to be the democrat not going to be the democrat candidate. we'll talk about that. we'll also talk about blenheim palace today, the european political community are meeting. is the new labour government taking us closer back towards the european union. and liz truss will join me and we'll talk about her complaint about the king's speech plus the financial conduct authority saying that banks should not treat political figures. so badly. gosh. who knew? but before all of that , let's get before all of that, let's get the news with polly middlehurst . the news with polly middlehurst. >> nigel, thank you and good evening to you. well, the top story from the gb newsroom tonight is that sir keir starmer has announced £84 million worth of new funding to tackle illegal migration as he hosts an eu summit at blenheim palace today. the prime minister says he wants to reset the relationship with the continent and push for closer security ties with other countries. the groups agreed to boost defence capabilities in

ukraine as well as that country defends itself against russia . defends itself against russia. and speaking at the end of the summit of european leaders, sir keir starmer promised to grip europe's migration crisis to stop illegal migration. >> we must also tackle it at source. so today i am announcing £84 million of new funding for projects across africa and the middle east that includes humanitarian and health support , humanitarian and health support, skills training, help with job opportunities and access to education. this is a vital part of gripping the migration crisis , of gripping the migration crisis, and it shows how we're going to do business on the world stage . do business on the world stage. >> well, the announcement of that initiative comes as one person died and 71 people had to be rescued after a migrant boat sankin be rescued after a migrant boat sank in the english channel late last night . all those on board last night. all those on board the vessel ended up in the water, but all except one were

picked up in the joint rescue operation, which was conducted between the uk and the french authorities . in other news, sir authorities. in other news, sir keir starmer says today's report from the covid inquiry confirms that the uk was unprepared for the coronavirus outbreak. in the 240 page assessment released this lunchtime , baroness hallett this lunchtime, baroness hallett found there were significant and widespread failures from successive governments . the successive governments. the report also condemns the 2011 pandemic strategy for being virtually abandoned when covid hit, with no forward focus on economic and social impacts. in other news today, five just stop oil protesters, including one of its co—founders, were jailed today for conspiring to organise protests which blocked the m25, causing massive disruption for motorists back in 2022. roger hallam, daniel schorr, louise lancaster , lucia whittaker de lancaster, lucia whittaker de abreu and cressida gethin organised 45 protesters to climb

onto gantries over the motorway for four successive days in november 22nd prosecutors allege the protests cost the metropolitan police more than £1 million and caused more than 50,000 hours of vehicle delays for drivers. mr hallam was sentenced to five years imprisonment, while the remaining four defendants were each handed four years. the judge in the case said the five had crossed the line from concerned campaigners to fanatics . now concerned campaigners to fanatics. now in concerned campaigners to fanatics . now in the concerned campaigners to fanatics. now in the united states, the washington post is reporting that barack obama has now told his allies that joe biden needs to reconsider his re—election bid. at the same time, as has been confirmed, the president has had to cancel speeches because he has covid. it's also being reported that nancy pelosi, a close aide of joe biden, has privately told him he can't win the november 5th election, echoing a growing number of democrats expressing the same doubts. let me just bnng the same doubts. let me just bring you a bit of breaking news

coming to us from france. we know security is tight there ahead of the olympics , but a ahead of the olympics, but a police officer has been injured in an attack, we're told, which has taken place in the city centre. that's according to the french interior minister, gerald darmanin. the attacker was reportedly shot by police in the area where the incident happened as it was being cordoned off. that just happened. a man has been shot in paris. we'll bring you more on that story as we get it. in the meantime , let me tell it. in the meantime, let me tell you, those are the latest gb news headlines for now, i'm polly middlehurst and i am back in an hour. see you then. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. nana. >> good evening. i'm joining you live from milwaukee. you can hear music. everyone's getting

set. it's a fantastic big hall. the delegates from all the different states come . they different states come. they vote. we listen to jd vance speak last night, but tonight it's the big, big speech. the big donald trump speech. and of course, this comes after how do we describe what happened on saturday other than, frankly, a miracle? i don't know whether you believe in miracles or guardian angels, but something truly remarkable happened. you know, he turned his head at the last minute . the bullet went last minute. the bullet went through the air. it was a complete and utter miracle. now many are saying, well, nigel, why aren't you in claxton? why aren't you in the house of commons? well, you know what? a friend of yours goes through a near—death experience. i think the least you can do is to come and show some respect and pay them a visit and you know what? i know what a near—death experience is like. because 15 years ago, i was in that light aircraft crashing to the ground . aircraft crashing to the ground. i thought my last seconds had come and i was smashed to pieces and split sternum , broke all my

and split sternum, broke all my ribs. i was in a bad way. and i know for the fortnight afterwards i was very emotional. i couldn't quite work out why i was still alive. it was a very odd thing to go through and i think, to be honest, what we saw yesterday here, donald trump sitting, listening to his son, listening to his granddaughter, it's going to be very, very interesting to see what kind of donald trump we get tonight on the stage, what kind of speech he gives. he says he's rewritten the speech himself. he's also indicated he wants to try to bnng indicated he wants to try to bring america together . well, bring america together. well, we'll see what happens now. not everybody gets this. and i had the misfortune of running into emily maitlis yesterday from the news agents podcast. this is how the exchange went. >> and is that the sense you've got that he's having a tough time right now? >> he nearly died . >> he nearly died. >> he nearly died.

