Weather get the message . Find out in a little bit. Very good to see you. Our top story on this monday morning is that the Prime Minister has urged the conservatives to stick by him, amid speculation of a plot to oust him as Prime Minister, and this follows speculation over the weekend that some tories are attempting to use leader of the house Penny Mordaunt as a so called stalking horse candidate to trigger a leadership race. The rumour has forced number tens hand. Theyve issued a statement to mps last night, with the pm told backbenchers and i quote the economy is turning a corner and urged them to hold their nerve. Despite the conservative partys dire poll ratings. Well, joining us now for some analysis is the political commentator peter spence. Good morning to you. Were going to be hearing from the Prime Minister today. Hes going to want talk want to talk about apprenticeships whatever apprenticeships and whatever else plan. But quite else is todays plan. But quite frankly, all anyone will be thinking is that thinking about is that absolutely that thinking about is that abso managed that thinking about is that abso managed to that thinking about is that abso managed to survive that thinking about is that abso managed to survive through. Hes managed to survive through. And weekend where there seem and a weekend where there seem to be, yet again, leadership rumours. Rumours. Oh yes. I mean, can i preserje my remarks by saying how much im enjoying the green that youre both wearing on this day of all day . Yeah, i mean, the point about this is that news is not what happened. Its what is reported. So it doesnt really make much difference what sunak has to say. And indeed its unfortunate from his point of view, that it does look like inflation is about to go down to around 2, which is a key objective and which will make a difference, because thats going to be drowned out as it already is by this positively machiavellian slew of speculation. About what about speculation. About what about sunaks future and who might potentially replace him. I mean, i mean, to my mind, its cuckooland, you know, that that if they were to replace him at this stage, it wouldnt be so much a case of them ultimately getting voted as laughed out of office. Well, i mean, peter, the at the end of the day , all of this the end of the day, all of this is about, he thinks its about policy and hes a great number cruncher and all that. And hell stick to whats there. Theres no charisma. Theres no get up and go. Theres nothing thats going to make them stand in the aisles and cheer him on. And he just doesnt get it. Just doesnt get it. That indeed is the problem. That indeed is the problem. His, his remember, hes been an been an mp for less than a decade. His background is finance, which is a fabulous skill set for the job of the chancellor of the exchequer. And its worth remembering dishy rishi and the furlough scheme. How much . How the nation how much . How the nation applauded that extremely brave move on his part, saving millions of us from destitution. Millions of us from destitution. But you need a different skill set for when you are the Prime Minister. You need politico savvy, and that is something that he so lamentable sorely lacks. And it sort of it comes to the fore again and again. It, it came to i mean, lets, lets take, for example, the controversy over frank hester, the tory megadonor whos given 10 or £15 million, whatever it is to the tory party. And then it emerges that hes come out with something egregiously misogynistic and racist. Now first of all, sunak said, oh, well, you know, well, you know, well, you know, well, you know, well, hes hes been a bit naughty, but but he has said hes sorry, but then you get an old stager like chris patten, one time tory chairman, who just said, look, you cant take 10 million smackers off someone whos come out with a racist comment. Its an open and shut case, as indeed it probably is. And it should have been for sunak, too. When you look at the polls, i mean, we know how far the tories are just in terms of electoral polls, but over the weekend, two papers running the mail on sunday electoral oblivion sunday said electoral oblivion predicted that could have predicted that labour could have a 250 seat majority. And then there was this new, more in common poll, which showed that all the red meat policies to appease the red wall are actually alienating the blue wall. And this is becoming a huge problem, and that the lib dems stand to sweep up and clean up there. So what is holding him back now having this back from now having this election in may surely just get it theyre not governable it done . Theyre not governable anymore, they . Anymore, are they . Thats actually, thats an interesting point, isabel. No, i mean, i dont think they are governable and because ive sort of been around since, since, since since noah was in his ark, it seems only yesterday that the labour party lurched to the left and the stp was formed. Now. Okay the gang of four, it didnt do them any favours in the end, but at least there was an honesty there that rishi sunak is trying to run a party which actually isnt a party in terms of policy. It is so polarised that it would be far more honest and frank with the electorate to say, look , theres two theres say, look, theres two theres two parties here. Which one do you want to choose . One lot or you want to choose . One lot or the other lot. And as it is what the other lot. And as it is what the voters are left with a sense, well, i dont know who im voting for. Search me gov. Noidea im voting for. Search me gov. No idea at all. Okay, well there we go peter. Well talk again, in the next hour of the programme. Were just to people just going to get people reacting saying reacting to what youre saying this. And well put that this morning. And well put that to you when we, when we next speak. Just after 7 00. For the moment. Thank you very much indeed. Appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you. Views. Pleasure. Thank you. Gb views. Gb news. Com to russia. Now, can you imagine us talking about Vladimir Putin and his, his victory . Some would say an victory . Some would say an inevitable victory in the election. And i have to say, a