18/06/2017

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:00:00. > :00:18.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

:00:19. > :00:22.With me are journalist Sean Dilley and political

:00:23. > :00:33.Let us take a look at the front pages starting with...

:00:34. > :00:35.The Observer claims that the Government repeatedly

:00:36. > :00:37.failed to act on fire safety warnings before the fire

:00:38. > :00:41.The Express leads with the Queen's response to the fire,

:00:42. > :00:42.praising her Majesty for calming the nation.

:00:43. > :00:45.The Sunday Mirror labels the Duke of Cambridge the "Prince

:00:46. > :00:48.of Compassion" for the role he played in responding to the fire.

:00:49. > :00:50.The Sunday Telegraph says Theresa May could face a leadership

:00:51. > :00:56.challenge from within her own party if she waters down Brexit.

:00:57. > :00:59.The Sunday Times reports that senior Conservative figures have told

:01:00. > :01:02.the Prime Minister she has ten days to improve her performance or face

:01:03. > :01:17.Let us begin. A great deal to talk about. The paper is dominated by

:01:18. > :01:24.Grenfell Tower. Perhaps we should start with the Sunday Telegraph, the

:01:25. > :01:29.headline, the Inferno response is not good enough, admits the Prime

:01:30. > :01:35.Minister. A statement of the obvious, Sean? I do not suppose when

:01:36. > :01:38.people have such an appalling experience there will be enough that

:01:39. > :01:43.would satisfy what we would want, but it has appeared to be very

:01:44. > :01:49.disjointed on the ground. When the Prime Minister is admitting people

:01:50. > :01:52.have not been visible enough, a ?5 million emergency budget so people

:01:53. > :01:56.can get food and clothing on the spot, and admitted that maybe she

:01:57. > :02:01.did not do entirely the right thing, well, again, it probably is the

:02:02. > :02:07.worst time for the Prime Minister, but ultimately, it is even worse for

:02:08. > :02:11.the poor people without homes. Vincent, one has to unpack it a

:02:12. > :02:15.little bit, there is the presentation aspect of what went

:02:16. > :02:21.wrong and the practical aspects. That is right. Theresa May with her

:02:22. > :02:25.mea culpa has realised that not just her but the local council has not

:02:26. > :02:28.performed well. The initial response of the emergency services was

:02:29. > :02:31.outstanding but the follow-up has been poor and people have seen the

:02:32. > :02:36.pictures on the BBC of the huge amount of aid that came in but it

:02:37. > :02:39.was even apparent on the pictures that it was not being very well

:02:40. > :02:43.distributed and that is where perhaps the army could have come in

:02:44. > :02:49.and some of that aid will probably not get to the people, some will be

:02:50. > :02:56.perishable. The follow-up has been poor. That is why she has tried to

:02:57. > :02:59.put some of it right now but she is very much behind the pace and it is

:03:00. > :03:04.going to be very difficult for her this week. She has to get a grip on

:03:05. > :03:08.the situation. She put civil servants in but this is a time when

:03:09. > :03:12.a Prime Minister needs to show leadership and I think the May has

:03:13. > :03:18.been very lacking. Just to add, Sir Craig Oliver, who was director of

:03:19. > :03:21.communications at Downing Street under David Cameron, has said

:03:22. > :03:25.because Downing Street has been so hollowed out, nobody really was able

:03:26. > :03:30.to say, you are losing compassion. She has been criticised widely in

:03:31. > :03:36.the media for what has been branded a lack of compassion. Hollowed out,

:03:37. > :03:39.what do you mean? Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, having to resign, as a

:03:40. > :03:45.result of tensions within the Conservative Party, concerns that

:03:46. > :03:50.Number 10 had too much power compared to an elected MPs, but

:03:51. > :03:52.ultimately, because it is a compromised parliament, whatever

:03:53. > :03:59.happens, in the lead up to the Queen's Speech, and it is not a

:04:00. > :04:03.political statement at all, the Prime Minister's position and the

:04:04. > :04:07.Conservative Party have been hugely weakened and ultimately, the

:04:08. > :04:12.suggestion is, it is far too soon. Gavin Barwell coming in as the chief

:04:13. > :04:19.of staff. She is in a dinghy on her own. I do not know if you agree?

