29/06/2017 This Week

It's the last word in luxury, the steaming hot Commons,

It's a beautiful palace for beautiful people.

Tonight on the This Week, Love Island, the nation appears

increasingly besotted with the leader of the Labour Party.

And even moderate Labour MPs can't wait to turn the lights down low

Momentum's Adam Klug is totally smitten.

He's got the looks, the charisma and policies.

After weeks of flirting and playing hard to get,

the DUP have finally tied the knot with Theresa May.

And Sky's Adam Boulton has his doubts.

I should think they will end up drowning their sorrows.

Oh, yes, trouble could be brewing in paradise.

Comedian Viv Groskop thinks the public

is falling out of love with everything.

No-one loves This Week anymore, no-one ever loved

With the Blue Nun on ice, prepare yourself for the

We might be in for a long, hot summer - steaming political fun!

And we begin tonight with highlights from the political

career of Tim Farron, the outgoing leader of the Lib Dems.

We bring you exclusive footage of the Theresa Maybot Mexican Wave.

We can reveal that food franchise holders at Glastonbury are suing

the festival organisers after Jeremy Corbyn fed

the 150,000-strong audience using only two fishes and five loaves.

They claim that such miracle working gives him an unfair competitive

advantage and that next year he should stick

And, after indefinitely delaying plans for a 2nd

independence referendum, Scottish First Minister Nicola

Sturgeon has embarked on a new singing career to fill

Her first single, I'm Angry, is already number one

in Auchtermuchty and contains the popular, repetitive

Until we come to the catchy chorus ...

Speaking of those with limited vocabulary, I am here with two stars

who are never short of words. We hope that one day, they will get

them in the right order, so that what they say makes sense. I speak

of Liz Kendall and Michael Portillo. Michael, your moment of the week?

The impending collapse of the Islamic State caliphate. Mosul in

Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, look as if they are about to fall. Of course,

we still phase a powerful Islamic State across the world We know about

that from the attacks in our own cities. But still, three or four

years ago, the idea of the caliphate seemed serious. It looked like it

might grow, rather than shrink. The other thing that is notable about it

is the number of local actors, if you want to put it that way,

involved. The Iraqi Army has been effective after some time. The free

fighters in Syria and the Kurds have played an important part in the

fight on Raqqa. And so, I think this is a moment that is worth note.

It is a major development in the Middle East. Liz, your moment? The

Government's decision today to ensure women from Northern Ireland

who have to come to England or Wales to have an abortion are going to get

that treatment on the same basis as all other women in the UK free at

the point of need. This was in response to the Stella

Creasy, the Labour MP? That's right it is hugely important for the 700

or so women who have to do that each year but it also shows the

precariousness of the Tory position and the power to change things if

you work across-party divides. And there is a hung Parliament.

Now, for most of his political career Jeremy Corbyn has

been the lone outsider, the backbencher on Labour's wilder

fringes, the token left-wing, no-hope challenger for the Labour

leadership, the politician who never, even in his own wildest

Now he's flavour of the month far beyond his traditional left-wing

base, with approval ratings that have overtaken Theresa May,

leading a party that is currently favourite to win a snap election

Prospective parents are even considering naming

You could be forgiven for forgetting that Labour actually lost its third

general election in a row, with fewer seats and a smaller vote

But Jeremy Corbyn has momentum with a small m and a capital M.

Can it carry him all the way to Downing Street?

Here's Adam Klug from Momentum, with a big M, in a big ball,

A little under two years ago, I helped to establish Momentum.

We played a key role in the extraordinary election result

Using innovative technology and viral social media content,

we mobilised tens of thousands of people to knock on millions

It's now time for parts of the media that have demonised Momentum

to recognise that Jeremy Corbyn's vision for Labour, which we support,

It's only Theresa May that needs to worry about Momentum.

She is leading an unstable Tory government propped up

by the anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, climate

Another general election could come soon, and Momentum has already

But if we are to win, Labour needs to stick with the bold,

transformational vision for a society that works

It's not about chasing the mythical medium voter,

but setting out a sustainable, investment-led economy that people

We must make sure the whole party unites around Jeremy's

We've rightly seen many of his doubters in the Parliamentary party

So we need to stay united and build on our transformational manifesto.

