04/05/2017 This Week

Billions and billions of euros right if you're

a crafty Brussels Eurocrat, and we're paying.

Come on down, the FT's Lionel Barber.

100 billion euros, 80 billion, what will be the price

for Britain leaving the EU, and who will be the winners?

We're not sure Diane's got her prices right,

but come on down round-up host Adrian Childs.

And the contestants are getting deadly serious as they shoot

And comedians would pay anything to see a political bust-up,

The price is right this week, with me,

your host with the most, Andrew Neil!

After years of running battles with BBC Yentobs,

This Week has been able to complete the greatest of exits,

moving from our hovel in Millbank to take over the One Show studio.

We promised you that Thexit would be a sucess and look around, it has!

New cameras, new sofas, new studio, new everything!

And our red, white and purple cake has a cherry on top!

And all it cost us was ?100, or was it 100 billion?

Where's Diane Abbott when you need her?

We've shown the world of television that anyone can get a great deal,

take back control and make a success of exits.

We did it despite the best efforts of meddling,

ungrateful cognac-sodden BBC fat cats, hell-bent on stopping us.

Of course it would never have happened without my leadership.

How very different from that coalition of chaos, aka Newsnight.

They're just down the corridor, you know.

Henceforth all of our public appearances will be strictly

choreographed with absolutely no contact with any other

Speaking of yobbish hecklers who nobody wants to meet,

I'm joined tonight by the only part of our program still in desperately

in need of an upgrade, I speak of course of Michael

#ChooChoo Portillo and Lisa #NorthernSoul Nandy.

Welcome to you both. Your moment of the week? It has toe be 2 the EU

intervention, the haters of democracy wanting to punish the

country for making a democratic decision, upping the ante with their

100 billion euros now, probably knocking any hope of a settlement on

the head. I don't think there probably will be a deal now. In the

process in trying to interfere in our general election, probably

helping Mrs May probably making a large number of remain voters seeing

why those who voted Brexit voted Brexit. We'll come back to that. I

believe so. There was something quite important that happened over

in France, so you have this great clash in the French presidential

debate. Last night? Last night. And it seems that Macron is now pulling

ahead in the polls which is a relief. Madam Le Pen didn't get the

game-changer in the debate she needed? There are real lessons about

what is happening in France for British politics as well about

people feeling that there are a number of things that have festered

in French politics for a long time that haven't been addressed by

mainstream politicians that seem fascist to be able to poll around

40%. It looks like 30 40% at the moment. Twice what her father got in

2002. It's astonishing when you consider it's within living memory

that France drove the fascists out of their country. She would deny

that she's a fascist and she's rebranded the party. The French

courts would disagree. They don't have a say in who runs for

president. Sure but there are echoes over here of the lessons that we

need to learn about mainstream politicians being able to speak for

people. No question. And about the Daning, playing into people's fears

in not offering them real hope. We shall see the outcome on Sunday.

Now, we like to think of ourselves as the BBC's diplomatic

So in that spirit we decided to host a dinner for Jean-Claude Juncker,

Things between Theresa May and JC have been a little tense of late

so we stepped in hoping to smooth things over.

But ever since our dinner, Mr Juncker has been on the war path

calling us delusional, spreading fake news

in the continental press and even criticising our toad in the hole.

He claimed that he was forced to drink lukewarm German white wine

whilst some loony in a crazy shirt droned endlessly on about the 8:46am

milk train from Barton in the Beans to Nether upon Wallop.

Apparently the only thing he enjoyed was the after party

with Pete Doherty and Big Narstie, which probably explains why

Here's the FT's Lionel Barber with his take of the week.

With just three days to go before France chooses between two

presidential candidates, one a centrist called Macron,

another who threatens to eat the EU for breakfast.

For Brussels, the election of Marine Le Pen would be

Consider then the message that a successful Brexit

as Theresa May wants would send - when the going gets

That's why Brussels insists that we need to wake up

I met Jean-Claude Juncker many times.

