hello, this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera. the headlines: donald trump's former strategist steve bannon has been found guilty of contempt of congress. he was charged after refusing to testify to the inquiry into the january 6 riots at the us capitol and could face two years in prison. ukraine and russia have signed a deal which will allow the resumption of ukrainian grain exports from ports on the black sea. they had been blocked by russia, following the military invasion. russian exports will also be guaranteed safe passage. the european commission has launched fresh legal action against the uk. it says there is a failure to comply with the post—brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland. there are warnings that the the gridlock around the english channel port of dover could get worse over the weekend. officials declared a critical incidents today. i'll be back later with a full

round—up of the day's news. but first, with all the week's political news, here's newscast. newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello, it's adam in the studio. hello, it's alex in the studio. and it's chris in the studio. so then there were two. alex, penny mordaunt. as a reporter, you started your career in the south of england, so you must have followed her around for years and years and years and years. it's incredible, really, because they always say that when you start off as a baby reporter, you need to build your contacts and keep your contacts and the rest of it and it pays off one day. well, i worked at the portsmouth news as my first political reporting job when penny mordaunt was trying to be the mp for portsmouth north. so she was kind of courting me a bit as one of the political reporters on the local paper. she wanted coverage for her campaign and all the rest of it, so i've known her since then, and it's this incredible thing

when those people you've gone through your career knowing fairly well through the prism ofjournalism suddenly are in the running to be prime minister. it's quite a moment and you think, my goodness. but not any more, obviously. she got booted out. let's talk about the two that did make it. chris, what are your first impressions of liz truss's campaign? she was straight out this morning doing her first broadcast interview of the campaign, proper interview as opposed to answering a couple of questions at a launch, talking to nick robinson on the today programme on radio 4. and i think what's interesting is that she broadened this economic critique. so, last couple of weeks, she has been gunning for rishi sunak on the specifics of tax over the last couple of years, this idea that she would cut taxes immediately, he says, "wait until inflation comes down." this morning, it was a critique about the last 20 years, brackets, 12 of which have been under a conservative government, second set of brackets, she's been in government herself for ten years. and was at the treasury. exactly. and her argument basically is, look,

you've had this, as they see it, mushy consensus for a couple of decades, new labour—ish, conservative—lib dem coalition—ish, and the tory tiger hasn't been let out of the cage — big tax cuts, what people in westminster call supply—side reforms, in other words, deregulation, getting rid of regulations, making the economy spark more easily. that is the big pitch she's making, versus portraying rishi sunak as mr business as usual, managerialism, as she put it. he is going to argue in the coming days, hang on a minute, how do you pay for this? he says to be conservative actually is to balance the books. and if you have got promises like sorting out social care in england, how are you going to pay for that if you start cutting taxes? so it's fascinating, really, because the two of them are not actually from the opposite wings of the conservative party at all. it's so strange that that's how it's been framed. "one�*s left and one's right"... hmm, they're both fairly right. yeah, but if you look at the breadth

of view within the conservative parliamentary party, it is a lot wider than those two. but obviously in a campaign, you emphasise your differences and you paint in primary colours and that is certainly what liz truss are doing. this is her speaking to nick robinson on the today programme, that first interview, as chris mentioned, on thursday morning. i think every day, when i get up in the morning, what can - i do to change things? i'm impelled to do that. i am pretty hard—working, pretty l direct, and i will bulldoze through, frankly, the things that need to get done _ people hear you saying bulldoze, toughness, grit, and they see you dress and model yourself on margaret thatcher. i don't accept that. i am my own person, nick. it's just a coincidence that you have a series of photographs... i'm from a very- different background. i grew up in yorkshire, _ i went to a comprehensive school. i am somebody who has worked all my life to get things done, l and that's what i want to do

in the job _ now, rishi sunak did day one of the campaign with a video that some people are saying is quite cringey, other people are saying is quite inspiring. his background video? no, i mean the one about him watching the results coming in and fist pumping, being very bro—ish. and what struck me about that was not that he punched the air, but he punched the air he heard liz truss's number. this is expert level analysis. you might have thought he would punch the air when the number was read out, 137, because that would be proof that he would make the final two, but it was when he heard liz truss's number, which was perhaps a bit lower than it might have been. or was he happy he was up against liz truss rather than penny mordaunt? could have been that, but that was the point of the... and he said, "we've exceeded expectations" and i was like, i don't think you have, actually.