With the Labour Party led by its members inspiring tens

of thousands of people to get out on the doorstep, that

Gone are the days of experts in suits calling

Members should be empowered to lead the party.

Those tens of thousands of members who took the time and energy

to canvas across the country, they are the key.

They are how we will transform Britain for the many, not the few.

Thanks to Quadrenalin Quad bBking Centre in Milton Keynes.

Adam Klug has swapped his inflatable bubble for our less fast-moving

Liz, if there was a snap election between now and late autumn, would

Jeremy Corbyn be the next Prime Minister? I think he could well be.

Things have changed a huge amount over the last three or four months.

But, we still have to win 65 more seats to form a majority. That's

just a majority of one. We have to double the swing at the next

election than we got at the last. I think that the challenge for us is

to deepen the support of the people who came to us a couple of weeks ago

and broaden that out too. That is going to be tough. I think we have

done extremely well amongst university-educated people, women,

those under 44. We still have a problem with older voters and many

people in our so-called traditional working-class areas. And I think

that the great unknowable, is can we both hold on and deepen the support

of those who have come to us, whilst reassuring those who have had

concerns, without losing some of the enthusiasm that we have seen at the

general election. That's the great unknowable.

How will he do that? Aagree with Liz, there is a way to go. But it is

a tremendous achievement from polling at 24% to over 40% of the

popular vote. But how does he get the next 40

seats to get a majority of one? We have seen a bold manifesto in the

country that proved popular. But we have to mobilise the party that much

more. Do you need to change to widen the

appeal further? It is clear that the manifesto is popular.

But you lost? So what do you have to change to win? I think it is about

communicating the vision of the manifesto.

It is a communications issue, rather than substance? We saw in the

election when Jeremy Corbyn got a fairer hearing and the policy

platform was articulated effectively and we mobilised tens of thousands

of activists to knock on millions of doors, that lots of people could see

there could be a better society for them. What explains the phenomena of

Jeremy Corbyn? An extraordinarily bad manifesto, a Prime Minister who

did not debate while Jeremy Corbyn appeared as a general individual who

got more of a hearing than before. It must have been more than just the

Tory campaign and manifesto being useless? There were other parties to

vote for. 85% of people voted Tory or Labour. They did go to Labour?

But what I said remains plause Iible. Not only were the Labour

Party polling at 40%. It was also that Labour were crushed in the

local elections, which were about a month before the general election.

So there was an absolutely seismic change in public opinion and public

voting and the best explanation of that is the Conservative manifesto.

You say, Liz, that Mr Corbyn must broaden the appeal to get the other

60 seats but he has not reached to your part of the party, to the

Labour centre or centre-right. He said come on board on my terms. I

would not have expected him to. But the many, many conversations I had

with people who voted Labour for a long time but were worried about

supporting us, they wanted reassurance on defence, security aye

roach to terrorism. They wanted to know we really could afford to pay

for the things we were talking about.

Were they reassured? I think many stuck with us, partly not just

because the manifesto was bad, but a, the Tory manifesto was bad but

also, we have tapped into the sense that even Philip Hammond admitted

that people have seen after ten years, they have seen cuts to public

services but we still have a huge deficit to play.

Let's not replay that. What I am trying to work out... And can you

reassure on defence and public spending and borrowing? Well I was

glad that Jeremy Corbyn said after the minister attacks, that the

police should use all powers to deal with them.

Controversial. Who else would not say that? We had a commitment to

multilateral, not unilateral. The question is, how does he broaden

out? I think we have to give reassurance on security and we can

afford to pay for the things... I will give out. I will bring Adam

back in. He is our guest. OK.

I understand why you are enthusiastic and why you see the

opportunities. They have said that he could be the next Prime Minister.

There is also on the other side, the danger this could be as good as it

gets. We live in a world where the political cycle moves quickly. One

day you are the cock of the walk, the next day, you are a feather

duster, just ask Theresa May, or Nicola Sturgeon. Maybe you need a

snap election or this moment passes you by.

