good morning. welcome to breakfast, with victoria fritz and rogerjohnson. our headlines today: tributes to the former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown, who's died at the age of 77. more than 160 people are killed and hundreds more injured as a tsunami hits the coast of indonesia. flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. in sport, manchester city lose valuable points in the title race but a winning start for ole gunnar solskjaer as manchester united's caretaker manager. good morning. a much cloudy day to day across many parts of the uk. there is some rain in the forecast as well —— cloudier days. more details coming up. it's sunday the 23rd of december. good morning. our top story: friends and colleagues have been remembering the former leader of the liberal democrats, lord ashdown, who's died at he age

of 77 just months after revealing he was being treated for bladder cancer. he led the lib dems for more than a decade — from 1988 until 1999 — and is credited with making the party a significant third force in british politics. vicky young has taken a look back at his life. 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. 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 ‘205, doubling the number of lib dem mps. 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, became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina.

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... i wanted to get a bigger one. 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 there. let's have a look now at some of the tributes that have been paid to lord ashdown.

the prime minister theresa may sent her thoughts to his family and friends, adding that he had "dedicated his life to public service" and would be "sorely missed". the labour leaderjeremy corbyn praised lord ashdown‘s work as the mp for yeovil, and reminisced on their time in parliament. he said they "often found themselves voting together against damaging policies". former lib dem leader tim farron said lord ashdown had "saved and revived the liberal democrats at their lowest ebb" and current leader of the party vince cable declared it a "hugely sad day" for the liberal democrats, and said many members of the public had "immense affection and respect" for him. we hope to speak to sir vince cable shortly. let's get more on this from our political reporterjessica parker. jessica, he was very much the action man of british politics. yes. seen asa man of british politics. yes. seen as a very dynamic presence in british politics and someone who had a major impact on political life in the country, not least of all

turning the liberal democrats into a significant electoral force. also seen significant electoral force. also seen as significant electoral force. also seen as somebody who could really reach across the political divide. that has been reflected in some of the tributes we have seen to him over the past 12 hours, including from sirjohn major, the former conservative prime minister. this is what he said. of course, many will be extremely saddened by the news that broke last night. some will be shocked. it was only in october we learned of this diagnosis of bladder cancer. as you say, overall he will be remembered asa say, overall he will be remembered as a dynamic, dedicated, passionate politician, not just the as a dynamic, dedicated, passionate politician, notjust the longest

serving leader of the liberal democrats, but the body a wide—ranging and pretty extraordinary public surface korea. 0k, extraordinary public surface korea. ok, thank you very much —— public surface career. we'll be getting reaction to lord ashdown‘s death throughout this morning's programme and we'll speak to the current lib dem leader vince cable in just a few minutes. at least 168 people are now known to have died and nearly 600 more have been injured after a tsunami hit the coast of indonesia. it's thought to have been caused by an undersea landslide following eruptions from the krakatoa volcano. the tsunami hit the coast on the sunda strait, which separates the islands of java and sumatra. the country's disaster management agency says hundreds of buildings were damaged and at least 20 people are still missing. let's get the very latest now from the bbc‘s indonesia editor rebecca henschke. that's right. we are heading to one of the worst affected areas on the west coast of java. this row of

beaches that are a popular holiday destination, where we are seeing footage and reports of quite widespread devastation along the coast. a lot of houses they're reduced to rubble, ships badly damaged, cars turned upside down, also local health centres they're saying they are struggling to cope with the injured and also that body bags are piling up at these small health centres in this area. at the moment, the official death toll is 62. we are hearing our reports more from the sumatran side of that straight that we have not received before, with some warning that the death toll there could be in the hundreds. rebecca, obviously it is a developing situation. what we know about the timing and the magnitude of the quake that caused this tsunami? well, it was not in fact a

quake. what the national disaster agency is saying is that it was volcanic activity on this volcano that sits in the middle of the cylinder straight, anak krakatau, it has risen out of the sea in the same place that that they must volcano, krakatoa, that place that that they must volcano, kra katoa, that erupted place that that they must volcano, krakatoa, that erupted in 1883, killing thousands of people, that was one of the deadliest and most devastating volcanic events in recorded history —— sunda strait. this is called the child of that volcano and it has been erupting. some believe that it may have caused an under wraps some believe that it may have caused an underwraps and some believe that it may have caused an under wraps and —— underwater landslide so powerful that it triggered this tsunami. but because there was not a quake and there was not the usual morning or timing, this tsunami has really taken by surprise. extraordinary footage of a band playing to a cloud then suddenly the waves engulfed the

