Theresa may, who became britains Prime Minister less than a year ago after the country voted to leave the European Union, has called a General Election three years earlier than she needed to. In brussels, they said her Shock Announcement was a twist worthy of hitchcock. The french have experienced quite a few plot twists of their own as the president ial election looms into view. With a crowded field of 11 candidates, a second round is likely. If so, well know by the end of sunday which two will go through. With me to discuss britain, france and all the rest, are alex deane is a conservative commentator, Michael Goldfarb writes for politico europe, Agnes Poirier is uk editor of marianne in france, and Polly Toynbee is a columnist with the guardian. Welcome to you all. Thanks for being back with us. Polly, we will talk a lot about theresa may and why she did it, but one thing all the commentators seem to have started this Election Campaign in agreement on is that this will see offJeremy Corbyn. But he seems to be relishing the job of underdog. Why . I think he likes elections. Big rallies are his thing, its what hes best at. It looks to me unlikely that he will leave, even if hes thoroughly thrashed. Those around him seem to be saying hes going to stay until we get a rule change, well make sure that another corbynite would take after, which would be at Party Conference in september. This is very internal labour party stuff, but theres every reason to think that even if he is thoroughly crushed, hes going to stay. He may stay, and that was perhaps one of the reasons why theresa may might have wanted this election, to finally lance that boil of an opposition she doesnt like. She has said she wants more authority, she wants a stronger position. But weve seen antiestablishment candidates do rather well in other parts of the world. Is she running a risk of the stability she has enjoyed . Every election is a risk and we have nearly seven weeks in which events can come up and derail the best of plans, but all things being equal, it looks like there wouldnt be a better time for the Prime Minister to do this. Jeremy corbyn has led the labour Party Without the confidence of his own mps for some time. He seems to lack credibility in public as a leader. Im trying to be fair. I think he spoke well at his lunch. But its too late to turn around the general lack of confidence in him, notjust in the party but in the country at large. Is it a case of having him for another three years . I think polly is right, i think youll stay. Jeremy corbyn is not going to suddenly be anything different. The real reason she called it is that this is her peak moment. She will never be as popular or successful as she is now. Shes going into the most difficult negotiations. We dont even know who is sitting on the other side of the table, depending on the elections in france and germany. Shes probably go into head on confrontation with other people in europe and her own backbenchers. Whatever compromise she makes, she will be trounced, so nothing will ever be so good for her again. So that election in 2020 would have been much harder to win. Indeed, she would have come back is probably a rotten deal or at least half the population would think it was a rotten deal, whatever it was. Michael, youre reporting with the people who dont know britain. Hwo are you explaining it . There are two things. I have this image of someone saying to the stockbroker, when the price gets to such and such, sell. We got to a certain point in Opinion Polls and she said go just a few hours after the announcement was made, the Financial Times is running comment about how clever this was, because on both sides, the idea of negotiating something that is realistic, both from a european perspective and a british perspective, on britains detachment from the European Union in two years is virtually impossible. What she has essentially done is bought herself and the eu an extra few years to figure out how to untangle britains relationship. In that respect, she may have been taking soundings from people in brussels, that one way of extending this negotiation, and moving that hard deadline of 2019, because we know that in europe, all deadlines are made to be pushed further along. This may well have played into her decision as well. Its surprising she didnt call for an election before, for instance, after the astounding victory at the by election. So it all makes sense, she is buying more time. She has a boulevard in front of her, as we say french. Of course, the lib dems are probably going to win a few seats and labour is going to be crushed. The snp cannot do better apart from one more seat. And of course, she only had the mandate of 200 mps before now. For brussels, is better to have a stronger british Prime Minister, otherwise you dont know. And then also, within her own party, she is often been taken hostage by hard brexiteers. Now if she can say, you shut up, i have a mandate. Whatever she may have said publicly and we have just take everything she says on her merits. She said seven times she wasnt going to have an election and then she changed her mind. We cant take anything she says at face value after that. Whatever she may have said publicly and we have just take everything but in terms of one of the things you didnt talk about, about the difficulty of selling the brexit deal in her own party, is that part of the calculation . I think like any Prime Minister who wasnt elected at a General Election, she felt that lack of authority. There are times when its dangerous not to have an election, as gordon brown showed. The other thing about her position is not only that shell get that sort of mandate, but also in the brexit negotiations, she will be able to see, not only now has been a referendum and a vote in the House Of Commons and the house of lords, but also a popular General Election. It does improve her hand in the negotiations. Thats only if she spells out what her Negotiating Position is and what her red lines are. Whats really disgraceful is, we have talked about these tactics, gordon brown made a mistake and shes not going to make this a mistake. The real genuine politics are that we need an election when she comes home with the deal, with the people can genuinely decide whether they like the deal or whether they think its a mistake. This is meaningless. There is nothing new. That is nothing new of content to be decided in any manifesto. We really need one when she has done the deal. This conversation reflects that the biggest danger for the Prime Minister is expected management, because unless she does extraordinarily well, then corporate will be seen to have extraordinarily well, then corbyn will be seen to have done better than expected. Which will give him the space to carry on. You are managing our expectations. I slightly disagree with polly about putting in the manifesto what her Negotiating Positions are. Its actually too early. She doesnt have positions. I do think that having the election is not a bad thing. Firstly because i did think. Ithink. I thought gordon brown actually did make a mistake. Even if he had lost, you have to stand up and show the courage. I disagree with all of you on the manifesto point. If she doesnt put pledges in the manifesto, then she runs into a very difficult position. What could she put in . Her red lines. My point is, in the absence of that material in the manifesto, then the house of lords, which will be firmly in favourof remain, they will be entitled to say to her, your mandate at the election like this point, so we your mandate at the election lacked this point, so we are entitled to push back. In terms of the practicalities of this, lets say theresa may wins a General Election. How great a risk is it for her that people say, that was pointless. And also that she has created a bit of space forJeremy Corbyn, maybe helped to revive the lib dems, who were anti brexit party, who will be not make it easier for her. Meanwhile, there are those pesky people in the house of lords. Could it not be her own party that says, actually, we havent gained very much. Its a Foregone Conclusion shes going to win, a question of how much of a majority she gets. It may be that corbyn makes some progress on being the outsider. The antiestablishment figure. And maybe that gets a bit of a ground swell, meanwhile lib dems pick up quite a bit of what theyve lost last time and were all back to where we were. When alan johnson stands down, and for many labour supporters, he represented a missed opportunity, a leader who shouldve been. I think we dont play in this discussion so far what will happen in the labour party. Lets assume that because of the way the system works, there are still 150 labour mps, is that a reasonable assumption . Yes. WithJeremy Corbyn, we hear the talk of purges, and i think the centre left will have to have a huge discussion among themselves about where they put their faith in the future. This is never going to happen. Were not talking about tony blair. He said only one of the centre left plan, which is to create a Movement AcrossPolitical Party movement, which would change things. Ive been there this feels like 1981 all over again. Winners, all those people out there got bored at the time, the centre left broke away from the far left. We have an Electoral System that absolutely crushes any new arrival. Look at ukip getting 15 and no mps. We have an outrageous Electoral System that does not allow innovation. If all the labour mps are againstJeremy Corbyn, or the majority, why dont they create something . Because they wouldnt get elected again. We did it last time. They have to then fight in each seat, a labour candidate. That splits the vote. In the short term, it would be good for the Conservative Party. I agree with your synopsis. The first is that many mps who are not household names to viewers, but westminster people know about the moderate supporters, the welterweights, are all disappearing. It makes it much harder. An awful lot want to go and has been a huge pressures inside the party to stop them. Lows of people, particularly the older ones, have been stopped quite cross with certain people like Fiona Mctaggart and alan johnson going. We could have just hung on, they could always have a by election later. The Snap Election has protected some of the positions of the remaining moderates who dont face reselection. And because Boundary Changes are being planned. Luckily there is a generational shift. In terms of the other aspect weve spoken about, one is the question of the liberal democrats, because the lib dems were in parliamentary terms all but annihilated in the last General Election. Is this going to give them potential for regeneration . It definitely does. One of the outcomes was the near destruction of the liberal democrats. I