:04:20. > :04:23.Yes, very much so. Before we move on, do you think the Prime Minister

:04:24. > :04:28.can make up for lost ground now? It is very difficult. She has a tricky

:04:29. > :04:35.week ahead. She is starting to try to get into the right territory, the

:04:36. > :04:39.invitation to Downing Street to the victims yesterday. People want more

:04:40. > :04:44.resources and potentially more money. The Government has offered ?5

:04:45. > :04:49.million. The local community are saying it is not enough so we may

:04:50. > :04:56.see the figure up. Moving on to the Observer and its front pages about

:04:57. > :05:01.more about the warnings there had been. This is why it is such a

:05:02. > :05:06.tragic event. It does appear to have been entirely avoidable. Their

:05:07. > :05:09.headline, revealed - the tower block fire warnings ministers ignored.

:05:10. > :05:15.This is interesting. Can I say, it is damning, the secretary of the

:05:16. > :05:20.all-party Parliamentary group, Ronnie King, a firefighter of 41

:05:21. > :05:24.years, a man who knows the fire industry, he has said the Government

:05:25. > :05:27.ignored calls for sprinklers and he has pointed out the fact even in

:05:28. > :05:32.schools they have called for sprinklers to be there and he would

:05:33. > :05:38.argue it would potentially save lives? Interestingly, we have to say

:05:39. > :05:41.that he appears to be the vice chairman of the national fire

:05:42. > :05:45.sprinkler network and I think it is important to declare that interest,

:05:46. > :05:49.it does not appear to be mentioned in the newspapers today. Ultimately,

:05:50. > :05:55.if this was preventable, even more questions, I think, will be asked.

:05:56. > :06:00.Put more pressure on Theresa May. Yes, all the Sunday papers are

:06:01. > :06:04.looking at the minutiae of what happened and what went wrong and

:06:05. > :06:07.looking at issues were warnings couldn't be ignored in the Observer

:06:08. > :06:14.is in that territory, saying this could have happened. The Mail on

:06:15. > :06:18.Sunday has a revelation that even the manufacturers of the cladding at

:06:19. > :06:21.the centre of the blame game say it should not have been used on

:06:22. > :06:27.buildings more than ten metres high and Grenfell Tower is 67 metres

:06:28. > :06:30.high. This will all come out in the looming public inquiry but already

:06:31. > :06:35.the Sunday papers are looking back and saying, look at what went wrong,

:06:36. > :06:45.where lessons to be learned? That was a phrase used by the leader of

:06:46. > :06:49.the council, Kensington and Chelsea. -- you said. Lessons need to be

:06:50. > :06:55.learnt, but we hear this platitude spoken after every horrific action.

:06:56. > :06:59.Lessons need to be learnt. There is going to be accountability. The Met

:07:00. > :07:03.Police commander saying where arrests are necessary, they will

:07:04. > :07:06.happen. But as the country, we need to be careful because there is

:07:07. > :07:11.always the knee jerk reaction somebody must get in trouble. Yes,

:07:12. > :07:15.absolutely, if someone has done something wrong, that is why it is

:07:16. > :07:20.important to have the public inquiry led by an independent judge. One of

:07:21. > :07:23.the other areas is the Kensington and Chelsea tenant 's management

:07:24. > :07:28.organisation responsible for this. I used to live very close to Grenfell

:07:29. > :07:34.Tower, I could see it from my bedroom window, even though it was a

:07:35. > :07:37.private flat, I was under the management organisation and even

:07:38. > :07:41.then it was overly bureaucratic and under managed and it was very

:07:42. > :07:45.difficult when it came to repairs because they have an approved list

:07:46. > :07:48.of contractors and there were arguments about the quality of

:07:49. > :07:52.repairs and why you could not get your own contractor and one reason

:07:53. > :07:55.was because it was a very formalised bureaucratic structure and there

:07:56. > :08:00.will have to be significant changes in the way the organisation is run.

