15/03/2018 The Papers


15/03/2018

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 15/03/2018. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

0:00:150:00:20

bringing us tomorrow.

0:00:200:00:21

With me are Martin Bentham,

Home Affairs Editor

0:00:210:00:23

at the London Evening Standard

and Jason Beattie, Head of Politics

0:00:230:00:26

at the Daily Mirror.

0:00:260:00:31

Good to have you with us. Let's

bring you up to date on what the

0:00:310:00:35

front pages are already saying.

0:00:350:00:37

The Telegraph claims the nerve agent

used to poison Sergei Skripal

0:00:370:00:40

and his daughter Yulia

may have been planted

0:00:400:00:42

in her suitcase.

0:00:420:00:44

Excuse me.

0:00:440:00:46

It pictures a British

nuclear-powered submarine,

0:00:460:00:51

deployed in the Arctic.

0:00:510:00:53

The Metro has the headline Putin

the Pariah after Britain gained

0:00:530:00:56

the support of the US,

France and Germany for blaming

0:00:560:00:59

Russia on the poisoning

of the former double agent

0:00:590:01:00

and his daughter.

0:01:000:01:02

The FT also has that story -

it pictures Theresa May

0:01:020:01:05

who today visited the scene

of the poisoning in Salisbury.

0:01:050:01:13

The Express looks at the World Cup

in Russia, questions being faced of

0:01:130:01:17

a mass boycott. The Guardian his

talking about Jeremy Corbyn,

0:01:170:01:32

fielding an article saying at his

own MPs are rushing ahead of the

0:01:320:01:40

evidence over the poisoning. The

Mirror's front page has a picture of

0:01:400:01:47

Poppi Worthington, the terrible case

of a young child who died of a

0:01:470:01:50

six-year. -- of asphyxiation.

0:01:500:01:56

Let's begin with The Metro. I am

trying to work out if it is terrible

0:01:560:02:03

make-up on Vladimir Putin, and I

presume he is not singing?

Serious

0:02:030:02:07

story, but this is almost comical.

It is almost like a flippant attempt

0:02:070:02:13

to hit back by printing pictures of

this notoriously vein, unpleasant

0:02:130:02:20

character, but very vein, looking

ridiculous. He's giving a election

0:02:200:02:25

rally, he will win because he has no

competition. It looks like he is

0:02:250:02:29

singing, but the serious story on

the front, and elsewhere in the

0:02:290:02:33

papers, is the joint declaration by

Britain, France, America and the

0:02:330:02:38

Germans, in opposition, denouncing

him for the nerve agent attack in

0:02:380:02:45

Salisbury.

The Financial Times

expands this by saying that Nato

0:02:450:02:51

powers are also lining up. The

secretary-general of Nato giving

0:02:510:02:58

strong support for Theresa May and

their position. How deep does this

0:02:580:03:05

consensus go, reacting to Russia? Is

everybody going to hold the line?

0:03:050:03:14

What we have got is better than what

we were expecting, France overnight,

0:03:140:03:18

an agent phone call this morning

between Theresa May and Emmanuel

0:03:180:03:23

Macron. They have the words of

solidarity. They got the fact that

0:03:230:03:30

they are agreeing that Russia is

culpable and this is an act on

0:03:300:03:35

sovereign soil. This is important.

What we haven't got, and what was

0:03:350:03:41

partly missing from Theresa May's

statement, is what we are going to

0:03:410:03:46

do about it. They can condemn, but

is that as far as it goes? The show

0:03:460:03:52

of solidarity is going to be

welcome. Even though we have a

0:03:520:03:59

difficult relationship with the

United States, even though we are

0:03:590:04:02

leaving the European Union, we still

have these international ties. Do we

0:04:020:04:07

need to go further in terms of can

we get sanctions, allies in Europe,

0:04:070:04:12

very important's

I mean, for the

next year we have to do this, he is

0:04:120:04:23

still the foreign policy organ of

which we are part?

It is, to an

0:04:230:04:27

extent, although we also have Nato

and the Americans. Previously, the

0:04:270:04:36

Litvinenko killing, there was

reluctance among some of European

0:04:360:04:40

partners to take action. Since then,

we have had the Crimea and Ukraine,

0:04:400:04:45

much more vigorous action is being

taken. The story today, the

0:04:450:04:49

Americans have unveiled fresh

sanctions relating to interference

0:04:490:04:51

in their election. There is already

quite a lot of sanctions in place

0:04:510:04:56

against Russians. I think the first

problem is to identify exactly who

0:04:560:05:03

to add to any sanctions list, and

the second problem is, after you

0:05:030:05:06

have done that, to identify whether

those people then have international

0:05:060:05:14

consensus to support that. That will

potentially take a little bit of

0:05:140:05:17

time, because it is not a

straightforward thing. We have got

0:05:170:05:21

to operate reasonably, within the

rule of law, and find a proper

0:05:210:05:25

justification for imposing

sanctions.