election. And i have to say, a lot of people are saying this is a sham election. But what it means for mr putin is another six years in power. Yes. Early results after polls closed had showed putin had received more than 87 of that vote. However, the Global Community has been quick to condemn the vote as neither free nor fair, with no independent monitoring from the osce. Monitoring from the osce. There have been some protests in russia and around the world, these gatherings to protest against the president , with at least 80 people arrested in russia and our own foreign secretary, lord cameron on twitter said , this is not what twitter said, this is not what free and Fair Elections look like. Joining us now, political analyst and russian exile valery, morozov, right. Mr valery, morozov, right. Mr morozov, im sorry. This is what everybody is saying. I mean, you everybody is saying. I mean, you might say, you know, fantastic victory, massive victory. But the thing is, people arent believing it, you know, the thing is that we should take into consideration that in any case. In into consideration that in any case. In any case, putin, is the most, not only popular, but, has biggest support in any case in russia. And these are correct figures that about 90, maybe 85 or 87 people are supporting supporting putin. Im sorry, but how do you say that these are correct figures. I mean, anybody who speaks out against president putin gets put into jail. We saw what happened to navalny. We have deep to navalny. We have deep concerns about our own. Kara murza, who remains behind bars , a big critic of putin. Bars, a big critic of putin. People may well have voted for him because theyre afraid to do anything else, and theres no independent monitoring. Nobody credible was credible can claim that this was a free or independent election in any case. You know, the thing is that, it you are in the west it is, you are in the west people, you know, they expect that that, people should be against putin, but the thing is that, i can confirm that i know a lot of people and im in contact with people in in russia, and many people grip, doesnt he, on the media. So people arent perhaps necessarily aware of exactly what been doing, is illegal. Take into consideration that there a problem. Problem there is a problem. The problem is in position, not in is in the position, not in putin. If you take, say, for example, even official figures in russia , that out of if you in russia, that out of if you take all the people that who support putin, 90 of these people, they are not satisfied with the with the system. But the problem is that putin is still keeping russia moving, developing or in any case, well, but if the thing is that the west, which have crippled the economy , well come to economy, well come to sanctions. But the thing is that opposition russia is a big country. A lot of nationalities, a lot of communities, people live in communities. And to unite a position to create a position, you need idea. You need ideology. Communists came need ideology. Communists came from the west. It became popular , it became ideology. And there was a position , real opposition was a position, real opposition to tsar to. And there was a revolution. But nowadays there is no ideology. And everybody in is no ideology. And everybody in russia is looking for ideology. Russia is looking for ideology. All these, people in the say for example, in opposition, they are look funny , most of them funny, look funny, most of them funny, you know, say, for example, the second position is the communist he got for 4. 5. Hes the old guy older than putin. You know, he is nobody. He older than putin. You know, he is nobody. He the older than putin. You know, he is nobody. He the second guy. Is nobody. He the second guy. Hes from norway. New People Party Just created. Hes a producer of creams. And isabel sarah dyke a lot of people are frightened to stand against him and have a proof file in case they end up gone well, chucked out a window. The thing is that the problem is that i was in a not in a position i was not in politics, but i was fighting against corruption and the whole corruption Anti Corruption campaign case. Campaign started with my case. I was only one in and still was the only one in and still the only one who started criminal investigation, official criminal investigation, official criminal investigation, official criminal investigation against criminal investigation, official cri|devastatedtigation against criminal investigation, official cri|devastated aboutn against criminal investigation, official cri|devastated about whatinst be devastated about what happened to navalny in your country. Oh , the navalny oh, the navalny Anti Corruption campaign. You know, the thing is that navalny i knew navalny actually, you know, was even proposed to you know, i was even proposed to become to start a, you know, become to start as a, you know, politician on this Anti Corruption campaign. But i had a real problems with corruption, and i had real problems, conflicts, real and there was a real threats to my life. And i told that at that time how navalny appeared, it will take the young guy a point him who has no conflict but you should take into consideration that it should take into consideration thatitis should take into consideration that it is not possible in russia in the 90s, it was not possible to have a beginning of to 2000 to work without facing corruption if you are not. That was obviously under putin, under yeltsin, it was more i could force my conflict was 1993 grand kremlin construction and my customer and i was the general manager of American Corporation , and my American Corporation, and my customer was the federal service of service of gods the kremlin guards. And there was a Corruption Case coming back to putin. I mean, sixth time you dont see that in any other democratic nation. And you see it most often in the west, where after at least two terms, thats what i am telling. There is no alternative suella there is no alternative, if ask me. No, there is no if you ask me. No, there is no alternative. There is no people who who can, who can, who have ideas, other ideas you have putin, putin, russia is now, if you compare the development of russia, for example, from january 20, 2023 to this january, it is 4. 