On the doorstep. This is the story of what really happened. At 7 30am, monday morning, people were standing there with freshly blow dried hair and fresh chanel suits ready to roll. I thought, were on. Theresa may would have thought to herself, this isnt a huge gamble, because shes not a known risk taker. I have just chaired a meeting of the of the cabinet, where we agreed the government should call a General Election. It will be a choice between strong and stable leadership in the national interest, with me as your Prime Minister, or weak and Unstable Coalition government, led byJeremy Corbyn. This is something that looks pretty set. She would be returning back to the House Of Commons with an increased majority. But people can take you by surprise in an election. Youre joking. Not another one oh, for gods sake, i cant honestly i cant stand this. Theres too much politics going on at the moment. Why does she need to do it . Why does she need to do it, asked brenda in bristol. Why indeed . What is it about the recent 20 opinion poll that first attracted you to the idea of a General Election . Ive taken this decision, and i took it reluctantly. Ive thought about, it as i said yesterday, when i was before easter i had the opportunity to really take some time out to think about this. You cant resist this Prime Minister, were going to win, win big. Were going to crush the saboteurs, defeat the labour party. Lets get on with it. Look, nick, every election has a risk. How risky could it be againstJeremy Corbyn . They would have thought this is a walkover. Jeremy corbyn surely wasnt electable. Jeremy corbyn looked like someone who couldnt be the Prime Minister, who had no credible economic policies and indeed, was associated with a team that looked like the hard left. Cant perform in front of the media. They thought they were home and dry. And they werent the only ones. Many inJeremy Corbyns own party thought hed be a disaster. This is hove, near brighton. Do you think youll be voting for me . I would probably vote for you, but not necessarily the for the other guy, thats in charge. You mean jeremy . Jeremy corbyn. Panoramas been following three Labour Candidates in three key marginals. Peter kyle was the mp for hove when this election was called. His majorityjust 1200 votes. He was the only labour mp in the south east outside london. Theres no doubt thatjeremy has been a drag on this campaign. Hes coming up on door after door after door. Its a really strange position to be in, as a candidate, because, you know, im proud of labour, but i realise that if i associate myself withjeremy, then were dead here. To keep his hopes alive, peter kyle was telling voters in hove that hed fight against a hard brexit. In the Eu Referendum this area voted 70 in favour of remain. This is not a Community Thatjust rolls over because theresa may stamps her feet and says, i want to have a stronger mandate to negotiate brexit with. This is an incredibly special community that is thinking very carefully about its own voice and what is in its own best interests. Its up to us to use the power of the ballot box to change our society. That is what this election is about. Cheering. The young had been outvoted in the Eu Referendum, were determined their voice would be heard this time. This election is about you. They were saying oh, yeah, big crowds, but youre talking to the converted. The young people, yeah, they might be but theyll never turn out. If you looked at those crowds, they comprised large numbers of young people. Unbelievable enthusiasm. I thought we have a phenomenon here that people have never seen before. I think its going to happen. Theresa mays team was so convinced she was a winner and corbyn a loser they planned a campaign all about her. Its about having a strong and stable government. Strong and stable leadership. A strong and stable government. In a way it felt very trump like in some respects. Because donald trump, the whole campaign was not about the republicans, it was about him. This campaign wasnt about the conservative party, it was about theresa may. Who will lead britain through brexit and beyond . Will it be me and my team, showing the strong and stable leadership that our country needs . Or will it beJeremy Corbyn . Prime ministers may get to choose the date of an election, but they dont get to choose what that election is about, no matter how many times they keep parroting the same slogan. Theresa may wanted the electorate to believe the choice was between her and Jeremy Corbyn, as to who negotiated brexit. But the Labour Leader had other ideas. After seven years of austerity, of spending cuts, of squeezed incomes, he believed the choice was really between change and more of the same. Jeremy corbyns vision for change was summed up in his little red book. Its a blueprint of what britain could be and a pledge of the difference a Labour Government can and will make. Labour pledged to spend more, a whole lot more, promising something for everyone. More for the nhs and schools, more pay for public workers, more cash to scrap student fees. One thing there was less of caution. I was overjoyed that here was not only a manifesto, but