not have any meals for the next six months.
:13:18. > :13:23.Budgeting enough fashion does work. John, what do you make of it, very
:13:24. > :13:28.topical. The big question for the budget is apart from the
:13:29. > :13:32.Chancellor's prebudget spin in the Sunday Times, what is he going to do
:13:33. > :13:39.about the NHS because the NHS is in crisis. It has not had as much money
:13:40. > :13:48.as it needs for some years, not since the Labour government. And it
:13:49. > :13:51.does need about 7.5 billion. The Chancellor would have to announce
:13:52. > :13:56.something and something for social care because old people cannot be
:13:57. > :14:02.discharged. It is all about social care. There is no such thing as
:14:03. > :14:05.Corporation Tax, corporations, it is added on and they figure that into
:14:06. > :14:11.their bottom line is ultimately it is paid directly by the consumer.
:14:12. > :14:14.Get rid of it and the costs will go up. We will carry on this
:14:15. > :14:15.conversation in an hour. Thank you Charlie Wolf
:14:16. > :14:19.and John Rentoul - you'll both be back at 11:30pm
:14:20. > :14:23.for another look at the stories