The justification could

0:05:250:05:29

well come out of the sort of stories

that the Daily Telegraph has on the

0:05:290:05:33

front page, the nerve agent planted

in the daughter's suitcase? She had

0:05:330:05:38

come to visit dad from her home in

Russia. What do you make of that?

I

0:05:380:05:45

problem is that I am not a professor

of chemicals, and not an expert. I

0:05:450:05:53

am not up on the dark arts of

assassination. I don't know how this

0:05:530:05:58

would work. This is a highly toxic

agent that they have used, Novichok.

0:05:580:06:05

Visit transportable? So, you plant

it in the suitcase. That is it

0:06:050:06:12

transportable. Possibly you put it

in a cosmetic, did then know she was

0:06:120:06:17

going to go to this location, Coogee

open it earlier? Anybody could be

0:06:170:06:21

harmed by that. It seems a very

imprecise way of trying to take out

0:06:210:06:25

or attempt to take out your

attempted target. It does not stack

0:06:250:06:30

up for me. There are all sorts of

theories we could speculate on.

0:06:300:06:34

Maybe this is the one the Telegraph

has chosen to go with.

The truth is

0:06:340:06:39

that we don't know and there has

been a wall of silence from the

0:06:390:06:43

police and intelligence agency

sources about the detailed

0:06:430:06:49

investigation in this particular

circumstance. Part of that is

0:06:490:06:53

understandable because they want to

identify exactly who the culprits

0:06:530:06:55

are. They don't want publicity

necessarily getting in the way of

0:06:550:06:58

it. It makes it difficult to stand

up exactly what has happened. The

0:06:580:07:04

Telegraph says intelligence agencies

now believe, it seems to have senior

0:07:040:07:08

sources telling it that, it may turn

out to be correct or may not be.

0:07:080:07:13

Does that, in some ways, just fired

the apparent caution of Jeremy

0:07:130:07:16

Corbyn, picked up on the front of

the Guardian, and appears to have

0:07:160:07:21

caused such pranksters among his

MPs? Saying, yes, we can go for

0:07:210:07:26

Russia, but we need to follow where

the evidence leads? -- caused such

0:07:260:07:33

consternation.

There seems to be a

contradiction at the heart of the

0:07:330:07:39

article. As you said, the wounds

within the Labour Party were quite

0:07:390:07:46

dramatically reopened by the

response. A lot of his MPs are on

0:07:460:07:51

the same page in terms of domestic

policies, but they have this big

0:07:510:07:54

rupture with the leadership on

foreign policy in particular. What

0:07:540:07:58

he hasn't done is try to heal those

wounds in any way. That is quite

0:07:580:08:05

interesting.

Pressure, even from his

Defence Secretary, Shadow Defence

0:08:050:08:12

Secretary, saying it was Russia and

we have to follow...

Yes, and the

0:08:120:08:19

contradiction was that he was saying

yes, it is right we expel diplomats,

0:08:190:08:23

it is right we take tough action,

but I'm still not convinced it was

0:08:230:08:26

necessarily the Kremlin behind this.

That is what is causing such an --

0:08:260:08:38

angst. Distrust of the security

sources, for understandable reasons

0:08:380:08:41

because we got it wrong on Iraq and

the weapons of mass destruction.

0:08:410:08:45

Secondly, because it is, in terms of

national security, is he being seen

0:08:450:08:53

as weak on this? It could play badly

with Labour supporters in

0:08:530:08:56

traditional areas.

I'm sure it will

do. The difference between this

0:08:560:09:00

article and the Daily Telegraph's

claim about how it happened, the

0:09:000:09:06

Porton down scientists have

identified it as a particular nerve

0:09:060:09:09

agent that was manufactured in

Russia, could only have come from

0:09:090:09:12

there, according to these people,

they are not actually the

0:09:120:09:15

intelligence agencies, they are

something different. I think we got

0:09:150:09:21

to have faith in what their

conclusion is. If that is the case,

0:09:210:09:24

there are two scenarios, but even

the most generous one is that the

0:09:240:09:29

Russians have lost control, and if

not them, they are showing contempt,

0:09:290:09:33

a lack of desire to cooperate and

explain the circumstances.