stage, showing that people had no warning whatsoever when this tsunami hit at about 9:30pm local time. that was rebecca henschke speaking to was earlier on the programme. a man and woman are still being held in connection with multiple drone sightings that brought gatwick airport to a standstill. police searched a house in the nearby town of crawley yesterday. the disruption lasted for three days, as tens of thousands of passengers had their flights cancelled or delayed. simon clemison has the latest. he is now london newsroom for us. 140,000 passengers disrupted? do we think this is the end of it now, now that there are two people in custody? a very good morning to you, victoria. we don't know much more at this stage. 24 hours have now passed since their arrest. we are expecting to hear whether the police will look for more time to question them or charge them or release them, we know

the man is 47, the woman is 54, we think one of them is a drone enthusiast. police, as you say, have now searched a house in crawley, the main town near the airport. this is in relation to those sightings, where, on a number of occasions, a drone was spotted above the airfield. it began on wednesday evening. aircraft were grounded for safety reasons. that in the week before christmas. it caused the disruption that we know only too well. 140 , 000 disruption that we know only too well. 140,000 passengers, 1000 placed averted or cancelled. every time the airport tried to reopen the drones rarebit. the army has now secured the airspace so flights can ta ke secured the airspace so flights can take off and land. the advice today is to check with your airline before you travel. thank you very much. you up—to—date with all the main stories. now back to one of our top stories — the death of paddy ashdown, former head of the liberal democrats

and the party's longest—serving leader. one of the many colleagues paying tribute to lord ashdown today is the current leader, sir vince cable, whojoins us now. thank of your time this morning. our condolences on a sad mourning for you. all of paddy ashdown‘s family and colleagues. and your reaction to this sad news? it is, as you say, very sad. it is a mygov a shop. only a few weeks ago at the party conference he was buzzing with life -- it is conference he was buzzing with life —— it is something of a shock. he contracted a serious illness, bladder cancer, and suddenly died rather quickly. it is a big loss. he was a phenomenally important in the development of our party. he took us from virtually nothing in the mid—19 805, when support had collapsed, into being a serious third force in

british politics with a major breakthrough in the 1997 election, particularly. i think it has gone on to bea particularly. i think it has gone on to be a majorfigure in british public life. and respected right acro55 public life. and respected right across the spectrum because of his commitment to international cau5e5. a5 commitment to international cau5e5. as you know, he was the governor of bo5nia for a while. and also because of his salah politics, which was very nonsectarian, noncontroversial ina way very nonsectarian, noncontroversial in a way —— 5tyle very nonsectarian, noncontroversial in a way —— style of politics. he worked with people across the board. i guess that is reflected by b com pletes i guess that is reflected by b completes across—the—boa rd tribute5 that have been paid by people for political colour5 —— the complete. that transformation he brought about with the liberal democrats, it was key in the way your life has turned out. that is why you were able to become an mp. indeed. i was adopted asa become an mp. indeed. i was adopted a5 a candidate in the very depth5, the low point in the late 19805. and

my seat was identified early on as a potential target. i got a loss of support from paddy ashdown. i was one of the mp5 became in an 1987 very much on his coattail5 —— lot. i a lot to him. and he continues, long after he stepped down as leader he has remained very active, always participating in our conferences, got a lot of ideas and a great source of advice and help. people talked a lot today about his dedication to public surface. we saw that even before he became a politician. yes, indeed. he was a soldier, in the royal marines. he was a member of the diplomatic surface involved in intelligence work. the consequence of that was that his involvement in international affairs wa5 that his involvement in international affairs was informed bya international affairs was informed by a real practical experience of what could be done. he was a strong

5upporter what could be done. he was a strong supporter of humanitarian intervention by the british army in yugoslavia and elsewhere. he took up the cause of the hong kong chinese, who, at one point, were being cut adrift by the british government and prevented from coming to the uk. and the5e prevented from coming to the uk. and these interventions were informed by real knowledge of what britain could actually do as a military power. so his internationali5m wasn'tjust a matter of ideal5, it was informed by practical experience. of course, not everybody always agrees with every politician, but i have seen people refer to him as the greatest prime minister we never had. indeed. there was a certain 5adne55 minister we never had. indeed. there was a certain sadness that when we did get into government in 2010, he had long since retired and was not actively involved in it. but he would have been very good. he was extremely energetic, capable, well—organised man. he would have been a very good minister and indeed more. just finally, of course.

