15/03/2018 This Week

This Week was born with a silver

spoon in its mouth.

spoon in its mouth. We trained

alongside the snowflake Yentobs at

the BBC. We ran our own independent

television programme out of a broom

cupboard in Westminster. We liked

the way it was. But this week, has

everything changed?

everything changed? There is a

distinct chill in the air, so are we

heading for a new Cold War?

The

British government wants you to

think you are not safe from Vladimir

Putin. This is straight out of a

Cold War play, but it is all hot

air.

And is the economy safe under

spreadsheet Phil?

Spreadsheet Phil

says he feels like Tigger, and at

least his non-statement had some

good jokes.

These are topsy-turvy

times, but are we seeing a fightback

from those who find themselves on

the wrong side of history?

America

has a President on the wrong side of

history. We've got to fight back.

There's only one way to fix it.

Endure tonight's edition of this

week.

Evenin' all.

Welcome to This Week,

the week in which McMafia went

from expensive BBC Drama to scary

lead on BBC News.

The British Government,

its major allies and pretty much

all chemical weapons experts

are in little doubt that the use

of the deadly nerve gas Novichok

in the attempt to assassinate

a former Russian spy now living

in Salisbury clearly puts

President Putin's Russia

in the frame.

The Maybot managed two statements

in the Commons this week saying

as much, without malfunction.

She even managed a fist

bump with an onlooker

when she visited Salisbury today.

That new people-friendly software

seems to be bedding in nicely.

But Dear Jezza was widely

criticised, not least

by his own side, for being less

than convinced about Kremlin

culpability and for seeming more

angry about rich Russian emigres

making donations to the Tory party

than a foreign power sanctioning

murder on British soil.

But that's unfair.

I can see where Jezza's coming from.

After all, in almost every major

foreign policy issue for the past 40

years you've unfailingly taken

the anti-Western line.

You've rarely said anything hostile

about the Soviet Union

or the Russian Federation

which succeeded it.

You even went on a motorbike holiday

to one of its colonies.

With Diane Abbott.

That's sacrifice for you.

You've never mustered your Stop

the War mates outside

the Russian Embassy

to embarrass those within.

You've toiled under the studio

lights of Russia Today,

even when only three conspiracy nut

jobs and your cat were watching.

You've even hired a chief spin

doctor who's opined that

old Uncle Joe Stalin wasn't such

a bad chap and the Soviet Union

not such a bad place.

And yet still these damned Ruskies

give all their ill-gotten gains

to the bloody Tories!

I mean, I can see why he's miffed.

I'll bet you would be too.

Speaking of those who never

get their just desserts,

I'm joined on the sofa tonight

by two lost causes who've never done

anything to deserve any payback

whatsoever and to whom no sentient

Russian oligarch would dream

of donating a single kopeck.

I speak of course of Michael

#choochoo Portillo and Lisa

#northernsoul Nandy.

Welcome to you both. Your moment of

the week.

It came this morning, or

at the end of yesterday, when the

United States, Britain, France and

Germany issued a joint statement

condemning the Russian action. The

reason it was the moment of the week

was that I fear that Putin had

succeeded in splitting Nato apart.

At the beginning of the week, Donald

Trump could not find words to

condemn Russia. There was an

irresponsible statement from a

French diplomat yesterday talking

about fantasy politics being

practised in Britain. I thought,

this is what Putin wanted, to show

the West split asunder, and he has

succeeded. Luckily, at the last

moment both France and the United

States have recognised the danger

inherent in that. If we do not stand

united we are in great difficulty

and he will have won an enormous

victory, Putin, so thank goodness

even the Trump White House and the

Macron presidency have rowed in

behind and there was a strong

statement, backed up by the

Secretary-General of Nato. This is a

moment where one says a disaster has

been averted.

Lisa.

This is why we

shouldn't just sit and gossip about

what we had 30 in the Green room,

because I was going to say the same

thing. We had these moments of

hydrometer or week in the House of

Commons with a big clash over the

spring statement, free school meals.

But this is the moment where it felt

like we stopped talking about who

was responsible for the attack on

British soil and started thinking

seriously about how we would deal

with Russian aggression collectively

rather than as individual nations

which is not productive. It was a

good thing for the country.

