20/12/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Giles Kenningham,

PR and former Conservative adviser.

And Jack Blanchard from Politico.

Tomorrow's front pages.

Welcome.

The Guardian leads

on the sacking of Damian Green,

That was after admitting he was

misleading about claims of

pornography on his computer.

The Metro reads "Green out".

The FT also pictures Damian Green.

It's main story is about Brexit

and a bid by UK regulators to woo

foreign banks with a promise

of easy access when the country

leaves the EU.

And...

The Express reports on research

claiming that eating salad

vegetables every day could help

stave off dementia by

boosting memory power.

It pictures Meghan Markle

attending a Christmas party

at Buckingham Palace.

We will start with the demise of

Damian Green. Take us to be Metro,

Green out.

Pretty blunt. Theresa May

has lost her closest political ally

and probably one of her few

political confidants. The equivalent

of David Cameron losing George

Osborne when he was in government

and for number 10 they need to spin

it as an act of strength by Theresa

May, showing her ruthlessness. She

got rid of her best political

friend. As with all these things it

was more the cover-up than the

original claim they did for him. It

is a metaphor for her leadership.

She felt she was getting momentum

and this happens.

Jack, how do you

see it? This is the third

resignation. Michael Fallon, Priti

Patel, is this the biggest of the

three?

Yes. He is heard de facto

number two and he stands in when she

is out of the country and hears her

closest ally, they have known each

other since university so imagine

how it feels to write the letter she

wrote to a best friend saying sorry,

you are out. I think it genuinely

shows a ruthless streak that perhaps

not everyone would know was there

but if you read the report by the

Cabinet Office, the summary, into

his behaviour, I am not sure the

Prime Minister was left with much

choice. They basically came down on

the side of the person making

allegations against him and also

said effectively he had lied. The

other allegations about pornography

on his computer. When that became

clear I'm not sure she had any

choice. It is a misleading claims

about the allegation, not

necessarily the allegation itself

was true.

This comes back to an

issue from ten years ago. Having got

rid of Michael Fallon in a ruthless

way, she set the bar high. If she

had not got rid of him she would

have faced accusations of cronyism.

And a bit of a cover-up. So

difficult for them. The issue is how

you get back on the front foot and

in a normal news cycle you would

have a rich diet of domestic stories

to push things on the Brexit

overshadows everything. In the

absence of a distinct domestic

agenda it is difficult.

We can look

at the front page of the Guardian

newspaper. At what point during the

day, Theresa May was privately

dealing with this, while she was on

her feet in the Commons, or sitting

on a searching committee

examination?

She didn't epically

long Prime Minister's Questions. And

a committee hearing that went on two

hours where she was grilled by

backbench MPs. Poker-faced all the

way through but she does almost too

well. People might say that the

Maybot came into its own today

because you would never have known

behind the mask she would have to

Cusack one of her best friends. I'm

sure she would have known this had

to happen today.

She got through

PMQs on that that Select Committee

is the most gruelling so fair play

to her. And it felt like she had got

into a groove but this is a bit of a

step back.

Theresa May's critics

would say she is a decent person,

genuine, believes in doing the right

thing. I think she would be not

impressed by Damian Green's

behaviour and in the end she is not

the sort of person who would let it

slide.

Donald Trump has been in the

news this evening. He has been in

buoyant mood as a result of tax

policy in the US but the Guardian

from pages concentrating on what he

said about the UN. His decision

regarding Jerusalem being the

capital of Israel as far as he sees

it and the critics who are mounting

against him.

Again with Donald Trump

he is rewriting rules on

international diplomacy, saying

countries that do not back his

resolution on Jerusalem will lose

aid. Quite a big move by him.

What

we are also seeing, America having a

different face to the world. This is

a bullying thing for someone to say,

saying if you do not back us every

time, all that money, aid money,

helping starving children and that

kind of thing, that will be gone. If

you think of the implications of the

withdrawal of that money, that is

serious, and not the sort of

language we are used to hearing from

the United States.

And it could

involve a country like Egypt.

A lot

of this money is spent in America's

interest because it is about global

security but I do not think Donald

Trump thinks that far in front.

