this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11pm: to see stories come out htat are patently false, to see narratives that are wrong and to see, quote, unquote, "fake news". donald trump's press secretary, controversial and much lampooned, decides to quit. the nspcc expresses alarm at a bbc investigation which found children being groomed on the live video—streaming app, periscope. 16 children are interviewed as part of a major child abuse investigation involving up to seventy police officers in cheltenham. and on newsnight, as she sets off on holiday with her husband, how long can theresa may stay in number 10? we'll be speaking to one of her former key advisers who gives some trenchant advice about how to survive in downing street. good evening and welcome to bbc news.

president trump's press secretary sean spicer has resigned. it follows the president's appointment of a former wall street banker, anthony scaramucci, as his new head of communications and reports in the us media suggest mr spicer resigned in protest at the appointment. mr spicer‘s performance in the post had been heavily ridiculed, not least by the us tv comedy show saturday night live, on which he was regularly impersonated by hollywood actress melissa mccarthy. our chief correspondent gavin hewitt has more. a day of dramatic changes at the white house. sean spicer, the white house press secretary, and one of the most recognisable faces of the trump administration, abruptly resigned. spicer was a controversial figure. early on, he was forced to defend the crowd size at donald trump's inauguration, denying that more people turned

out for barack obama. this was the largest audience to a witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe. but pictures suggested otherwise. and then there were his remarks about chemical weapons. his references to hitler caused outrage. we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii. you know, you had someone as despicable as hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. his performances were mocked on late—night comedy shows. isaid i said that wrong when i said it and then you wrote it, which makes you wrong! because when i say something wrong! because when i say something wrong you guys should know what it isi wrong you guys should know what it is i need, wrong or right! you're wrong. when i say rocky start, i mean it in the sense of rocky the movie, because i came out here to punch you!

in the face. also, i don't talk so good. sean spicer found himself under close scrutiny from donald trump, who prizes good on—camera performances. the president began looking for a strong defender, particularly as he faces a growing investigation into whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and russia during last year's election. what prompted spicer‘s resignation was the appointment of this man, anthony scaramucci, as white house communications director. the wall street financier gave his opening pitch. i love the president and i'm very loyal to the president. then he was reminded that back in 2015, he had called donald trump "a hack, an inherited money dude". mr president, if you're listening, i personally apologise for the 50th time for saying that. but here's the wonderful thing about the news media. that was three minutes of my life. he's never forgotten it and you've never forgotten it. but i hope that someday, mr president, you will forget it. let's go to the next question.

the new communications director is certainly slick, but here's the problem. you can stand at the podium and defend white house policy, but president trump has a habit of changing the message with just a tweet. today's sha ke—up reveals donald trump under pressure, seeking a communicator who will fight for his presidency. gavin hewitt, bbc news, washington. with me is our north america correspondent rajini vaidya nathan. nice to have you decide of the pond. how much of a big deal is this? the press secretaries, and go, wejust happen to have got to know sean spicer better than others. —— come and go. sean spicer was met to just be the messenger eight he became the story, not just the be the messenger eight he became the story, notjust the story but the parody in a way, the comedy. the president trump that became a distraction. you may remember the

first time sean spicer stood on the podium at the white house briefing room was a day after the inauguration. he got into a back and forth with the journalists in the room about the crowd size, before storming off. it set a frosty code between the white house press corps and the white house. —— frosty tone. this wasn't a surprise. there was talk for a while that sean spicer wouldn't be the job for much longer. in recent weeks we haven't even been him come out and do an on camera briefing. the circumstances are quite surprising. anthony scaramucci is now in thejob quite surprising. anthony scaramucci is now in the job as complications director and a bit of a shakeup, really. so he isn't doing the job that sean spicer is doing, that will be done by sean spicer‘s deputy, so we will see more of sarah huckabee sanders, she has quite a lot on her plate, with having to react to donald trump's tweets, for example.

the thing about sarah huckabee sanders is she has been filling in recently for sean spicer and there has been a lot of criticism that the white house hasn't been holding regular on camera briefings. but in recent weeks when they have been on camera it has been sarah huckabee sanders doing those. what i thought was interesting about watching anthony scaramucci in the briefing room is, as gavin says, he is slick and polished and he was trying to almost reset the relationship with the media. he said when he spoke to journalists, and going to take every question i can. when asked whether he would reinstate the regular daily on camera briefings he said, i will ask the president and ask sarah huckabee sanders, but i will try and do that. it seemed like he was a good operator on camera and if president trump was watching that one wonders whether he will be making more of an appearance on camera because he was a very robust defender of the president. in that report he said, i love the president. i've been very loyal to