He spent his whole career building Europe.

So if his team did actually leak all those rotten

details about that meal, maybe it was all about popping the

Distrust is getting higher, the gap's getting wider,

and now the Prime Minister has accused Brussels of

This week's kerfuffle should be a wake-up call to both sides.

But each believe it holds the trump card.

The EU knows Britain is running against the clock to reach

a financial settlement before a trade deal, but some

in May's Cabinet believe we can simply walk away,

bringing the temple down like Samson.

But my experience is that it will be impossible to avoid making

Juncker has got to balance the interests of 27

So we are in for months of trench warfare.

Britain needs a battle hardened Prime Minister.

So that's why she called a general election.

And from the FT canteen where it's fashionable to eat baked beans

with your croissant, Lionel Barber joins us now.

Welcome. It wasn't good. It looked good. Made me hungry. The Brexit

bill, briefing against the Prime Minister. Say Mrs May can't do her

own negotiations ex-trying to undermine David Davis. Is the

Brussels commission out of control? No. Just distinguish between the

comprehensive malicious leak from either Jean-Claude Juncker or his

Chief of Staff where everything about a private dinner... Was

revealed. Was revealed. That was different to what we have produced

which was the 100 billion euros story which was put together. By the

commission. No, no, no. Lots of other stories. That's the big story,

Andrew, it's not the commission that's come up with this higher

number, it's other member states, Poland, Germany France. Right but

still guided and encouraged by the commission to do this? We don't seek

commission Andrew to publish our stories from the commissioner. No,

you shouldn't seek permission if anybody but when you look at it all

together, are they so out of touch that they think this is going to

weaken Mrs May? Don't they realise that they're becoming her recruiting

sergeant? I think that that leak to the German newspaper of the whole

dinner was utterly misguided, fundamental misunderstanding of the

reaction that it would provoke in London and, as you say, helps Mrs

May. Michael? Absolutely. But it helps Mrs May. She must be very

pleased. And by the way, she was bold, she sees the opportunity, that

address in Downing Street. That surprised us. It was a surprise move

and took people's breath away. More than that, it might have scuppered

the negotiation. You can imagine that the British Government might

get away at the end of the day with a deal that cost it let's say ?25

billion or something. So if the European Commission begun with 40

billion, they could have settled at 25, everything would have been fine

but at 100 billion, the British have got to say this is preposterous and

we don't see why peshed way anything. Why should the commission

settle at a figure that's perhaps only a small fraction. It may have

scummered the whole thing. Would Labour contemplate anything like 100

billion? You start by trying to get the best deal for Britain, the

lowest figure as possible. There might be a compromise in there in

order to get the right outcome on things like immigration, jobs and

the economy. Would it contemplate anything like 100 billion? Sounds

like, to me, posturing at the outset of negotiations. I think Michael

might well be right about how difficult this has now become. The

difficulty is that I think it's pretty clear this works for Theresa

May on an electoral level because she obviously wants to try to

project herself as a very strong leader, it just doesn't work at all

for the British public. I think it's been fairly catastrophic to have

ended up in a place where we are having a slanging match with the

very people that we need to bring on side. In order to glif a decent

deal. Why is it catastrophic. Mrs May made it clear in her Lancaster

House speech that she wanted the E touch do well. She wanted the

closest relationships with the EU, she wanted free trade, defence and

security and a great relationship going forward. So she didn't start

the slanging match? She made it clear in that speech how high the

stakes are for the people of this country. But the problem is how

we've ended up here in a situation where we have managed to... Whose

fault is it? It goes right back to a Government that took a crisis in the

Conservative Party and turned it into a national crisis by calling a

referendum without thinking at all about what to do in the event of a

leave vote. That is a lot of water under the bridge after the

referendum. We are living it now. Do you think they've blown it by

talking about 100 billion? First skirmish in what will be the first

trench warfare. What we know is that there's always a horrible argument

lasting through the night, endless months of negotiations over money.

