The Andrew Marr Show
Former Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond appeared down the line from Aberdeen, and claimed Boris Johnson looked like a “mini-me” to the US after the Foreign Secretary cancelled his trip to Moscow.
On Scottish independence, Salmond expected Theresa May’s claim that “now is not the time” for a second referendum to “crumble” over the next few months.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel was up to represent the Government, and Marr put to her the most pressing question: Did America tell Boris Johnson to cancel his planned visit to Moscow?
She replied that “events have moved on” and Johnson is now focused on working with the G7 to bring about an internationally coordinated response to Syrian civil war.
Patel repeatedly claimed the UK needed to work with all “counterparts” in order to find a solution to the war in Syria, but Marr claimed this was “bemusing” as Johnson has just cancelled to a trip to Russia – one of the main antagonists in the conflict.
On UK joining in with military action, Patel said: “Parliament spoke in 2013.”
Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said her party’s position is that the American airstrikes were wrong, and President Trump should have worked with the United Nations to investigate whether war crimes had been committed in Syria – and by whom.
Thornberry went on to suggest that any chance of a negotiated peace in Syria might have been “set back” by the American bombing.
On Labour’s plan to introduce free school meals to all primary school children, Thornberry said poor children are more likely to be overweight than thin, and youngsters need to be taught “how to grow a carrot.”
Thornberry was also asked about Ken Livingstone, and she said she was “bewildered” by the turn of events and the former London Mayor should be kicked out of Labour.
“I was surprised he wasn’t thrown out. I think that he should have been,” she said.
Sophy Ridge on Sunday
Former Ukip MEP Steven Woolfe was first up on Ridge to discuss how he wants to see net migration into the UK cut to 50,000 a year.
He revealed that since leaving Ukip last year, he now only speaks to half a dozen of his former MEP colleagues, and Nigel Farage “keeps his distance” from him.
Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he could “weep” about how his party is now seen by the Jewish community after numerous claims of anti-Semitism.
He called for Ken Livingstone to apologise for his comments, but didn’t go so far as to say he should be kicked out of the party.
On Syria, McDonnell said there should have been an “inquiry” into the use of chemical weapons instead of an American bombing campaign. He claimed the military action “set back” the growing rapprochement between Moscow and Washington.
He criticised Boris Johnson’s decision to scrap his trip to Russia, saying the Foreign Secretary should “be frank with them”.
McDonnell laughed off claims that he had been “tamed” since taking up his frontbench position. The Shadow Chancellor promised that a “radical program” of policies would be unveiled in the next few months.
Tory MP Andrew Mitchell, co-chair of a cross-party Friends of Syria group, repeated his claim from last year that Russia’s actions in the Middle East country echoed that of the Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain in 1937.
Mitchell was full of praise for President Trump, who he said had maintained “humanitarian law” when former President Obama had failed in 2013. Mitchell said: “All of us around the world can sleep more safely” as a result of Trump’s actions.