08/12/2017 The Papers

News to the weekend, see you in a

bit.

Well and welcome to our look ahead

at what the papers will be bringing

us tomorrow morning. With me, Helen

Brand, OBE, chief executive of the

Association of Chartered Certified

Accountants. And Sebastian Payne,

correspondent at the Financial

Times. Welcome to you both. Before I

speak to them, let's take a look at

some of tomorrow's front pages. The

Daily Mail calls people to rejoice.

We are our way. The Telegraph hails

the price of freedom from all the

stories about Brexit you'll be

surprised to hear. The express talks

of a huge Brexit at last. Mae

bounces back, that's what the Times

runs with. The 2-1 headline, Britain

sets course for a soft Brexit. The

Financial Times itself strikes a

cautious tone noting Donald Tusk's

warnings on tough choices ahead are

all around. The daily Mirror

describes Theresa May as Mrs Softy.

The Guardian notes the European

Union warning there might be delays

to a final Brexit deal. OK, let's

get started on papers. Alan, you

lead us off with the Daily Mail.

There is a Theresa May hand, a

Claude Junker hand shaking.

It seems a little over the top.

I'm

not sure rejoice is necessarily the

word the business world will be

using I think relief is probably

more along the lines. It's more

about losing control of its borders

and money. The relief in the

business world is more about there

being movement, that we are moving

forward.

Because you want to get on,

business wants to get to the trade

talks.

We know business confidence

has been severely knocked by the

insurgency around Brexit. In our

global economic conditions, the UK

and Irish members, it's been reduced

by half in the past year. It was all

linked to Brexit and lack of

certainty around the transition

period. That the hard border

possibility... Actually, regulatory

governance was something that came

up quite often with members in terms

of what's worrying them moving

forward. All of those things are

starting to be addressed. More

importantly we can get down to the

detail of the trade agreements.

If

we unravel those, those three

things, borders, laws and money,

nothing particularly nailed down.

Generalities is what we've got,

isn't it was indeed.

What we've

heard today is an Brexit on the 30th

of March 2019, not much is going to

change, we'll still be handing over

big sums of money, there will still

be free movement of people. The laws

are still going to be mirrored

what's happening in Europe the

foreseeable future. It means nothing

changes but for all those people who

voted for a radical shake-up of our

politics, I don't think it's quite

what they had in the deal put

forward today, there is talk of the

European Court of Justice having

jurisdiction for eight years after

exits day.

In political terms, next

century, might as well be.

Two

parliaments away from where we stand

now. A lot of compromises here. If

you think a lot of the bellicose

rhetoric we had during the

referendum campaign, it's all been

calmed down, cooler heads

prevailing.

The European Court of

Justice has been a compromise on the

European side. They saw that in

perpetuity, there would be some

recourse to the European Court of

Justice. There has been some

compromise on both sides.

To your

own paper, Sebastian, as you say, it

seems a little less wildly

enthusiastic. Mae blunted by Donald

Tusk warning on tough choices ahead.

Are we saying this was quite a...

Victory isn't the word, a

breakthrough. The next it will be

terribly difficult.

That is the

editorial inside our paper tomorrow,

says exactly that, it's been a tough

battle to get here and Theresa May

has done very well. Also to bring

her party with her on this journey

because she's had this coalition of

Brexit is and Remainers who have

different views on whether country

should head. Everybody today was

giving this is the nod, saying this

is a good deal. The tough stuff

comes on the trade negotiations

because a lot of Brexit supporters

have been holding fire because they

really want that final clean break

in 2021, 2022. Willing to accept

handing over money, free movement of

people, some ECA jurisdiction. They

will want a clean, final break.

Making that work is going to be

tough. This is what Donald Tusk said

today, the divorce is done. It's

hard to divorce something, but even

harder to build a future

relationship. We've had a tense 48

hours in British politics. A lot

more of those tense moments before

this process is over.

If one was to

say this is leading us towards a

soft Brexit in headline terms, do

you think...

I don't think that's

unfair when you look at the reality

of what has been agreed, it is

softer than harder.

What has been

negotiated around the Irish border

issue does look like that. Can you

come friend what it's really about?

It seems everybody has a slightly

different view of what it means.

There seems to be a common view

about trying to maintain the status

quo for citizens of Northern

Ireland, in terms of trade and

access and no imposition of a

border. I don't think we seen the

detail, you hear that coming from

the DUP. In terms of wanting to see

that detail. They don't want a

different solution from the rest of

the United Kingdom.