Two

similar moments, with a different

nuance.

Britain's major allies,

from Canada to Germany

and including Mr Trump's America,

rallied behind the country

today, less than 24 hours

after the Prime Minister unveiled

a range of retaliatory

measures against Russia,

in response to the attempted murder

of a former Russian spy

in the genteel cathedral

city of Salisbury.

The British government believes

that the deadly nerve gas used

was Russian and that it was deployed

on British soil by the Russian

state or its surrogates.

Nato in general and America

in particular agree.

Washington today announced fresh

sanctions against major Kremlin

figures in response to hostile

and illegal Russian

activity in the US.

Britain is braced for a Russian

response to its sanctions

by the weekend and I'm told tonight

that the UK has further measures

to announce when that happens.

Even the Leader of the Opposition

says the evidence now points

to Russian complicity.

But, of course, the Putin

government denies it.

Here's former Kremlin

adviser Alexander Nekrassov

with his Take of the Week.

There's a chill in

the air in Britain.

Theresa May, the ice queen, has sent

a message to President Putin.

"Take back half of your diplomats

and get ready for your oligarchs

"in London to get frisked.

"And no Prince William or Boris

Johnson going to your World Cup".

But jokes aside, the situation

is serious, with three people,

including the ex-Russian spy

Sergei Skripal, in a critical

condition after a suspected chemical

attacks in Salisbury.

The British government thinks

Russia is behind it.

Moscow is denying it,

but London isn't buying it.

Let's make one thing clear.

Mr Skripal ended up in the UK

in a spy swap nearly ten years ago,

and security services never go

after spooks who've been exchanged.

It's naive to assume that only

Russia has access to the nerve

agent dubbed Novichok,

which had first been produced

in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

It is very probable that most

laboratories, like Porton Down,

have possession of it.

Rogue agents and terrorists

could have got their hands

on the nerve agents,

not forgetting groups

and individuals that

have an interest in framing Russia,

like Isis or some oligarchs

living in London.

Theresa May has allowed herself

to be dragged into the media's

anti-Russian frenzy,

so she had no choice but to act.

And she sent an ultimatum to Moscow.

"Explain yourself,

or your diplomats get it".

Moscow ignored the ultimatum and 23

Russian diplomats were told

to leave, and no British officials

are going to the World Cup.

Make no mistake, the incident

in Salisbury is a grave one.

But Russian gas will continue

to heat British homes and BP

will continue to make

billions in Russia.

While politicians

argue, life goes on.

I know it's Machiavellian,

but that's how it is.

And Alexander is with us now.

Welcome to the programme. Michael,

how sure are you that Russia is

behind the Salisbury attack?

I am

behind what the Prime Minister said,

it is either that Russia has

attacked us, or it has lost control

of this agent. And the Russians were

invited to give an explanation. Can

I say broadly I think this week has

made me so thankful that I live in a

Liberal democracy with an

accountable government whose main

purpose is to protect its citizens,

and Russia, I'm afraid, is a

kleptocracy which has turned into a

Mafia state. The Russian state has,

for centuries I would say, murdered

its own citizens. It did so under

the Czar, under Stalin on an

industrial scale, and it continues

today.

It is not murdering its own

citizens on an industrial scale

today.

Why don't you listen to me, I

said Stalin did it on an industrial

scale, and it is continuing to

murder its citizens today but not on

an industrial scale.

How sure are

you that Russia is behind the

attack?

I think it's fairly clear

that all roads point to Russia. It's

not just a question of the nerve

agent that was used. It's also that

this fits with a pattern of

behaviour we have seen from Russia

across the world, but including in

Britain in recent years. And it is

also the fact that there is a fairly

clear motive. It is not just the

identity of the person targeted,

alongside his family, but also that

we have presidential elections on

Sunday in Russia and it seems there

is a very clear reason why the

Russian government would want to

see...

What would the reason be?

It

seems fairly obvious to me that

Putin is very, very keen to see

turnout increased. And that provides

a motive. It says to me that when

Theresa May said, we want you to

come and explain yourselves, we

should have seen a much better

reaction from the Russian government

if there wasn't a clear motive.

All

roads lead to Russia.

