07/12/2017 This Week

When I found you, I saw

raw, untamed power.

And beyond that...

Something truly special.

Tonight on This Week: War

and conflict is tearing the

galaxy apart.

Tim Skywalker Shipman dusts

off his light sabre, and tries

to cut through the mystery

of Westminster.

May, Corbyn - can anyone

save us from the dark side,

whatever that is?

Princess Kate McCann

travels through hyperspace

for this week's round-up.

On planet politics,

peace and harmony seems a

long time ago in a

galaxy far, far away.

And Jedi John Culshaw wonders

if This Week will even make it to

the next sequel.

I sincerely hope not, Darth Neill.

The show's already gone

on for a long time.

There can be only one

winner on This Week

tonight.

Which one of us is the bad guy?

I am.

May the Force be with you.

Fulfil...

Your...

Destiny.

Evenin' all.

Welcome to This Week -

the week in which Theresa May

finally discovered what the "U"

in DUP stands for.

Yep, Unionist.

Who'da thunk it?

Though you might have

thought the Leader of

the Conservative And Unionist Party

could have guessed.

Perhaps there's a certain

metropolitan snobbery -

a Home Counties hauteur -

when it comes to dealing

with the Democratic Unionist Party.

The London political and media

establishment tends to regard

the DUP with all the affection it

accords Red Necks from Alabama.

Religious fundamentalists,

provincial hicks with strange

accents, obsessed with identity

and possessing unfashionable,

even antediluvian, social views.

It's a point of view, I suppose.

But just because you disagree

with them is no reason to disrespect

them, especially if you're a Tory

and they're keeping you in power.

These are folks who've

come up the hard way.

The party's leader, Arlene Foster,

saw her father gunned down

by the IRA when she was a child.

A few years later terrorists

blew up her school bus.

A rather more testing political

genesis than the one experienced

by your average shire Tory.

So it's probably not wise

to underestimate the DUP or assume

it can be dragooned into line

at your convenience

and at the last moment,

as the PM discovered,

to her peril, this week.

Tonight the DUP is subjecting her

to Belfast's version

of Chinese water-torture,

even as the mood music

turns more positive.

Speaking of those who've been

consistently over-estimated

throughout their modest careers,

I'm joined on the sofa tonight

by two pundits who between them

constitute their very

own Coalition of Chaos.

I speak of course of Michael

#sadmanonatrain Portillo,

and Alan #sadmanontheleft Johnson.

Michael, your moment of the week?

Well, I suppose the moment that will

live the longest in history is the

decision by Donald Trump

live the longest in history is the

decision by Donald Trump to move the

American embassy in Israel to

Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city of

profound importance to Muslims,

Christians and Jews. It Tel Aviv is

a much larger city with an

international airport and the

seaside. In Jerusalem, you are aware

of how stressful situation is. It

will be more stressful now. There

wasn't much hope for peace in the

Middle East, I think, but they're

sure isn't any now.

It may not

happen, because the move won't

happen until after 2020, but

nevertheless...

An important symbol.

A very important symbol, and it has

caused a lot of anguish. Alan?

Theresa May had a bad week over

Brexit so far.

Not over yet!

She has

had a terrible week on the social

issues, the burning injustices.

The

social mobility commission.

They

have resigned en masse. It was a

juicer rowan tree foundation report

that said that 400,000 more children

have fallen into poverty since 2013.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies

that might be jealous of Rowntree

foundation. On top of the social

policy -- the Joseph Rowntree

foundation. A report has been with

Government for a year and nothing

has been done about it. There seems

to have been complete in action from

what was her stated priority on the

steps of Downing Street.

They said

that it looked like Brexit was

taking up all the bandwidth.

Politics has never seemed more

unpredictable - or precarious.

For months we're told

that the Brexit negotiations

will come unstuck over the money -

only for that largely to be

resolved and for them to be

scuppered, at least for now,

by the Irish border.

Expectations of Theresa May's demise

grow by the day but she ploughs

on in her very own version

of the Bataan Death March,

leaving behind casualties

strewn by the wayside.

Recent polls give Jeremy Corbyn

a comfortable lead but Corbynistas

fret that he may yet be denied

the early election that they think

would guarantee his victory.

