Picture on our desk of Adam And Chris looking at us. Well, looking there. Well, its pointing the other way. Well, it could be. Well, its there. Do you want me to move it so they are looking at you . No. Thats relevant, isnt it . Well, i could do that. Lets do that. There. How do you feel now . I feel very fine. I love looking at you and henry. 0k. Im going to do something. Im going to have to move my microphone. For this moment. Hang on. Laura is rising from her chair. I say rising, struggling. She has now put the picture in front of Me Of Chris and adam. And how do you feel now . Well, obviouslyjealous and threatened by two colleagues. Now, if you are listening to this and not watching, paddys knees are trembling, his eyes are doing something that i dont even know how to describe so i am going to move the picture back. 0k, hang on. Ill move it because. Tell us why we are doing this. Ok so one of the strange things, well, one of the things that i think people watching at home might have remarked on from our interview with Keir Starmer this morning is he has cleared up the mystery about why he moved margaret Thatchers Portrait from the wall of his study. But the way he cleared up the mystery was that he says he doesnt like people looking at him in portraits. This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all. I dont like images, pictures of people staring down at me. I have had all of my life. When i was a lawyer, used to have, sort of, Pictures Ofjudges. I dont like it. I like landscapes. So this is my study, its my private place where i go to work. I didnt want a picture of anyone, its a picture of landscapes. As a lawyer, people tried to persuade me that i needed Pictures Ofjudges staring at me the whole time. I didnt like it. I dont like it any more if they are politicians. There isnt any politician i would want staring at me. Wow. I mean, isuppose if you are the labour Prime Minister and its a picture of Margaret Thatcher staring down at you, you might be tempted to move it. Well, you might be. Its also an interesting little revealing Land Grab about being in number ten because the prime Ministers Office is actually not the office, its actually another little office somewhere else well, not a little office, quite a big office in the building. And what was called the thatcher room, is another whole study. So it sounds like Keir Starmer has bagged himself an extra room to go and do his afternoon reading. Well, its a lovely bit of revelation from your latest scoop which we will dissect with henry in this episode of newscast. Newscast. Newscast from the bbc. Hello. Its paddy in the studio. And laura in the studio. And henry at home. Hello, henry. How nice to be reunited with you as well as paddy. What did you make of the interview with sir Keir Starmer that in the Cabinet Room and the first big one, i think, henry, isnt it . Yes, i think certainly his first sort of broadcast interview, that properly looks forward to all the many challenges to come over the next few months and years of his premiership. And, you know, i think that was the background which framed the interview and really framed his mood. It not cheery, is it . Its not hurrah, there is the first labour Prime Minister for 14 years and suddenly uplands are just around the corner. You know, its. I hesitate to say gloomy because, you know, this government is very deliberately trying to tell people that the tough decisions are a necessary way of getting to a better place. But nevertheless, there is a big emphasis on the tough decisions that are going to come first. Um, and this interview comes just as we head into a week where Keir Starmers first tough decision, to use his lingo, which was the Means Testing of the winter Fuel Payment, is going to harden, i think, into probably his toughest parliamentary moment yet, which is when mps are given the chance to vote on it. Um, and i think it all shows that he won an outstanding parliamentary victory, but that doesnt mean that the next four or five years are going to be plain sailing for him. Far from it. Theres all sorts of tricky decisions that are hurtling his way, and that you could sort of see in the interview he is having to grapple very hard about how to deal with them. And its interesting to me, henry, that he also didntjust say, oh, its going to be painful or there are tough times ahead. He also said, i think we have to be unpopular, which is a sort of different thing. Its one thing telling the country, you know, buckle up, bed in, this is going to be hard. Also, shouting and acknowledging very publicly that he expects his government not to be very liked by the public is, shall we say, quite an unusual thing for a politician to say. Normally theyre like, like me, like me, please, please like me. And he said, we have to be unpopular. But in a way i think that was notable language. But i had to say also, for me, there were quite a lot of echoes of other governments whove moved in and said, were going to do the difficult things that other people have ignored for ages. Then when they try, they go, oh, actually, thats quite hard. We didnt mean it after all. Now, with a huge majority, obviously he has the a lot of space to do a lot of things and probably a long time, you know, four, maybe five years till the next election. So but its interesting how hes trying to cast himself as mr unpopular, right . Shall we have a little listen . Tough decisions are tough decisions. Popular decisions arent tough. Theyre easy. When we talk about tough decisions, im talking about tough decisions. The things the last government ran away from that governments traditionally run away from. Im convinced that