Evening. Welcome to denys electioncast. We are looking for exa m ples of electioncast. We are looking for examples of where this snap election may have mocked up your life logistics. I dont know, maybe you are planning a summit of nato leaders. And in the middle of it, there was an Election Campaign instead. It doesnt have to be that grand. Us know by e mailing us or using the hashtag. We will probably not be a notice of any of your logistical mock ups. Later tonight in the programme, we are good to be dropping into another pa rt good to be dropping into another part of the uk to look at the election there. Maybe it could be your patch. But first of all, there was a special guest in the Election Campaign in donald trump. I discussed that earlier with chris mason and Emily Maitlis from newsnight. I wanted to get you back on because weve got another American Intervention in the Election Campaign. Although he hasnt really intervened, has he, donald trump . Its interesting. Speaking to conservatives over the last couple of days, they have been staring at todays date in the diary for quite a while with a sort of circle around the day saying, ooh, what could happen . Given that last time, the president was barely off the aeroplane and he was firing out tweets. I think talking about sadiq khan, wasnt he, when he got off the plane on his previous visit to the uk . And the extent to which, from the conservative perspective, he would be well behaved or not this time. And the intriguing thing from his News Conference this morning. It will be interesting to hear your reflections, emily, again, looking at it through the prism of how borisjohnson might interpret it, he was relatively well behaved but then you kind of never know what hes going to say in the next sentence. In my head, hes more slightly into Homer Simpson. I imagine him sort of tiptoeing around a sitting room in sort of carpet slippers or those fluffy white ones you get in posh hotels, and hes trying desperately hard to be quiet and his heads going, dont mention boris, dont mention brexit, dont mention boris, dont mention brexit. Oop doh boris, brexit, and out it comes. And hes bumped into the standard lamp and youre not quite sure what hes going to do next. As an interviewer, youre very conscious of what i would call the over vehement denial. So before the questions even out, hes like, no never thought of that never heard of the nhs dont know what the nhs is. Wouldnt want it, dont want it at all, wouldnt even want it on a silver platter. I dont know where that rumour came from. Thats weird because i think it mightve come from you. And we were all in the room injune when he last came, and he sort of said, everything in a trade deal is on the table. And he just put it out there. So were kind of trying to work out, as ever, was it the trump last time, the trump this time, the trump that knew he wasnt meant to say anything but he did or the trump that you know has still got more to say and youre just waiting for it to land . Shoulde the National Health service be on the table . Look, i think everything with the trade deal is on the table. Should the National Health service be on the table. . No, not at all. I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it. When we went on air last night, we were almost certain that whatever we thought we were leading on, some big trump tweet would just land in the headlines. And it was so quiet, we were all a bit shaken. We were all kind of thinking, how does he slip in . I know its stansted but is the juggernaut here or not . Because it was incredible. It was sort of deathly quiet, and were just sort of waiting to see, you know, Homer Simpson wise, how long that can go until the next kind of crash. And here is what homer i mean, the president said today. Are you going to be seeing Prime Ministerjohnson and do you have any thoughts. I have no thoughts on it. Its going to be a very important election for this great country, but i have no thoughts on it. I will be meeting with him, yes. When will that be . I dont know. I have many meetings. I have meetings set up with lots of different countries. Would you be able to work with a possible Prime Minister corbyn . I can work with anybody. Im a very easy person to work with. You know that i was a fan of brexit. I called it the day before. I was opening up turnberry the day before brexit. You were there. Many of you were there, i recognise that many of you were there. And they asked me whether or not brexit would happen, i said yes. And everybody smiled and they laughed, and i said, yes, its going to happen. My opinion, it was just my opinion. The next day, they had the election and i was right. But i stay out of it. I think boris is very capable and i think hell do a good job. It is interesting. With every additional comma, the next bit of the sentence, he is saying he is staying out of it but hes pretty much endorsed borisjohnson there certainly as a character, if not saying he absolutely wants him to win the election. And he said he likes brexit. And the best thing he can say about Jeremy Corbyn is he can work with anyone. Yeah, because hes very easy to work with, as weve seen. But also, he called brexit the day before. Now everyone will remember, he actually landed. The day after the day after. That is one hell of a jet lag. You know, its a confusing thing, all that time travel. But, yes, i can hear the worry, cant you . Hes like, dont mention boris, dont mention boris, dont mention brexit. Oh, it slipped out 0k, just a little bit. Dont talk about elections. Talk about your elections. Im good at winning elections. I win a lot of elections for a lot of people. What . I mean, where . And also, just trying to decode what he really means. I suppose its quite meaningful that he said, oh, we dont want to touch the nhs even if it was on a silver platter. Thats quite meaningful for the conservatives, who can say, look, look, your fears are unfounded. Actually, in detail and policy terms, its a meaningless phrase because you then look at the negotiating directives for the us trade representative, who