a but with lord humidity as well. a better feel to things as we head to the second part of the weekend. if you need more details, there is with plenty online. —— always plenty. hello and welcome to one hundred days plus. president trump calls james comey a showboat and a grandstander. he says he decided to fire the former fbi director, even before meeting his top staff. the white house says mr comey had lost the confidence of the fbi staff. the acting director tells the senate that's simply not true. simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the american people and defending the constitution. the labour party leaks — a month before the election their manifesto is leaked. we look at what it tells us about the party's platform. and, we're in alaska, where the ice is getting thinner, summers are getting longer, and climate change is far from just a political debate. also, a regional election in germany is suddenly in the spotlight. could the result help predict

whether angela merkel can remain chancellor when germans go to the polls later this year? and behind the scenes at the white house. we'll speak to a reporter about his dinner with the president, and finding out donald trump's favourite modern invention. welcome to the programme. i'm katty kay in washington. clive myrie is in london. we are learning a lot today about the firing of the head of the fbi and we are hearing it from the president. mr trump hasjust called mr comey a "showboat" and a "grandstander". he also revealed he was determined to fire the director anyway, whatever the justice department recommended. mr trump also reasserted the claim, that mr comey told him three times that he personally wasn't under investigation over ties to russia. mr trump made those comments in an interview with nbc news that's

just been released. he isa he is a showboat. he is a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know it, dynamic, everybody knows it. you take a look at the fbi a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. it hasn't recovered. on monday you met with rod rosenstiel. did you ask for a recommendation? what i did was i was going to fire comey. my decision. you had made the decision. i was going to fire comey. mr trump's comments come as the acting fbi director, andrew mccabe, is testifying before the senate. mr mccabe says mr comey had the full respect of the fbi. he also insisted the probe into the trump campaign's ties with russia will continue unfettered. the work of the men and women of the fbi will continue despite any changes in circumstance, any decision. there has been no effort

to impede our investigation to date. quite simply put — you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi doing the right thing, protecting the american people and upholding our constitution. the acting fbi director andrew mccabe there. well, democrats aren't so convinced about the timing and impact of this dismissal. a brief time ago i spoke with democrat bob casey on capitol hill. he is calling for a special prosecutor and spoke about the timing of these events. i think this decision was made, based upon reasons that are inappropriate. you can't fire the head of the investigative team that is investigating either your activity or the activities of people connected to you potentially, in

this case starting on march 20, when director comey said he was leading this investigation that had been going on for many months. at that moment, the white house and president trump had forfeited any opportunity, any rationale to fire him. if they felt so strongly about what he was doing in 2016, and there isa what he was doing in 2016, and there is a lot of debate about that and calls for criticism, if that was the basis of your decision and it all rested on 2016 activity, why wasn't the decision—making in the transition or soon after? the question now, is it possible to put in place a new director of the fbi with bipartisan support, who the american people can trust is doing an independent job?” american people can trust is doing an independent job? i sure hope we can find that person because it is vital that that person has bipartisan support. the democrats have come out vehemently opposed to

the firing of james have come out vehemently opposed to the firing ofjames comey, even though some called for it last year during the election campaign. you yourself have used the word nick servini and about what happened this week. our claps at risk of overplaying the hand, hyperventilating over this. you will get a new director of the fbi and the bureau will carry on its work.” used the word nixon— like, because it is the closest analogy to a top investigator being fired in the midst ofan investigator being fired in the midst of an investigation, so it was entirely appropriate. you could easily agree with everything that was asserted in the deputy attorney general‘s memorandum, you could have all kinds of criticisms of director comey, but once he stated publicly on march the 20th, the administration forfeited the opportunity to make a change. no matter what you believe or what you