you did win, but it wasn't hugely convincing. if you look at the percentage of the party votes that previous prime ministers got, his is fairly low down and a lot of people expected him to be through sooner, reach the magic number sooner. he said, "four weeks ago, people had written me out of this." because remember, four weeks ago, there was the stuff about his wife's tax and his green cards. and i'm thinking to myself, actually, did he genuinely think a month ago, "oh, that is it", or was hejust saying that for redemption comeback narrative purposes? anyway, when he was on newscast a few weeks ago with laura, she did ask him about what it means, his family finances being dragged into this, and here's a reminder of what he said. i think it's totally fine for people to take shots at me. _ it's fair game, i'm the one sitting here and that is- what i signed up for. you know, it's actually very upsetting and i think wrong for people to try and come at my wife and... -

..beyond that, actually, - with regard to my father—in—law, for whom i have nothing but. enormous pride and admiration for everything that he's achieved. alex, i imagine your summer's going to be going to lots of hustings and standing in car parks. you know i love a car park. it's worth noting that if you think back to the borisjohnson vjeremy hunt contest, people knew the outcome. they did the same speeches every time, i got to know it by heart. this time, it feels like it could be a much more open contest. there's a lot of volatility within members. a lot of people are going to see how they perform, what their arguments are. it feels like this could be a more interesting hustings through the summer. yeah, because there's loads we just don't know about them, whole areas of policy we don't know. yeah, they'll probably stay close to the manifesto on which the conservatives won the last election, but we will still be asking, "what is your instinct on "a, b, c, d?" there's loads to go at. on to other things now, and there's going to be another strike on the railways next week,

because network rail still haven't done a deal with the rmt union over pay and conditions for people that work on the network. and we can find out how those negations are going, or maybe he won't tell us at all because it's top secret, from mick lynch, the secretary general of the rmt. hello, mick. hello. well, there are ton sets of negotiations. there's network rail, - the infrastructure provider, and the train operators, which are the people i who run the trains. so we've got two - strands of negotiation. we're always engaged with them, today and tomorrow and maybe . into eternity, but we are not making very much progress _ we clearly understandl each other's positions, but the gap is very wide at this time. _ and in terms of the practicalities, are you basically locked in an airless room, just sort of shouting at each other? well, we're locked in- an air—conditioned room. we don't shout at each other. everybody thinks that people i are banging tables and throwing chairs at each other. it's not like that at all. everyone in these negotiations have known each other for a very long - time in the railway industry, so they're quite cordial-

and professional, but that doesn't mean you agree. i so unlike the house of commons, i not everyone isjumping up and down and stamping their feet. but it doesn't mean you shake your hands and there's a deal. _ it's a difficult thing to deal with. do you ever feel that the power on the other side isn't in the room? in other words, you might be suggesting something, but they don't have the power to move? it's absolutely not in the room. the power with the train operating companies sits directly— with the secretary of state. it's written into their contracts. they have service contracts and it says that the secretary of state . is directly responsible - for industrial relations and has the power to veto any deal. and that's on the public| record for you to look at in their contracts. he denies that all of the time, but they leave the room - and have to adjourn, - go and check their mandate and if it doesn't suit _ what the powers that be want, there isn't any movement. and at this time, there isn't any movement. . so their agenda to shut every ticket office in britain, - to change the contract of employment, a biti i like a version of fire and rehire, i where virtually all of our members will have to adopt new contracts and sign up to them, _

