this is bbc news. the headlines: the white house has agreed not to repeat its claims british intelligence wiretapped donald trump during his presidential campaign. george osborne surprises westminster by becoming the editor of the london evening standard — and plans to remain an mp while he does it. there are plenty of examples of mps who have edited newspapers and magazines over the years. i'm going to continue to be a part of british public life and i'm looking forward to it. a mother has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for covering up the death of her child for over a decade. the snp insists there will be a second referendum on scotland's independence — and that no uk prime minister should dare stand in the way. are you getting enough sleep?

if you aren't, what does that mean for your health and your ability to do yourjob? the nobel prize winning poet and playwright sir derek walcott has died aged 87. he was regarded as one of the leading voices of west indian literature. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. it's rare for britain's intelligence community to make a public statement. but the secret surveillance agency gchq has firmly rebutted allegations — repeated by the white house — that it spied on donald trump. gchq said the claims were "nonsense, utterly ridiculous, and should be ignored". this morning, downing street said it was promised by the white house that the allegations

wouldn't be repeated. richard lister reports. it is an extraordinary claim, that donald trump was bugged by gchq on the orders of barack obama, a claim that has ruffled feathers and led to strenuous denials from london. these worthy tweets that set the ball rolling. who said his phone had been tapped before his inauguration. he said president obama was a bad or sick guy. the evidence? last night—ihéfiéfiublifinfiéé—eéfiété= intelligence committee said there was no evidence. the latest in a series of dismissals by senior republicans. the evidence remains the same, we do not have any evidence that took place. we have cleared that up, we have seen no evidence of that. about being bugged by gchq? apparently from fox news. and probably did use a foreign

intelligence service to get this information for him. the probable culprit here is called gchq. yesterday the white house press spokesman read a transcript of that report in response to questions about the wire tap claim. these are merely pointing out that i think there is widespread reporting that throughout the 2016 election there was surveillance done on a variety of people that came up. if the reporters were sceptical, gchq was even less impressed. the agency rarely comments on anything but today said: do you believe the gchq spokesman or president trump's spokesman? which one you choose to believe, i think, rather depends on your political views

on what is going on in the united states. that forceful language was underlined by downing street, which this morning said it too had told the americans that the gchq claim was ridiculous and said the white house had given assurances the claim would not be repeated. richard lister, bbc news. our security correspondent frank gardner told me why the intelligence agencies chose to speak on this occasion. they did not do this in isolation. this was a political decision. gchq refers to the foreign secretary borisjohnson, who is in africa, and for them to make this very public denial, to contradict the statement coming out of the white house, the centre of britain's most powerful and closest ally, would not have happened without a nod from number ten. my understanding is there was a meeting in downing street earlier this week to discuss concerns over this claim, which they felt was fazedééékg'éag-eégé— — 7, — ... . probably people thought,

let's hope it goes away, but then sean spicer repeated it on thursday, hence the very strongly worded statement which came out on thursday night. it is very unusual for this to be public. usually when there is an intelligence story, the agency say they never comment on intelligence issues. this is an intelligence issue and they have commented on it and they feel very strongly about it. the career intelligence professionals on both sides of the atlantic, the cia and the fbi, and here gchq and mi5, their relationship and to protect it from the gaffes coming out of the white house. number ten has said there is no credence to the statements from sean spicer, and that is pretty damning. he is speaking on behalf of the president of the us and britain has said there is no

credence in what he has said, there are real issues to be dealt with, proper news and proper threats, north korea, iran's missile programme, isis, climate change, these are the real issues, but this is a waste of time. there was not much evidence, sean spicer was repeating something which had been said on fox news, not presenting any actual evidence. donald trump is hinting that there will be more things coming out in the next couple of weeks. to be fair, us intelligence did bug and they probably bugged a lot of other people, as well. of friendly leaders. but there is an agreement within what is called the five eyes, the intelligence sharing agreement between the us, britain, canada and new zealand, they don't use their agencies to spy on each other, and if that has been broken that would be very serious indeed, but i doubt it. the former chancellor george osborne

has caused surprise at westminster by being appointed editor of the london evening standard newspaper. he's due to edit the paper four days a week from may — and says he also plans to continue as the mp for tatton in cheshire. the newspaper's owner said mr osborne had been chosen because his ‘socially liberal and economically pragmatic‘ views match those of the paper's readers. here's our political correspondent, ben wright. he is used to being featured on the front pages. now george osborne will decide what's on one, becoming editor of a major newspaper less than a year after being sacked from the cabinet following the eu referendum. i'm thrilled and excited to be the editor of the london evening standard. people e” editor of the london evening standard. people lent authority of standard. people want authority of fa cts standard. people want authority of facts and good analysis, this is an important time for good journalism and the evening standard will provide it. he has spent his entire life