>> do you think he's having a tough time right now? >> he nearly died . well, i'm >> he nearly died. well, i'm joined now by dave bossie. dave is co—chair of this republican national convention. he is a veteran traitor within the republican movement, a good friend of donald trump's , dave friend of donald trump's, dave bossie. welcome to the program. good to be with you, what extraordinary circumstances ? extraordinary circumstances? >> you know, it is a miracle what happened on saturday if the president doesn't turn his head , president doesn't turn his head, he doesn't do that a lot. and to be honest with you, he turned his head , he had angels on his his head, he had angels on his shoulders and that's really the only way to look at it. we were so close to having a memorial service this week instead of a convention. and it was shocking to me having spent hundreds of rallies with him . yeah, it was rallies with him. yeah, it was painful to watch, for me to not be there with him, and so i've

had a chance to now spend time with him this week , and he's with him this week, and he's a changed person, just like you were describing. you know, he realises how close he came a quarter of an inch, and so we're going to get to the investigation of how that happened. we're going to get to the investigation of the secret service and the director of the secret service and their coordination with the biden white house. we'll get to that, but we'll get to that after we win in november. >> and, yeah, i mean, i, i spoke to don junior today. i spoke to eric, the other two sons today and yeah, whilst they're mighty relieved their father's still alive , there is a simmering alive, there is a simmering sense of great anger. i mean, this guy on the roof was only 130 yards away. 130 yards, and he was wandering around for an hour. houn >> they had him. they there were

people tracking him . people tracking him. >> we had police officers engage him . how is it possible that him. how is it possible that a sheriff's deputy engaged him? >> and did nothing about it? how is it that the snipe, the counter sniper teams on the roof and we're watching him and they it's the whole thing does not add up. >> we're going to get to it, but we're not going to get distracted by it, >> we'll get to it in the right time. but donald trump needs to win in november so that we can save this country. and western civilisation. >> yeah, he's a very important figure. i agree . now, on this figure. i agree. now, on this stage we're going to see him tonight. it'll be a big speech. it'll probably be a couple of hours. you said already you've been with him. i'm seeing him a bit later, but he he is a bit of a change, man. and you're going to feel emotional after this. he's rewritten the speech himself. what are we going to hear? dave bossie do you know?

>> i think we're going to hear a lot about coming together and moving past it. we're going to hear about unity. we're going to hear about unity. we're going to hear about unity. we're going to hear a lot of those types of themes throughout the throughout themes throughout the throughout the speech, however, he is going to draw a distinction between himself and four years of peace and prosperity . and that record and prosperity. and that record thatis and prosperity. and that record that is un, you know, not touched. it's really. joe biden destroyed our american economy. he destroyed our southern border. he destroyed everything that donald trump did. single handedly. he did it. do you think the reality is, though, is that the left wants to now switch joe biden out. and so we have to come to the understanding that it's not just, joe biden as an individual, it's the biden, the radical biden agenda. and that's driven by that radical left. so no matter who they try to, if they come to a point where they try to pivot, they can't move away from the radical left wing agenda of the last four years

that have destroyed our southern border, destroyed our economy, created an inflation monster, the green new scam. you know, the green new scam. you know, the these are making america energy. these are the those are the these are the big debates. no, no, i got we're going to hear about we're going to hear about those issues. >> and both sides are fired on that. i know that donald trump would rather joe biden was the candidate, but there's no chance now, is there? >> oh, i don't, i'm not a believer that there's never say neven believer that there's never say never. yeah, yeah, joe biden is the incumbent. joe biden is someone who is going to have to walk away from it. that i don't know how he is going to be capable of walking away from it. number one. number two is if he walks away from it. how are they not going to go to kamala harris? and then you have to have her walk away from it. and i don't think the first black woman, vice president in american history is going to walk away from it that easy. and she's even more beatable than joe biden. if you find somebody less likeable with lower polling polling numbers, with a with a

worse job approval rating, it's than joe biden . it's kamala harris. >> i'm going to get a democrat voice on that in a moment. but for now, it's going to be fascinating tonight to see what trump says. and well done for a very, very well run convention. thank you very much. so far. >> so honour to have you here and congratulations on your election. >> thank you. thank you for joining us. now let's get a democrat view on all of that. i'm joined by nomiki konst us political analyst, and are she's not ready for us yet. i tell you what. we'll toa to a break. come back and we'll get

