The party itself and marine Le Pen, of course they deny all this. Its going to be a long trial, a couple of months as they go through all the evidence. At the end of it, though, whats crucial and why this trial matters is that it is marine Le Pen s political future which is very much at stake. Why . Because one of the potential penalties she could suffer if shes found guilty is an ineligibility for office. She could be banned from standing for public office for a period of, say, five years. And that would mean she couldnt stand in the next president ial election in 2027. Marine Le Pen is Riding High right now in french politics. Her party did very well in the last elections. It can make or break this Sitting Government of michel barnier. Her next step is this bid for the presidency again in 2027. But if this guilty verdict, if its a guilty verdict and it ends in an ineligibility for office, that obviously means that that plan is up in smoke, and she will need urgently a plan b. We have
A large number of the short interviews i see merely produce sound bite answers they don t really inform the public. And secondly though i probably shouldn t say this it s 65 years since ijoined the conservative party. I was, am, and always will be a conservative. But for in recent months a little longer than a few months there s not been a great deal i could say that i would wish to say in favour of what the previous government were doing. With that being so, i thought it betterjust stay off the air. Now, of course, the election s behind us, the party s looking again to the future and i can i can return to speaking out, hopefully in favour. Well, there s a lot to get into. Let s start with where we are as a country the country that you led for seven years. You used to say vocally, publicly that you dreamt of a nation at ease with itself. Has your dream come true? emphatically not indeed, quite the reverse at the moment. Wherever you look notjust in our country t
And is focusing on tackling criminal gangs behind some of the People Smuggling that leads people to making those very dangerous crossings. I suspect that might be something else that might be something else that Yvette Cooper will talk about when she takes to the stage in the next couple of minutes also. D0 stage in the next couple of minutes also. Stage in the next couple of minutes also. Do we expect to hear policy . Minutes also. Do we expect to hear policy . It minutes also. Do we expect to hear policy . It is minutes also. Do we expect to hear policy . It is perhaps hear policy . It is perhaps worth explaining the point of a conference and what is official policy and watches for the Party Members . It policy and watches for the Party Members . Policy and watches for the Party Members . It is a two part thin. Party members . It is a two Part Thing there Party Members . It is a two Part Thing. There is Party Members . It is a two Part Thing. There is an Party Members . It is a two P
SpIrIt, a polItIcal correspondent for the tImes and Andrew FIsher who wrItes for the I. Thank you both for beIng wIth us. Tell me lara what do you thInk KeIr Starmer has do today . When you speak to people In labour about what they want to achIeve, they want KeIr Starmer to put a stamp on thIs conference and say what he belIeves In and what the government Is for, we have had ale dIffIcult couple of weeks for the government, we have had storIes about donor gate, freebIes and dIffIcult storIes about the salary of chIef of staff. Some are sayIng that Is because there a voId that starmer has left and Into that voId he needs to state what It Is he needs. So we need to see from hIm today there Is a real sense he needs to stamp hIs authorIty on thIs conference. Another thIn andrew was the sense we got from the government about tough decIsIon, the WInter Fuel Payment whIch was a contentIous decIsIon about that for mIllIons and we have heard from some sayIng you need to Inject more optImIsm whI
In four years. The bbc has been told that Sir Keir Starmer s Chief Of Staff received a Pay Rise after the election which means she is now paid more than the Prime Minister. Sue gray asked for and was given a salary of £170,000 £3,000 more than the pm and more than any cabinet minister. 0ur political correspondent, henry zeffman, has more. I knew that there were tensions at the top of government and this Storys Existence in some way from Chris Mason and me attests to those, but my phone has practically blown up in the hours since we published this story yesterday, with people across Whitehall And Westminster who are furious at Sue Gray, keir starmer s Chief Of Staff. And let me explain why. It is not necessarily about her salary in absolute terms. There will be people out there who think that not only Sue Gray as prime Ministers Chief of staff, but the Prime Minister himself ought to be paid a lot more. Im sure they could earn lots more in the private sector or certainly in parts of t