because theyve run away from difficult decisions, we havent Got The change we need for the country. And because im so determined to bring about that change, ill do the tough things and ill do them early to make sure that we can bring about the change that we need. So im not going to apologise for this, but i do recognise how difficult it is for some people. I do recognise for pensioners its really hard, for some pensioners here, but of course they do rely on the nhs, they do rely on public transport, so these things arent completely divorced. And with the triple lock, what i can guarantee for the State Pension is that the increase under this government will outstrip any reduction in the winter Fuel Payment. And he put a figure on it. Ive seen a figure of about £400 of a rise in the State Pension, and the maximum Fuel Payment is a 300, i think. So i think theres another thing both of you might be able to help me outwith. Hes also got to do popular things because, i mean, this is a democracy and i get the message. But youve also got to have something available on october the 30th, which puts a smile on my face, dont you think . I think thats absolutely right. And i think in a funny way, although this interview was pretty doomy, it was slightly less doomy than some of the statements weve had in the last few weeks. So he did then get to his sort of analogy that we have to fix the foundations, because then youll one Day Youll have a beautiful house. You know, there will be the change in the longer term, but i think, you know, there are whispers around people saying, actually, the governments got to give people a few more reasons to be cheerful alongside the tough, tough, tough, tough, tough. But inside number ten, i think the view is its better at this stage to oversteer on the gloom than to give people false hope. You know, i dont know, henry, what you think of this, but my sense of talking to people around starmer has been actually for some time is like the ultimate crime they see for a politician to commit is to say something that they then dont hold good to. And that is. Totally. Yeah. I mean, that is something that is very much Guiding Theirthinking in number ten and number. But one other thing that they are consciously trying to ape is what David Cameron and George Osborne did in 2010, which was get into office and ruthlessly and repeatedly blame their predecessors for everything being worse than they thought. And someone very senior in Downing Street said to me about a yearago, um, David Cameron won the 2015 General Election in the first few months after he took office in 2010. Not that Ed Miliband and his team realised it then. Ed Miliband Wasnt even leader of the Labour Party then, and that is kind of the way they are thinking about how to combat this leaderless conservative party. But i think theres a couple of issues that have reared their head for how Downing Street plans to approach this. I think one is the sequencing. People i speak to, including senior people in government, are sympathetic to the decision on Winter Fuel, but they are confused about why Rachel Reeves decided to announce it before the summer, before the budget, at the same time as she announced the Public Sector above Inflation Pay rises, which allowed Rishi Sunak and im sure his successor as Conservative Leader will do the same at pmqs this week, to say that this new Prime Minister had chosen Public Sector workers, over pensioners, over struggling pensioners, that is a political Fault Line, which i dont think they wanted. And when you see the Winter Fuel cut in the round in the budget, with all sorts of other Tax Measures and spending measures, it might be an easier argument for the government to combat. But, you know, by doing a bit early, i think in a sort of zeal to demonstrate tough decisions, a lot of people think theyve Got The Sequencing Wrong and made it harder for themselves. Right. Other thing is that its one thing for the government to decide they have a particular strategy, but there are hundreds of novice mps, in many cases on wafer thin majorities who didnt actually expect to be mps. Who are looking at this, looking at their email inbox, they might have 300 angry emails and that might be double the size of their majority and theyre panicking. I went back in the archive to find Winston Churchill when he took back over in 1951, said, i dont think we have faced these serious circumstances since the war. So this business of saying its been awful is very well trodden. It is. And but you had a whole half an Hour Interview and, uh, theres the. Theres the whipping operation. Theres what will happen to these mps who might show well, people, pewscasters, because theyre a smart bunch, will remember that a few mps on the left have already been sort of sent to the very much naughty benches for not voting with the government on the kings speech. So there is very clearly a signalfrom Keir Starmer� s Labour Party that if you are an mp, you are expected to keep in line or else there might be consequences. Now he was coy about it. Today he did that classic 0h, itll be for the chief whip. But he went on quite quickly to say we were all elected on a mandate to do hard things. So there are mps who will have that very much in their mind when theyre thinking about, do they dare to vote against or do they end up abstaining . I suspect, as with most of these things in The End, theres a lot of hullabaloo, and then the numbers at The End are actually often a little bit on the whelming of under on the other side. But look well see. Right. Well see. But i do think that there is a question here in the longer term, as henry has been hinting at, is