:08:01. > :08:04.If those tenants and tenants of other blocks have raised concerns

:08:05. > :08:07.and they did not listen... They are not here to defend themselves but we

:08:08. > :08:11.will say the allegation, I am sure we look forward to a statement from

:08:12. > :08:17.them to defend themselves as quickly as possible, and I am sure questions

:08:18. > :08:20.will be asked and answered, but the allegation is they saved ?6,200

:08:21. > :08:27.using the inferior cladding and the company... What happens is, when

:08:28. > :08:34.they are heated, as Vincent said, they are supposed to be used up to

:08:35. > :08:40.ten meters. Yes. When fire hits them, they melt and drip downwards

:08:41. > :08:47.and also there is another aspect and I believe the Observer goes into it,

:08:48. > :08:51.they were due fire inspection by the London Fire Brigade and the

:08:52. > :08:55.allegation is that as a result of fire cuts, lots of fire inspections

:08:56. > :09:00.that otherwise would have happened have not happened. If that is true,

:09:01. > :09:07.it really would be damning. Indeed. Let me take you to pages two and

:09:08. > :09:15.three of the Observer, you can see there... This is an interview that

:09:16. > :09:23.has been carried out with the London fire commissioner, Dany Cotton, all

:09:24. > :09:29.about the decisions she had to take to send in the 100 members of her

:09:30. > :09:34.team into the burning building and the risk, the stress, the anxiety

:09:35. > :09:39.about that, quite a moving piece. She was very much front and centre

:09:40. > :09:45.of explaining to the public what was going on. One of the things many

:09:46. > :09:49.people, especially if you have visited New York and other major

:09:50. > :09:54.cities, you will see the tall buildings, in New York, for example,

:09:55. > :09:58.they have exterior fire escapes where you see them in all of the

:09:59. > :10:04.famous films and there was no access like that, as well as no sprinklers.

:10:05. > :10:10.The firemen are incredibly brave. But you come back to the issue in

:10:11. > :10:13.terms of fire safety, a big role of firefighters, because fires are

:10:14. > :10:18.relatively rare, why were there not more protected measures especially

:10:19. > :10:23.on higher floors? Returning to their heroism of the emergency services,

:10:24. > :10:27.any health and safety that is possible is there, they have the

:10:28. > :10:31.very best kit, I think we are reminded also with the London terror

:10:32. > :10:36.attack in policing, the Ambulance Service, the fire brigade here, when

:10:37. > :10:40.these most horrific things happen, when the city, the country is on its

:10:41. > :10:44.knees and we are running away rightly from danger, these are the

:10:45. > :10:48.men and women running towards that danger and it is interesting, you

:10:49. > :10:52.are seeing a sea change of people saying, thank you. I think it is

:10:53. > :10:56.right to say that because we read harrowing accounts of a firefighter

:10:57. > :11:02.having to decide whether to save a lady and her baby or to save other

:11:03. > :11:08.residents. Somebody was going to die. Can you imagine being in that

:11:09. > :11:14.situation? These people are people and... That is exactly what Dany

:11:15. > :11:18.Cotton, the commissioner, is saying, she realised she was sending her

:11:19. > :11:23.team into a very risky situation but she felt there were lives to be

:11:24. > :11:28.saved in the building, they had to go in. We should never forget, this

:11:29. > :11:34.is what they do and why they do it. Looking at the front page of the

:11:35. > :11:38.Express now, the Queen calms a shaken nation, this is again about

:11:39. > :11:45.her visit to the site in West London. It is interesting because

:11:46. > :11:50.the Queen is held in great respect and regard, but she is not known as