At uncertain times like these,

psephologists, pollsters and pundits

are proving to be pretty useless.

Perhaps what we need

are mathematicians

versed in chaos theory.

Of course here on This Week

we cannot afford that

sort of expertise.

So here's cheap as chips

Tim Shipman of The Sunday Times

with his take of the week.

So the DUP torpedoed phase one

of Brexit talks on Monday.

"Couldn't run a piss up

in a brewery", Ed Miliband tweeted.

But it's very difficult to do

anything properly as Prime Minister

when your squabbling Cabinet is out

to get you, you're personally not

great under pressure,

and you're at the mercy

of the ruthless DUP.

It's not just the heavy lifting

of Brexit that looks chaotic.

The Tories can't even get

the simple stuff right.

We were left to EU sources

to explain the draft deal that had

been proposed on the Irish border.

Why didn't the Brexit

department quickly communicate

what they thought it meant

to British journalists?

And why can't the Cabinet

keep their conflicts under wraps?

Charging the Chancellor to use

RAF planes and calling

the Defence Secretary Private Pike

doesn't look like a strong

and stable government.

But is it time to stir rumours

of government collapse?

Concerned that her Brexit red lines

need an extra coat of paint,

as Jacob Rees-Mogg put it,

the Eurosceptics are revolting.

The best hope for May is that they,

the Cabinet and the DUP

all remember their shared objective,

keeping Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party

on the opposition benches.

May's chances of clinging

on and fighting the next election

are helped by Labour's incompetence.

Corbyn and his team failed to rub

salt in May's wounds on Monday

after her embarrassment.

Why?

Because Labour is just as divided

and confused on Europe

as the Conservatives,

and they always miss

an opportunity to twist the knife.

Thanks.

So amidst all this chaos,

is there an opportunity

for the Remainers to block Brexit?

Don't bet on it.

In an age without effective

leadership, politicians

are led by public opinion.

And British attitudes

to the European Union show

no sign of changing.

Deal or no deal,

we're leaving Europe.

Thanks to the Bianca Road

Brewery in Bermondsey.

Tim is here - as sober

as a judge, of course.

At least, he told me to say that!

Good to see you. Michael, is it all

as chaotic as Tim claims?

No, it's

pretty chaotic, but I think Brexit

is advancing fairly well. Despite

the famous splits in the

Conservative party, amazingly, the

money went through the Conservative

party with hardly a murmur. The deal

that was scuppered last week was

scuppered by the DUP, not the

Conservative party. They have

accepted the sort of Irish solution

there was going to be. Even the EU

Commission seems keen to move onto

the next stage, and I think the

Irish question will be settled,

probably in the next few hours, but

anyway, in the next few days, and we

will get onto talking about the

trade deal. Despite experience of --

despite the appearance of chaos, I

think it will work. The chances of

there being a deal are much better

than 50-50. It is becoming what we

expect - there was going to be a

deal.

Allen, as we broadcast

tonight, the Prime minister's plane

is on the runway ready to take her

to Brussels, and there was talk of a

press conference was Jean-Claude

Juncker, the president of the

commission. There is a Chinese water

torture going on with the DUP, but

when we wake up, it could be that

Brexit does mean breakfast, after

all, in Brussels.

Yes, and I think

Tim is wrong in thinking there is

any hope of pulling the fat out of

the fire on leaving the EU. The big

question is whether we stay in the

single market and Customs union.

This deal, part of it of course is

about EU citizens, so we don't know

the role of the ECJ yet.

We do

almost, because I've seen the draft.

It may have changed. What it says is

that the British courts,

particularly the Supreme Court, will

be free to consult the ECJ. And that

will be time limited, I have,

tonight, to ten years.

Theresa May

is the author of her own problems.

Apparently, she decided, with her

advisers, with no reference to

Cabinet even, that our policy would

become out of the single market and

Customs union without keeping

options open, and now she is running

into reality. It is either a

separate deal for Ireland and a

border in the Irish Sea, or there is

a hard border in Ireland, or they

remain part of the customs union,

and that solves the problem.

Tim,

don't we in the media spend too much

time chasing ghosts? We get far too

excited about matters that end up

being quietly resolved.

