18/04/2017 The Papers

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

With me are Laura Perrins, co-editor of political site,

The conservative Women, and Joe Watts, political editor

"Stunned Britain heads to the polls," is the i's headline,

after the Prime Minister called for a snap election in seven weeks.

The Daily Mail says Theresa May has called the bluff of what the paper

describes as, "The game-playing remoaners."

It says the PM has vowed to crush the saboteurs.

The Metro says the Prime Minister is seeking to strengthen her hand

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror calls to mind the famous Margaret Thatcher

quote, saying apparently, "The lady is for U-turning."

The FT leads with the economic implications of the upcoming vote

and reports a rise in the pound in hopes of a softer EU departure.

The Times speculates that Theresa May is on course to win

a majority of more than 100 in the June snap election.

Meanwhile, the Guardian criticises the announcement,

saying it came despite the Prime Minister's previous

And finally, the Telegraph has an exclusive article

by the Prime Minister, in which she says a snap election

is the only way to ensure Brexit success.

We're gonna start with the i, and we had Brenda from Bristol in a lot of

reports saying, oh, no, not again, not another election. There might be

some fatigue. I also think Brenda is privileged to live in a country with

democratic elections. If she doesn't like elections, she should move to

North Korea. I can't believe it. People will go

to the polls, yes, not everyone follows as closely as you and I

would. No, no one does. If you don't want to vote, you don't have to. You

take the manifesto as a whole, you see what is in Britain's best

interest, and a huge majority will return the Conservatives to victory

on June the eighth. Well, we'll see. The country is stunned. I mean, the

referendum, the election in 2015, we have had two assembly elections in

Northern Ireland, that's a lot. It is but it will be interesting to

look at the 2015 election when people said that candidates looked

at the same and they couldn't see the difference. Look at the turnout

of this election, where there are clear different characters at the

top of each parties. On top of that, the overarching issue that everyone

has a view on everyone was shocked by when the referendum came out on

June the 23rd. And everyone feels like it's unfinished business and

they want to have a say on it. You've got different political

parties with different stances. The Tories going hard for pro Brexit.

