you're watching beyond 100 days. the royal family is facing its biggest storm in years, in the wake of prince andrew's extraordinary interview with the bbc. the prince is under mounting pressure to give evidence, under oath, about his links to jeffrey epstein. here in the united states, the prince has been attacked by lawyers representing jeffrey epstein‘s victims. there are renewed calls for him to now speak to the fbi. ‘there‘s no way out' — hong kong police trap hundreds of protestors on a university campus and stop crowds from trying to reach those inside, as beijing warns of a possible intervention to end the crisis. also on the programme... the brakes are coming off. the leaders of britain's political parties have been making their election pitch to big business today, with plans for massive investment in tech,

skills and education. and the race to be the democratic challenger in 2020 has been thrown wide open, with a new poll putting pete buttigieg in first place in iowa — with a 9 point lead over his nearest rival. hello and welcome. i'm michelle fleury in new york and christian fraser is in london. the duke of york is said to be standing by his decision to take part in an interview about his links to convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. sources close to prince andrew said he wanted to address the issues head—on, and did so with "honesty and humility". it comes after the prince's extraordinary interview with the bbc over the weekend. there are now growing calls for the prince to cooperate with us investigators about his links to jeffrey epstein. in his interview, prince andrew denied having any sexual contact with the american woman — virginia roberts — who says she was forced to have sex with him at the age of 17.

epstein took his own life, while awaiting trial on sex—trafficking charges. with me in the studio is our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. this story on eight front pages, what will the reaction be in the family? dismay, principally. a disbelief that this could have been agreed to quite frankly. exasperation at the way in which it is now being portrayed and exasperation that actually in the way prince andrew handled himself. he was completely unsuited to that kind of interview. it showed injust about every answer and has made a difficult situation for him infinitely worse. with demands now that he should talk to the fbi, give a statement under oath, and the palace is still saying that if they make a request it will be considered, so there is still not an absolute agreement at buckingham

palace that he will answer questions under oath. has been a lot of focus today on who knew what about the interview, whether the queen was involved in the decision. what will her involvement have been, do you think, and what will her opinion be now that it has unravelled? think, and what will her opinion be now that it has unravelled7|i think, and what will her opinion be now that it has unravelled? i think she was told about the interview a couple of days before it, i don't think she approved it in any active sense, i think that at the age of 93, she does not really want to get involved in that sort of thing. i would imagine that prince andrew will have called and explained and said this is something he really wa nted said this is something he really wanted to do, he felt was important to get his story out there, that he talked through it with his own officials and he was confident of being able to do it. and i would imagine the queen would have said well, now, are you sure? andrew would have said yes i am absently sure and confident i can handle it. and on that basis, she would have said ok. i think now she and her senior officials are going to need

to exercise much more central control within buckingham palace. we have had two episodes within the last couple of months. prince harry issuing his rant a statement about the british tabloid media the advice of his officials and now andrew acting although with the support of his own private secretary, certainly against the advice of the queen's officials and the communication specialists within buckingham palace. that brings me to one of the recollection is that prince andrew shared in that interview, basically an account of what he was doing, i visit your pizza restaurant, let us have a listen to the clip. on that particular day, that we now understand is the date — which is the 10th of march — i was at home, with the children. i had taken beatrice to pizzaexpress in woking, for a party. i suppose 4, 5 in the afternoon. why would you remember that so specifically? a pizzaexpress birthday

and being at home? because going to pizzaexpress in woking is an unusual thing for me to do. the question many people watching that are wondering is how come he has such great recall of that visit to that particular restaurant so many years ago but does not remember meeting this one—woman? extraordinary isn't it, and there is no plausible or credible answer but that was his answer because as you say in this rather unkindly and dismissive way, —— he said, it was unusualfor him dismissive way, —— he said, it was unusual for him to dismissive way, —— he said, it was unusualfor him to go dismissive way, —— he said, it was unusual for him to go to a pizza express unusual for him to go to a pizzaexpress in woking, a town in surrey. one would imagine there would be security records of his movement but it is unlikely those would be shared even with american lawyers. but yes, again, it raises more questions than it answers.