I think there will be an election soon. With the coalition of chaos

and the DUP propping them up, with the public sector pay cap, the

Tories are in disarray. I think this is the beginning with Labour. For

example, Momentum, our social media content went viral, one in three

Facebook users saw our videos. We knocked on millions of doors but

that was just the beginning. Bernie Saunders is coming over to help us.

We are building. You are building? We are building.

Does someone like Liz Kendall have a future in the Labour Party? Of

course. The Labour Party has been a Broadchurch.

Does she have to come on board to the Corbyn project? When the party

united, there was a support for the manifesto. It worked. When there was

no infighting we moved forward and we have to carry on building on that

and get more Labour MPs into government when the next election

happens. Sounds like a death sentence.

You did not let me say this last time, but in my constituency, of

course there are always people for whom there are difficulties, but the

vast majority of members pulled together. We have different views

and approaches but we are a democratic party. We want the same

goal. We have different ways of getting there but when we work

together we have a great result. At your way is going nowhere. Even if

Mr Corbyn was to fall under the proverbial bus, his wing of the

party will remain in control for the foreseeable future. You and your

side are being written out of the script. He is not going anywhere. It

is not about the size of the party. We are seeing a new elliptical

culture, a new wave of politics, people getting involved from a

diverse range of backgrounds and changing the Westminster bubble. But

how do you maintain the momentum if, and I understand there could be an

election at any time, but if Mrs May macro managers to stumble on for the

next 18 months, which is also possible, how do you maintain the

momentum? It is hard to imagine that will be the case. We will constantly

be going to marginal constituencies. There are now new marginals, which

previously the Tories had big leads in, so we will stay in that zone but

we will also be communicating ideas effectively and trying to bring new

people into politics. Do you fight the next election on the same

manifesto, or more radical? This manifesto has proved very popular

and sets out a vision. So do you keep it for the next election? At

the moment, that is very popular, yes. That is where we are going. The

Tories do need to stumble on, or else he will be proved right. A snap

election at the moment would be very bad for the Tories, partly because

of the deal with the DUP, partly because of the terrible fire in the

tower block which has gone badly for the government. Partly because of

the momentum that is there at the moment, partly because of

Glastonbury. For those reasons, this would be a terrible moment. But we

have seen that minority governments can stumble on for quite a long

time. A Labour government in the past stumbled on for five years with

no majority, so let's see how we go. Thank you for being with us.

Now, it's late, UFO spotting with Michael with us.

That's right, our Porty's been accused of not taking the 1996

extra-terrestrial invasion of Skegness seriously enough

If he'd bothered to go to Skegness he'd have been in no

It's proved to be the biggest alien scandal since Jon Snow's mind

was zapped by anti-Tory Klingons at Glastonbury in 1989.

But if, like us, you're tired of the bad news bandwagon,

fear not because waiting in the wings is comedian

and stand-up marathonian, Viv Groskop, here to put news

Snap-nap out of your Twitter trance and join us in the Insta-groove.

Now, the Westminster rumour mill is in full swing,

with murmurs that the government is verging on a U-turn,

on its U-turn, on its U-turn over the public sector pay cap.

Yesterday, it managed two U-turns on the matter in one day,

We don't mind because this is one U-turn This Week

After all, if Her Madge can get an 8% pay rise,

surely we can get a few spondoolicks from the magic money tree as well.

Just enough to buy a ticket for Michael's gold-plated private

train to the Cote D'Azur, and to set up a brand

new studio in Liz's boutique mansion in St Tropez,

where a freshly pedicured Molly the dog will be waiting

Other designer dog baskets are available.

Here's Adam Boulton with his round up of the political week.

Mind you, I suppose viewers of this Week probably can't read.

Well, you'd better come in, because we are celebrating 20

But don't get any ideas about settled status, mind.

Took me 20 years to get rid of that Harry Potter,

But then he met a nice girl and settled down in Kettering.

But before you can say harmonious, there's always another boy

Hasn't mastered his charms but he's looking for a quick win.

Mind you, he's a bit in awe of his rival, the grand

wizard from the Brussels Academy, Michel Barnier.

Mind you, none of it's helped by the spreadsheet

Phil slithering about, comparing hard Brexit

And then soft Brexit to a lovely dream where everybody gets cake.

