�* greater around angela rayner greater manchester polices completed a thorough carefully considered and proportion investigation and concluded that no further police action will be taken. so that is said in the words of the police. why so breathless, chris? the real specific reason is our steam coronavirus newscast colleague wrote a blog way back when this building opened about the merits of using the stairs. i think basically because he got fed

up think basically because he got fed up waiting for the lift also that it is good because it is incidental steps in a big part of that school clearly lies and i took that to heart. ijust ran up a bit of flight of stairs quickly. chris. why so breathless? i mean, you're always like an energetic chap. but yes, never run towards a microphone they say is the first rule of broadcasting. and ijust broke it. well, anyway, i've given you a nice little gentle glide, but the election kind of so where were you today? so i have been in dover today because nigel farage has appeared on the campaign trail. there was a bit of a thing, you know, about a week ago which made some news when nigel farage said he wasn't going to stand in an individual seat. and i have to say, i did think at that point that was a bit of a red herring. clearly it was a news story, but it's a bit of a red herring because i think his capacity to have an influence on this campaign was far more about what else he either chose or didn't choose to do. when you're running in a constituency, you've got to be knocking on doors, handing out leaflets, going to hustings and town halls and things. particularly

if you're from one of the smaller parties and you've sort ofjust turned up really. and his argument he was saying to me today for not standing was kind of that very reason that the election had come as something of a surprise. he couldn't do the sort of build—up work. but i think where his involvement has the capacity to be significant is that he did this event in dover, but it wasn't kind of like to do that and then disappear, he says. and let's see if he does it. but he says he's going to be pretty prominent or as prominent as he can be throughout, popping up all over the place and so leaning in to being probably the most certainly the most recognisable voice for reform uk. and it's worth making the point, you know, love or loathe nigel farage and people tend to be one or the other rather than indifferent. he is one of the most influential politicians of his generation, never been an mp. i think it's seven times he's run for westminster, never managed it, he isn't doing it himself this time, but he's been hugely influential. i think that's just unquestionable. and here he is, commanding attention again and disrupting again, which is what he's made his life's political work to be. i have to confess, i didn't get a chance to actually watch his speech. i've just been reading your coverage of it.

was it 98% small boats? it was. and obviously the location was picked with that in mind, he also talks about what he claims is a rise in or at least evidence of sectarian politics in england. looking at those local election results, looking at some people who he says might have been motivated to vote along religious lines connected to the conflict in the middle east. he's been accused of islamophobia in saying that, he says no. he says it's a small but growing issue and that plenty of muslim people, he says, would be concerned about it, too. so but he's making a broader argument, which he says he's made before on other issues, that he's willing to talk about, stuff that he says, the likes of rishi sunak and keir starmer are not willing to talk about. and he makes a broader point, looping back to his earlier career, suggesting that what we're seeing in the channel with small boats is a betrayal of plenty of people who voted for brexit and indeed

others, cos he's saying, look, there is the capacity, if there is the will, to deal with migration, legal and illegal. and in his view, it hasn't been. we know reform have got other policies. when richard tice, their party leader, was on newscast a few months ago talking about something else, we actually did an interview with him as if he was a party leader with normal party policies rather than somebody who just talks about small boats all the time. they've got policies on the nhs and income tax and things like that. did nigel farage mention any of that other stuff? he didn't. i mean, he brushed by it, but it was primarily about, it was primarily about immigration. it's interesting actually when he was reflecting in the news conference sort of out loud about his place and the place of the parties with which he's been associated within political debate and the labels he would attach to them. so he talked about various incarnations of ukip and the brexit party predecessors to reform uk as being pressure groups, almost single issue campaigns that then found the democratic process to be the most useful

to propagate their argument. and i think what's interesting about reform uk in your conversation with richard tice on newscast was that actually what was interesting about reform uk is that they've pitched their tent significantly. their tent significantly more broadly and as you say, been more conventional, arguably as a political party outfit, as opposed to a single issue or fairly narrow issue campaigning organisation that then seeks elected office, if i'm making rough sense. well, you've just been a very good colleague there, because you now very cleverly contextualised when i said normal political party, because i wasn't suggesting there's like something quote unquote wrong with them. ijust meant that in the past, they've sort of... bang... is that the past participle of bang, banged?

banged one big drum. very loudly. yeah. now, this is not a whole load of i suppose it was reflecting out loud about, you know, where is the line between now there are legal lines here because of being registered with the electoral commission, all that kind of stuff. but where is the line in our political conversation between a pressure group, a think tank and a political party? and can you sometimes sort of wave and skate between those various things? and yeah, you know, it's sort of an interesting thought in the round of all of this. we'll have a seminar on that when we've all got more time, mid—august maybe. there's a theory doing the rounds that a lot of the stuff that rishi sunak�*s been touting in the last couple of days, so national service and the stuff about the triple lock plus about the income tax threshold for pensioners is designed to appeal to people who are tempted to vote for reform. do you think that theory has got legs? yeah, i think there's something in that because you look at why is why is what nigel farage saying today sort of newsworthy, interesting, important. it's because reform have been doing pretty well for a new political party in the opinion polls, and they have a particular capacity

