after the first public hearings, saying it was all based on third—hand information. he told journalists he hadn't seen a minute of the proceedings. mr trump is accused of trying to press ukraine into investigating his political rival, joe biden, by withholding aid. meanwhile, the us president's been holding talks with his turkish counterpart — recep tayyip erdogan — in washington, calling the discussions ‘wonderful and productive‘. he insisted he'd done the right thing by withdrawing us troops from northern syria. democrats and some republicans have fiercely criticised the move. british voters have been urged not to "give up" on stopping brexit by the outgoing european council president. donald tusk said leaving the eu would leave the uk a ‘second—rate player', and that brexit would likely mark the ‘real end of the british empire'.

now on bbc news, electioncast. hello. just finishing in the louvre. why are we having this election? borisjohnson why are we having this election? boris johnson wants a why are we having this election? borisjohnson wants a majority in parliament to gettysburg cyst deal through and then every other party decided it was in their interest as well. can be done by the end of january? in theory, yes if there is a majority for the deal in parliament but then when there will be more negotiations after that. why are you walking backwards? doesn't everybody do this? what is the best thing about election cast? it is so easy to find. how are political parties targeting people online?

tweets, instagram, whatsapp groups, screen grabs of tweets on instagram, you name it and you get targeted ads which means you may see something others do not. what is (bleep) posting? this? and how do i register to vote? easy. this. you have until november 26, earlierfor to vote? easy. this. you have until november 26, earlier for postal votes. what is the most overused phrase in politics right now? for the birds. who is that? this is our producer. hello! bad mood today. what is the weirdest app on your phone right now? i have a link on my home screen to a copy of the brick cyst deal for —— brexit deal for ease of use. what is your most used emerging? this one. i was grumpy. fish and chips or a sunday roast?

both on the same day. what is the weirdest rumour you have heard about yourself? there is no coffee machine here but there is a coffee pot. the weirdest rumour is that i was having an affair with catcher adler. not true. definitely not true. —— katya adler. when will the manifestoes been out? not soon enough. hey, look, it is your arrival. hello, chris. what are you doing? east grimes for corbyn? maybe not. can we rely on poles this election? never rely on poles this election? never rely on poles this election? never rely on an individual polling. you need to look at the trends. who is your political crush? young keir starmer or old michel barnier. what

is your message for people? my message to people, two people watching this right now is that you need to get on bbc sounds or tune into the bbc news channel at a 30 every night for election cast. if i can ever get my headphones on. electioncast. electioncast from the bbc. we are in this election because of brexit. we don't want to be thinking about a general election. we want to be buying our christmas presents. if anyone says they know what is happening, cock an eyebrow, smile politely and turn your back. we're ata we're at a loose end this afternoon? it not take that long. i suppose not. you don't know how many takes that talk. so that was your gentle

spoof in the direction of the party election broadcasts. a lot of people are talking about it on twitter. they did you notice we forgot to mention marmite? that is what eve ryo ne mention marmite? that is what everyone is talking about, whether he likes marmite. yes or no? i have never tried it. i have never had marmite. you never get a clear answer. the talk of the town this morning was the malfunctioning robot on the detainee programme with nick robinson. nick, nick... nick nick, nick, nick, nick, nick, nick dominika. do or die he said he would die ina dominika. do or die he said he would die in a ditch, he did not leave he did not die in a ditch he did not do fioi’ did not die in a ditch he did not do nordie. so we did not die in a ditch he did not do nor die. so we are going to betray people who have made falls of themselves, start with the prime minister. chris, chris, chris, chris, the action moved to south yorkshire and the floods they have had their because borisjohnson yorkshire and the floods they have had their because boris johnson went to see for himself. an yorkshireman like myself occasionally have a

reputation for calling a spade a spade. calling a spade a shovel. as it is. in the prime minister got a bit of a sense of that in south yorkshire today. and some people we re yorkshire today. and some people were willing to shake his hand but some were not. look at this. you should have been there having a meeting and making sure that these people get the help and the support andl people get the help and the support and i am sorry, your announcement yesterday was a pittance. the flood defences need that support. we want to know that these people matter. that has not been demonstrated yet. it is an emergency, boris! but of course prime ministers and leaders of the opposition don't hang around for a long time in a campaign. so then he went to coventry to a factory that builds electric taxis, among other things. in the striking

thing is that, like labour, conservatives wanted to play their greatest hits today and talk about brexit. and this was meant to be a big set piece stunt that makes dump piece but once borisjohnson had done the speech and he opened the floor to questions, those pesky journalists including our laura, wa nted journalists including our laura, wanted to ask about the warm welcome he got in yorkshire. thank you... thank you very much. you clearly wa nt thank you very much. you clearly want to talk about brexit every time you are in front of a microphone but today we have seen voters in yorkshire are very unimpressed by your handling of the floods and several of your formal —— former colleague suggesting that people should think seriously about voting live dam. are you in control of this campaign? just on the floods, i think it is very important to say

that, um, i have been twice now in a week to see what is happening in south yorkshire in derbyshire and in nottinghamshire and i will pay tribute, firstly to the emergency services for everything they have done, the police, the fire brigade, the army last night. we sent in 200 dragoons who are doing fantastic job. we have think them today. but my strongest impression is of communities coming together and helping each other and i want to thank all those communities that i saw today in fishlake and elsewhere. people are really showing the best spirit of this country. i made clear throughout my time there, the government stands ready to support in any way that we can. what is it with you and laura. laura cannot

hold a microphone correctly, you could not get your headphones on earlier. a trivial observation about boris at that lectern, one of our collea g u es boris at that lectern, one of our colleagues mentioned that she reckons the font that is underneath the prime minister ‘s left turn or is on the lectern, about getting brexit done is the same font as only falls and horses. really? you can work out whether or not that is a reasonable conclusion. after last week's brexit past i have learnt not to comment on fonts. after i offended the comic sans constituency. we are passionate. i know. i should have known when i said it. or borisjohnson would want us said it. or borisjohnson would want us to waffle on about is the contents us to waffle on about is the co nte nts of us to waffle on about is the contents of his speech. it was interesting because he presented himself as optimistic and centrist,

a father of the nation and there was just something about getting brexit pushed out of the way and there is so much good stuff beyond. today, the uk boasts more nobel prize winners than any other country except the us, we dominate the pop music charts and we dominate the market in hollywood superheroes with british actors playing spider—man and superman under this government we have an economy. i will take credit for it. he cannot take credit for how many —— henry being cast as superman. that was under the coalition government that a british person became superman. also in that speech we got a new metaphor for the brexit deal. he has been saying it is oven ready. just put it in the oven and it is ready to go. in the microwave on gas mark four, whatever he is saying. it is confused now. now he says it is like

a blue peter brexit, it is one we made earlier. made of sticky tape and toilet roll and falls apart in five minutes? now we're being saying uncork the gawk. who is david cork? he is the independent candidate for the constituency where he used to be the constituency where he used to be the conservative mp. he was in the cabinet until months ago and then late last night and i know it was late last night and i know it was late because i was on shift and he tweeted again, saying that not only is he running as an independent, not only does he think that this idea of a borisjohnson only does he think that this idea of a boris johnson brexit only does he think that this idea of a borisjohnson brexit delivered by january and in the long—term arrangement sorted out by the end of next year is unrealistic, he is also said he does not think it would be in the national interest for boris

johnson to get a majority. in this quy johnson to get a majority. in this guy was a conservative cabinet minister injuly guy was a conservative cabinet minister in july and guy was a conservative cabinet minister injuly and now he is saying that the conservative should not win this election outright for the sake of the country. it was incredible. and it is similar, not quite the same but similar to what the former labour minister was saying last week when he said vote for borisjohnson. saying last week when he said vote for boris johnson. granted saying last week when he said vote for borisjohnson. granted that mr gauke did not say vote forjeremy corbyn but he did not say vote for the conservatives. in his own constituency he is asking people to not vote conservative, they he wants the votes as an independent candidate. it will be interesting to see what happens to those independents and how complicated they make the picture. here's something else complicated. labour today wanted to be all about how they will spend £6 billion a year more than the conservatives on the nhs in the future. by 202a. that was the plan. they were super generous. however it did not go quite as

planned. they also have this other idea which is the idea of having a four—day week, hour working week. that is an aspiration they say over ten yea rs that is an aspiration they say over ten years and it would depend on the economy growing and blah blah blah. the big question put to them today is does it include the nhs? who better to put that question to the shadow health secretary then our old friend andrew. why would people want to stay in the nhs if elsewhere people are on a four—day week? to stay in the nhs if elsewhere people are on a four-day week? all of the hours worked would be part of the national calculation because the 32 hours average is a national average figure. so some will work a lot more? there will be different things in different sectors. people watching this can only conclude that what you are saying and watch on the donald is saying are two very different things. you can never have

too much of andrew neil in a general election campaign. let's hear next from our political correspondent alex forsyth who soaks up politics around the uk and has been out and about with the conservatives this week. but we wanted to talk to her particularly around this whole question of alleged islamophobia. alex, my senses you are a car park. how could you possibly have told? was that gave it away? i am indeed ina car was that gave it away? i am indeed in a car park on the campaign trail following around the prime minister ina sofar following around the prime minister in a sofar undisclosed location in the west midlands. alex, you are one of our political correspondent‘s, spanning life on the road always and we wa nted spanning life on the road always and we wanted to talk about islamophobia, allegations in the conservative party because there is new stuff on this today. something you've been ferreting around for quite awhile. what's come out today

is the latest tranche of cases. in this instance, conservative or former counsellors who post stuff on facebook or twitter to do with islamophobia and the party has suspended a whole batch of them and kicked them out, we are taking swift action, they say, but it's prompted the action around this issue. how did this stuff come to light? today, and when you were looking into it. i've been looking into it quite look. —— quite a lot. a lot of this is led by a guy who goes by the twitter handle jacob who has come up with batches if you like of individuals who often call themselves conservative party members, identifies members have been posting stuff on social media. he gave us a batch of this back and set timberand went he gave us a batch of this back and set timber and went through and verified all the posts and put it to the party and the party did suspend everyone bound to be a member but it

just feels this conversation which i'm sure you both know has been going on for some time about, is the conservative party doing enough to tackle islamic phobia, should there be an independent enquiry. when various candidates were stood at podiums. boris johnson blurted various candidates were stood at podiums. borisjohnson blurted out that he would want. is that what you promised? i don't know if you sorta blurted out always bounced into it. you could probably go with the latter. it was sajid javid who during one of those debates said, come on guys, we should have an independent enquiry. he sort of bouncy others into it. it appeared

they were all signed up to it. obviously borisjohnson they were all signed up to it. obviously boris johnson one. they were all signed up to it. obviously borisjohnson one. oh, my goodness, i'm not trying to impersonate the prime minister. i just won't do it right now. don't tempt me. we did quite value myjob. nothing much has happened since then. now what's happened is, conservative campaigners are saying there's got to be an independent enquiry specifically into islamophobia, the muslim council of britain say the same from the party leadership, they are going to do a wider enquiry about all forms of prejudice and there are comparisons being drawn rightly or wrongly

between how labour approach the anti—semitism in the early days, whenjeremy anti—semitism in the early days, when jeremy corbyn said he anti—semitism in the early days, whenjeremy corbyn said he condemned racism of all forms and the rhetoric on the conservative party about needing an enquiry, looking at all forms ofjudas. needing an enquiry, looking at all forms of judas. rightly needing an enquiry, looking at all forms ofjudas. rightly or wrongly, there are comparisons about whether thatis there are comparisons about whether that is the right approach for the party to take. we think you should be really much more specific and look at the issue of his islamophobia only. here is what the former tory party chair was saying about the issue. we're years into these matters being brought to the attention of the party, three chairmen, two prime ministers later in the fact we're still prevaricating about even having an enquiry on the kind enquiry we are going to have showsjust how dismissive the party have been on theissue dismissive the party have been on the issue of islamophobia. let's not forget the first issue raised by my colleagues and indeed the previous prime minister was that there really was no evidence of islamophobia. here we are four years later with

dossier after dossier, dozens and dozens of cases being presented with the most vile evidence of racism within the party at every level from members of parliament all the way down to our ordinary activists. members of parliament all the way down to our ordinary activistslj just down to our ordinary activists.” just wonder, alex, how this plays, how people in that car park, normal people parking their cars actually think about this issue. you've got to wonder how it cuts through. i think it is undoubtedly a conversation happening within certain parts of the conservative party. the barrenness has been one of the most vocal people, how big that becomes is really hard to tell because today, despite this having come out this morning, and michael gove being on the today programme, the way the day has developed, still lots of focus on the nhs and other policy areas and inevitably brexit.

i don't think it's going to go away is an issue because it has been around for a while now and i think, if they promised whatever the outcome of the election, they are going to hold an enquiry. there are going to hold an enquiry. there are going to hold an enquiry. there are going to be a lot of people looking at the terms of it. it's important to say a lot of the stuff that's come out in the public domain, it's around party members, people who call themselves party members. as the kind of level it is. on the question is whether the party has been robust enough. of course, they are but i don't think that is going to go away anytime soon and we will have to see if it does continue to go out during the course of the campaign, if there is any more information of this nature, if it comes back again and how boris johnson chooses to handle it. hope it's not too cold. it is chilly. alex forsyth was my car park to a will continue over the next four

weeks. so much stuff about this phrase, the digital doorstep. ian has been in touch saying, on my facebook timeline, i've seen zero political ads. am i did orjust nobody‘s demographic. political ads. am i did orjust nobody's demographic. there is still another month. it could be that lots of these ads i aimed at younger voters. and it is ideal because our sister pod casts known as the next episodes, they've done an episode where they've taken some of this expensive political advertising aimed at young voters and shown it to young voters and you will not believe what their reaction was when they sought. i can't believe it.

do we know who they are trying to reach? because of its young people, than the think they might have wasted quite a bit of money. the words are going way too fast. 0h, wasted quite a bit of money. the words are going way too fast. oh, my god. they are just like random words in an orderfor god. they are just like random words in an order for no reason. it does look like it's kind of the first video you made in school, film classes, it's just a slideshow, when your phone makes the automatic slideshow. come on. what's that? what actually is that? it's a bit fast, to be honest. no music. it's

very bizarre. they are only telling us very bizarre. they are only telling us what the other parties aren't doing, not what they are going to do. that one, i think is definitely a waste of money because they could have just done it is a photo. i don't know why they need to do a video, it was so on engaging to watch. i think this intro is... it just looks like a kid has done it at school. i mean, i'm not clued up on it. what is the £50 million remain bonus? i don't know what the remain bonus? i don't know what the remain bonus is. invest what? if! covered up bonus is. invest what? if! covered up where it says liberal democrats sponsored, paid by them.“ up where it says liberal democrats sponsored, paid by them. if you want me to vote for someone or something based oven and you put out, at least tell me who you are. i watch that three times, i have no idea what

most of it was saying. that's a joke. i can't take it seriously. blimey. based palm. they are a mighty tough audience. that's what's really interesting because going back to that in about the digital doorstep, that's the reality of how stuff is being consumed, isn't it? it's not about billboards and knocking on doors. don't knock on their doors. exactly. you can hear and see much more of this stuff on the next episode of our sister pod cast at bbc sounds, it's the place to go. the app is your spot for finding that episode. talking of top

crowds, you have some and mail. is adam fleming under the impression that he is funny? is woefully an amusing performance is about as funny as a blister and twice as irritating. epic fail, as my gd would say. what does that stand for? granddaughter, i think. would say. what does that stand for? granddaughter, ithink. thanks, whoever sent that. good evening to you too. before we go, because we are going soon, we have a public apology to make. we do not shy away from mistakes. have a look at this. yesterday on the programme, we referred to a national treasure it presents a lunchtime show on radio to asjerem vince. he sent this. we know full well your real name is

actuallyjeremy vince, notjerem vince. we will never make that mistake again. i can't wait until we have hugo edwards on. hugo edwards. donald dimblebum. that's it from us tonight. loads more pod cast stop on bbc sounds and we will be back at 9:30pm with brexitcast, the original and the best. good night. hello. wednesday started decently enough across the south—west of england and south wales and then came a mix of rain or snow, just depending on elevation. to keep decent weather, you had to be a good dealfurther away towards the east and it was a drier and finer day than we've seen of late, but there was no escaping the fact the system that has brought that combination of wet and at times wintry fare into that south—western

quarter is going to be a player more widely across the southern half of britain during the course of thursday. really quite wet for the commute across the southern counties of england. come the afternoon, we'lljust be pushing the eastern portion of the front with some significant rainfall haveup towards those flood—affected areas and if you don't happen to see it during daylight hours, given the fact that this system is going to move a little bit further north, you might get it during the evening on what will have been another single—figure temperature day right across the piste. there is more sunshine to be had across scotland and northern ireland with a few showers, but it won't make an awful lot of difference. here we are into the wee small hours of friday, that frontal system tending to fracture a little but each individual pulse of rain i'm showing there could be really quite heavy and unwelcome rain at that into the flood—affected areas, on what is going to be another fairly cool night and a fairly cool start to friday. still dominated by the big area of low pressure which is sitting across us and, indeed, much of central and western europe and the onshore flow from the north sea,

moisture—laden airs and there's still bits and pieces of rain to be had quite widely across england and wales, but not with the same sort of intensity that we might have seen on thursday. scotland, northern ireland seeing the very best of the sunshine, the north of scotland still picking up on one or two showers, each in their own right could be wintry across the higher ground. had quite widely across england and wales, but not with the same sort of intensity that we might have seen on thursday. scotland, northern ireland seeing the very best of the sunshine, the north of scotland still picking up on one or two showers, each in their own right could be wintry across the higher ground. what news of the weekend? not a great deal changes, i'm afraid. not much intensity about the rain i just about to speak of, but that set—up for saturday is very similar to friday, still the big area of low pressure, still the moisture—laden airs on its northern flank, feeding cloud and bits of pieces of rain, particularly in eastern parts of both scotland and england. separate weather front eventually closes on the western isles. in between, bits and pieces of sunshine perhaps to the western side of wales, down into the south—west of england, up towards the solway, could be favoured and we mayjust about find a degree on the temperatures. i've changed the day, the story's the same. 0k, we're going to bring the front

of scotland with some snow on the high ground, but further south, sunshine in really short supply. and i'm afraid it is going to be one of those weekends.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: public impeachment hearings into donald trump's presidency get under way in washington. this mr trump — who's hosting turkey's leader — says he's too busy to watch. i hear it's a joke. i have not watched, i have not watched for one minute because i've been with the president, which is much more important as far as i am concerned. earlier, president erdogan received a warm welcome to the white house — despite tensions over the war in syria. and — the risks of rebuilding notre—dame. seven months after the fire, architects say there's still a chance of collapse.