It's always been the case. Second point, 100 billion is a gross

figure. There's a whole load of other assets that we have - access

to building. This is a gross figure, there will be a net figure. The

briefing was that we have no right to these assets. When I had lunch -

not baked beans by the way, Andrew, within I had lunch with Jean-Claude

Juncker about six weeks ago. Foie gras? Know wine for the President,

by the way. He used the figure 60 billion, not 100 billion. So I think

these figures are loose. This was the gross big figure. It's going to

come down. Last point, Andrew, you and I know these are going to be

paid in instalments. It's not like we are going to hand over 100

billion euros in cash. It's like reparations, paid over many years.

That metaphor has been used. And it's very appropriate. There is

going to be a divorce bill. The purpose of reparations was really

above all motivated by the French and the treaty to give Germany a

punishment beating. 100 billion sounds like a punishment beating for

us and surely it's inconceivable that any British Government could

agree to a figure anywhere near close to that even if it is on the

never-never. What we'll end up with I don't know, 50 billion over ten

years. That's eminently payable. Why would we pay 50 billion? We have

certain obligations under our current arrangement. We have signed

up to a budget... 2020? But there are others. What about the

infrastructure projects that go beyond 2020? Maybe that shouldn't be

our responsibility? Well, so you just have the bridge to nowhere that

you cut off half way through? No. There is going to be. The bridge

takes a bit longer to build. There are some projects which we are going

to have to... We are going to have to pay probably for access to the

siveningle market. I think it's depressing that a

British newspaper has decided on this already. We haven't. You just

said 12 times that we have to pay. You are meant to be a British

newspaper. Where is the national interest in this? Is that what our

job is? You clearly don't think it is, because you have settled your

point of view that Britain has to pay you. So there is no liability

whatsoever? Is that what you are saying? We don't carry flags around

when we are reporting for the Financial Times. We report the

facts. No, you don't. You are the daily remain. Read our editorial,

Michael. That is a complete distortion of our editorial. That is

not correct. You should withdraw that. Isn't there a danger for

Remainer newspapers, like the Financial Times, and for the

opposition, that whenever there is a bust up between Brussels and London,

you seem to be siding with the other side. Isn't that a political risk?

What interests me is the risk for those I represent in Wigan. The

truth is that I have a major employer in my constituency who have

two constantly reassess the political situation and decide

whether it is in their interest to be based in the UK and how many jobs

they have here. I cannot imagine what they must be thinking,

listening to this, listen to Theresa May, to Jean-Claude Juncker, to this

incredibly aggressive, quite gratuitous row being played out

through national and international newspapers. When you contrast the

way Theresa May is behaving towards those other 27 European countries

with the way that she fawned over Donald Trump recently on a trip to

America, I cannot see in whose interests this is, except her own.

So if Labour had been empower their would have been no response to this

extraordinary provocation from the European Union? Why are we in this

situation, because consistently your party has isolated itself in Europe,

amongst a group of nations with whom we have co-operated on peace, on

security, on the environment... I absolutely accept that the verdict

was to leave the European Union and we are leaving. You almost forgot to

say it. I didn't forget. I want the best possible outcome and I had seen

nothing from Theresa May that suggests she agrees. It is incorrect

to say that we are a Remainer newspaper. Let me leave the FT for a

moment and come back to the general point. These are early days,

everyone is jockeying for position, people are probably saying things

they will regret later on both sides when the negotiations get under way.

Can't you see the makings of a deal, that there will be some divorce

Bill, size to be determined, probably under 50 billion, maybe

between 30 and 50, and in return for that, there will be a generous free

trade agreement with the EU? Isn't that the architecture of the deal?