The Lib Dems are a party of Remain. You will see everyone may be

crossing party lines to stop Brexit, maybe challenging what they thought

they knew about politics. I think it will be an interesting debate. It

won't be allowed to go on for too long. It will be tight and compact

before the eighth of June. It will be a few weeks before the local

elections. Would it have been possible to have them on the same

day? I think there was a deadline for that. OK. Or they chose to miss

it. It will be interesting to see... It will be interesting to see at the

local elections how good of an indication it gives us for the

general election. It is thought to be the case that Labour will lose

lots of seats in the local elections. They are focusing on Tory

areas. Maybe it didn't escape CCHQ. You write for Conservative Woman,

the website. This suggestion was Theresa May is cautious, deliberate,

thinks before she makes a decision. She said on several occasions this

wasn't gonna happen. There would be no election before 2020. Knowing her

and the Conservatives, are you surprised by the move? No one woke

up this morning thinking, Theresa May is going to call an election on

the steps of Downing Street at 11am today, so obviously there was an

element of surprise to it. However, I genuinely think it is the right

decision and it is in Britain's interest. In terms of motive and why

she called it, yes, it's true, at the beginning she said, you know,

I'm not going to the polls, the country needs clarity and stability

and predictability. I think she underestimated the amount of

opposition and antidemocratic feeling from the Remain team, who

had already lost the referendum and clearly seemed to say, well, we're

going to ignore it and try to scupper the deal as much as

possible. That is including people from her own party, those I called

the rebels without a clue. In terms of why, you have asked a question,

why, you are allowed to change your mind. This isn't a soliloquy, we

need Joe to come in on this! LAUGHTER the issue is she didn't

know the opposition she would get from the House of Lords, the rebels

without a clue, the Remainiacs. Laura! Elected politicians,

democratically elected politicians, can give antidemocratic feeling

despite doing their jobs as democratically elected... The

referendum was a clear result. Your version of why she went for this was

thoroughly on message - she's going to be very proud of it. You don't

really know, Joe, more than I know. Normally the simplest answer is the

right answer. In this case it became clear that she wasn't going to get

exactly what she wanted to get. She might have had to compromise a

little bit, God forbid. And, of course, over the tantalising polls,

saying, you can do what you want, it'll be closer to the Royal

prerogative powers you wanted to use to trigger Article 50 of the first

place. I think what we see is Theresa May isn't someone who will

stick to the principled position all the time. Like other politicians,

she will be an opportunist when there is an opportunity to get

political advantage. OK, I have just shooshed Laura, because I want the

next paper, we are living that one, the Daily Telegraph, May's bolt from

the blue. She wants to strengthen her hand, once she gets the

legislation through parliament, she had a mandate, she had the strong

hand she needed - she didn't need to do this. This is about her own

party, isn't it, silencing people on the back who could make this

difficult for her? The rebels without a clue who want to go

against the will of the people, yes. If she wants a clear mandate, to get

the best deal for Britain, she was right to go to the polls. She has a

slim majority in Westminster, she doesn't have a very strong majority

as she would want. And what it comes down to is how the negotiations are

going to go with Brussels. This is the issue when it comes to what is

in the national interest. When it comes to negotiations, appearance is

everything. So, the stronger she looks when going into negotiations,

going into those negotiations, the better it is for everybody else -

the better it is for ordinary working families in Britain. From

small negotiations to be deals, if the opposition know that you are

coming from a position of strength, then you yourself will get a better

deal. And I think she needs that mandate, she needs to go to Brussels

said in my entire country is behind me and don't mess around with me,

because I'm going to get the best deal I can. OK, Joe. It could work

both ways for her. Look, she doesn't have a big majority. If she gets a

majority, that will make it easy for her to pass legislation,

theoretically. Going into negotiations in Brussels, how strong

the hand is depends on who is elected to the seats, if she wins

lots in the next election. If it is 100 Lauras elected, then they will

be able to hold her hostage in those negotiations. I would wager that

Theresa May isn't as hard a Brexiteer as some on her benches

are, but if is push her, she will be held hostage in Brussels, which

won't strengthen her hand. The Daily Mirror, the lady is for the U-turn.

Can she be trusted, now the she says one thing one minute and something

else the next? Are you serious? I am serious! She said a while ago - let

me finish - the facts changed and so she changed her mind. The facts

change in terms of how easy it would be to get this through and the House

of Lords, so she changed her mind and she is entitled to do that. You

cannot on the one hand say, oh, well, she doesn't have a personal

mandate, she hasn't ever been elected personally, then on the

other hand when she calls an election you say, oh, she is doing

it for her interest. Do you trust her, Joe? I was being flippant.

Look, she has definitely, I would suggest, put forward a very, very

strong position for months and months and months and has quickly

turned around on that. She has suggested it is a reluctant U-turn.

There is an element of contingency to this. They were telling

journalists that this would not happen while preparations were going

on. You don't know that. They would have told me and other journalists.

It might have been a very quick decision. We know that there were

preparations. They were making preparations. They were doing

preparations last month in autumn. This idea that she is walking in

Wales, she had an epiphany that she would have an election, it doesn't

really hold. It is the fresh air, man, it gets to all of us.

She is a very clever politician. She is not there through luck. She is

entitled to play a political tack. It is not her fault that Labour are

rubbish. OK. All right. Let's get onto Labour. The Metro. The Brexit

election, that is what is as saying it is all about. But that is not

what Labour want. Because as Laura has indicated, they are a little bit

all over the shop when it comes to Brexit. That goes back to Laura's

point about labour being in a spot of trouble. Brexit is a key point in

that. -- one. Kerry -- Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters

wanted him to give full-fledged support to the remain campaign. And

he could not bring himself to do it. Now they are not seen that they want

to stop Brexit, but what the government to account for it. It is

not clear which side they come down on. Emilie Fournel is said to me

they had not picked a side on Brexit. So they are still sort of

all over the place in terms of where they want to be. The Lib Dems are

very pro- remain. They beat Zach Goldmans and they want to do it and

overseas. -- Goldsmith. The Tories are taking a harder line. Part of

the reason we are in this situation is because of UKIP will stop much as

their campaigning, but also the threat that they pose to the

Conservative Party. Laura, do you see them as a real threat now?

Unending so. The parties are strong enough and I think Nigel Farage was

such a big part of the UKIP brand. Without him, I think they will

struggle. Especially as Brexit has been secured in terms of leaving the

EU, how will look of courses be risen to the election in the first

place. I think is a will be working hard to get some of those you get

votes back. -- is the reason for. I did indeed do a U-turn, perhaps you

could say. There is a lot to play for forgeries are made. I know the

polls are saying she is way out ahead, but I think you should always

triples cautiously. And it is not a matter of winning. It is a matter of

getting a big majority to move forward. I think a lot of those UKIP

votes will be up for grabs as long as she is clear on what her Brexit

strategy will be. All right. The Daily Express. Both me and I will

deliver EU exit. Theresa May smashing it once and for all. At

some of that positions from her own backbenchers? Yes. Several papers

have gone with this line of Theresa May crashing the rebels and her

party. So we have a group in the Commons, a handful, with the small

majority she has, you only need that much to make things difficult.

People like Nicky Morgan, Neil Carmichael, comical green. These are

very respected people in the Tory party and people who carry a lot of

weight amongst the people who will remain Tories. -- Dominic Green.

People who are liberal Tories or who do not necessarily trust is a not to

be controlled by the right wing Brexiteer group. So she has

specifically pointed at them. She is pointed to the Lib Dems and Labour

as well as groups who want to scupper her vision of Brexit. She is

now sticking her standard down and saying enough is enough. Laura,

would you want to see a defined explanation of what Brexit is, what

it means, Howard is going affect this country in the manifesto? --

how it is. I think there should be. She has said you cannot set out a

negotiating position before you head into negotiations. Obviously a

certain extent that is true. But if she is going to the people and

saying give me a mandate for Brexit, you do at least need to say, as

Brexit has already been secured, what exactly you are voting for.

Should she said as a hard Brexit? There is no such thing as a hard

Brexit or soft Brexit. That is just lingo. Should she say that if we do

not get the deal we want, we will leave the single market? Yes.

Absolutely. And that he/she has to indicate that if we do not get a

deal that is in Britain's interest, we are willing to walk away and fall

back on WTO rules. Do you want that in the manifesto? Are you sure? If

you are going... She is called the election for a reason. She cannot

just go and hedge bets and be modelled about it. I'm not saying

what she will do. But this is what I think she should do. -- has called.

But will she put in there the promised to make immigration fall to

less than 100,000, to be tens of thousands? That is sunning she do

and has said is still an ambition of the government. It is something that

everyone knows is a completely discredited target, even our own

Brexiteer Tory ministers, Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, they will all against

certain elements of it. They think student should be taken out of the

targets. Then there is a lot of division across this particular

point. And she is promised at up to this point. If that is not in there,

I would direct every Brexit voting member of the public to say... And

that includes you, Laura. I would be saying is this not the government

are ditching a key policy? To make immigration fall to that level. No,

the immigration level, let us be clear. Some people voted for Brexit

for different reasons. That I will acknowledge. Mine was the democratic

deficit. My thought was that you did not have too surrender so is power

to Brussels. It was a broad coalition as many of these issues

are. She is not obliged to name figures. The main issue with the

immigration thing is that the immigration numbers and now dictated

by Westminster. The immigration policy is dictated by Westminster,

and not by Brussels. So she does not necessarily, and in fact this is a

to get rid of it, because she does not know what businesses need. She

does not know what the NHS needs. The beauty about leaving the

European Union, now is that you choose your own immigration policy.

-- European Union, now,. If she goes out and says immigration will be the

same level, but we will be deciding it will be the same level, that a

lot of Brexit voting members of the public will see that as a betrayal.

Moving on, the Daily Mail, trust the saboteurs. -- crush. Yet some people

are the Conservative Party who were trying to hold up the Democrat will

of the people. The Democrat will of the people? That is the most

overused phrase. -- democratic. They have a great picture that on the

Daily Mail of that test their Bell -- death stare. If the majority is

not big enough after the selection, if it does not really outstripped

the 17 or so that she has now, then the Lords will still feel emboldened

to add this to her legislation, called votes on things that she does

not want votes called on. So there is still that potential to stymie

her plans even after the election. Sure. On the front page of the Sun,

the snap election will kill off Labour, according to Sun. Blue

murder. She will smash rebel Tories. I should say that John Woodcock has

said that he cannot endorse Jeremy Corbyn as the next promised. This is

a labour MP. -- Labour. He says there is still time for Jeremy

Corbyn to stand down as Labour leader before the general election.

There must be serious panic now in Labour Heesh Q. They are all seeing

that the Lib Dems are in a stronger position than they are. They don't

know what their own position is. -- HQ. The Lib Dems are very happy with

this and hope it will kill off Labour and the Tory rebels. I think

that some say this is choice between Theresa May's vision for the country

and Jeremy Corbyn's vision for the country. I will take that. I think

that the majority of the British public would much prefer Theresa

May's over Jeremy Corbyn, which would draw us into a socialist

hellhole. Once you swim through the quagmire that is Brexit, what you

have is a hard left leader wanting to lead a hard left party, who...

Jeremy Corbyn is to let us and party! Let's not forget what is at

stake here! Is Jeremy Corbyn was in charge of Britain, God knows what

would happen. I want to come in at the end there and say Tony Blair was

picked up in a few papers suggesting people should cross party lines, in

his words, to vote to stop a hard Brexit. So there is maybe a message

that labour voters that if you want to stop Brexit, other parties might

be the way to go. -- Labour. Theresa May has fought an election landslide

here in the Times. Laura, she doesn't want to take part in

debates, though? If you are that far ahead, seemingly, what is the

problem? I think she say she does not want to take part in debates

because she was to get out on the ground and meet voters, meet people

who... That is one way of looking at. I am not a big fan. -- at it.

They are to presidential one we have general elections like this. I did

was brought in by Tony Blair. It is egomaniacal. So they don't have a TV

debate, IP she is entitled to say no. I personally do not like TV

debates. -- I think she. Nevertheless, the fact that she is

not willing to do it speaks to two points. One, that she does not feel

that she would be up to it, or her team does not, and secondly, that...

You've got it. Say it. OK, we will leader there. It has been

-- it has been great speaking to you. Don't forget all the front

pages online and on the website where you can read a detailed review

of the paper seven days a week. Go to either player as well if you want

to see a recording of all this. But Shalk rural frusemide. Watch out.

Your plants could be looking like this across the southern half of the

British Isles as we start the new