Yesterday. And also, if youre to going anybody at to going headbutt anybody at football, really dont want football, you really dont want it to be roy keane, do you. 7 it to be roy keane, do you . Well have your latest and well have your latest Weather Forecast on duty this morning. Alex burkill , hello. Morning. Alex burkill, hello. A little bit of mist and fog around first thing this morning, but otherwise plenty of sunshine and temperatures even and temperatures rising even further as we go through the week. Ill have more later. So it was first day back at school yesterday. Well, not for school yesterday. Well, not for school kids really, but for mps at the houses of parliament and Gillian Keegan amongst the stories fighting to keep her cabinet position this morning after she apologised for claiming she was doing a good job. But she said stronger than that actually. But she was that actually. But she was unaware that she was being recorded. I just want to say , recorded. I just want to say, were you offended by that . Isabel no, i wasnt. Neither was i. No so what is all the fuss . This is a mature woman who uses swear word and. And i think it wasnt the use of the swear word. I wasnt offended by the use of swear words. What i was offended by was the suggestion that she should be thanked for doing a great job when there are childrens lives at risk in classrooms. I think thats probably going wash with probably not going to wash with a who are now a lot of parents who are now having home their children. She hasnt been in the job a yeah she hasnt been in the job a year. She hasnt been in the job a year. And she made the accusation are others accusation that there are others who sitting on their who had been sitting on their backsides and getting away with this the past 15, 20, 30 this for the past 15, 20, 30 years. Whatever and i think its interesting. Than interesting. I think rather than her under threat, the herjob being under threat, the woman should be promoted, absolutely promoted for speaking the home secretary the truth. The home secretary has fire. Has been under fire. Secretary. I think is, secretary. I think she is, yeah. She what . Education secretary well, secretary not home . Well, i thought. Thought. I thought this was a different same one. Different story. No, same one. Oh, anyway has oh, right. Anyway she has been under over past 24 under fire over the past 24 hours for being on holiday. Well, theres a sin. Kill her. I really hate when people attack politicians for having a holiday. Yeah, i do. I think youre entitled to holiday. But anyway , so who knew what and when . Yes. Lots of questions for the government. This morning. And now the chief of the National Audit office. Thats the spending watchdog, has accused the government of using a sticking plaster approach to School Maintenance with thousands children currently thousands of children currently unable to classrooms. Unable to return to classrooms. Right. Heres what object right. Heres what i object to amongst all this to as well. Amongst all this nonsense. So you would think you nonsense. So you would think you and think they and i would think they send round specialists , inspectors to round specialists, inspectors to look this concrete. Right. Look at this concrete. Right. And oh, thats it there, and say, oh, thats it there, thats it there, and it shouldnt be there. Whatever you. No, they send the headmaster or mistress to have a look and then they see any of look and then if they see any of it, theyve seal off that it, theyve got to seal off that corridor instead of sending experts. Its left to an experts. So its left to an amateurs judgement. Whether amateurs judgement. Whether this is there or not. And this stuff is there or not. And then they send around an inspector for probably 12 years from now, and lets speak to political direct and analyst alex crowley on this one. And right. Have you got your knickers in a twist about Gillian Keegan . Whats your view . 7 oh, 7 oh, look, i 7 oh, look, i think . Oh, look, i think that its one of those things where, you know, because i media trained politicians and executives and what have you, and of course, the first thing you say to them is that when youre, when you have a microphone on, you just assume that anything you say may be used. But warning the be used. But the warning the police you, like the police give you, like the lawyer. Obviously , lawyer. Exactly so obviously, from a kind of purely professional perspective , professional perspective, clearly unforced error. Clearly its an unforced error. However, you can understand perhaps some of her frustration. Yes. In the sense that warnings about this were actually they were first raised in the 1960s. They were sort of seriously raised in 1994. Right. So were going back quite a long time. You know, there was time. You know, there was a report in 2002 that the escalated this even further dunng escalated this even further during the period of, you know , during the period of, you know, ten years of Labour Government. Ten years of Labour Government. And it was only very recently that they started to properly check the schools. So this has been going on for years and years and years and years. Yeah and yes. And where i sympathise with her, weve got for instance, nick gibb coming on after 9 00. Nick gibb is the minister of state for education and he seems to have been in a job. That job or jobs like that for 112 years. So was he sitting on his backside . What did he know about it . Rishi sunak he between what we have done is we have invested in whatever. He doesnt talk about how hes half the school budgets. I mean, there has to be there has to be guilt on his hands. Yeah. And i think there is. Yeah. And i think there is. And david cameron. And david cameron. There is. Look, there is. Well look, you could you could you could blame a whole cast actors here a whole cast of actors here about whats been going on. But the real issue, i think, is that this is something this is this this