yourself, colleagues, friends, everyone's thoughts today are with lord a5hdown‘5 family. everyone's thoughts today are with lord ashdown's family. well, indeed. he married young, jane, his wife has been very close to him throughout his life. indeed, there is a lot of 5adne55 around. his life. indeed, there is a lot of sadness around. sir vince cable, we are very grateful to you this morning. thank you for getting up early to talk to us and pay tribute your friend. here is susan with a look at this morning's weather. we have got the christmas weather forecast for you. probably not a light christmas, possibly a grey wind. pretty much that in a nut5hell. we have got high pressure building for christmas week, so that will bring a lot of 5ettled weather. if you have plans to travel, the weather should not hamper you. but if you have plans to be out making snowmen, if you have plans to be out making snowmen, i will have to disappoint you. here we are with some cloud and

rain acro55 u5, you. here we are with some cloud and rain acro55 us, this high it will build into next week and squeeze away the weather front5, getting rid ofa away the weather front5, getting rid of a lot of rain, but locking and a lot of cloud so quite grey skies in the week ahead. today, quite grey skies a5 the week ahead. today, quite grey skies as well. a gloomy start with some rain acro55 skies as well. a gloomy start with some rain across the southern half of the uk through the morning. i am hopeful that northern ireland and northern england will brighten during the afternoon and eventually we will see the rain through the second half of the day clearing away from the north midlands and north wale5 a5 from the north midlands and north wale5 as well. scotland is the place to be for the best of the sunshine. loud in the south first thing. by the afternoon you should be looking at sunshine, brighter for northern ireland and northern england. further 5outh, ireland and northern england. further south, southern counties will see the rain ea5ing off but look out towards the west and you can see another pul5e look out towards the west and you can see another pulse of rain which will run across southern england through the evening and on into the night. if you are heading out a bit later on, bear that in mind. night. if you are heading out a bit later on, bearthat in mind. it look5 quiet on the map by the time we get to du5k, but by the time we get to the evening, quite a lot of

wet weather running into 5outhern england and wales. further north, clearer skie5, light wind5 england and wales. further north, clearer skie5, light winds and a more widespread frost for the start of christmas eve, getting down into the midlands. to the south, 5till very mild. in some spots temperatures getting close to double figures, 10 degrees in plymouth at the end of the night. that is because we have the remnants of our weather front from today first thing on christmas eve. south—east england, south wales, quite grey with some rain first thing. elsewhere, a dry christmas eve and a brighter story that we will see today. a little bit cooler, temperatures around average for the time of year or perhaps 5lightly below to the north. a5 for christmas day, we have given the game away a little bit, but definitely grey and not light. a little bit of whiteness first thing, due to a widespread frost and clearer skies overnight, but for christmas day itself, a tale of cloud drifting acro55 u5 but for christmas day itself, a tale of cloud drifting acro55 us and maybe some spots getting stuck with some patches of lingering mi5t

maybe some spots getting stuck with some patches of lingering mist and fog. the murray firth and the pennine5 with the best of the sunshine, a5 pennine5 with the best of the sunshine, as well as the south—east of england. temperatures up to 12 degrees in belfast so on the mild 5ide, degrees in belfast so on the mild side, a little cooler, seven or eight, further east. for the longer term outlook, with that area of high pre55ure, term outlook, with that area of high pressure, i am afraid it is great for much of the way as we look further ahead into the christmas week. thank you very much, we will speak to you later. you are watching breakfast from bbc news. time now for a look at the newspapers. the broadcaster rob mcloughlin is here to tell us what has caught his eye. and some first—hand stories about lord ashdown, which we are interested to hear in a moment. the mirror is one of several papers to feature the two people who are reportedly in custody in connection with the drone sightings at gatwick.