I don't see

that. First of all, why would Putin

wants this before the election? Do

you think Russians are keen on

seeing chemical weapons used to kill

somebody abroad?

All of the state

media organisations immediately

started pumping out a message about

Western conspiracies, the sort of

thing you were repeating on that

screen, to be honest. It suits

Putin's agenda to have some kind of

alliance of Western powers being

tough about Russia, because it works

with his narrative.

Most Russians,

you don't have to be a supporter of

Putin, will regard the victim of the

attack as a traitor.

Yes, but he was

exchanged in a Speidi swap and

security services do not go after

these people, because the whole

concept -- concept of a spy swap is

that you don't go after these

people. It is a sort of immunity

from attack.

Remake it sounds as if

Russia plays by the rules but it

does not.

Security services have to

play by the rules about -- otherwise

they kill each other randomly.

One

of the reasons why British

authorities, particularly chemical

weapons experts, are sure it is

Russia is because of the Novichok

nerve gas, which only Russia has

produced. Russia did not tell us it

was producing it. It was only when

the Soviet Union broke up that we

discovered it. The idea, as you

said, that Isis or other terrorists

could use it, it is a really

dangerous thing to use and has to be

done in a skilled way. If you make a

mistake preparing it, not only would

you kill yourself but everybody in

all of the streets around you.

You

went further and said it might be a

Russian dissident or plutocrat.

First, let me give you some facts

which point to other countries and

groups. The inventor and creator of

Novichok lives in America since

1996. Do you really believe that the

Americans did not talk to him, did

not find out his secrets, what he

invented and so on?

So the Americans

are behind it?

No, I'm telling you

about the spread of Novichok.

Under

the international chemical

agreements, to which Russia is a

party, Britain, Russia and America

are allowed to hold minute

quantities of this, so they can work

on antidotes, if it should appear,

as happened in Salisbury, and so

they can keep an eye on whether it

is spreading around the world. That

is not in doubt. The question is,

the only country that has produced

it as a weapon is Russia.

Why do you think it could have

disappeared from other laboratories

in the world?

Other than Porton

down, an American one and Russian

one, it has not been in other

laboratories in the world that there

was one major laboratory in central

Russia that produced weapons grade

stuff that was found in Salisbury.

The words highly possible applying

to Russian involvement is not

definite. A follow-up on Twitter

said that if you are told if

something is highly possible will

open, you will not jump. It is not

dead certain evidence.

They said

highly possible. We do not have

definitive evidence. I understand

that. There seems to be a lot of

accumulating stuff. If not Russia

then who? If it was Russia, what was

the purpose?

I think it might

firstly be to see if Nato had been

split at a time when Britain is

involved in Brexit and Donald Trump

by highly difficult to come out and

condemn Russia. It could be to send

a warning to people who are involved

in counterintelligence at the

moment. It may be that the British

are having success in penetrating

Russian intelligence at the moment

and then need to be people who

warned.

Russians who are helping our

intelligence services?

I think Putin

might firstly to deny it but denies

it was such an arrogance that it is

difficult to take that denial is

seriously. On the one hand he is

saying to the Russian people we are

not murderers and on the other hand

he is saying, look, we can get

people wherever they are in the

world. This traitor has died and we

are a world power and we have

recovered from our humiliation. We

are dictating terms to the west.

That is a popular message.

He

manages to have it both ways by

these smug denials which no one can

take seriously, in my view.

I think

you treat Russian people as if they

are bloodthirsty.

I love the Russian

people.

The Russian government. They

are saying, wonderful, our president

can order a hit and it is carried

out. They don't like that. I don't

understand. Andrew asked a very good

question. What is the reasoning

behind hit? They have the World Cup

which is in danger. They have the

election, which causes a problem.

The timing is already questionable

for Russia. I don't understand the

logic.

It does not work. The only

credible alternative candidate in

the election has been brutally

attacked and has been badly injured.

All the other candidates have been

forced to withdraw from the

election.

The election is a farce.

Why does he need to do this? Why did

he need to do this.

I did not say it

particularly had anything to do with

the election. To be fair to

Alexander, when we kill a terrorist

with a drone, British people are

happy about that. I don't dispute

that the Russian people might be

quite happy that the traitor is

killed.