That would

be the argument Downing Street is

trying to make this week. The Berlin

there are saying, this will blow

over. As Michael says, we will get a

deal and everyone will be happy. I

think what has upset members of the

Parliamentary Conservative party is

the way it has been handled. They

think it has been chaotic and

incompetent.

They are quite grateful

to the DUP.

Indeed, and not all the

MPs have spoken to have been relaxed

about some of the things suggested.

Iain Duncan Smith this week, a guy

who has been loyal to Theresa May

for months, and he has broken cover

and said he doesn't like the

direction things are going in.

Theresa May has been having crisis

meetings in the last two days with

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to

Gove to try to get them on board. It

has not been straightforward, and

throughout, the Government has

failed to communicate what it is

trying to achieve.

I understand. It

is almost a self-inflicted mess,

again, by failing to square the DUP.

Doesn't this always happen with the

EU? I followed the Greek bailout

talks closely. That was endless

setbacks and walking away, but in

the end, it was bailed out.

You

know, the expectation is that she

will get there.

Do you agree with

her?

I think it is likely they will

get there fairly soon. The problem

is, the way it has been handled has

unnerved people who think the Prime

Minister has shown again that she is

not fully on top of her game. That

has made probably what happens over

the next year more difficult. There

are people saying we should get rid

of her by Christmas, and that hasn't

happened since the party conference.

Journalists obsess about the latest

drama, but only because we are

getting calls from Conservative MPs

were obsessing about it themselves.

It is a function of Theresa May's

lack of authority since the

election. But she is still there.

Yes, we know why she is still there.

It is even acquiring a certain

amount of longevity or permanence,

actually. Part of the discussion is

slightly unfair. We did have at one

time to have reached this stage in

October, but since then, we have

expected to reach it now, in

December. What was unexpected was

the flurry early this week when

suddenly the briefing from the

commission was that we would have a

deal that day, which was unexpected.

We didn't expect to have it until

tomorrow. I think that caught the

British unaware and they were

bounced into a position from which

they were not ready, they didn't

have the DUP on board, but that is

because the timing had been changed

on the British. Now, we're back to

the timing we thought we were run

the first place, and it looks like

we will have a deal Friday.

We have

monitored quite carefully, because

it is the Government, the Tory

chaos. Pinning Labour down on its

position on the single market of the

customs union is pretty difficult

too, depending on who you speak to.

I want to put this to you, Alan. If

Labour were to win a snap election,

and there could be one -- a snap

election, and there could be one, do

you think they would end up trying

to stay in the EU?

I don't think so. The policy would

change, much as they would seek

extra time to negotiate Article 50,

during which time we would remain in

the customs union and single market.

The Tories were talking about a

bespoke deal for that period and it

was Keir Starmer who said no. But

there are voices like John McDonnell

and Barry Gardiner who have said we

should be out of the customs union

and the single market. But me, they

have been good for Britain and you

can remain in them if you are

outside the EU, which is the

starting point of ensuring the

British economy does not suffer.

If

Labour did get into power, Tim and

others, we have all looked at the

divisions in the Tory party, but in

government, would there be the

danger of an almighty row between

the pro-Europe Social Democrats in

the Labour Party and the anti-Europe

Marxists.

Good question. I'm not

sure. I do know the vast majority of

Labour supporters are in favour of

Britain remaining in the European

Union. Two thirds voted to remain in

the European Union in every

constituency. So the position of the

party is clear. The people you are

talking about, they saw that and

shied away, even though their heart

is not in it, they still believe we

should be out of the EU and they

frankly don't give a toss about the

issues. Whether they are strong

enough, through their fan club to

create those divisions, you might be

right.

Let's come back to the Tory

divisions, because they are the ones

in power. If there is no agreement,

supposing the plane does not leave

in the middle of the night for

Brussels, does not leave at all,

because they can't get agreement, if

they don't get to the next stage of

negotiations, will the Tory

Brexiteers become more vocal in

saying to the government, let's walk

away?

Absolutely. Some have broken

cover. You have seen Owen Paterson

saying that and Nigel Lawson saying

much the same. Lots of people have

been phoning journalists this week

saying, she needs this deal, or

else. I have never seen why we need

it by the weekend. I would have

thought next Thursday at the summit

be adequate. But there are forces

circulating that if the Prime

Minister does not get this nailed

down she will have a distinctly

uncomfortable Christmas.