think one of the accidents of this election is will be the revival of the lib dems. Not necessarily because people have huge vegan tim farrell, but because the centre left belief in Jeremy Corbyn is so low, this would else will vote go. Theres also a bit of a Remainer Move On for the lib dems, and thats because Jeremy Corbyn was never very convinced about remain. Are a lot of soft or is all over all of the seats as well as getting back the tactical votes, places like richmond and sussex, where Labour Voters labour votes to the lib dems are the well again. There is a lot more of a soft tory vote, where when the Election Campaign goes on and receive the relentless nature of it, they may decide they are remain first and tory second. Itll be better than they had, but its not good to be huge. The impact will be about those who switch from labour to the conservatives. Anf ro the uk as a whole, Northern Ireland, theres the debate over the border with the Republic Of Ireland and the snp are desperately wanting another referendum. Is this election going to create extra problems for british governments . This will be the great crack. This will be the time when they say, theresa may, helped by David Camerons appalling judgment on the referendum, cracked apart the united kingdom. I think it will be all over. I think the scots will be gone after the next referendum or the one after that. I think what happens in Northern Ireland, its very frightening about weather we go back to the bad old times. Its been quite cavalier of the entire Brexit Campaign not to consider the united kingdom. Im far more optimistic. I dont think we will have a referendum in scotland, but if we do, it will be lost. In Northern Ireland, i think a solution gets arrived that fairly quickly. We have had Trouble Agreement with them for well over 100 years. I think the big injustice is the mainstream parties dont stand there. Michael, last word on the impact on the uk. I am genuinely sceptical about whether a second referendum would win, but then again, its seven years down the line and we dont know where their brexit negotiations will be. We dont even know what europe will look like but the contemporary Conservative Party really does take scotland for granted and thats one of the reasons it took gordon brown to pull David Camerons chestnuts out of the fire on the first referendum. I would worry it hasnt learned its lesson and that is a real worry that scotland will go. The gunman who shot dead a Police Officer in paris on thursday night may or may not have grasped the full symbolism of his murderous act. The champs elysees, in sight of the arc de triomphe, is one of frances best known locations, making this a provocative challenge to the french sense of identity. The question is whether what Francois Hollande says is likely to be terrorism will affect who the french choose to succeed him as president. Agnes, did the reactions of the leading president ial candidates reveal much about this election . Of course, the irony is that the attack happened at the same time during a television debate, when it was more like speed dating, because it was not a debate. There were two debates. They had 15 minutes each, the 11 candidates, to make a last case. But a Manual Macron was the first to break that live and the use, they we re break that live and the use, they were supposed to bring an object to the debate. He said i will not do that. Show and tell at school. And he started talking about it and then of course all of the other candidates started talking about it. Marine le pen was extremely vocal, as she always is on every subject, obviously on radical islamism. The thing is, the french have grown accustomed to those attacks. The last few ones there was the louvre, there was the 0rly airport, now they are Army Officers or Police Officers. So i think the impact will be limited on sundays first round. Limited im not saying there will be no impact. And perhaps on the undecided, because a third of french voters are still undecided. Perhaps because they dont believe in the polls anymore. The polls say the first four are extremely close to each other. I still think Marine Le Pen will face off macron. But in all probabilities, there are six possible scenarios. Six . yes. We should talk about the most frightening one, which is the hard left candidates, the sort of uber corbyn. He attends some of his rallies as a hologram. Yes, in six different locations Narendra Modi started the whole thing. And everyone in turkey, so we should be worried Marine Le PenVersus Melenchon i dont even want to before sunday 8pm. The attack may have something of an impact, but not on Marine Le Pen. Those voting for her were going to vote for her anyway. I think it helps fillon, because of his gravitas. He has dealt with so many things. People may think hes a crook, but they cure care about national security. He denies that of course. Of course. Thats what the electorate might say, because this is a serious time and calls for people with experience. I think it harms the exciting youthful vote for the newcomer. En marche is the loser of recent events, i think. I wasjust going to say, i saw a very interesting survey today, and im not big on data journalism, but this was interesting, in le figaro six out of ten french voters have changed their mind since the start of the year. Usually, everyone knows about this election and everyone has made the mind u