that's why. yeah. i mean, otherwise 7 or 8. >> very, very well . >> very, very well. >> very, very well. >> before the break, we heard from david bossie, an ardent republican and donald trump supporter. but i'm now very keen to get a democrat view. i'm joined now down the line by nomiki konst, who has been in the past, a former commissioner

at the democrat national committee. and of course, their convention coming up in a few weeks time . nomiki. thank you. weeks time. nomiki. thank you. welcome to the program. it would appear now, with chuck schumer, with barack obama now expressing pretty serious doubts , i mean, pretty serious doubts, i mean, biden, let's face it, biden is not going to be the nominee, is he? >> i mean, there's definitely a fast reporting coming in. and i think up until this point, it's mostly been leaks. people who have agendas, folks who you know, listen, campaigns are expensive and there are consultants who make money on these campaigns. so there are factions who want to have their folks in another faction. see, you know, opportunity with joe biden weakening and of course, with covid. but i think covid really was, the marker here. i mean, you saw in the hours before he announced he had covid in this bet interview, that he would reconsider if health was a considering factor. and, of course, with former president barack obama saying, maybe we should relook at this. this

changes the ball game. i'm moving forward, though i am a little concerned because the polling is tight across the board . it's within margins of board. it's within margins of error across many swing states, evenin error across many swing states, even in the rust belt. and this is with rnc bump. i mean, every time there is a convention, you'll see a bump by the party that's holding the convention. so i do think it's not as alarming as people feel , as the alarming as people feel, as the chattering class is making it out to be. but we do need to do something. we do need to freshen up this party. we do need to have real conversations about how we choose our presidential candidates moving forward, it's not like we didn't know that joe biden was 81 years old. i you know, i blame the democratic national committee just as much as i blame , you know, the biden as i blame, you know, the biden administration for not stepping up . up. >> and, you know, the gaffes keep coming, don't they? i mean, today, yet another extraordinary gaffe where he simply couldn't remember the name of his defence chief. let's just watch joe

biden in action earlier on today. >> and so it's all about it's all about treating people with dignity. and it's about making sure that, i mean, for example, look at the heat i'm getting because i, i named a, the secretary of defence, the black man i named ketanji brown. >> i mean, because of the people i've named. >> yeah. i mean, you know, the black guy, it's endless. it's embarrassing. not just for the democrats. it's embarrassing for america on the world stage. so i'm going to run on the assumption that he's gone. does it then have to be kamala harris, or what's the procedure going to be as the democrats run up to their convention? >> you know, it's there are rules that the democratic national committee is supposed to follow. >> they don't always do. so, as we saw in 2016 with super delegates and many other factors, not, you know, not reforming after the commission that i sat on that you

mentioned. but with that being said, it is most likely going to be vice president kamala harris. and you know this. i think that's why there was this period of looking at polls and getting organisations together and figuring out how campaign finances were going to flow. i mean, this is the biden—harris ticket making sure that the delegates that supported joe biden are going to be given in a fair way to the vice president. and maybe that doesn't even need to be so, given that they are a ticket. there are a lot of considerations to play out here. also, we have the rules committee meeting coming up. this is something that people aren't even considering. is they could potentially change some of the rules to this process right before the convention, to make it play out much more smoothly. you know, do people want to have a fair convention? do we want to have a lot of candidates going around the country in a short penod around the country in a short period of time, like the uk elections, you know, talking about ideas, showing these fresh faces, going to swing states, to talking different demographics, that would be fantastic for the party. but it also suits the to party. but it also suits the to party have a smooth transition.

this is not a good moment. i'm not sugarcoating this. i you know, does joe biden have gaffes? is he older? of course. is this a very gruelling schedule? has he been sick you know, over and over a cold covid. yes. but we have to face this ticket that, you know, you're, you're highlighting right now at the convention that is really softening. donald trump in a way that i think many folks haven't seen. and with the jd vance, addition to the ticket, you know , we're not ticket, you know, we're not quite sure what to expect. i think kamala harris will be the strongest opposition to the anti—women ticket that the trump jd vance, platform is, is pushing out there . i think that pushing out there. i think that she has the complete opposite agenda, the complete opposite platform. i think all democratic candidates would potentially have the complete opposite platforms. but, you know , the platforms. but, you know, the republicans have a real women problem. their platform and their candidates are rolling us back 100 years. the fact that jd vance says women shouldn't be able to divorce their husbands

