07/03/2018 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Caroline Wheeler,

the deputy political editor

at The Sunday Times,

and Jane Merrick,

political commentator.

Thank you for coming in. Nerve

agents again.

Tomorrow's Metro leads

on the discovery that a nerve agent

was used to try to murder a former

Russian spy and his

daughter in Salisbury.

The Financial Times says the EU has

'forcefully rebuffed' Theresa May's

vision for a Brexit trade deal.

The Daily Telegraph

also has the story of

the poisoned Russian agent -

it says pressure is mounting

on the UK to take tough steps

against the Kremlin.

Tomorrow's Daily Express

reports on heartbreak

for Coronation star Bill Roache,

whose daughter has died

of a blood disorder.

The Guardian also leads on the story

of the poisoned Russian spy,

with a CCTV image of Sergei Skripal

at his local shop before

he was apparently attacked

with a nerve agent.

The Daily Mirror calls

the affair an outrage,

and says UK fury is growing.

The Sun highlights the police

officer who was one of the first

on the scene at the poisoning,

calling him a hero cop.

He is also now fighting

for his life.

So let's make a start.

Metro... The police have said it is

this deadly nerve agent, the kind of

agent used in the Tokyo subway

attack back in 95. This suggests a

country or a state was behind this.

Exactly and we have been waiting,

this story broke on Sunday and has

been running ever since but we have

not known exactly what it was that

has caused the grave injury to what

we thought was two but now it is

three with a police officer and it

has been confirmed they think it

might have been Sarin and this is a

question of, how much damage has

this done and how quickly hasn't

happened? Also, who has perpetrated

these crimes? There are not going to

be that many people who have access

to this time of material. Probably

only a handful of states that could

potentially have access to this sort

of chemical weapons and of course,

everybody is going to be thinking,

it has to be Russia, given what we

know about this particular agent was

my background. Also, the fact that

Vladimir Putin was on record at the

time saying those who had been

involved in this would eventually

kicked the bucket. In terms of the

seriousness of the story, it is

ramping up. Not only because we now

know what caused it but also because

there is a British individual who

has been caught up in this.

Does the

fax... It is appalling what has

happened to Sergei Skripal and his

daughter but the fact that a British

officer has been injured in all of

this, does not raise the stakes even

more?

I think it really does,

already horrific but this has echoes

of Yvonne Fletcher, the police

officer caught up in the Libyan

embassy. What is so horrifying, yes,

this is so incongruous, I nerve

agent in the middle of Salisbury

does not make sense and what we will

see, we saw Boris Johnson yesterday

coming out quite robustly and

calling Russia and maligned state.

There is going to be more pressure

for the government to do more than

just too tough talk, particularly as

is a British police officer a coma.

If it is conclusively prove that

perhaps Russia was involved and The

Daily Telegraph says police man

poisoned by nerve agent, the use of

this rare chemical poison rarely --

really does put pressure on Britain,

if it is proved the Russians were

involved, to do something robust and

move beyond words.

Exactly,

interesting to note that in fact

Boris Johnson has not moved beyond

merely what he said yesterday, which

is talking about, if this is proven,

this is going to be a robust

response... The only other

information we have tonight is that

Kensington Palace has said the Duke

of Cambridge had no plans to attend

this year's World Cup in Russia.

Because this was one of the things

that Boris said yesterday, but

potentially, if it was found to be

that Russia had been involved in

this incident, then diplomats and

dignitaries would not go to the

games and this has been confirmed.

You are right, words are not going

to be enough. Already there has been

some talk from Labour about what

sanctions would be imposed and that

is indeed what happened after the

murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and

this case resemblance similar

resemblances to.

Some argue that the

sanctions locker is empty. There are

sanctions on Russia over Ukraine and

Crimea, sanctions over Alexander

Litvinenko, one wonders if the

British have to go after those

Russians who are here, funnelling

money into this country? In Mayfair

and Knightsbridge or whatever. Is

that the kind of response that is

perhaps needed?

It is potentially. I

don't know if you saw the recent

series, Mafia, but the amount of

money in London, Russian money, is a

real factor in this case. I also

note in the Telegraph, they say that

the former agent, Christopher

Steele, who compiled a dossier on

Trump, he had links to Sergei

Skripal, so it is caught up in

everything. Vladimir Putin, after

Alexander Litvinenko, some spies

were expelled but the ambassador was

not and the links were not severed

and it is Hellfire we have pushed

this, which was not enough. We can

now see potentially that if this is

indeed Russia, what he can get away

with.

Nothing has been proved but if

it was proved that the Kremlin was

involved, public pressure, given a

British police ban has been caught

up in this, could get very powerful.

It did take a very long time for

that link between Alexander

Litvinenko, even though it is

similar, you think, who else could

it be? Why would the North Koreans

be going after a Russian spy? But it

took years for the enquiry to come

back and actually point a finger at

somebody with close links.

I

interviewed Chris Bryant on the

Commons Foreign Affairs Committee

and he said that the city because it

took so long to start the enquiry in

the first place. Staying with The

Daily Telegraph... The battle to

raise cash holding back female

entrepreneurs.