I certainly

agree on the Friday Thursday point.

Tomorrow is another artificial

deadline. The other point is that it

isn't at the moment a failure to get

a deal with the European Union, but

a failure to get deal with the DUP.

That changes the context.

The big

change this week is that Brussels,

the commission, wanted to get on

with it. That is a big change.

That

is a huge change. Some in the

Conservative Party will see the DUP

as important flag carriers for their

point of view, but others will see

this as a rather wretched result of

being stuck in a coalition.

The

pressure on Theresa May, from the

people who had been driving the

Brexit bus, the hard Brexiteers, and

she is to blame because she rode on

the bus with them, they are looking

to see how much we are paying, does

the ECJ have any role, does it mean

even a hint of us staying in the

customs union? That is her problem

and what encourages me this week is

the voices of the sensible

Conservatives who, I think, are

still the majority in the

Conservative Party, pragmatic, get a

deal, let's move on to trade, they

seem to be more emboldened.

We are

almost at Christmas and it has been

the most remarkable political year

just in Britain alone, never mind

anywhere else. But the Prime

Minister calling the election

promised a strong and stable

government and we joked that it was

weak and unstable. But actually, it

has turned out to be weak and

unstable. We never saw that coming!

The thing that is keeping everyone

in line, the one thing that pulls

all these people together, is that

they do not want to see Jeremy

Corbyn as Prime Minister. That is a

significant factor which keeps the

DUP in line.

On the whole, we talk

about the possible general election,

that would normally follow a vote of

confidence. If there were a vote of

confidence, every Tory and DUP would

vote for the government, because the

DUP certainly do not want to see

Jeremy Corbyn in. In the context of

history, if we delayed by a week, by

a dispute in Ireland, in the

historical context, that would be

minimal. Ireland has been so

disruptive for the British and

Britain has been so disruptive for

the Irish, you have to put it in

context. Our policy has often been

determined, for water damned messed

up by our relations with Ireland.

The one major cause of future

uncertainty was alluded to at the

beginning, that we still don't know,

Brussels still does not know the end

state of what the government wants

in a new relationship with the EU,

and that is yet to be resolved.

They

still say the Prime Minister will

have that conversation with cabinet

before Christmas. That will be a

difficult series of meetings. The

one issue Alan did not latch onto

when he was talking through this is

how aligned we are with the European

Union going forward. What caused the

problem with the Brexiteers this

week was the suggestion that Theresa

May, in aligning with Dublin, would

put the UK in permanent alignment

with the EU.

Ireland brought the

alignment issue to the fore.

We want

to be outside the EU and to have

free trade, and to know whether 50

billion is enough to buy that.

On

that noncontroversial point, your

book is out which catalogues this

amazing year. Every political

stocking should have won.

If you

have a thick stockings.

It is a big

book.

It's late.

Doctor Who late.

We were shocked, this week,

to discover that the trans-gender

regeneration of our favourite sci-fi

hero, from gnarly old Scotsman

to feisty young Yorkshire lass,

was delayed for several years.

So what dark forces conspired

to bar a female time lord

from the police box for so long?

A Dalek invasion?

Nope!

A Sontaran death ray

trained on Pinner?

Nope.

Apparently the delay was all down

to Brexit voters being hostile

to the idea of a woman Doctor.

At least, that's what the show's

producer is claiming.

I know.

As excuses go, it's pretty weak.

But he's from Paisley.

Excuses are not our forte.

Someone who's not going to be phased

by the Doctor's sex change -

and has even done impressions

of the previous incarnations -

is impressionist Jon Culshaw,

who'll be putting "posturing"

under the Spotlight.

And if you're still insisting

on getting in touch via the Tweeter,

the Fleecebook and the

Snapnumpty, then beware.

I may have been lying

about the Sontaran death ray,

but I'm still capable of zapping

you right in the Dimblebys!

Now, we all like a bargain,

especially in the

run-up to Christmas.

America's purchase of Alaska

from the Russians in 1867

was clearly a snip at $7 million,

but not as big a bargain

as Michael's shirts,

which Primark will pay you to remove

from their shelves.

