had white—nationalist sympathies, concerns that were dismissed just days ago by donald trump. i like him, he's a good man. he's not a racist, i can tell you that. he's a good person. he actually get a very unfair press in that regard. send in steve bannon. on a late—night comedy show, steve bannon was portrayed as a dangerous, shadowy figure, but also the real brains behind the trump operation. 0k, donald. that's enough fun for tonight. can i have my desk back? yes, of course, mr president. i'll go sit at my desk. something that is not likely to have pleased the president. this photograph of donald trump's close aides was taken just a few days into his presidency. less than seven months later, he has lost his national security adviser, his press secretary, his chief of staff, and now his chief strategist, which may leave donald trump looking a lonely figure. but steve bannon‘s dismissal

is a victory for those wanting to remove the extreme elements surrounding their president. but it will take a lot to convince many this will lead to a better functioning white house. the former bbc news correspondent and presenter liz mackean has died at the age of 52. the award—winning journalist worked on newsnight for m years. she was best known for her coverage of the jimmy saville scandal and the northern ireland conflict. in breaking news, before wejoin newsnight, the film director roman polanski has had his bid to have a sex assault case dismissed denied by the los angeles superior court. this is despite support from his victim. she had asked a judge in california to close the case as an act of mercy to close the case as an act of mercy to herfamily. to close the case as an act of mercy to her family. the to close the case as an act of mercy to herfamily. the lansky fled to europe nearly a0 years ago before he was sentenced to the statutory rape of the victim, but his bid to have

that case dismissed has been denied, so that case dismissed has been denied, so he still cannot return to the us. now on bbc news, it is time for newsnight. a moment's silence across spain as the country grapples with the latest european terror attack. butjust how serious is the islamist terror threat in catalonia 7 the disappearing act continues as steve bannon becomes the latest trump advisor to be cast out of the white house. this picture shows his top team in january. 0nly trump and his vice president remain, but how much will his departure change the presidency‘s direction of travel? it will be nice to see you on newsnight. .. to see you on newsnight, nice! there is a first! it was nice to see you, to see you. # let me sing for ever more...#

mr light entertainment, tv legend sir bruce forsyth, has died. we speak to arlene phillips. good evening. with depressing familiarity, a minute's silence was held today to remember terror victims in a major european city. the public and politicians came together in barcelona in scenes which have echoed london, manchester and paris over the last year. as they stood still, police action to tackle the suspects was swift. police killed five people in cambrils, south—west of barcelona, after another car attack killed one and injured six. but the driver of yesterday's van is still on the run. what has surprised many is the scale of the islamist terror threat in catalonia. 0ur reporter elaine dunkley joins us from barcelona. yes, this is las ramblas, a street

hugely popular with shoppers and tourists. when fc barcelona win a major title, this is where they come to celebrate with the cup. but things couldn't be more different today. thousands of been here to mourn and pay respects. 2a hours ago, 13 were killed and more than 100 injured when a van ploughed into pedestrians. tonight, police are still searching for the driver of the vehicle, a 17—year—old sapnish nationalfrom the capital city of girona. police told us that they managed to stop a bigger terrorist attack when they managed to shoot five terrorists in cambrils. they terrorists had also used a vehicle to kill and injure people. the search for answers continues on radicalisation and extremism here in spain. barcelona, a city known

for tourism, and now terrorism. like other major cities in europe, it knows the feeling of loss. and defiance in the face of a new threat. this is the first time spain has come under a major terror attack in more than a decade. in 200a there were the madrid train bombings which killed 191 and left more than 2000 injured. it was the worst terrorist incident in modern european history, but authorities learnt from it. they beefed up security with successful operations and raids and arrests, and tried to integrate different communities. the spanish style was sophisticated, but the attacks have become less so. a van used as a weapon with devastating effect, leaving 13 dead and more than 100 injured on las ramblas. police here say that a terror network of at least eight people

were behind this attack and one 70 miles away on the coastal resort of cambrils. so, why here, why now, and was itjust a matter of time? catalonia is self as a large muslim community, most of brock background. —— morrocan background. mainly for economic reasons, to work in one of the wealthiest regions of spain, so it it'sjust a factor of numbers. the presence of this community, it has different wings, some are peaceful and quiet, some are quite militant. so it's obvious that you get fringes which go further on the radicalisation trajectory, to militancy. 0ften radicalisation happens because of who you know and when you get one bad apple you get other people around that. last year, barcelona's status of a major centre of islamic radicalism was highlighted

