embattled britain we're in london with the latest on the cyber attack brix it and troubles for prime minister bay on this edition of. politicking on larry king we're broadcasting from london if there is any political scene that can compete with the trump show in washington d.c. inscribed here in great britain parliament recently suffered a sustained cyber attack the investigations in the early stages but russia has been cited as the culprit the home secretary warns antiterrorist sources are stretched very tight and prime minister to reserve may struggles to leave word to some callers on the government what's the latest and where does it all go from here

we'll get insight from tomic taig chief you gave political correspondent for politico he previously worked at the mail online and the independent on sunday thanks for being with us and having me there was a recent cyber attack on email accounts belonging to members of the british parliament the investigations in the early stages what do we know. we don't know very much to be honest but everyone is sight seeing russia as you would expect and he's concerned they were locked out of that e-mail accounts while they were away from polman for almost i think almost half a day so they were they first got the impression that they were hacked in about ten thirty in the morning and nothing happened till about ten thirty at night so they're very concerned about what happened over those twelve hours i mean they're looking at whether they can be held to some kind of blackmail is there anything on their e-mails that shouldn't be on their e-mails or their constituents e-mailing

him with personal problems that are held secret by the m p a now known by somebody else could they be could that constituents be help black mail that they're the major concerns of the moment what is russia if it's russia would slip purpose we don't know yet whole it could be to find weaknesses in a in a parliamentary system we had an m.p. who was suspected of being infiltrated a few years ago he had he was a older gentleman who had a very attractive young russian go friend that raised eyebrows in parliament for a while and then it. turned out that m i five had been following him so you know it's that level of infiltration that concerns the security services here but i think what it shows is that there's a cutie threats change so quickly in the u.k. ten years ago this wasn't an issue and we were looking at al qaida style

grand terror attacks that was why my fight was completely focused on and it worked very successfully to stop that to stop those from happening by targeting small groups of individuals who were acting in unison now we have the russia threat but we also have the isis threat which is just far harder to control because it's just one guy with a knife who goes on to westminster bridge as we've seen and that requires a complete revolution in how m i five and m i six operate. there's nothing comparable in history as the course of modern technology we know about to deal with things like this yeah i mean this some people i've spoken to have said that now that if we are one or two steps behind say the chinese or the russians will never be out to catch up because we don't put anywhere near the resources that they put into that into the into this level of warfare so you know we've we spend all our money on conventional tanks and things to operate in afghanistan and now i you know my sources are telling me that we're taking tanks that were supposed to be designed

for iraq and afghanistan and that was sending them to places like a stone area where our troops are sort of freezing over night waiting in a couple of times because they have nothing to do with the terrain the russians must be looking over there and laughing themselves to sleep the public in america is as you know evenly divided what's it like here. it hasn't had the same cut through i don't think but i think there would be suspicion of the russians that would be held on both sides of the political divide in the u.k. i think that's probably what the difference is we are in a position more like what you were before trump when it was probably bipartisan in senate and congress the same over here in the house of parliament most political parties see russia as a threat that needs to be. acted on however jeremy corbin like many other things has comparisons with donald trump and on his support for russia or he's

lack of support for nato there are there are some clear lines of comparison with donald trump so things may change of jeremy hope and it becomes prime minister and would he do you think if it would tomorrow he would be prime minister you know you asked me two years ago or is it absolutely no chance he was twenty points behind in the polls too to reason may not have these m.p.'s supported him i think about eighty percent of these m.p.'s called for him to be removed as leader and he just sort of flaws a sailed on through and then we had that extraordinary result a few weeks ago where he came within two or three percentage points of trees in may so he is now five points clear in the polls so you have this guy sixty seven he's been a backbencher all his life opposes an eight opposes britain's nuclear deterrent is a n t n t west and a sort of imperialist foreign policy in his view until american i mean i don't know

what would happen to the special relationship if you have jeremy call being came in and now he has a serious chance of being prime minister i mean that is the thing that keeps the tories awake at night. is the popular always miss may week it's a bit of both you know when jeremy cobain was very unpopular trees a maze poll ratings were through the roof and some people who i spoke to said. look that is a false impression people say they like to reason make is that in comparison to germany corbett to reason may's popularity has gone through the floor so almost in reverse jeremy corbin's is going up but i think you have to give him credit he has gone out on a limb on lots of policies he's been prepared to speak to the public he's going to glastonbury and stood there for two hundred thousand people it's an extraordinary thing he did a good campaigner right he's a great campaigner is like bernie sanders in in the us you know he just gets out there he's been saying the same things for forty years so when people are listening to them now they're saying he sounds authentic you recently wrote that theresa may