a leadership that believed in it and could passionately deliver it. To most people didnt it simply say, enough of austerity . Yeah, absolutely that was the essence of it. Were not having five more years of austerity. Were going to give you an alternative. Were going to make your life better, were on your side. Derby north, a midlands marginal labour had to win. Jeremy corbyns friend Chris Williamson was the pa rtys candidate. This is the best Labour Manifesto since 1945. Cheering and applause. And for those who are saying, 0h, its extreme left wing. I say youre talking utter nonsense. Lets win derby north, because the road to Downing Street goes straight through the middle of derby north. For Chris Williamson, this fight was personal. Hed lost this seat in 2015 byjust 41 votes. It made it the most marginal in england. As this campaign began, the polls were as bad as the weather. Its depressing to see the latest News Broadcast Talk about the opinion polls. But thats not reflected by what im seeing. Ive been knocking on doors and the support for the labour party, the support, they genuinely love Jeremy Corbyn, its palpable. It was, ironically, the tory manifesto which lit the fire beneath labours campaign. Theresa may believed she could reach the parts of the electorate which other tory leaders had long struggled to reach working class voters in the north of england, the people whod voted to leave the eu, who she now believed would vote to leave labour and leave ukip too, and do the almost unthinkable and vote tory. This is halifax, a mill town in west yorkshire, a labour seat for 30 years, but in this election, a key tory target. Theresa may parked her tanks on labours lawn, by launching the conservative manifesto here. It is a Detailed Programme for government, rooted in the hopes and aspirations of ordinary, working people across the land. You cant block this. Tories in a mill in yorkshire, you couldnt make it up. Were just going to mixenden, part of north halifax. Labours holly lynch began this campaign worried she might lose. This is good. Labour posters up. From the labour party. Not interested . Really nice to meet you. Good luck. Thanks a lot. See you later. Her majority, just a28 votes, seemed to be getting smaller by the minute. How are you feeling about labour this time . Not very happy. Have you voted labour before . Yes, all my life. 0k. Im 77 this year. Im going to vote conservative because ijust dont think corbyn will do right, with the exit. I dont think hes strong enough. Holly lynch was struggling to persuade leave voters to stick with labour, but theresa mays manifesto contained an unexpected present a tory policy that was scaring voters, a new way of paying for care for the elderly. Wed always known that Adult Social Care is a long term problem, in fact, theresa may would say often, politicians have been ducking this problem for years. We can never fix the long term problems in hospitals and people at home without addressing it. But its not something you whack into a manifesto and try to brief overnight. The plan was to make those people who needed to be cared for at home pay more, if they own their own house. There was no cap on what they might be charged. It was quickly dubbed the dementia tax. Things like this dementia tax, you know, scare me quite a bit. We didnt buy a house to pass it on to the government. We bought a house to pass it on to her. Mabel. My phone was ringing off the hook with people telling me, what have we done, this is going down like a bucket of cold sick on the doorstep. The ground was shifting, as the Prime Minister herself discovered on the doorstep. Theresa may appeared to have pensioners in her sights and candidates of all parties were finding people didnt like it. This time, im going to vote for you. Are you . Well, shes threatening the Winter Fuel Allowance and whats the other one . The triple lock on pensions. Yeah. And then social care as well. Im afraid it confirmed the stereotypical idea that conservatives didnt care, were not compassionate. This is the tragedy and the problem for theresa, that somehow we were the nasty party after all. What we needed to explain better was that we were dealing with an unfairness, where some people are paying an awful lot, other people werent paying at all. Electorally, a disaster . Electorally, it took a lot of explaining and clearly, there are lessons to learn from that. Four days later, one ex tory mp headed to work. The new editor of londons Evening Standard had a scoop. I got wind that there was going to be a u turn on the social care policy, which had been the centrepiece of the manifesto just a couple of days earlier. So with just 45 minutes to go, till ourfirst edition, we got the story onto The Front Page and delivered this headline. I think it destroyed the sense of momentum in the tory campaign, the sense that this was going to be a coronation. It also, of course, undermined the central slogan strong and stable you notice that basically disappeared then from the tory campaign. Theresa may tried to reassure people they wouldnt lose all the value of their house. She promised there would be a Cap On Social Care payments. Did