by a report by a spanish security think tank. they found that of all of those detained between 2013 and 2016 for offences relating to islamic state activity, more than one quarter were residents of barcelona. about one third were based in the north african and the south of spain, and 15% were from madrid. there is a problem here, but worshippers at this mosque around the corner from las ramblas say that their faith has been hijacked. he tells me he witnessed what happened yesterday. the bomb exploded in the underground car park of a crowded supermarket... yesterday's attack also brought back memories of a bloody campaign by the group eta, which lasted for four decades. a fight for the independence

of the basque region of spain. it left a00 people dead. getting used to terrorism once again is a grim thought, but barcelona's motto is "daesh, we are not afraid". joining me know from barcelona is alfred bosch. he's leader of the republican left party on barcelona city council. mr bosch, thank you for coming on. we heard in that report that it's about 28% of those detained have

come from barcelona, for potential terror offences. it appears there is a problem in your city. if so, why? i'm not sure i heard your question well. let me try again. the report says that around 28% of people detained in spain on possible terror offences are from your city of barcelona. is it fair to say you have a problem there? well, it is fair to say we have the same problem that new york has, paris has, london has, munich, berlin, madrid, nice, etc. obviously, this is a cosmopolitan city, an open and free city. and, yes, we are targets, as you are. so i think what comes from that and what we must do is get together internationally and fight this terror. it hits us all. we are all targets, also

here in barcelona we are very much aware of that and we've got to do something together. so how do you balance? your city has a global and enviable reputation as being a great place to go and a great place to party. and you have the freedoms there. but now you have the threat as well and you have to protect your own citizens and tourists who come to your great city. how do you balance the two? well, first of all, not giving up. we must not give up, we must not surrender. as i said, this is a free and open city. we love democracy. we love to have fun. we love hard work. and right behind me, you have las ramblas, where everything happened. this walk, this boulevard, crosses the old city of barcelona. this is a stream of light and life. the first thing we have to do is say no, we are not afraid. that's what thousands of people are spontaneously saying.

we had to say firstly, no, we will not give up. no, we will not bow to terror and to killers. that's what they are — killers. that is the first thing we have to say, we have said it all day. it is an important message. it is important that you are informing and listening to us, from the uk and all over the world. knowing that this is also a cosmopolitan city. las ramblas here is a cosmopolitan walk, promenade. and that's what they are going for, the whole world. the target is cosmopolitan because of that. we had to rise and we are doing this already, to say no to that. which is the right thing to do. but, mr bosch, if you look elsewhere in the world, countries like tunisia and egypt, their tourist industry has been badly affected. in london we have a market area which is twinned with you in barcelona, which was the site

of a london attack, and many of their stores, the trade there has gone down. how do you combat that in barcelona? well, we encourage all of you. that is a direct message to all the people listening and watching us right now. please, help us. the best way you can help us is by coming here. supporting us. if you have plans to come to barcelona, please come here. because we're not going to surrender and you have to help us in that regard. you are already doing it and i must acknowledge that and thank you for that. of course. you talk about help. there is the report that the spanish government is suggesting that authorities in catalan are not helping as much as they might with the spanish government. what can you tell us about that and how accurate is that? no, please, let's be very serious about this. we're talking about people being killed. we're talking about kids. right now i was in las ramblas, there was a small girl saying...

talking to her mum, saying, they are leaving teddy bears there because children got killed here. please, please, let's respect those fallen. itotally am... i totally am respecting. the police have been excellent. the cooperation is as good as it can be. please let me say this, please let me say this because it is true. the police have been excellent, emergency services have been excellent. they've avoided greater harm. you know it perfectly well. they were planning explosives here. hundreds of people, hundreds of casualties, they could have been killed here. so they have done a very good job. they have avoided other attacks in the past and they will in future. now, what happened? the same thing that happened in new york, paris and london. you all know it and have experienced it. let's be reasonable and thank the police for all they are doing.

and, lastly, how long before barcelona is restored to its jubilant, joyful, colourful, how we remember it and how we know it? this morning, i was walking down las ramblas, i live a couple of blocks from this central nerve. the emotional nerve of the city, as you know. i saw people recovering, and people rising already. saying no, we will not accept this. we will go back to normal. we will be our themselves, our own radiant, happy, ha rd—working and joyful selves. i think that is happening already. with the help of all of the visitors, i must say, who are in the city because, as you know, many of the victims were international visitors. we have to say that also. this was an attack against humanity as a whole. good luck with everything you are trying to achieve in barcelona.