in politics, six years running the treasury after building his career within the tory party as an mp and adviser to previous leaders but before politics he wanted to be journalist. he did not get a break or a job. now he willjump straight into the editor's chair the paper's owner said he was pleased with the appointment. and also with someone who is sceptical over the government's approach to brexit. we hope the fact we have a trade deficit and a very important financial centre will count in our favour. the government has chosen not to make the economy the priority in this negotiation. his newjob will give him a platform to trumpet london's interests and the city as the government begins brexit. quite amazing, i was shocked. i thought it was fake news. why is he doing it? not for the money. i can only conclude he wants td build the gtéfidéfd.... .. into an alternative power base to theresa may and in the event of brexit going pear shaped

he will use this power base to launch his attack. we we re we were in a downing street briefing when the news broke and the prime minister's spokesman was - one minister's spokesman was taken one “ unawares, minister's spokesman was taken one —— unawares, he was- shocked. —— unawares, he was totally shocked. no one thought that george osborne would become the editor of a newspaper in london and still be an mp. the mayor of london tweeted his congratulations. two powerful voices shaping the capital's future. george osborne has been busy in advising a major investment firm. as well as lucrative speaking roles. a juggling of jobs, perhaps without precedent in parliament. osborne may have left parliament but this amazing appointment puts him back on the front line of politics. and we can get more on this from our political correspondent eleanor garnier in westminster.

widespread astonishment, at this appointment. there are growing questions as to whether he really can do both jobs together. nobody can do both jobs together.% expecting this. westminster and was expecting this. westminster and also fleet street has been shocked and stunned by this announcement. as we heard, even at the downing street briefing, journalists broke the news to the prime minister's spokesperson who was stunned when he heard the news and did not have anything to react to. people are asking why is react to. people ere eeking’why‘i? taking on this extremely he taking on this extremely difficult and time—consuming job. he's probably going to need to be at his desk at 5am on the days he is editing the newspaper. some say he has always wanted to be a journalist that he loves the world of and that he loves the world of journalism and that there are unfulfilled ambitions. but there is the question of how is he going to everything in. less than a year fit everything in. less than a year ago he was the second most powerful person in the government and then he

became the first cabinet minister to became the first cabinet minister to be sacked by theresa may when she became prime minister. since then he has been busy, launching a think tank for the northern powerhouse and has taken on this lucrative job for one of the world's biggest asset management companies are now he is taking up the of the taking up the editorship of the london evening standard and he says he will carry on being the mp for a constituency in cheshire —— and now. and that is why people are saying, are there simply are not ours in the dave george osborne to manage to fit this in? —— hours in the day. dave george osborne to manage to fit this in? -- hours in the day. george osborne has been known as a very skilful political and osborne has been known as a very skilful political - and there skilful political operator and there will be people asking, what does he mean i this? that is right. his mean by this? that is right. his constituency of tatton is judy disappear with a boundary change —— is going to disappear with a boundary change. is he positioning

itself to be the next conservative for london mayor? himself candidate for london mayor? himself oi’ candidate for london mayor? himself or stop but he is seen to be a very clever tactician, always thinking four moves ahead of the rest of the game. there will be questions of how he is going to be able to continue to bea he is going to be able to continue to be a loyal tory backbencher at $5: lee e! i‘,3| tee-"e! hefle‘eeeflee—et—f — ——————— —— ——r same ‘ja: lee e! 'a.e' tee-"e! hefle‘eeeflee—et—f — ——————— —— ——r same time ‘ja aa a 'a.e' ta—e' hefle‘eeeflee—et—a — ——————— —— ——r same time as ‘ja aa a 'a.a' ta—e' eel—elde-eelee—at—a — ——————— —— ——r same time as potentially the same time as potentially criticising the government when there are policies that he believes that the london standard believes are not in the best interest of epa ree leh; eb? eeee'reeeeee eee london as a eee eee 'e e? eeee'eeeeeee eee london as a whole, eee eee ie eee eeee'eeeeeee ee london as a whole, that he efe eee ie eee eeee'eeeeeee ee london as a whole, that he will want to ta ke london as a whole, that he will want to take the government to task on in his paper. but also how is he going to manage balancing the city pages of the newspaper at the same time when he's involved with one of the whenhe‘sfinvolvedwith'one gig; - asset whenhe‘sfinvolvedwith'one oefig; - asset management companies? biggest asset management companies? much of the criticism has come from labourmps, much of the criticism has come from labour mps, unsurprisingly and jeremy corbyn has “e“e: the jeremy corbyn has called the appointment a joke and said it was yet another example of the establishment revolving door. he

said george osborne was taking said georgeosbemewas—taking.’ multitasking to an extreme level. thanks forjoining us. a mother who hit the body of her baby boy for more than a decade has been sentenced to prison for 21 yea rs. victoria gayle, who's 32, had pleaded guilty to preventing the child's lawful burial. the court heard she provided "a lengthy and elaborate account" denying any knowledge of her son's location and insisting he had been taken away by his father. our home affairs correspondent, june kelly reports: victoria gayle had a terrible secret. her son died and she had his body. for years it seems nobody investigated where the child was. 11 years on, the body of a little boy was discovered hidden in a box