:11:51. > :11:55.somebody who shows empathy or emotion. Yet, actually, this seems

:11:56. > :12:01.to be the figure she has become. Very much so. Even her break with

:12:02. > :12:05.tradition to talk about the difficult times and how the nation

:12:06. > :12:10.has remained resolute in the face of adversity and her visit as well and

:12:11. > :12:13.those of the Duke of Cambridge as well, very moving and showing

:12:14. > :12:18.humanity and compassion. Unfortunately for the Prime

:12:19. > :12:22.Minister, even critics within her own party, they felt she was unable

:12:23. > :12:26.to show that. And the fact the royal family were able to go to the estate

:12:27. > :12:30.quite comfortably, it gives the lie to the claim is coming out from the

:12:31. > :12:34.Government that there were security concerns about the Prime Minister

:12:35. > :12:38.going there because all of the other senior MPs have been able to go

:12:39. > :12:45.there. The Prime Minister visited eventually, a belated visit and a

:12:46. > :12:50.very controlled visit which has dogged her premiership so far, this

:12:51. > :12:54.intense control which people are now starting to react against. I think

:12:55. > :12:57.you will see with the Queen's Speech on Wednesday, and other potentially

:12:58. > :13:01.very controlled event, talk of more protests on the streets of London,

:13:02. > :13:07.and I think that is part of the problem. Whether Theresa May can

:13:08. > :13:12.reinvent herself to show she is more empathetic, more humane and

:13:13. > :13:15.spontaneous, I doubt it. She is in a very difficult place. I agree. The

:13:16. > :13:20.Queen has said very few words but she is very much the start of this

:13:21. > :13:27.because people can see into her heart -- the star. I do not think

:13:28. > :13:34.anyone would suggest Theresa May is seen in human, that she would not

:13:35. > :13:39.care... It is the response. She has been branded in some media reports

:13:40. > :13:44.as lacking humanity. People are saying it. I do not think in reality

:13:45. > :13:52.people would think she does not care. Unfortunately, politics and...

:13:53. > :13:57.It is her ability to express it, the optics, a Westminster cliche. She is

:13:58. > :14:01.coming across very poorly, as are the centre of the Government in the

:14:02. > :14:05.way they have managed the operation. It is true, but I think other

:14:06. > :14:10.politicians have said she lacked humanity and they need to be

:14:11. > :14:17.careful. Michael Portillo said that, you are right. Former Kensington MP,

:14:18. > :14:21.of course. Let us move on from the terrible tragedy, but talk a little

:14:22. > :14:27.more about the Prime Minister because the Telegraph, it's other

:14:28. > :14:30.front-page story, May faces a threat of stalking horse leadership

:14:31. > :14:39.challenge. How credible is that? Yes, in terms of growing

:14:40. > :14:43.unpopularity, that is true. I was talking this week the Conservative

:14:44. > :14:47.ministers and their view is, yes, it is very bad, but she got us into

:14:48. > :14:52.this mess, and at the moment, the view earlier in the week was, we

:14:53. > :14:56.want her to get us out of it. There are all sorts of problems with a

:14:57. > :14:59.leadership challenge, a new Conservative leader and Prime

:15:00. > :15:06.Minister, they would be unelected, into the whole territory Theresa May

:15:07. > :15:10.was in, seeking a personal mandate. Nobody wants a second general

:15:11. > :15:14.election within a year, not least because the Conservative Party fear

:15:15. > :15:17.they might lose. Even those who want to get rid of Theresa May in the

:15:18. > :15:21.Conservative Party, they realise it could precipitate another general

:15:22. > :15:25.election and Jeremy Corbyn could be Prime Minister. There is no doubt

:15:26. > :15:29.the Telegraph is right to highlight the fact there is never this and

:15:30. > :15:32.unhappiness within the Conservative Party and critically within the

:15:33. > :15:38.grassroots that MPs are meeting this weekend at the various social and

:15:39. > :15:43.events who are very unhappy with Theresa May. Also, there are a

:15:44. > :15:48.couple of interesting things in this report on the Telegraph, you do not

:15:49. > :15:54.need a stalking horse, 48 letters sent to the 1922 Committee, formed

:15:55. > :15:59.in 1923, a little fact! It was the 1923 Parliament. This powerful group

:16:00. > :16:03.of backbench Conservative MPs who hold the leadership to account, they

:16:04. > :16:08.would be duty-bound to trigger the leadership election. Who would run?