she say weve listened, weve learned, weve changed our minds . N ot exa ctly. Nothing has changed. Lets be clear, we have not changed the principles that we set out in the manifesto. Understandably voters were still confused. It is your mum youre caring for . She has dementia. We dont know if shell have to go into a home, but do i have to sell her house . They were saying in one thing, you know what i mean, youve got £100,000, you dont have to sell your house. The next day they are putting cap on it. But they are not telling us what the cap is. Theresa may wanted the policy in her manifesto to make sure parliament couldnt block it. If the public vote for this, then you can get it through the House Of Commons and the house of lords, because politician cannot vote what the public have voted for in a manifesto. That is the way to make things happen. Then came an event which would stop the campaign in its tracks. Greater Manchester Police said they believed one man carried out the bombing at a pop concert in the city. Killing 22, some of them children. When the campaign resumed four days later, it brought renewed focus onJeremy Corbyns past. The tories had already been targeting him. Ive been involved in opposing anti terror legislation, ever since i wept into parliament in 1983. This us style attack ad was watched by six million people. The aim to portrayJeremy Corbyn as soft on terror. Are you refusing to condemn what the ira did . Jeremy . In any other election, that might have been game over. Well, we thought it right, given he wanted to be Prime Minister, to draw attention to his record and make sure he was asked searching questions about his past sympathy with various Terrorist Groups of one sort or another. In british politics and British Society generally, they dont like personalisation of politics in that way. It was almost counterproductive for them. At the same time it turned jeremy into an underdog and british people quite like underdogs. Jeremy corbyn wasnt the only one with a record to defend. The tories were coming under mounting pressure over their record in government. Forfirst time in my lifetime, the economy was scarcely mentioned by the conservatives in an election campaign. They didnt really talk about the deficit. Perhaps they recognised more and more voters were growing sick of the fact there seemed to be very little light at the end of a long tunnel. Theres a conversation i remember with a teacher, who had voted for me in 2010 and 2015, and said, you know i understood the need for a pay freeze for a few years to deal with the deficit. You are asking for that to go on for ten to 11 years and that is too much. That is something Jeremy Corbyn was able to tap into. Even if he didnt know how much his own headline promise on childcare would cost. So how much will it cost . I will give you the figure in a moment. You dont know it . Um you are logging into your ipad here. You have announced a major policy and dont know how much it will cost. Can i give you the exact figure in a moment . Is this the issue with. Once again corbyn had survived what might have sunk another leader. Jeremy corbyns campaign was all blue skies, magic money trees, buy a unicorn. It inspired people to believe in some sort of future and the other tragedy of this campaign was we failed then pitfully to take on what he was putting forward, have the argument and put the economy at the heart of the campaign. And we know every campaign is won on the economy. The longer the campaign went on, the more confident Jeremy Corbyn became. After one Shock Forecast of a hung parliament, he turned up to a leaders debate, which theresa may was boycotting. I think the first rule of leadership is to show up. You dont call a General Election. Applause you dont then not be bothered to debaited the issues at stake. Is it ours to win onjune 8th. Is that 0k . The corbyn surge seemed to be based on a hunger for change, notjust at home, change as well to theresa mays threat to leave the eu without a deal. Undetected by his opponents and undetected by his own candidates and by most pollstersJeremy Corbyn was assembling a coalition of those opposed to the tories, opposed to austerity, opposed to brexit as well. Two Party Politics was coming back and yes, the young were going to vote. 0n the last night of his campaign, Jeremy Corbyn came home to islington, in north london. Hes going out and reaching out to people and people who i have never, ever seen care about politics are finally getting involved. I finally have someone that i can believe. Someone that i know will deliver. Someone that can unite people. And he will change britain for the better. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Sum up in a word what he represents. Peace. Hope. Hope . Yes, hope, definitely hope. It is fitting labour chose this, a chapel for his final election rally. Just look at this religious fervour. They believe in the good book. Labours manifesto. They believe in the direction that points to a promised land. But above all, they believe in him. Jc. And this campaign has brought together people in a way that ive never experienced before in politics. Its brought together people from all sorts of different backgrounds and walks of life. And you know whats brought them together hope. Even then few in this vast crowd dared to hope they could do more than limit their losses to the tories. Butjust 2a hours later all that would change. And what were saying is the conservatives are the largest party. Note, they dont have an overall majority at this stage. 