It is, and it is important to say that we believe that the European

Union is wrong, the commission is wrong in saying that you have to

have a comprehensive deal on the money and one or two other things,

EU citizens' rights. They could start negotiating on a free-trade

deal, the framework. They should not say, that goes in a box until

everything else is settled. What we also know as part of the deal is

that we are almost certainly going to have to stay in the single market

beyond 2020, as part of a transition agreement, before we get a sensible

trade deal that is good for Britain. We will leave it there. A long while

to go yet. Thank you. Now it's late, too late to cast your

vote in the local elections late - so if you've just woken up

from your latest Blue Nun-induced But all is not lost,

because waiting in the wings is comedian and heckler's nightmare

Simon Evans here to put So bring out the Facebants,

crack out the Snapchatter, we're all Twitter trolls,

and we're going after Now, there's been

an unlikely alliance It turns out Theresa May has named

Diane Abbott her new negotiator The Prime Minister said that Diane's

experience in plucking numbers out of thin air and her gift

for pretending that things will cost far, far less than expected made

Madame Mao the ideal candidate. In fact, Diane has been in touch

to say that she's already secured a Brexit deal

with the European Union offering to pay us 100 billion euros if we're

prepared to go quietly, not insist on any more dinners

in Downing Street and find Jean-Claude Juncker a free

place in the Priory. And if that wasn't enough,

they've given us Belgium as well. Which is only fair

since we invented it. Here's Adrian Chiles

with his round up of the week. There's the local elections,

and then there's the election of the six new combined

local authority mayors. And then they were all relegated

to the undercard with the calling The nation is agog, just bristling

with excitement at the prospect The Prime Minister thinks she's

so strong and so stable that she's even picking another fight

with the EU. Some have created the illusion that

Brexit would have no material Or that negotiations can be

concluded quickly and painlessly. And if you think about it,

all that happened is Theresa May If you believe the German

press, things have got We all thought we were only

at the pre-fight weigh-in stage, and look at them, they've gone mad,

springing out their corners, throwing haymakers

all over the place. During the Conservative Party

leadership campaign I was described by one of my colleagues

as a bloody difficult woman. And I said at the time,

the next person to find that out Your food is disgusting,

ten times worse than I thought. What nonsense, it was a good dinner,

it was a strong dinner, The Lib Dems, meanwhile,

currently Commons featherweights, reckon they can move up a couple

of weight divisions by fighting One of their few heavyweights threw

a couple of big punches this week, saying their manifesto

would include a commitment to a second referendum,

and he said the Tories The Government, despite months

and months of preparation for these Brexit talks, has started

on completely the wrong foot, acting incompetently,

misjudging what the rest of the European Union wants,

and given that we have a very short period of time to complete these

talks, it makes it all the more likely that the outcome will be

a bad outcome for Britain, leaving many millions

of Britons worse off. Labour tried to wrest the narrative

away from Brexit so it could fight The Shadow Home Secretary,

Diane Abbott, always more of a fighter than a clever boxer,

announced their flagship Now, look, I know this exchange

is a terrible cringe, So how much would 10,000

police officers cost? Well, if we recruit the 10,000

police men and women over a four-year period,

we believe it will be Miss Abbott groggily lifted her head

off the canvas to offer I do know my figures,

and as you will know, I did seven interviews that morning

and that was the seventh, and I OK, fair play, she knew the numbers

but she could only get Anyway, it neatly chimed

in with the Tory narrative of strong, stable competence

versus chaos, thoroughly undermining Labour's insistence

that they are the ones to be trusted This, in the week that

Jeremy Corbyn's been going around saying they're

going to have a full-scale review We will halt that process and look

again at all of them, to ensure that there is an A

department that is in reach of everybody across the country,

and that the threats to hospitals, and the false competitions

that have been set up The Tories say they've uncovered

a ?45 billion shortfall Jeremy Corbyn offers a chaotic

and high-risk gamble that would lead to higher taxes,

more borrowing and more debt. Some activists on the left have

united to form a so-called The Greens have stood aside to help

Labour in some seats. Labour haven't returned the favour,

annoying the Greens no end. My frustration with the Labour Party

comes from having sat just alongside them on the opposition benches

and seen how they have utterly failed to be the opposition this

country desperately needs them In the devolved nations,

the SNP and Plaid are squaring up I say this with no great sense