mr bosch, good luck and best of fortune with everything. we move on. donald trump has lost his chief strategist steve bannon — fired, we understand, in what can be seen as a win for chief of staffjohn kelly. bannon played a prominent role in the president's "america first" election campaign message — and has been accused of harbouring anti—semitic and white nationalist sentiments. with the mounting controversy over the death of an anti racist protestor in charlottesville, bannon‘s role was increasingly controversial. but, it was after an interview this week where he undermined the president on north korea that it looks like his fate was sealed. so, what does this mean for the direction of travel for trump's administration? i'm joined by richard painter, who worked in the white house under george w bush as his chief ethics lawyer. david willisjoins me now. why now? what is behind the timing? it's an interesting question. steve bannon was, of course, one of the architects of donald trump's victory in the presidential election last year. he was behind the right wing website breitbart news. in recent weeks, he has been accused

of leaking to the press, he gave a controversial interview to a liberal magazine here. a few days ago. as you mentioned in your introduction, he appeared to contradict the trump administration's position on north korea. he is known to have clashed with others close to president trump. including his son—in—law, jared kushner. and his daughter, ivanka trump. people steve brannon brands" the globalists" in the white house, the new chief of staff, john kelly, has basically been looking to install a sense of discipline into the white house. he has apparently had steve bannon under review for several weeks. today, a very brief statement was issued, saying that steve bannon would be leaving as of today. as for what he does now, there are suggestions that steve bannon may go back to breitbart news and continues to be highly influential on the right wing of american politics. that was going to be my next question.

if he does do that, as is being mooted, what may the effect be on trump and his administration? well, it depends whether he offers support from his new perch, or criticism. breitbart news has been particularly critical of some in the administration. hr mcmaster, the national security advisor among them, and steve bannon has been pretty open in his opposition to those sorts of people. but, you know what? we have seen a lot of people leaving this administration in recent weeks. among them, the press spokesman and director of communications, the white house chief of staff. now, the chief strategist, steve bannon, is out the door. some may speculate that perhaps the era of chaos is coming

to an end, but donald trump remains his own man. as we have seen this week in his comments about events last week in charlottesville, virginia. there is enough to keep you busy in this story for weeks and months ahead. thank you. in many ways the life of sir bruce forsyth is the life of tv light entertainment in britain. actor, singer, dancer, musician and of course tv presenter and game show host. the list of his talents was matched by the ease with which he displayed them. his death at the age of 89 arguably brings to a close the golden era of television. # nursie, when i look at you, # my heart goes shooby—do # nursie, nursie, i'm getting worsie # what am i gonna do?# isaid, well i want to become a star and buy my mum a fur coat. i used to go and see the fred astaire films, or any film that had dancing in it.

and i'd be intrigued by the dancing, and i'd come home and dance away for sometimes hours, in a room all by myself. i wanted to, if i didn't make it, get out. maybe go more into the musical side of the business. then i got into the palladium, which turned everything around. welcome to the generation game. it's nice to see you, to see you... audience shouts back: nice! the first thing about audience participation is you've got to enjoy it. are you interested in history? 0h, love history! old things. oh, yes. i see yourjokes are a bit like that, aren't they? i've always loved it. i've loved it because you never know what's going to happen. go on, i'm dying for a night off! i love getting out of the situation. if somebody says something, i like to come back at them. or if they do something, i love to pounce on it. after i did that radio show with you, i did

have i got news for you? that was the big turning point, wasn't it? here you go, here's bruce, 7a, 75 years old, invited to go on have i got news for you? you blew away all of the other guest hosts. tony blair insists that weapons of mass destruction will eventually be found in iraq. well, it would be nice to see them, to see them... audience shouts back: nice! the other thing you are doing is come dancing is coming back? it's going to be pro am come dancing! so professional dancers...? professional dancing with celebrities learning how to dance. my headmaster said, i can't give you a very good report because you've had so little schooling. i said don't worry, sir, i'm going into a business where they go by what they see you can do. not by what you've done. so he said, what business is that? i said, show business, sir. and he went, well lord help you! and that was it. applause we're joined

by arlene phillips who — of course — worked with sir bruce on strictly come dancing and by his friend the actor christopher biggins. can i start with you, arlene, people talked about a triple threat, somebody who can sing, dance, he could do everything, sing, dance, tell jokes, present, how did he do it? i think he is a consummate showman. he started when he was 11 years old, but before that he was doing his thing, tapping, and bruce never stopped working. not just in terms of training but in rehearsal, going over things. so he worked hard at being mr showbiz. he worked hard at staying fit, didn't he? very hard. i saw some of the tapes of his dancing, that was phenomenal. bruce, to retain his balance, used to spin 80 times a day and to the left. 80 times a day?

