26/05/2017 The Papers

Apologies. We are three minutes late.

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

With me are the ever punctual journalist James Rampton

and Lucie Fisher, Senior political correspondent at The Times.

Have to make sure he's got his prop. Otherwise we will get marched off

the set! Need to make sure by Raman has his eponymous pen.

Theresa May will put the Manchester attack at the centre

of her general election campaign, according to the Financial Times.

Mrs May is also featured on the Telegraph's front page

after she criticised Jeremy Corbyn's comments linking British foreign

policy with UK terror attacks, saying Mr Corbyn was 'making

Mrs May, who is attending the G7 summit, said voters faced a choice

between her 'working constantly to protect the national interest

and to protect our security' and Jeremy Corbyn, who she said

'isn't up to the job,' according to the Guardian.

The i's front page says police have told the public to 'go out and enjoy

themselves' over bank holiday weekend because they have made

'significant progress' in investigating terror networks

The Daily Mail also leads on the investigation

The newspaper reports there will be a security lockdown this weekend,

with police and security forces expected to be present

More than 23,000 potential jihadist extremists have been identified

by intelligence services, according to The Times,

There is a similar splash in The Express, which reports that

a 'big blow' has been dealt to the extremists as police begin

Meanwhile The Sun focuses on a separate terror plot as it says

three men have appeared in court accused of planning to detonate

After a week like this we will inevitably end the week looking back

on what has happened in Manchester and the investigation and where he

has got to. Making great progress see the police. The Times, UK home

to 23,000 jihadist. Manchester bomb escape surveillance. An

extraordinary number of potential suspects here. Who are of greater or

lesser threat to the country. That's right. This is a figure given out by

the Security minister. Of these 23,000, it said that 3000 people

present a risk. There are 500 open operations. Really interesting

detail is that Salman Abedi, the Manchester attacker, and also Khalid

Masood, who committed the Westminster attacks several weeks

ago, were both former subjects of these enquiries. They will not live

suspects at the time of their attacks. It's quite a jittery sort

of fact to learn, that they had been under suspicion that they had been

deemed safe enough to move on enquiries from. You wonder how the

security services are meant to cope with that number of potential

suspects. Extraordinary. 20,000 who featured in that previous risk

category, which is pretty scary. I heard an interesting debate on Radio

2 today about, if we did not renew Trident, we would release 400,

sorry, ?40 billion. Somebody was suggesting, we could put that

straight into security services, because it takes 30 officers to

monitor one suspect. It's incredibly labour-intensive. They are just

overwhelmed with work at the moment. There is just too much, I think

generally they are brilliant at their job, but there is too much for

too few people to do. It doesn't say in this article the backgrounds of

these people. Have they come from abroad or are they British-born? Are

they British citizens, have they been abroad to places like Libya and

Syria? Have they been radicalised that way? There was a great deal of

detail missing. But it shows the scale of the problem that they are

facing. That's right. One of the difficult things is that many of the

studies conducted in places particularly with more intensive

suicide bombing trends, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, there does not seem

to be an obvious psychological background profile. Some people are

poor, some middle-class, some highly intelligent, some quite thick and

easily brainwashed. If there were an easy fit of background it would make

these people, the security officers who have to watch them, a lot

easier. The Telegraph them. Corbyn is making excuses for terror

attacks, says May. Certainly the Conservatives piled into Jeremy

Corbyn for what he said about British foreign policy being one of

the sources for potential radicalisation. I know Corbyn fan,

but I do think Boris Johnson in particular misrepresented what

Corbyn said. He was not necessarily offering, as they have used this

very eye-catching and perhaps hyperbolic phrase, he was not

offering an excuse for terrorism. He was trying to explain why it might

be happening. There was a poll saying 52% of people do believe that

foreign wars have influenced terrorists in this country. It is

slightly playing into my feeling that Theresa May is struggling in

the selection. This is certainly something that has surprised us. She

started with a 25 point lead, the latest poll has her down only to a

5-point lead. That's a cataclysmic fall off. An insider from the Tories

saying that they are slightly disappointed with her performance,

that it has not taken off. They thought she would be like Angela

Merkel, seen as the mother of the nation. But that just has not happen

with Theresa May. Tories were expecting more. The golf poll you

talk about. There are likely to be more polls over the weekend. -- the

UGOV poll. Some say the timing of these comments was distasteful. I

think that's right. Particularly with Corbyn this morning making an

example of Britain's support for intervention in Libya, Libya

obviously being the country Salman Abedi the attacker is a

second-generation immigrant from. Had visited recently. So I think,

the timing is odd. I would also say tactically from a campaign point of

view, we think that before this terrible bombing happened, Theresa

May was on the back foot, having to make this huge U-turn on social care

policy. It strikes me as surprising and interesting that Labour got

stuck in today on foreign policy, which is not traditionally their

strong suit, particularly under Jeremy Corbyn who was not seem to

have this orthodox or sort of mainstream views. They choose to go

big on that as the topic with which to resume their campaign. Labour's

traditional strengths are health and education. Education is a massive

issue. We got a letter from our children state school this weekend,

pleading for money, saying, we are going to be in real terms 20% down

from where we were five years ago. That is catastrophic for a school

that wants to provide a good service or its peoples. I really think that

if Corbyn hammers that home, he has got an advantage because May looks,

some people are calling her the May bot. She looks like somebody who has

tunnel vision. When she is challenged, as Andrew Neil did

brilliantly the other day, she struggles. Like the alien in those

Ridley Scott films, who just repeat the same phrase over and over again.