Interesting

today, both the pound and shares

went up, which would indicate the

business world feels it is in the

right direction.

A bit of relief.

Its major news, people picking their

way through it. Helen, perhaps you

can start this one, May bounces

back. Fair enough. It's when you

come to the little headlines,

rejuvenated PM to confront Johnson

an Brexit. For those of us who might

have forgotten where Boris stands,

what is this about?

Boris wants a

clean break at some point.

The

Foreign Secretary.

I don't know him

personally, so Foreign Secretary. He

wants a clean break. He's going to

compromise elements now with the

endgame in mind. It's been the big

issue, the Cabinet hasn't discussed

the endgame. Buoyed by the success

of the last 24 hours, saying we're

going to have this discussion now.

We can all aim for a common vision

of what Brexit means.

The Times

reported December 19 will be the

first time the Cabinet is sitting

down and saying, what does Brexit

means Brexit actually mean in

practice?

How long after the

referendum is this? A year and a

half.

The key thing is, the reason

they haven't had this discussion is

because there is no agreement, this

is where the real divergences. As

you were saying, Boris wants that

clean break have to like Liam Fox

and Michael Gove, people like Philip

Hammond and Amber Rudd what a much

closer relationship with the EU.

Finding a compromise between those

will be quite difficult. In the

Times story they've said this

meeting is not going to be about

shouting, trying to win arguments,

it'll be about everybody laying out

their positions and explaining where

they come from. The key figure in

this will be Michael Gove. Doing the

broadcast around speaking on behalf

of the Prime Minister this morning.

The man talking about taking back

control, the Democratic

liberalisation of a concept he's the

one saying it's great giving £35

billion to the EU, just what we

wanted. Which way he falls on this

decision, do we remain close to

Europe or go far away? He'll be the

deciding factor on how you broker

the second phase of the talks.

This

indicates more about what Mrs May's

position is.

If she is softer...

The

story says she wants to confront

Boris Johnson on this issue. She is

clear in her is interesting. I don't

think we've had back clarity until

now.

It's amazing when you began

this week, in a weak position Mrs

May was in. On Monday she was meant

to do the deal, it fell apart, she

had to take a quick phone call from

Arlene Foster of the DUP who said

she would block the deal. There was

talk of her being gone by Christmas,

couldn't last the week, now she's

bounced back. Even now there is talk

she will hold the reshuffle, to

bring more life into her Cabinet.

Is

it likely in the present scenario?

One might think she wants things to

settle down. You think reshuffle is

likely?

She does want to have a

reshuffle and has wanted to do so

since the June election. Bit by bit

she has lost more and more political

capital and gain some of the budget,

the first budget in who knows how

long, that didn't fall apart the day

after. She's now got this deal, bit

by bit getting stronger. I think if

she's going to sack some people,

promote some people, before the end

of the year, it's a pretty good

time.

There was talk Philip and the

Chancellor would be moved aside. As

you say, his budget has done rather

well. I haven't heard the business

world complaining about it, pretty

unusual.

No, I think the business

world, again, as long as certainty,

stability, is welcome as well. The

idea of who is leading, what they

are leading on, is quite important.

Sorry...

I do think... There is this

moment of strength, that's the

point. Coming forward we'll get into

more detail and it'll get really

difficult which is what your

newspaper said. It's not going to be

simple.

Michael Gove has written in

the Telegraph... You spotted,

seeming terribly enthusiastic, some

might say a slight reversal of where

he was before, it's near the end

you've spotted what you think is a

golden nugget.

Indeed, possibly.

Michael Gove has written an opinion

piece which explains what a

wonderful deal this is, the best

deal Donald Trump might say. In the

end, an interesting sentence about

this exit proposal, saying it's a

British people dislike the

arrangement we've negotiated with

the EU, the arranged... The

agreement will allow a future

government to diverged. What he's

saying is... It will not buy into

the UK hands to follow that

trajectory for evermore. Let's say

we had a soft deal and it wasn't

working, the Tory government would

get a looser, have a hard Brexit. Or

a future government might come along

and say, this isn't working, maybe

we should go back into the EU. This

is a very significant thing for

Michael Gove, essentially saying

even though we thought the Brexit

question was closed and done, it's

in the hands of the people.