of glee, but Labour is not going to win this election

across the UK, and that standing between Scotland

and an increasingly right-wing Conservative government

that wants the ability to do whatever it wants,

is the SNP. This election is all about defending

Wales, protecting Welsh people from further privatisation and cuts

and a power grab from the Tories. Perhaps she just wants us to see

all this as a mere warm-up bout ahead of the title fight when,

if she wins the election, she will go toe-to-toe good

and proper with the EU. In the last few days we have seen

just how tough these Britain's negotiating position

in Europe has been misrepresented The European Commision's negotiating

stance has hardened. Threats against Britain have

been issued by European All of these acts have been

deliberately timed to affect You, a bunch of Junckers,

the lot of you! And the lovely Miranda

Green is with us now. Miranda, over two weeks since Mrs

May called the election. Where are we on the campaign? At a point where

every fresh news story about relations between the UK and the EU

has helped only Theresa May, and so little flashes of optimism I might

have had ten days ago are dying quite fast. I think we are on our

way to an enormous Conservative landslide and I can't see what stops

it. Lisa, where do you think we are? It has been a very difficult few

years for people on the progressive wing of British politics. I don't

know whether I found what was in that report more frightening, or

Adrian Childs in a week. I guess I would say there are 35 days to go

until possibly the most important general election in my lifetime.

Whoever forms the next government will go into those Brexit

negotiations. If Theresa May wins the big mandate she is looking for

and the big majority, I think we have a real problem because already

we have seen her style is not to try to build consensus but to drive

through change, and I very much agree that we do need strong and

stable government, but I don't think that the way that you achieve that

for one minute is by alienating other people and isolating other

people, and particularly about picking sides following a referendum

that has been incredibly divisive. You have to bring all people with

you in what comes next as we leave the EU. Can she just bang on about

leadership for another 35 days? Yes. That's really encouraging. General

elections are not designed as entertainment for journalists,

although journalists would like them to be that. Some policy would be

interesting. All the focus is on Brexit. The European Commission is

helping her because they just put that issue back in the middle of the

table every time. So Jeremy might want to talk about their -- the

health service but every day there is a Brexit story. Labour has tried

to bring policy into the campaign but I think it has a problem in that

if most people think it is going to lose, it is hard to get attention on

the policies. I don't know if it is hard to get attention on the

policies. I think the problem this week with the interview that Diane

gave... That was a one-off. That was Diane. Sure, but if people are

unable to hear what the message is, then we can't convince people that

that is what they need to vote for. The tragedy of that is that when you

do talk to people about crime going up, and about needing more police on

the streets and about the policy that Diane was trying to launch, it

absolutely does resonate with people. I know that Brexit is

important and I think the British people feel that, too, but the

issues that come up on the doorstep, still, are issues about people not

being able to get decent social care for their parents, or not feeling

that their children will have the same opportunities that they had. It

is quite telling that this government has not got anything to

say about that. I don't think they want to talk about their track

record. When Theresa May came to the north of England she did not even

want to talk about being a Tory. There is a reason for that. We have

35 days and we have to make sure those issues are front and centre.

Why are the Liberal Democrats having such a bad campaign? They have some

structural problems, which is that if you have an enormous Conservative

surge going on, which is what people are coming back from on the doorstop

edge the doorstep, and is what the polls are saying, then all of these

subtleties about the structure of the opposition and who would provide

the healthiest challenge to the government at this historic time are

slightly for the birds. Those yellow on blue seats, which would be the

ones the Lib Dems would be hoping to take back in this general election,

if you have an enormous swing towards the Conservative Party, it

is a tough hill to climb. In a way, it is different to the problems of

the Labour Party, because the Labour Party is trying to move the debate

to domestic policy. The Lib Dems have decided to fight on Brexit, on

the Remain ticket, softening Brexit as much as possible. But

unfortunately the psychology of a general election is not like a

by-election and so this Tory message about leadership and who you want in

Downing Street plays well. That's really tough for the Lib Dems. Are

we not awe struck by the political talent? I'm making a general point.

