04/02/2018 The Papers

That's all the sport for now.

Now on BBC News it's

time for The Papers.

Hello and welcome to our look

ahead to what the papers

are bringing us today.

With me are Katy Balls, political

correspondent at The Spectator,

and the journalist and broadcaster

Shyama Perera.

Let's have a look at some

of the front pages.

The Observer leads on comments

from a former head of the civil

service, who makes a scathing

comparison between some brexiteers

and German nationalists

between the world wars.

Theresa May will face a coup

from cabinet brexiteers,

if she persists with plans to remain

in the customs union,

according to the Sunday Times.

And more Brexit on the The Sunday

Telegraph which says

the Prime Minister is being urged

to invoke the example

of Margaret Thatcher

and defy her chancellor over Brexit.

The Express accuses Jeremy Corbyn

of environmental hypocrisy,

claiming he left a diesel car

waiting outside his house for 40

minutes before getting in for a six

mile trip to Westminster.

Meanwhile the Mirror has an image

of the Health Secretary,

Jeremy Hunt, taking a nap

in a hotel, which the paper claims

was taken while thousands

marched through London,

calling for more NHS support.

There we are, a snapshot of the

newspaper front pages. Katy, let's

kick off with Brexit, Brexit, Brexit

on the front pages. Don't let

Hammond ruin Brexit.

I think it is

an understatement to say tensions

are running high over Brexit. We

have the two big meetings next week.

The Cabinet are meant to be

thrashing out a position. I'd then

think it's hugely surprising that

Bernard Jenkins has said that the

Chancellor is frustrating the

process.

The head of Waitrose...

We are still

quite away down the track and we are

still trying to work out what kind

of Brexit it is going to be. I

suppose that is why we are getting

all this arguing.

We and it's

interesting that Bernard Jenkins is

the latest voice saying we should

not be so vague, but an unknown

source, a senior Brexiteer is quoted

as saying in the piece that there

are far more of us than there are

Tory Remainers in the Commons and we

are the ones who can pull the temple

down. I found that confusing because

I thought it was the temple of

Brexit we are building and if it is

going to be pulled down, what will

we be left with?

Maybe they are

talking about the temple of Theresa

May's government?

If we are going to

use the divine as a metaphor, the

reason that they haven't been able

to find a way forward is because

someone on high wants to abandon the

whole plan.

Sticking with the temple

metaphor, there are Brexiteers in

the Sunday Times who want to create

a new temple, I suppose. This is a

dream number ten with Boris Johnson

and Michael Gove.

These are new

tenants that can move into the

temple if the current ones don't

live unto it! A softer Brexit is

being discussed, which would mean a

customs union of some sort. If she

does that, there is this idea that

they will get rid of her and they

will move in the three Brexiteers.

Gove would be the deputy, but only

if he remembers not to stab Boris

Johnson in the back again. I don't

think this is everyone's version of

a dream.

A nice picture of them as

the three Musketeers, the three

Brexiteers.

We could have Boris made

up, we saw that piece of Gary

Oldman's make up. We could have a

better representation.

People talk

about Theresa May's weakness. Is she

staying put for now?

I think she is.

I think she is trying to get us to

the next election without a

decision, without a proper plan, so

we are forced to go back to the

country. I feel she has lost the

appetite for it, but she is very

good at keeping everybody sort of

trailing behind, complaining,

dreading the satchels in the sand,

but they still do their homework and

turn up at 9am the next morning.

She

is trying to keep this fragile

coalition within her government

together.

The way she became to the

Prime Minister is because she was a

reluctant remain them. There is a

point in this please which is

basically if she were to go for a

softer Brexit, and I think the

Brexit camp at the moment being led

by Jacob Rees Mogg, they are the

type who would call for a confidence

vote. Ultimately it will go above

her.

Last story on Brexit. This is

Lord Turnbull.

He is aligning the

naysayers

with the Nazis in Germany. He is

saying the attacks on the Civil

Service are, if you like, following

a pattern, which ultimately led to

national socialism. I suspect that

might be overstating it, but when

you look at what is happening in the

rest of the world, perhaps it is

not.

Katy, what do you think about

that?

Once you compare tactics with

anything with the word Nazi in it,

you are into territory that is over

the top. There is a growing problem

between the Civil Service and the

government we have seen that this

week with Liz information. I don't

regard this as helpful.