6 development in in spite of the sanctions, why do people think what is the reason for being in ukraine . Are they told or how do they accept why the country has invaded ukraine, invasion of ukraine was a grave mistake by putin. But the problem is not the problem. But he managed and he was forced afraid , you know, was forced afraid, you know, because even from people inside, inside in russia who wanted him to get into ukraine and as a as a trap. Yeah. You know, but here because he was suppressing, for example, army , the russian army example, army, the russian army he was suppressing he came with this. He was suppressing politically and suppressing the army, a military industrial complex. And there were a lot of complex. And there were a lot of people who were interested in the development. So they also pushed in this direction. But the thing is that he managed to survive. He managed to adjust to the situation. Hes changing now. Elites. He is changing policy. He is developing military industrial complex, which people wanted to develop. You should understand that in, in, in soviet union, 80 of the industry was military industrial complex. And suddenly it was suppressed. I heard i heard donald trump last week saying if he was in charge, if he becomes president again, he said he will have this war over in a day. No. Yes. Because you know, the there are two, two problems. First, that russia and putin cannot stop this war just like this because of differences in ukraine and russia as civilisations. The thing is that putin is wrong. He is telling all the time that ukraine is the part of russia. Ukrainians, they are like russians. Nothing like this. Ukraine has been developing as different civilisation and the basis of ukrainian civilisation is nationalism. In russia, it is not possible to , to, to, to, to not possible to, to, to, to, to keep the country with nationalism because 100 nationalities. And if you take say, for example, who are fighting on the fronts in, in ukraine, in the russian army, a lot of small nationalities, not even russians, including ukrainians itself. So, i mean, citizens of ukrainian , but russians. Well, we saw what happened with the wagner group and prigozhin being, this was the group of the retired officers kicked out during yeltsins time and putin time. And they were really angry with putin and they were paying him back. You know, they were just pointing. They were the people who also were behind us. You know, they wanted russia to get into the war and to understand that the war is required to develop industries, to develop the army. Valery, answer me this. I was in russia quite a lot in moscow , in russia quite a lot in moscow, four years ago. Right. And i was in ukraine as well. And my impression from moscow was that the people that i met over that penod the people that i met over that period of time just wanted to be westernised. They wanted to westernised. They wanted to drive western cars, they wanted western shops, they wanted the sort of life that that im having that that you have here and whatever. But then thats moscow and thats Saint Petersburg. Russia is a vast country. Why would i be right in country. Why would i be right in saying that . People may think differently in those big cities than they do elsewhere in the country, i think yes. Than they do elsewhere in the country, i think yes. And thats country, i think yes. And thats why, you know, but the difference also is between Saint Petersburg and moscow, moscow recently for maybe since the khrushchev time, you know, 1960s, khrushchev time, you know, 19605, it khrushchev time, you know, 1960s, it became more western, you know, but before moscow was, even it was called the big village. You know, people were. And this is old moscow. Village. You know, people were. And this is old moscow. Yes. And and this is old moscow. Yes. And they and that, you know, romanovs family, they were not happyin romanovs family, they were not happy in moscow. Thats why they they were more pro western. And they were more pro western. And they created Saint Petersburg as they created Saint Petersburg as the western city, you know, and if you go, of course, to russia , if you go, of course, to russia, russians, you know, they are more live in communities. They say, for example, ukrainians, they for them first is family. But and state is the last. For russians, community is very important and state is providing security for all these communities. Thats why Central Power is important. And they need tsar. You forget about all russian speaking about democracy because when they all believe and they will say yes, west. Yes, the west, this and that. We like culture. Everybody is fond because we are brought up with the writers, you know, this and that. But when it when it becomes a problem , any russian will start problem, any russian will start looking where is, where is power because the centre of power will putin last six years . Will he last . Will he . Will he last . Will he . I am not very sure because he is. Hes over 70. You know, he needs to transfer the power. He has a problem. He cant transfer the power. And that has a problem. He cant transfer the power. And that is also you should take into consideration with this election. He needs with this election. He needs a second guy in politics, the guy who can be trusted, who can control russia, who can be start developing it. Maybe with the west in collaboration with the west. Putin is very pro western. Theres so much id love to talk to you about. Fascinating. Very interesting to hear from you, valery morozov, thank you very much indeed for your insight, for your interpretation and for your analysis of all of that. Well see what our viewers and listeners think. Gb views the gb news. Com the russian president ial election, putin wins with 87 of the vote. Thats some victory. Thank you thats some victory. Thank you very much indeed. Lets take a look at some of the other stories coming into the other stories coming into the newsroom this morning. And its good news for once for motorists. The m25 in surrey reopened last night, eight hours ahead schedule ahead of schedule after a weekend