The fact that the election appears to be about one slogan, strong and

stable Government, I think it's quite depressing. I think the

Liberal Democrats suffer from poor leadership, I think you suffer from

poor leadership and I think the Conservatives suffer from what I

would call thin leadership. There are hardly layers and layers of

ability in evidence there and people come away from the election feeling

depressed. Something that is depressing is the need for, given

Theresa May's incredibly unassailable position at the

moment... That is how you see it? Absolutely. She doesn't need to go

with this rhetoric about crushing all opposition and blame the

saboteurs who want to do down the country because actually that's

unhealthy and we know we are in an unhealthy situation. For the very

dominant governing party to say let's smash opposition even further

comes across as slightly authoritarian. What about Diane

Abbott's interview? There was a figure got wrong by a factor of a

thousand, 90-100 million was said instead of 900 million. People do

make errors in broadcast. It got worse for Diane after that because

then the 80 million came in you know and she wasn't really getting

anywhere. It was surprising. She was launching a policy and, particularly

on the radio, you have figures on a bit of paper.

Now people have been voting in local elections.

Let's cross now to Chris Mason who's in Salford, but not,

Chris any early indication no how things are going?

I aspire to be only out by a factor of ten in the next coupling of

minutes. You know what happens on nights like this. We love a smidgen

on extrapolation and speculation, it's on the basis of a handful of

results here goes. People will look at the results in upper Scruffington

and guess what the figures will be like. We have barely anything here.

We have news coming out of the counting in Wales though. The first

lot of the night for Labour which came in at about 11. 20, losing a

relatively marginal ward in Wrexham to an independent candidate. They

lost their second seat to an independent on Wrexham in a ward in

which they won as much as 72% of the vote four years ago. Taking a look

into Warwickshire, the Conservatives taking a seat from Labour there. And

what else have we got? A gain for the Liberal Democrats. It's an

advance for the Liberal Democrats in Gloucestershire, increasing their

share of the vote by eight points on 2013 on a ward they won in 2013. One

other result suggests a big fall in the vote for Ukip. We are in the, to

put it mildly, I was going to say the foothills, we have barely left

the beach as we look up towards the mountain of results to come between

now and about 7 or 8 o'clock of what is now tonight, on Friday.

Interesting early indications, Chris, thank you for that. We'll

leave you to plough up the mountain, careful as you go! The elections are

very important for Labour in the sense that if it does better than

predicted, it's not a wipe-out or a ah crash, that would be a sign that

hey, there's still something to play for on June 8th, all is not lost,

use this as a spring board. If they are as bad as expected or even

worse, then even more despair sets in? Well, I think there is a general

view in the Labour Party actually that we've got 35 days to go until a

general election, it might even be 34 now because we've past Midnight.

Help, sorry I've got to go! But we've got now a clock ticking in

order to get out there and make the case to the country. The mood in

Labour changed very substantially. Being in opposition is really hard.

You will know this, you have a front row seat to see what the Government

are doing, you tend to disagree with almost all of it, you see the effect

of it on your own constituents, yet you troop around the divisional

lobbies over and again and you lose. You may win the argument but not the

vote. The point was a simple one - the outcome of the local elections

will affect Labour more Real for good or bad surely? No. -- morale.

No, I think we'll still be out there fighting for every vote. I think you

will probably see some interesting dynamics through the local elections

that might give you pointers to the general. It feels going round

different seats in this election that there are lots of different

battles and dynamics playing out and there'll be some surprising ruts.