thank you so much. so what, if any, legal proceedings could prince andrew be called for in the united states? jonathan turley is the bbc‘s legal analyst. if you were to step a foot on us soil he would likely be hit with a subpoena service faq get access to him. there are a number of civil lawsuits pending, some arejust filed, many deal with defamation claims which are flying between lawyers. you have the alleged victim herself who is in court, there are a lot of these lawyers who would love to hand prince andrew a subpoena. and once he has possession of the subpoena, you are normally compelled to appear. prince andrew does not immediately get diplomatic immunity, u nless immediately get diplomatic immunity, unless he is on some kind of

official trip and even if he did, the uk government often waves that immunity in cases of this kind. so this interview put him in a precarious position if he plans to visit the united states anytime soon. and the key being effie plans to visit the united states but if he stays away, he could potentially be out of reach? —— if he plans. stays away, he could potentially be out of reach? -- if he plans. that is right. he could certainly stay an arm's—length away and they can try to seek the assistance of the british government to try to facilitate a deposition. this is a little different with the fbi. if the fbi were to request an interview it would be a request, but those types of requests are given greater weight and move with greater expedition. i read your column at the weekend and i know that he looked at some of the lines of defence that he put forward. one in

particular being that he could not have had six with this —— sex with this girl, he does not perspire and she referenced his sweating all over me. what sort of defence is that if any? i would say it is not a good defence when you have basically perspiration in pizza —— and pizza as your two main fronts to defend upon. frankly, if he had given this testimony in a deposition, it would have been disastrous. or in a trial he would not have gotten out of the courtroom, what is astonishing is that he went into this interview but it not seem to know to want to say. he did not seem to have a clear a nswer he did not seem to have a clear answer and what he came up with was obviously not persuasive. he frankly came across as the type of person that would go to jeffrey came across as the type of person that would go tojeffrey epstein‘s home even after he was accused of

really serious crimes with underage girls. that is obviously not the place you want to be, so i think that the interview did him a great deal of damage below the water line. in this interview could be played back to him to say that it couldn't have been me because i don't perspire, leave that other clarity that has been alleged and he insists... i was just that has been alleged and he insists... i wasjust going to say, he felt he wanted to do this because he felt he wanted to do this because he lives in unique circumstances as a royal auntie finds it very difficult to confront properly some of the allegations but it seems from what you are saying that he should have more properly consulted lawyers before he gave an interview like this? yes, my understanding is that his press adviser left him not long before the interview, i cannot imagine his legal advisers were far behind. because this was a truly catastrophic decision on his part. it is bad enough when people believe

that you are criminal, when they also believe you're comical it is a good combination and this interview has people really in disbelief. so he should have talked to legal counsel or gotten better legal advice. the problem now is that he has put his account out there. and it will be difficult to walk back from that, if you find himself in the united states and is served with a subpoena or if the fbi speaks to him, he could convert a civil case into ourcriminal him, he could convert a civil case into our criminal case. he does not have to worry about the criminal case which existed back in the day with jeffrey epstein, case which existed back in the day withjeffrey epstein, that case which existed back in the day with jeffrey epstein, that statute of limitation has passed. but making false or misleading statements under oath in a civil proceeding or to an fbi agent is a crime under united states law. thank you forjoining us from washington. there have been more violent scenes at a university campus in hong kong. pro—democracy protestors have been arrested trying to escape from the hong kong polytechnic university

which is surrounded by police. authorities are also stopping crowds from reaching the activists who are barricaded inside. police are warning that they will use live rounds if they need to. hong kong has seen almost six months of protests, but over the past week, the clashes between police and protesters have become more violent. china's ambassador to london said this morning that if the situation continued, the future of hong kong will be "unimaginable and dreadful." our correspondent, robin brant, is in hong kong. supporters of the 500 or so protesters who are holed up in the polytechnic university called for others to take to the streets tonight, to show their support. and this is what has happened. in the last couple of hours or so, thousands and thousands of people, most of them are young, have descended onto this area of kowloon and have taken over the streets. it's peaceful but it is highly disruptive and it is another sign

of the tactics they are using to convey their message to the people of hong kong and frankly to disrupt day—to—day lives. there are bricks on the streets, we have seen highways blocked and we have seen the entrances to tunnels closed as well. all of this is a show of support for the protesters who are holed up for a second night now. so, is there an end to this crisis? with me now is christopher hughes, professor of international relations at the the london school of economics and political science. he specialises in china and chinese foreign policy. we should pick up with the comments from the chinese ambassador these images undermine the idea there is stability in the country and it is all one country so you can see why they are starting to run our patients? you described it, the future is unimaginable. it is already unimaginably bad and he has to ask why? who is causing this?

what is the root cause? the chinese government and the hong kong government and the hong kong government immediate strategy is to try and frame this as violence by a small group of protesters, which is a symptom of an underlying issue which is a political problem that they have caused, and they are trying to divert attention away from that and onto the issue of violence. of course you get violence when you create this kind of crisis situation which has now become out of control and people are just desperate and scared and resorting to any methods they can to try to protect themselves. are the demands of the protesters, i know where it started, it started over the exhibition bill, but as we look at it today, are the demands of these protesters cohesive? are the latter the same thing? yes we have consistently have five demands, won the tradition bill which has been met, but the other four are clear, suffrage,

investigations into the police brutality, including an amnesty for the people who have already been imprisoned or put on trial or charged. there are a clear set of their demands they all coalesce around so there is no doubt about that at all. and all of the demands in principle are deliverable. difficult of course, but unless you begin to negotiate them, the situation will only get worse, it cannot possibly get better and it is already terrible. may you mentioned negotiations, who could act as negotiator between the chinese government, the hong kong authorities and the protesters? the movement, the democracy movement in hong kong is not new, it has been going on a long time so there is an older generation of legislators but also a number of new political parties that have emerged from the new generation, going back to 2014, but the attitude towards them has been to marginalise them and for the young ones to actually disenfranchise them and prevent them

from running in elections, running for political office and some of them are in prison. so there are people who could at least in principle begin some kind of dialogue but at least to show, to make the gesture that dialogue is possible, rather than confrontation, rather than the strategy of trying to rule by fear and trying to break the will of the population, which remarkably is not working in hong kong. you have to pay tribute to the determination of the people of hong kong who have suffered now several months of extreme violence, notjust from the police, we see that, but from the police, we see that, but from triads, they have had several rights activists ta ken from triads, they have had several rights activists taken off the streets or out of car fees, stabbed and beaten up, it is a systematic campaign of terror. —— taken out of car fees. that is one way forward from the government, and it is not working, the other is to have some kind of dialogue or in principle show they are prepared to engage in

dialogue and begin to explore the venues dialogue and begin to explore the venues for that. thank you for coming in to speak to us this evening. there is a new front runner in iowa, in the democratic presidential race. pete buttigieg now has a clear lead over his rivals. iowa of course the state that holds the first nominating contest in february. support for the mayor of south bend, indiana, has surged among democrat voters. the new poll puts him around 10 points ahead of his nearest rivals. the poll for the des moines register has buttigieg at 25% — up 16 points from september. he has overtaken his three closest rivals who are in a tight race for second spot. elizabeth warren is on 16%, bernie sanders and former vice—presidentjoe biden are tied in third place at 15%. we can speak to the pollster, ann selzer, whojoins us from des moines in iowa. thank you so much. what do you make

of these new numbers? well, when you talk about their being a new frontrunner, it is really a leapfrog for pete buttigieg over the other contenders some of whom have led in oui’ contenders some of whom have led in our poll before. his support nearly tripled, from the last time we measured in just two tripled, from the last time we measured injust two months tripled, from the last time we measured in just two months ago tripled, from the last time we measured injust two months ago in september. so this is kind of an astonishingly large move by one of these competitors who have been really rather clustered together.“ it because he is picking up support from moderate voters and if so where does that leave joe biden? he picks up does that leave joe biden? he picks up perhaps some support but it is interesting to note that among his supporters, the candidate most likely to be named as their second choice is elizabeth warren. and that seems kinda like and coupling, but i think as elizabeth warren has sort

of drawn some concern about her radical, perhaps, stand about medicare for all, people begin to think that is not viable, that is not a future i can go for. we saw in oui’ not a future i can go for. we saw in our poll question about whether people supported smaller change if it stood a better chance of becoming law that they want big change even if there was a chance it did not happen, and there was much more interest in the smaller more doable agenda which is why perhaps elizabeth warren is backing off and pete buttigieg is on the rise. joe biden is down five since september. still up there in second or second and third place, but is he being damaged by the impeachment enquiry in washington? are people starting to ta ke in washington? are people starting to take note of the role that the bidens played in the ukraine?” to take note of the role that the bidens played in the ukraine? i do not know i could speak to the impeachment part, because that is fairly recent, but what i will say

is that we have seen consistently in the proportion of people who say they have favourable feelings toward they have favourable feelings toward the former brick vice president, that number since we first started falling last year has consistently declined. there are now double the people who have an unfavourable view than a favourable view from when we first started so there is something happening in terms of public appreciation ofjoe biden. it is not just that they are preferring someone else, for the person to win, the iowa caucus, it is also that he does not appear to be wearing well. iam does not appear to be wearing well. i am always interested when we get someone like you from announcing outside the washington belt, we talk so much about impeachment, what you people in iowa, on both sides, what do they say about this impeachment enquiry? a couple of things are happening, we had a question in the poll about how closely are you following and it is not as high as you might think. i don't think

people are riveted. when they first announced they would open a formal enquiry, i thought i need to keep my year on the ground, and really the candidates are not talking about it, they are not fielding questions, from the people who are coming to the event about it, it is really sort of a let's just wait and see we have other things that we are paying close attention to, issues we are very concerned about with health care, infrastructure, other sorts of issues that affect everyday lives. who knew people are focused on their own lives? lovely to see you, thank you very much for coming on. worth pointing out because we have been talking about joe pointing out because we have been talking aboutjoe biden slipping's numbers, we should look nationally. there is a reason we look at iowa because it is the first caucus in february and there is momentum if you win but these are the figures nationally. joe biden still ahead by five points from elizabeth warren and when you look at the swing states although i do not have

another stand, he beats donald trump in the polling, by a bigger margin than some of those he is up against in the democratic field and that is important to a lot of people. of course, it is policies and issues they focus on but a lot of democrats say what we're really focused on is who can beat donald trump?|j say what we're really focused on is who can beat donald trump? i think the reason you have so many people focus on iowa and new hampshire is coming out of these first two primary races, the person who comes out in front, has momentum. that went in the sales, that can have a huge impact on political campaigns and that is why people are looking atjoe biden with a bit of concern since he is doing badly, can you win enough further on, does that momentum propel other candidates in the meantime, you have got to others basically waiting in the wings, potentially, entering late, they

clearly think there is opportunity that iowa and new hampshire perhaps do not matter as much as they have in the past, we will find out. some of the numbers are stodgy for the democrats. let's turn to the election here. the political leaders have been making their pitch to business leaders today at the confederation of british industry's annual conference. prime minister boris johnson announced the conservatives will be shelving a planned cut in corporation tax if they win the election, in order to put more taxpayers money into the nhs. labour's jeremy corbyn denied the labour party were ‘anti—business. they have uveiled plans for 320,000 new climate apprenticeships to help businesses develop and adapt cleaner technologies. here's what the two leaders had to say. and by the way, because the nhs is the nation's priority, and our priority, and because we believe emphatically in fiscal prudence, i hope you won't mind if i also announced, today, that we are postponing further

cuts in corporation tax. it's not anti—business to say that the largest corporations should pay their taxes just as smaller companies do. pay their taxesjust as smaller companies do. and it's not anti—business to want prosperity in every part of our country, not only in the financial centres of the city of london. and i say this to business too — if a labour government is elected on the 12th of december, you are going to see more investment than you have ever dreamt of. our business editor, simon jack, is here. lots of talk about business rates but what really matters to those ceos sitting in that room? business rates is a perennial bugbear, you pay it before you pay a single penny in profit centre has been a lot of talk about how to rearrange it so any reform on that any reduction is welcome. but the biggest issue in

the room today is brexit still. business generally was pretty relu cta nt to business generally was pretty reluctant to go down the brexit path. it certainly is very concerned about a no—deal brexit, so the three candidates came today to set out that still for business. in the past it would have been a slam dunk for borisjohnson to see the conservatives where the party of business but they have a pretty fractious relationship. he famously told business for letter expletive. he is introducing a tougher rule after brexit and some businesses worry they can get the skills they need with unemployment at historically low levels. there is an issue with a brexit party, they see get brexit done, they have until next december to agree a deal with the european union, he has got until june to decide whether he needs more time to do that. most people think it is impossible do this in 30 months, he is adamant he will not get any more time for this so there

is still a possibility of an no—deal brexit. on the labour side, he is already saying he is taking, stunning the world saying he would give everyone free broadband by nationalising beauty, as for the liberal democrats, their policies we will reverse brexit. quickly, it is about stability, giving some stability in the future? yes, that is what people have been craving for 3.5 years. i spoke to the director—general of the cbi and she said some businesses don't want to hear, she doubts whether the selection can definitely give the clarity we need, and we will be having the same conversation this time next year. simon, thank you very much for that. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news, it's another big week in the impeachment hearings in washington — with key witnesses like gordon sondland —

the us's ambassador to the eu testifying. and bye bye, bei bei — washington zoo's giant panda is heading back to china and the zoo have asked for playlist suggestions to accompany her journey. good evening. after a fairly rare dry and sunny day for autumn, what follows is the coldest night of the week. for some, today you can see frost which never melted on some pla nts frost which never melted on some plants and parts of scotland. one or two spots stayed below freezing. temperatures already tumbling, blue colours showing how white some zero air temperatures will be. northern ireland wales and the south—west year old early parts but temperatures rising later as the breeze picks up. coldest of all, rural parts of northern england and scotland, somewhere between —60 —10 in one or two areas, lots of sunshine around. one thing for tomorrow morning, could see dense fog patches where they form, they

could lift up and drift northwards towards parts of the east midlands, lincolnshire and yorkshire, spoiling summer sunshine but much of scotland, good part of england another drive much of a west, more cloud computer today and in the far west, northern ireland and wales some occasional rain. courtesy of this weather front which is still there through tuesday into wednesday. rain running up because of the southerly breeze but the eastern half of the country, after an early frost, lashing out, the breeze picks up, better cloud, one oi’ breeze picks up, better cloud, one or two coastal showers, chiefly in the north—east of scotland, most will have another dry day, the chance of any rain when they may be northern ireland, where since scotla nd northern ireland, where since scotland and the far south—west of wales, cornwall and the isles of scilly. as we go into thursday, by this stage it is a brisk south—easterly wind, feeding a few showers into aberdeenshire but we will start to see some showery rain

working its way north, hit and miss through the day, some heavy bursts towards the south and west but nothing too substantial, nothing too prolonged, and are quite a few of you that stay dry, temperatures more widely in the south in double figures. as we finish the week and go into the weekend, low pressure is still close by, this one gets very close before we think pushes off into the mediterranean. for many in northern eastern parts of the country, the emphasis will be on dry and reasonably bright weather but in the west some further rain at times which could develop more widely into next week.

this is beyond 100 days, with me, michelle fleury, in new york. and christian fraser is in london. our top stories: prince andrew faces pressure to give evidence under oath in the us about his links tojeffrey epstein, in the wake of his bbc interview. a hong kong university has become a battle zone as protestors fight off police with arrows and petrol bombs. coming up in the next half hour: it is the second week of open hearings for the house impeachment inquiry and eight more witnesses go before the cameras. what can we expect? and they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how much are words worth? a rare charlotte bronte book coming home after museum's very successful auction.

president trump says he likes the idea of testifying in his own impeachment inquiry. in a tweet mr trump said he would strongly consider giving written evidence after the house speaker nancy pelosi suggested it over the weekend. though he doesn't entirely like the idea of giving credibility to the process. the democrat—led inquiry is delving into whether the president withheld aid to ukraine in return for an inquiry into his political opponent former—vice presidentjoe biden. and there is a blockbuster week ahead of us. eight current and former officials are scheduled to testify publicly. they include alexander vindman, the top ukraine specialist on the national security council, who listened to thatjuly 25th telephone conversation between president trump and his ukrainian counterpart volodymyr zelenskiy in the white house situation room. all eyes on wednesday will be on gordon sondland the serving us ambassador to the european union,

who changed his testimony to congress and acknowledged that he told top ukrainian officials that an investigation into the bidens would be needed to unlock military aid. so, for more on what the democrats hope to get out of this week and its testimony, we'rejoined by democratic senator sherrod brown. he's the author of a new book, it's called desk 88. thank you forjoining us on the programme. if the house votes to impeach, the senate will essentially put the president on trial and you could find yourself being one of the jurors. do you think that those in the house so far, based on the facts we know, are doing a good enoughjob to make the case the president should be removed from office?” think they are making the case and have made it well and i trust nancy pelosi as the speaker. she is the best legislative speaker of the past

100 years in our country. her judgment has been good so far. there is no question that has risen to the level of indictment in american courts of law. that is equivalent to impeachment in the house of representatives. richard nixon committed bribery and tried to bribe foreign country doing something for his campaign. i assume this will come to the senate and i hope i will approach it with an open mind. we listen to the prosecutors, the house members to prosecute if it gets there, then we listen to the answers from the president and his if you wa nt to from the president and his if you want to testify, as he has suggested although i do not believe that, then he should have his day in court and all 100 jurors in the senate need to approach this with an open mind, not listen to political pressure or bias. but really examine the

evidence, did the president do something that is serious enough for removal? based on what we have seen so far, do you think your colleagues across the aisle are prepared to keep an open mind?” across the aisle are prepared to keep an open mind? i don't know. mitch mcconnell has had an open mind on virtually nothing about this over the last many months. in the end, he almost always does the bidding for trump. i'm not hopeful about some of them. but i think some of my collea g u es them. but i think some of my colleagues will approach this with an open mind and we will see more evidence injust the an open mind and we will see more evidence in just the lead an open mind and we will see more evidence injust the lead up an open mind and we will see more evidence in just the lead up to this interview you spoke about some of the people coming in this week. most of them west wing graduates, people who have served in the military or in the diplomatic corps for their entire careers, without

partisanship. eventually, my collea g u es partisanship. eventually, my colleagues will start listening to them as well. we want to speak about your book a minute. the attacks on the stand last week, are you disappointed the state department and the vice president's offers have not been forward incoming to the defence of some of these people, people have given their life to america? it's pretty remarkable that the secretary of state, i guess the vice president is an elected official and is the partner of the president. use another noun if you want. but the secretary of state should be a little above politics. politics supposedly stops at the water's edge. supposedly we directly said it with no qualifying advert.

mike pompeo has been a real disappointment for americans who ca re disappointment for americans who care for the department of state and what it means for our country. some secretaries of state have been uneven and not so good, but this is sort of a new record, the way he has covered up for the president, but more so even how he has not even defended his own staff, his own diplomats. let's talk about history. your book is fascinating. it is called desk 88. it obviously refers to the desk you set out in the senate chamber. at which many important politicians will have sat out in the past. what would they make of what you are witnessing in congress at the moment?” make of what you are witnessing in congress at the moment? i sit at the desk in the senate. i chose this desk in the senate. i chose this desk because of who held this office and who sat at this desk over the yea rs.

and who sat at this desk over the years. people like herbert leeman, robert kennedy. i think they were all progressives and that's what they had in common, in terms of how they had in common, in terms of how the advanced everything from medicare to social security, to workers' rights and collective bargaining, to civil rights. and i think we would have been pretty aghast. i think most of my predecessors from both parties would be pretty aghast at the behaviour of the president and how republican senators almost to the person have excusedit senators almost to the person have excused it and defended it in a way that almost embarrasses us as a nation internationally. so you think none of your predecessors have faced something similar? i would see this. trump is the worst president in my lifetime, perhaps in the history of our country. but this is not the worst time for our country. it's not the mccarthy era or the slavery era. it's not the depression or world war

ii. it's not the worst time for our country, it's a challenging time. but people rose up in opposition to mccarthyism. during the war, the heroism in your country and britain, but also in our country. people in the depression, hugo black, the first person i write about in this book, a senatorfrom first person i write about in this book, a senator from alabama who had a chequered past before he was in the senate. in many ways, he started the senate. in many ways, he started the idea of the 40 hour work week and collective bargaining and minimum wage and all that. it all came out of this desk. himself and another senator named waggoner. i think they would have found this particularly repellent. senator, thank you for coming in and sharing your thoughts today. thank you. it's manifesto week in the uk election. labour, the lib dems and the greens are all publishing this week. no word yet on the tories. in 2017, the conservaitves manifesto was 84 pages long. labour's was 123.

it is surprising, given the amount of time and effort that goes into producing these documents, that the number of people who actually read them is incredibly small. and yet no—one lets politicians forget what is in their manifesto once they're in government. ask the former deputy prime minister nick clegg what happens if you do. get the manifesto right and the momentum can be unstoppable. but get it wrong, as theresa may's team did in 2017, and it can be hard to recover. with us is salma shah, former advisor the chancellor sajid javid. they haven't had much time. this is a snap election. get your ducks in a row or that is when mistakes happen. a political campaign is notjust seven weeks, but a year running up to it. you get a better sense of how long ideas are there to embed. we

spoke of how many people pay attention to these. of course, you andi attention to these. of course, you and i pay attention to this. but you're not going to shove something like that through doorsteps and expect people to read this. the ma nifest expect people to read this. the manifest was primarily there to give the bureaucracy some direction into what they are suppose to be doing when they get into government. but it is also an accountability mechanism, so people know what you're promised and have an idea of what you want to achieve in government. there are important points to be used and extrapolated by parties and the media, to show what that political party wants. 30 or 40 years ago, i would have thought the people did look at this. perhaps parties stock closer to them. the one thing i have noticed is that there is no trust. so people

don't really believe what is written in black and white will be carried out anyway. i think there is a big issue of trust in this election and this has been coming up for the last few elections. i'm not sure the ma nifesto few elections. i'm not sure the manifesto changes just because of social media. i think the idea of reading a document on understanding the narrative, it's more distant because actually parliamentary authority from, let's say, 30 or 40 yea rs authority from, let's say, 30 or 40 years ago, has diminished in the way people make decisions on how to fix them. that could be because of metal mirrors in the uk, because power has been devolved to home countries. scotland, the welsh assembly and stormont. but also because so many competencies were ceded to the european commission. i'm not making a comment about whether that is good or bad, but sadly people feel that power is more disparate, soon therefore what is in the manifesto might not affect them so directly. so if this is not binding, as we

have said, i guess, why continue with this, going forward? is there an end in sight to the importance or prominence of manifestos? personally, i think that's a bad way of looking at the manifesto. just because it's not engaged with on a whole, doesn't mean there aren't important elements. it is there to aid a government to push their agenda through. looking at the 2017 election as an example, i think one of the reasons it was so surprising was the result lot of negativity in it, but you don't expect from a political manifesto. and it was there so that the house of lords couldn't stop something the conservative party in government would then want to do. manifesto guarantees that the lords has to put something through. just to interrupt you, are you saying that when you write a manifesto, what you do not do is put bad news in there. you have to sell something in it?”

think you have to have our balance to it. and i think the problem in 2017 was the manifesto had a lot of ha rd 2017 was the manifesto had a lot of hard truths and probably not enough sunny uplands. yes, more sunny uplands. salma shah, thank you for coming in. this is from back in 2017, courtesy of the guardian. this is looking at the 2017 manifestos and how words re—occurred. so the biggest repetition for labour was labour. but also ensure. i know you don't trust us, but we will ensure that we do this. it was in all the ma nifestos. that we do this. it was in all the manifestos. how big is the platform in the us? how big are those documents, when you get to the

election? the significance it holds in american politics, you can put it on the back of a napkin, that's how much attention is given to it. it doesn't carry the same weight. i guess that was the point i was trying to raise with our guest. whether uk politics falls in that american style. is that because it is written by the party and the president can do whatever he or she wa nts ? president can do whatever he or she wants? in the past, it hasn't occupied that same importance. the president is less bound by it. given what you're seeing, with this increasing sort of parks and nature politics in the uk, will they start to bring something in like that? we will bring you all the details of the manifestos when they come in. i will bring you the salient points so you won't have to read them!

a miniature book written by the nineteenth century english writer, charlotte bronte, has sold at auction in paris for $860,000. she was just 14 years old when she wrote the the book, about an imaginary town, in miniature to hide it from her ultra—strict father. it was bought by the bronte society and will soon be on show at her old home in yorkshire. lucy williamson reports from paris. in this tiny book, charlotte bronte spoke of love and feuds in all corners of the globe. today, it sold for three quarters ofi million euros. for the run to parsonage museum and howarth. it already has the other four surviving little books. i could almost hear the little quips of delight. this is the second time we have tried to buy the

manuscript. the tried and filled in 2011, when it was bought by the collection that has been dismembered here. now they are finally bringing it home. it's a great moment. packed into these 4000 tiny words are early clues about charlotte bronte's literary ideas. in one story, she describes a man in a burning bed, a scene revisited in her most famous work, jane eyre. after a journey of almost two centuries, the little book that allowed charlotte bronte to explore the world outside howarth is finally coming home. this is beyond 100 days. still to come: washington dc bids farewell to its beloved panda bei bei. he jets back to china tomorrow with 65 pounds of bamboo and lots of love.

a deadly fungal tree disease called ash dieback has swept across europe and could wipe out most of the ash trees in britain, but scientists say there's new hope after a team identified genes that resist the disease. in 2012, ash dieback arrived in the uk from europe, where it's already ravaged woodlands. one of the classic symptoms of ash dieback is a darkened lesion on the bark of the tree, and we can see this long diamond—shaped lesion where the fungus has grown into the tree. but, by studying these trees, researchers have discovered a very small proportion are resistant to the disease and they've now pinpointed the genes that fight off the fungus. it does give us hope that by understanding the differences between the dna of ash trees with and without resistance to ash dieback, we'll be able to breed trees with increased resistance. it's estimated that there are 100 million ash trees in the uk,

but the rapid sweep of this deadly fungus could kill off up to 70% of them and a recent report put the cost of this loss at £15 billion. in their search for a solution, scientists have been extracting dna from ash leaves. the idea is to take the genes that are helping trees resist the disease and incorporate them into new plants through breeding. but ash isn't the only tree in trouble, so a major project has been under way to collect 15 million seeds from different woodland species. we don't know what's around the corner for our woodland. so we don't know what's going to happen to our woodlands in the future, so by banking the seeds here, we have them, they're out of the environment, away from plant health threats and they're a back—up. we know how to germinate them. it's the diversity of trees that makes our forests unique. losing any one species, though, would dramatically change them. but the hope is that this new research could preserve woodlands for future generations. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

earlier, we were speaking about the violent protests in hong kong. this is the scene now on one of the main streets in kowloon — close to the university. 500 escape yesterday afternoon. they have been trying to escape through the course of the day. we have seen stu d e nts the course of the day. we have seen students shimmying down ropes to try to get down across the university. it is 3:45am in the morning they are. you can see police with some students. it looks like they are patting them down. after a long stand—off between police and students, some signs this could be coming to an end. it's astonishing, if you have been to hong kong. it's one of the world's financial

sectors, but in recent weeks it has looked far from anything like that. we have a tweet from a us lawmaker, let me read you this response from adam schiff, the head of the house intelligence committee. the images from polytechnic university in hong kong are deeply concerning. the world will not stand idly by after beijing undermines the system. there are legitimate demands from protesters and there must be engagement. of course, the idea of american politicians weighing and will cause a great deal of annoyance i would expect amongst chinese politicians. this is one phase of the protest. on friday, there were city workers who support the students. they will stand behind the demands that the group have been putting forward in recent weeks. those are the scenes from hong kong.

more on that as we get it. today is a sad day here in washington. we are about to say bye—bye to bei bei. our panda is flying back to china tomorrow. he's a got a long 16 hour journey ahead of him, but his friends at the zoo are sending him home in style. he'll be travelling by private jet inside a custom made crate that is filled with 65 pounds of bamboo, five pounds of apples and pears, two pounds of carrots and cooked sweet potato, and several containers of water. we don't send christian in that kind of comfort. yes, i am lucky if i get a hot meal. but then i am expandable. 0h... anyway, in honour of bei bei, the national zoo has be a week long celebration for their visitors. so let's speak to brandie smith, the deputy director of the smithsonian national zoo. thank you for coming in. it must be

a very sad day for you? you know, we've been preparing for this from the moment he was born. we have a lwa ys the moment he was born. we have always known it was coming. we are happy for him. but it's sad to see him go. i want to talk about your carbon footprint. he is going on a plane on his own in this crate... he is an endangered species, so they get a bit of extra treatment! but we wa nt to get a bit of extra treatment! but we want to make sure he is absolutely co mforta ble, want to make sure he is absolutely comfortable, there is no stress, he is travelling with his chief veterinarian and his favourite zookeeper. we want to make sure this isa zookeeper. we want to make sure this is a good journey for him. you mentioned he was travelling with his favourite keeper. will they stay with him for a while in china? the keeper and veterinarian will stay with him for three or four days to ease the transition, to make sure he

is comfortable and to pass off information to his new keepers in china. and presumably, bei bei has been a big draw for these are? he is. people are fascinated by giant pandas. we have 2 million visitors a year and 80% of them want to see giant pandas. japan doesn't travel well? as a species, the —— do pandas asa well? as a species, the —— do pandas as a species travel well? we are doing everything we can to meet us comfortable. he is pretty low—key, as an individual. he was born in washington. he is leaving his country of birth to go to a country he has never been to. and those are pretty solitary. his parents have

wa nted pretty solitary. his parents have wanted nothing to do with him for two years wanted nothing to do with him for two yea rs now. wanted nothing to do with him for two years now. —— pandas are solitary. the great thing about china as you can go there and start afamily of china as you can go there and start a family of his own and have his own cups. i was reading the reason is going back is to do with the breeding programme. you explain why? if you think about pandas, there are only 1800 on the planet. every single animal is important. we need more pandas. if he stayed at the national zoo, the only other pandas are his parents, so you can't contribute. in china, he can find females of his own and reproduce.” understand there has been a social media campaign to get a playlist of songs. you are doing a playlist of songs. you are doing a playlist of songs to send bei bei home. you want songs to send bei bei home. you want songs that have the word baby in the title. absolutely! i love this. can

i give you my entries? here is my list of five. bay city rollers, bye — bye ba by by list of five. bay city rollers, bye—bye baby by bike. pretty good, right? eurythmics, it's all right, babies coming belinda carlisle, baby due you know what i'm worth. britney spears, baby one more time. and actually this one doesn't have baby in the title, but it's andy williams, house of bamboo. ijust wa nt williams, house of bamboo. ijust want to slot that in there. those are great. we have had the britney spears won, but the other four, no one has said them yet.” spears won, but the other four, no one has said them yet. i am holding you responsible! good to see you, thank you very much for coming on. so, they still have two pandas at least. i wanted to throw in from new york, the ramones, bb, i love you.

actually, i think i stole the eurythmics one from your e—mail earlier. we can share the prize. that is all for now. goodbye. the coldest night of the week follows. for some today, you can see the frost never actually melted. some sports had been freezing all day long. temperatures have been tumbling under the blue skies. northern ireland, wales and the south—west, cold in the early part of the night, but temperatures rise as the breeze picks up. coldest for northern england and rural scotland. lots of centring around. tomorrow morning, dense fog patches over parts of wales and central and southern england. the form, they could drift northwards for parts of

the east midlands, yorkshire and lincolnshire. much of scotland, good parts of england, another dry, sunny but chilly day. in the far west, northern ireland, western fringes of wheels, some occasional rain. it's all wheels, some occasional rain. it's a ll courtesy wheels, some occasional rain. it's all courtesy of this weather front. it's still there on tuesday night and into wednesday. rain running up it because of the breeze. after an early frost, the breeze will pick up, some coastal showers chiefly in the north—east of scotland. most will have another dry day. the main chance of any rain will be over northern ireland, western fringes of scotla nd northern ireland, western fringes of scotland and the far west of wales, cornwall and the isles of scilly. note these temperatures, 6—10 celsius, starting to left. we start to see some showery rain working its way northwards, hit and miss through

the day. heaviest bursts for the south and west. nothing too substantial or prolonged. temperatures more widely in the southin temperatures more widely in the south in double figures. low pressure is still close by. this one gets close before it pushes off into the mediterranean. for many north and eastern parts of the country, the emphasis will be on dry and reasonably bright weather, but in the west, some further outbreaks of rain at times. that will develop more widely into next week.

this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy. the headlines at 8pm... it's emerged that a major sponsor decided to end its support of a business network founded by prince andrew. accountancy firm kpmg say the decision was made weeks before his newsnight interview. borisjohnson, jeremy corbyn and jo swinson make their election pitches to business leaders at the cbi's annual conference in london. the violent protests in hong kong intensify. hundreds of anti—government demonstrators have escaped a university campus, where they had been held by police. but many remain trapped inside the building. they came running out over the barriers, a large amount of tear gas fired down in their direction. gunshots. and this is them escaping basically. you can hear what the police are doing in response.