is something this is this this strikes me as classic whitehall. Okay. Classic whitehall. Okay. Classic whitehall. Okay. Classic whitehall is an issue that has been bubbling under the surface for years and years and years that theyve just that just bureaucrats inertia has let develop. And then suddenly, of develop. And then suddenly, of course it explodes one day and it lands in the lap of whichever politician happens to be in the building at the time. And, you know, you could well imagine it was a scenario where, yes, she was a scenario where, yes, she was on holiday and no, she should not be criticised for going on holiday. I agree with you on that one. And suddenly she gets a phone call saying, well, actually, were going to have to close these schools now. And she said, hang on, and then she said, hang on, what, what . But that report came at but that report came in at the beginning august. You the beginning of august. So you could whether not could question whether or not somebody should on somebody should be going on houday somebody should be going on holiday with schools coming back at of september. At the beginning of september. Did was the first did she know was when the first reports the reports were . And i do think the idea that government minister idea that a government minister can and expect to be can come on and expect to be praised when you can see what a catastrophe think catastrophe this is, i think i think whats wrong with the media, huge to the media, a huge favour to the Prime Minister frankly, Prime Minister because frankly, the is about what the story really is about what are Prime Minister did when are now Prime Minister did when he was chancellor and between 2020 2021 and its front 2020 and 2021 and its the front of this morning, of the guardian this morning, department the Department Officials and the department of education were shocked a request fund shocked when a request to fund work at risk from work on 300 schools at risk from crumbling concrete panels was pared later down pared down to 100 and later down to so more than half, you to 50. So more than half, you know, 300 to 50. Know, from 300 to 50. And speaking cynically, yes. And speaking cynically, you downing street is you know, downing street is going to be, you know , not not going to be, you know, not not completely displeased that the focus is on the education secretary at the moment for precisely those reasons. I would, however, say that its probably quite understandable that the department for education officials would seek to shift the blame over to the treasury when its their responsibility to be checking the schools and making sure theyve done well, though apparently thats not the case. That was what i mean, that was what yesterday Gillian Keegan was saying. Local saying. That was the local authoritys responsibility and actually hers check actually it wasnt hers to check on the safety of the building. Yeah and actually it depends, of course, to in course, on whos meant to be in charge which of charge of which building of course, it gets very complicated. It doesnt help, course, it doesnt help, of course, that a story today as that we see a story today as well, that theres lots of officials local government officials in local government that abroad. That routinely work from abroad. You so alex, what want you know, so alex, what i want to is when she shes not to know is when she shes not evenin to know is when she shes not even in this job, a year when she took over the brief was one of the first thing the Civil Servants to her, secretary servants said to her, secretary of state, we need to tell you our schools are falling down. I suspect not. I suspect not. I suspect not. I would like know if they i would like to know if they did her that. Theyll did brief her on that. Theyll never of course, but never tell us, of course, but but if it was such a major issue , then that that that obviously would one of the first would have been one of the first things have been said. I things to have been said. I suspect it because, like suspect it wasnt because, like most there is a most of these things, there is a panic because there wasnt that flow of information. There wasnt those honest discussions prepare laying the ground to say, okay, well, this this is coming down the line and were going to have to deal going to need to have to deal with of course, with this. And now, of course, everyones scrambling to catch with this. And now, of course, eve hm. Es scrambling to catch up. Hm. Interesting. Do you think that she can survive this . I mean, some suggestion that she might the cabinet as might remain in the cabinet as a bit of a lightning rod because she is a bit accident prone that she is a bit accident prone that she actually be quite useful she can actually be quite useful for the Prime Minister to deflect the heat. Deflect a lot of the heat. Yes. I think i think yes. Yes. I think i think its probably quite handy if theres little a of a theres a little bit of a of a row around her position. And again, cynically, again, speaking cynically, although if theres although i would say if theres another of incident like we another sort of incident like we saw yesterday , i think there saw yesterday, i think there will be a bit of extra pressure there. And the Prime Minister might be forced to act. But i dont expect it. The last thing you want to do in a crisis is change the is change the member of the cabinet dealing with it because your focus and energy should be on dealing with the crisis. Speaking of cabinets, big reshuffle in the shadow cabinet yesterday. Of about yesterday. Lots of talk about this being more blairite this being a more blairite cabinet blair. A big cabinet than under blair. A big shift to the Centre Ground under starmer. You know, is this a threat to sort of Centre Ground tories . Tories . I mean, i if you know who any of them are, i mean, you know, theres a couple of blasts from theres a couple of blasts from the past, including a couple of the