We will reach an arrangement that puts jobs and prosperity first,

that keeps our markets for goods and service and capital open,

that achieves early agreement on transitional arrangements

and delivers an outcome that increases the size

The Government is keen to sort out the early sticking points so it can

So this week the Prime Minister came up with her concessions

I want to completely reassure people that under these plans no EU citizen

currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point

Better get this money tree planted quick.

The Conservative Party has recognised the case for higher

funding in Northern Ireland, given our unique history and

Well, the Prime Minister says it's a good deal,

and at least she's got a sort of majority.

As a result of this election there was no party that had

The party that had the largest number of seats and the only party

that can form an effective government is the

That's the right thing to do, and that's what we've done.

They said it was robbing McGregor to pay O'Toole.

We don't grudge Northern Ireland a penny.

We just want fairness for every other part of the UK,

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn's on a high, having addressed pie eyed

Apparently he told Farmer Eavis he will be

Blimey, then we'll need a money tree forest.

That new blend fertiliser had better work.

In every child, there is a poem, in every child there is a painting,

And you know what, as people get older, they get a bit

Can't be thinking that sort of thing, can't be writing poetry.

I want all our children to be inspired, all our children

to have the right to learn music, to write poetry and to paint

But Labour is tapping into a national mood against austerity.

And at Question Time, Jeremy Corbyn linked council cuts

Provoking cries of "Shame" from the Tory benches.

This disregard for working-class communities, the terrible

consequences of deregulation and cutting corners.

This disaster must be a wake-up call.

Mrs May responded, striking a conciliatory tone.

The cladding of tower blocks did not start under this government.

It did not start under the previous coalition government.

The cladding of tower blocks began under the Blair government.

We should come together and ensure that...

According to the new British Social Attitudes Survey,

nearly half of people say they would pay higher taxes

So, in the Queen's Speech, Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion

reversing cuts in public spending and lifting the cap

Politics has changed and there has been a big rejection

It's time for the government to recognise, end the pay gap,

invest in public services and in the future of our country.

Those public sector workers shouldn't spend the money

We will not make our decision on public sector pay until the Pay

We will listen to what they say and we will listen to what people

in this house have said before making a final decision.

And you need to go back in the hothouse.

Probably public sector pay, DUP bribe, Brexit divorce bill.

Even the Queen wants 6 million for Buckingham Palace.

Better go and see how that money tree's doing.

Oh, no, must have overdone that fertiliser.

Thanks to Rosendale Allotments in South London, Adam will be

Michael, is the public sector pay cap doomed now? It might be. Any pay

policy tends to fail after a number of years and this has been applied

for about five years which is probably longer than any papal see I

can remember being applied in the past. I think the public sector

thinks it has been more hard done by then it has been, because in the

private sector there has also been squeezing of wages. Those living

standards are under strain as well. Many people are in self-employment

and on zero-hours contracts and so on. There has been a greater

stability of jobs in the public sector. But clearly the public

sector does believe it is close to the end of the road and the

government has said it is not deaf. Have the Tories given up on fiscal

consolidation and debt reduction? It has certainly half given up. We were

going to reduce the deficit to zero around now and it was postponed to

2020. And now it could easily be further back than 2025. That is

worth mentioning because in this talk of austerity, not many people

take account of the fact that every year we live beyond our means, spend

more than we raising taxes. We have the highest deficit in the European

Union. The economy has now been growing for seven or eight years,

and still we are living beyond our means. And still people are fed up

with what they call austerity. Are all the parties behaving as if there

is a magic money tree? My view is that on the pay cap it is not only

right to change it in principle, but it is proving a false economy. Look

at the NHS. Last year, spent almost ?4 billion on agency staff, with

huge turnover and problems in recruitment and retention. There is

a case to be made that it is right for people working in the public

sector, but it will also actually help us deal with these things like

agency costs. One of the things we have not spoken about which was a

big thing this week was the Bank of England warning about the huge

personal debt in credit. Four fifth of the growth since the crash has

come from consumer spending and consumer credit. We have not seen

the rebalancing of the economy, no improvement in productivity. That

change in the approach is right. My question is are all the parties

behaving as if there is a magic money tree? I don't think so. You

need a plan to bring down the deficit in a sustainable way, by

investing in the things like long-term skills. So the deficit

comes down in the long-term, not the foreseeable future.