Keir Starmer� s operation going to be good at handling the parliamentary party . Theyve got a huge majority, so it doesnt necessarily matter very much day to day at the beginning. But there will come a time when handling the party in parliament becomes very, very important. But, you know, tuesday is an early test of it. And i think henrys right about the chronology of all of this. There is a kind of scratching of head of why have you picked this massive fight right now, and is it actually too clever by half . Should you have waited a bit to have done it in the budget . But there was so much else that we talked about as well. So we talked quite a lot about Winter Fuel yesterday, didnt we . And i think some of the most interesting things to me from him today, if ijust rattle through a few of them, one, he almost gave away a little bit of something that british Prime Ministers arent meant to do. When i said, are you excited or relieved that Kamala Harris is now the democratic nominee because hes going to the White House next week . And he said something like, well, its good to see the race shaping up as it is, although, of course ill work with anyone. But there was just a little kind of flicker which hinted at, oh yes, thank goodness, actually, that the democrats now have a different candidate, which of course im sure that Downing Street would not accept hat� s what he was saying, but thatjust did stand out to me. I was also, when it comes to this issue of accountability, really interested on what he said about grenfell. So remember, newscasters, during the election, labour told us till we were blue in the face, or red in the face, if youre being completely impartial about it, that they were ready for government, they knew exactly what they wanted to do. All their plans were prepared after the Grenfell Report this week. Can they tell people watching or listening who live in unsafe houses when their houses will be made safe . No they cannot. Now you can talk about Remediation And Acceleration and all the difficulties and all the rest. But the fact of the matter is, the government that sold themselves to us as being incredibly well prepared cant tell you if you live in an unsafe house by when youll be safe. I want to get this done as quickly as possible. Each block will be on a different timetable. Im not able to give you an end date, but i can tell you i meant what i said when i responded to the report. I said, this has to be a turning point. It does, and we need to speed that up and get on with it. Forgive me, Prime Minister. During the election campaign, you made great play of how ready you were, how much preparation you had done, how much you were going to walk in this building and get things done. And then today you cant give us a date, a deadline, which is what people want to know. When will they be able to sleep easy in their beds . It is years since the grenfell fire. It is years that you had in opposition. Everybody knew this was coming. You cannot be surprised by what this report has come outwith. And this is about people who are, as of this moment, not safe in their own homes. Well, let me acknowledge that this has taken far too long. Seven years. This is not unique. Weve had no end of injustices that have taken very many years to come to any sort of outcome. And this is not the final outcome. You are in charge now. Why cant you give people a date . I accept that and what comes with being in charge is responsibility. The responsibility to make sure this happens as soon as possible. Yes. Its welcome to government time, isnt it . Because one of the other things that happened was many mps. Henry makes the point about novice mps. Many mps cleared the chamber after Prime Ministers questions on wednesday, just ahead of the statement about grenfell, then found themselves directly criticised by the survivors and the families of the victims. I mean, thats chilling, if you are an elected politician. One of the big performers in the government is Wes Streeting. He was on radio four with me. He apologised for the people who felt bad about the Winter Fuel decision. He said im sorry about that. Its hard. But then i also asked him in his new nhs review, which is due on thursday, whether or not he would go private himself to beat the queues. And he said yes, he would. He didnt have to, but he would. And he said hes going to use the private Health Care System in the uk to help the pressures on the nhs. Well, in terms of cancer treatment, i doubt id diagnostic. In principle . In principle, but diagnostics maybe . Yeah, lots of people are voting with their feet if they can afford it. And thats the two Tier System im determined to take on. And its why ive taken on some of my critics on the left who are angry at the idea that i might use private Sector Capacity to bring down Waiting Lists faster, but i ask people to look at the state of our country today, where more people are paying to go private voting with their feet and with their wallets because the Nhs Isnt there for them when they need it. And the pessimism We Saw on the front page of The Observer last sunday, where a majority of brits now assume that they will have to pay for private health care. Thats not the situation that i want to see. We will use the private sector to bring down nhs Waiting Lists faster on nhs terms, so that no one has to worry about the bill. At the same time as we rebuild capacity in the nhs to make sure the nhs is there for all of us when we need it, where we need it. Laura it will be interesting this week when the Darzi Report is published in full to hear exactly what were streeting and Keir Starmer mean when they say ah well, the answer