is fully there and it's a complete dilution of everything we've - agreed over the decades. and our members are not prepared to accept that. i when we sorted out the redundancies and conditions, then— we would move on to pay, - but we have to have those two elements sorted out first. so pay is at the bottom - of our agenda, not the top, despite what the press tell us. well, let's dive into some of the details. you're right, so much of the focus is on what the pay award would be. is it true they want to shut every train ticket office in britain? every single one? every single one, they've told me that directly. - transport focus has issued a list, which is the consultative body, i and they want to commence - closing them from october 2nd, so it's on top of us. there will have to be a publicl consultation through the train operating companies, - but they've already fixed that consultation through the media, saying that ticket offices - are worthless and there's no hope for them in the future. _ and the excuse is that they want i to get rid of that overhead and turn them into costa coffees or whatever, get the rental revenue and leave -

vulnerable passengers, _ the disabled and elderly and others, foreign visitors, without - the assistance they might expect. you've made the point you're not dinosaurs, but things do move on. do you need a window at every station? and isn't it right that they have said there will be no compulsory redundancies in this process, so it's like a modernisation process which might result in job losses, but not compulsory ones? no, they haven't said that. that is what we're seeking. we go into the talks saying we can talk about your modernisation - and the changes you want. in return, we want a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. _ i thought they had said that. they haven't. i network rail has said if we acceptl everything that they have proposed, they will consider putting that into the deal. _ the train operating _ companies have made no offer at all of redundancies. the next strike day is next wednesday, and it's on the eve of the commonwealth games in birmingham. why is it ok to muck up the start of the commonwealth games? it's not ok, it's not our aim, -

but the reason that is on that date, when we got the last letter from the train operating i companies, we had to take a decision on that day. - and because of the anti—trade union laws, you have - to give 14 days' notice. the only day outside - of the commonwealth games that we could put action on is that date. - so we've avoided the commonwealth games deliberately, _ but because of grant shapps and rishi sunak's laws - that they keep changing, - we have to put it on 27th july. that's the only date available. you know that the strikes have obviously caused a lot of disruption to a lot of ordinary people who are already struggling with things like inflation and the cost of living, public transport costs, and then the travel is disrupted. are you getting a lot of stick for it? are you getting a lot of abuse? no, quite the opposite. none at all? i was stopped by three people - on the way here between westminster station and the studio, . saying, "keep on going." we have had a massive response, land i think there's a sea change i in the british public— about what it's like in the world of work, the vulnerability that. people are now suffering from. people get no conditions

in a lot of work. - they get nothing above statutory minimum. . they don't get looked after. and many of them are on really poor pay. - we are getting a massive response, not only from the travelling - public who support us, _ many of them, on the picket lines we have had spontaneous demonstrations where...| i think a thousand people turned up i on the picket line at king's cross i on the last saturday of the action. we are getting a massive response in favour. - that's really interesting, that broader analysis you make about the reaction and perhaps people kind of reimagining the kind of world of work and conditions because we have seen, haven't we, historically, over the last generation, trade union membership shrivelling, it being focused particularly on the public sector? you and fellow union leaders are seen as less significant, less important. do you think that tide is changing? i can certainly detect . a change in sentiment. there are lots of people _ from different backgrounds that tend to be non—union environments where they are feeling, - "actually, i don't have any protection in thisjob. - "i can be got rid of at any time. "and i don't actually get anything

apart from my wages." _ and if there are good times, - where people are in casualised work or freelancing or that type of work, maybe that is good when there's . loads of work around, i but i think wages, prices are being driven down, i not just against inflation but in actual cash terms, many prices are being i driven down for freelancers. if you are working in a fulfilment centre, as they are called, - in these new warehouse operations, where you get nothing at all- and you are monitored day and night, from the start of the shift _ to the end without any downtime, you might think. _ "well, maybe i need the protection of the union and some _ "terms and conditionsj agreement in thisjob, "that make my working life better." and i definitely, i am definitelyj detecting a change in the mood amongst working people at this time. i know that you mentioned, you said that pay was not the biggest part of this, you would come to the pay at the end, but it is a part of it, isn't it? yes, yes. and, look, you would have heard the argument, but i want to put it to you, because there is the argument from government, there is the argument, certainly when it has come to other