The one thing that helped the Tories, a number of things have, but

one thing that gives them a perfect storm in their favour, is the

collapse of Ukip. Yes, exactly. That helps them take back and win some

Labour seats in the Midlands and the north. If that Ukip vote goes to

them where Labour has smaller majorities, they win? Absolutely and

Ukip's not standing in lots of those Tory Lib Dem battle grounds in the

South West for example. Ukip's not standing in Boris Johnson's seat.

There's a limit to how much the opposition parties can try the trick

of calling the Conservative candidate the Conservative and Ukip

candidate to try to solidify the tactical vote against them. Even if

only half of that vote share goes across to the Tories, it's a huge

boost, making it a relentless oncoming tide of blue. I have to

say, I salute you, Lisa, for you determination and pluck, but I think

it's... Indefacability is what Galloway gal

once said. Now, since we've been on air we've

received an urgent call from the This Week accounting team

in the Cayman Islands It turns out we've blown this

month's entire budget on a fact-finding mission

to Fyre Festival, the exclusive VIP We wanted to see at first-hand how

to spend vast amounts of other people's money and create

a hugely disappointing product. Turns out we don't really

have anything to learn But the BBC suits are

on the war-path which is why we're putting confrontation

in the Spotlight. Voters always find ways

of confronting politicians # Please go back to Eton,

# please go back to Eton, # with all your Eton chums #.

And on Tuesday, Theresa May got a taste of it.

Brexit has huge opportunities for us.

It can do if we get the right deal...

It doesn't help when Boris Johnson said it's

How should politicians react when things get heated, as they did

Because you say those who voted leave are racist.

My mates voted leave, I don't think they're racist.

Staying polite seems to do the trick.

What should a politician do when they're confronted by a rival

In France you give as good as you get.

TRANSLATION: Mr Macron is the candidate of

savage globalisation, uberisation, economic uncertainty.

Do the people want the defeatist attitude.

And should politicians stay out of the line of fire all together?

When it came to the White House correspondents dinner this week,

Donald Trump kept away and dodged a bullet.

They're gathered together for the White House correspondents

The leader of our country is not here.

And that's because he lives in Moscow.

It would be hard for Vlad to make it.

Stand up comic Simon Evans loves the challenge of confronting

hecklers, but is it just a lose-lose scenario for politicians?