That's right. The way that we get productivity is

by investment and infrastructure and skills. We are building up all of

the same problems that we saw before the crash.

Isn't the problem, Michael, is that if we go into the next recession,

and there will be a downturn at some stage, we don't know when but if we

go into another downturn with our deficit the size it is, so interest

rates at record lows, our national debt over two trillion and QE out

there, we have no tools with which to fight that. It will be the mother

of all recessions in this circumstance? That is right. We will

be beginning that weighs with the national debt approaching 100% of

our annual national income. We have to pay interest on that.

When we get into a recession, the debt will grow faster. The people

who have to pay the interest are ordinary taxpayers and the people

who hold the debt are richer people. So this policy which is described as

progressive, which is to borrow more and pass the debt to future

generations is regressive, as the people that benefit are the people

rich enough to hold the debt and the people that pay for it are the

people poor enough to pay taxes. Who are the bigger Brexiteers? ?

Mis-May and Mr Hammond or Corbyn and McDonald? Definitely, Theresa May.

Theresa May, David Davis. Bigger than Mr Corbyn and Mr

McDonald? Yes, because we say we want to put jobs in the economy

first. Three members have been sack from

the front bench for saying that they want to be part of the single

market? How can you say that Corbyn and McDonald are less Brexiteer than

Theresa May or Mr Hammond? How can you say that on the issue of

membership of the single market, the Labour MPs have fired three? We had

a whipped position. They were in the Shadow Cabinet, on the Shadow front

bench. The whipped position is the same for

Labour as the Government's position on the single market. I don't

believe that. What is the difference? Theresa

May's... No, the sing the market. In which way does Labour differ from

the Conservatives? Our position is we want to see the exact same

benefits as we have now from the single market.

You can't have that if you are not members. My preference is that the

customs union and the single market is on the table.

But there was a quotation you lifted cleverly from David Davis, to have

the same benefits. That was your joke-in to the Queen's speech.

You are now more divided than the Tories. 50 Labour rebels defied the

whip to vote for a single market membership amendment. How many Tory

rebels were interest there? There weren't.

I believe we are far more united than the Tories.

Why were there more Labour rebels? Because many wanted to express their

views. That's a rebellion. What bit of

rebel don't you understand, Liz. I don't believe.

You are whistling in the wind. I think that there is a majority in

Parliament for same Brexit. There is a majority in Parliament,

rightly or wrongly, because your front bench is the same as the Tory

front bench. I would like it on the table.

I know you would but it is not the position of your front bench. What

part don't you get. I do get that. Good, well let's move on, as it is a

struggle. Here is a problem for the Tories.

Theresa May is lonely, isolated, she has a Cabinet on manoeuvres,

attacking each other. Bereft of close advisers. Yesterday the

government U-turned twice on public sector pay in the space of six

hours. Is not the danger that the government descends into drift,

independence, division and that brings it down? That is a possible

scenario. I think that the central problem remains Brexit.

We have debated this before. You asked me why I think Brexit will be

different from what the Tories promised before the election. It is

because we are weak and so divided. Whereas before the election we

doubted whether the European Union would be tough or conciliatory,

there cannot be any doubt about that. They understand the divisions

at home. Row are playing the Liz Kennedan

game. I am asking about Theresa May's personal position? I am coming

to that point. Make it quick.

The Tory Party will be divided on the question of which sort of Brexit

there will be. And as we get to the question, we will have to decide who

is going to leave the party. Right. That is a bigger divide than

the differences in the Labour Party. I was talking about the predicament

leading to two U-turns in one day. That is what I was talking about. In

this political environment, we end up talking about Brexit. It doesn't

matter what you ask, it comes back to that.

But that is because it is so important.

More important than two U-turns. I know when I'm defeated.

After weeks of research, the This Week employment experts

have concluded that the biggest threat to British jobs is not

Brexit, not immigration, not even a recession.

