I think she stands accused now of lying.

Well, you cannot deny the suggestion of lying because it's clear from her statement and indeed remarks made by friends close to the Sussexes, speaking to the Sussex-friendly press, that she'd received this letter, she was horrified, cut off contact with her father and was assured that a police investigation was underway and that would be ongoing.

That's not the case.

That didn't happen.

It appears there was no investigation.

The only thing that the Met police are looking at now is whether or not this letter was shared with the Duchess.

So the issue I've got is that Meghan Markle has no credibility anyway.

This is not stacking up her story, is it?

I think she stands accused now of lying.

Well, you cannot deny the suggestion of lying because it's clear from her statement and indeed remarks made by friends close to the Sussexes speaking to the Sussex friendly press that she'd received this letter.

She was horrified, cut off contact with her father and was assured that a police investigation was underway and that would be ongoing forever.

That's not the case.

That didn't happen.

It appears there was no investigation.

The only thing that the Met police are looking at now is whether or not this letter was shared with the Duchess.

This is not stacking up her story, is it?

What do we think Harry could do, Mark, if he was genuine about wanting... that olive branch being extended.

He would keep his counsel.

And the issue is that you're right to say, why does he keep talking? Just shut up.

And the reason why he talks so much about his feelings is because it's his grift.

It's the grief grift.

It's part of his identity now.

It's part of his brand.

I agree.

What's going on between Zelensky and Donald Trump? So, Starlink has had its systems slowed down in Ukraine, which is affecting their war effort, and there's a suggestion that this has been directed by Elon Musk and Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth

Yeah, I mean, it's a great Agatha Christie whodunit.

And no one claims to have actually pulled this lever to slow down Zelensky's access to Starlink.

So we know that Starlink allows these drones to travel for longer distances and, of course, fend off Russian attack.

And the issue is obviously Zelensky is finding it harder.

Therefore, he's very vulnerable to these Russian missiles.

Trump said nothing to see here.

And is it all as warm as they're making it out to be? Well,

Yeah.

"She's at Sandringham." So, so that was the hope.

And the reason why I think it's a disaster, JJ, is because the UK return needed Christmas to happen with the royals.

'Cause it's quite clear that they've come back to England because things didn't work out in America and they want to be working royals again.

They want to reverse Megxit.

And it would be absolutely sort of objective number one to have that moment at Christmas.

Without that, it looks like the UK return has been a non-starter or, if I'm being harsh, dead on arrival.

Okay.

But there has been a turn back to the government.

Well, definitely.

We are experiencing what you might call the burn and bounce because this is a guy, as our new Prime Minister, who's better at politics than Keir Starmer.

He speaks human.

He's quite presentable.

But I think this is a short-term headwind for Reform UK.

And it's interesting that the Daily Mail have decided... to suggest that Farage's kind of star is waning.

Take a look at this.

That they, their relationship had improved.

Most definitely, and it's my understanding that Charles took the view towards the end of their marriage, notwithstanding all of the various issues they faced as they began that divorce, the politics of it, you know, Diana versus The Firm, ultimately he, he, he never h- held any dislike for his then-wife and then ex-wife.

I mean, that idea that he effectively celebrated her death in a Paris tunnel is, is ridiculous, absurd, and for the birds.

But I am very pleased that we're still talking about Diana, and I think that it's really good that next year she will be honored because of the remarkable figure that she was.

And, you know, when we got that news that she passed in 1997, the great hope is that we would, uh, pr- protect her legacy and also, uh, somehow perpetuate her spirit.

You know, to, to treasure what she was and try all of us to be a bit more Diana in a curious sort of way.

So it's really, really good that this remarkable figure hasn't been forgotten.

Mm.

Some people are saying that these pictures are staged, that Meghan and Harry have done this deliberately.

It's a hideous piece of propaganda from the ruthless and relentless Sussex PR machine.

The whole thing's embarrassing.

It's an insult to our intelligence.

This is staged.

Meghan, on the other hand, I'm hearing she's distraught.

She's worried about money.

Hmm.

What do you say to that?

Well, I don't see the obscured faces as an excuse for Meghan's decision to incorporate Archie and Lily into the Sussex brand.

We have so much information about these children and I don't think the emoji on the face is important.

sufficient protection of their privacy first of all for some bad actors it may create more curiosity to find out what the children do actually look like and i'll just take no lectures from megan in particular in regard to the safety of her children of course she wants them to be safe and paula i agree with you it's critical that they are safe because they haven't chosen to be the grand children of the king but this is a duchess of sussex who paps her own kids and who doxes her own family.

There was the Instagram drop just from a few weeks ago in which keen-eyed observers could identify exactly where the family were.

We would never reveal that on this show, but Meghan has done that to herself.