areas of public sector pay, that you simply cannot put up wages by the rate of inflation because the rate of inflation is so high and you end up in an inflationary spiral which makes it worse for everyone and we all live with the pain for longer. we simply can't have 9.4% pay rises across the board. but why don't you mention profits and dividends in that? _ i mean, the only analysis i we ever get from the media is that it's workers, - often who are the lowest paid people in this country, _ who are responsible for inflation. that's patently untrue in this period because the inflationl was there before the pay - round and it has been building all through the austerity - and the public sector pay freeze, and there is a private - sector pay freeze as well, iso real wages have been in declinel for many years, a decade, probably. it would be a big hike to go up to 9.4% now. inflation, rpi, the real measure of inflation —| which they want to hide — is 11.8. right. and for the two years - that they are proposing we go into a pay deal at the moment, it is likely that inflation - would be 20% cumulative across those two years. l most of our people haven't hadl a pay rise in two or three years. if you are a nurse or doctor or-

a care worker, or a refuse worker, you may not have had a real terms pay rise for a decade. _ so it can hardly be true that it is wages that. are causing inflation. it is profit—taking that is causing inflation because the big - corporations are not - skimming their profits down and saying, "i will do— a redistribution, we actually need "to support wages in this economy." and that is what we are faced with. it can't be true that low—paidl workers are causing inflation. the problem with low— paid workers | is they haven't got enough money, | and it needs to be resolved through the pay packet. . who would you prefer, prime minister sunak or prime minister truss? well, you know, i obviously don't want either of them. _ but i think... well, you're going to get one of them, so which one? i think there's a real danger- at the moment in this tory contest. i think we have got _ a hard—right cast of people... really? yeah, i think these are extremist. these are people who are saying that we won't... i virtually on the edge of saying that tax itself is abhorrent. _ and tax is a good thing. in a progressive society. tax is the means by which you create equality. - and they are more or less

saying to basically... - you must be like a rishi sunak man, then, because he is the one saying... well, rishi sunak would get it back. i mean, they never put progressive taxes. - most of the taxes in this country are raised through vat. - and your implication... he wants to put corporation tax up. he wants to whack the profits of the people you were just complaining about. what you can do about corporation tax, if you want to avoid it, - you can reinvest in your workforce - and through research and development and retooling your company and creating more workers. j that's the whole point of a corporation tax, i that you do it through, - you avoid it through progressive means by saying, "i'm going to get loads of apprentices and i'm - going to bring in a more diverse workforce, i'm i "going to create job opportunities," because then it hits your profits - and you only pay tax on the profits. the thing is, though, you caricature this race as being one where tax is apparently abhorrent. i mean, tax is higher now collectively than it has been in decades and decades and decades. so is government spending, by any modern comparison of any political party. but it has to be. that is the sort of thing you would love if it was delivered by a labour government. tax needs to be high, - but what we have got in this country, and this is never remarked

on by the media, _ even yourselves, those of us that are on paye cannot avoid tax. - we pay it out of our wages every week. | there are many, many people in this country avoiding tax, _ like it is some kind of disease. in this whole process, you have become a bit of a celebrity, maybe even a bit of a pin—up for some people. has it been quite fun? no, i mean, myjob is to get the job done for my people. | my stock apparently is i up there on social media. i don't know what half of it is, i'm too old. . i never knew what trending was until two weeks ago. l when you were, i guess. yeah, still not sure what it is. what have you done with your profile photo? because piers morgan complained you were the baddie from captain scarlet. yeah, the international centre of evil or something. - yeah, and then... i haven't done anything with it. it's still sitting there as - a bald man with big eyebrows, which my mate about eight years ago thought was quite funny _ which was when it went up, - "you look like the hood", but... yeah. that's the level of _ journalism we have got now, present company excepted. what intrigues me... this is a different channel,