they say they didn't know what had happened. kyzer‘s leg was bandaged, but it is unclear how he died. victoria has always denied any involvement in the death. the postmortem determined it and it was inconclusive, due to the passage of time of ten years. after he left the hospital as a newborn, it appears the authorities had little contact with the kyzer gayle. it appears there was a tragic accident. a decade later, victoria's two—year—old daughter became ill and died, it was found she had swallowed a battery. it was then police began investigating what happened to kyzer. it has emerged that some of his short life was spent in a bedroom crammed withjunk on his birth certificate, she didn't name his father, just one of a series of lies she told her family and authorities. eee eeeeeuelle eeeneeeeeeeee in the bedroom for years before

moving it to the shed. a former neighbour never knew the boy, but asked victoria gayle about him. she implied she had no contact with kyzer, and that was for the best because that is how the dad wanted it. the dad wanted kyzer, she had no contact. i think it's disgusting, because the child has been missing, and nobody knew. how could nobody know? the local council in barnet said in a statement, the death of any child is tragic, and we are workingiwith'barrretle- safeguarding children's board to provide information for the serious case review and to establish any learning from our involvement with the family. the police watchdog, the ipcc, is also examining whether there are any police failings. this is a deeply disturbing and troubling case that raises a number of questions that are going to need to be answered by a serious case review ~ ~ the met police are looking for people who knew victoria gayle they are trying to discover

whether she had any more children during that time. we can get more on this case. a very disturbing case. very strange case, we heard in court it was called unique, several times, in we heard in court it was called unique, severaltimes, infact. at the heart of this is the question of how a child can disappearfrom the heart of this is the question of how a child can disappear from the radar of the authorities and no investigation is launched to find out precisely what had happened to that child. we had a lengthy summing up that child. we had a lengthy summing up from the judge, that child. we had a lengthy summing up from thejudge, she that child. we had a lengthy summing up from the judge, she said tatton was destined to live his short life almost unheard—of —— she said kyzer gayle. there was no record of him being seen after he left hospital with his mother and thejudge said the cause of death was not known but she was satisfied that victoria

gayle did not cause the death of her son, but she said victoria gayle had lied to the police and the little boy was denied a decent burial familiars. thejudge boy was denied a decent burial familiars. the judge said - full familiars. the judge said the full truth of his short—lived might never be known —— decent burialfor many yea rs. be known —— decent burialfor many years. she was sentenced to 21 months in prison, she has all the reserve six months in custody, and what happens now, there is an investigation by barnet council —— she has already served six months in custody. the nspcc has said the circumstances of this case are very disturbing and § circumstances of this case are very disturbing and g as we heard in disturbing and also as we heard in the report, the police are appealing for more information. they want to hear more about the mysterious life of victoria gayle. thanks for joining us. the headlines on bbc news: the white house has agreed not to repeat its claims that british

intelligence wiretapped donald trump during his campaign for prfaidefit4 george osborne is to become the editor of the london evening standard and remain as an mp while he does it. a mother has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for covering up the death of her child for over a decade and in sport: the last british side in champions league, leicester city, has been drawn to face atletico madrid in the quarterfinals. manchester united are also through to the quarterfinals in the europa league — they will face belgian side anderlecht. it's gold cup day at cheltenham. the big race begins in 15 minutes. the big race begins in 15 minutes. the train at —— train at willie mullins has six winners already. we have an update on that race and the rest of the news in the next 15 minutes. the deputy leader of the scottish national party has

opening the party's spring conference in aberdeen, angus robertson said the prime minister was "panicking" when she tried to draw a line under the snp's proposed timetable for another referendum. theresa may spoke in the last hour at the conservative spring conference in cardiff — and reiterated that independence would be "bad for scotland, bad for the uk and bad for us all". our political correspondent iain watson has the latest. at the snp conference it is hardly surprising that the focus is on a second referendum on scottish independence. we don't know when it will take place. legally it is westminster, not scotland's first minister, that takes the decision. but here it feels like the campaign is already under way. the members are delighted at the call for another vote within two years but pro—union campaigners do not want it to happen at all. the snp's deputy leader had a message for them and the prime minister.

people of this country will have their choice. they will not be denied their say. the stirrings of a standing ovation spurred him on. the snp spring conference in aberdeen was supposed to be discussing a range of issues. the health service, education, skills and training. these will still be debated but there is really only one item on this agenda and that is the arguments in favour of a second scottish independence referendum. next week nicola sturgeon will get the backing of the scottish parliament for a referendum and she will try to broaden support by arguing she is standing up notjust for scotland but for democracy. the prime minister has not put herself in opposition to me or independence. she is within her rights to argue against independence, but she seems to be putting herself in opposition to the democratic

will of the scottish parliament. that is not a sustainable position. today in cardiff the prime minister made the case for the uk remaining united, a none—too—subtle rehearsal for the referendum campaign, whenever it comes. she made it clear that its timing is not even up for discussion before brexit. it is now clear that using brexit as the pretext to engineer a second independence referendum has been the snp's sole objective ever since lastjune. but it would be bad for scotland, bad for the united kingdom