has to be reform. So Wes Streeting is there saying, oh, hes willing to use the private sector, but what do they actually mean in terms of reorganising the nhs or fundamental changes . Because that way often lies difficulty, complexity and things that dont quite turn out. So well see what they we know theyre not going to chuck absolutely gazillions of extra money in, because theyre always telling us theres not much money around. But actually, what are their plans for reform . Um, and well, you know, well see. I think that might be a Fault Line in the months ahead. Henry, do you think that there will be a surprise in the budget about health . Uh, very possibly. I mean, one of the interesting things in the Sunday Papers today actually is a story in The Sunday Times about Alan Milburn, one of Wes Streeting labour predecessors, as Health Secretary, hanging around the Department Of Health and social care in meetings with Wes Streeting. Now The Sunday Times make the interesting point. He doesnt actually, as faras were aware, have a Job Working with Wes Streeting and people are raising concerns following some of the other stories about people getting jobs that perhaps shouldnt should have been different status jobs in government as advisers to this new government. But i just think also worth remembering, Alan Milburn was perhaps the labour Health Secretary in the new labour years, who did the most of the new Labour Health secretaries to bring the private sector in and use the private sector, as he would see it, for the benefit of the nhs. And so, you know, if Wes Streeting, as he clearly is, is listening closely to him, then that clearly displays a particular direction. Yeah. I saw him rushing down whitehall this week, Alan Milburn looking very tanned and very busy on a mobile phone, and some, some reporter somewhere might possibly have written injuly that he was expected to be given. Well, because i read something. I know who that was. That was me, wasnt it . No, no. It was that he was going to be having some kind of role, but he didnt know what it was. No, no, no. No, no, this is. This is this is the meat and potatoes of a podcast. Ive got a bit of flag flying to do as well. Ive read a report in the week that what labour might do is seek to have production line, Waiting List operation, Waiting List operations. In other words, getjust reduce the Waiting List in key areas of the country by doing constant operations on hips. Legs and knees. Yeah, cataracts. And thats what they did under Alan Milburn. And it Got The list down. But you see that would be because because thats one of Rishi Sunak� s failed tests himself. He said weve not gone far enough. If within six months of being in government, they cut a significant Waiting List by using any method that will be a win. That goes back to what i said earlier, you cantjust tell us how awful everything is. Youve got to act, youve got to do something. And this is coming down to the first step. So remember the first steps, the six first steps. So by january. I dont remember. Well, it was a bit it was the six first steps to. The five missions. Yes. I couldnt remember them all on the programme. Do you remember . Do i have to give up alcohol . Is that is that where its going . No, paddy. Dont worry about that. Thats it. Your eyes starting to flicker again. But thats that. It was one of the. You know, theres an extra. I think it was 4 to 2000 appointments in the first year or something, like, whatever the specifics. And im going to do a Wes Streeting. When he was on the show, he forGot The sixth of the six steps. And i dont think hes forgiven us for doing that. But the clip is still available on social media, should anybody want to have a look. But he remembered it the next time he came on. But that youre right, its about then showing people that something good has happened that people voted for. But something good does still happen in the nhs. And i want to read out an email from anne in sleaford in lincolnshire, and we are delighted to hear this news. But also it is important, i think, to make this point as she does. Dear laura and paddy, yes, the nhs is underfunded and understaffed and there are a lot of other problems, particularly with childrens care, as laura described today. That was the story we mentioned about it mentioned yesterday. Heres a different story. And this is annes story, which she shared with us on friday the 26th ofjuly. Ifound a lump in my breast, and the same day my gp referred me on. I was seen at the clinic two weeks later after a biopsy and tests, i was diagnosed with early Stage Breast Cancer and were very sorry to hear that and send you every good wish. But heres the good bit of the story. Im having surgery next friday to remove it. This is exactly seven weeks after i found the lump. Ive been overwhelmed by the Kindness And Efficiency of the staff, which is the combination that everyone wants. This wont be The End of my treatment, but you can understand why i want to tell you about my experience. Im a big fan of the podcast. Well, we are sorry to hear about that anxiety and your illness, but delighted to hear that you are happy with the treatment and how you have how youve been dealt with by the nhs. So thank you so much for getting in touch and we wish you all the best. Newscast from the bbc. So as you say, paddy, there are two new Downing Street cats jojo starmer. Actually, i dont know if thats jojos surname. If a cat has a surname, uh, and i can be sure that were going to offend someone in this. Really are digging. Do you remember when i said a cat was stupid . Wouldnt know its name . Early on. It was bad when i had to come and pick you up