i think we have the wrong 5tack i think we have the wrong stack of papers on the screen, so let's go straight into the stories you have got about lord ashdown. it broke fairly late, but most of the papers able to catch up with this sad news. as was said a few moments ago, it was only in november we realised this, and one of the things we were talking about, his name was never paddy, he was born jeremy and paddy wa5 name was never paddy, he was born jeremy and paddy was the name given because he spent a lot of time in cou nty because he spent a lot of time in county down, and that was the irish brogue kick developed. he was a fascinating man, a man of action, as everybody has stated. over the years, as you know, i have interviewed a lot of prime ministers and party leaders for various programmes on radio and television, and someone asked me recently, in fa ct, and someone asked me recently, in fact, this weekend, who was one of the most difficult or the most interesting people to actually interview, and not in use

interviews, but in political interviews, but in political interviews, i always found paddy wa5 actually a very tough interviewee, especially in a confrontational interview. mainly because paddy sometimes had a habit of attacking the premise of the question. so if you said to him tomorrow is monday, i think paddy would 5crew you said to him tomorrow is monday, i think paddy would screw up his eye5 i think paddy would screw up his eyes sometimes if you wanted to be particularly difficult, and he would 5ay particularly difficult, and he would say to you, well, only the gregorian calendar, and i remember doing one interview and we got into a really serious debate about vetoes and nato and the european union, and he did that thing where he went for it, which is one of his traits, as campbell said, if he had a problem he did not go around the problem but went straight to it, and he attacked the interviewer, which in this case happened to be met, and a5 the interviewer, which in this case happened to be met, and as you know, when you get into that situation, where the interviewer is challenged, the interviewer tries to come back as you are not going to walk out of the studio looking like you have

lost the debate. so it was very interesting and one of the quotes that came out of the interview went straight to the press a55ociation and that night michael he5eltine wa5 quoting it on question time, and i remember we filmed a liberal party conference, it must have been around the mid—19 905 in torquay, and paddy was one of the first leaders, do you remember this trait, tony blair did it, bill clinton did it, where they would come in, rip off theirjacket, put the jacket over... do you remember that? like a man of action. so paddy walked into this meeting and it was full of new members of the liberal democrats, and he took his jacket off like a soldier, he put it over, and he looked around and said, right, a5k put it over, and he looked around and said, right, ask me any question. and a guy at the back put his hand up and our cameras immediately turned to capture the moment, the big question could have been around ko5ovo, about the state of the government, and this guy put his hand up and said paddy, i noticed there are not any bank

machines in the foyer, i5 noticed there are not any bank machines in the foyer, is there anything you can do about that? and in that moment you saw real leadership, because paddy could have responded in a different way, but paddy 5miled responded in a different way, but paddy smiled and said yes, we will look into that and try and sort it out. he was a fascinating leader, and in many ways, as tony blair has 5aid and in many ways, as tony blair has said today, even though he didn't go on and go into high office, which was one of the things he and blair we re was one of the things he and blair were talking about prior to 1997, neverthele55 he was a man who had major impact on british politics. on the subject of interesting leaders, somewhat different, in5ide the subject of interesting leaders, somewhat different, inside the ob5erver somewhat different, inside the observer today, this story about donald trump. becoming increasingly isolated because everyone has left. ye5, everyone has left. isolated because everyone has left. yes, everyone has left. it is a double page, actually. there is a job for both of you. according to this very good piece on the observer today, his wife has left, his son has left, they have all left the white house had gone to his place in florida, and he is at home. now,

there are lots of stories, so you have to take a lot of stories... just to clarify, they have left to go off for christmas. no, they haven't left him completely. that might have been an exclusive, but no. so he is now in a situation where he is tweeting at home on his own, and the most fascinating thing about trump's tweet5, i5 own, and the most fascinating thing about trump's tweet5, is that he doe5 about trump's tweet5, is that he does them at home and he does them com pletely does them at home and he does them completely sober. but he is in a situation right now where, of cour5e, situation right now where, of course, john kelly, jim mattis, the defence secretary, the chief of staff, have both left. two of the main figures who are prepared to stand up and in a kind of way attack or challenge donald trump's views. now we have a situation where the dowjones i5 now we have a situation where the dowjones is suffering over the last week. we have a situation where his pullout of syria seems to have been a response, and in this article what is basically saying is that he is sitting at home, whether it is true or not, right—wing television news