to spook the conservatives. why? because i think it's reasonable to assume that a disproportionate number of potential reform voters are recent conservative voters. so i think there is something in what the conservatives are doing in terms of tacking in the direction of where reform uk may be, if you like, fishing for votes. i think there's another thing which i think the conservatives in the last week have had a strategy of trying to grab attention, announce new policy. so their policy on national service, their policy on pensions are new policies. now they will cause an argument and some people will disagree with them and others will try and pick holes in them and all the rest of it. it's the nature of a campaign, but they are new and that to a degree is distinct from what we've seen from certainly from labour, who have been seeking to be, certainly vigilant in not being drawn into reacting to the conservatives and not setting out anything that has come out of absolutely nowhere, for better or worse. and i think that speaks to where the two parties find themselves at the start

of this campaign. where the incumbents are curiously the challengers, because the opinion polls suggest that that they are not the favourites, ie the conservatives and labour as the challengers, because they are not in government acting judiciously, carefully, cautiously, because they feel and hope. they feel and hope, when they look at those opinion polls and focus groups and all the rest of it, that they can even should win and therefore don't want to do anything that could jeopardise that without also including, by the way, ever giving the impression outwardly that they are overly confident because they are very conscious of that not coming across as well. one of the other things nigel farage did was offer to have a debate with rishi sunak about immigration and offer the prime minister turned down, but he has accepted another one, which is to have a head to head with keir starmer on itv at some point next week. but we don't know anything about the ground rules or what day it will be or how it's going to work. but we will be watching. yeah.

so, so again, the politics the politics in a general election campaign of the debate about debates, a party that feels that it has got ground to make up, perhaps nothing to lose wants as many debates as possible. a party that thinks the opposite will be more careful around the debates it's perhaps willing to say yes to. but the prospect of a head to head debate and i think there'll be more than one, is a moment, isn't it? that will be a moment, perhaps may be seen as the first big moment of the campaign. well, unless something big happens between now and then, so... and there'll be associated hullabaloo in the build—up and then in the sort of glide path down from that debate, particularly the head to head, because, of course, wherever you are in the uk and whatever your political view might be, you may perfectly reasonably think, gosh, there's one heck of a lot of focus on the conservatives and labour, but in reality with our political system, there are two candidates to be prime minister. and so they do sit

in the conversation, the debate on a plane, if you like, a little higher than the other parties. and that debate will kind of crystallise that. there'll be debates to come, no doubt, on the bbc and elsewhere, that feature a far broader range of voices that reflects the breadth of the conversation around the uk. i've just had a message saying chris has to go right now. all right. that was news to me. i'm not kicking you out. i follow instruction, so i have to go. time's up. yeah. he did make his appointment with the news we also recorded a lot of extra stuff of this episode of newscast which you will be able to hear in the podcast version which you will be able to get on bbc sound. thank you very much for watching. we will be back again very soon. bye.

newscast from the bbc. we've seen some pretty hefty downpours getting going today and we have more of the same to come over the next few days, although there will be some drier, sunnier gaps in between the showers. so not a complete wash—out, but certainly a very mixed weather story. now, on the earlier satellite picture, you can see a fair bit of clouds streaming in from the atlantic, bringing outbreaks of rain. and in this clearer slice here, yes, we did see a little bit of sunshine, but that also allowed some big showers and the odd thunderstorm to pop up. some of those showers continuing through the evening into the night, most of them fading through the early hours of wednesday. so in most places, starting wednesday morning, on a dry note, temperatures ten, 11, 12 degrees, a fair amount of cloud, some showers from the word go, but most places seeing some spells of sunshine. now, as we go through the day, the showers will become more widespread across england, wales, northern ireland, perhaps most especially across scotland.

here we will see some slow moving, heavy thundery downpours which could dump a lot of rain in a short space of time, leading to the risk of localised flooding and some travel disruption. some of those really intense showers perhaps getting into the far north of england as well. further south, not as many showers, temperatures climbing to 20 or 21 degrees towards the south east of england. now through wednesday night into thursday. this area of low pressure will still be close by. but as it shifts eastwards and a little bit further southwards, well, that will shift the focus for the showers southwards as well. so the most widespread showers by thursday afternoon across southern and southeastern parts of england, further north and west, not as many showers, some spells of sunshine, quite a brisk north or north—westerly winds. so that will make it feel a little bit on the cool side, but still in the best of the sunshine — highs of 19 degrees. by friday, cloud and still some showers down towards the south and the east.

also more cloud into the northern half of scotland. but in between, quite a lot of sunshine and certainly a drier end to the week. and that is a sign of things to come for the weekend because this area of high pressure will be nosing its way in from the west. now, some big areas of cloud moving around the highs. so it's not going to be completely sunny, but it will be largely dry. and actually across northern areas, particularly parts of scotland, it is going to turn very warm indeed with temperatures by sunday of 22 or 23 degrees.

hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. i think everyone can say we've had a difficult couple of years, but we really have turned a corner now, inflation down, wages rising, the economy growing and the choice for the country now is do we build on that progress or go back to square one? this is an election that is all about change, turning our back on 14 years of chaos and division, turning a page and rebuilding our country with labour, so i'm really pleased that angela has been vindicated. you know, across the country- there are so many seats where it's the liberal democrat vote, it's a powerful vote - to defeat the conservatives. the conservatives have promised a revamp of the triple lock for pensioners if they win the general election. not a tax cut so much as preventing a future tax rise. labour lays out its case to be the party of business.