a different channel, yes. what intrigues me here is i guess there are two roles for somebody like you as union leader. there is the skill of negotiation and the crucial business of getting a deal for your members but then, particularly around a big, high—profile series of strikes, there's the public image stuff and there's the talking to us lot stuff. ijust wonder how you have found all of that and this kind of soaring of your own profile. i know it is not about that, your focus is on your members, but ijust wonder personally how you have found that? well, you just get on with it. i have the daily mail outside my house. l do you, every day? yeah, well, in the run—up— to the strike, i had my own personal photographer for about a week, following my kids to work, - following my wife, phoning relatives i in america and all sorts of places, i so there is all sorts of shenanigans going on, but you've just _ got to push through. my attitude to all of this is, answer the questions - as straight as i can, _ in a conversation with you or anyone else, and if they ask dopey questions, i'lltellthem . it's a dopey question. if they ask me _ a reasonable question... we can believe that for the last 10 minutes. ..i will try to give _ a reasonable answer and engage in what they want to know.

but if it's really vapid and stupid, they're going to get treated, - it's going to get knocked over the boundary if... _ so we've discovered. i hope you don't think this is a vapid... yeah, yeah. this is a really vapid question, but i'm just intrigued because of, like, how the media works, is there something you have had to stop doing in your life because even though you know it is legit, if it got papped and put in the mail, you know that they would misinterpret it and it would harm your cause? well, you'll be pleased to know that i've got the most - boring, regulation life. i'm a very traditional person. and i happen to have, you know, traditional trade union, - old labour—type politics. now, maybe i am just exceptionall because that sort of thing has died out, but i'm hoping to articulate the case on behalf of a bit - of fundamental redistribution of wealth and a square deal. for working people. i think people have lost a lot of values and i think the job i of the trade unions at the minute is to re—establish _ some values about things _ like commonwealth and things like... and i mean the real- meaning of commonwealth, things like shared values, - shared economy, that the economy itself has got to be shared.

that is the argument your movement has lost, though, isn't it? it has lost it, but it stoppedj pursuing it because it lost it in the short—term, in the late '70s and early '80s, - but it has never gone back to it. it has been afraid of itself. conservatism isn't afraid of its traditional values. | and if you take this government now, and the candidates, who i think- are extreme right—wingers, - they would not hesitate to jump on a bit ofjingoism and nationalism and anti—migrant feeling, _ and they do it all of the time, and they would ride _ that wave like surfers. what starmer and others on the front bench have got to do is ride some - kind of solidarity wave and we have got to have a summer— of solidarity, i think, about... just the word _ redistribution of wealth. wealth in this country. is too polarised, right? there are too many people really struggling. - obviously, the conservative leadership candidates would take issue with that idea of being extreme right—winge, but you are actually paying them a compliment, aren't you? you are saying they have the courage of their own convictions and too many on your side,

on the left, simply don't. absolutely, they have the courage of their convictions, _ but at the moment, - they are only playing... virtually, we have outsourced this to a surrey golf club. _ the people that are going to be . voting for our next prime minister are people from a very small segment of the p0putati0h. _ notjust in numbers but style, character, background, - income, belief and all the rest |of it, which i would caricature| as the members of the archetypal . surrey golf club, sitting there . iwith their gin and tonic, saying, i "which right—winger do you want? "which one is going to. give us the most tax cuts "for our lifestyles? " and i think that is a real danger- to democracy because i think there's a big debate going on outside - parliament and outside the bubble. starmer has got to find himself a way out of the bubble - and reconnect with peoplel in all those red wall towns, working—class communities. but middle—class communities don't share all this rubbish - that the tories are putting out. and mick, our debate has to end there, even though we could go on all night. thank you very much. thank you. cheers. now, i am not sure if either of you are aware of this, but you are actually starring

in the season finale of this series of the newscast tv show. it is going to be the summer holiday. even though, actually, i'm not going on holiday, i'm carrying on working, so... well, a breakfrom newscast. as are all of us, actually, because of all these blooming hustings — which is an important exercise in democracy. yes! anyway, so we thought we would mark it by patting ourselves on the back with some of our best bits that have been on your tv screens with us. newscast from the bbc. we need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on how to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live. 0h! the... i think you're a bit nervous. i agree, she is. he keeps looking at me! i mean, i've interviewed some kind of unnerving people in my time. i obviously, we must all obey the rules. on a human level, i... ..am just disappointed, really. all those warnings and threats