and responding, because of he doesn't like the weight he is being criticised. and when you think that is the way that world politics may be decided, it is a worrying situation. and stranger than fiction, i guess, could apply to both trump and also this. the police force using minority to be capped report style computer systems to predict who is likely to commit crimes —— minority report type systems. do you remember the minority report film? systems. do you remember the minority report film ?|j systems. do you remember the minority report film? i do. so you are arrested not for a crime you have committed but that you are about to commit. an interesting thing about this, this is called the nas, national analytical survey, and they are basically saying police forces are looking at the possibility of using effectively artificial intelligence to look at not only the people who are potentially committing crimes, but also people who potentially may go

missing. and it comes back to this thing that, in many ways, computers really are becoming much more sophisticated and being able to predict the future. i was mentioning a few moments ago uninvolved in a tv programme where for the last two yea rs we have programme where for the last two years we have been running the grand national using cgi technology and algorithms 24 hours before the race. to see who is going to win. to see who is potentially going to win, and in april this year, the same course won it, in the very first photo finish in the grand national. that is interesting, isn't it? could be a few quid to be made. never replace brea kfast few quid to be made. never replace breakfast presenters, though. thank you, we will have more from you in an houras you, we will have more from you in an hour as well. we will move straight into sport, from the grand national, but not talking about horse racing today, but the premier league. and manchester city

unexpectedly losing to crystal palace at the etihad stadium, a brilliant win for crystal palace. and the new manchester unitedmanager‘s first game could not have gone better. so liverpool will sit on top of the premier league table on christmas day with a four—point lead over manchester city. that wasn't the only shock of the day, as chelsea were beaten by leicester. and ole gunnar solskjaer got off to the perfect start with manchester united. joe lynskey reports. this is the week manchester united found a fresh start in an old face. ole gunnar solskjaer once scored the goal that sealed the treble in ‘99. now he brings a new impact, from the bench. rashford will strike and find the bottom corner. what a perfect start. it took marcus rashford three minutes to show their newfound ambition.

it was part of a forward line that included paul pogba. back in the 11, the world cup's ander herrera set out to make things better. although cardiff did respond, that brought the best from united. this is the talent they have had all along. martial, beautiful move — beautiful goal. now that is what manchester united should be about. a goal and a scoreline that brought back days gone by. the new liberated united eventually scored five, for the first time in the league since the day sir alex left. we knew today we're not going to beat cardiff if this becomes a fight. so we need to get the ball down, pass it quickly, move quickly. and the third goal, i think that was just a different class. it all felt like the same routine at manchester city. when they went 1—0 up, crystal palace were 150:1 to win the game. but something extraordinary was about to fall from the sky. and that's a good hit — oh, what a goal! what a goal from andros townsend. a strike as brilliant

as it was significant. palace held their nerve to win 3—2, a result that means city trail liverpool at the top by four points. but chelsea are perhaps now too far behind. they were swept away by leicester city in one flash from jamie vardy. that goal mayjust keep his under—pressure manager, claude puel, in charge, because in this league, it can take just one match to transform the mood. joe lynskey, bbc news. celtic will be top of the scottish premiership at christmas, after they beat dundee 3—0 at home. aberdeen are second, after a 2—0 win at hearts, while hibernian and livingston played out an entertaining 1—1 draw at easter road. ryan hardie opened the scoring for the away side, before ryan porteous nodded in the equaliser. rangers can regain second place when they play stjohnstone later. josh warrington retained his ibf featherweight world title belt with a thrilling points win over carl frampton at the manchester arena. warrington got the better of the former champion frampton from the very first round,

but somehow the northern irishman managed to stay on his feet right up to the final bell. it was always obvious, though, that warrington had done enough. he brought a huge following across the pennines from his home town of leeds. meanwhile, in london, dillian whyte knocked out dereck chisora in the battle of two british heavyweights. he had to wait until the 11th round to find the decisive blow. afterwards whyte called for a rematch with world champion anthonyjoshua, who he hopes to face at wembley next year. to the olympia horse show in london, where britain's william whitaker won the world cup jump—off. whitaker and his horse proved to be too fast for the other riders, in one of showjumping's biggest competitions. william's uncle michael finished fourth. quite a dynasty, the whitaker family. he also has a cousin, john, who competes at the highest level.

that was quite a christmas tradition for me as a little girl, my mum taking it down to olympia for the horse show. nice to get a bit of equestrianism. stay with us. headlines coming up.