:16:09. > :16:16.Who would not be a stalking horse at the moment? The same names, they

:16:17. > :16:20.would emerge, in terms of Boris Johnson, various others. I do not

:16:21. > :16:28.get a sense... You would need 48 letters, 15% of the current... We

:16:29. > :16:33.are political geeks! And a very good thing too. Let me take you to a

:16:34. > :16:39.related story, they are all related. The front page of the Observer,

:16:40. > :16:43.business leaders pressed the PM to rethink a hard Brexit. Negotiations

:16:44. > :16:49.start tomorrow. The Telegraph was saying that if Theresa May slackens

:16:50. > :16:55.on Brexit, all hell will break loose. The Observer is applying the

:16:56. > :17:00.pressure the other way from business leaders. Am I being cynical? There

:17:01. > :17:06.is a Cabinet split at the moment with the Chancellor, Philip Hammond,

:17:07. > :17:10.who was supposedly not to be the Chancellor, had there have been a

:17:11. > :17:15.bigger majority. The Prime Minister and Philip Hammond do not exactly

:17:16. > :17:20.see eye to eye on various issues. If you look at the Conservative Party

:17:21. > :17:24.for the last 30, 40 years, Europe and the EU have been the single

:17:25. > :17:29.defining issue that has torn apart the party. Yes, the Observer, the

:17:30. > :17:35.most pro-European newspapers, highlighting it. It is not just big

:17:36. > :17:39.business, particularly Stuart Rose, the Conservative pier and the

:17:40. > :17:43.chairman of Ocado, it is the fact Theresa May in reality cannot

:17:44. > :17:49.probably get a hard Brexit passed her own Cabinet, her own party,

:17:50. > :17:53.probably the country. A survey today saying 69% of people are not in

:17:54. > :17:59.favour of a hard Brexit. It does look very difficult for Theresa May

:18:00. > :18:02.because there is probably a growing majority within not just Parliament,

:18:03. > :18:06.the House of Commons, her own party and the Cabinet, but the general

:18:07. > :18:10.public as well, an argument people do not want the cliff edge Brexit

:18:11. > :18:14.and that is another of the many headaches Theresa May will face in

:18:15. > :18:16.the week ahead. It will look a bit bizarre if she was saying before the

:18:17. > :18:22.general election the British public have spoken and it is very clear

:18:23. > :18:25.what is wanted and now it slightly changes. You're not suggesting there

:18:26. > :18:33.would be a U-turn, Vincent? A softening of the position! Let us

:18:34. > :18:42.and with something a little nicer. It is sweltering outside. I love

:18:43. > :18:52.wearing suits! I will be in shorts in ten minutes. A happy picture,

:18:53. > :18:58.East Sussex, at a swimming pool. Do we complain too much? Personally

:18:59. > :19:00.speaking, I would rather go out into boiling hot weather every day

:19:01. > :19:10.because you can get air conditioning. The heating bills are

:19:11. > :19:14.lower. We need something to lift the mood. Driving this morning in

:19:15. > :19:20.London, people are smiling. We need a bit of that. The Telegraph talking

:19:21. > :19:30.about the hottest June since records began. If there is a lido near you,

:19:31. > :19:35.people will want to be in it. Thank you very much. That is it for The

:19:36. > :19:38.Papers. Thanks to Sean and Vincent. Just a reminder, we take a look

:19:39. > :19:42.at tomorrow s front pages every