actually becoming real under. the storm clouds of stormont. yeah, the literal storm clouds because chris looks really wet in his mac, there. on reflection, look, both will smith and me having our wives attacked, at least i didn't get up and slap anybody, which is good. laura, thank you for everything. i've absolutely loved sitting here with you, and i think all i want to say to you is that the best feeling in the world is making you laugh. 0h! because you work so hard and it is really... i can see it is sometimes quite stressful. and i was like, go on, keir! sometimes, he takes the emotion out of it and he puts the sort of strategic stuff in, and i think, "no, put some more welly into it!" 0h! oh, no, boris. i can't believe i missed lindsay hoyle's parrot because i had covid. were you not there for it? it was a lucky escape. it really was quite amazing, perched on the microphone, there was boris.

it was, yeah, that was quite something. i'd forgotten some of those conversations we had had. that pause from the archbishop of canterbury. we were meant to go there, weren't we, to lambeth palace and...? yeah. there was a covid concern, so we had to talk to him on zoom or whatever but, yeah, that... oh, the power of the pause. although ijust remember him admitting... admitting, it makes it sound like a crime or something, that he did jigsaws with the queen at sandringham. i mean, you have had some... i love that stuff, i love that stuff! you have had some brilliant people on. i mean, i don't want to be too sycophantic about your programme because, you know, i am allowed on it from time to time and it is quite nice, but when you look back on it... yeah. ..you get some pretty big hitters and, you know, make some decent news lines. future king. future king, i mean, that was pretty good. were you nervous? well, what was weird about that day, and just watching it back again, is remembering that he was dressed really casually and i ended up looking like the part—time prince. like the future king! i had thejumper,

a work shirt, proper shoes. i was like, oh. was it a bit nerve—racking, just to pick up on what alex said, seeing someone who, you know, we have seen on the telly for all of our lives, pretty much, and then suddenly, you know, you have not met before and then, he's there? you will laugh when you hear this. we had a little chat beforehand to get to know each other, and to break the ice, we talked about you being on celebrity mastermind. that is like the go—to conversation for everything, i love that. it was like... it's always the mastermind chat. i was sat in kensington palace with prince william talking about how well you were going to do talking about the yorkshire dales. you are the official icebreaker. i'm glad to be a regal icebreaker, adam, i really am. right, yeah, shall we get out of this boiling hot studio? yes. it's a heatwave in here. thank you very much for watching and for listening and for keeping us company and we look forward to keeping you company again. goodbye. bye! newscast. newscast from the bbc.

hello. the weather is going to be a bit of— hello. the weather is going to be a bit of a _ hello. the weather is going to be a bit of a mixed bag for many of us. we do _ bit of a mixed bag for many of us. we do need — bit of a mixed bag for many of us. we do need the rain for our parched gardens. this is what looks like the early hours, rain approaching northern ireland, but not particularly dry at the stage... 13 in newcastle. bright start across the bulk of the uk but then that cloud and rain reaches western areas and this is where most of the rain will fall, where it will be pretty hit and miss. top temperatures will be in east anglia and the southeast, up be in east anglia and the southeast, up to around 26. and if you have any plans for saturday night, the rain wax and wane, but it stays dry the eastern counties and further southeast, and the forecast into sunday, turning hot temporarily in east anglia and then after that a little cooler.

tonight at ten... a deal is signed between ukraine and russia allowing the export of millions of tonnes of grain to resume. the wheat harvest has been blockaded in ukrainian ports since the russian invasion in february — the un says the deal must not fail. there is a moral obligation of all those involved in this process to make it a success. the world shortage of ukrainian grain since russia's invasion has left millions at risk of hunger. also on the programme... gridlocked traffic stretching for miles towards the port of dover this morning — causing major delays for one of the busiest holiday weekends. we've probably moved about a mile and half in four and a half hours now. it'sjust been nearly seven hours

now and we are still not checked in.