Or volume 47 of Alan's memoirs,

which is not just being discounted.

It's being remaindered.

And what about Momentum's election

spending, which has been logged

at just over £38,000?

Yes, Jezza's imperial stormtroopers

very nearly pulled off the political

coup of the century for less

than the price of a

high-end Volvo estate.

I can't believe those grumpy

mugwumps at the Electoral Commission

are investigating the expenses

of the Corbynista

Revolutionary Guard.

They should be put in

charge of the Treasury.

Anyway, here's Kate McCann

from the Telegraph with her

round up of the week.

After some pretty heated Brexit

negotiations, what could be more

refreshing than Alpine air? Time to

replace red lines with red runs. At

the beginning of the week, it seemed

the PM was on a home run. We were

braced for a historical day on

Brexit, agreement on a crucial

sticking point, the Irish border,

had been reached. But not so fast,

what about the DUP?

We have been

very clear. Northern Ireland must

leave the European Union on the same

terms as the rest of the UK and we

will not accept any form of

regulatory divergences which

separates Northern Ireland,

economically or politically, from

the rest of the UK.

And with her

boot firmly in, snowy optimism

turned to slush and the Irish PM

said he might even veto trade talks

meant to start in Brussels next

week. The PM's phone call with the

DUP leader on Wednesday morning

failed to produce results in time

for PMQs. An opportunity for Jeremy

Corbyn, but one he let slide.

18

months after the referendum the

Prime Minister is unable to answer

the question. And on Monday, as she

thought she was coming here to make

a statement, it was vetoed by the

leader of the DUP. The tale really

is wagging the dog here.

B will

ensure we leave the European Union

in March 2019. We will leave the

internal market, we will leave the

customs union at the same time, we

will ensure there is no hard border

between Northern Ireland and the

Republic of Ireland when we do it.

At least the PM had her backbenchers

onside, right?

Will she apply a new

coat of paint to her red lines

because on Monday they were

beginning to look little pink.

Would

it help if I came over to Brussels

with you to sort them out?

If PMQs

did not shed light on our departure,

MPs were stunned when David Davis

tried to explain the impact

assessments.

The government has not

undertaken any impact assessments on

the dangers of leaving the EU for

the British economy. So there isn't

one, for example, on the automotive

sector.

Not that I'm aware of.

Aerospace?

No. The answer is going

to be no to all of them.

Right.

Brexit was also blamed this week for

leaving the government without the

bandwidth to help those left out in

the cold, after the social mode to

Czar quipped. Emotions ran high in

Parliament as Labour MP Frank Field

explained the impact of universal

credit on one of his constituents.

For the first time, a gentleman rose

after we had spoken and I tried to

persuade him not to commit suicide.

Such was the desperate mess that he

saw in the future for himself. And I

realised that the hand that shook my

hand was wet. He had been crying.

I

don't know where to start after

that. I am humbled by the words from

my honourable good friend. No

government is perfect, no benefit

system is perfect, no debate, no

motion is perfect but we work

together and make this better.

Parliament at its best. Speaking of

which, Damian Green's colleagues

rallied round this week after a

former police officer, himself

perhaps a little guilty of staring,

said he was left in no doubt that

the first Secretary of State had

accessed pornography on his

parliamentary computer. As

accusations of vendettas flew, the

Met Police said the former police

officers can be prosecuted.

This is

a case from nine years ago. Police

officers know they have a duty of

confidentiality, a duty to protect

personal information. That duty, in

my view, clearly endures after you

leave the service. So it is my view

that what they have done, based on

my understanding of what they are

saying, what they have done is

wrong, and I condemn it.

Apres ski,

and the chance to catch up with a

magazine while Alan and Michael are

in the hot tub. What is a hostile

takeover? As Labour councillors

complained of purges, there is a

more positive narrative.

This is

about democratisation of the Labour

Party and there is a correlation

between that and improved electoral

performance, empirically. It is

observable. I would say this is

instrumentally vital to a

reinvigorated party membership.

Speaking of invigoration, it is time

to hit the slopes. I hear Philip

Hammond needs a new mode of

transport. These are strong and

stable.

Merci beaucoup, Apres London

at the Flat Iron in London.