would be negotiating the us uk trade deal, and theres stuff in there about government procurement, which is buying services from the nhs from american businesses. So actually, its kind of all a bit pointless. We understand that meetings have gone on, dont we . We understand that the meetings, on some level, have taken place. So thats what i meant by the sort of over vehement denial. If youre going to try and get across an authenticity of what youre saying, you know, you accept one part and then you say but there are questions over this. You dontjust kind of go, ive never heard of the nhs kind of thing. And also, i was just watching the statement that he did with emmanuel macron, the french president. And, again, thats full of potentially massive things. Theyre talking about taxing the tech giants. Of course, france is going to do a digital tax. The us doesnt like it. Theyre retaliating with tariffs on french products. Then donald trump says, well, actually, we want to raise loads of money from the Tech Companies ourselves, and why dont we do it in a way thats mutually beneficial for everyone . Has donald trump Just Announced a giant global tech tax that we didnt know was coming . Probably not. So anyway, Boris Johnson is on a visit to salisbury today, and he was asked whether he was a bit embarrassed to be such good buddies with donald trump. And heres what he had to say. No, on the contrary. And we have good relations with. I have good relations with washington, with the president , with president macron, with chancellor merkel, and thats vital for the uk and well be having a series of meetings, bilateral, trilateral, of all kinds in the course of the next couple of days. Theres an awful lot of work to be done and, yes, well have some important discussions about whats going on in syria. Well talk a bit about the alliance and its attitude towards russia, and the french are particular keen to do that. There will be discussion about china and many other matters. He does love that phrase, on the contrary, doesnt he . He neverjust says no. Its always on the contrary. The one thing im intrigued about, emily and we probably wont find this out until memoirs come out in many year time is the amount of lobbying there has been behind the scenes, prior to this visit, to try and ensure that President Trump keeps his trap shut . Yeah. I wouldnt have a clue. Im the same as you. But i think. I mean, in a funny way, we will pour over this and the kind of architecture of the visit. And broadly, my guess is that, if youre a fan of donald trump, you may quite easily be a fan of borisjohnson and his policies and his direction of government. And if you dont like donald trump, you may not be a fan. I mean, i dont think its an entirely neat equation, but im not sure how many minds will be changed by this. If he endorses borisjohnson, then that will please people probably who already quite like what borisjohnson is doing. And if he doesnt, or similarly, whatever he says that helps Boris Johnson will probably help corbyn because they dont like trump either. So in a funny way, the sort of the architecture, the diplomacy will probably be lost on most of the people who are still about to vote next week. And also, trump is only one of 28 one of 29, theres 28 others cos its a nato heads of government leaders meeting. Doesnt feel like that, though, does it . No, he does tend to eclipse all others. Hello yeah, poor old jens stoltenberg, secretary general of nato, didnt get much of a look in this morning. I mean, if you think about it, relatively, he is the least controversial person here. We have had extraordinary comments from macron about the whole direction of nato. Weve got erdogan, the turkish president , whos literally taking natos rules and bending them to shape his own political agenda at home. And yet somehow, those two stories arent ever going to hit the headlines in the way that the trump juggernaut coming to town right now will. Now, emily, do you. . What time do you start work when youre doing newsnight . Well, im going to answer that in a very sort of on the contrary. Laughter on the contrary, i get in about 2pm, 2 30pm. But i start thinking about the programme from when i wake up and when we have, you know, early chats, and then we go off and we prepare and we have an idea. And ive been trying to put people on warning. Im not doing your appraisal i work very, very hard. Im very dedicated. And i find it very easy to work with anyone. All times of day i can win elections at any time of day, yeah. I was trying to segue into, do you come in late enough that means you can watch this morning on itv with holly and phil . I did see a little clip or two, yes. Yeah, and well bring you a clip now, and this isJeremy Corbyn, the labour leader, on this mornings sofa on itv1 this morning being asked about anti semitism. So here is your opportunity now to apologise to thejewish community for any anti semitism by labour members. Our party. Can i make it clear . Waita minute. I and our party. No just say sorry can i Say Something . Our party and me. I want you choose a salary. I wa nt i want you choose a salary. I want you to say sorry. Yeah . Do not accept anti semitism in any form. Are you sorry. . Obviously, im very sorry for everything thats happened. But i want to make it clear. I am dealing with it. I have dealt with it. Other parties are also affected by anti semitism. Candidates have been withdrawn by the liberal democrats, by the conservatives and by us because of it. We just do not accept it in any form whatsoever. Very retro, adam, referring to itvi. Its just itv these days. Is it . Yeah. 0k. I suppose youve been living abroad for some time its interesting, emily, the interview there from Jeremy Corbyn, in that labour have been pointing out for the last few days, since the question has been why didnt when you were on with andrew neil . That he had said sorry some months ago. And then he goes on to this morning. That was only the tail end of a longer exchange about the whole question of anti semitism. And he got there in the end, but got there