if their husbands are abusing them. i mean, that's ridiculous to completely abolish all abortions in any way or form. that's ridiculous. i mean, we're really going back to a different era here. i tell you what i tell you, nomiki between you and dave bossie, we're hearing the arguments that are going to play out over the course of the next few months. >> whoever the candidate is going to be for the democrats. and thank you very much indeed for joining me now today at forjoining me now today at blenheim palace, a meeting . yes, blenheim palace, a meeting. yes, a big get together of the european political community. this it will not surprise you to know, is something that doesn't exactly thrill me. well, joining me to discuss this in the studio in london is sir george howarth, former labour mp and baroness jacqueline foster, life peer and a former member for the conservative party of the european parliament. so a lot of discussion , folks today about discussion, folks today about doing a pact with europe where they might take some of our

cross—channel illegal migrants and we might send some back the other way. george howarth, it seems to me that if keir starmer was to enter into this, we'd probably end up receiving more people under this deal than we'd send the other way . send the other way. >> well, i don't know what the bafis >> well, i don't know what the basis for you being able to say that is, nigel, but i think everybody sensible would accept that. we have to have sensible agreements with, first of all, france , because that is where france, because that is where most of them are coming from. as the last port of call. and secondly, we have to have agreements with by the bilaterally or by other means with the rest of europe. and we've been saying that as a party for a long time, if that cooper's been saying it, and i think that is the best way forward . forward. >> i'm speaking for trump.

>> i'm speaking for trump. >> well, we'll find out. and interestingly, border force took a boat back today. i'm going to come back to you on that in just a moment. because one of the things, george, one of the things, george, one of the things that starmer did say at blenheim palace is under no circumstances will labour leave the european convention on human rights and its associated court in strasbourg . but what is in strasbourg. but what is interesting is overnight we get the news that border force picked up a may day call, picked up a group of migrants in the channel and took them not back to dover , but put them into to dover, but put them into calais. do you think this was a political decision? could this be actually the way that we do solve the problem? >> to i be honest, nigel, i'd be speculating if i was to say it was a political decision. >> however, i think the tone that, keir and yvette cooper have both set since the election is that we're not going to tolerate it. we're going to deal

with the problem, whether it's within europe or, as the announcement said today in the sources of initial migration in the middle east and africa. and so i think the tone may have emboldened the border force to do what they did. but also, i think it's important that it also shows if we get cooperation with france, there is a real prospect that we can deal with this problem in a way that would be effective . be effective. >> interesting what jackie foster, you know, at no point since 2018, when the boats started coming first slowly and then rapidly after 2020, at no point during a tory government were any migrants taken by boat back to france. are labour now beginning to beat you on this argument , argument, >> i wish i could say yes, and obviously it's early days and congratulations to them, but the european union, there's always a

quid pro quo and whatever they agree. i think the point you raised at the beginning about any deals that are done, would we then end up having to take in illegal immigrants from the rest of the european union ? from my of the european union? from my point of view, that's not that's a non—starter, i think. in addition, keir starmer also said he was going to spend give them another 84 million. well we've already given france about half already given france about half a billion of taxpayers money and they've done absolutely nothing, frankly, over the last couple of years, you raise the point about the boat that turned round today and took these illegal immigrants back to calais. my question then would be, well, why haven't they been taking them back to calais for the last 2 or 3 years? so i'd like an answer to that. and i do wish them well . your point on the them well. your point on the echr, i think, is very valid, i think the echr i think it's out of date, and in terms of the legislation that we did pass and we really tried to get good

legislation through over the last two and a half years, and we were actually thwarted at every, at every quarter, whether it was the rwanda bill or whether it was the illegal immigration bill by the opposition parties, frankly, to put safeguards in to try and get to the bottom of this, they've apparently now been pretty well pred apparently now been pretty well ripped up. so, i wish the labour party well, but this is not going to be there's no quick fix in all of this. and obviously what we have in all of this is this great tragedy of people who basically are trafficked and those that lose their lives. and that's been one of our biggest points. we shouldn't be having people losing their lives. there are legal ways to get into the united kingdom, and many people come into the united kingdom legally and they don't need to have their lives threatened. and we know this is all about gangs. we are part of interpol. we're part of all of these , these part of all of these, these bodies that are trying to stop this , where will the labour this, where will the labour party, where are they going to deport their illegal immigrants to? because they've thrown around her. out the baby, out with the bathwater. there's

other countries in the european union looking for countries to send them to. hang on. >> jackie. if vodafone's. if vodafone start taking migrants back to france, they will start paying back to france, they will start paying traffic. they'll stop paying paying traffic. they'll stop paying traffickers . george, i paying traffickers. george, i must ask you one other thing. that's been raised. david lammy seems particularly keen that we sign up close to. although we've not been explicit about joining a european defence union. how on earth can we reinforce nato , earth can we reinforce nato, strengthen our relationship with nato and at the same time be prepared to take orders , prepared to take orders, potentially from a separate command centre in brussels ? command centre in brussels? that's my big worry on defence. >> well , look, i that's my big worry on defence. >> well, look, i mean, first of all, i think it is important that if you look at ukraine and you and i probably differ on this, but if you look at ukraine, it is clear that we need european defence systems that thwart the territorial ambitions of putin. and secondly, there are common

