the chilly side with maybe a touch of frost. an fbi. of the fbi to drop an inquiry into his former security chief's links with russia. james comey — who he fired last week — is reported to have been asked: "i hope you can let this go." in a week full of revelation after revelation, on a day when we thought things couldn't get any worse — they have. i think it is reaching the point where it is of watergate size and scale. we'll be live in washington — and asking if this time president trump could be in real trouble. also this lunchtime: a referendum on any brexit deal — the liberal democrats put europe at the heart of their manifesto. and to woo younger voters — help onto the housing the ladder, but no change on tuition fees. at the heart of our manifesto is an offer to all of the people in our

country, that no other party is making. that we do notjust have to accept what ever do we get back from brexit negotiations but the british people, you, should have the final say. unemployment falls again — it's now at its lowest level since 1975. but for the first time in three years — pay is lagging behind inflation. the sexist world of horse—racing — why women looking for a career rarely get to the finishing line. and coming up in sport — after maria sharapova is denied wild card entry to the french open, the head of the women's tennis association says they had "no grounds to penalise" her. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. donald trump facing questions about his presidency is nothing new —

but the latest allegations to emerge look different — they look potentially very serious. it's reported that trump asked fbi chiefjames comey to drop an inquiry into links between his ex—national security adviser and russia. "i hope you can let this go," he reportedly told mr comey after a white house meeting in february — and that's according to a memo written by the ex—fbi director immediately afterwards. the white house has denied the allegation in a statement. the president sacked mr comey last week — but now the fbi has been urged by a senior republican to hand over relevant documents. wyre davies reports. donald] trump, the 45th president of the united states, is barely four months into office — yet he is dealing with an almost daily drip of allegations. the latest — that he tried to influence an fbi enquiry. in february, one of the president's closest allies was forced to resign, when it emerged that mike flynn, then the national security advisor, misled the administration

over his contact with russian officials before mr trump took office. now an explosive accusation from the new york times — that the day after mr flynn's dismissal, donald trump asked the fbi director, james comey, to drop the flynn investigation. those were the president's words, according to a note, which the paper says mr comey wrote directly after the meeting. and there is james! despite public shows of support, relations between donald trump and mr comey were strained over the fbi investigations into mr flynn — and alleged russian interference in the us election. investigations mr comey insisted would continue. the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

mr comey was fired by the president last week, but washington has been astounded by the existence of the note he apparently made after their earlier meeting. a meeting which vice president mike pence was reportedly asked to leave. in a week full of revelation after revelation, on a day when we thought things couldn't get any worse — they have. only 2a hours ago, president trump justified sharing sensitive intelligence information with russia's foreign minister, a decision which observers say could have compromised american allies and their sources. for some senior lawmakers, republicans included, this is all too reminiscent of an earlier and dark era. i think we have seen this before. i think it is reaching a point where it is of watergate size and scale, and a couple of other scandals that you and i have seen. days after sacking the fbi

directir, donald trump issued his own warning to mr comey over social media, appearing to suggest he may have recorded their meetings. the white house has emphatically denied that mr trump asked the fbi to stop any investigation. the president still has plenty of support in congress, and especially outside of washington. but any suggestion he may have obstructed justice could prove backing today from the most unlikely source, from vladimir putin, saying that donald trump was not being allowed to govern. wyre davies, bbc news. let's go live now to washington and our correspondent jane o'brien. those comparisons with watergate, are they over the top? we have a long way to go, there has to be an investigation and at the moment what we have is a memo that has not been made public. snippets were read by an unnamed associate of mr comey to reporters. firstly, we need to see this memory and that is why you have jason ched evans, the chairman of the very powerful committee of

oversight. —— jason. the very powerful committee of oversight. ——jason. saying that congress needs to get every single memory and document that could catalogue what was said between mr comey and donald trump, into potential collision with russia. that needs to happen first. then you have a president who is typically immune from prosecution. and, a congress that has a senate and a house that is run by republicans. so the notion that you are going to get any imminent impeachment moves in that situation is a stretch. the bar is extremely high. so yes, it all looks awful, especially when you put it all together. senior republicans are saying that they too need to know what the president said, but their main concern at the moment is that this turmoil engulfing the white house is threatening their political agenda. so most people i think at this point want to get to

the bottom of it, but impeachment? obstruction of justice crit the bottom of it, but impeachment? obstruction ofjustice crit at the bottom of it, but impeachment? obstruction of justice crit at a long way to go before that happens. vladimir putin's involvement, does that help donald trump? there is an element of well, he would say that. does america really care what vladimir putin says? this is more about donald trump and how the republicans are going to do with a president who they feel is out of control. jane o'brien, thank you. the liberal democrats are putting another eu referendum at the heart of their general election manifesto — which has just been launched. the party said it would "let the people decide" whether brexit happens, once negotiations have finished. the party's leader tim farron says the decision to leave the eu could "wreck" the lives of future generations. here's our political correspondent chris mason. tim farron went back to school this morning. the lesson? how the liberal democrats think the country should

be run. front and centre was brexit, and how it should be handled. at the heart of our manifesto is an offer to all of the people in our country that no other party is making, which is that we do not have to accept whatever deal we get back from the brexit negotiations, but the british people, you, should have the final say. if you do not like what theresa may comes back with, you should have the right to vote to remain. the lib democrats say they would spend more money on health and education paid for by higher corporation tax and a penny on income tax. on housing, they want to introduce a range to own scheme for tenants, and promised to legalise and regulate cannabis. they claim this could generate £1 billion per year in tax. it's about keeping the availability of hard drugs away from cannabis, and regulating cannabis so the most dangerous strands like skunk are outside of the regulated system. it is about helping those people who

are of honourable and hitting those people the criminals take advantage of. -- from rubble. the manifesto launch event is not until this evening. but the document itself is online. tim farron says it is not a programme for governments, he expects the conservatives to win the election and thinks it could be a landslide. he wants to be a strong voice in opposition. it is telling what is not in the manifesto. the lib dems are not promising to scrap university tuition fees in england. the very promised that they broke in government. what you need to do is make promises you can keep. what we've laid out in the manifesto is fully costed on the base of the government's current figures, even with us heading out of the eu, is a plan that will boost education and further education, and schools, by £7 billion. at the last election, the lib dems face to the ghoulish nightmare of near oblivion. they are all smiles now but have a huge amount of ground to make up to get even close to where they used to be.

chris maize and, bbc news. —— chris mason. our assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. does putting brexit at the heart of the manifesto put it in the centre ina the manifesto put it in the centre in a positive way? this could prove something of a sideshow. despite the fa ct something of a sideshow. despite the fact it is ram packed with policies. many of them very expensive policies, like ending the benefits freeze, something jeremy corbyn shied away from at his manifesto launch yesterday. they are suggesting ending the public sector pay cap and the triple guarantee on pensions, £7 billion for schools and £7 billion for the nhs. and making tv leader election debates mandatory, and southern rail into temporary public ownership, and legalising cannabis and taxing it. but the brexit manifesto issue has dominated everything else. it made theircampaign dominated everything else. it made their campaign almost a one issue campaign. the demand for a

referendum on the deal is done by theresa may. the trouble is, selling the message has proved a lot harder than they thought. down in the heartlands, the south—west, they voted for brexit. so they are not very receptive to that message. in the urban metropolitan labour seats, they prove more resistant to switching to the liberal democrats, in part one suspects, because tim farron himself hasn't managed to cut through with those kinds of voters. this might be a manifesto packed full of ideas and promises, pledges... but the lib dems have a long way to go if they are to turn around their prospects in the election campaign. norman, thank you. the head of one of labour's biggest union backers has said the party is on course to lose the general election. len mccluskey of unite claimed it would be a successful campaign if labour lost about 30 seats. he was quoted in an interview for politico — but this morning he said he'd changed his mind. the interview i did with politico was a conversational piece, against the backdrop of if the opinion polls

are to be believed, that i made those comments. since then, labour launched their manifesto and it is fantastic. a manifesto for workers and ordinary working people. a manifesto that will change britain for the good. and the response that we have had from unite members has been incredible. that's why i was checking our polls that we do, constant rolling polls, and the response has been like something we've never seen before. so i am now full of optimism — if i was having that interview today, i would not be making those comments. our political correspondent alex forsyth is with the labour campaign team in lincoln. this is important, because len mccluskey and jeremy corbyn are very close and he is a huge financial backer through unite? yes, and he seems to have had a significant change of heart in a short space of time. the bbc understands only

yesterday len mccluskey made those original comments when he effectively said he did not think labour could win this election and we understand he made them after he had seen the party's manifesto. this morning, he seems to suggest that is not the case, and as you heard there, he is more optimistic about labour's prospects. shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell was labour's prospects. shadow chancellor john mcdonnell was here not long ago, giving a speech to crowds of activists and members of the public in lincoln. he was asked on those comments from len mccluskey and seemed to play them down somewhat, seizing on then mccluskey‘s remarks today that he was more optimistic and while it is difficult for labour's party, they are confident they can turn things around. john mcdonnell was referencing policies unveiled in the ma nifesto referencing policies unveiled in the manifesto yesterday, that they are convinced they will prove popular with the public. those policies have come under attack this morning from the conservatives who say they are and costed and will leave a multi—billion pound hole in the budget. again, john mcdonnell was asked on that point and said it was

nonsense. he went on to challenge philip hammond to a television debate, saying he was happy to pick over those figures any time. alex, thank you. our top story this lunchtime. more pressure on donald trump — as he's accused of asking the head of the fbi to drop an inquiry into his former security chief's links with russia. coming up... oh, look, i don't care if it only cost 2p! those curlers could fetch more than that — as hilda ogden's personal effects head from coronation street to the auction house. coming up in sport at half—past — andy murray says he can still do well at the french open later this month, despite his poorform since returning from an elbow injury in march. uk unemployment is down again — falling to its lowest level in 42 years. latest figures from the office for national statistics show the number of people unemployed fell

by 53,000 to 1.54 million in the three months to march — a rate of 4.6%. but are the figures as good as they seem? our economics correspondent andrew verity reports. you would need to be well into your 40s to remember a time when the unemployment rate was this low. 1.54 million, the number of unemployed people is just 4.6% of working population that keeps swelling to record numbers. economists have been convinced for years that if unemployment got low enough then pay rises would start to take off. especially if prices were rising more quickly. but we keep on getting fresh lows in the unemployment rates and that keeps on not happening. donna speiser lives in charlton in south—east london. she earns just enough as a teaching assistant not to receive benefits. her pay was frozen for four years and in the last two years it has gone up by

just 1% last two years it has gone up by just 1% per year. half offer wage goes on rent. i struggle to eat sometimes, we have no social life. because no money to go out. and it isa because no money to go out. and it is a choice of heating and eating. so one winter it was sitting there with blankets and hot water bottles, jackets, jumpers and a very bluenose. and a choice of food. the economy has exceeded almost all forecasts in generating jobs. unemployment dropped by 53,000 over the past three months to the ad of march, the of —— the average pay rise was 2.1%. and the average amount that we produced per hour, productivity, has fallen by 1.5%. before the financial crisis it was taken for granted that most employers could afford inflation beating pay rises. as each worker would produce a bit more each year as companies invested in new technology and training. but since the crisis those improvements in productivity have been much lower.

it isa productivity have been much lower. it is a bit ofa productivity have been much lower. it is a bit of a puzzle the fact that unemployment is not driving wages to the extent we might expect. but there are a couple of headwinds on the wages that might be driving some of that. one is fast rising inflation which is eating into pay packet in the second is productivity, output, that is the long—term driver of play and that has been stagnant for almost nine yea rs. has been stagnant for almost nine years. the economy has beaten expectations for generating jobs but it has fallen short of expectations for generating rail pay rises. whatever government is in power they will be ha rd—pressed whatever government is in power they will be hard—pressed to change that. andy verity, bbc news. the former american soldier chelsea manning, who passed hundreds of thousands of confidential diplomatic documents to wikileaks, has been released from a military prison in kansas. the 29 year old was expected to remain injail until 2045 — but president obama commuted her sentence just before leaving the white house injanuary. rajini vaidyanathan is outside the prison in kansas. was there much fanfare as she left

this morning? chelsea manning left this morning? chelsea manning left this prison in the early hours of the morning to very little fanfare. after her release she issued a statement simply thanking her supporters around the world and saying that she appreciated their support. just as a reminder it was while chelsea manning was still living as a man bradley manning thatcher was convicted of one of the largest lea ks in thatcher was convicted of one of the largest leaks in us history. while she was a low ranking us army private she shared some 750,000 classified documents including state department diplomatic cables which revealed the private thoughts of us officials and caused huge embarrassment to the us government at the time. it was after she was sentenced that she announced that she wanted

to live life as a woman, chelsea manning. while she was in prison she fought for gender reassignment surgery. although she was given a dishonourable discharge from the us army at the time of her sentencing, she will actually remain on active duty without pay. that is because her lawyers have told us she will be appealing her conviction and until the outcome is now she will remain on the us army books. as for what she will those close to her said she will not be planning to live life in the private she plans in fact to make herself a trans it's a sport worth more than three billion pounds to the british economy and watched live by six million people a year in britain. but if women choose horse racing as a career, are they being held back? the first ever survey into gender

in racing suggests that they are. despite more than ever coming into racing — it found women are under—represented in the most prominent areas of the sport, with some examples of ‘entrenched prejudice and discrimination'. our sports correspondent joe wilson has this report. racehorses. pleasure, and big business. it's a multi—billion pound industry. right, let's take you out. and in this yard in newmarket, amy murphy is the boss. paid by owners to train their horses to be winners, she's just 24. that's very unusual. the fact that she's a woman, well, that's rare too. you have to get the support and sometimes i think probably as a woman you're having to prove yourself before people want to support you. whereas if you're a man, they might support you from day one. but, you know, we've had great support and great loyalty from some big donors. but whether i would have had that from day one had we not had the results we've had already, i'm not sure. based on hundreds of anonymous responses, a new survey found that women from across the industry report being patronised, not being taken seriously, or being denied opportunities because of their gender. women in senior positions still stand out. well, amy is a rarity.

there are some 75 trainers here in newmarket are known, yet only around 10% of them are women. how else could you make a high—profile name for yourself in this sport? well, inevitably, so much of the attention will focus on the jockey. overalljust 6% of horses in races are ridden by women. they are ready, and they're off. a new competition shown here just for women jockeys began last week. nine races spread over the season. and called the silk series. but fundamentally, are women trusted to do the job as well as men in horse racing? well, john berry is a newmarket trainer who says he ignores gender. he knows not everyone feels that way. the athlete is the horse and all the jobs around, no one gender is better than doing it than the other. and i mean that including jockey as well. when it comes to the daily care of horses, more women

than men arejoining racing, working in the stable yards. but do you see women in boardrooms? taking it through the career, if you look at who's on the senior boards, of organisations in racing, the average 16% and we have several boards in the sport that do not have any women at the top level at all. so we're seeing a stagnation of career progression. british racing's governing body, the bha, recently restructured its board of directors to include more women. chief executive nick russ said the gender survey is a stark reminder that horse racing needs to do more. meanwhile amy murphy does believe that racing's culture is changing. and if she is leading, there is someone to follow. john wilson, bbc news, newmarket. lloyds bank, which was bailed out by the taxpayer at the height of the financial crisis, has returned to full private ownership. it was confirmed to the stock exchange this morning that the government has sold its last remaining shares in the company.

and, what's more, the bank says taxpayers made a profit out of the deal. our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz has the details. the end of an era for british banking. some of the biggest names go cap in hand to the government... lloyds. a spectacular casualty of the financial crisis in 2008. we must in an uncertain and unstable world be the rock of stability... it had its own bad loans, then it took over halifax bank of scotland or hbos, which was much worse affected. banks were bailed out by the taxpayer. now lloyds is back in the black and out on its own. the government sold the last shares in lloyds banking group and it is a moment of huge pride for all the colleagues at lloyds bank, for customers. we gave taxpayers money back. the government pumped in more than £20 billion, taking a 43% sta ke. the proceeds of selling lloyds shares, plus other pay—outs, have raised more than that, leaving a return of nearly 900 million. it has been a difficult recovery.

complaints stacking up about ppi mis—selling resulted in billions compensation having to be paid. and the original shareholders in lloyds suffered a significant loss. from a share price of over £3, to around 70p today, that is a big hit to valuation. and probably looking at a pretty permanent loss of capital. lloyds has been pared down, losing hundreds of branches rebranded as the new tsb. and thousands ofjobs have been cut. today has turned into something of a lloyds celebration. but that ignores what has been a long drawn—out disaster. that a bank that should have been part of the solution to the financial crisis turned into part of the problem, for nine years. # we've come a long, long way together... lloyds‘ message is that it's reliable again. but it will be forever marked

by its fall, and the difficult ride to rehabilitation. simon gompertz, bbc news. and advocate for trans gender to pay compensation to a former employee sexually abused by sheffield city council has had to pay compensation toa council has had to pay compensation to a former employee sexually abused being assaulted by roger dodds in the early 19805. being assaulted by roger dodds in the early 1980s. he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in february. the home secretary has been criticised for policing cuts which have led to fewer officers. speaking to the police federation, amber rudd said that crime has fallen and said the deficit needs to be reduced. she attacked senior labour figures — accusing them of sounding like marxists. back now to the election campaign. well the number of candidates standing for ukip in this election has almost halved. in 2015 the party fielded a candidate in just about every seat — but this year it's appealing to its supporters in areas where there's no ukip candidate

to instead vote for the most pro—brexit person standing. in some parts of the country the consequences could be significant — the bbc‘s political correspondent in the east, andrew sinclair, reports. north norfolk is famous for its stunning coastline, and the norfolk broads. it's not used to being in the front line of an election campaign. but this year the race could be very close. at the last election, the liberal democrats' norman lamb had a very reduced majority of 4000. and 8000 people voted ukip. but this year its local candidate has decided not to stand. instead, he is actively campaigning for the conservatives. as norman lamb is very much a pro—european, we felt the only way to pursue the aims of ukip was to pull out and support the conservatives. the people that voted ukip in 2015, i don't think they will all naturally gravitate

to the conservatives. i think many of them who have supported norman and the liberal democrats in the past, we'll be working hard to win them back. the seat of peterborough is another place where ukip could be influential. with a majority of less than 2000, the conservatives' stuart jackson is under threat from labour. but ukip polled 7500 votes last time. and now they're standing aside to try to get the pro—brexit conservative re—elected. i guess it will be helpful, because, you know, a lot of those ukip voters were formerly conservatives voters. and i think now people realise there's not much point in voting ukip. ukip used to do well in elections in the east of england. but in this month's local elections, it lost all its seats. if they believe in something they should stand. i think it is a bit cynical, to be honest. why would you tell someone to vote for a different team? let's say you are part of football, you're arsenal, you're going to tell all your arsenal supporters to now support manchester.

you're not going to do that. labour's candidate in peterborough, fiona onasanya, launched her campaign at the weekend. the party is hoping ukip voters will go back to them. people who voted ukip to leave the european union, which has happened, but they also voted ukip because they were concerned about housing, affordable housing, public services, the nhs. and those are the things that labour are now promising to deliver on. ukip knows it will struggle to get its own mps elected this year. but in deliberately deciding where not to stand, it could still have a big impact on this election. andrew sinclair reporting there. and you can see a full list of candidates in norfolk north on the screen now. and a full list of candidates in peterborough here. she was one of television's best loved characters — hilda ogden — famous for her sharp tongue, her trademark headscarf, and her pinny. now some of those iconic items are going under the hammer. they're being sold at auction

by the family ofjean alexander, the actress who played her for more than two decades. the auction is taking place in her hometown of southport. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson is there. oh, look, i don't care if it only cost 2p! it is one of the most famous outfits in tv history. the curlers, the hairnet, and the pinny of hilda ogden. and it's going under the hammer this afternoon. you can get rid of it, and yourself and all! jean alexander played coronation street's much loved gossip for more than 20 years. she died last october at the age of 90 and today her nieces are auctioning off her belongings. the star attraction is the pinny. of course. did you know she always had that? i didn't, really. when we came to tidy up her things, sadly after she died, i came across a parcel in a wardrobe with her handwriting on a little label. and when we looked into it further it turned out that this was the first pinny and headscarf and curlers she had used in the show that she had taken with her when she started

in coronation street. and they belonged to my grandmother. jean's mother. there has already been online interest from italy and the us, but many have turned up to bid in person. everybody loved hilda ogden, didn't they? you know, everyone had an aunty or a nan or somebody like that. and shejust reminded you of a typical northern lady. i always put my own curlers in myself, so that to me just would be brilliant to get that. but anything, anything that she has touched, that was hers. i would just be made up with. we had an estimate on it of 1000 to 2000 to begin with and then somebody walked in about ten minutes ago and said they thought it might make 5000. i really don't know. one item not for sale today, her famous flying ducks. they were owned by coronation street, but this is an auction absolutely packed with hilda history.