came on austin jonathan munro, came on austin shortly after to defend the coverage. he was pressed by viewers on the decision to send up that helicopter and broadcast live footage of the raid. the helicopter is another newsgathering resource, like employing a camera crew at ground level. any visual medium is going to want to get a clear view of an event happening, which is newsworthy, it was a newsworthy event as anthony says himself. getting a clear view and only by getting that could we see how many officers were involved and viewers could make a judgment about weather they felt the search was appropriate in terms of its size and scale. helicopter footage in terms of its size and scale. helicopterfootage on in terms of its size and scale. helicopter footage on the ten o'clock news and the six o'clock news that evening was only 21 seconds of coverage and there was less tha n seconds of coverage and there was less than a minute of live helicopter coverage right towards the end of the search in the afternoon. so we used a very restrained portion of the helicopter. the investigation was later dropped because of lack of evidence and sir cliff richard was never arrested. the singer then sued the bbc, accusing it of invading his

privacy. on wednesday, mrjustice newey found in sir. ‘s favour and hundreds of viewers told the bbc they with that decision. one of them recorded this video for us. it was explained that the coverage of the event was given the green light to proceed as it was deemed to be in the public interest. being a fully paid—up member of the, it, at no time didi paid—up member of the, it, at no time did ifeel it paid—up member of the, it, at no time did i feel it was in paid—up member of the, it, at no time did ifeel it was in my interest. as a licence payer, i strongly objected to the use of a helicopter hovering above sir cliff richard's home streaming live pictures of police rifling through his belongings. how can this possibly be in the public interest? this is no justification whatsoever. thejudge told the this is no justification whatsoever. the judge told the bbc to pay an initial £210,000 in damages as well as costs, saying... knowing sir cliff richard was under investigation might be of interest to the gossip mongers but does not contribute materially to the public

interest. he said the broadcast showed a significant degree of sensationalism and cited the bbc‘s decision to enter the coverage for a scoop of the year award as an aggravating factor in his judgment. the bbc did not agree with the finding. the judge has also the bbc did not agree with the finding. thejudge has also made clear that even if there had been no footage of the search and the story had less prominent, the very naming of sir cliff richard would have been unlawful. this creates a significant shift against press freedom. this means police investigations of searches of people's homes could go unreported and unscooting eyes to. it will put decision—making about naming individuals in the hands of police over the public‘s right to know. —— unscrutinised. police over the public‘s right to know. -- unscrutinised. nobody from the bbc was able to elaborate for us today but i am joined by the legal commentator and former bbc correspondentjoshua rozenberg and also by one of the many viewers who contacted us on the issue. diana

first of all, what did you think of the bbc‘s defence? first of all, what did you think of the bbc's defence? my issues were twofold. one, i felt the bbc's defence? my issues were twofold. one, ifelt the initial coverage with the helicopter was incredibly intrusive. i mean, surely, laws of trespass would suggest that you shouldn't fly over somebody‘s house taking photographs. but the other thing was that the implication was that sir cliff richard was guilty before any police action had confirmed that. and so he was damned even when he was innocent. he was entitled to privacy before he was charged with anything and the bbc did not do its due diligence before making this headline item and basically going for this sensational aspect of it. joshua, a lot of people thought the bbc did get it wrong at the time — what is your view on the judge's decision? the judge said he wasn't

making new law, he was simply applying the human rights act, which was passed by parliament 20 years ago. from the bbc's point of view they might have thought that it was a new law because until now broadcasters and journalists have thought that they could report a police raid, they can report that somebody is the subject of an investigation. no, said thejudge, you can't do that any more, that is pa rt of you can't do that any more, that is part of the right of privacy that a person has under the human rights and that is what the bbc will have to observe in the future. but the judge said journalists can cite the public interest but he says they're what was not one here? he said you have to balance an individuals right of privacy against the broadcaster's right to freedom of expression. these are the two conflicting rights in the human rights convention articles. and having made that balance, he decided to come down in favour of sir cliff richard. he said so favour of sir cliff richard. he said so cliff richard's right to privacy outweighed the bbc's right to freedom of expression. there may be cases in the future where the balance would come the other way so

it is not going to be a total ban on naming people who are the subject of inquiries but i thinkjournalists are going to think twice before they do it in future. i think there is a very clear red line here. they should not name anybody until the police have reason to prosecute. i guess the bbc will probably argue that in the interests of other witnesses coming forward, the very fa ct witnesses coming forward, the very fact that a named person is in the, it eye will bolster the case, if you like, for the prosecution. however, once you have made allegations that nature against somebody, you cannot unmake them. whilst the ruling in court has completely exonerated so cliff richard, the story remains. and nothing, no apology, will actually take that harm away. joshua, the bbc's push for an exclusive on this, they entered that coverage for an award, they lead on