is a caretaker prime minister in all but name unable to govern and trapped in office that's right that happened to her. she was exposed on the campaign you know when you go out and face the public domain day out it exposes your weaknesses like nothing else does and she was a poor campaigner you know we have a you know an old system compared to your system where she has never run for national office before she has run to be a name paid in a small town in the south east of england that will never vote anything other than conservative so she's never been tested when she was tested she was found wanting and that just rips away your your authority and so that everybody can see it she's she's got her weaknesses exposed and that leaves in a position where she's more of a manager she's having to manage these competing political interests and political egos and that's her job now you think should be prime minister. six months from no

if i had to put money on it i would say she she will be but this will probably be replayed to me in six months time when we have two more prime ministers but she she is likely to stay in place because the options are a place at the moment are not great she is the sort of the lesser of two evils the tories want to get through bricks. keep the thing stable not spark another a general election and then move on to somebody else that can fight the general election twenty twenty two what would spoil the good of the general action there are so many hurdles at the moment and this is her biggest problem she has to pass this extruded she has to take britain out of the european union that requires about eight giant pieces of legislation to smooth that process through at the same time as negotiating base deal with the european union the most complex deal in british political history since the second world war she has to do all of that with a wife

a thin majority in parliament any of those things get voted down and she's pretty much gone. you and many others have described britain's recent election you use the term botched how was it botched. she called it because she was so far ahead in the polls she thought she couldn't lose all she could do was increase a majority increase her mind give her a mandate to take britain out the european union the way she she thought was right she lost it she lost it all nobody expected this germy calling came from nowhere and took away her mandate and her majority so she that was the fundamental miscalculation has therefore a lot of britain changed its mind about budget no i don't think so so jeremy clue coburn was very very clever and made the right strategic hold early on he said bracks said he said the labor party accepts breaks it and will enforce it that took

that issue off the table in the general election many labor m.p.'s i speak to in the north north of england where there was a breakfast stronghold they said if we'd try to fight this election on bracks it we would have got trounced but they didn't they took it off the table and they turned it into an austerity election where they said no more cuts to social services no more cuts to hospitals and one of the reasons why bracks it happened was because britain is a net contributor to the e.u. so the main campaign argument was pull out of the you get your money back and put it into the n.h.s. the health service and schools and hospitals and other things like that and that's what that was the main reason why many people think why we left and even the conservatives learned from all of this yeah you need to be smarter with the pride with the prime ministerial candidate you put up to the country where you need somebody in twenty first century politics they can carry the weight of a general election campaign on their shoulders they have the character to sustain it to their charisma to touch parts of the country where they couldn't they

couldn't previously reach trees and i did the exact opposite she seemed. a shrink in the role and shy away from the public on the public smelled weakness and then they looked at the other candidate and they thought he's not going to be prime minister but at least he stands up for what he believes in he says what he thinks any possibility she would resign she could resign if she feels that the party has lost complete confidence in her so long as the party accepts that she is their manager sort of chairman of the board figure it will oversee this process and then they can move on then she'll stay in place how does it work if she was on that i should be another world should know so if she resigns there will be an election for the conservative party will hold an election to pick their new leader and that will be the prime minister he or she will be the prime minister or do the labor party learn from us they don't yet know to be perfectly honest i was getting calls ten

minutes before the polling booths closed on the thursday of the election from labor m.p. saying we are going to get smashed we're going to lose seats left right and center at the exit poll came out ten o'clock boom it said you know they'll be home parliament label increase its share of the vote to historic proportions i mean they're at forty percent which is the last seen under tony blair so they are completely baffled by what has happened a lot of them so they are trying to learn their lessons now what turned out was a lot of people who the labor party never spoke to throughout the election campaign never knocked on their door gave them a leaflet because they thought they would never vote for them on the day they went out and vote for jeremy corbett and corbin is saying this is because i offered an end to austerity i offered hope something different and that is the message of the labor party of learn whether it's the right one we don't know we'll have more with politico's tomic when politicking continues. about your

sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your lie. asked to turn. to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry. so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each other. but then my feeling started to change you talked about more like it was again still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never again like it said one does not need a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with this one quite different i speak to you now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its make.

our culture is awash in logs dominated by streams of never ending electronic hallucinations that emerged fiction until they are indistinguishable we have become the most deluded society on politics as a species of endless and needless political theater politicians have morphed into celebrity are two ruling parties are in reality one party to corporate and those who attempt to conquer this vast breathless universe of fake news designed to push through the cruelty and exploitation the little courts are for so far to the margins of society including by a public broadcasting system that has sold its soul for corporate money that we might as well be mice squeaking against an apple but squeak we must.

