28/02/2018 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are the Political Strategist

Jo Tanner and Paul Johnson,

Deputy Editor of The Guardian.

Welcome to you both.

Many of tomorrow's front

pages are already in.

The Financial Times leads

with trouble on the high

street, as Toys R Us and Maplin

enter administration, while New Look

and Prezzo close outlets.

The Daily Mirror dubs the situation

"heartbreak on the high street,"

as more than 5,000

jobs are put at risk.

Theresa May's opposition to the EU's

proposals for the Northern Irish

border features on the

Metro's front page.

It's also one of a number

of papers to feature Prince Harry

and Meghan Markle speaking alongside

the Duke and Duchess

of Cambridge today.

The Daily Telegraph report claims

that pro-EU politicians

are exploiting the Irish border

question as a means to stop Brexit.

The Guardian features the pressure

on the Prime Minister for Brexit and

the disruption of the freezing

weather. Plenty to keep us busy.

Let's start with Brexit, it's on

your front page, the Guardian. If

this was an 800 meter dash, we just

hope the bell and everyone is

jockeying for position, into the

home straight.

The home straight...

It might be... I don't think it will

be straight, it will be a zigzag!

Some people might fall over. Some

people might be disqualified and

injured! It won't be

straightforward. An extraordinary

day, a day when some people might

look back and say that the blue

touch paper was lit. Michel Barnier,

the chief EU negotiator, came up

with the 120 page draft and people

focused on two pages, Ireland. It

was him saying on behalf of the

nations of the EU, if the UK doesn't

have a bespoke plan, we'll have to

revert to this, Northern Ireland

being part of the customs union.

Theresa May said we couldn't do

that, no British Foreign Minister

could do that, the DUP were angry

saying it was a provocation and try

to break up the union. The Irish

were crossed because they don't see

how you can square this circle. John

Major popped up, as he does

occasionally, not usually helpful to

the current incumbent by Minister,

and he said we need a free vote in

parliament for a second referendum.

Tony Blair is going to pop up

tomorrow with the idea of a reformed

EU is wooing the UK back in. Does

Theresa May have a plan?

There are a

multitude of stories, Jo, an Brexit.

-- on the Brexit. Boris Johnson says

in the Daily Telegraph that the

ultra-Remainers are determined to do

everything in their power to stop

the democratic will of the people's

wished to leave.

Allies of Boris

allegedly say that the Irish issue

is being exploited. I think there's

a real danger, a lot of people don't

remember the Troubles in Northern

Ireland, and what went on. Years ago

we didn't talk about Northern

Ireland, politicians didn't because

it was very sensitive, they didn't

want to upset anybody but the issue

of the border has become almost a

free for all for everybody to have

an opinion. It is dangerous because

we have sensitive issues, the Good

Friday Agreement in difficulty,

power-sharing in the balance.

Is

there a danger for the European

Union because they put out a strong

line in this legal text that's been

published. If the government

continues saying we don't want a

customs union and we won't have a

border, do we force the European

Union to unilaterally put a border

there and they don't want to do that

because of the Good Friday

Agreement?

It is a draft. I think it

is an attempt to push. They say they

haven't heard from the British

government and that it hasn't done

its job and come up with ideas. Some

specious talk about knowledge even

the they are saying, come on, let's

see your ideas. I think this is show

us what you've got on Friday.

But he

wouldn't unilaterally want a border

in which case Northern Ireland

becomes a good weight for the UK to

get a free-trade deal. It becomes a

huge issue,

and this issue about

ensuring that peace continues. It

becomes such a big issue, it's

almost a case of who is prepared to

force the issue. Some concessions

made today I think around people

coming into this country and about

their ability to apply for the right

to remain, which had previously

looked off the table. So we're

looking to make concessions after

this difficult discussion when we've

had the back and forth. So it's

going to play out. We've had an

extraordinary week, starting with

Jeremy Corbyn on Monday and we don't

teach it ending. Theresa May has to

do something big on Friday, a big

statement.

Because of these

interventions, do you sense that

Remainers and Brexiteers are

becoming more hardened in their

positions and people are now

thinking in?

A colleague said that

but going back to the Boris Johnson

story in the Telegraph, interesting

story. I've seen a quote saying, one

ally of the Foreign Secretary, that

is Boris Johnson saying that! And

he's come training -- he's

complaining about ultra-Remainers

but there have been two occasions

when the main person destabilising

the Prime Minister has been the

Foreign Secretary.

They say that the

leaks over him saying there would

need to be a hard border in Ireland

was leaked by the Remainers in the

Cabinet.

There's clearly a lot going

on, we heard this horey about

Phillip Hammond talking about

sleeping rough on a beach, in a

discussion about homelessness. This

briefing against each other, we know

that there was this login at

Chequers when they were in a room

and we saw the pictures of everyone

on their different shares discussing

the issues -- there was a lock-in.

Clearly tensions are boiling over,

we saw it last year, the briefing

starting, partly digging in, partly

playing things out in the media to

get what we want.

