:00:00. > :00:00.On Meet the Author, my guest is bestselling crime writer Martina
:00:00. > :00:09.Cole. We will talk about her latest novel the Betrayal 25 years after
:00:10. > :00:15.her first, Dangerous Lady. who's deputy head of sport
:00:16. > :00:26.at The Sun, and the journalist
:00:27. > :00:27.and broadcaster Rachel Shabi. We start with tomorrow's
:00:28. > :00:32.front pages. The Observer leads with fire safety
:00:33. > :00:34.in schools, saying proposals to relax standards
:00:35. > :00:37.are to be dropped by ministers. Prince Harry dominates the front
:00:38. > :00:42.page of the Mail of Sunday, saying he considered
:00:43. > :00:44.quitting his royal role, Blackmail fears after MPs hit
:00:45. > :00:54.by cyber attack. The cyber attack is also the main
:00:55. > :00:58.story on the Sunday Times, who report there was fury
:00:59. > :01:01.at the time it took for the incident And the Express leads
:01:02. > :01:05.with an image of Jeremy Corbyn, saying he ignored Armed Forces Day
:01:06. > :01:23.invitations to appear Lots of concerns over the safety of
:01:24. > :01:28.high rise buildings to the fore. The Observer leads with that - ministers
:01:29. > :01:32.in panic over fire safety at schools. Assist guests and they
:01:33. > :01:36.would relax standards to save money but now they have thought better of
:01:37. > :01:40.it -- a suggestion. It appears to be a plan that was due to be in
:01:41. > :01:46.fermented post-election with the Department of education. --
:01:47. > :01:51.implemented. However, the events of ten days ago seemed to have focused
:01:52. > :01:55.minds. According to the draft guidelines, school buildings do not
:01:56. > :01:58.need to be completely protected to achieve a reasonable standard of
:01:59. > :02:02.life safety, so it would no longer include an expectation that most new
:02:03. > :02:07.school buildings would be fitted with them. Unsurprisingly, things
:02:08. > :02:12.have changed somewhat. Yes, no one can afford to take that risk, can
:02:13. > :02:16.they, and that's where the tension rises between the cost it's going to
:02:17. > :02:22.take and the amount it's going to cost and the requirement to keep
:02:23. > :02:27.everybody safe? Yeah, and this is what the story on the front page of
:02:28. > :02:31.the Observer is pointing out, that this U-turn over the fire safety
:02:32. > :02:36.proposals is signalling a shift in the government, so moving away from
:02:37. > :02:39.prioritising cost-cutting to prioritising health and safety,
:02:40. > :02:45.which is of course what you'd hope they'd have done to begin with. But
:02:46. > :02:49.it does... This whole issue of regulations around fire safety,
:02:50. > :02:53.around building materials, it does shine a light on what has been
:02:54. > :02:57.conservative practice for some years. This is the government that
:02:58. > :03:03.under Cameron was gloating about cutting red tape because there were
:03:04. > :03:07.ridiculous health and safety measures that were getting in the
:03:08. > :03:11.way of companies making money. This is what they were talking about a
:03:12. > :03:17.few years ago. That was very much a line they were pursuing, and, you
:03:18. > :03:24.know, things like that do have consequences, and tragically in this
:03:25. > :03:27.case. If we look back, there will be potentially many, many years where
:03:28. > :03:31.successive governments of all colours will not have necessarily
:03:32. > :03:37.spent the money on these buildings that they might have. We've all seen
:03:38. > :03:43.for many years these tower blocks all over the country. We are
:03:44. > :03:48.talking, at the moment, 34 blocks in 17 areas. That's 600 blocks that
:03:49. > :03:53.still have to be tested and there are concerns about those. This is a
:03:54. > :03:58.systemic failure, this is not one government, one council. This is
:03:59. > :04:01.over a period of time. I accept what you're saying because their result
:04:02. > :04:06.that talk about red tape and all that nonsense... That was under
:04:07. > :04:11.Cameron. Nevertheless this is a wider issue because in Camden I saw
:04:12. > :04:14.they put out a press release a couple of days ago where they
:04:15. > :04:19.thought a certain type of cladding could be put on the buildings, and
:04:20. > :04:23.they've now tested it and found out it was an inferior, cheaper version
:04:24. > :04:30.of the cladding that they didn't know had been put on the buildings.
:04:31. > :04:33.So is this contractual, the local government or councils themselves
:04:34. > :04:39.not doing sufficient testing? What we do know is that this is going to
:04:40. > :04:46.be a hugely expensive, frighteningly expensive issue now for government,
:04:47. > :04:51.because local government simply can't afford to find the money for
:04:52. > :04:55.this. It hasn't got the money to pay for these revamps and retests. Where
:04:56. > :05:01.does the money come from and what other budgets will be found? This
:05:02. > :05:05.was never even considered as a concept until ten days ago. That's
:05:06. > :05:09.how huge the impact is, because this will have an impact for years and
:05:10. > :05:14.years to come. The Sunday Telegraph is talking about another problem,
:05:15. > :05:19.not just cladding, but this time installation, which is the real
:05:20. > :05:27.threat, safety experts are warning, and they are quoting fire safety
:05:28. > :05:31.experts in this, a man in charge of the Tall Buildings Fire Safety
:05:32. > :05:36.Network, saying this material should be removed from all of those, and
:05:37. > :05:39.that material inside properties. This is material behind the
:05:40. > :05:46.panelling, so still cladding, but behind the panels. It's not the
:05:47. > :05:51.visible stuff. Yes, and that's the stuff that is highly flammable. What
:05:52. > :05:55.they are saying is, why would you test the coating, the panel, and not
:05:56. > :06:00.the material that is behind it, that is the insulating material? So we
:06:01. > :06:07.are all, every piece of this points to just more and more potential
:06:08. > :06:11.problems and risks in buildings that are being used, and buildings that
:06:12. > :06:15.people are living in, and, yeah, it does point to something that does
:06:16. > :06:19.need to be co-ordinated on a national scale, because the
:06:20. > :06:25.consequences are huge. Some aspects of safety and regulations are not
:06:26. > :06:30.just national, are they? They are European Union regulations as well.
:06:31. > :06:34.So we are supposed to have got safer and safer with increasing
:06:35. > :06:38.regulations. We have been told that some of the materials used in the UK
:06:39. > :06:43.are legal in the UK but not in Europe, not in the United States.
:06:44. > :06:49.Are our lives worth less than those elsewhere? It's astonishing. It's
:06:50. > :06:54.also surprising given we are signed up, still, the regulations that have
:06:55. > :07:00.been, that we've agreed to, with the rest of Europe, that we don't seem
:07:01. > :07:04.to observe the same regulations. It is surprising, but then it isn't
:07:05. > :07:07.when you look at this culture of seeing red tape is annoying and
:07:08. > :07:11.getting in the way and something we have to find a way to navigate
:07:12. > :07:18.around, which has been the political culture here for quite some time.
:07:19. > :07:25.Shall we move on to politics? In its purest form! The Telegraph again.
:07:26. > :07:30.Tory plot to skip toxic generation and install younger face is next
:07:31. > :07:37.leader. Another headline Theresa May won't want to hear, I'm sure.
:07:38. > :07:40.Wondering how long she has got. So the Conservatives, both MPs and
:07:41. > :07:48.Conservative donors, have decided that their toxicity might skip a
:07:49. > :07:53.gene, skip a generation, rather, so they've decided that the Boris
:07:54. > :07:59.Johnsons and the Davis Daviss had had their day, and they need the
:08:00. > :08:02.younger faces of the party to restore them to their former glory,
:08:03. > :08:06.so they are looking at what they described as a golden generation,
:08:07. > :08:11.which I didn't know was that thing in the Conservative and - apparently
:08:12. > :08:22.it is - and it's the 2010 intake with people like Boris Johnson's
:08:23. > :08:30.brother, Joe. Their arm or Johnson is in the fold! This -- there are
:08:31. > :08:35.more Johnsons. The cross that has been hung on the neck of England
:08:36. > :08:43.football teams for 20 years - I think if you'd said a month ago that
:08:44. > :08:46.Jeremy Corbyn would be unquestionably the dominant force in
:08:47. > :08:50.the Labour Party without any threat to his position, that Vince Cable,
:08:51. > :08:54.who wasn't even in the House of Commons, would be the next Liberal
:08:55. > :08:57.Democrat leader, and that the Tories would be fighting like ferrets in a
:08:58. > :09:03.sack with the Prime Minister clearly on her last legs - nobody would have
:09:04. > :09:10.believed it. And yet you've got this ludicrous concept of the Young Turks
:09:11. > :09:15.now trying to fight for prominence within the Conservative. You've got
:09:16. > :09:22.all these people - a year ago, Stephen Crabb was standing for Prime
:09:23. > :09:30.Minister. Goodness me, how could we forget? He is only in his 40s. He is
:09:31. > :09:36.passe already! That's why we love politics and working on stories like
:09:37. > :09:47.this, isn't it? It's that it happens so quickly. It is the speed, that's
:09:48. > :09:54.it. I always love the next Prime Minister label. Speaking of
:09:55. > :10:07.politicians who risen from, well, difficult times, ministers want
:10:08. > :10:13.Spreadsheet Phil as next Prime Minister! The Chancellor, in case
:10:14. > :10:16.you didn't know. Clearly there is a rift inside the Conservative to.
:10:17. > :10:22.They are all united in not wanting to reason and that she is toxic, and
:10:23. > :10:28.her brand is irredeemably damaged -- do not want Theresa May to stay. Of
:10:29. > :10:43.course there's a section the party that is a bit more remain-y and
:10:44. > :10:47.backs Philip Hammond. There is a quote that the former Chancellor
:10:48. > :10:51.believes he is equipped for the job because, if Theresa May could be
:10:52. > :10:56.Prime Minister, so could he! Which is one way to look at things, but it
:10:57. > :11:01.does in one way shine a light on this incredible crisis going on. Do
:11:02. > :11:07.you really believe that Philip Hammond, who clearly has got an
:11:08. > :11:11.animosity, we can say, towards Theresa May, given what's gone on in
:11:12. > :11:17.the last month, would think about coming in for two years, go through
:11:18. > :11:20.the hard yards of Brexit negotiations alongside David Davis
:11:21. > :11:25.and say, right, I've now steered this country through these choppy
:11:26. > :11:32.waters, and I'm going to give it all away? I've gone past the idea of
:11:33. > :11:38.those two working together on anything frankly. I can't imagine
:11:39. > :11:49.that in any scenario. Imagine them job sharing as Prime Minister? I'm
:11:50. > :11:54.going to look, just for balance, of course, back at the Observer, and
:11:55. > :12:00.Jeremy Corbyn - I don't know if I can find my copy of it. Jeremy
:12:01. > :12:05.Corbyn with microphone. He tells Glastonbury, build bridges, not
:12:06. > :12:11.walls. There he was, Martin, on the main Pyramid Stage. It is truly
:12:12. > :12:18.remarkable that this fellow, who, for much of his political existence
:12:19. > :12:23.was a voice in the wilderness - he was a prophet without honour in any
:12:24. > :12:33.land, let alone his own. And now he is a mess I nick figure with banners
:12:34. > :12:38.for him at Glastonbury? -- messianic figure. He has become the political
:12:39. > :12:42.zeitgeist, the spirit of the aged in a way that no one could really have
:12:43. > :12:47.foreseen, and his voice has a degree of resonance, quite clearly, with an
:12:48. > :12:51.awful lot of young people. But how tricky time is he going to have when
:12:52. > :12:57.it comes to the nature of Brexit? Given that many who are Labour
:12:58. > :13:01.voters opted to leave that many young people who are now turning
:13:02. > :13:05.towards Labour would like to stay, and we've now got beneath this the
:13:06. > :13:11.unions saying, we need a soft Brexit. He's going to disappoint
:13:12. > :13:17.somebody, isn't he? It's interesting to me that the minute we talk about
:13:18. > :13:20.Jeremy Corbyn being incredibly popular, a political and cultural
:13:21. > :13:23.phenomenon of the likes of which we have not seen - whatever your
:13:24. > :13:27.opinion, you cannot look at this and say it's not something extraordinary
:13:28. > :13:31.that's happening, his capacity to connect with people in this way will
:13:32. > :13:36.stop and the minute we talk about that, we immediately talk about
:13:37. > :13:40.things that might derail it, as opposed to trying to understand why
:13:41. > :13:43.it is happening in the first place, and that's because whatever he is
:13:44. > :13:50.saying, the vision of this country that he is offering, which is
:13:51. > :13:54.collectivism in the face of rampant individualism, a vision of is a
:13:55. > :13:58.different kind of politics to the one we've had for so many decades,
:13:59. > :14:01.that's been quite ravaging, that's created these huge divides in
:14:02. > :14:06.society, that has brought upon a crisis in the welfare state - you
:14:07. > :14:11.know, the minute you have somebody like Jeremy Corbyn saying that in a
:14:12. > :14:17.political capacity, people respond to it, because it resonates. But he
:14:18. > :14:23.still has to deal with the issue of Brexit because labour is split as
:14:24. > :14:28.much as the Tories are. Yes, but the overarching theme in context of
:14:29. > :14:35.framework within which that will happen is a very changed framework.
:14:36. > :14:38.He has managed to shift politics and the framework of our discussion to
:14:39. > :14:44.the left in a really significant way. It was mentioned, 50 senior
:14:45. > :14:51.Labour MPs, and we saw the list of them, you know - they are still to a
:14:52. > :14:56.degree and oppositionist wing within the PLP, and they will represent the
:14:57. > :15:01.majority view within that Parliamentary party as well. There
:15:02. > :15:05.has been criticism that he didn't go to Armed Forces Day as well. Just
:15:06. > :15:09.put that in very quickly because some papers are taking exception to
:15:10. > :15:13.that. The Mail on Sunday. Quick comment from both of you. I wanted
:15:14. > :15:18.out, says Harry, the reluctant Prince, saying he considered giving
:15:19. > :15:23.up his royal role. It's a very interesting and brave thing for him
:15:24. > :15:32.to say. I think, given the knowledge of the crisis that was caused to his
:15:33. > :15:34.grandmother, she wouldn't take kindly to this. His
:15:35. > :15:39.great-grandmother his grandmother's background... The reason she became
:15:40. > :15:45.Queen was because her dad had to become king. It's about duty, isn't
:15:46. > :15:48.it? It's about duty, but I think Prince Harry and his honesty over a
:15:49. > :15:57.range of things is refreshing, and has kind of created a much different
:15:58. > :16:01.image of the Royal family. I was just about to say, Martin has done
:16:02. > :16:06.his conveyor belt of papers. Never let us down.
:16:07. > :16:09.Coming up next it's Meet the Author.