security issues which need to be discussed. but of course, nato will always take precedence over everything else . so i don't everything else. so i don't think there's any i don't have any worries on that part. david lammy has proved in the period when he's been shadow foreign secretary that he's a patriot, but also that he wants to make sure our relationships with the rest of the world, including on security, are properly founded and properly carried out . and properly carried out. >> all right. >> all right. >> okay. well jackie george sees no conflict here between being part of nato and potentially tying up close to the european defence union. what do you say ? defence union. what do you say? >> i think you'd got to have a look. you have to have a look at the detail. i mean, you know, and i know we were in the european union, in the parliament for the same time and there was always this push, wasn't it, a common foreign and security policy and defence and

of course , you know, we've got of course, you know, we've got two nuclear powers, obviously with france and then obviously with france and then obviously with the united kingdom, although france left nato for a number of years and then came back, you know , nato is the back, you know, nato is the kingpin. and what's important is actually where you are, and it's who's going to be the next president of the united states , president of the united states, in my view. and of course, we're going to have we do have a very good relationship, frankly, with the european union. it's not just the eu, it's the whole of the ecac, the 44 european countries. we are at one. there's all sorts of manoeuvres and exercises that go on jointly, and there's fantastic cooperation, but what i want to see now is i want to see strong leadership in europe and i certainly want to see, and i hope you send him my very best wishes to our sister party, the republicans, to donald trump. and i hope he is successful in the election. later this year because we need a really strong voice and a strong leader in nonh voice and a strong leader in north america and in the certainly in the usa. >> well, i'm not sure many of

your conservative colleagues would call the current republicans a brother or sister party, but i'll find out more when i speak to delegates later on here. today we're going to take a break, but then we're going to come back and discuss the fact that the government failed its citizens on covid by planning for the wrong pandemic. was the management of the whole thing a from start to

>> how are you? pinch to your left, mr farage. just a little bit. here. >> thank you. so baroness heather hallett is conducting the covid inquiry. >> it's going on endlessly. it'll go on for another couple of years. but we have today got one of the first reports, a 217 page report which says the uk government and the civil service failed in pandemic preparedness. there were significant flaws , there were significant flaws, including lack of scalable test, trace and isolate systems. in

fact, the whole report describes the whole thing as a complete catalogue of failure in terms of planning and preparation. at this stage, they haven't gone into vaccines, harms arguments around that, some of which may be true, many of which may not be true, many of which may not be true. but in terms of us being ready for something, kind of i've got to ask you , baroness of i've got to ask you, baroness foster, what went wrong ? foster, what went wrong? >> well, i think there were a combination. hindsight's easy, and we can all turn around and say, why didn't you do x, y, and z? i mean, my first question would be why the chinese government, actually, or the chinese authorities covered up the fact that covid was rife going back to probably 4 or 5 months earlier when they were temperature testing in in airports. now, i'm not saying that it would have all worked out fine if we'd known 3 or 4 months earlier, because it wouldn't necessarily because this was something that was a real unknown . and, so i think real unknown. and, so i think it's good that we're having an

inquiry, don't get me wrong. but the time this taking for this inquiry, i find absolutely astonishing. and this is only the first module, and this inquiry is costing 300 and whatever million and of course, we need to get to the bottom of it. and it's quite true, not just the uk, but i think a number of other countries, when they're planning for a pandemic, nobody planned for something like covid 19. the closest we've seen was sars back in 2004, and that was a cover up also by the chinese before they told the w.h.o. and chinese before they told the who. and fortunately it didn't w.h.o. and fortunately it didn't spread as far into europe. but some of those countries outside of europe were pretty well prepared because they'd actually beenin prepared because they'd actually been in a situation dealing with something like this , but nobody something like this, but nobody knew what the implications were of covid 19. in terms of her report, i noticed that she mentions the civil servants and she mentions government ministers. what she doesn't seem to mention here is the role that was played by the medical profession and sage, which was

the group we heard talk about ten groups of people in sage , ten groups of people in sage, over 300 scientists and medics that covered all aspects of, of health. and yet there doesn't seem to be i'm not sure if they're going to have any criticism, but they were making decisions that were never even able to be challenged. i mean, we had, professor carl heneghan, we had, professor carl heneghan, we set up an all party group on on pandemic recovery, basically, or response, and we heard all sorts of people from journalists, from medics, from people from stanford, who actually took a different point of view, how we should actually deal with this. and, and they were never allowed to be heard. and there were those of us i think, you know, nigel, going back a couple of years, i went into the lords three and a half years ago, and we were standing up challenging the lockdowns and the effect on children, and it was as though we were just sort of talking to a wall. but notwithstanding that the government, any government of the day is going to be subject to the advice of the experts to have any rational debate of any kind at all.