Was the response from

Theresa May robust enough?

I think

it was right. If you look at what

happened in Salisbury, there is... I

think there is a real question about

the timing of this attack. As I was

saying earlier, the question about

presidential elections, a president

who was worried about turnout in

those elections and the level of the

attack demanded a response from the

UK but not necessarily a collective,

serious response that would

seriously frightened Russia. You can

feel it from the sense of this

conversation we are having. If

anyone sees the things that Russia

is upset we are not sending

ministers to the World Cup then

think again.

Sanctions are hurting

them.

The sanctions that would

really hurt Russia is if we went

after...

You have made that point

very well. I wonder if Mr Putin, who

is clearly going to have a landslide

victory, is he in the long ones

still dealing with a position of

weakness and does he need to do

things like this almost in a bread

and circuses way because it keeps

the population? He presides over an

economy smaller than Italy. He

presides over an economy

overwhelmingly dependent on fossil

fuels. It has an industrial capacity

which is crumbling. Many Russians

have left the country in recent

years there is almost of third World

standards in places. Is he not the

strongman we think he is?

We are

discussing a very specific problem

about this incident in Salisbury and

have Russia can be connected or not

connected to it. And I don't really

see any connection. OK, here's a

weak leader. Let's assume that. I am

just trying to balance this with the

problem. He is a weak leader. How

does that help him? It does not. I

cannot see a logical explanation for

Putin and his people to go after a

man who is not even known in Russia.

Nobody knows about him. Very low

grade. There is no point.

Unless you

consider the point was to provoke a

response.

There are people here in

Britain where there is damage,

serious damage.

serious damage. Litvinenko a small

fish as well. Why was he murdered?

In my opinion, the Russian state had

nothing to do with it at all.

We

don't have time for that.

I'm

grateful to you for coming in. Thank

you very much.

It's late.

Mark Lynas late.

Who he, I hear you ask?

Well, Mr Lynas is a former

eco-warrior who has lately

repented his activist past.

He revealed, this week,

how he attempted to kidnap Dolly

the cloned sheep from her shed

at the Roslin Institute

in Edinburgh.

The plot was foiled

because the raiders found the shed

so full of the little woolly

baa-baaing blighters that Dolly

was impossible to single out.

It was probably then

that it dawned on Mr Lynas

what the word clone means.

One man who will always

stand out in a crowd

is the larger-than-life TV

presenter, lawyer, and former mayor

of Cincinnati, Jerry Springer,

who's putting "fighting back"

in the Spotlight.

And, if you'd like to get in touch

via the Tweeter, the Fleecebook,

and the jolly old Snapnumpty, well,

I await your missives

with all the enthusiasm

of a Scottish panda anticipating

an Edinburgh Zoo booty call

on a chilly March evening.

In other words, not...at...all.

There is a saying, attributed

to sundry famous figures,

that "a lie can travel half way

around the world before

the truth puts its boots on".

This week, a study of more

than 120,000 rumours

and false news stories,

spread on Twitter,

seemed to bear this out.

Researchers from the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology found that

fake news travelled faster

and reached more

people than the truth.

In fact, false stories

were 70% more likely to be

retweeted than true stories.

Isn't citizen journalism wonderful?

The most common subject matter,

of course, was false political news.

But don't get too

downhearted, dear viewer.

Spring is a-coming,

despite this weekend's reprise

of the beast from the east,

and the truth is out there.

Somewhere.

I'm sure we'll find it one day.

We sent the Telegraph's Liam

Halligan to search for any green

shoots of recovery in our weekly,

100% trustworthy, political roundup.

The Chancellor says there's light

at the end of the tunnel.

He's feeling positively Tigger-like.

The economy's resurgent.

Spring has surely sprung.

If, in the autumn, the public

finances continue to reflect

the improvement that today's report

hints at, then, in accordance

with our balanced approach,

and using the flexibility provided

by the fiscal rules,

I would have capacity to enable

further increases in public spending

and investment in the years ahead.

That's a deluge on those hoping

for a springtime spending boost.

We'll have to wait till

the autumn at least

for the succour of state largesse.

So where are those

fabled green shoots?