from the where you were taken off to. Um, Sojojo Starmer is apparently catching lots of the mice that are still in the Downing Street flat. So thats a little bit of snippet of feline gossip. The other thing is the name of the new Siberian Kitten. Now, henry, you saw the interview, so no cheating. Paddy, what do you think the name is of the new cat . I would say whiskers. No. Um. Pussy pookins . No. Nibbles . No. Tibbles . Nope. Uh, is this going to be a podcast all of its own . Because its really good. Possible name . Pet cast. Guess guess names of cats. And when you dont know their names. Ok, i thought when i heard this. This is a dogs name. Theyve called it prince. Oh, that is a dogs name. Well, you heard it there from mr 0connell. And hes an expert in these such things. Anyway, i thought that sounded a bit like a dogs name. And youve clarified that it definitely is a dogs name, but the white Siberian Kitten with the blue eyes has been called prince lovely. So weve got prince lovely and jo jo. Yes. And then theres gladstone. And what were the other ones . Theres gladstone, theres theres like treasury and foreign office. I think theres one that doesnt have a public profile knocking about the Cabinet Office called ozzy osbourne. 0h, is it called . Oh, gosh, that was a crawler. Who called it after a former chancellor, wasnt it . Goodness me. Yes. So heres the new cat. Lets call it after you. The great secret about larry is that he doesnt catch any mice. Yeah, he poses for the camera. Very famous, but he really does just swan about Downing Street. And i dont think. I dont thinkjojo and certainly prince have met larry yet. No. Yes. So jojo is apparently. Yes. The Cat Flap in the bomb proof door. Thats right. So jojo. Jojo. Spending time in the family flat, going out, catching catching mice. But not larrys like, Got The, you know, the official bit. So i stole larrys domain. In fact, he was there yesterday sitting in the hall. Ijust sitting who are you . Why are you . Ijust heard the phrase Cat Flap in the bomb proof door. Is that what i heard . Yes. Did i hear that . Its been a news story. Cat flap in the bomb proof door. And the names of all the cats in Downing Street means that the podcast is at an end. Thank god for that. No, its interesting to the very last moment, i would say. So im going to be the first to say farewell. Were back, were reunited. And thats lovely. Its very good start. Newscasters do tell us how to improve brickbats and bouquets. But goodbye. Goodbye. Newscast. Newscast from the bbc. Hello there. So far september has been quite warm and humid with some thundery downpours and some pleasant spells of sunshine. This coming week will be a shock to the system and the first real taste of autumn, turning much cooler for all of us with sunshine and showers, Windy At Times and nights a lot colder. But temperatures will recover again as we head through the following weekend. This weekend has been dominated by the thundery low with high humidity, Heavy Rain and storms. This will slowly ease as it pushes eastwards during the overnight period and leaves a legacy of cloud and spots of rain. But scotland, Northern Ireland already see Something Cooler and fresher moving in with clearer skies to single digits here. Double figures for england and wales. Into monday, the Back Edge of the low pressure pulls away into the near continent and will bring further cloud, a few spots of rain during Monday Morning but then skies brighten up into the afternoon as it slides off. Scotland and Northern Ireland see the next Weather Front so thick cloud and spots of rain but further south should be dry was sunshine. Already feeling cooler and fresher, 11; to 17 degrees. Monday night into tuesday, low pressure starts to set into the north of the country, bringing wet and windy weather and some colder air begins to dig in behind it. Further south, still double figures. A mild night to come. But it will change from tuesday onwards, the cold front with Arctic Air Sinking Southwards as we go through the day and will be a strong north, North Westerly wind. Unsettled picture for tuesday, this band of rain, some squally rain as it heads southwards, skies behind a bright and blustery showers, these heavy across the North West and very windy for all of us particularly across the North East of scotland. These temperatures, low teens in the north, mid to high teens in the south so it will feel noticeably chilly. It stays chilly throughout the week, temperatures below par for this time of year. Most of the showers in the north. Driest and south and he is but as we head through the following weekend, we start to see temperatures recover back to the seasonal norm. Live from london, this is bbc news. Jordan launches an investigation into the killing of three israelis at a Border Crossing to the occupied west bank. Sir Keir Starmer tells the bbc his new government is going to have to be unpopular if it wants to change the country. Fleeing venezuela the man many in the west believe won the Countrys President ial election arrives at an airbase near madrid. A renowned Childrens Hospital in london is carrying out an urgent review of more than 700 patients as concerns are raised about one of its former surgeons. And the Paris Paralympics draw to a close with china topping the medal table. Great britain came second. Israel has closed all of its land Border Crossings withjordan after three israeli civilians were killed in a shooting at the Border Crossing between jordan and the occupied west bank. Israels Prime Minister said it was a Hard Day and sent his condolences to the victims� families
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