04/03/2017 The Papers

We'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment -

Barack Obama's spokesman says President Donald Trump's accusation

that his predecessor ordered his phones to be

Sinn Fein describe the Stormont Assembly elections as a watershed

after coming within one seat of drawing level with

The Unionist majority in the assembly has been ended. And the

notion of a permanent or perpetual Unionist majority has been

demolished. There are fears for the future

of Vauxhall plants in Britain after a French car company

which produces Peugeot vehicles reportedly reaches a deal to buy

General Motors' European operations. And the other side of the American

dream as Donald Trump sets out his vision for the next four

years - we assess the Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be With me are the broadcaster

Charlie Wolf and the Chief Political Commentator for the Independent,

John Rentoul. Tomorrow's front pages

starting with... The Observer claims that the UK's

privacy watchdog is launching an inquiry into how voter's data

is being used during political On the Sunday Telegraph's

front page, allegations from President Trump

that Barack Obama orchestrated an illegal Watergate-style

phone-tapping operation at Trump Tower a month

before the US election. The Mail on Sunday alleges that

Tony Blair attended a secret meeting at the White House to discuss

working for Donald Trump. The Sunday Times claims

the Chancellor will use this week's budget to build up a ?60 billion war

chest to boost Britain's leads with its own poll,

suggesting the majority of the UK is against government plans

to cut corporation tax, in favour of the money

going towards the NHS. The Sunday Express claims

that near ?150 million from the health budget has been

spent on overseas aid last year. Those are the front pages. We begin

with our chat this evening, good evening, and why don't you kick us

off, John. Donald Trump. This is where we left off two weeks ago. He

has been tweeting again, in newsrooms around Britain the cry

goes up, he has woken up! And this time he accuses Barack Obama of

tapping his phones in Trump Tower. What did you make of this when he

first heard the story or read the tweets? I did not understand it

because I find American politics baffling at the moment. Quite

quickly it emerged that this seems rather unlikely because Barack

Obama's spokesperson said the former president did not order any such

wiretapping. And obviously if Donald Trump's phones were tapped, it would

have been ordered by the FBI, not the president. Charlie, you

understand the intricacies of US politics. Tell us about this idea of

the President not being in a position to order a wiretapping, is

that valid? I am not sure if the president does or doesn't, normally,

it comes from the FBI or CIA so it is more serious in the sense the

initial impression is oh, no, no one is wiretapping this guy, you has

gone barmy. It is possible he could legally be wiretapped and given

permission. On what grounds? If they think someone in the office is tied

into the Russians and this swing of the elections by the Russians or I

have heard Donald Trump is into them for money for financing his hotels,

all sorts of stories. There was also the line that some are saying that

this is a setup, if not from President Obama then from the deep

state, these are people holdovers from the Obama administration still

working in the White House and they have been leaking stuff. So, some is

crazy but... It sounds like a conspiracy theory. But there is an

outside chance one should take this with some grain of truth. But

Charlie, if the FBI had tapped Donald Trump's phones, surely the

director of the FBI would have said something during the election

campaigns because he came out and said what the FBI would doing any

investigation of Hillary Clinton. I find it the FBI would do this and

not tell people. But also they would have to tell... Even being legal,

you are talking about, tapping the phones of the candidate to be the

next president running against your own party, that is pretty major. And

we are hearing more and more about Watergate. What about this idea

because Mr Trump is against all of the leaks are taking place. Do you

think we may see a return of the White House plumbers going back to

Watergate? The plumbers, it was slightly different. They didn't have

the permission of the court at the time. One thing about Donald Trump,

he is not as unhinged as people make out! There has to be something going

on to get his goat and this is his house. This is Trump Towers.

Something must have happened, he heard it from someone in his

administration or national security so it is true the place was bugged.

We can almost state that one. What do you make of him broadcasting this

via Twitter instead of, closed-door meetings about this. He is a genius

at PR. The nose have it get publicity for his messages and he

uses Twitter like no politician before. Shall we turn to the Daily

Mail? The mail on Sunday, Tony Blair's secret White House summit.