Rummaging in the fiscal undergrowth

- a tribute there to David Bellamy -

it's difficult to spot any kind

of announcement in this hacked

back spring statement.

I won't be producing a red

book today, Mr Speaker,

but of course I can't speak

for the right honourable gentleman.

No mention indeed by John McDonnell

of his hero, Chairman Mao.

No chance in his mind a thousand

Tory flowers might bloom.

Does the Chancellor really believe

the NHS can wait another eight

months for the life-saving funds

that it needs?

How many people have to die waiting

in an ambulance before he acts?

Theresa May's convinced Moscow's

to blame for the attack in Salisbury

on double agent Sergei Skripal

and his daughter, Yulia.

She gave Putin a midnight deadline.

Either this was a direct act

by the Russian state

against our country,

or the Russian government lost

control of its potentially

catastrophically damaging nerve

agent, and allowed it to get

into the hands of others.

Jeremy Corbyn focused his ire

not so much on Moscow

as on the British government.

He cast aspersions

on Conservative Party finances.

There has been over

£800,000 worth of donations

to the Conservative Party,

to the Conservative Party

from Russian oligarchs

and their associates.

So...

So...

The Absolute Boy was scolded

by Matron May and some on

on his own backbenches.

And when it came to

dealing with Russia,

the Prime Minister was adamant.

Calling a spade a spade.

Under the Vienna Convention,

the United Kingdom will now expel 23

Russian diplomats who have been

identified as undeclared

intelligence officers.

They have just one week to leave.

This will be the single biggest

expulsion for over 30 years and it

reflects the fact that this is not

the first time that the Russian

state has acted against our country.

Corbyn has condemned these attacks,

but he says before expelling

diplomats, Britain should have

heeded Russian requests

for the nerve agent to be

independently tested.

America and France have

backed Britain, for now,

but they will want to see

test results, too.

How has she responded to the Russian

government's request for a sample

of the agent used in the Salisbury

attack, to run its own tests?

And while suspending planned

high-level contacts,

does the Prime Minister agree

that it is essential to maintain

a robust dialogue with Russia?

More sobering news from MP

Lucy Allen, who highlighted

systemic sexual abuse,

often against white working-class

girls, in her Telford constituency.

These young girls are too often

white, working-class,

with multiple vulnerabilities.

And that is what the perpetrators,

that is why the perpetrators

are targeting them.

And it is also why,

so often they are miscast

as bringing it on themselves.

They are miscast as being indulging

in risky behaviour,

as being promiscuous,

as somehow being to blame

for what is happening to them.

What's that?

A lesser spotted Lib Dem?

Oh, it's Vince Cable,

using his party conference speech

to brand all Brexit voters racist.

Springtime, or a new yellow dawn?

Too many were driven

by nostalgia for a world

where passports were blue,

faces were white and the map

was coloured Imperial think.

-- pink.

Well, if none of the news can warm

the cockles of my heart,

I'll have to have a good

old-fashioned cup of tea and bask

in those lovely warm winds blowing

across the sea from Brussels.

It's time that we go

beyond what I should say

the slogans, the sound bites.

We present what I should call

a concept, a vision,

an architecture for the future,

because that is what is

lacking for the moment.

Then the time will come when you'll

regret your decision.

It's time to face up the hard facts.

Beware the Ides of March,

or a Belgian scorned.

Well, at least in Britain's Brexit

Phoenix must be about to hatch.

Any signs of life?

Something, surely, soon?

Our apologies to Camley Street

Natural Park in King's Cross

for the havoc Liam Halligan wreaked

on your shrubs.

Has Jeremy Corbyn misjudged the

Russian business or is he being true

to his views?

The problem is that in

the statement Theresa May made,

Labour were not clear about the

very, very strong probability, let

me put it that way, that Russia was

responsible, which diverted all of

the focus of the debate onto whether

Russia actually did it which seems

not really, despite the conversation

we have just had, to be a topic much

up for discussion, and diverted that

away from quite a serious point. It

wasn't very well received and it

shouldn't be party political, the

point about where the money years.

If you are serious about taking on

Russian aggression, you have to

think seriously about taking on

where Russian money lies, and much

of it is in London, laundered

through the UK. That means you have

to start thinking about doing things

like Labour has been doing, tabling

amendments to the money-laundering

Bill, which means we will be able to

clamp down on that money.

If you can

identify it as money from people

involved in human rights abuses,

corruption or close to the Putin

regime. The British have not gone

far enough on that, have they?

On

the money? No. You said earlier that

further measures are expected in

response to the retaliation.

That is

why they have kept some stuff back.

I think that is probably the case. I

think Corbyn did get it wrong. I

think he got it wrong basically

because he does not like the West.

He does not like the United States

in particular, does not like Nato.

So he is being consistent.

To be

fair, he has been cleared today.

He

is not a credible turn to Prime

Minister.

He wrote a piece for the

Guardian online today in which he

said clearly that Russia was

responsible.

He didn't, actually. He

said that the evidence points

towards Russia but that it could

have been Russian gangsters.

He

echoed a lot of Theresa May's

language today. I appreciate that

wasn't clear earlier in the week,

certainly not when his spokespeople

did a media briefing. But it has

been made clear. Not just in this

piece today but the Labour Shadow

Defence Secretary, the Shadow

Foreign Secretary and the shadow

Brexit secretary on Question Time

today have all been clear.

You are

talking over each other. People will

not be able to hear.

If you raise

the serious possibility that this

could be Russian Mafia, rather than

Mr Putin, then why would you support

expelling 23 diplomats?

I am not

completely sure we are disagreeing

with each other here. My point is

that that is the problem, that we

shouldn't be discussing who was

responsible for this attack. We

should be discussing how the UK

responds, and particularly the

importance that we both opened the

programme with, making sure Russia

cannot divide the UK, the US, France

and Germany in responding in a

united way.

Labour's Social

Democrats have found their voice on

this. For how long?

For how long

what?

Do they continue to speak up?

I think what you have seen emerge

over the last few days is the social

Democratic position, and a fairly

clear position. If you look at the

range of voices across the Shadow

Cabinet and the backbenchers, there

has been much made of the split

between the front and back bench in

the Labour Party in recent years,

but actually you are hearing us

speaking with one voice. That has

been very important, not least

because if we are serious about

going after, standing up to Russian

aggression, we have to go after the

money and there has been far too

little debate about that.

I am not

sure you are speaking with one voice

at all, because I have three

different voices down here from Mr

Corbyn to Emily Thornbury to Seamus

Milne, saying different things. Then

they come to the Tories. When you

look at our growth prospects as

outlined by the OBR, why did Philip

Hammond have any right to be

cheerful?

Well, the deficit

reduction has been quite impressive

so he has the right to be cheerful

about that.

At last.

Well, yes, it

has taken a long time but it was the

point of the whole thing. We could

not go on having the largest deficit

in the European Union, adding to

national debt that has reached 85%

of GDP.

If you look at the forecast,

it forecasts an average of 1.5%

growth per year for the next five

years. There is no appear reared in

post-war British history when there

has been five years of growth that

low. Never. If it was to happen, I

would suggest to you the Tories have

no right to be cheerful at all.

One

reason he would have been cheerful

was that the OBR forecast in

November was inverted by the

forecasted produced in time for the

May statement. So he probably

thinks, as I think, that the OBR

forecasts are not worth the paper

they are not written on.

The OBR

changed its forecast this year by

0.1%.

On growth. It got the

productivity figure madly wrong. I

think he probably thinks there is

better ahead and he will not be too

depressed by OBR forecasts.

He must

be worried about the trend in

household debt, because in recent

years we have seen a government very

determined to get debt of the public

balance sheet but instead it has

been pushing it to families,

individuals and institutions. We

have hospital trusts now across the

country £1 billion in debt, families

whose debt levels have now reached

almost 50% of household income. And

this is a real economic problem,

because as we leave the EU, the

resilience in the country is not

there.

I want to come onto one other

thing which is really important.

Rochdale, rather, Oxford, now

Telford. Everybody knows what I'm

talking about. Why is this so

widespread? And if it has been

revealed in these towns, it must, I

would suggest, still be happening in

other places in this country, to our

national shame. Do you agree?