assert about director comey‘s activities in 2016, the higher and more important responsibility is, do not create the appearance of impropriety in the middle of an investigation. how does this look to america's adversaries?” investigation. how does this look to america's adversaries? i think we look terrible around the world. we are supposed to be the country that no matter what the changes, politically or otherwise, the rule of law is paramount and that even the public officials, appointed public officials are concerned about not just public officials are concerned about notjust impropriety public officials are concerned about not just impropriety but public officials are concerned about notjust impropriety but the appearance of impropriety. and yet around the world people scratch their heads and wonder if we are still that kind of country. we have to restore the confidence of the american people as well as our standing in the world, and what they see as the appearance of impropriety, a lot of chaos and ad hoc governing which is undermining oui’ hoc governing which is undermining our system. this administration has to do our system. this administration has todoa our system. this administration has to do a lot of work to restore

credibility and to create a firm foundation for both propriety and those appearance questions which are critically important. thank you. 0ur washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue has been speaking to the republican senator bill cassidy, who gave his thoughts, on the way in which james comey was fired. there are two issues. one is the timing, and the second is the actual method. the timing was never going to be good. the report said president trump considered his firing right after the election. democrats have been calling for it since last fall. hillary clinton recently criticised comey. but the president needed and attorney general and an assistant attorney general. the assistant attorney general. the assistant attorney general was appointed about three weeks ago and recommended the firing. if the assistant attorney general had recommended a firing now

but trump had not dismissed for four months, that would have been the issue. mr comey had become a distraction from the work of the agency. there was never going to be good timing. mrtrump agency. there was never going to be good timing. mr trump did what he felt he had to do. do you think that in order to protect the independence of the fbi you should fire someone investigating you? he is not the one doing the investigation. 0n investigating you? he is not the one doing the investigation. on monday morning, his first meeting is about the budget, his second is about hr, his third is about the cafeteria director, his fourth is about narco terrorism, and his last meeting is about this. the person who is heading that investigation is still on thejob. i have every heading that investigation is still on the job. i have every confidence that she or he will do great work. we are told he was asking for daily updates about the russian investigation, and asking for more money. that establishes two things. there is someone doing the

investigation, giving him updates, and secondly he is concerned about the budget. he will get more money. i suspect that is going to be the case. how do you not? i also trust that the people of the fbi are professionals and will respond to their responsibility with greater alacrity now, if only to establish independence. and joining us now to help make sense of all the developments in this case is our north america editorjon sopel. there has been a lot going on. hearings on the hill, the interview which the president gave to nbc. what do you make of it? if you were my doctor, my general to schneier i would be saying, my problem is that iam would be saying, my problem is that i am suffering from dizziness and vertigo, and whilst i not hearing voices, what i thought i heard two nights ago is not what i am hearing today and how can i make sense of it. i thought that comey was fired because of a letter written by the attorney get pretty general but i 110w attorney get pretty general but i now hear the president saying he was

going to fire him anyway. i thought james comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file of the fbi, because that is what i heard yesterday at the white house, but 110w yesterday at the white house, but now i hear that is not true. we had the white house press spokesperson yesterday, sarah huckabee sanders, saying this about james comey and the fbi. the rank and file of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. but then the acting director. but then the acting director spoke to senators this morning and said this. i hold director comey in the absolute highest regard. i have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity and it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him. i can tell you also that director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi and still does to this day.

i interrupted you. why was sturrock to james comey fired as head of the fbi? well, let's think of why he was not fired. i don't think it had much to do with the hillary clinton e—mail investigations lastjuly, which is what we are being told. donald trump has said he had decided fire him. if you look at the timescale of when donald trump became most dissatisfied, it surrounds the investigation into russia. i think that is the reason but i think there is something very interesting in his use of the word grandstander, showboat. there can only be one star. the spotlight can only be one star. the spotlight can only come on one particular person only come on one particular person on the stage. and i think that person is donald trump, and i think there is almost a sense, listening to it, decoding it, that actually james comey was stealing a bit of

the limelight and there was only room for one—man show. james comey was standing up... one other thing that i think is the great difference, i think donald trump prizes, more than anything else, loyalty. and i thinkjames comey prizes more than anything else independence and integrity. and that was a clash waiting to happen, and it has, with the results we have seen. i have covered many resignations in politics before. the first thing you do is that you get your ducks in a row. have we all got the same line? 0k, your ducks in a row. have we all got the same line? ok, this is how we can to sell this. we have had anything but that. we are all becoming armchair psychologists, what is your take, clive? you made a brilliant point, and notjust to massage your ego, but do you rememberwhenjames massage your ego, but do you remember when james comey hirst went, ithink remember when james comey hirst went, i think it was to the white

