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: The Guardian

leads on the sacking of Damian Green

as First Secretary of State,

after he made misleading comments

about pornography found

on his office computer.

The Metro reads Green out,

after an inquiry found he had

breached the ministerial code.

The Telegraph also

pictures Damian Green.

It says Theresa May's Cabinet has

been hit by a third departure

in just two months.

The Daily Mail's headline sums up

the scandal is what a sad way to go.

The Mirror says the Prime Minister

in crisis.

The FT also pictures Damian Green.

Its 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.

The i claims that the UK has

demanded total secrecy for future

trade talks with the US.

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.

Well, let's begin inevitably with

Damian Green's demise. Jack, kick us

off. This is the Telegraph, Damian

Green sacked as Theresa May loses a

minister.

There was a mad scramble

when this news broke at 8:39pm which

is right on deadline for most

people's first editions. Most of the

papers have managed to get it front

and centre on the front page but I

was watching from the press gallery

in the House of Commons, and I was

watching journalists sprinting to

their desks to get the news out. The

Telegraph did a nice job, and there

are some interesting details we

hadn't seen before, saying Theresa

May received the report about Damian

Green's behaviour on Monday so she

has known since the start of the

week what the conclusions were. She

passed it to her independent

adviser, Alex Allan, who agrees with

its findings, and said that Damian

Green had to go, but this has been

sat on the prime Minister's desk for

48 hours as she considers it.

The

timing is interesting with this. I

think they had a huge dilemma here.

They couldn't be seen to be covering

up such a sensitive issue, but you

do question it. As Jack said, had

just dropped in time to get out, but

in the current new cycle it is very

difficult to cover something up.

How

would David Cameron cover it?

I

think there has to be full

disclosure, full transparency, and

you actually have to question the

tactics about dumping something like

this out late at night because the

optics don't look great. The

follow-up from Jack, two interesting

points in this story, one that she

had a pop at the police on this,

saying they had a duty of

confidentiality. It will probably be

lost in all of this, but in the

letter she wrote back about the

breach of confidence in relation to

the 208 investigation and the

allegations of pornography being

found on his computer, but also that

she had to sack him. He says I

regret I have been asked to resign

from the government and I think as I

was saying earlier on, Number Ten

need to turn this into a position of

strength saying she showed her

ruthless streak, getting rid of her

best friend, her political

confidant, she is someone who leads

from the front.

What does she do now

in terms of replacing him? Does she

feel that same post? -- feel that

same post? How does she deal with

the remain versus leave elements?

She is not someone who has a natural

constituent in the party, she is not

someone who has lots of political

allies. You look around the table

and think who would she bring in?

Some people are speculating Amber

Rudd, but do you put a target on her

back?

I think Number Ten were saying

this evening they will not be an

immediate replacement for Damian

Green. He didn't have his own

department so he will have to have

someone -- he won't have to have

someone within hours to run the

military as when Michael Fallon

resigned. It goes into recess

tomorrow, everyone stops watching

the news and gets on with enjoying

their lives for the next week or so,

so she can sit and have a think

about this and that is what I think

she will do. What will happen as she

will ultimately appoint a new number

two but she will do it as part of a

wider reshuffle in the first week of

the new year, and take a step back

and look at the bigger picture. Some

of the names being thrown around

tonight are Amber Rudd, the Home

Secretary and a friend of Theresa

May. Also Jeremy Hunt, the Health

Secretary, who is seen as loyal to

her and someone who straddles the

remain - leave things not perfectly,

but well.

I think reshuffle would be

a huge mistake. My experience of

reshuffles as you always create more

enemies than friends. She is a prime

Minister not in a strong position

and when you put people on the back

ventures, you create lightning rods.

My issue is that from her has to be

more about policy than personnel

moving forward -- backbenchers.

Looking at the Daily Mail, what a

sad way to go if they take on it. A

reference to the police in this.

Yes, my reading of that headline,

which reads slightly strangely to

me, is it is quite a supportive

headline for Damian Green, I think,

unless I am misreading it

completely. I am not sure that will

be most people's take on it. The

Daily Mail wrote some pretty strong

opinion pieces against the lady who

made allegations against Damian

Green at the time, which seemed to

go further than most people would

expect. They seem to be sort of

sticking up for him here. They are

obviously very supportive of Theresa

May as a newspaper.

This will be the

most supportive front page, as Jack

said they have been her biggest

cheerleader, they have put in their

headline the police leaks led to the

downfall, so they are putting a spin

on the story.

Him lying about it

seems to have led to his downfall.

It was more sort of a cover-up as

opposed to the actual accusation.

As

so often happens.

And also the

report did say that the lady who has

made allegations against him as a

credible and plausible witness. And

so that has come down on her side,

so that is what has happened here.

Taking us to the FT, still politics

but we are talking Brexit and this

is partly based on what Mark Carney

has been saying.