The nerve

0:09:330:09:39

agent story takes up almost three

quarters of the front page of the

0:09:390:09:43

space available on the Guardian, we

also have Theresa May receiving

0:09:430:09:48

flowers in Salisbury. This other

story, which might have got a bigger

0:09:480:09:52

treatment from the Guardian, this is

the HSBC, seeming to be the worst

0:09:520:09:58

offender in terms of the gender pay

gap?

So far! It is quite a tough

0:09:580:10:03

race at the moment. The BBC did

quite good running, then we got ITN,

0:10:030:10:09

even worse. And Trinity Mirror has

come in, not as bad as ITN, and then

0:10:090:10:18

HSBC seems to be determined to take

the crown of the worst possible gap,

0:10:180:10:22

quite remarkable, considering that

banks probably had the money to do

0:10:220:10:26

this.

There should be able to do

something to close the gap. This is

0:10:260:10:32

an interesting story, if we go back

to the FT. The Unilever moved to

0:10:320:10:37

Rotterdam. It seemed an obvious one

for pro and anti Brexit forces to

0:10:370:10:43

lock horns over, but it's not as

simple as that?

The FT has had a go

0:10:430:10:47

at it, Theresa May, Herb Brexit row

of business as usual has been

0:10:470:10:54

dented, they say. Unilever have said

it is nothing to do with Brexit. It

0:10:540:10:58

seems to be more to do with takeover

rules and so on. Secondly, there

0:10:580:11:04

were some fairly apocalyptic

warnings from Unilever before the

0:11:040:11:08

referendum about serious

consequences if we voted to leave.

0:11:080:11:10

In this case, although there is a

significant thing happening, in that

0:11:100:11:15

the headquarters is moving, the

joint headquarters is moving to

0:11:150:11:20

Rotterdam, at the same time...

It is

the managers and book-keepers but

0:11:200:11:24

not the makers?

The jobs are staying

here, and Unilever says it is

0:11:240:11:28

manufacturing two main things...

Marmite still being made in Britain.

0:11:280:11:34

You can have the same...

You can't

have both things on the same

0:11:340:11:41

sandwich.

Doesn't appear to be

Brexit related.

They start reporting

0:11:410:11:48

about corporate taxes, going to the

Netherlands instead of Britain. I

0:11:480:11:55

think Brexit is a subsidiary factor.

We will pass over the Google story,

0:11:550:12:06

apparently they are spending tens of

millions of pounds on think tanks

0:12:060:12:08

that Baggott policies, not perhaps

hugely surprising, that is what

0:12:080:12:12

companies do. The most intriguing

thing of all, it is a long time

0:12:120:12:17

since I saw JFK on the front of a

British newspaper, why?

They have

0:12:170:12:24

recreated a speech he would have

given before he was shot with

0:12:240:12:27

technology.

This is where he was

going when he was shot?

They have

0:12:270:12:34

managed, through combat engineering

and so on, to analyse his speeches

0:12:340:12:37

from before and recreate his work

pattern, basically give this speech.

0:12:370:12:44

This is a fascinating piece of

historical re-enactment. You now

0:12:440:12:48

have this ability to actually create

a video of a politician, a serving

0:12:480:12:53

politician, getting them to say

whatever you want. The fake news,

0:12:530:13:00

the disinformation...

In elections.

Misleading the public, you have

0:13:000:13:05

these things go viral on the

internet, it is very, very high. I

0:13:050:13:10

can also see the downside, while I

like this.

On the upside, are there

0:13:100:13:19

people that are recent enough, that

there will be film and video of

0:13:190:13:23

them, that you would like to hear

speaking again?

Yes, there will be,

0:13:230:13:28

of course. That would be absolutely

fascinating. I tend to agree with

0:13:280:13:34

you, the dangers of it probably

greater in the modern era of fake

0:13:340:13:39

news spreading.

First, the famous

speech, the body of a man... That

0:13:390:13:45

was actually written after she said

it. All of my illusions are being

0:13:450:13:54

shattered.

Jason and Martin, thank

you both very much. Pleasure to have

0:13:540:13:57

you with us. That is all from the

papers tonight. You can see the

0:13:570:14:01

front pages online as soon as we get

them on the BBC News website. It is

0:14:010:14:05

all there for you, seven days a

week. If you missed the programme,

0:14:050:14:09

you can watch it later on BBC

iPlayer.

0:14:090:14:13

Thank you Martin Bentham

and Jason Beattie.

0:14:130:14:15

Goodbye.

0:14:150:14:16

The

0:14:180:14:19

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS