04/12/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Asa Bennett,

Brexit Editor at the Telegraph,

and Polly Curtis, editor in chief

at Huff Post UK.

We are joined from Dublin

by Pat Leahy, political

editor of The Irish Times.

Tomorrow's front pages.

The i reports that Brexit was a done

deal before the DUP said "no".

The FT runs with a similar line,

saying the deal fell

apart at the 11th hour,

amid DUP objections.

The Telegraph describes Theresa

May's push as ending "in chaos".

The Times says May is fighting

on for a Brexit deal after what it

describes as the "DUP veto".

The Guardian says the DUP has

"wrecked" May's Brexit plans.

The Metro's headline suggests

the paper thinks the DUP

is exploiting its weight

over the government.

The Mirror puns on the DUP's name -

suggesting Mrs May has

been "duped" by them.

The Sun's front page focuses

on a story about Meghan Markle's

relationship with her father.

Let's begin with, well, it's the

headline in all the papers pretty

much in the morning but The Mirror

with the one word headline "Duped".

Summing up what a lot of the papers

are saying.

I think it's right. It's

the culmination of two things. The

possible Brexit deal but also the

minority government being propped up

by the DUP. I think that came to a

head today in the Brexit

negotiations.

Extraordinary the way

these events unfold and picked up in

all the papers.

It's astonishing. It

seemed to start so well. Donald Tusk

saying this is why I like Mondays

had a great call with the Taoiseach.

Now it is a grid Monday for the

negotiations. The Mirror touches on

Jeremy Corbyn, highlighting the

grubby DUP deal, and the DUP

threatening to throw their toys out

of the pram essentially. They

pointed out that the text on offer

would have potentially put the union

at risk. Tory backbenchers rallied

behind the DUP and the Prime

Minister has taken flight and

realised she needs more time to

square with the DUP. I'm surprised

she didn't check with them first.

This is why The Daily Mirror is

making hay with them being "duped"

because the DUP have struck again.

Pat, your paper the Irish Times is

focusing on this story. Blows to

hopes for Brexit deal as Tory

backbenchers support the DUP. Tell

us a bit more about the take from

your paper on the extraordinary

events that unfolded during the day.

Unfortunately we missed that

important story about Meghan

Markle's dad but we are pretty much

up to speed on the rest of the day's

happenings. It was an extraordinary

day in Dublin. We started off with

suggestions from the Minister for

foreign affairs on a morning news

programme that he expected a

breakthrough over the course of the

day, and it was an early-morning

special Cabinet meeting called by

the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to brief

ministers on the negotiations.

Halfway through that meeting he was

called out to take the phone call

from John -- from Jean-Claude

Juncker. It revealed the deal had

been agreed and the British

negotiating team in Brussels. At

that stage we expected that the deal

would be agreed between Theresa May

or Jean-Claude Juncker, given that

the text had been approved by both

the British side and by the Irish

side. That seems to have fallen

apart over lunch when Theresa May

took a call from Arlene Foster. From

then on the deal pretty much

unravelled. The Taoiseach was due to

call a news conference to announce

the deal at two 30p. He took another

call from Jean-Claude Juncker saying

hold off. We've got a problem. That

conference was called off until

5:15pm. I attended it and it really

was one of the most extraordinary

press conference as I have ever been

at from the point of view of British

Irish relations. He said he was

surprised and disappointed...

Are

lot of the other papers picking up

on that. The FT talking about the

Brexit divorce derail that the 11th

hour after the DUP blocks the Irish

border deal.

The timing is very

delicate for the process because

this is how the EU like to do

things. The clock might stop at the

last minute but the thing is Donald

Tusk is still very sanguine. She can

take it back to the EU later in the

week and get it rubber-stamped and

move on but she can't waste a day

now.

The word is sanguine, they are

trying to prevent -- present a

relaxed front. I think they are

trying to use those last days to

pull it off. But it's tough.

If we

look at The Guardian, it is talking

about the DUP Rex May's Brexit deal.

Talking about how Jean-Claude

Juncker when Theresa May are trying

to put a brave face on it and saying

this needs more time, it doesn't

seem to be the take here.

The

Guardian report gives some of the

detail of the drama of the day.

Diplomats were waiting for two hours

and then sent home. It was like,

guys let's go to the pub, it's all

over. It was a dramatic change of

events.

Pat Cummins you were talking

about that extraordinary news

conference and it seems as though

the Irish government was pretty

angry at the way this unfolded. Do

you think it's going to make it more

difficult for the Prime Minister to

square the Irish government now?