What has Tony Blair been up to? Supposedly, Jarrod Kushner, the

President's son-in-law, his main man for the Middle East and talking

about, they may solve the Middle East like Donald Trump talked about!

Tony Blair has had some experience in that area so he had a secret

meeting with Jarrod Kushner in the White House and I think he realises

Donald Trump is the only guy that can afford him! Tony Blair obviously

being an optimist believes he can solve the Middle East and that is

what he was trying to do when he was the Quartet Representative. There

was an extraordinary story just after Donald Trump is election when

Tony Blair happened to be at the same restaurant as Jarrod Kushner

and if anchor and just one pass the table. And they happen to be in the

same airport and had the Jets parked next to each other. It seemed a grid

lives and from that arose some meetings and we will see whether

this leads to any formal role for Tony Blair. If Nigel Farage can do

it why not? Tony Blair, his heart is in the right place, years experience

and Donald Trump appreciates people with experience. Does he still have

the credibility after everything that has happened to? With whom? He

does with the Israeli side, it may be possible the Palestinians have

had enough of him but he does understand the issues. And also he

would have good relations with the Saudis, Jordanians etc. And from

what he said with his news conference with Benjamin yet know

who was a new plan and from what I gather they will leave the

Palestinians at -- Benjamin Netanyahu. The Egyptians, Jordanians

are now almost allies of the Israelis and let's work it out and

then they would tell the Palestinians this is how the land

lies and what they will do. Turning to the Sunday Times. All though they

have a picture of Donald Trump, to explain that picture, confirmation

that he does use a sticky tape to secure his ties! There are other

brands of time. You know, considering his daughter and his

wife are models, in the modelling world, they use masking tape. I

wouldn't know! His wife did that for him. Leaving the tape behind, the

Chancellor's ?60 billion Brexit fighting fund. The budget is coming

up next week on Wednesday and there is an awful lot in the papers about

prebudget speculation. Philip Hammond's prebudget massaging

expectations, it will not have a big giveaway, the phrase is... They

quote him as saying, I cannot find it, something about not having some

huge giveaway in the budget. So, I take from that that there may be a

small giveaway. Bigger than expected so everyone feels good. He wants to

boost Britain's resilience. Some of the things mentioned here are these

tea levels, what did you make of that, technical the macro technical

education for 16 to 19-year-olds. This is part of the British

government's attempt since 1945 to try to get equality for vocational

and academic qualifications. It will not work. It is ever half ?1 billion

allocated to it but it will make no difference. I imagine people

screaming saying 60 billion, where will you find that money from? The

government is still borrowing vast amounts of money. The point is he

will be ?12 billion a year better off than he thought and he says I

will not splurge that money, I will bank it and pay off the deficit and

be prudent and he has a dig at George Osborne saying every time

George Osborne got extra money from the forecasts he spent it. He is

trying to dampen expectations. This leads us into the Independent. If he

was going to spend it, the people would say save the NHS. This is one

of these not fake news, manufactured news. Charles! On what grounds? I

hear John write them. The grammar is in great at times. Opinions are like

bellybuttons. The majority of British people want Theresa made to

stop cuts in corporation tax and spend the money on the NHS. If it

was as simple as paying off the money, it would have been done in

John Major's day. It is like the stories during the war, the Iraqi

war, the money would be better spent. I used that on my son, you

wanted a big collared a this year, Butlins or wherever and we could do

that, but we would not have any meals for the next six months.

Budgeting enough fashion does work. John, what do you make of it, very

topical. The big question for the budget is apart from the

Chancellor's prebudget spin in the Sunday Times, what is he going to do

about the NHS because the NHS is in crisis. It has not had as much money

as it needs for some years, not since the Labour government. And it

does need about 7.5 billion. The Chancellor would have to announce

something and something for social care because old people cannot be

discharged. It is all about social care. There is no such thing as

Corporation Tax, corporations, it is added on and they figure that into

their bottom line is ultimately it is paid directly by the consumer.

Get rid of it and the costs will go up. We will carry on this

conversation in an hour. Thank you Charlie Wolf

and John Rentoul - you'll both be back at 11:30pm

for another look at the stories