So is it the best diplomatic tack? to say, well, don't come empty handed if we want to sort of like move this into a positive frame.

Well, you have to feel for the king.

So... now of course people had said well the king will likely not show up to the opening or closing he might show up to a day in the middle you know when nobody goes because nobody actually goes to see these games they see the concert but here's the problem mark so invictus is in july the documentary comes out in august and the documentary cannot be made without talking about harry's mother's relationship to harry's father and it will likely be not very uh pleasant for the king it will likely be damaging as harry has damaged his father in spare and in the docuseries for netflix so how what does he want he wants his dad to show up at invictus but then a month later he's going to slam his father in a dock and also undermine the palace how does this work

Well, Harry is completely deranged.

He's divorced from reality at the moment, and his judgment is shot to pieces.

I mean, this is a guy that keeps suing people and losing, and the guy does not have a bottomless pit of money.

He sued the UK government for armed royal security.

He lost and he said, hold my beer, let's go again.

He unsuccessfully sued the Daily Mail previously, settling out of court in January 2024.

So what happens if they don't get it?

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It's Starmer 2.0. What you've got with Andy Burnham is lipstick on a pig.

New Labour is over.

Andy Burnham took out his spade, and he buried it, and what we have now is Socialism 2.0, and we will all pay the price.

It's David Brent, and we don't need a laid-back entertainer.

What we need is serious leadership.

What we don't need, as I said, is this performative nonsense.

Mm-hmm.

What is going on?

Well, it's the most fascinating royal bombshell.

It's the biggest thing since Megxit.

In fact, it's even more seismic.

And when you look at any current events, Paula, you always have to look at the winners and the losers.

And be clear, there are many more losers than winners.

The British monarchy is definitely a loser because I believe that Harry and Meghan will cause huge damage to the royal family by being back on British soil.

So it does kind of seem like they say one thing, but do completely the opposite, right?

Why do you reckon that is, Mark? Well,

that's a brilliant question, and I think that it demonstrates, as we began this conversation, that the dividing lines now between Team Sussex and Team Wales are even stronger and starker.

What you've got is Charles Spencer... supporting politically supporting harry in his quest for armed royal security so it's a quid pro quo which is you're going to be you know you're going to support my book and not attack it and not call it a pack of lies which in my view it is and you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

So the book goes out, Harry says nothing, therefore it's published with his blessing.

And in return, old uncle steps in and has this intervention on the armed cops.

And the raw security thing is absolutely fascinating because it ain't going to happen that the taxpayer is going to pick up the bill.

It It's not going to happen.

It doesn't really wash, does it, Mark? You need a hell of a lot of political capital to get a

If it is an early election, is it because it's about to crumble, they've got big decisions? Why do you think there would be that trigger?

Well, the mood music around the economy is very, very gloomy indeed.

So if you look at the numbers, welfare spending in the UK is around two billion Australian dollars every day.

The cost of welfare in the UK is now larger than the tax take of the entire country.

Debt interest, 200 billion dollars a year.

National debt, five and a half trillion dollars.

So what could happen in the months ahead is a Greece moment in Britain.

What do you think is a maybe there?

Now, excuse the pun, but, um, after this, you know, this traffic travel disaster to school, are the wheels coming off, uh, the Sussexes' return to the UK already?

It's a hot mess It's a public relations dumpster fire.

Everything that Harry and Meghan touches turns to bad headlines and human misery and public conflict.

Uh, they're just very angry people.

Uh, neither have a great gift or a great talent.

Harry won the womb lottery by having Charles and Diana as his parents, and Meghan, a minimally talented TV actress.

And it's interesting, they've got quite a co-dependent relationship.

Mark, are you very upset? I mean, the, the, do we, how do we treat these things? Are they engagements to be reported and to, you know, or should they be in private? When we start seeing Harry, possibly Meghan, going out and actually doing events with photographers outside and people reporting on them, are they comparable to royal engagements?

Mm-hmm.

Which is really disingenuous, and it's amazing that Harry couldn't stick to a deal brokered by a woman he claims to have admired, which was Elizabeth.

Well, I don't know how much you can admire someone if you release news that a book is coming, and of course, this was in the mid-2020s, the content of which the Queen didn't know, but certainly would've worried about as she faced her final years.

So she was aware that the book Spare was coming as an older lady and as she battled cancer.

And of course, the Op- awful Oprah interview aired whilst Philip was dying.

Mm-hmm

... and he's a very interesting and brilliant man, is that he understands Harry's psychology, which is why he's characterized the duke as a wrecking ball.

And then he used that language that he's gonna ram this through.

Talk to me.

Absolutely right.

This is enough of a war chest to help Nigel Farage become the prime minister of this country.