Fresh from the winter sun

we are joined by Kate McCann.

Welcome. Have you managed to

discover why the DUP was so

mishandled?

Know, and I think it's

one of the biggest questions of the

week. It goes to the heart of what

Theresa May's problem is, because if

you look at the issues she has had

as a Prime Minister of her short

leadership, a lot of them come back

to the inability to control the

media narrative. While you might not

think that is important, at the

start of this week, she let one

story run away with her without

trying to control it at all. The

Government could have got on the

front foot when the Irish Government

came out and said, we have a great

deal and it will look really good

for us, that was obviously

frustrating for Arlene Foster and

that is what scuppered it. Theresa

May could have done something to

prevent that from happening. She

could have tried to rein it in, and

she didn't.

She is leader of the

Conservative and Unionist Party.

What bit of that didn't she get?

And

she is in a coalition with the DUP

as well. At the risk of repeating

myself, I think the speed of events,

we were all very surprised. I

remember the surprise in the voice

of the BBC correspondent when they

suddenly said, we are getting all

these positive noises out of the

commission and it looks like we will

get a deal today. The commission was

ready but the British won't. The

British hadn't squared it. Settling

the two halves of the island of

Ireland is very difficult. You like

the point is, she knew she was going

out on an issue did with Ireland,

and she relies on those ten votes

for confidence and supply. You would

have thought she would have made

absolutely sure she had nailed this

down. You may be able to tell us

Kate, but she didn't even need

Arlene Foster rendered DUP. She left

it to an inexperienced chief whip on

the Sunday together and talk to

them. And then there was the leaking

to the Irish media and all that. She

is maladroit. She is the author of

her own problems. She would have had

a triumph on Monday, instead of

which, she may have a triumph

tomorrow, but it will be diminished

by the farce.

That may be true, but

she also is almost like the Arnold

Schwarzenegger in the terminator. It

doesn't matter what happens, you

press it into a little metal ball,

it melts, then suddenly it all comes

together again and she is still

there.

Nobody else wants it. Brexit

is a poisoned chalice. Whoever was

in Theresa May's position now would

have to grapple with these issues.

There are people on the backbenches

who talk a good game, but they don't

want it until this is over and done

with, because it won't look good for

whoever is holding the baby when we

leave the EU, because of things like

Northern Ireland and the border and

because they are so complex. You're

right, there are grumblings about

her, and she seems to be getting it

wrong frequently, but I still think

she's not going to be.

Allen, in

your view, does it look more likely

than not that she won't get through

the winter?

I have been dining out

on saying she will be gone by

Christmas. I thought David Davis,

who has one chance and really wants

it, would be the main protagonists.

What Michael said earlier on about

the one wanting a general election,

including the public, by the way, is

right. That is why the Conservatives

will probably there until 2022. --

will probably be there. Everyone

thought she was toast and it was

just about when she came out of the

toaster. Maybe they will leave it

until after March 20 19. I think she

will definitely be gone. You are

right, Andrew - the more she goes

on, the more she seems to be

stoical. It might well be that she

stays.

It is like the first tack-mac

terminator movie. What has happened

to David Davis?

At the committee

this week.

He looked a rather

forlorn underpowered figure.

Somebody said to me he has been cut

out of the loop quite a bit now.

I

think he is an interesting one,

because there are people who say he

wants to be the next leader of the

party and wants to be prime

minister, and I'm not sure that is

the case. If you look at the way he

behaved that the committee this

week, and that previous ones, he has

not got the full grasp of the

detail. People asking questions he

should know the answer to, and he

doesn't. I don't feel like that is

because he's not capable, I think it

is because he's coasting. I think he

is grateful to be in the position he

is in, and I think he enjoys it, but

I don't get the impression he thinks

he's going to be the next prime

minister. What could

happen, and what may happen, is that

he could end up being the interim

and handing over to someone you from

annual intake at some point later.

That would only be the case, I

think, if Mrs May went in the near

future.

If there were some crisis.

What do you make of his performance

now?

I agree that he doesn't look

very hungry for it. I think he has

wisdom. I think he has gravitas. He

looks stable coming has a sense of

humour and a lot of qualities, but

he doesn't look to me like he is

going for it.