>> if we didn't go along with the government line, we were all conspiracy theories and cranks. but george howarth, you know, it's very easy, isn't it, to back trade. it's very to easy say the government should have been ready for this pandemic. but what's really important is will the labour party learn any of the lessons that are coming out of these reports? would we be better prepared if something like this hove into view in a year or two's time? >> well, i think it's important to say two things. the first one is that we weren't prepared and that was fairly obvious at the time. local authorities will have to have in to take up the slack. in knowsley. they were having to provide, protective , having to provide, protective, protective equipment. they were having to provide food for the families that were, shielding and vulnerable , and it wasn't and vulnerable, and it wasn't working. and people knew it at the time. and the same applied, which will come out later, to

the vaccination programme. so they weren't properly prepared. and yes, we should have known what happened in china. we should have learned from sars. and yet what we were for prepared was a flu epidemic rather than a sars type covid type. epidemic. so one final point i would make that comes out in the report is that 40% of the public health budget in this country had been cut before that happened, and that was part of the reason why we were unprepared, because the public health infrastructure wasn't in place to deal with it . place to deal with it. >> you know, it's funny , isn't >> you know, it's funny, isn't it? the more money we put into the nhs overall, it? the more money we put into the nhs overall , the more each the nhs overall, the more each department seems to feel it's got less . we'll come back to got less. we'll come back to both of you in a moment. we're going to take a break and after that there are plenty of british visitors here. one of them is

former prime minister liz truss. i'm going to ask her about her trip. also ask why she was so angry at the king's speech. and we'll have a look at the financial conduct authority saying politicians are being treated badly by the banks. gosh, who knew all of ina in a couple minutes?

well, there was a time not so long ago, when the only british political figure that would dare to be seen anywhere near a republican convention. and one with donald trump featuring in a trump rally was me . but things trump rally was me. but things have changed. boris johnson even popped have changed. boris johnson even poppedin have changed. boris johnson even popped in earlier in the week. and here, of course, joining me now is liz truss. liz, what's brought you to the rnc ? brought you to the rnc? >> well i want trump to win the election. >> i think it's vital. i think the west is in serious danger. i think biden has been an incredibly weak president. we've seen the war in ukraine, the attack on israel , china

attack on israel, china strengthened. and unless we do something about it, unless we conservatives go and support donald trump and make it clear that we need him in the white house for the future , not just house for the future, not just of america, but the future of the free world. we are in serious, serious trouble. >> well, i mean, these are these are, you know, sentiments that i've expressed many times over these recent years. but we have a labour government. we have a foreign secretary who said very disobliging things about trump. we have a prime minister who said not quite as rude, but very disobliging things about trump. we're in a world that is facing perhaps the greatest potential of war in 60 years, or more. do you think labour can form a relationship with the trump administration? if he wins? >> i think they're going to have to. that is the reality of the situation. and i do believe trump will win. i think people are realising, particularly after the assassination attempt and trump's strength in responding to that, the fighting spirit. and i've been here for four days at the convention. i've seen the reaction to

president trump and, you know, his strength really, really comes across. and that is what people want. it's what people want, not just in america, but also in britain. yeah, they really want a sense that we are prepared to fight for our values, that we're prepared to fight for freedom, for democracy, for our sovereignty, for things that we believe in. and they're fed up of the left wing wokery, the human rights culture that's actually damaged our countries. i mean, ironically, we've got a labour in government in britain. just when people are turning against those ideas across the world, well, that might have something to do with the failure of the conservatives to deliver on promises since the last election. >> but we won't go there right now. i was at the king's speech yesterday. you were mentioned your government was mentioned. you've objected quite fiercely to what was said. >> well, it was absolutely outrageous. this was an official document prepared by civil servants on gov.uk that launched a political attack on me and a personal attack on me. now, those attacks are wrong. what happenedin those attacks are wrong. what happened in october 2022 was

largely to down failures of the bank of england to regulate the pensions industry, but worse than that , we have so—called than that, we have so—called impartial civil servants putting political attacks in a government document. and what has happened is i've complained to the cabinet secretary, he has had that removed from the website, but there's nothing yet about pulping all the documents that have been put out impugning my name and the name of my government. >> so it's a partial victory. you've won a partial victory? in a sense, yes , but. a sense, yes, but. >> but not true. >> but not true. >> but not as far as you'd like. >> but not as far as you'd like. >> acknowledgement that it was wrong. it's been removed. but i want to know because this document will have been seen at the highest levels in the civil service. i want to know who signed this off, who signed off these personal attacks on me, these personal attacks on me, these untruths. >> are you saying the civil service aren't neutral? >> i am saying that. and i'm very, very worried. we have sue gray, who was a former leading