Completely. And what is worse about

it is that what we are learning

coming out of Telford is repeating

exactly the same patterns and

messages we have seen coming out of

those other areas. You have a

pattern of grooming gangs preying on

young people, not just young women

but young men as well, variety of

backgrounds, who are particularly

vulnerable. And then you have a

pattern of people in authority

either not recognising it, or seeing

those young people as part of the

problem.

Final thought from you on

this, Michael?

Which bit?

The whole

pattern of Telford.

I would endorse

what Lisa has said.

what Lisa has said. Failure to

investigate, obstructed by political

correctness and unwillingness to

look into the thing in case they are

accused of racial bias.

Sometimes

blaming the girls.

Certainly, but

Lisa made that point already. All of

this is terrible and it has to

change. Let's hope it is changing.

But I think the MP that we saw there

raising the issue has raised it

extremely well and has put it

absolutely back in focus. And police

forces and other agencies need to be

very aware of this now.

Thank you

both.

These days politics increasingly

resembles an episode

of the over-the-top cult tabloid

shock-fest which once

was the Jerry Springer Show.

If it was still around,

this week alone would have given

us a robust exchange

on "The President Sacked Me

Because I Called Him

a Moron", a confessional

"Bad Vlad's Made Me Mad",

and a whimsical "My Chancellor

Thinks He's A Winnie The Pooh

Character".

Rowdiest of all, of course,

would have been "I'm a Porn Star

and I Slept with the President".

Obviously, I made that last one up.

At least that's what the White House

lawyers insisted I say.

Like the Jerry Springer Show of old,

these sorts of stories thrive

on a desire to grab control

of the narrative, set

the record straight,

right perceived or hushed up wrongs.

That's why we're putting "fight

back" in the Spotlight.

We have all been reminded this week,

it is tough at the top.

Just when you think you have

got your rivals licked,

they all fight back at once.

Across the country and further

afield, we saw that nobody

stays on top for long.

The Democrats snatched

a surprise victory after

going the full 12 rounds

in Pennsylvanian Trump territory.

We are still fighting the fight.

It's not over yet.

We're going to fight

all the way to...

All the way to the end.

It took a little longer

than we thought but we did it.

Down but not out, Steve Bannon

is still trying to fight

everyone and everything,

all at once.

Let them call you racists.

Let them call you xenophobes.

Let them call you nativists.

Wear it is a badge of honour.

And this week, animal rights

activists tried to fight back

on behalf of the underdog,

storming Crufts in an attempt

to steal, or should that be rescue,

the winning animal.

Angela Merkel showed the world

you didn't need to be taught any

new tricks as the German

Chancellor knocked out

the competition yet again.

Sort of.

And, after years of political

sparring, of gun violence,

the schoolchildren in the USA have

decided that enough is enough

as they organised mass walk-outs

across the country and took

the fight to Washington.

There has been a fight

for change for a long time.

But there's never been

a more powerful movement

than what the students of Brooklyn

and New York City in this nation

have done these last few weeks.

We will not sit in our classrooms

wondering why Congress is not

working as hard as we are.

I admire you and I appreciate you.

Keep fighting.

Thank you.

Jerry Springer knows a thing or two

about fighting back.

But can you always stay on top?

And Jerry is with us now.

Welcome back.

That was a great film.

That brought back memories, the

final shot. The big fight back for

you, in America, from your point of

view, are the Democrats. They had a

good result in Pennsylvania in the

18th district, a district that had

gone over the 20% lead for Mr Trump

over Mrs Clinton, and the Democrats

just got it back, they just won it.

It is quite Trump territory, but

overall how would you rate the

fightback.

I don't think there is

any question that in November the

Democrats are going to do very well.

Will it be enough of a wave to take

control of Congress again? That, we

don't know. But clearly right now

the resistance to Trump, President

Trump, is significant. In every

poll, you never gets above 40%, and

that is unheard of for a sitting

President in his first year.

So

shouldn't you be more confident that

you would at least take the House

and maybe the Senate?

The reason you

can't be totally confident is

because we have a system where the

congressional districts are drawn

every ten years by state legislature

laws. So the way they are drawn,

they favour the Republicans, because

what the Republican state houses

did, they piled the democratic

population all into one district and

then spread the Republicans out so

they would win more. So even though

more Americans vote for Democrats

than Republicans, we have more

Republican congressman than

Democrats.