There is a map in

the paper, celebrating 25 years --

Matt in the paper. A snowman says, a

little bit of Brexit and everyone

becomes hysterical. Let's talk about

a story that has caught my eye. By

focusing my job a lock on American

politics. A story on the FT about

Jared Kushner and Ivanka club, both

of them under fire -- Ivanka Trump.

Gerard has had his security access

withdrawn but the breaking news is

that hope Hicks, the communications

director and very much in the inner

circle, is resigning.

Very much in

the inner circle, this is quite a

surprise. The New York Times

characterised her as the

communications director who doesn't

communicate in public which is

probably a bit of a plus for Donald

Trump. As journalists said, it is

29, it is a remarkable job to have

done. Probably a better job to have

done than it is to do. Trump is very

warm, which he hasn't been to the

several dozen people who have left

over the previous year. She said

this curious thing, she said there

are no words to express her

gratification to the president, so

she didn't!

That's the

communications director, who had no

words.

Can she tell a committee

yesterday that she told one or two

white lies.

White lies. That would

have been an opportunity to tell

another one. The house intelligence

community.

What do you think is

going on, because these people are

close to the President? His son in

law and his daughter seemingly

ostracised from the White House and

his closest allies in hope picks.

She has been one of his longest

serving.

From the beginning.

She was

brought in with very little

experience to take the role and now

there is a question about what's

going on, is it... Who is going to

be thrown on the bus, with these

hearings going on? Is it clearing

the decks, anyone who could be

associated and may be perceived as

wrong, inappropriate? It becomes

less damaging. There's a lot of

speculation, Twitter has become very

active around people from the Unufe

times -- from the New York Times

regarding the intelligence committee

today. We don't know, clearly there

is more to it.

A story on the

Financial Times and the Daily

Mirror, the heartbreak on the high

Street, thousands of workers facing

the axe at Toys "R" Us and Maplin

and also this Italian restaurant

chain Prezzo as well.

There is a

hurricane blowing down the high

Street. The FT and the Daily Mail

have dramatic presentations. Three

particular trends. You bring it

together, it is a generational shift

to online shopping. People don't go

to Maplin any more, they go to

Amazon. Toys "R" Us was bought out

and saddled with $5 billion worth of

debt and couldn't survive we had a

reporter who spoke to two people who

said it was a trip down memory lane,

like going back to the 90s, the last

time they went there, said one of

them. And Prezzo is a different

reason, we've seen the casual

eating, the glut of outlets for

this, we saw the difficulties over

Jamie's Italian. If you add them

together, as the Daily Mirror has

done, you have a very grim picture.

Very sad for those workers.

And

these are shops, if you have a

son... I have a son who is nine,

look at the queues outside Hamleys

in central London each year where

people go for these spectacles,

playing with the toys. These are big

warehouses where you pick things off

the shelves, but places like Marks &

Spencer 's and other places that do

other things now do other products

home so you don't necessarily need

to go to a shop like this any more.

Places like the Entertainer,

heralded as one of the stores doing

well, they don't open on Sundays

because of the owner's Christian

beliefs. They didn't agree with

Sunday trading laws and they have

still done well.

On the front of a

lot of the papers today, the Royals,

the new generation. In fact, let's

bring you the Metro. It is a wider

picture. I was struck them if you

had gone back 20 years ago and the

crisis the Royal family faced,

especially post Diana, and now where

they are, the Queen must be quite

pleased with what she's seeing.

Yeah

but probably slightly nervous as

well, an interesting dimension. A

great picture that the Metro have

used. Very different body language.

There is even some affection that

Meghan and Harry have all stop the

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, we

don't call them we and Kate any

more. There is the informality about

the couple, even the dress code --

Will and Kate. The future King of

England is on the edge of the

picture.

Yes, that's quite

interesting. He isn't aloof, he's

very warm but metaphorically he is

slightly aside from them, isn't he?

But there isn't rivalry between them

in the way that some families have,

they seem quite happy, he seemed

happy for Harry to have the

limelight.

Two interesting things.

You describe the photograph well. It

is part of the slimming down of the

Royal family. The extras are now

written out of the picture. There is

something, clearly the attention to

Meghan and Harry and William and

Kate etc is enormous. There is a

missing generation here. We talked

about the next king, the future

King, but there is Charles and

Camilla, they are in the shade at

the moment, aren't they?

Let's talk

about the weather, a lot of lovely

pictures of the snow. I noticed that

the new wave coming in is being

blamed on storm ever. -- storm Emma.

Why isn't it a man? It could have

been Eric.

I don't think this is

Emma on the front of the i.

The Met

Office in 2015 started giving names

to storms and they personalised

them, deliberately. You get far more

publicity.

Tomorrow I think we are

expecting to see the coldest March

day on record, since 1965.

That's it

for the papers. Don't forget you can

see the front pages on the website.

If you missed the programme you can

watch it on the BBC iPlayer. Thanks

to Jo and Paul.