in kind of quite an aggressive way. He clearly feels angered that this question is forever chasing him around. I have to say, i find that whole exchange really bizarre. Because, as you say, labour have stated repeatedly that corbyn has already apologised. So either you go into the interview thinking fresh start, and im going to do it again, and this is a different audience and its a week away from the election and i will do it straight up, or else you dont do it and you say, stop banging on about this. Ive already explained my position. Weve done it before, i dont feel the need to pander to you. It was quite an aggressive line of questioning. I want you to say sorry. I wonder what that achieves from anyones perspective, because nobody watching that thinking, oh, finally Jeremy Corbyn is sorry for this. Because either he was sorry previously and hes already said it or else he was sort of sorry in a rather tetchy way now which i dont think convinced him or anyone watching that that was what he had come into the studio to say. So where does that leave us . It was a sort of semantic exchange where, technically, there was an apology given. For something that he had previously apologised for. You know, at a different time of day, in a scrumpy tone of voice. I dont really understand where that leaves us. I do wonder if it leaves us in a position where, whenever hes doing the next interview like that, hes going to be asked the question again. Because, as you say, because he had not done it right at the start or at the first opportunity he was given to reflect about anti semitism, in a way that would have felt definitive and in a way that would have felt different from the previous remarks hes made hes made on this topic, in the end, because of the tone and because of where it was tucked away in had to be sort of dragged out of him, as you say, you do wonder if, in the end, its just going to carry on following him around. What i think is amazing is his mood swings. Because he was being all nice as pie and avuncular because he was on the this morning sofa. And then he switched and you saw how aggressive he was there. And then seconds later, hes back to being uncle again. Its amazing, the mood swings. I think the tone is really interesting. He does come across as a man who loves his rallies, who loves crowds. And i cant get past this word tetchy. And its not a particularly engaging way of handling interviews because everyone sort of gets embarrassed and a bit riled and you think, you didnt want to be here. Youre not enjoying it. And its a bit of a mood killer, you know, even when youre saying the thing that you might have come onto say. Its the classic contrast, isnt it, withjohn mcdonnell, who has developed this reputation for the uncle john routine . Right. Where hell be doing an interview with andrew marr, whoever it might be, and. Put aside his line of argument, he comes across as a soft kind of chap in his tone and his demeanour. I want to know the size ofjohn mcdonnells kettle because every single interview, its like, come and have a cup of tea i mean, id just say to them, come and have a cup of tea and so ive got this image in my head ofjohn mcdonnelljust sitting there meeting sort of media magnates, or perhaps its the chief rabbi, or perhaps its the head of unscrupulous companies, or whatever it is, and hesjust saying, come and have a cup of tea lets have a cup of tea hes also got a very fetching pair of curtains. When he does those interviews on sunday morning from home, hes got. The jumper ones . Yeah. Oh, and the lawyers say, please say borisjohnson has said he will do this morning at some point before the election. Lets continue our geographical tour around britain and the Battle Grounds. Although, i mean, all tours are geographical, arent they . Yeah. Yeah, were going to go to the northwest. Who is there in the northwest of england . Its claire hamilton. Im in merseyside at the moment, in liverpool. Hello, claire. Hello. Right, take us for a tour around your patch. Whats yourjob title, claire . Im the political reporter for merseyside but you could say im part of the northwest politics team. 0k. Depending on what you want to say. Why dont you take us on a little tour around your patch . Well, the northwest is predominantly labour heartland. Im speaking to you from liverpool, which is often referred to as the peoples republic of merseyside. It contains some of the safest labour seats in the country. In fact, in the little patch of merseyside that i normally cover, around 20 seats, only one of them isnt held by the labour party. Thats southport. Well possibly talk a little bit more about southport later on. And then going right away up to the north. I think if you think of the map and think of the coast, i think that really helps when you think about some of the northwest. Youre going all the way up to the cumbrian seats at the top of the patch and then all the way down to liverpool. Youve got manchester, lancaster and all of the northwest of england, and its a big Battle Ground for both of the main parties. Its a crucial Campaign Area for the conservatives and labour. And right at the start of the Election Campaign, the tories kind of set out their stall and really made it their ambition to wrest some of this traditional rugby league supporting towns away from. Which ones . Leigh, wigan, possibly warrington . Those towns were the leave votes in the Referendum Campaign was very strong but labour has always been the dominant party. These are places where theres a sense that, possibly, being left behind is part of the narrative there. Post industrial towns, towns where mining may have been part of the industrial past. But when the mines closed down, what came to fill this place . In some cases, not very much, and theres been a lot of talk about people feeling hopeless, feeling disconnected and that the leave vote was part of those people kicking back and saying, look, this is how we feel. Listen to us. This is what we want to happen. Now, thats obviously problematic when you get to a labour party whose message on brexit has mo