Who is leading the fight

back? This is the thing I find

interesting. Every time I look at

the Democrats and, we are on our way

back, the people saying this, their

combined is about 350.

Well, yes.

But here is the deal. The person who

is leading the fight back, in a

sense, is Trump. It is the reaction,

America's reaction to the fact that

we have Trump as President. And I

think it's important to say, when we

are in another country, for example,

when people make fun of us because

we have Trump as President, it's

important to remember that Hillary

Clinton got 3 million more votes

than Trump. I understand Trump is

the President, but let me just say

it is not a reflection of America to

say that Trump is the President,

because America voted for Clinton.

If you were not fighting an

electoral college election, it you

would fight it entirely different,

so I am not sure of the comparison.

I am more concerned about the future

and I don't know how you fight back

unless you have a leader. And is

Bernie Sanders the leader again?

Probably not.

Who would it be?

It's

not a personality thing. I'm telling

you, right now the women's movement

is very significant in America. And

then on the issue of race and

multicultural America, this is the

first time in American history we

have had a President who is opposed

to the idea of a multicultural

America. We are the only country in

the history of the world to have

been created by an idea. Most

countries start out either as a

religion, a race, ethnic group. We

started out, first there was the

idea, let's have one place on earth

where it would not matter where your

parents were from. That's the dream,

the goal, and Trump is opposed to

that. And then the Muslims, the

Mexicans.

I know you don't like

Trump, that's not the point.

He's a

nice person, he shouldn't be

President.

I would not even go down

that road with you. On fightback, I

still don't see, given that the

Democrats have the demography in

their favour, they have young people

in their favour as well and more

increasingly they have women, too.

But I don't know of any fightback

that works unless you coalesce

around one or two people who

represent all that.

The presidential

election is in 2020. The primary 's

will start towards the beginning of

2019. Excuse me, 2020. Once the

primary 's start, the candidates

that will enter the race, someone

will emerge.

Who is your person?

I

don't have one yet.

I understand

that but a moment ago you said it is

not a personality thing, but it is.

We are not so concerned over here

about congressional elections. We

are worried about the presidency

because it affects people outside

the United States. And of course you

need a candidate. Last time, you put

up a candidate said Nick -- 70% of

Americans disliked, and that is why

you lost.

Most of them voted for

her. They might not have wanted to

date her.

Everybody knows the rules

of the American system and Hillary

Clinton for the bad campaign because

she was fighting in the wrong places

under the rules of that election.

She lost fair and square, firstly

because she was incompetent and

secondly because Americans disliked.

So you've got to find a candidate

better than that.

I understand but I

don't agree with your assumptions,

with all Jura Specht. In terms of

competency, it wasn't even

competition.

Competency in fighting

the election.

It ignores the

structural problems the Democrats

have, which you see for centre-left

parties across the world. One of the

problems the Democrats had when I

went to visit after the EU

referendum, they were talking very

much about the same thing Labour is

grappling with, about younger people

in cities who have a different

outlook from older people in towns.

I have to interrupt because we have

overrun. Briefly, what are you doing

here, other than being with us?

Everyone always says that, what are

you doing here? I am appearing on

some programmes, but none as good as

yours. And I am going to Dublin on

Saturday night.

I am glad you found

time to be with us. Never come here

without visiting us. I can reveal

that CBS News is going to run the

Stormy Daniels 60 minute interview

on the 25th of March. Stormy Daniels

is the pawn star.

That's your lot for

tonight, but not for us.

Because, inspired by news that

humans survived a super-volcano

eruption 74,000 years ago by hiding

out in South African caves,

we're off to Loulou's,

which is as close as you can get

to a cave in Mayfair.

Lisa is bringing her

ethically-sourced Camden Market

black-out curtains and Michael

has his SAS survival

guide, signed by Mrs T,

as well as his souvenir

Bluebell Railway penknife.

We're going to hole up in the bar

until all this nerve gas

and depressing news blows over.

And, if the months go by and we have

to subsist on pork scratchings

and Molly's dog biscuits,

well, at least they'll take

the taste away from the Blue Nun.

Nighty-night, don't

let Vladimir Putin's

election memorabilia bite.