I

think the difficulty is less with

the government here in Dublin and

with the DUP. The Irish government

has been pretty consistent in terms

of what it requires. It's quite

transparent, it requires eight cast

iron guarantee that whatever the

future deal between the British and

the EU, it will not entail a return

to a hard border and they want

strong language guaranteeing that. I

think the difficulty will probably

be at the DUP side. The British

after all appear to have agreed the

language with the Irish government

and with the European Commission

this morning before the DUP

registered their objections. It

really is astonishing that no one in

London but check with the DUP

beforehand. But that I suppose is

the situation we find ourselves in

now. What you'll find is intensive

discussions between Dublin, London

and Belfast. Those relationships

have been so damaged by today's

events I think it will make it

doubly difficult.

There is also

focus on that reaction of some

Conservative MPs. If we look at The

Times, Brexit deal after Unionist

veto.

It's touching on some of the

reaction, like Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Reminding everyone the Conservatives

are meant to stand for the union. It

would be bizarre if they had

Northern Ireland staying in the

single market and the customs union

in all but name and act like it

still is. Many other backbenchers

would feel the same. It is seemingly

problematic, dangerous and risky.

What if Northern Ireland wants to

become different from the Republic

of Ireland. When you have Scotland

trying to claim its own right is the

dispensation and the snowball effect

goes on.

We've already seen Scotland

and Wales saying if Ireland can get

a special deal maybe we can to.

The

other thing to highlight in The

Times is I think they've got the

best dab at an explanation of what

actually happened. Ms Foster had

been told broadly what the document

would say but not the specific

wording. I think that's probably the

most insightful regulatory alignment

which doesn't make it into the

headlines as a sound bite.

That was

the phrase that really angered the

DUP.

And it didn't stand up to the

scrutiny when it was discussed in

the court of public opinion. It was

from EU friendly sources who said it

is a complete capitulation. The

Brexiteers have to eat humble pie.

Is it any surprise they don't want

eat it when it tastes so awful?

They

were so confident they would get the

deal they booked in Parliamentary

time to debate it. It seems like a

mystery why they have that

confidence, given the DUP position.

Your own paper talking about how the

push the deal ends in chaos.

We are

telling it like it is. It started so

promisingly. She wanted to do it

today, it was meant to go according

to plan. The cat out of the bag too

early and it didn't look right and

she failed to secure her

stakeholders. She forgot to talk to

the DUP thoroughly enough. She's

meant to be on top of the detail but

it escaped her this time.

A brief

final word on Pat Liam -- from Pat

Leahy. It has highlighted how

difficult it's going to be to

resolve this issue of the Irish

border.

I think that's true. One

thing that is puzzling people in

Dublin, I know the DUP weren't the

only people who raised concerns

about this. Clearly the Scots and

the Mayor of London and the Welsh

also said if Northern Ireland is

getting a special deal we would like

that. We hear this constant

objection from both the DUP but also

from Tory backbenchers saying

Northern Ireland couldn't possibly

be any different from the rest of

the UK. The fact is Northern Ireland

is quite different from the rest of

the UK. That is the basis that the

whole Good Friday Agreement which

the government say they are

committed to defending. There is a

fair bit of puzzlement in Dublin at

that. I think there is in Dublin a

sense that this is simply the latest

example of Mrs May not being very

good at this process. It is terribly

difficult, but at every crucial

point she seems to have.

Thank you

for joining us, Pat Leahy. Let's

look at a couple of the other

stories in the papers. A 10,000

strong Google army to tackle

extremists is the other story on the

front page of The Telegraph here.

There has been a lot of concerns

that Google isn't doing enough to

tackle some of those who are using

this as a platform to peddle

extremist views in your paper.

It's

timely and good on Google and

YouTube to do this. When you have

half a million hours of content

posted everyday, and the stats of

this, they found 150,000 had to be

taken down. You realise the scale of

the challenge. You have to have

human interaction and that personal

subjective analysis on how

worthwhile this is as content when

all sorts can get through the net.

It's good they are taking social

responsibility for this.

If they

really significant move to Google

and an admission they were

acknowledging the fact they are a

publisher as well as a platform.

They have to be responsible for what

they are printing.

It seems as

though governance here and around

the world are really struggling to

know how to tackle this.

Absolutely.

This is a sign they are going to

take some responsibility. For years

Google and Facebook have been saying

it's not our responsibility, we are

just a platform, don't shoot the

messenger. There has been a creeping

acknowledgement on both sides that

they have to take responsibility. As

a result of some really excellent

reporting by The Times in

particular, the work they've done to

expose the dangerous material that

is on those platforms.

Thank you.

That's it for The Papers tonight.

Don't forget you can see the front

pages of the papers online

on the BBC News website.

It's all there for you seven days

a week at bbc.co.uk/papers -

and if you miss the programme any

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later on BBC iPlayer.

Thank you Polly and Asa.