civil servant now as keir starmer's chief of staff. we have numerous former civil servants that have come out in favour of the labour party and i'm very concerned that we don't have an impartial civil service anymore. we have people that share left wing groupthink. and what does that mean? what does that mean for our democracy, nigel? >> well, it's something we haven't. it's something we haven't. it's something we haven't debated enough. and i wonder whether i wonder whether the labour government will face similar problems. we will see. >> well, they won't face similar problems because of the left wing bias. groupthink is on their side. and this is what this is exactly what this wording in the king's speech document shows shows that there are people within the civil service. i will get share the political outlook of the labour party and aren't remotely ashamed. >> i will get i will get sir george howard's view on that in just a moment. but finally, liz, a report out today from the fca, the financial conduct authority, saying that many political figures or politically exposed persons and there's about 90,000

of us because it isn't just us, it's relations . it's kids, it's it's relations. it's kids, it's parents. it's all sorts of people have been unfairly treated by the banking system. and that something needs to be done. now. i did a lot to raise this issue last year. i had a lot of promises that came from conservative ministers, from the fca previously. nothing has changed. will it ever change? >> it won't change until we change the system. the problem is that what has happened since, particularly since tony blair got into power in 1997, is more decision making and power has been outsourced from elected politicians. elected politicians have become under more and more attack and constraints, and the banking system is part of that. and i've had the same issues trying to get a monzo account, wasn't it? >> yes, exactly. >> yes, exactly. >> i've had same issues as you , >> i've had same issues as you, not as severe as you had. i not i've not foia it, so i don't know what crap they said about me. but you know, i've had i've had issues myself and you think

we have an unelected bureaucracy with huge power. organisations like the fca , organisations like like the fca, organisations like the treasury, they're not accountable. no one knows exactly how they operate. meanwhile, elected politicians are the people on the front line getting the flak. and i do not think that is good for democracy. and i think things need to change. >> liz truss, thank you very much indeed. thank you. and big speech tonight. what do you expecting? >> well, i'm expecting fireworks. i was there last night for j.d. vance's fireworks. i was there last night forj.d. vance's speech. night for j.d. vance's speech. it was fantastic. it was absolutely fantastic. and the buzz and the energy at this, at this convention is incredible. and i really believe the conservatives, the republicans are back in america. and what we need to make sure is they get back britain next. >> well, there are different ways of doing that, different points of view on that . but liz points of view on that. but liz truss, thank you. it's going to be later on is going to be fascinating. and we'll see what kind of donald trump we get. as i say, i expect him to be a lot

more reflective and probably a lot more emotional than we've ever seen him before. if you've been through a near—death experience within the last few days, it has to have an impact of some kind. now getting back to the studio in london, sir george howarth, liz truss there says that the civil service has pretty much given up any pretence at neutrality at all. it is pretty much infected from top to bottom with left wing ideas, and it's not ashamed to show those opinions . what would show those opinions. what would you say to that? >> i think it's nonsense, the problem liz's got and it won't have escaped the attention of people watching, is that she's not prepared to accept any responsibility for what happened when she was the prime minister and her government crashed the economy, and she just lashed out at anybody, including the civil service, so that she herself can evade responsibility. quite frankly, she needs to take a long, hard look at what she did

when she was the prime minister and start to accept some responsibility for it . responsibility for it. >> do. if joe biden steps aside this this week, that there will be enough. >> well, i'd say this to you, george, but even if we went beyond the civil service, let's for take example, teaching, teaching, whether it's secondary education or university education, there has been a significant increase in the influence of the left over all of our public institutions . of our public institutions. >> well, you know, i think whether it's the left or whether it's because there's a really strong sense in the public sector that they've been unfairly treated where incomes have been slashed, where respect has been withdrawn, they've been attacked publicly . attacked publicly. >> and so i don't excuse it, but i understand why people feel really annoyed with the previous government and feel disrespected. so it's not some kind of deep state thing. it's

how you treat people. if you treat them with respect, if you make sure that they're paid properly , then they will in properly, then they will in their turn , respect the their turn, respect the institutions that they are governed by. >> well, george, i hear what you say, jackie foster. i think what's happening in what liz truss says, i think there has been a march of the left through all of our institutions. >> i wholly agree with liz truss, actually, and i also saw it when i was in the european parliament with the permanent representation, and we saw it. we really saw it when brexit, when the referendum result came out on brexit and it was it was astonishing actually. it was as though somebody lived on another planet and it hadn't happened. and the terrible non—acceptance of the will of the people when we had that referendum and it was throughout all the departments in whitehall, and you know that and i know that, so i think liz is right to a degree. it's a great shame