I think the move of

Ollie Robinson, the senior civil

servant with whom you didn't get on

in the Brexit Department, his move

to the Cabinet office next to the

Prime Minister, I think power has

moved that way as well. Damian

Green, Michael, will he survive?

Should he? What do you make of this

business?

I don't know the will, but

I think he should. David Davis said

he will resign.

I think he rode back

on that quite quickly.

Neil Lewis,

the police officer who gave the

interview to the BBC last week, I

was disturbed that the BBC broadcast

this interview. We have heard from

Cressida Dick on the programme

saying she thought it was

disgraceful and there may be grounds

for a prosecution. It is worth

remembering that the alleged

information was gathered by the

police during a raid in which they

used anti-terrorist powers

investigating a leak. They happened

to attack, as it were, a member of

the Parliament, but it could have

been in this building on any of the

computers here.

There was outrage in

Parliament.

There should have been

outrage in the BBC. For the BBC then

to broadcast this fellow's interview

in order just to make trouble for a

Government minister...

But this is

news. The BBC is just the messenger.

It was illegitimate news because it

was gathered in a fishing expedition

in Ammancomputer. -- a man's

computer. There is an issue of some

policemen behaving as this if -- as

if this were a police state.

I get

the point Michael is making about

evidence gathered in a particular

operation suddenly, years later,

comes out in an area...

I agree with

that.

I agree with that completely.

Here is the parallel: I was Home

Secretary and came in just after

they got that information. It was

passed by a civil servant who

disgracefully took home office

documents and pass them over to the

opposition front bench. I'm not

criticising Damian Green and David

Davis for taking that.

What do you

make of the role of the police?

You're criticising the BBC for

taking a piece of news.

I am more

interested in your view as a former

Home Secretary.

Michael is right, it

was disgraceful, and Cressida Dick

was absolutely right to condemn it.

I have a deep affection for the

British police, and how they have

always operated. As Michael says,

this takes us too much down the

police state line.

Cake, in the

final few seconds, we have been

saying the prime minister's plane is

on the runway ready to go. What is

the latest in your view? Will she

make it in time for Brussels

breakfast? A Brexit breakfast?

We

are poised to get on the Eurostar in

the morning.

It will be too late by

then. Remit but we will be there in

time to catch the press conference,

if there is one. The thinking at the

moment is possibly that she may go

early, and there might be a later

statement if she does go. Fingers

crossed.

Lets hope they have paid

the RAF bill, or she won't be

leaving.

Like the Chancellor.

Some unkind soul once said politics

was showbiz for ugly people.

But I think that

unfair to ugly folks.

It's also demonstrably untrue -

just look at these two

posturing political peacocks.

Handsome as the day is long.

And watching them in action can

sometimes make the day feel really,

really long indeed.

But most politicians have been

guilty of posturing at some

stage in their careers,

which is why we're putting posturing

in tonight's Spotlight.

The winner of the Radio 1 Teen Award

for Best TV Show is...

Good news for the BBC

this week as Towie star

Gemma Collins backed down

from threatening to sue

the corporation over her dramatic

exit, stage

centre, at the Teen Awards.

But as one celebrity

falls off the runway,

another falls onto it.

Jeremy Corbyn struck a pose

for GQ magazine this

week.

But did the camera love Jezza

as much as his voter base?

The shoot itself was quite tortuous.

It was as difficult

as shooting any Hollywood

celebrity, actually.

Really?

It seems, then, that

everyone has had

enough of PR stunts.

After all, Emmanuel Macron...

Not all babies want to be kissed.

Meanwhile, Labour MP

John Healey says politicians

should stop talking the talk and get

back to the job in hand.

100 more homeless children for every

Conservative press release.

And what's needed now

is action to deal

with the root causes of this

rising homelessness,

not more warm words.

And what of Donald Trump's

posturing in the Middle East?

The US President's

decision to recognise

Jerusalem as the Israeli capital

this week provoked a diplomatic

storm.

This decision by President Trump

is clearly one of the most

irresponsible decisions

taken by American

Presidents vis-a-vis the

region and the chances of peace.

Given his track record on calming

international disputes, we shouldn't

have too much to worry about.

Very sad, this is nothing like me.

