chris haigh had this to say: from denise o'neill: brian green agreed: and john tait asked... now the bbc‘s political coverage has long had

a reputation for being overly obsessed with westminster, not surprising when that is where the houses of parliament our company can lead to those outside london to feel their being ignored. that might well have been the thinking behind the recent appointment of alex forsyth to the new role of political correspondent based outside of london. her time going around the country, talking to members of the conservative party about who should be its next leader. here she is in a report showing last month. sandwiches anybody? meet some of the men and women who will pick the country's next prime minister. we have the chance to really change things and it's notjust the party that's going to change, it's going to be the whole country. they know that whoever wins this contest will have a lot on their plate. a viewerjackie was disappointed with how the conservative voters they were depicted.

a couple of weeks later, another report found more conservative members going on a trip to a steam train that prompted a similar objection from chris: we put those points to bbc news and they told us. but what of the wider nation of reporting politics and more

outside of the capital? kate harper greeted alex forsyth‘s appointment enthusiastically. but someone tweeted this response. and thomas smith requested: well, alex forsythjoins me enough my westminster studio, thank you forjoining us. congratulations on your new role. you are covering the whole of the country. can you explain your new role? yes, the thinking behind this is that over the course of the past few years in particular, our political coverage has rightly been dominated by what happens in westminster that is of course largely due to brexit, the fact that there's been a lot of parliamentary process,

there's been some of the important decisions taking place in westminster and of course, the mps from the various political parties have been having a real influence on what is been happening and there is a sense and a feeling that it should not be all we do in terms of our politics and that the decisions made here in westminster affect people from around the country and sometimes what is happening up there in the uk can affect the way the things play out here in westminster, so the idea was that we should try to represent that bit more fully. you're based in birmingham, how does that affect where you go day to day? largely, it depends on the story. so, the jobs really got two parts to it. part of it is reactive. maybe something is happening and he wants a reaction from summer across the country and it may be more proactive. i can suggest that it may be something or examining an issue or tell us of the story, that may, if it is a proactive thing be dictated by what the story is. for example, we did a story about budget cuts and we went to hampshire where there was an active consultation and discussion about what's going on there.

for the more reactive pieces, we try to get a good geographical spread so we are not too focused in one area. the spotlight on a particular area, and reacting somewhere in the nation, is there risk that he could come across as tokenistic? i think what we are trying to do here is get the voices you do not always here on the main bbc aisles outlooks as much as possible. and then we have to avoid on doing is the snapshot. saying that these these are representative of the whole country, but that the label it as it is, these are the people we are talking to, these are some of the views about the wider population and for the course of our coverage, the idea of trying to get to as many places we can so we can become a little bit more representative and diverse. the snapshot of views, is a real challenge is an income because a regular conservative news watcher when people go out of london to take the political temperature, you get the vox pops. i would seems to enforce sweeping stereotypes.

how do you deal with that challenge and what, in the end, will be quite a short report? the point was to plan it a bit more carefully. taken for example, a conservative leadership contest. because he did not focus very much on conservative members because they take a decision that affects all country, but the idea that by having a few days and having the time and space to be able to contact them in advance, set them up, speak to them, arrange to meet them somewhere where they are happy as well so we are representing them in their environment that they are happy with. it allows us then to get a broader range and some can take the time off on the lunch break and come down, then it's going to go to any ordinary street, which are very valid, we are trying to do something a little bit more representative. despite all those efforts, some viewers feel that in the end, they did feel conservative members may be stereotyped and we have heard it in the past with other reports going to working men's clubs to represent a certain constituency. how would you deal

with that concern? you talk to the contributors that are involved, and those reports in loughborough, we're in contact with the conservative party members from those local associations for a few days ahead of those films, they knew exactly where were heading and how they would be represented. and in both cases, they were very happy with how they came across. part of it is about how the conversation and thinking it through to make sure that you aren't sort of leaping, that you're considering how it's going be perceived by the public. i think a big part of this role has had as been about the coverage on air, but by feeding into the wider political machine. i have attended several