314 for the conservatives. Thats down 17. If these numbers are correct, then theresa may has played a high risk political game and she appears she may have lost her gamble. Nick robinson is in islington north, Jeremy Corbyns seat. Everybody is going to be cautious about this exit poll because it comes as such a surprise. It became clear the exit poll was right. The next Prime Minister. Jeremy corbyn walked into his count looking like a winner. Minutes later, in maidenhead, theresa may looked like a woman who knew shed just committed political suicide. A Prime Minister with a majority had thrown it away. And it wasnt just the tories who were surprised. Labours candidate in halifax had been preparing to find a newjob. Holly jamie walker lynch. A majority of less than 500 increased to more than 5,000. I am a bit overwhelmed. It is a fantastic result in the end. And in derby north. Chris williamson is duly elected Member Of Parliament for the derby north constituency. I was saying to people they had literally not just changed the course of this election, but changed the course of history. What about labours peter kyle in hove, who believed his leader was a liability . Peter kyle, kyle, 36,942. A majority of 1200 had gone up to 18,000. What we have done is remarkable. We could well have saved our country from a hard brexit. That is something that history will thank Jeremy Corbyn for. Brexit was meant to be the torys secret weapon, but listen to the man theresa may had just made her new chief of staff. We are very clear in my seat, the area of the constituency where labour did best, was the area that had voted heavily for remain. There is clearly evidence that people who are angry about brexit, Jeremy Corbyn managed to get them behind him. Now you might be forgiven for thinking Jeremy Corbyn had just won the election. It is seismic. It will be recorded as such in history as a moment when, in a sense, labourfound its heart and its soul again. I see it as being the first step, one more step to government. I dont think we will see Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street. I think a lot of people actually supported him confident that he wouldnt get into Downing Street. Never in my lifetime did i think that we would see a socialist Prime Minister in numberten. Never thought it would happen again. Not in my lifetime. Its going to happen. It is worth remembering he did not win this election. He was still 56 seats behind us. But fair play to him. He fought a good campaign. In contrast, theresa may had a dreadful campaign. And when she returned to Downing Street she couldnt bring herself to mention that shed actually lost her majority. What the country needs more than ever is certainty. And having secured the largest number of votes and the greatest number of seats in the General Election, it is clear that only the conservative and Unionist Party has the legitimacy and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the House Of Commons. Now, lets get to work. I was expecting like a lot of conservatives were, a speech in which she acknowledged the election had not gone the way she hoped. Good conservative colleagues had lost their seats and she would try harder and Work Together to provide stable government. We heard none of that. So, i am afraid this headline wrote itself. At any other time theresa may might have been forced to quit. But no tory dares risk another election now. So how long can she survive . I think shes in a lot of trouble. I think shes a dead woman walking. Lounge she stays on death row, who knows. Brexit will continue to sour the atmosphere and in the background the europeans constantly saying, no, these are the terms. These are the terms. Take it or leave it. And two years of that, the maximum, i guess, is the background in which a weak government without a majority day by day would be buffeted by the storm of events. Theresa may faces the toughest set of negotiations any Prime Minister has faced since the war. With her authority shattered, and with no majority in parliament. The cynics say if voting changed anything, theyd abolish it. Well they couldnt be more wrong. Voting has just changed britain in ways almost no one predicted. And that change has a long, long way to run. Welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in North America and around the globe. A massive fire in a west london tower block. The London Fire Brigade are dealing with a serious fire in a tower block in west london. They were called around 2am local time to grenfell tower, a 23 storey block of flats in kensington. 200 firefighters on the scene, 45 engines, most people trying to help have been moved back because of concerns the structure will collapse. Local people say that
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