They have made me

into a giant terracotta

novelty candle.

That's a disgrace.

Impressionist Jon Culshaw knows

a thing or two about political

posturing.

But is there just too

much of it about?

# We'll still have fun!#.

John Culshaw joins us. Welcome back

to the programme. It has been too

long. Let's be honest, political

posturing is a dream for you because

it emphasises and builds everything

up, doesn't it?

It gives us more

clues. Armando Iannucci said that

reality outperforms comedy in many

instances, but it never fazes the

comedy writers. It just empowers

them even more. It is so interesting

watching the bluster of Donald

Trump, because he seems... Well, he

is clearly so miscast and out of his

depth. The way he gets himself out

of things, just with plaster, and if

at any stage she gets founder, fake

news, that's terrible, get it out of

the. If you would reported

accurately...

It is always our

fault! When is saying things like,

this is going to be so great, he is

looking for the ward often.

I can't

believe how great it is, it will be

so fantastic so I will say it is

going to be great again until I

found that, I found it, I forgot it.

Is that posturing, though?

Posturing, to me, is someone trying

to be something they're not, and

that seems to me to be entirely what

he is.

It is interesting with Trump.

In front of audiences, you can only

do two or three jokes. State visit,

I'm going to Stratford-upon-Avon,

the birthplace of William Shatner,

to witness the wedding of Prince

Harry and Angela Merkel, is going to

be beautiful. You can have a few

jokes and then the audience go, will

you stop that now, please?

Is Mrs

May is involved in posturing?

Very

controlled, clenched, cautious and

uneasy, scripted, and Deborah

Stevenson does a good impression of

her too. That catch in the back of

the voice, the fear of tripping up

at any moment.

Jeremy Corbyn, he has

never been thought the posture, but

the GQ magazine cover was a kind of

posture.

His form of posturing is

often to be much quieter, to be

sitting back, to be nodding rather

like an ornament on the parcel shelf

of a Morris Minor, in this way, very

laid-back, controlled and

understated. If you want to know my

policy statement, it will be made

available on Betamax and as a mix

tape will stop

not an eight track?

We will look into that and reach

that advanced stage in due course,

Andrew.

I suppose Trump overwhelms

everything. It is a character than

not even Central Casting could have

invented.

Tom Jamieson, one of the

Dead Ringers writers came up with

the joke that sums up the feeling:

We are working our way through the

worst crisis in American history

since the 110 minutes ago. And so it

goes on. Than the crisis ten minutes

ago.

Does the news cycle encourage

posturing, if you want to break

through?

No, I think here is another

reason for a Brexit. British

politicians on the whole do not

posture, and politicians on the

continent do. All this stuff about

the great European vision about

where they were going to arrive in

20 years, this is one of the

reasons...

Years off-again!

We're

culturally completely different. --

he is off again.

Michael, if you go

too far, becomes Dale Winton. Keep

it just here, just right.

What are

you up to?

I have voiced an audio

book called the beautiful poetry of

Donald Trump, which pulls together

his quotes into problems. They form

algorithms bizarre nonsense.

Is Dead

Ring is coming back?

Were recorded a

special on Saturday.

Thank you for

being here.

That's your lot for tonight, folks.

But not for us.

Inspired by the runaway success

of Vladimir Putin's new calendar

and Jezza's striking makeover

on the cover of GQ,

we're off to our very

own photo shoot at Lou Lou's,

where the DG has promised to whip

out his old Box Brownie and give us

the full Annie Leibovitz.

Choo Choo plans to channel his inner

Putin by stripping to the waist

and pretending to shovel coal

into the engine pulling the London

to Glasgow night sleeper.

I haven't the heart to tell him

it was electrified years ago.

And Sad Man will pose in his best

Samuel Pepys outfit as he writes

Volume 48 of his memoirs

with his favourite quill pen.

He's very high tech, y'know.

Nighty-night -

don't let Arlene bite.

#

All I want for Christmas is...

Leaving the European Union as a

whole.

# I don't want a lot of Christmas

# There is just one thing I need

# I don't care about the presence

# I don't need the Christmas tree

#...

# All I want for Christmas is you #.

Northern Ireland must leave the

European Union on the same terms as

the rest of the United Kingdom.