of the hustings events between boris johnson jeremy hunt that are taking place across the united kingdom and talking to people, not necessarily people that appear on the news, butjust talking to as many people as possible who are attending those events, i can feed back to colleagues in westminster that may not always get the call taking a chance to attend. just a sense of the people are thinking and feeling, something that is often been said is there can be a disconnect with what we know in the westminster bubble and the wider united kingdom. sometimes it can feel very important here westminster, though it might not seem that way sometimes you're going down the road and vice versa, by feeding into the wider coverage to make sure we are in the right place these are the crucial stories. thank you so much. finally, this week saw the last this week, bbc one's weekly late night politics show which has been presented by andrew neil for all of 16 years. it will be replaced on september by a television version of brexit cast, the hit podcast series. the final extended episode on thursday featured elements familiar with the programme's devoted fans, a brightjacket, the dog and references to wine and including a musical tribute.

a fitting end many thought to this week's quirky mix of political debate, passionate diatribes from its host to the next presenter and offbeat humour. recorded her thoughts on the show‘s demise. i would like to say how devastated i am that this week is coming to an end. there is not enough in the world to drown my sorrows. at the time of the bbc is coming under increasing criticism for its bias and interviewing style, this week stood out as a beacon of excellence, engineer's interrogations, the discussions, the satires in the comedy, there's nothing to replace it. i would also like to ask the programmers why this programme was consigned to the graveyard shift? why could not a more convenient time be found for it? this is the last programme of this series of newswatch, we'll be back at the end of august with the new prime minister.

no doubt brexit was to be dominating the news but let us know your views on what you see on bbc tv news or on social media you can e—mail news watch a bbc dot could not find us on twitter. you can call us and we do have a look at the website. thank you for watching. we'll be back with more news on bbc coverage. hello there. it felt as if summer had taken a break on friday. it will return though as i'll show you later in this forecast. but over the last 2a hours we have seen some really heavy downpours, that picture came from a weather watcher in staffordshire, late on friday afternoon. the radar picture shows the way in which these pulses of very heavy rain flung themselves across the british isles, with some flashes of lightning, some rumbles of thunder, and the last vestiges of this wet weather still with us as we start off saturday morning.

some heavy rain still across the far south—east. some patches of rain elsewhere as well. all tied in with this frontal system which is clearing away, so that will allow for things to improve a little through the day ahead, but low pressure still in charge, so while there will be some spells of sunshine, there will also be some showers, some of which could be heavy and thundery. but it is quite a soggy start across the south—east of england, and that rain should clear away fairly smartly through the morning. rain though hanging back across shetland for a good part of the day. for the majority though, it is that regime of sunny spells and heavy, thundery downpours, although for northern ireland, a much drier day in prospect with patchy cloud and sunny spells, 20 in belfast, 22 in plymouth, 2a in london. those showers should quickly fade away during saturday evening. into the early hours of sunday we will be left with clear, starry skies, maybe the odd mist patch, and it will be a little cooler and fresher with temperatures getting down to between 11—14. sunday then starts off on a fine, dry and, in many places, sunny note. the further south and east you are the better the chances

of holding on to that fine weather, but for northern ireland, western scotland, far north—west of england, maybe north—west wales will see outbreaks of rain and strengthening winds through the day. still some wet weather around the northern half of the uk on monday. that rain tending to retreat northwards, further south some spells of sunshine, and things start to warm up. temperatures could get to 29, possibly 30 degrees, but that is not the end of it because across iberia and france, a significant heat wave will be developing through early part of next week, and some of that heat will waft its way northwards. some places likely to get to around 3a degrees. the north—west of the uk always likely to see some outbreaks of rain at times, but even in edinburgh we are looking at highs of 25—26, some areas of cloud flirting with western coast at times, further south and east that's where we'll have the highest temperatures — 33—34, but the chance of some

thunderstorms later in the week.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: the british government warns of ‘serious consequences‘ after an oil tanker in the gulf is seized by iran. the vessel was tracked moving off course, to the north — no longer in contact with its owners. aid agencies call for a faster international response to the ebola outbreak in the democratic republic of congo. and as a heatwave sweeps across north america meteorolgists warn the vulnerable could be at risk.