It's a lose-lose scenario being forced to confront your own previous

hair cut. Three years makes all the difference! Politicians used to get

much closer to the public, I don't know whether it's security concerns

or the rise of spin doctors, but I wonder now if they face more

confrontation when they do meet the public because it's actually quite

scarce when they meet the public so the public say here is an

opportunity, I'm going to have a go at you? I don't know if that's true

or whether it doesn't show up at on the TV. I was at a NUT conference

and Jeremy Corbyn appeared in the middle of the crowd and started

taking questions like a third-rate celebrity. That is unusual. I live

in Brighton so we see a lot of these things going on. Once people come

in, people do mingle. It may be the awareness that politicians come off

not very well after these things. We've become a less deferential

nation. That's usually the point isn't it. Maybe that makes the

ordinary voter more confident to confront politicians? Yes. I think

everyone has their own as well. As much as we were hearing about the 27

nations, at least the number of varieties of ordinary members of the

public there are as well and they all think if they have an

opportunity to raise things a little bit higher. The funny thing is, I

personally always kind of feel for the politician in that situation

because they're being expected to respond to an unexpectedly magnified

version of a single consideration. I mean everyone remembers the time

Blair was confronted by the woman outside the hospital. That was a

time when he was soaring in the polls. All the way back in the 60s

Harold Wilson was hit by an egg on a surprise visit to Harrow and Ted

Heath made the joke that things were so desperate that men and women were

wandering around with boxes of eggs on the off chance of meeting him. Ed

Miliband, John Prescott The bigoted woman with Gordon Brown. It ended

with the comment that the whole western democracy hinged upon. Do

you find that more confrontational? Aisle only been doing it for seven

years. I represent a seat where people are direct, they will tell

you what they think and they'll tell you what they think about it,

whether you're at the cheese aisle at Tesco or are in a suit at a

street stall. I agree with you, we are incredibly accessible even with

everything that's happened recently. I get the same train as Tim Farron

often from Parliament and both of us will be sitting in the carriage with

people chatting to us, they'll sit down and have a Natter then they'll

leave. I don't think it's odd to meet people who're very angry.

Sometimes what happens is that people have stored that up, that

sense of frustration and when they see somebody who may be able to give

that a national voice, they really, really want to tell you. Sometimes

that level of anger can dissipate very, very quickly if they feel that

you actually do care. Can I ask, do you get trained in how to deal with

it from that point of view? God, no. You don't actually get trained in

anything as a Member of Parliament. Tim Farron handled that rather well.

You need discipline to remain polite, global worst thing to do is

not to be polite. Yes I think that's right. The public don't play by what

politicians think of as rules. So in an interview with a politician, the

understanding about how the conversation is going to progress,

the public aren't versed in that and go off all over the place. Margaret

Thatcher, the sinking of the Belgrano, the lady talking about

that simply wouldn't get go. Wouldn't be palmed off. Would not be

palmed off. If you wanted a further sound bite answer, you would think,

I've got to move on. I'm not sure the public always want us to be

polite. I think they are on our side and want us to stick up for

ourselves. John Prescott is a good example. Most people who got hit

hard by an egg would probably respond robustly, you know. You

quite like confrontation, don't you? It was interesting watching Michael

have a confrontation earlier. However, borderline ugly it may have

been but it makes the thing more compelling. If you get a

confrontation in a a comedy club, that represents tension that's been

built, possibly because the comedian isn't goings down well or the

audience is drunk, but whatever it needs to come to a head. If the

comedian has the chops to deal with it, that ignites the night and

that's everybody's favourite point. If you are doing a 20-minute set,

you hope the heckler comes at the end because to sustain that level of

excitement, you have to coast to the end. What are we up to now, in

touring? I thought you meant for my confrontation! Edinburgh previews

getting read dwri for the festival doing a show called Genius. If

anybody else has thoughts on that in the green room! Thank you, Simon.

That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us.

We're off to Lou Lou's for Tony Blair's big return

Jezza's put five quid behind the bar in a spirit of party unity

I'm worried it will all be a bit awkward since we're only allowed

to talk in sound bites and use sentences with no verbs.

And no one, and I mean no one, Lisa, is allowed to mention his past

proclivity for invading places that weren't really a threat to us,

which rather leaves us caught between Iraq and a hard place.

For political junkies, who don't have an invite,

there's continuing coverage and analysis of the local election

results in England and Wales on Election Night Live,

with James Naughtie and Carolyn Quinn, on BBC Radio 4 and Five Live.

Folks in Scotland will have to wait until Friday lunchtime

Nighty night don't let Westminster's finest bite.

Why should the public, on this issue, as regards

the future of the Royal Navy, believe you, a transient,

here today, and if I may say so, gone tomorrow politician,

rather than a senior officer of many years?

I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview really.

A lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills

The Pakistani general has just been elected.

He appears he's going to bring stability to the country

and I think that's good news for the subcontinent.

The fact of using underspends for this means that our plan

is absolutely intact and that is rightly what we seek

I and the Press Complaints Commission were very badly misled

by the News of the World, and I know you're laughing at that.

Actually being able to endure a discussion like this

without getting up and smashing your face in, which is what most people

would do if they'd been through what I have been.

You are the worst person I've ever interviewed.

No, no, it's basically off with their heads!

I really want to answer these questions.

Can we do a television interview, or can we do a press interview?

I'd almost like to start completely...