this is bbc news. the headlines at 10pm: the former leader of the liberal democrats lord paddy ashdown has died at the age of 77. he led the liberal democrats for over a decade and was the first leader after the liberal party merged with the social democrats in 1988. he was a very formidable man. it is dairy sad that we've lost him. he was politically active and really very dynamic and full of ideas, write to the end. —— it is very sad. he also served as international high representative to bosnia herzegovina following the war which saw the break up of yugoslavia. from across the political spectrum, tributes have been paid to lord ashdown including from former prime ministers sirjohn major and tony blair. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley. and at 10:30 and again at 11:30, we'll be taking

an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers sian griffiths, the education editor at the sunday times, and martin bentham from the evening standard. stay with us for that. good evening. the former liberal democrat leader, lord paddy ashdown, has died at the age of 77. mr ashdown began his career in the military as a royal marine and then went on to lead the liberal democrats for 11 years from 1988. in november this year, lord ashdown revealed he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young reflects upon his life in politics. this is how most people will remember paddy ashdown, the action man, the party leader with the least affection for westminster.

long before he fired his first political salvos he was a military man, a marine seeing active service in borneo and melayu, as documented at the time. at this post, 23—year—old marine lieutenant ashdown from somerset has local forces as well as marines under his command. he excelled as a member of the elite special boat squadron, and spoke fluent mandarin chinese. he spent time too in his native northern ireland during the worst of the troubles. after a period as a diplomat and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil in 1983. later in 1988, after the painful "geezer with. the edp m‘s—291a"; and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock

bottom in the polls and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands, he's made his statement already and i'm perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dems mps. by this stage, he'd already been contemplating the prospect of coalition government with labour. a joint cabinet committee was established and liberal democrats invited to talks at number ten. according to ashdown the plan to bring the lib dems into government foundered amid opposition from senior labour ministers and the thorny problem of electoral reform. in the liberal democrat leader, tony blair had a candid friend.

your government, i believe, could become potentially an historic one, but only if it lets go a little, if it relaxes a little, if it tolerates descent a little, if it welcomes diversity a little and if it interferes a little less. charles kennedy is duly elected leader. paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there. and in 2002 he became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina. myjob is to create, to help to create the structures of modern european democratic state and then to repatriate the powers the international community has held here back to the bosnians.

but he wasn't done with westminster politics. in 2015 after lib dems had spent five years in coalition with the conservatives, lord ashdown returned to chair the party's general election campaign. and we are saying the conservatives are the largest party. famously, disputing the exit poll prediction of a dire result. if this exit poll is right, andrew, i will publicly eat my hat on your programme. this is a hat! you are so predictable, aren't you? i knew you'd do that. i wanted to get a bigger one! paddy ashdown‘s energy sometimes exhausted his colleagues and he was mocked his action man image, reinforced by a clipped military tones and narrowed eyes staring towards the horizon. but he inspired respect for his constant ideas and enthusiasm, and his efforts to build the liberal democrats into a force in national politics. paddy ashdown, lord ashdown who has

died at the age of 77. a little earlier, liberal democrat leader sir vince cable gave his reaction from his west london constituency and told me the great achievement of lord ashdown was his leadership of the new party — the liberal democrats — from the merger between the liberal party and the social democrats. it was difficult indeed. i think he described it, we were at that point an asterisk in the opinion polls. and gradually, he built up the strength of the party in the decade. we progressed through by—elections, through growing influence, and we had a really successful period in the late 1990s when all of this hard work on leadership produced good results. ithink, actually, you have to go back before his leadership of the party. he served as an example about how politics is done.

he started from virtually nothing in yeovil, he was unemployed for a while, did all kinds of interesting jobs similar call community, he was a youth worker, fought his way up from nothing to becoming an mp, and that set an example about how the rest of us should campaign. he was a terrific role model for campaigning politician. and listening to the tributes coming into him this evening, one is struck by the number of times people have talked about his honesty, his integrity, and his very strongly held principles. yes, indeed, and i think more than that, i think that period when he was at his peak as a party leader, he had a very positive view about the country. this was a relatively optimistic period and he was an optimistic man, and he gave really great leadership when it was needed. it was a pity, in a way,

that his vision, which was that we should work in government with tony blair's administration wasn't realised because there was a labour landslide and his early treatment in dabbling our numbers of mps was slightly overshadowed but he did play a major role in the way that government developed, and took on his views of constitutional reform, which were very much his own. the prime minister has issued a statement. in a moment, we'll have the weather with helen willetts before joining viewers on bbc one with a full roundup of the day's news.