Quite a clever

powerplay by Mark Carney. He is

saying the UK will be open to

European banks after Brexit. But

this depends on, you know, the UK,

on the EU reciprocating. As I was

saying, I think there is a sense of

momentum behind what we are doing. I

think so far the UK has been far too

defensive in the whole spin war and

how we have been positioning

ourselves for these negotiations.

The EU have skin in the game. There

are plenty of European businesses

finance out of London. They want

some certainty. But also countries

like Japan and South Korea want to

know what is going on. So it is good

he has put the onus back on them,

saying you have to sort things out.

And the EU has other problems at

play here like what is going on in

Catalonia. So pushing it forward,

putting the pressure back on them,

and ultimately they do want a deal

as well, but it won't be easy.

There

will be consequences if they don't

reciprocate.

A sinister threat from

the Governor of the Bank of England

and lots of people will be pleased

to hear that. He hasn't really been

a popular character for lots of

Brexit supporters, they have seen

him as an arch remainer, is

campaigning against Brexit because

he thought it was a threat to the UK

economy so to see him coming out and

batting for Britain, as it were,

will go down well.

Thoughts on other

elements, the length of the

transition period? Michel Barnier

speaking today, Christine Lagarde

talking about the state of the

economy, so many elements to

consider on a daily basis.

I was

speaking to someone in the city who

is quite influential and they were

saying it could take three years,

two years is good, but what we want

to certainty, we don't want an

open-ended transition period. That

is a big dilemma for the government

about how they framed this.

Does

seem like we are drowning in small

Brexit stories all the time. There

are always 19 things to write about

and hear about. Because that is the

whole thing, it is important, but it

is weary to write and read and

listen to.

So let's not talk about

it any more. Turning to the

Guardian, this is Donald Trump not

talking about his tax measures,

which he was looking very, very

pleased about earlier, I might add,

but this is about what he said

recently about Jerusalem being the

capital of Israel as far as the

Americans are concerned and the

reaction to it.

Yes, and this is

classic Trump volleying. If you

cross me, don't expect any help from

me even if that help is actually

stopping kids from dying in Asia,

Africa and all the rest of it. --

classic Trump bullying. He is going

to deny aid to small countries if

they don't vote the way he tells

them United Nations and my guess is

this sort of coercive stuff did used

to go on behind the scenes a little

bit, in quiet little conversations,

but here the President is coming out

and bawling out smaller countries in

press conferences like this, it is

not what we expect from the United

States and it is important to

remember how abnormal disputes. You

can get used to Trump and expect

that this is how the world is now

but we have had a long time of

America acting in a much more moral

arbiter role in this, and it is

depressing to read this.

He will

feel quite emboldened by this tax

cut, it will energise him to carry

on defying the normal rules of

political dimension and diplomacy.

What is interesting here is that one

of the countries might be Egypt,

which you would normally imagine

would be a strong US ally and others

in the Security Council have already

expressed their doubts, including

the UK. Theresa May questioned the

wisdom of it.

Theresa May had it out

with him over Jerusalem, she was

very clear that this is the wrong

decision and this is not helpful.

The question is, in a post-Brexit

world, what happens with Trump?

There is speculation about him

coming here next year, the trade

deal, they are having to tread a

fine line with how they deal with

him.

The Express, not the front page

but in inside story which has caught

our eye. And this is just one of

those good news stories. A sweet

snow baby, born after being frozen

for 25 years.

Quite a heartwarming

tale. I think this is unprecedented,

a baby born from a donor embryo

frozen 25 years ago. And what makes

it all the more remarkable is the

mother is 26 years old, I suppose

what does this mean for science and

medical advances going forward?

Incredibly heartwarming, great to

see.

A story out of the States, we

should say.

Yes, a story out of

Tennessee. It has cost them £10,000

for this procedure and they are

saying they wouldn't rule it out

again, so if you are in a position

to do that, but it is nice that

couples who are not able to have

children otherwise, is great that

they have this opportunity now. For

some reason they are called snow

baby is, I think because it is a

frozen...

I was looking for exactly

that definition, it says children

like them are called snow baby is

because they develop from embryos

which have been frozen.

So I am

confident we will have a story like

that every Christmas.

Does fit

rather well, doesn't it? Let end

with the Times. Apparently one

portion of spinach a day can fend

off dementia.

And not just spinach.

Talking about heartwarming Christmas

stories, sprout the front and centre

of the story as well, good news if

you want sprouts in your Christmas

dinner next week. -- sprouts are

front and centre. It seems to have

been pretty widely carried in all

the press today. So yes, get eating

your greens is the message.

And more

than 200,000 people in the UK suffer

from dementia, and it hasn't been

any cure for it, and they are saying

if you are over 50 's, start eating

your greens, it massively increases

your thinking skills -- over 50s.

And quite a long list, sprouts,

lettuce, asparagus, you name it.

One

of many superfood.

That is it for

the papers. Next it is time for

another look at Sportsday.