house, and there was a line of people standing to greet him and donald trump was in the middle? he took comey's hand when he walked towards him and he shook it and he said, this guy is more famous than i am. he made that point and it stuck in my mind. everything you have said points to that. i think you have a substantive issue, russia, which the president is furious about. he wants it to go away. he was tweeting last week about taxpayers money being wasted on this. that is a substantive issue, but there are other aspects which are to do with personality, differences in approach, that you just have to think played a part in it, because otherwise it is inexplicable. the only other thing i would add is that we have now seen three high—profile sackings. the head of the fbi, the acting director—general, the attorney from new york. what do they have in common? they were all investigating, in some way, what

donald trump was doing. he does not like that much. my armchair theory, donald trump is thin—skinned and thatis donald trump is thin—skinned and that is why he was fired. thank you. it's 29 days until the uk general election and the labour party have sprung a leak. their draft manifesto has been revealed, a week earlier than the party planned, and it had some interesting proposals. senior officials in the party held meetings today to limit the damage, and say the manifesto has now been unanimously agreed on. but they did make some amendments. now here's what we learnt from the leak. the party says it will renationalise the railways, reverse the sale of royal mail and create publicly owned energy companies. there'll be £6 billion of extra annual funding for the nhs, paid for by raising income tax for the top 5% of earners. and £250 billion will go on infrastructure spending over the next ten years. 0ur correspondent tom symonds is in our westminster studio. it was a surprisingly cruel. no one

saw it coming, and it was very revealing. it was. they say there is no such as bad publicity. the labour party had a lot of bad publicity today but there is that feeling that this should not have happened. it has put the party on the back foot. everyone can now prepare their rebuttal to the labour party ma nifesto rebuttal to the labour party manifesto when it comes out early next week. it has told us roughly what the party will do and it is a huge change to what we have seen labour governments do in the past. this party, labour, would become, if given power, a party of taxing, of borrowing and of spending. i went through some of the spending commitments in the draft manifesto today, and assuming that is in the real thing, there are dozens of points where the party wants to spend more money. and it is saying

this is an offer for spend more money. and it is saying this is an offerfor a spend more money. and it is saying this is an offer for a very different type of government, a government that will get stuck in and make changes. we will see whether that all ends up in the final document. labour was caught short by this. what has been the reaction from the other parties? there has been a lot of questioning as to where the leak came from and no one has established that. theresa may was very quick to call it shambolic. she has had a mantra throughout the campaign that labour isa throughout the campaign that labour is a coalition of chaos waiting to happen. well, it was pretty chaotic. it is pretty bad for a party to get its manifesto out in this way without any of the mass arching that it would normally do. the institute of fiscal and is, which number cruncher is in the uk, described it as the biggest intervention in the economy since the 1970s outside a crisis, which is a reference to all of that spending. labour said it is

a fully costed, modern package, and that they would be borrowing to invest wisely as a country, as most businesses do. thanks. we started this week with our top story as the election of emmanuel macron in france. it seems an age ago. well, mr macron will be inaugurated on sunday as the new president, promising big economic reforms. he's renamed his grassroots movement republique en marche, but he doesn't have long to rest on his laurels. in june, he faces parliamentary elections. here's the secretary general of the party explaining how their election plans will change the face of french politics. translation: on political clarity, the candidates come from the entire political spectrum reflecting the reconstruction of the political landscape that the president wanted to uphold the project he has flower country. regarding the parity, 214 candidates are women, 214 are men so,

as you'll have understood. a28 candidates are included in the list that will be provided to you. the french journalist anne sinclair is a close observer of the political scene in the country. she was once married to the former head of the imf dominique strauss kahn, tipped to become french president for the socialist party, until a series of sex scandals in 2011. she founded huffington post france, and has just written a book about the challenges facing the country. i spoke to her today, and began by asking how emmanuel macron has gained so much support. we area we are a little bit tired in france voting against. we would like to vote for somebody. for a programme, for a leader. and people have voted for a leader. and people have voted for macron, hoping that maybe something will come out. what do you think of emmanuel macron? you have

met him and know him a little. he is very smart, clever, skilled. but he has little political experience. but thatis has little political experience. but that is positive now in france because nobody wants any more the ancient political life to go on. do you think the two party system, republicans on one side, socialists on the other, do you think it is finished? if emmanuel macron's party just replaced the socialist party in parliament, and if the right stay like they are, there will not be any change. there would already be two different forces, one against the other. so it has to come out something new, something else. the turnover is very quick in all democracies. so emmanuel macron has to be very cautious, keep his line and see if he can stay popular for a

time. at this moment, he is popular for a range of people but not popularfor for a range of people but not popular for the whole french for a range of people but not popularfor the whole french people, because the majority of the people didn't vote for him. is he going to be able to reach out to those parts of society that didn't vote for him, particularly the working classes in some depressed areas in the north and in the south—east? is he going to be able to get a platform that is appealing to them? what does he have to do? well, he will have to have success about unemployment, of course, which is the big problem in france since years and years. and we have to have this rate of unemployment go down. and if he isn't successful in the five years of his term as president, does that open the way for marine le pen perhaps in 2022? this election is the last chance. the last chance because we tried the right, and the

right failed. we tried the left, the left seems to have failed as well. so we try the centre. and if the centre fails, well, danger is great. so in that regard, are you confident about the future of france? so in that regard, are you confident about the future of france ?|j so in that regard, are you confident about the future of france? i am pessimistic in the short period and optimistic for a long run, for a long period. especially because a new generation is coming out in all parties. let's hope things are going to move but move smoothly. the french people can be very rude in one way or the other. so you never know what french people like. her ex—husband, dominique strauss—kahn, was expected to be the leader of the socialists in 2012. francois hollande won the election. ahead of the election, president hollande had a 4% approval

rating and the socialist candidate benoit hamon lost in the first round with just 6.4% of the vote. absolutely appalling numbers for the socialists. i did ask her about her ex—husband, a very innocuous question. i said, ex—husband, a very innocuous question. isaid, do ex—husband, a very innocuous question. i said, do you think the socialist party would be in a better position if her husband had stood and won the party nomination? she recoiled straightaway. i wasn't asking about the ins and outs of what happened but if she thought the situation might be better. his very name, bringing up his name, she froze. she recoiled, physically. clearly, the wounds are still very raw. it was a dreadful experience for her. the socialists are being pulled in one direction by marine le pen, another direction by the far

left, a dreadful state for them. president trump loves the fact that his press secretary gets great ratings. and the white house press briefing has become must see tv. but this week, in the middle of the drama over comey, sean spicer is not at the podium. it's a pretty odd time to be absent. before any of you get into conspiracy theories, here's the real story. mr spicer is on navy reserve duty. his deputy, sarah huckabee sanders, has been filling in, including during today's session. she is giving the briefing right now. it was not inappropriate and was not wrong for the president to do so. again, i am was not wrong for the president to do so. again, iam notan was not wrong for the president to do so. again, i am not an attorney. ido do so. again, i am not an attorney. i do not even play one on tv. but i have heard from legal minds and people that actually are attorneys, and that is their opinion, so i have two trust the justice system on that. reporter: would you say, based on the experience you and sean and this

communications office had, that you we re communications office had, that you were given the best information to relay to the american public, through us, and yourjob is to relay that information... you say you are only intermediaries, but using to ta ke only intermediaries, but using to take a more proactive approach most of the time. i think we were absolutely given the information we had at that time. it was a quick moving process and we took the formation as we had it and got it out to the american people. and would you say that information was accurate then or is more accurate now? we just happened to dip into that as she is being asked about what we talked about at the top of the programme. yesterday she said the programme. yesterday she said the fbi director had lost the faith of the rank and file, the agents of the bureau. then we have the acting director today directly contradict that and say, he has the full faith

of the rank and file. either she was lying yesterday, or somebody was not telling her the truth. she went out at the white house podium and said something that was not true. we think sean spicer is on navy reserve duty but the president of the united states would want his top person speaking to the public after he has fired the chief law investigator office of the country, you would think. and yesterday sean spicer was hiding behind a hedge, orsomething. that was two days ago but it feels like a year. you're watching 100 days plus from bbc news. still to come for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news: we'll be speaking to time magazine about their exclusive trip behind the scenes with donald trump at the white house. and we'll be live in alaska where a meeting of eight countries is trying to find out where the trump administration stands on climate change. that's still to come on 100 days plus, from bbc news. good evening. a decent day across

the northern half of the uk with sunshine in most places. further south, some changes. low pressure is bringing clouds and rain but also pulling in airfrom a long way south, fairly warm and humid continental air. this is the satellite sequence, confirming a lovely day for many, but with shower cloud coming up from the south on the warm breeze. further showers to come from the south overnight. still the potential for the odd come from the south overnight. still the potentialfor the odd rumble come from the south overnight. still the potential for the odd rumble of thunder. some rain moving through east anglia and up into the midlands but most of northern england and scotla nd but most of northern england and scotland will stay dry. some low cloud reaching the east of scotland and the north—east england. further south, lots of cloud around and that

delivering further showers. some brea ks delivering further showers. some breaks in the cloud and brighter weather at times but always the threat of showers from the south. largely dry first thing in northern england. much brighter in the north—west. northern ireland starts a bit damp. in western scotland, plenty of sunshine to start the day, but in the east of scotland it is grey and windy. we keep the contrast across scotland. elsewhere it is a mixture of a fair bit of cloud and a little bit of sunshine and quite a few showers which could be heavy and thundery. again, warm and close in england and wales. into the weekend, some spells of sunshine but also some spells of sunshine but also some showers. by sunday, things will turn fresher. 0n some showers. by sunday, things will turn fresher. on saturday, not too many showers for the midlands and

the south—eastern corner but more likely to see showers in the west of england and wales and the north western quadrant. through saturday night we see a spell of rain for pretty much all parts of the uk. behind that, fresher air from the atlantic. 0n behind that, fresher air from the atlantic. on sunday, still sunny spells and showers. notably, humidity will be lower. welcome back to 100 days+. i'm katty kay in washington. and i'm clive myrie in london. our top story... donald trump claimed he always intended to fire james comey and calls the former fbi director a showboat and a grandstander. the acting head of the american fbi says the investigation alleged ties between russia and the trump election campaign will continue. is the trump administration too combative, and what mistakes have

been made in the first few months? those are some of the questions the president answered during an interview with time magazine. the team had exclusive access behind the scenes at the white house and even learned about one of mr trump's favourite inventions. washington bureau chief michael scherer was among those who conducted the interview and hejoins us now. michael, firstly, you had dinner with president trump in the white house and went right behind—the—scenes. how was his demeanour? it is interesting. he is on one hand very hospitable, he was gracious, loves showing people round the white house. i think he is very honoured to be the to his private residence, talked about the history of the rooms. 0n the other hand, there is a realfrustration of the rooms. 0n the other hand, there is a real frustration that is very evident. there is a sense of agreement largely directed at the press. —— disdain. he took us into

his private room in the oval office at one point and showed us take clips of the senate hearings. he said, this witness was about to drop like a said, this witness was about to drop likea dog. said, this witness was about to drop like a dog. he was kind of vicious. there is an emotion to it. —— about to choke. there is a sense that he is not gotten a fair shake, especially from the press but from his opponents as well. and there is a frustration. at one point he says, at one —— the only way to survive is to be combative. i asked him at several times if he thought that during his presidency, he had been to combatants. he adds initially by saying, yes, it could be my fault. then he says, there is a real mean this area in politics. he went on to say that and went on to talk about his opponents. i think is struggling with that. there was a sense a few weeks ago that it had gone too far.

they pulled back a number of policies. i think is very proud of the way that when. this with the filing of james —— the way that when. this with the filing ofjames —— filing ofjames comey and some of his tweets, he's going back to some of his old habits. which in his business life and previous life elevated his message with controversy. and previous life elevated his message with controversylj and previous life elevated his message with controversy. i guess people don't change very much, right? that is a valid point. what was interesting from the interview was the in—built filter that the president seems to have, through which he sees everything relating to him in a positive, good light. it is not as if the glass is half empty. it is almost 99.9% overflowing for him. there seems to be very little introspection from this man. we have had psychologist on the programme today. is that your feeling? i think there is more introspection that he shows. but you're right, this is a guy who

a lwa ys you're right, this is a guy who always had the best and the biggest and most fantastic businesses. so he's still... almost every paragraph he's still... almost every paragraph he speaks has some kind of bag or post. he continues to do that. he's very sophisticated and how he handles the press. even in print interviews. i think he's putting on a performance at the show follows during that in which he is not willing to break character or show weakness. that said, i think there isa weakness. that said, i think there is a little bit of introspection. pa rt is a little bit of introspection. part of this is from my reporting with other people in the white house. i think he has been travelling to put his own personality and history, who he was in cell to be and celtic the end what has got tells them to be into this new role of president. —— who he is and what his gut tells him. what he has not given up is watching television. tivo.

he has won in his residence rooms. he has won in his residence rooms. he knows how to work the remote. i watched him do it. he knows how to work the clicker. thank you very much. the eight countries that all have a stake in the arctic are meeting in alaska. seven of them are anxious to learn more about how the united states will approach the region after president donald trump called for more oil drilling and development. most experts think human activity affecting the climate is leading to shrinking levels of ice covering in the arctic, but president trump doesn't appear to agree, once dismissing climate change as a "chinese hoax". james cook in alaska has sent this report. the frozen north is melting. it is springtime in alaska and the winter ice is beginning to break up. the villagers here say that the thaws are coming earlier. summers are longer and the ice is thinner. here, climate change is not a theory. the ice was thicker.

when i was younger, it was up to eight feet thick. since the day that he was born, this man has been gazing out at the ocean. now he works with 20 local tribes trying to to maintain old traditions in a new world. we are witnessing the disappearance of the cryosphere. ice. we are witnessing its disappearance in many parts where it occurred in all its forms. permafrost, river ice, ocean ice. the process appears to be accelerating. the more that ice melts, the less sunlight is reflected and the quicker the world warms. and halfway across alaska, at a meeting of the arctic council, climate is the big issue. as delegates from around the arctic gather here in the pristine wilderness of alaska for this summit, their conversations have been dominated by one topic. what does president trump think

about climate change? what is america's policy? and as the meetings began, there were few clues from oilman turned politician, rex tillerson. it is a particular honour for me to join you to celebrate 20 years of peace, stability and cooperation in the arctic through the arctic council. there's particular concern that the us could be about to withdraw from the landmark paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions. if the us does withdraw, it will set the us policy back by a decade or two in terms of responding to climate change. the warming that we have seen in the last 50—100 years is greater than the warming we have seen in any part of the last 2000 years. is human activity causing that climate change? yes, it is. it is a prime contributor. i will put it in those terms. climate change is happening now. outside the meetings, protests were largely directed at the us, which has chaired the arctic council for the past two years. now it is finland's turn.

arctic states are the main emitters of greenhouse gases. so it is the most important thing that all of them stick to the paris agreement. there is now doubt about it. climate change is real. we have the science. we know it. still, the clear air here is filled with unease about the change of climate. because while sceptics are on the fringes of science, they are at the heart of the us government. jamesjoins us james joins us live from alaska. the president has gone backwards and forwards on pulling america out of the paris treaty on climate change. what do people at that gathering make of the white house's position on this issue? well, i think it is fairto isa on this issue? well, i think it is fair to is a that all other members of the arctic council, the seven other nations and the indigenous

representatives, hope that the united states does not pull out of the paris climate change agreement. the meeting is now under way. the session with the ministers has got under way in the past 20 minutes or so. what will be interesting to see is how they frame the communications at the end of this meeting. because usually the arctic council would commit to continuing to reduce carbon emissions and the expectation would be that it would include in the wording a suggestion that all the wording a suggestion that all the arctic council members would remain committed to the paris agreement. now, it is not clear that thatis agreement. now, it is not clear that that is us policy. rex tillerson, us secretary of state, former oilman, as we know, is chairing this meeting because the us holds the chairmanship. it will be handed over to his finland shortly. in the past few minutes, rex tillerson has been saying that the us will be an active member of the arctic council. there

are still issues of great concern that they need to address and he says, we appreciate you have a point of view. we will make the right choice for the united states. not quite clear what that means, but rex tillerson acknowledging that he might be on one side of the argument possibly, and everyone else on the other. it seems you can not have a perfect alaska scene and satellite link. there were some glitches there. interesting, this thing on climate change. it is not entirely clear what the president intends to do, no views in office, about this critical issue. in tonight's programme, we have discussed the us, uk and french election. another race we are looking ahead to is in germany. the federal election is on september 24th — pitting chancellor angela merkel against the former european parliament president martin schulz. but on sunday there'll be a local state election, which could be a barometer of the popularity of the two candidates. 0ur germany correspondentjenny hill has this report from the state of north rhine—westphalia. not a vote cast yet,

but there is something of the victory march in angela merkel‘s step. it is actually years since her party won here. the polls suggest that might be about to change. it is not often that a german regional election is considered so important. angela merkel knows that if our party can to back the state, angela merkel knows that if her party can take back this state, then she has a very strong chance of taking the country, come the autumn. but first, she must persuade this town, this country. translation: i think she really will be chancellor again. she is very self—assured, reliable and calm. and because she's a woman, i like that. translation: she promised too much and invited to many people without thinking, and too many of the wrong people came into the country. one man stands between angela merkel and victory. martin schulz‘s arrival

on the german political scene gave his social democrat party a boost in the polls. even here, in spd country, the so—called schultz effect is winning off. translation: his approval ratings will almost table eyes once he says very clearly what he wants to do. in the eyes of the voters, that has not happened yet. we need a clear programme, clear policies on topics that matter to the electorate. that includes a powerful industrial lobby. germany's next chancellor will need the support of the country's family firms. translation: we need to cut bureaucracy. we need a modern education system. we need support for businesses in the digital future. and we need better infrastructure in this region. angela merkel might seem reluctant to take the baton here, but make no mistake, this woman wants german voters to dance to her tune.

every election is local and nationally but the themes in germany, france and america and britain are strikingly similar. from both of us, thank you for watching us. have a great weekend, we will see you next week. goodbye. welcome back to bbc news. the headlines... the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, says the party's election manifesto includes policies that "will transform the lives of many people". president donald trump has called sacked fbi directorjames comey a "showboat" and "grandstander", saying he would have dismissed him even if officials had not recommended it. an analysis of nhs data suggests waiting times in england

are at their worst level in five years. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london and frankfurt ended the day. the ftse100 is up slightly. the dax is down. and in the united states, this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. both trading down at the moment. in a moment... it's eurovision time again — but could brexit influence the judges and their scores? more on the draft labour party ma nifesto more on the draft labour party manifesto that was leaked last night. 0ne manifesto that was leaked last night. one of the plans in the lea ked night. one of the plans in the leaked document which might be subject to amendment before being published next week was a proposal to ta ke published next week was a proposal to take energy back into public ownership. it would see central government control the national grid and at least one publicly—owned company established in every region of the uk, baton in profits to customers. that would force private

gas and electricity giants to reduce prices if they want to compete. guy thompson is product director and energy expert at myutilitygenius, an energy price comparison site. thank you for being with us. firstly, what you may call the role hull i think the proposal feels half baked. it certainly feels like it is going backwards somewhat. you certainly do not need a company in every single regional area. the last time we saw something like that was when the infrastructure was in the hands of those doing the billing, people advertise it on. that goes back 15—20 years. if you really wa nted back 15—20 years. if you really wanted to do a government—owned supply business, you would only need one and a supply business could simply supplied regional areas in the uk. what is more problematic is that even assuming you set this business up and have the wherewithal to do so, you have the problem of

how you get customers away from the existing supply businesses and into this new vehicle. because the key problem in the industry at the moment is it is not as though there are not cheap deals, are. but no—one is switching to them. the blunt