past, including a couple of the cheerleading remainers, hilary benn, etcetera. Does it hilary benn, etcetera. Does it make huge difference to, to make a huge difference to, to starmers fortunes . No everyone always looks at Cabinet Reshuffle for both parties and they say, well, this is important and this is important here and this is important here and this is important most people important here and this is imporcare. Most people important here and this is imporcare. It most people important here and this is imporcare. It doesntt people important here and this is imporcare. It doesnt itieople dont care. It doesnt it doesnt change doesnt fundamentally change how people the leaders of the people view the leaders of the parties. And i think that would be the same here. And i think labour have got some very talented people in the shadow cabinet. I dont include their leader as one of those actually. And it always strikes me that youve got a good team but a bad manager. There and, and yet if you vote for the team , you get the manager. Yes. Although that assumes yes. Although that assumes that the cabinet actually has any has any power. We that the cabinet actually has any has any power. We think we any has any power. We think we operate in a cabinet system of government, but that hasnt been the case for a long time. It is a Prime Ministerial system of government. The Prime Minister is the most powerful person in the room. They decide and everyone always , everyone always everyone always, everyone always assumes that its cabinet government. Isnt really so government. It isnt really so everyone always says, well , if everyone always says, well, if the team around them is strong, then we we get the benefit then we get a we get the benefit of a strong team and we get all of a strong team and we get all of those positive lives. But its down to the leader its always down to the leader whats going between the whats going on between the leader and the deputy leader. For Angela Rayner there is no doubt no ones going to convince me similar sort of me theyre similar sort of people whatever. Do you people or whatever. What do you think that relationship is and is he stuck with her whether he wants her or not . Well, youve got this bizarre system in the labour party where they have an elected deputy leader, means that it leader, which means that it doesnt leader doesnt matter what the leader thinks they thinks of their deputy, they cant of them. So they cant get rid of them. So they have to put up with them regardless. Now sometimes you get with blair and get a situation with blair and prescott few years prescott going back a few years where they sort of kind where actually they sort of kind of had an understanding of had a had an understanding and it kind of worked because they were two completely different characters, but it sort worked. And the sort of worked. And you have the same with same situation here again with starmer rayner, except starmer and rayner, except this time fairly that time its fairly obvious that starmer would last person starmer would the last person starmer would the last person starmer work is starmer wants to work with is angela has no Angela Rayner, but he has no choice. So they have to make it work. Interesting 21 a 21 word title i believe. The longest title. The longest title. Oh well, she she has to that. Oh well, she she has to that. Cant we . Cant we . Oh. Keeping it nice and keeping her happy. All right. Always good to get your thoughts, alex. Thank you very much. Speak to you again later, alex. Thank you very much indeed. Your views, as usual, very, very welcome. Well feed those welcome. And well feed those in throughout the programme and well you are well reflect what you are thinking. Now police thinking. Now the Police FederationNorthern Ireland thinking. Now the police fedecalled Northern Ireland thinking. Now the police fedecalled forNorthern Ireland thinking. Now the police fedecalled for a rthern ireland thinking. Now the police fedecalled for a fullrn ireland has called for a full investigation into the actions of byrne he resigned of simon byrne after he resigned yesterday psni chief yesterday as the psni chief constable. There have been a series of controversies , data series of controversies, data breaches, unlawful discipline , breaches, unlawful discipline, binning of two officers. Were joined now by our Northern Ireland correspondent Dougie Beattie on this one, dougie. So beattie on this one, dougie. So the top man goes goes. It will take a long time to find a successor. I would have thought , well, youre totally correct. Eamonn. It will take a very long time because yesterday , as long time because yesterday, as that meeting broke up, the politicians came out and of course, the policing board is there. Theyre the political accountability, if you like , for accountability, if you like, for the chief con he has to answer to them. Under the good friday agreement and none of them seem to acknowledge the real problems that are here. And the problem really is confidence and trust. Really is confidence and trust. And that confidence and trust has to come from the public. But it really has to come from his rank and file officers, the Police Federation of Northern Ireland. Even as we came on the air, there has been two shootings in west belfast in a nationalist area. Two young men nationalist area. Two young men have been took a punishment shooting as you and i would know. It would be called a kneecapping with a shot in the legs. So what would happen there is the police would have to go in there, set up a cordon and look at this scene of crime. Now, if you look at that and you strip that back, what really the chief constable will be saying to his officers is, i want you to his officers is, i want you to go into area that is to go into an area that is theres a weapon in it. Two men have already been shot and i want you to go in there and secure the scene. Now those Young Police Officers need to have confidence that tha