welcome back to politicking we'll return to our conversation with politico's chief u.k. political correspondent he formally work for the independent you suggested that while brooks that is the only thing keeping prime minister may in power it could also be what finishes her off. oh absolutely if she if she loses her wafer thin majority if she's currently signed a deal with the northern irish party the democratic unionist party which gives her that ten m.p.'s on every bit of bricks at legislation now that gives her a majority of about thirty we calculated today if she loses a vote on whether it's a new immigration regime or a new borders regime or customs decisions then then she will she will not be able to enforce bracks it properly and that will trigger a removal from power likely removal from power the other thing that could trigger

it is if any of her rivals main cabinet rival boris johnson or the chancellor philip hammond or the bracks secretary david davis if one of those three decide i'm gone i think i can have this i could get her if i get a group of us and go to knock on her door and say times are prime minister. it's my turn now then she could go. issue while she was popular in britain before all of us it's it's funny how things just move so quickly today it seems that she was this extraordinarily popular figure she had this honeymoon that lasted far longer than we expected it lasted about six months to a year and i was going knocking on doors with perspective m.p.'s at the start of the general election where they were knocking on doors and saying i'm so and so from tories amaze conservative party that was how popular name recognition was by the end of the campaign six weeks later and we dissing some distancing themselves

as far as possible so he's gone from you know the most popular prime minister over to the least popular prime minister oh she handled the greenfield tower. very well it was this it was the same weaknesses they were exposed during the election campaign. and she's she's like she's very much like a british hillary clinton you know she's a woman overall thora and talent and extremely hard work but as a front as a person to front a campaign she's not great she'd she doesn't have that connection with the public and that was exposed during the campaign and then when gran felt how happened she did she didn't go and show the compassion and the the touch with ordinary people the journey cope and show journey coping turned up gave people hopes you know was reading cards with mothers who had lost their lost their family trees and they turned up earlier in the day didn't meet the public and just organize the relief

effort with the fire and rescue services are one maybe better at dealing with the situation but i think in twenty first century politics you need the ability to connect with people what's the mood about evacuating all the people from the other buildings people are furious you know as they've they've lived in. their home for twenty years and suddenly they're told that they have to take out every you know their belongings they have to leave their apartment to go and live in a rented accommodation or a hotel or something and they just some of them essay no way this is an extraordinary mess that we have i mean how it and it's i think people think it speaks to a wider problem in britain that was somehow over the last ten years that we've been a bit cheap skate about about life about governing how we throw nope the cheap pace plodding on these buildings that we can possibly get our hands on and people have died as a consequence. a number of terrorism attacks of rome and

a lot of the speculation oh what's been the impact on the people in all this is are they walking around in fear no i don't think so you know if you go to the house of parliament today or if you go down. london bridge both places where i work i walked out walked over london bridge today there's streams of people you know i wasn't there's nobody ace fearful of this but i think people are tired of it and they don't understand it and they are constantly expecting something else to happen not going to change their life but at some point i think they're saying enough is enough somebody do something about this is going to happen when donald trump versus if he visits who knows where the real bug not i don't think he is certain that he will i mean we've had noises from our colleagues in the states saying trump is relayed the message to london that if he's going to be. greeted with a cough or any of boos in mass street protests then he doesn't want him to do it

that i mean he wants to come and sit in the gilded carriage and be. written up why told you no horse drawn drawn carriage or go up to scotland and see the queen environmental he wants the good pictures and i don't think he wants to see masses all will be treated if it comes i think he will there will be huge protests i mean he is not a popular man here i think that much is certain you know the mayor of london has as openly criticized him and being critical criticize back from donald trump in this extraordinary twitter exchange we had after the london bridge attacks so i think his right to become say in the queen's speech last week there was a segment that said the queen said she looked forward to inviting the king and queen of spain to the u.k. for a state visit there was no mention of donald trump which gives you an indication that

maybe he's not going to come after all. what's your bit. my bet is they'll try and fight it that is the classic british way wolf that means where we will come out with a compromise that will take all box lives more than our home for a day what i wouldn't be surprised if he went to a moral the queen this state in scotland which is private and away from all the crowds if he were not there you could go and visit his golf course and i pity him there wouldn't be the mass protests in london that would might be a smart way to do it he would get his picture with the queen as well which will show it would play well in the us so watch out for that who's the american politician that you say would be very popular here it was obama i mean he was he had high approval ratings but again these things change very quickly you saw during the referendum campaign david cameron looked at the figures he said obama is the most popular politician in britain at the time so he comes over and he tells people