It's making

a hard job even harder. The Sunday

Telegraph. Uma Thurman, Harvey

Weinstein, more allegations that he

allegedly attacked her as well.

Shyama, this is something that she

has hinted about before and now she

has given chapter and verse about

it.

Yes, and the report she gives is

very similar to others, he exposed

himself, he jumped on her.

Apparently she broke down in the

middle of an interview when she was

retelling the story. I'm curious

about the timing. She could have set

this up front. I don't know if it is

strategic and she is doing it to

keep the argument alive,. I'm not

entirely sure what it adds to what

we know. It's interesting to know

that Uma Thurman was one of the

victims. It shows that no one was

about being attacked by Weinstein,

assuming at this point that all

these allegations have foundation.

She says she feels bad for not

protecting other women. I suppose

different women feel differently

about what they want a say in public

regarding what happened to them.

We

had lots of leading actresses who

have now, and spoken. They talk

about the guilt, they should have

used the position of power, but it

tells you about his monopoly on the

industry. Someone like Uma Thurman,

or Angelina Jolie, they feel they

can't say anything.

These are

isolated events and may be the

subject just believes that it is

only happen to them. It's only when

someone else brings it up it starts

to snowball.

If these are all true,

why is he currently just in therapy?

It doesn't quite seem right.

The

Sunday express. We have a story

about Jeremy Carbone. They say he

uses a toxin pumping diesel car and

leaves it on the yellow line for 40

minutes.

Are you outraged by that?

I'm quite low energy today and could

not get that outraged. Lots of

people see Jeremy Corbyn as this

left-wing messiah, this saint. The

fact he has taken this car which is

diesel, it goes against his

principles. It's interesting that

they have come up with alternative

routes for him to get to work.

He

can use the tube or the bus.

Or

cycle. But there are security

issues.

But they miss the main

point. Apart from having described

in great detail the spec of a Ford

Galaxy, the car is actually provided

by the government car service. So in

fact it is not Jeremy Corbyn who is

using it.

It is not his decision.

No, it is the government's. It is

only being done for safety reasons

because they decided he should not

cycle into work any more because it

was a security risk.

Another

personal story about a politician if

you like is in the Sunday Mirror.

Gerry Mahar nes having a nap. They

are making something about how he

was sleeping at a spa Hotel while

NHS demonstrators were out on the

streets demonstrating.

I think this

is slightly unfair. Whatever you may

think of Jeremy Hunt, he has a fall

asleep at his desk or in the

Chamber. Maybe it is a sign that

he's working very hard in his day

job that by the time it gets to the

weekend he can't stay awake. This is

about NHS funding and if you speak

to people in the party and in

covenant, Jeremy Hunt is lobbying

for more funding. It's not that he

is going against them.

I think it's

unfair. So should he be allowed a

little keep every now and again?

Of

course. He is probably exhausted.

Maybe the mirror committee was

watching the demonstration on BBC

News. Maybe he fell asleep when he

was watching it on BBC News.

I doubt

that very much. If he was watching

cars would not fall asleep.

It is

the mirror of the Jeremy Carbone

story. Just having a pop at someone.

Let's end on an upbeat note. The

Spice Girls are reuniting for a £50

million tour. Posh is going to sing

and make even perform at Harry and

Meghan's wedding.

They are embodying global Britain.

Girl power!

Are you a big fan? I was

a big fan. At school we used to pick

one to be.

Who were you?

I was posh.

But I think maybe posh is doing this

because it is financial.

If you

enjoy singing, I saw them once at

the O2 when they did the last

reunion and she sang the least. She

probably sign a couple of tiny solo

bits, and the worst. Interestingly

though the crowd went wild when she

did something. The other four, not

so much. She just opened her mouth

and the crowd went wild.

Would you

go to the concerts now?

Yes. I

wouldn't batter my way to get the

tickets...

If someone offered you a

free ticket?

It depends.

Good luck

to the Spice Girls. As we said,

global Britain in action. Thank you

both. Great to have you with us.

That's it for The Papers

this morning.

Don't forget you can see the front

pages of the papers online

on the BBC News website.

And if you miss the programme any

evening, you can watch it

later on BBC iPlayer.

Thank you Shyama and Katy.

Goodbye.