absolutely, he was warming up, he would constantly work his body, and sometimes even on strictly just before he had to go on you would see him almost revving himself up like a car getting himself ready to go out there and entertain. christopher plummer i saw you chuckle when we watched that report, particularly play your cards right, i honestly don't think there is any other entertainer that this country has ever had that could have carried that off. absolutely, he is a consummate professional, he was brilliant. i remember, he was a friend when i was a child because he was always in our sitting—room at home with the family, and we sat there laughing at this man. it was like having a sort of television uncle. he was brilliant. he was brilliant year after year after year in different shows, different genres, he was fantastic, movies, everything he did, dancing, singing, and when i met him i remember he was enchanting. a lovely story, if you years ago i was on a cruise somewhere in the world and i got a phone call from him and i thought it was very

odd and i said hi, how are you? i said i'm very well. i wanted to use you as a joke in this truly come dancing on saturday and i wanted to check that you are all right with it, and he told me they gag, and i said absolutely, and he put it in. i've been thinking all night what the gag was but i can't remember but it was a funny gag and it involved me. that was the funny gentleman that he was. first on tv in 1939, and think how society has changed, how britain has changed, he was at the london palladium in the 60s, how did he do that? society changed, tastes changed, but he stayed top of the game. he proved time and time again that he was this entertainer par excellence. he was brilliant.

i can't think of anyone today who could touch him, or anybody then. he has been unique all these years. coming back to strictly, i saw him many times, arlene and if a contestant possibly stomach had a bit of a slating, possibly justified, he would metaphorically and sometimes literally put the arm around the shoulder. absolutely and i remember when matt deangelo was in the semifinal and he couldn't remember the dance and he just sat down on the steps to the stage and bruce, i saw his face genuinely heartbroken that someone was so troubled that they couldn't continue the dance. he wouldn't like it. if craig says something, or i said something and he didn't like it, he was really angry, i mean genuinely, it wasn't an act. did you ever have any sort of offstage heated exchanges? i didn't have hot heated exchanges,

however, we used to discuss the fact how much he loved it, i would say mark ramprakash's hips were fabulous, bruce loved it, he wanted more, you know, don't stop. some people said he was also a tremendous producer or director in his own right, he had and i and could almost direct the show himself and if you look at his game shows he was moving the camera and the contestants. and he would put people into situations which were hysterical. it was wonderful. in my own way i've done things in pantomime but never like him. he was doing this with groups of people. itjust went on and on and on, his talent. he possibly was a product of vaudeville, if you will allow that. because we don't have vaudeville, could perform like this return? that is a good question.

we get very good comedians now, we get very good singers and we get very good dancers, we get very good actors. but not one that does everything. that is what is so extraordinary about bruce. he was a brilliant, brilliant dancer. his tap with sammy davis junior was a symphony of tap, the sounds they made and the brilliance of the small taps. something like that, you work at that, clearly he was a gifted individual and had an eye but he worked very hard. yes. very hard working. what was also so great about bruce was he was a family man. poor winnie who was gorgeous and the love of his life, and his children who i believe were there today for the last moments. i think it's extraordinary what talent he had. thank goodness he got

his knighthood. yes. so well—deserved. it meant a lot to him. christopher and arlene phillips, thank you for coming in, not for the right reasons. but thank you. let's returned to steve bannon who has been fired in the last few hours, and what this means for the direction of travel for the trumpet administration. i'm joined by richard painter who worked in that white house under george w bush as his chief ethics lawyer. thank you forjoining us. you have been critical with some of your messages. surely the president has woken up to public opinion and he's ready to put things right. ready to congratulate him? this is definitely a step in the right direction to remove mr steve bannon but there are others in the white house with connections with the alt—right. this is a dangerous group, the spread of racist stereotypes on the internet and encouraging even more extremist groups such

as the ku klux klan and nazis rallying in charlottesville. the alt—right has sought to influence ourforeign policy, sebastian gorka is still in the white house who is still very much a threat to our foreign policy. he has an obsession with muslims and wants as in a confrontational posture towards muslims throughout the world, which is definitely not in the american interest. stephen miller is still in the white house, he has connections with the alt—right. there are others with extremist views.

they all need to be removed if the president is going to seek to stabilise this administration and convince the republicans in the house and the senate and the american people that he is capable of being an effective leader, much less of course the democrats, who may never want to really accept him. but at this point the republicans are very frustrated, and certainly getting rid of steve bannon is a step in the right direction. but there is more work to be done. what now for mr steve bannon? is there a danger he could be a thorn in the side for the president and that he could cause issues if he reconnected with that fan base the president had? we are concerned about that, concerned about him going back to breitbart news. breitbart news is engaged in extensive race baiting over the last few years. and it was a self—proclaimed platform for the alt—right so if he goes back to breitbart news and encourages more of this alt—right business we may see more unrest in our cities, as we did in charlottesville, and then there might very well be attempts to influence the white house, and that would be most unfortunate. there are some ethics rules in place that prohibit steve bannon

for lobbying back to the white house on behalf of breitbart news and i hope they are taken seriously and unforced. you speak understandably dismissively of what bannon and the president achieved but they are only there