him. it seems those are the most important characteristics you need if you want to stay in the white house. thank you very much. a bbc investigation has found evidence of children as young as nine being groomed on the live streaming app periscope. launched just two years ago the app allows its millions of users to broadcast live from their phones and can reveal their location. but our team found children streaming video live from their classrooms and even their bedrooms, and clearly being groomed for sexual abuse. despite this, twitter, which owns the app, claims it has "zero tolerance" for this kind of conduct. angus crawford investigates. not learning, but broadcasting. live from the back of a lesson. viewers send her direct messages. another school, another class. more questions from total strangers. but this isn'tjust an innocent chat. are you in high school? yes. we found pupils live streaming across

the country. and they've all been using this, periscope, an app owned by twitter, which allows users to broadcast live from anywhere. and our investigation from children using it in their own bedrooms and being groomed in front of our eyes. this child is still in her school uniform, probably 12, no more than that. talking straight into the camera and there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven requests already. one of them is asking the size of her bra. another one has justjoined. someone hasjust asked her to unbutton her shirt. the age limit is meant to be 13, but we easily find children younger than that. this little girl is really young. hi. so right now it's my first

time playing this app. i don't even know what to do. i'm nine. i actually look seven. "up top, please." what do you mean by, "up top, please?" we passed the details of all these children to the police, and showed what we found to the nspcc‘s head of online safety. hi. well, it's very disturbing, isn't it? to see children as young as nine when they're so vulnerable and being so clearly groomed for sexual purposes by a pack of people online. it's really shocking. what's really worrying about periscope is the way it uses maps. if i go live from here on a street corner in west london, than anyone can zoom in and find out exactly where i am. twitter refused an interview request, but said in a statement,

"periscope has a strong content moderation policy and encourages viewers to report comments they feel are abusive. we have zero tolerance for any form of child sexual exploitation." but our investigation showed children openly being groomed. the question for periscope — can young people really broadcast to the world and stay safe? angus crawford, bbc news. 16 children have been interviewed by social services and police this evening as part of a major investigation into child abuse in cheltenham. officers have searched properties and seized mobile phones and computers. our correspondent steve knibbs has the details. tonight, this is still a live investigation. police are describing it as significant. information first came to light last friday of allegations of recent and non—recent child sexual abuse. yesterday, a number of police officers, accompanied

by social care teams, visited and searched four homes in cheltenham. at the same time, 16 children of all ages i understand were also spoken to at a number of locations in cheltenham. that's obviously a sensitive part of the investigation. let's get more on that from the man leading the enquiry. we spoke to those children, along with colleagues from social care, from children's services. to do that, we used specially trained police officers from our child protection teams. what we would call a joint visit. that consisted of a social worker and a police officer, and just explore if the child is happy, if there is anything the child wants to disclose, and just make sure the child is happy and safe. all 16 children involved are now back with theirfamilies and are being

supported by police and social care teams. in terms of the evidence seized during searches, it is things like computers, laptops, tablets and phones. they are now being forensically examined by a high—tech team. no arrests have been made. this is a live investigation in its early stages. the priority for everyone involved, police and social care teams, is the safeguarding and welfare of the 16 children at the centre of a major investigation into child sexual abuse in gloucestershire. that's a summary the news. now it is time for newsnight. setting off on holiday and still in a job. theresa may has confounded many

critics by being a little more stable, if not all that strong. what does one of her former key advisors think the prime minister's future holds? she has made clear she will not be here for ever and in due course the conservative party will have to think about who takes on that legacy, but we have a lot of work to do in the next two years. and i'll be asking our expert panel can the prime minister really hold until 2019? any other questions? yes, just mentally, are you 0k? are you kidding me? tonight parody has lost one of its most generous donors. sean spicer, the man who many considered to have his foot almost permanently in his mouth, has quit. i'll be joined by a white house correspondent who sat through most of those famous briefings and asking what this means for the tweeter in chief, president trump. also tonight we investigate just how easy it is to buy the acid used in street attacks. it is sulphuric acid i believe, yeah, there it is.

and i said to the person, "do i need to wear gloves?" and he said, "yes, wear gloves, keep well away from any skin contact, wear gloves," so i knew it was the right one. # your favourite boy has gone back to help, matilda is coming back to me... and scott walker's music will be celebrated at the proms next week. we'll have a preview. she was famously described by george osborne, the former chancellor who likes to eat his political revenge cold, as a "dead woman walking" three days after that pretty disastrous election result. well, zombie or not, theresa may is still with us and has managed to beat the likes of sir alec douglas home and the duke of devonshire

in the battle not to be one of britain's shortest serving prime ministers. as she packs the walking sticks and insect repellent for a summer holiday with husband philip in switzerland and italy, we'll be asking was everyone wrong about mrs may's staying power? do the conservatives really want her to remain in post until the end of the brexit process, that's march 2019? or will events catch up with mrs may, meaning she doesn't have time to "clean up the mess she created", as she told her cabinet colleagues was her desire. and what aboutjeremy corbyn and his plea for the pm to simply stand aside? with his take on mrs may's long and tricky summer ahead here's our policy editor, chris cook. the conservative party candidate...