He says

the agreement will allow... He's

saying this is built into the

agreement. Which I've not seen

highlighted today.

Nigel Farage will have something

sharp to say about that.

To put it

mildly. One thing to note about Mr

Gove, one of the reasons he's being

ultra-loyal, like Mr Johnson, who's

been more of a troublemaker, Mr Gove

is desperate to be Chancellor, that

is the job you'll really want. If

he's very loyal and shows himself

politically astute, come the

reshuffle, maybe the hapless,

slightly hapless Mr Hammond might

get moved aside, that's what he's

hoping anyway.

Thank you for all

that.

It is like a cunning plan.

Let's move on to other matters.

Funnily enough the sun has it quite

prominently, for them anyway. Trump

frenzy it talks about. Sebastian,

remind us what this is all about and

why it's so important.

One of his

campaign promises this week was to

move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to

Jerusalem. And acknowledge Jerusalem

is the capital city. This was a

policy instigated by Congress in

1996, but it's so explosive that no

US president has ever enacted every

six months they just ignore it and

sign it. Mr Trump promised to do

this and has fulfilled on this work

against the advice of all his

allies, everyone in Nato, Theresa

May, the EU said don't do this, you

will inflame tensions. He said no,

we've got to do it, it's the right

thing to do. What a surprise, we've

had tensions. You can see pictures

in the son of the Israeli flag

burned. Demonstrations at the London

embassy. One Palestinian protester

shot and killed in these protests. I

think it'll be a tinderbox for this

outlandish decision.

Mr Trump took

this decision largely because he

said he would. Whatever people think

of him as president, he gets reviled

on so many levels, but actually he

said he would do it and promised his

supporters in the United States he

would.

He said the same on his

taxation reforms. He is so...

Pre-election there was talk of him

not following through on these crazy

ideas. That was the received wisdom.

That isn't what happened, is gone

for his campaign promises and is

very keen to keep his constituency

happy. That is ignoring what his

allies and diplomacy and all normal

forms a baby you expect from the US

president.

State Department and so

one as well. You mentioned the

business of tax cuts. That seems to

have gone down very well again with

business generally. Is that an

important marker for the future do

you think? From America?

I certainly

think that is Trump's focus, it's

about being able to do business,

sometimes I think it's about his

businesses being able to do...

Particularly tax cuts.

They feel

they've lost a lot of business to

other jurisdictions that have made

the same kind of tax regimes, so

yeah, you can see why he's doing

that.

Indeed.

This is for his core

voters, who the reason they went for

Mr Trump over Hillary Clinton was

because they thought, here is a guy

who says it like it is, a proven do

he cuts deals, he'll get things

done. Exactly what he's doing. When

it comes to his election there will

be a lot of outrage and his policies

that have been discriminatory,

helping big business. To a lot of

those caught Trump supporters, he

promised to build the wall and has

built some of it. He promised to

move the embassy. It to put in a

travel ban and has done that.

He is

a doer of deals.

Jerusalem wasn't a

deal, it was a unilateral

announcement. I think that is the

worry, that he's taking no notes.

He

really doesn't carry people with

him, that's the very distressing

thing about the president.

One story

we can't avoid, front page of the

daily Mirror, thrills and chills,

stowing a lot. Observation I would

make it is a bit early for snow

isn't it? Callum McRae yes. Do you

like snow?

I like to look at it

rather than be in it.

You won't be

tobogganing down the hill like the

little girl or boy on the front.

I

don't think we'll see snow in London

but the rest of the country should

have some fun. I hope it's positive

for the children. Not fun for the

children who lose electricity.

Coming up to Christmas I imagine it

is the last thing...

They don't deal

well with these things.

It's about

having the infrastructure and

planning to recover, that we know

how to cope with this. It is where

the testis.

We don't have to cope, I

guaranteed by Monday morning it'll

be train lines covered in snow,

roads blocked.

As long as it's the

right kind of snow.

The crunchy kind

of snow you can get your feet into.

Thank you both very much indeed,

that is it from the papers, you can

see the front pages of the papers

online at the BBC News website. The

death seven days a week. -- they are

there seven days a week. If you

missed the programme any week you

can watch it later on the BBC

iPlayer. To Helen and is --

Sebastien Buemi goodbye.

To Helen and Sebastian, thank you.

Goodbye.