but let's now listen to the thoughts of colonel bob stewart, the conservative mp — and who as commander of the united nations served in bosnia where he became a friend of lord ashdown. i first met paddy in 92, 93, when i was the un commander in bosnia and he was... i have to say, a great friend, when he turned up he convinced me to take him to the front line. i wasn't allowed to take anyone to the front line, only generals were meant to go to the front line but paddy somehow got me to do it. he said, i was a soldier, they'll be no problems. and i said, are not meant to take anyone of high rank to the front lines, he said, i'm going there today. and he said, well, i'll come with you.

i said, but you're not meant to. in the end, he convinced me and i put him in the back of my armoured vehicle and we went. and i took him in and i took him and introduced line commanders there. and i took him in and i took him and introduced him to the front line commanders there. and it went well, he was clearly confident and at ease on the front lines. but on the way back, a great explosion occurred right in front of my vehicle, it was a mortar bomb that had been aimed by bosnian serbs i suspect, and i thought i had been blinded, actually, i was at the front of the vehicle, paddy was standing at the back, and i thought, that has done it. you know, that is all i want, to be reported that i have taken him to the front line. no one will report it, he said. it was on the six 0'clock news.

good evening. it's been a fine day for many parts of the uk, getting out and about, not particularly chilly either, except the north—east of scotland, where temperatures are struggle to get above freezing. we've seen the drier day over the weekend, even though we had showers today, because sunday will have rain for many. the reason is this area of low pressure and the gathering weather fronts which will push milder atlantic air in but with it a lot of cloud. whilst what we've seen through the day is quite a lot of sunshine, this lumpy cloud giving showers to the north—west and those showers have continued through this evening and will continue to do so through the early evening before becoming confined to western and northern coasts, as this next area of rain takes centre stage. with the cloud rolling in it will limit the fall in temperatures for many. southern and western parts. it will be a cold night across scotland, perhaps north—east england. a fairly widespread frost

in scotland and some patchy fog after the day's showers, that's the real concern for travellers on sunday more. for most of us, sunday has a very different complexion, one of weather fronts, cloud and rain. some heavy rain initially, although the heaviest pulses of rain may well clear away across southern areas through the morning and diminish further north as well. further pulses coming in. it will remain grey, dank and drizzly. with the rain comes a lot of low cloud. misty around the hills and coast. it may dry up in northern ireland in the afternoon. looks as if southern and central northern scotland will see the best bright weather, especially central and northern scotland. and here after the fog clears we'll see some sunshine but for most of us, mild and dank and grey. the weather front is still with us on christmas eve in the south but high pressure building through it, meaning it will weaken, the weather front. so the rain initially could be a bit on the heavy side but it will tend to weaken and ease away as we go through the day. more areas of northern ireland, england and wales will enjoy the drier weather.

brighter weather with some sunshine coming through once we get rid of the morning fog. again, foggy in some areas, much of the day. at this time of the year there's little strength to clear it away. you see the rain in the south into monday and that weather front still around on christmas day, bringing a lot of cloud in the skies after the early frost and fog. plenty more on the website. lord ashdown, the former leader of the liberal democrats, has died. he was 77. the ex—royal marine led the party for 11 years and announced last month he was being treated for bladder cancer. he really established us as a major force in british politics. it was very much down to his drive and ambition and energy. police hunting the drone operators who shut down gatwick airport search a house in west sussex. two people are being questioned. and is there any christmas cheer for beleaguered retailers, desperate for a bumper holiday season on the high street. good evening.

the former leader of the liberal democrats, lord ashdown, has died after a short illness. he was 77. he served in the royal marines before turning to politics, first with the liberal party in the 1970s, then becoming the first lib dem leader, in 1988. he revealed in november that he was being treated for bladder cancer. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, looks back at his life, and there is some flash photography in her report. this is how most people will remember paddy ashdown — the action man, the party leader with the least affection for westminster. long before he fired his first political salvos, he was a military man, a marine, he saw active service in borneo and malaya, as documented at the time. newsreel: at this post, 20 yards

from the border, 23—year—old marine lieutenant ashdown from somerset has local forces as well as marines under his command. he excelled as a member of the elite special boat squadron, and spoke fluent mandarin chinese. he spent time, too, in his native northern ireland during the worst of the troubles. after a period as a diplomat and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil in 1983. later, in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. i say to the millions out there who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary tricia howard. what paddy said stands,

he's made a statement already and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dem mps. by this stage, he'd already been contemplating the prospect of coalition government with labour. a joint cabinet committee was established, with liberal democrats invited to talks at no 10. according to ashdown, the plan to bring the lib dems into government foundered on opposition from senior labour ministers and the thorny problem of electoral reform. charles kennedy is duly elected the leader... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there.