the story, the helicopter, as a former correspondent of the bbc, how do you feel about that editorial aspect of it? if it was the right story to tell at the right time then that was the right way to tell it. the thing wrong with illustrating it ina way the thing wrong with illustrating it in a way which is going to draw attention to it and to demonstrate what's going on. it's very difficult to cover a police raid on television from outside a brick wall. and therefore you can see why broadcasters thought, if we have access to a helicopter, this will be access to a helicopter, this will be a way of bringing the story alive. but the broader point is weather it was a proper... to do with the story in the first place and the judge said the bbc would have been wrong evenif said the bbc would have been wrong even if it had been somebody like you reading the story in the studio with a still picture of certificate behind your face. of course that was not the only way they covered it, they did do that extra coverage. the bbc is considering appealing against this ruling — what would you say to bbc bosses? on the one hand, fran

u nsworth bbc bosses? on the one hand, fran unsworth was copious in her apology to the cliff richard. however, to then come out and say, we're considering an appeal undermines the apology, does it not? it makes it less sincere and it is kind of unfinished business, because what that's actually saying is, judge, we think you got this wrong. it is possible to the bbc to say, we are sorry for what so cliff richard went through but we thought we were doing the right thing at the time and we think that we should be allowed to name people who are the subject of investigations. don't forget four years ago we had had all these other people who were convicted or charged of child six cases, particularly jimmy savile, which the bbc failed to report at the time. so you can see why the bbc might think it is in the, it interest to report allegations of this kind, even though they may be sorry for what sir cliff richard went through. you raised a very interesting point, and gloria hunniford, who is a close

friend of sir cliff richard, observed when i saw her interviewed this morning, that his issue was never freedom of the press, this morning, that his issue was neverfreedom of the press, it this morning, that his issue was never freedom of the press, it was invasion of privacy. and you're quite right in that if we didn't have the press to keep, sadly, both oui’ have the press to keep, sadly, both our politicians and police in order, cases like rotherham might never have come to light. but we have a principle in this country of being innocent until proven guilty. and that seems to have kind of been ignored. thank you both. finally, this weekend sees the last ever edition of the sunday politics is a network programme. though there will still be half—hour programmes for each of the nations and english regions. it is part of a series of changes to the bbc's output from westminster which also sees the daily politics replaced by a new daily programme politics live and a

reduction in broadcasting by the bbc parliament channel. the bbc is behind the move is a greater emphasis on digital and social coverage and the need to make cost savings of £18 million by 2022. sam mendes of the audience are unhappy by hill christine parsons. —— including christine parsons. and this viewer was also displeased... well, in response to that, bbc news told us... politics live will offer viewers... thank you for all your comments this

week. we're the air for a week's now but please continue to share with us european union is bbc news and current affairs. can call us... —— share with us your opinions. and do have a look at our website. we will be back after our summer break to hear more of your thoughts about the bbc's coverage. goodbye. goodbye. good evening. it has become something of a rare event recently — something of a rare event recently — some rangers but many parts of the uk have seen a little bit of a raina. during today that is how it

looked in manchester earlier on, with thick cloud overhead. also this area of cloud which has been spreading up from the near continent. that has brought some rain across the far south—east. you can see the rain sinking towards the south—east. in between there has been some sunshine but a few heavy showers as well and the odd thunderstorm. that will continue for a time over the next few hours. and then as we go through the night, most of the showers in the south will fade, just one or two continuing into the early hours. elsewhere, a lot of cloud. a little bit misty the parts of scotland and northern ireland. not an especially cold night by any means. going into tomorrow the cloud will tend to break up at times. still the small chance of a shower in the south. a little bit of patchy rain across far north—west. generally light winds you will notice on saturday afternoon. if a shower does crop up where you are a could be on the heavy side but most places will

avoid them. some extra cloud for northern ireland and western scotland. the odd splash of rain here. eastern scotland, things probably starting off quite cloudy but if you look at the forecast for the golf at carnoustie, you will see the golf at carnoustie, you will see the cloud beginning to break as we get into the afternoon. temperatures here getting up into the low twenties. looking ahead to sunday, a lot of dry weather around again. some patchy rain coming into north—west scotland and perhaps northern ireland. look at the temperatures by this stage, up to 28,29, temperatures by this stage, up to 28, 29, perhaps 30 degrees in the south—east. and that is a sign of things to come. going into the early pa rt things to come. going into the early part of next week, weather front driver will snake around close to the north—west of the country. some cloud and rain here. but elsewhere we will be getting some very hot and humid air. temperatures by day could get up to 33. some very muggy nights as well. always cooler further north

and west with a bit of cloud and some rain at times. this is bbc news i'm vicki young. the headlines at 8:00. the irish border still a block on the road to brexit, as the eu and the uk call on each other to change position. it is now for the eu to respond. not simply to fall back onto previous positions which have already been proven unworkable. even if we want to reach a deal, it is also our responsibility to be prepared for all scenarios, including a no deal. the surviving victim of the novichok poisoning in amesbury leaves hospital. two 15—year—olds who plotted to murder pupils and teachers at a school in yorkshire are given custodial sentences. also this hour, donald trump causes another stir in washington.