13/06/2017 The Papers

welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us

tomorrow. I'm joined by Katie balls from the Spectator and David Davis

the broadcaster. Have you recovered from the election? Just! Still

shell-shocked! We are going to start with The Telegraph which declares

the Prime Minister will stick to her pre-election plans for a hard

Brexit, despite calls for a change of approach following the election

result. The Times says things could go in the opposite direction as it

sources claim. The Chancellor is preparing to fight to persuade

members of the government to support a softer Brexit instead. The i

points to pressure from Michel Barnier to begin talks as Theresa

May is still to finalise a deal for support for her government from the

DUP. The Financial Times claims Emmanuel Macron is also putting

pressure on Mrs May to begin talks. The Metro focuses on the DUP and the

status of their negotiations with the Conservatives. The paper says

deals with the party could lead to further problems for Theresa May's

government. Diane Abbott is on the front page of The Guardian. The

paper has an exclusive interview with her there. Although that's The

Daily Mail! The Daily Mail leads with claims that medical assistance

are treating patients as part of an NHS cost-cutting measure leaving

many at risk. We are going to start with The Telegraph. May says she's

sticking to her Brexit blueprint. She's in France, but she's talking

to a serious Europhile fan of the European Union, yet she's making it

clear she'll stick to what people are describing as a hard Brexit.

Yes, it's worth noting in her meeting with Macron today that it

was quite a friendly handshake. Unlike the one he had with Mr Trump!

There do seem to be warmer relations. There's been a lot of

speculation since the results about what it means for Brexit. Lots of

people in her own party want her to rethink her approach but The

Telegraph is saying that's not going to happen. Why? You could point to

the fact, David, that 80% of voters voted for parties, labour and the

Conservatives, who are advocating leaving the single market. Yes, but

what's been going on since the election result and the outcome,

which shocked just about everybody. I think that's a fair comment. I've

been abroad in recent weeks and it shocked people abroad. They still

don't understand why the Brits, a British Prime Minister has an

election she doesn't need to have. Anyway, putting that aside, I was

going to sit it I can say there's been a lot of briefing today and

indeed a few speeches and interviews, from Conservatives

saying soften your tone, Mrs May. A hard Brexit is off the agenda. And

what happened tonight very clearly is that the hard Brexiteers are

fighting back and there's been this briefing to The Telegraph saying the

Prime Minister is absolutely sticking to her guns and a threat

that Britain could leave the EU without securing a trade deal. Issue

trying to keep those backbenchers onside? Is that what this is all

about? I think she's trying to keep a lot of backbenchers and side at

the moment. We saw in her shuffle today of ministerial appointments,

we saw some remain porters, in, some Brexit supporters come in. It's hard

to did you switch side shoes on. Even if she wants to lead us out,

it's whether she actually can. May has never looked weaker as Prime

Minister than she does now and it's the cabinet making a lot of

decisions. Which takes off onto the other story, David on the front page

of The Times. Hammond pushes Tories to ditch Brexit trade plan. The real

Brexiteers are going to hold sway according to The Telegraph, but The

Times is now saying it could be Hammond. This is exactly the point.

Is it only a week ago it was Philip Hammond who was for the chop as

Chancellor? Now he is preparing to lead a battle within the government

to soften Brexit by keeping Britain inside the EU customs union. This is

what people like Boris Johnson have fought tooth and nail against. And

then of course President Macron who we mentioned earlier, he added to

the fire tonight by saying that the EU's doors remain open for Britain

to reverse Brexit, if things go on like this. I have to say, the result

is a night of the football match, France three with ten men, England

two with 11 men, I hope that wasn't an omen for Mrs May! Katie, is

Theresa May's debating style the way that she feels she should conduct

these talks on Brexit, is to go in there and say if we don't get a deal

where going to walk away and that's it. Hard Brexit. That is what

underpins her whole strategy, that they are going to be too scared not

to give us a deal. Is that what this is about? That was part of her

pitch. It's quite funny that during the election campaign, which

everyone admits was now quite a bad campaign, she said if you don't vote

for me you will have Jeremy Corbyn in the negotiations so you need me.

If you look at how she's been depicted in the foreign media since

the results and you do think she's more a laughing stock right now than

this Iron Lady. That could change but I think you can't deny although

she called this election to strengthen her hand, it's weakened

it massively. Of course, there's a bloke called David Davis who is

Secretary of State for Brexit. He is presenting a rather softer line in

the past few days than he had to follow the May line until last

Thursday. But now, it will be very interesting to see what tone he

takes and what approach he takes. I still don't understand why she has

the tone she has. What is the reasoning for going in there, making

it clear it's going to be a hard Brexit if I don't get what I want?

The idea is you have to be able to walk away from the table in order to

get a good deal. I think that wine is wearing weaker and weaker,

particularly now. We saw Michael Gove today, everyone seems to be

softening their language a little and talking about this need for more

conversation with everyone and all the different parties. It's all

talk, but there seems to be a conscious effort to make it seem

less hard. I don't know if Theresa May herself has got the memo. There

are a lot of Conservative hardliners on this matter and she now has to

keep them somehow onside, though history teaches us that the

Conservative Party's way of self-preservation is a considerable

way. Given the majority she's got now, next to none, even with the DUP

she's got to keep them on side as well. It feels a bit unlike the

Major years when he was held ransom by the blokes beginning with B, as

it were! We shouldn't underestimate the role of Ruth Davidson in this.

Without the games in Scotland with the Scottish Conservatives, May

wouldn't have been able to form a minority government. Ruth Davidson

is in favour of a soft Brexit. She wants to focus on the economy so she

isn't in the big Brexit camp. The front page of the Financial Times,

Cameron turns heat on May with call to consult Labour for a softer

Brexit. We'll go on to The Guardian. Interview with Diane Abbott on

diabetes and life as chief target of a vicious Tory campaign. We saw the

day before the election, Diane Abbott was moved temporarily from

the Home Office brief, after a bad interview on Sky. They said it was

health reasons. Now she says she suffers from type two diabetes. In

the stress of the campaign have blood sugar levels were all over the

place which affected her performance. The irony of that is

that the Prime Minister has, for many years, suffered from a

different type of diabetes as well. This whole question of the media,

particularly the press's approach to Diane Abbott, and other Labour

figures, was that counter-productive? In previous

campaigns certain newspapers claimed they won the campaign for the

Conservatives. I seem to remember somebody what one it was the

headline. Who was it what lost it this time, one wonders? Perhaps that

isn't a question to be asking tonight. Yes, on a programme called

The Papers! LAUGHTER Are you saying the papers have no influence? I'm

saying it's a very interesting question academically. I'll see you

at Birmingham University to discuss it! Talking about people wanting to

get into the press and the papers, Nick Clegg is now a columnist with

the i. Yes, the i is still print. It's The Independent that is online.

There he is, Nick Clegg, new columnist. Great news because he

lost his job last week. No need to go to the Job Centre! It's quite

traditional for politicians to have columns. Less common is what George

Osborne did, obviously, when you take on the editorship. I imagine

George Osborne might be kicking himself. Isn't it the same owner? No

it's not actually. You want complaining about politicians doing

new jobs? Television people have endlessly gone into. Politics have

they? I can go back as far as Geoffrey Johnson Smith, who was an

early TV presenter, who was a Conservative MP for years. I'm going

to have to wrap this up otherwise be looking for a new job as well!

LAUGHTER Thank you. That's it for The Papers tonight. Thank you to you

watching, goodbye. Hello. A bit of summer warmth on the

way for many of you tomorrow. The skies across the UK looking a bit

more like this at times. Certainly in areas where skies have been

particularly