Let's move to the Financial Times.

Two elements to this, both Brexit

related. We have city wooing

investment banks with promise of

easy access after Brexit.

Mark

Carney taking a different approach

to what the EU has taken. A big

battle about how much interaction

there will be between our financial

services industry and Europe's and

Europe seems to put up the barriers,

or threaten to saying if you do not

fall into line your banking industry

will not get anywhere near. Mark

Carney is saying whatever happens

after Brexit, you are welcome will

stop and it is throwing the ball

back to them.

It is clever power

play. There aren't lots of

businesses financed out of Europe

and he is saying, you have to sort

this out. A lot of countries will

want the EU to come to a deal but

countries like Japan and South Korea

want a trade deal and it feels at

the moment the UK has momentum in

this. The EU has other issues like

Catalonia so it is good to push it

back onto their plates.

We would

hope it is reciprocated, if not they

will be consequences, what do we

read into that?

There is a threat

from Mark Carney. We go on about how

big a deal it is for Britain to get

a deal on financial services because

it is a large part of the economy

but there is a lot of money for the

EU and they rely on our financial

services industry. We are the

European capital of that industry.

No deal would have big implications.

I think we have been far too

defensive and now it looks like we

are getting on the front foot and

framing the debate.

What are the

other elements in the Brexit events

today? How long will the transition

period be for a example. We heard

from Michel Barnier, not necessarily

saying what Theresa May might want

to hear.

I spoke to somebody senior

in the City and they said three

years we wanted, two years is

acceptable. We want certainty, we do

not want it to be never-ending. That

is the conundrum for the government

how they communicate certainty.

Michel Barnier is saying maybe it

will be a year and nine months. The

way the story we have to cover it,

every twist and turn and people must

be sick of hearing it. Are they

rowing about whether it is 20

months, 24 months? The important

thing is the transition delay sorted

quickly so everybody knows the EU

single market will finish on this

date.

One of the elements about the

transition period is whether or not

if during that transition period new

laws appear, will they still apply

to the UK and if not will that be

problematic?

It will be a problem

for some in the Tory party. As Giles

might not. A lot of backbenchers

will not be impressed if we are

still taking rules from Europe after

we have left.

Some elements of the

party, so then it is more important

to get out rather than the deal,

which is problematic in terms of

scrutiny and getting a good deal but

that has been noticeable. How much

kick back on what Theresa May came

back with in the initial divorce

proceedings.

A Tory MP told me

today, I want to get out, I just

want to scrub the EU symbol from my

passport, that is all I care about.

Hopefully that is not everyone who

sees that issue.

Having got past

this period where these three issues

had to be resolved up to a point,

are we now starting afresh? The

sides are starting this far apart

and will move closer together?

I

still think the time period is

unrealistic. You speak to the people

who did the EE you can as a deal and

that took seven years with one

country and we are talking about so

many countries. The EU does not tend

to do things quickly.

And it is not

in their interest. Theresa May's

argument would be we're not at the

same starting point as Canada. We

can finish was something that is not

to do with the EU. Inside the Daily

Express to an interesting story

about a frozen embryo, a donor

embryo frozen for 25 years.

It is a

nice story and definitely the

heart-warming stuff people like to

read around Christmas time. A young

American couple who had a baby who

is technically almost as old as her

mother because the embryo was frozen

in 1992 and has now been implanted.

They have had a baby. An amazing

world we live in, where medical

science can make this sort of thing

happen.

An incredible story. A nice

quote from the mother, do you

realise I'm 26. If the baby had been

born when it was supposed to, we

could have been best friends.

I'm

sure we will hear a lot about this

tomorrow.

In the circumstances of

the couple, they were struggling

obviously to have a child of their

own. Benjamin the father has cystic

fibrosis which can make the father

infertile. Hence the arrangements we

have. It makes you wonder where this

will lead to.

As Jack said, it is a

feel-good factor among a lot of doom

and gloom at the moment. And some

great photographs. Really

heart-warming.

Photographs of her

pregnant and the record-breaking

baby. On that more uplifting note,

thank you. We will do this again at

11:30pm. Goodbye.