Yes, Boy George is now onto his sixth job in as many months

and rumour has it he's not going to stop until he's got my job,

If only he'd given the same attention to job

Anyway, we're putting news fatigue in this week's spotlight.

# But with the different meaning since you've been gone

The United Kingdom's departure from the EU...

If Brexit is Westminster's never-ending story,

north of the border, the Eldorado of Scottish

independence keeps disappearing deeper into the horizon.

The Scottish Government remains committed, strongly,

to the principle of giving Scotland a choice at the end of this process.

But I want to reassure people that our proposal is not

So, does the same old news agenda leave you twiddling your thumbs?

Evening Standard editor George Osborne has only been

in the job for two months but has already bagged himself yet another

post, as an economics don at Manchester University.

Great institutions, like Manchester University...

Across the pond, the White House has had enough of the media scrutinising

This story gets covered day in and day out, and I think

America is frankly looking for something better.

They are looking for something more, and I think they deserve something

Viv Groskop feels overwhelmed by a relentless news cycle.

Viv Groskop, welcome. It is exhausting, the news cycle is

relentless. Yet, you look so refreshed,

Andrewment It's the drugs! It is. It is.

Obviously we don't want to draw attention to the fact it is

exhausting as it is our livelihood. But when it gets to the that people

who work in the news business are overwhelmed saying that they have

had enough of politics and can't take anymore, that is when we worry.

In the US it is a huge problem. There is a survey that shows that

88% of people now are classed as overusers of digital media, so they

are on fair phone for more than an hour a day. Up to seven hours a day.

It adds up over a lifetime to 11 years on your phone. So something

must give. So my new show, is addressing this, Anchor Woman. It is

a form of self-help for me. You feel the same? I do. I have

three children. I try to be a good role model for them, during the

moments I'm not looking at my Korean but there are not many of those

moments. So I'm looking for help and answers.

But it is hard. There are so many things happening. It is hard to keep

up? It is. There is a new movement in America, the Slow News Movement.

It is supposed to mirror the Slow Food Movement. Where they are

encouraging news rooms to think about developing long reads, long

form. Developing the things we used to have in normal journalism, where

there were investigation teams and money in reporting. So interesting

to read that clip. We want more. We want proper reporting from Russia,

we want the truth. But the problem is that we haven't,

we run down cul-de-sacs and only when we get to the end do we realise

it is a cul-de-sac. I have come back from America. They are obsessed with

Trump and Russia. But it is a fat-free obsession. There are

endless enquiries going on. We have yet to see a single fact, for rum

tying Trump and his campaign team with the Russians.

Well, you should work for them. That was compelling.

There are many facts out there. The difficulty with the whole fake news

agenda that Trump is peddling, is that people start to believe it.

They start to think everything is fake news. That they switch off.

CNN has lost three reporters for doing a story about Trump that

turned out to be wrong. It is everywhere. There is so much news

inundating organisations, even well resourced, organisations like CNN

find it impossible to keep pace, to check things properly. Never mind

Fox News or N BC. Do you find it hard to keep up with what is going

on, Michael? I don't attempt to. Is that right? When I am coming on

This Week programme, I mung a bit. If there are a few doubts, Andrew

won't find them. What is your news diet. Do you

subscribe to The Economist or reading the FT. Perhaps not.

The Economist is as bad as the Financial Times on the Remain

position. I am longing for the days with a

pager. No phone, a pager. I liked that. A short message. During the

general election I looked at less news than normal. I have vague

things of the big story of the day. That was it.

So, to stand as an MP, there should be more general elections. Not to

read the news. That is reassuring. Tell me about the show you are

doing? The show is called Anchor Woman, when the news gets too much.

Sparked by a moment when I engaged in a Twitter spat with Piers Morgan

and realised I had loaned myself by becoming too addicted to all of

this. Good luck with the show.

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

No, we're not going to Annabel's and we're not going to

They've both started adopting casual dress code

Instead we're off to George Osborne's welcome

No, not at the Evening Standard, or Blackrock,

or the Washington Speakers' Bureau, or the Northern Powerhouse

Partnership, or the McCain Institute, but at the world famous

Nighty night, don't let Professor Boy George bite.