and in 2002, he became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina. myjob is to create, to help to create, the structures of a modern european democratic state, and then to repatriate the powers that the international community has held here back to the bosnians. but he wasn't done with westminster politics. in 2015, after the lib dems had spent five years in coalition with the conservatives, lord ashdown returned to chair the party's general election campaign. and we are saying the conservatives are the largest party... famously disputing the exit poll's prediction of a dire result. if this exit poll is right, andrew, i will publicly eat my hat on your programme. this is a hat! andrew, you are so predictable, aren't you 7 ijust knew you'd do that. i wanted to get a bigger one! hi, guys. he had great enthusiasm and energy, optimism, drive.

he was very much mr action man. the style that he acquired in the military, he carried into politics very effectively. and he did great things for our party. he inspired respect for his constant ideas and enthusiasm, and his efforts to build the liberal democrats into a force in national politics. lord ashdown, who's died at the age of 77. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is at westminster. there have been numerous tributes throughout the evening to paddy ashdown. how will he be remembered where you are, do you think mattiello politicians on all sides are united in tribute tonight to lord ashdown, not just are united in tribute tonight to lord ashdown, notjust his fellow liberal democrats, the other former leader nick clegg describing him as the reason he went into politics and became a liberal, the labour leader

jeremy corbyn saying he'll be greatly missed and theresa may has said paddy ashdown dedicated his life to public service. lord ashdown hudson racing sorry politician, not just that accomplished and colourful career before he was elected to parliament and took his party from the margins to becoming a significant force in british politics, but also he was known to pretty much everyone here and perhaps more importantly to people in the country as a whole for all the trappings and titles that came with his success, simply by that childhood nickname of paddy. lately it is felt that politicians couldn't find very much to agree on and might struggle to put their differences aside, but tonight at least mps mostly away from hearing their constituencies are pausing to reflect on the life of a man who was able to command near universal admiration, affection and respect, for the forthright and passionate way, but ultimately the good—humoured and good—natu red way, but ultimately the good—humoured and good—natured way that paddy ashdown pursued his politics. jonathan blake there at westminster,

thank you. a man and a woman are tonight still being questioned by detectives in connection with the "criminal use of drones" near gatwick airport. police are also searching a house in crawley in west sussex. sightings of drones over the last three days led to the cancellation or delay of 1000 flights, affecting more than 140,000 passengers. the airport's remained open, but there are still some delays. jenny kumar reports. police activity at a house near gatwick airport. officers have searched inside the property and examined vehicles parked on the drive. this comes after sussex police confirmed last night that a man and a woman had been arrested in connection with illegal drone activity. well, tonight there's a small police presence outside the property that was searched earlier today. meanwhile gatwick airport say measures are being taken to keep the airfield safe and to keep flights running. at gatwick flights have been getting back to normal after three days of disruption, but there's a backlog to clear and frustration amongst passengers.

we fly off to france today, skiing in the alps. the kids, taking them away properly for a first white christmas, and yeah, it's been really anxious times for us. i only had a couple of weeks at home so it's cut my trip short by a day, which is really upsetting when you don't get to see your family and friends that often. so i was really sad, i've been really sad about it, but i'm excited to be on the ground and back home. it's not ideal, we're not happy with that, we don't have a very long holiday, so it's frustrating to miss out on some of it. it seems rather stupid that this incident had to happen at all. the disruption caused widespread chaos, affecting 1000 flights and 150,000 passengers. today, six flights have been cancelled, but the airport hopes to run the majority of services. 0ne estimate is that the disruption is costing airlines around £15 million as they refund customers and make arrangements for others to get to their destination in time for christmas. jenny kumah, bbc news.

0ur correspondent caroline davies is at gatwick airport for us tonight. caroline, it's one of the busiest flying weekends of the year. things beginning to get back to normal at the airport? it does seem to be getting back to normal here in gatwick airport. there's been a steady stream of people coming through from arrivals and the noise of aircraft engines taking off overhead. gatwick to tell is that six flights were cancelled this morning, but i havejust heard six flights were cancelled this morning, but i have just heard from them that 757 that were expected to run did run today, and there were no significant delays. they have also said they are continuing to monitor the airfield closely. with the number of people and the number of flights involved in this destruction and this chaos, of course there are and this chaos, of course there are a backlog of passengers waiting to try to get to their destination. tomorrow gatwick say they are

expecting to operate a normal service. they have 785 flights in total is expected to be taking off from here. because of the knock—on effect potentially they said to be on the safe side anyone expecting to travel to check before they go to the airport. caroline davis at gatwick, thank you. a special sitting of the us senate has ended without a deal to stop a partial shutdown of the american government. the row is over funding that president trump is demanding for a border wall with mexico. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler is at the white house. no compromise between mr crook —— mr trump and congress. how long could this shutdown go on for? yeah, that special sitting of congress, there was little sign of festive cheer on this weekend before christmas, with the republicans blaming democrats and democrats blaming the republican president accusing him of a trump shutdown caused by a temper tantrum over his desires for a border wall.