he tells britain you will be back of the queue for trade deals if you leave his popularity plummeted support for bracks it went up it was a complete disaster for david cameron and barack obama so you know it's i mean i think bernie sanders would get a huge welcome here his brother lives here in oxford nothing is sure anymore is it . exactly. britons are serving alongside americans in afghanistan is that popular here you know i mean but it's not it's not. an overtly big problem for the for the government you know it's seen in one going they haven't for a long time for a while at least in afghanistan i don't know it's not it's not popular i think people would not support britain leaving but i think it's there it's so few now that it's it's acceptable or it's britain's view of the syrian situation it's a quagmire basically that's what people think and they're sick of interventions you

know alongside the us in iraq. in libya in afghanistan most people think it makes things worse however it is public opinion again shifted very quickly when you had the gas attack on dean children images with being back suddenly you had public support for bombing not troops on the ground but bombing that changed so again if you try to govern this country by public opinion polls you're in for hiding because e-com predict where they're going to go thank you so much tom thank you very much unlike most a great deal tomic taking chief u.k. political correspondent for politico i am very recently spent a few days in norway presenting and moderating at stephen hawking's annual star most festival the conference its attendees and my fellow presenters were all truly fascinating famed astrophysicists the bestselling author neil de grasse tyson was

also in attendance he presented on stage participated in a panel i hosted the and afterwards we said down for a lengthy interview for my other program larry king now but during that conversation we got into some politics and i'm going to show you some of that now take a look. you recently tweeted we all want to make america great again but that won't happen until we first make america's smart again are you saying the trump isn't smart. i don't i don't i don't invest much energy criticizing politicians politicians are the duly elected representatives of a of an electorate that that the put them there so you can say all you want about the politician but there's still the matter of all the people who voted for him and so what the starter's now you look around in the last few years and you see the rise of peoples over earth is flat or there is no climate change your and i'm

thinking something's not clicking out there. there's some absence of knowledge and wisdom and insight that can come to you if you as a minimum understand for example what science is and how and why it works because that is shaping civilization before our eyes so it's so i said that just of course it's a it's a quick easy play of two phrases but as an educator. if you're smart i don't even like the word smart i prefer it made a better tweet but my preferred word would be you can make america great again until until america. becomes curious again about what we don't know about the unknown when you're curious there's something that's not quite what you investigated and then you find the answer yourself you become a self driven learner that everyone rises up on their own on the wings of curiosity that we all had us children and we have to reinvigorate that as adults and then

when someone says something to you that's a little off he said i want to check on that are you encouraged by the fact that the trumpet ministration didn't cut the budget for nasa well there was some there was some weirdness in there yes the budget was not cut we were delighted to hear that he's a fan of space but until i see how it finally shakes out it's hard to comment with any certainty as to what is good or bad and what emerges but there was talk at some point of we'll keep the budget there were are top it off but we have to remove earth science. from it and this is it had that actually had appeared in s. as a regional charter back in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight that would study earth as well as the planets in the stars so if you take away earth and earth is the system that supports us our life on earth and our livelihood i don't know what the consequences of that so so you have to watch the was that sheep in clothing has

its expression once again will have some acidic it is very i know that you know that one a wolf in sheep's clothing so my hope was always with the trumpet minister if he's he's a businessman business people you expect them to make decisions that are sort of simple and blunt regarding money for example and any good business person knows that you need a healthy flow of money into the r. and d. part of your company to assure survival going and competitiveness going forward so it seems to me he ought to be responsive to an argument such as by the way investments in science technology engineering and math the stem fields as a nation will help. america inc to thrive and compete in

the out years when the fruits of these investments arrive and that's a business state forget the politics you can make that this is a simple business argument and what my hope is that some part of him can listen to that the full interview with mailer grasse tyson airs next week on larry king now and check out my twitter feed for the exact date the new book mail has out it's already a runaway best seller is astrophysics for people in a hurry as stalled physics for people in a hurry is available everywhere including for downloads thanks to tim thanks the deal and thank you for joining us on this edition of politicking will not be good join the conversation on my facebook page and it's always share your thoughts on twitter by tweeting at kingsley and use the politicking x. tag and that's all for this edition of politicking. about your sudden passing i phone we just learned you worry yourself in taking your

last bang term. care act up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry. so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each other. but then my feeling started to change you talked about more like it was still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question are. secretly promised to never be like it's one does not need a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with this one to. speak to us there are no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its make.