It's going to be a massive resource for a forthcoming election campaign.

Paul, we could have a snap election in November of this year.

It's likely that we'll have one in the spring of next year because Andy Burnham, the new PM that no one voted for, will never be this popular.

He's enjoying the so-called burn and bounce.

Well, guess what? He got a letter and they don't.

Yeah.

Now, unless they're all doctors and engineers, then they're likely going to either never work or be low-skilled workers reliant on in-work benefits for the rest of their lives.

So it's a financial headache as well, and yet I'm still mystified as to why no government has taken this in hand.

The great irony is we've got a Labour government that is well-positioned to tackle this issue.

First of all, there's an empathy argument because people are dying on those boats.

It's the most awful exploitation of these individuals who pay a lot of money to international criminals to get on board one of these vessels that are not seaworthy.

So I don't understand why this Labour government and the left don't take the view that we must stop the boats based on an empathetic argument, and safety, and humanitarian.

Royal-lite.

It

won't end in tears but there will be temporary disruption and I completely agree with Sarah that Harry may have spotted an opportunity with his father on the throne to lay down roots in the United Kingdom before William becomes king because at that point all bets are off.

He could lose his titles, he could lose HRH and essentially be completely ostracised from the family because we know there's no love lost between the two men.

And I don't see a renaissance of that relationship anytime soon.

So the issue you've got, you know, is it a disaster for the royal family? Well, it's a lot of noise they could do without.

I wish we could celebrate the work of the king, who's one of the hardest working monarchs that we've ever had, in spite of and notwithstanding his cancer diagnosis.

He's a chip off the old block.

You can do anything you want.

What happened to Nigel this week?

Well, Channel 4 News broadcast a secret film in which the two key figures running reform, head of policy James Orr and Dan Dukes, who is Nigel Farage's right-hand man, interacting with an undercover journalist posing.

as a wealthy US donor.

And the idea was that this donor could potentially bankroll and pay for polling within the UK.

And that's not allowed.

That's illegal.

Of course, this was just a hypothetical conversation, but it didn't look great for the party.

What's the latest there?

No, no,

no, no. It's important that we have this debate because I think that the focus has to be that notwithstanding that currently they pay for their own bodyguards, those bodyguards are not armed and you can never escape the fact that Harry is the king's son.

And Archie and Lily are the King's grandchildren.

They are, by definition, a target.

Now, Megxit happened.

Harry gave up his royal duties.

He's not a working royal.

How worried are we about Charles's ability to pull off a trip to the Caribbean tour?

And they're still owning the joint in America, aren't they? So to me, and it's not because she's going to get a spot on the next Guy Ritchie thing because that sort of came and went, but you don't have to move entire countries to take

up a role.

Well, absolutely right.

So you've nailed it with Prince William, who my royal insiders tell me despises his brother and there's no way back.

When he becomes king, it's likely that Harry will lose his Duke of Sussex title and the Archie and Lily will no longer be prince and princess.

So as you say, he's got to make hay while the sun shines.

His father, King Charles, desperately wants time with the grandchildren.

I cannot believe this, but I know it to be true, which is that the US is a chance of somehow not backing Britain about the Falklands because they're not spending enough money on defence.

But it does seem like all of this is coming out of Camp Sussex and not from anywhere else.

You absolutely nailed it.

This is pure Sussex propaganda.

This comes from the ruthless and relentless Sussex public relations machine which never sleeps.

And the irony is that for all of the PR professionals that they employ, they're doing a horrible job, Paula.

Because they spun their Nexit project and their move to the US as being, you know, England's horrible, full of racists, we escaped the country.

Now they've got to somehow spin it that a country that they don't like, they're going to return to.

People there don't really like California mumbo jumbo speak.

What's your take there?

Yes.

I mean, Harry and Meghan's royal return is a bombshell for the Waleses, as we know.

I mean, the only real winner that I can identify from the UK return is Harry himself because he doesn't like America.

He doesn't like woke California.

The climate doesn't suit him.

So Harry's the only winner.

Mm-hmm

And I think you might be on my team here when it comes to the realistic, um, the, the realistic situation that Harry and Meghan have done way, way more than a 45-minute tea can fix.

Most definitely.

I think that they were very lucky that Charles offered Harry accommodation at Buckingham Palace, which of course we know became a public relations disaster, but the offer was made.

That was a win for Harry, even if it turned nasty, which with Harry and Meghan it always does.

I think that the fact that Harry returned to the UK just now with the King's blessing was a triumph.

And then Meghan, Archie, and Lili, and Harry on royal property, on the hallowed turf of Highgrove House, was extraordinary.

And I think that they're very lucky, but I think that the pro-Sussex press are over-interpreting it, a- a- as you're suggesting.

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