They are all guilty about. They all have their slogans. I know they are

programmed to say stuff but she looks particularly so. Corbyn was

interviewed by Andrew Neill and was on the back foot a bit, talking

about Trident. He has been on the back foot. Well gas, Andrew Neil is

an excellent journalist. Corbyn has been on the back foot. He was asked

six times about the IRA and would not give a definitive answer. He has

more Achilles heels than he has heels, Corbyn. He has so many weak

spots. I think there will be more stuff about how mass and Hezbollah,

that the Tories are just waiting to reveal about Corbyn. I feel they

have some stuff. Dirty tricks, sadly sometimes when elections. Let's stay

with the Telegraph. Suicide bomber may have used benefits to fund

plots. What's the suggestion here? The suggestion is that the

Manchester attacker used student loans funding to travel back to

Libya. Where he is believed, the Telegraph says, to have learned

bomb-making skills. There is a lot of interest around where his funding

was coming from. That is a key element of the police and security

services enquiries. The Times today was talking about how he had opened

up the good of bank accounts through which to go to DIY stores to buy the

nails, the shrapnel to include in the bombs. It says his finances are

a major theme of the police enquiry. Having never held down a job? He

allegedly claimed at least two student loans which were ?7,000

each, with no intention of going to those colleges. That's ?14,000.

Apparently one, he went to Libya to learn bomb-making. We were paying

for that. Extraordinary, certainly some loopholes the need to be

investigated. I am not really criticising the government on this

because they are overwhelmed with threats and information, and also

committee characters who pop up and claimed to be a threat but they are

not really. It's identifying, and this is incredibly difficult, who is

a real threat on who is a hoax, if you like. Back to that point but

ultimately the terrorist is responsible for the actions they

carry out. Of course. To the i, and the mail. This week where they have

made incredible progress and several arrests, another one tonight of

course in connection with the suicide bombing in Manchester. The

i, police say, go out and enjoy yourselves. It is of course a bank

holiday. So many public events taking place. Absolutely, not least

people going off to the beach, resorts, theme parks. James I know

you off to the FA Cup final. I work in the Palace of Westminster day

today and it has really struck me as quite an unusual change to seize

troops with their purple berries, parading around the estate. Seeing

this picture here armed police with those huge machine guns. This is

Scarborough. Worried about the donkeys there, I think. It feels

very un-British Army. -- it feels very un-British to me. Absolutely

right to keep the country safe. Seems to be a cross-party consensus

on it. Andy Burnham has said, on it. Andy Burnham has said,

Theresa May is right, he supports the move of raising the level to

good God. It's about stopping people panicking. Getting into this

building tonight there was an extra barrier had not seen before. I was

at first denied because I did not have a pass, then thought that a

good thing, it's reassuring to see that people are really taking it

seriously and they are worried about our safety. That is very reassuring.

I think the security services and the police in the terrible days

following this appalling incident have really stepped up. They are

reassuring people by their presence. I know there are sometimes sinister

overtones about having armed police on the streets but this is the

moment and the levels are critical, you really want that. Daily Mail

talking about a bank holiday ring of steel, saying they are mine people

bomber network. Security services bomber network. Security services

saying, bear with us. You are going to have to be subject to extra

security checks. But you can absolutely understand why. Even the

Hay literary festival is mentioned! They will be furious their

handkerchiefs and combatants will be searched. That is the level of

security they are going for. -- their handkerchiefs and their

cravats. I'm delighted there will be armoured cars. I think that's a

strong message. I think the security service at the moment have to say to

people, we are in control, and we are going to win this, because the

alternative is unthinkable. We cannot give in to them. I know that

is what people always say, but making the show of strength is

important. To show our determination and resilience. Let's end with the

Financial Times. Cloudless skies, bust - don't like that word, but

anyway - bust nuclear record. It has been fabulously hot. And there is an

energy benefit. I put on some suncream Iborra .my daughter today

and it was sparkly. I looked like Anton did back from strip may come

dancing. It's not all positive. I always have that mahogany spray tan,

which apparently the fans love! It's got its own Twitter account, my

spray tan. Anyway, there is a real benefit here, for the first time

solar output has gone up to 24.3, outstripping the amount from nuclear

power. That has to be good. Also bringing down the price of wholesale

electricity which would be, which is much cheaper than they are expecting

than that generated by Hinkley point. It's interesting, government

subsidies and the price of solar panels falling by about 80% since

2009 has allowed solar industries to have this huge rise. It's amazing to

think a quarter of our electricity at lunchtime today was generated by

the sun. Being a rather more rainy nation, I'm not sure we can count on

such a record every day of the week. It's interesting that only 1.4% is

still generated from coal. Perhaps for President Trump, who wants to

create clean coal, and open all the coal mines in America again. It

looks like he's been left behind by technology here. That's all we have

time for. We never have enough time! If only there was a second paper

review. Don't forget you can see the front

pages of the papers online It's all there for you,

seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers - and if you

miss the programme any evening you can watch it

later on BBC iPlayer. Thank you to my guests,

James Rampton and Lucy Fisher. Good evening. It's been a hot day,

the hottest of the year so far. That will culminate in