because we do have some brilliant civil servants, and we know we'll have friends who have worked with great people in there, but it is about leadership. and, and i think the sue gray issue that, that you raised, i don't think that that, that was something to be very proud of. really? yeah. because, you know, it was you're talking about a very influential person at the heart of downing street, the heart of downing street, and then everything that sort of, you know , flew from there. so, you know, flew from there. so, you know, flew from there. so, you know, flew from there. so, you know, i just hope now it all gets back together again. it's very important for us in the united kingdom, but i think liz was right. and she was also right on the bank of england. and i said that a long time ago, liz truss didn't crash the economy on her own. nobody crashes the economy on their own. we knew that the fed were looking at interest rates. we knew that the bank of england kept the interest rates low for far too long. when the economies were changing. we know that the energy price cap was what was causing problems within the markets, because they didn't

know what what the prices would be. >> there was also something here about the way in which the pensions industry was being regulated, forced to put too much money into gilts, and having to punt with the rest. but that's another story. final thought well, you're the banker. >> you know more about, you know more about the big stage tonight behind me for donald trump. >> and i don't know what's going to happen. i doubt biden will go through as the nominee . can the through as the nominee. can the labour government can. david lammy and keir starmer, can they work with the trump administration in your view? >> yes. i think the bald facts of the situation are that it's not for the uk government or any other government to decide who should be the president of the united states . ultimately, united states. ultimately, that's the decision of the american people themselves. whoever the american people choose , then the uk government choose, then the uk government will work with them. and i know

that david lammy has been over in the united states on many occasions. >> george, i hope you're right because it's in the interests of both of us and we'll be back live tomorrow with you . live tomorrow with you. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news . weather on gb news. >> hello. very good evening to you. here's your latest gb news weather update coming to you from the met office . there could from the met office. there could be some heavy, possibly even thundery rain this weekend. but before then a lot of fine and hot weather are around that being said, there is a weather system affecting parts of scotland and northern ireland through the end of today, bringing a bit more cloud and some outbreaks of rain. here, though the rain will be easing overnight so turning mostly dry. meanwhile across the bulk of england and wales, it's a dry night with largely clear skies, albeit a few pockets of fog. a bit more cloud, perhaps towards western parts. temperatures not dropping a huge amount. a bit

difficult for sleeping for some of us. some places holding up in the high teens. celsius though a little bit cooler towards the northwest and then tomorrow it is going to be a hot day for many of us, particularly in the south and starting off looking first thing. a fine picture, lots of sunshine through the morning and once the sun comes up, those temperatures will quickly start to rise a bit further north it's looking cloudier, not as cloudy as today and there may be a bit of rain around over higher ground, but on the whole it's a dry start to the day as well. there may even be some sunshine breaking through, particularly towards the moray coast and northern parts of aberdeenshire, as well . parts of aberdeenshire, as well. but as we go through the day, i'm expecting a bit of rain to start to push its way in towards the outer hebrides and some blustery winds developing here elsewhere, largely dry. 1 or 2 showers perhaps, but the general theme will be that there's plenty of sunshine around, especially across england and wales. and with that, even hotter than today , temperatures hotter than today, temperatures rising into the low 30 celsius towards the south—east in the

mid to high 20s across many other areas, some further wet weather then is going to push its way in across parts of scotland and northern ireland as we go into saturday. perhaps some of that rain reaching into western parts of england and wales as well. further east it's staying drier and here we should still have some hot weather for a time, but there is the potential for some thunderstorms to develop on saturday night. then sunday is looking a bit changeable with things turning cooler by next week. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news

>> well . >> well. >> well. >> hello. good evening . it's me, >> hello. good evening. it's me, jacob rees—mogg on state of the nation. tonight, the prime minister makes his international stage debut at blenheim palace to call for a reset in ties with europe. is the arch—remainer starmer trying to take us back into the eu by stealth? david lammy continues to defend his

years of savage personal attacks upon donald trump, with the former president probably going to win november's election. is starmer jeopardising the to win november's election. is starmerjeopardising the special starmer jeopardising the special relationship by supporting his foreign secretary? hundreds of millions of pounds later, the highly bureaucratic first stage of the covid report does exactly what it recommends we stop in large government unnecessarily . large government unnecessarily. have we really learned anything new from its findings and another thumping victory for our own nigel farage? in the latest blow to the islington glitterati, banks are ordered to stop de—banking clients merely for holding political views that are out of step with islington. we also examine why criminals seem to go virtually unpunished by the law . when will our by the law. when will our streets become safer? we'll be finding out , streets become safer? we'll be finding out, and more state of the nation starts now . the nation starts now. we're joined by my panel, conservative peer and journalist paul goodman and labour activist

susie stride. as always, i want