In relation to

International Women's Day? That is

tomorrow. I did a speech today at

Roehampton University, there was a

conference and it was fantastic that

as a woman in my 40s, I can hear

women in their 20s talking about

harassment and empowerment, very

positive. And this story in the

Telegraph tomorrow is quite

dispiriting, that there is this...

Female entrepreneurship should be a

great thing that the government gets

behind but there is this funding gap

preventing women from launching

their own businesses and actually

not all women have children but I

know a lot of them have set up their

own businesses because they have

children and they want to juggle

working from home. It is incredibly

difficult to do that without money.

Without backing. We are in 2018 and

beget stories like this, pretty

pathetic?

It is and the other thing

we see, we talk about the glass

ceiling being about women getting

the vote and representation, but

there are also issues around the

gender pay gap, which is pervasive

and in pretty much every walk of

life you will find that women doing

the same job as a man earns

substantially less. It is

disappointing but also it is very

good that in this day and age we can

see attention raised for these

issues and The Daily Telegraph with

the big strapline and dodging this.

International Women's Day is to be

something that was quite

underground, just a few of us

getting together to celebrate but

nothing that would be a national day

of celibacy.

The Financial Times. --

national day of celebration. The

Saudi prince has been visiting the

Queen.

Speaking to Theresa May. On a

three-day visit, he is reforming the

Saudi Royal family and we keep

getting told this and Jeremy Corbyn

raise the issue that he is visiting

and Prime Minister's Questions today

and he put the two together with

International Women's Day, asking

why Theresa May is hosting a member

of the Saudi Royal family with such

a terrible record on an's writes and

Theresa May said, think Jeremy

Corbyn is mansplaining Jimmy! The

timing is quite odd. Britain needs

to talk to this reforming person, he

plays a crucial role in the region.

Does it have to be on International

Women's Day? When the Saudis has

such a terrible record.

This

individual has started to make some

of the reforms that have not been

made ever. Women are able to drive,

it is worth remembering that at the

moment they cannot drive or go to

football matches and he has been a

reforming voice for that. You are

right, it is bad timing and it is

interesting that Jeremy Corbyn

picked this up when addressing the

Conservative Party's second female

major. And Labour still don't have

any.

The Guardian. Suspected

victims... Facing the tag?

The Prime

Minister has promised action around

domestic abuse and this is the first

sign of what we will see coming

forward and they are talking about

domestic abuse suspects being banned

from contacting victims, drinking

alcohol or taking drugs and facing

the prospect of being tied to

monitor their movements. As we said

before coming on air, it seems

almost unbelievable that this is not

something that would have been

considered before. Given the fact

that, certainly, I can talk from

personal experience, having spoken

to friends, the number of friends I

know who maybe do not talk about it

but have experienced domestic

violence. And yet it is still one of

those big taboo is and people don't

seem to talk about this and not much

action seems to happen. The fact is,

there are a phenomenal number of

women who do lose their lives at the

hands of the partners and I say

women, it doesn't have to be

exclusively, but it is predominantly

women.

Quickly, running out of

time... So much fun! Onto The Times.

Fears of a global trade war as

Donald Trump stands his ground,

determined to have higher tariffs on

steel and aluminium imports?

Yes and

Trump is as protectionist President

we have seen for years in the US and

he is turning his fire on Brussels,

which must delight the Brexiteers

here but not great for Britain's

chances of a good trade deal and

Donald Trump has just lost his chief

economic adviser, Gary Cohn, a

proponent of free trade in the White

House, and Trump seems to be able to

carry on surviving these things and

can carry on ramping the pressure up

on this. Yesterday I saw he was

claiming credit for the flaw in the

relations between North and South

Korea! He said that as a joke!

Did

he? Yes, he said, nobody got that!

Threatening 20 that % on imported

steel and Tim % on aluminium is very

heavy. -- 25%.

And 10%. And EU said

they will retaliate. Finally, ending

the programme with Mr Trump in

cartoon form. This is a cartoon on

the front of The Daily Telegraph. A

unique take on the latest situation.

It says it was Andy Warhol who said

in the future, everyone will work at

the White House for 15 minutes. He

has lost Gary Cohn, his chief

economic adviser, and so many others

as a result of the Russian

investigation and all of that has

caught up various people, including

his former communications director,

Caroline, not looking good?

This is

quite an amusing take on this. The

statistics are amazing, he has lost

40% of his staff in one years since

taking over as President. If we saw

that turnover in British politics,

and we think we have had a turbulent

year in terms of British politics,

having lost three Cabinet

ministers... You can imagine the

kind of response you would get here!

Some of the other scandals engulfing

him, back to this pawn storm.

Stormy! We have had this moment in

Westminster with harassment and

abuse are three Cabinet ministers

disappearing for things which are

much less than what he has been

accused of.

And he still survives.

The allegation is that there is a

nondisclosure agreement with this

young lady, Stormy Daniels, that he

did not sign? Yes. How is invalid if

one of the signatories --

signatories did not sign?

She

deserves credit for taking on this

man.

We will leave it there. Thank

you both for so much. Good to see

you both.

Don't forget, you can see the front

pages of the papers online

on the BBC News website.

It's all there for you - seven days

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later on BBC iPlayer.

Thank you, Caroline and Jane.

Goodbye.