but it's going to have an effect on hundreds of thousands of workers. all of whom don't know when or if they will be paid. that's not the only issue facing the white house at the moment. president trump also faces increased scrutiny over his decision, a surprise announcement, to pull us troops out of syria. it's led to the resignation of his defence secretaryjim matt jess led to the resignation of his defence secretaryjim mattjess and 110w defence secretaryjim mattjess and now another senior member of the administration is to go as well. brett mcgurk, the us envoy to the global coalition to fight isis says he is quitting as a direct response to the president's plans. it's fair to the president's plans. it's fair to say this isn't the christmas that donald trump would have hoped for. chris buckler at the white house. retailers hoping for a last—minute rush of christmas shoppers on so—called super saturday have been left disappointed. footfall on the high street is down again this year, to its lowest level since the 2008 recession. sarah corker has more from leeds. # joy to the world, the lord has come... with three days to go until christmas, millions of us are hitting

the high street to bag those last few presents. in leeds today, shoppers were certainly getting into the festive mood. so we tried to get things online, but then you can't feel it and touch it, so we've come into leeds because you get the atmosphere, and to me the two days before christmas, where everyone is running around getting shopping, are kind of like a nice atmosphere, it's quite nice to come out and see everybody. it's actually quite stressful, i'm in such a bad mood. i can't find anything i want, i should have prepared, but it happens every year. why have you left it until the last minute then? i always do, every year. it's not last minute — christmas eve is last minute. i have seven grandchildren, ranging from nine months to 23, so... so you've got all the food to feed the family. oh yeah, definitely. shoppers are expected to spend more than £1 billion today, which has been nicknamed super saturday, and many retailers are banking on that last—minute rush to boost sales after a difficult run—up to christmas on the high street. prices are being slashed to boost sales and shift stock. 2018 has been one of the toughest years on record for retailers,

who are being squeezed by rising costs and online competition. today is normally the busiest day for christmas shoppers in the lead up to christmas, but this year the situation is different and consumers are feeling less confident around the future so they have been reining back their spending, so footfall, the volume of activity, the number of people going to retail destinations, is lower than last year. even for internet retailers, sales this season have been lower than expected. it's christmas, you should be organised! one thing people are splashing out on today is turkey and all the trimmings. it has been non—stop since 6:30am. we were here at 5:30am. today, we're hoping to be five times busier than a normal saturday and we have the staff in to cope with that. so it may still be one of the busiest shopping days, but this year more than ever, the high street has lost some of its sparkle. sarah corker, bbc news, in leeds. that's it.

so from me and the rest of the team, have a very good night. good evening. it's been a fine day for many parts of the uk, getting out and about, not particularly chilly either, except the north—east of scotland, where temperatures are struggle to get above freezing. we've seen the drier day over the weekend, even though we had showers today, because sunday will have rain for many. the reason is this area of low pressure and the gathering weather fronts which will push milder atlantic air in but with it a lot of cloud. whilst what we've seen through the day is quite a lot of sun side, this lumpy cloud giving showers to the north—west and those

showers have continued through this evening and will continue to do so through the early evening before becoming confined to western and northern coasts, as this next area of rain takes centre stage. with the cloud rolling in it will limit the fall in temperatures for many. southern and western parts. it will be a cold night across scotland, perhaps north—east england. a fairly widespread frost in scotland and some patchy fog after the day's showers, that's the real concern for travellers on sunday more. for most of us, sunday has a very different complexion, one of weather fronts, cloud and rain. some heavy rain initially, although the heaviest pulses of rain may well clear away across southern areas through the morning and diminish further north as well. further pulses coming in. it will remain grey, dank and drizzly. with the rain comes a lot of low cloud. misty around the hills and coast. it may dry up in northern ireland in the afternoon. looks as if southern and central northern scotland will see the best bright weather, especially central and northern scotland. and here after the fog clears we'll see some sunshine but for most of us, mild and dank and grey. the weather front is still with us on christmas eve in the south

but high pressure building through it, meaning it will weaken, the weather front. so the rain initially could be a bit on the heavy side but it will tend