from a hotel balcony in buenos aires on wednesday afternoon, while tributes flooding in for the hitmaker, who played a pivotal role in britain's biggest boy band. tonight, conservative leadership hopefuls robert jenrick and kemi badenoch go head to head in a gb news special. but to either have what it takes to lead the embattled tories, scottish business leaders issue a new plea to labour not to increase alcohol duty for fears of it crippling the industry . education the industry. education secretary bridget phillipson joins us this hour as she launches a new funding programme. as part of ambitious plans to open 3000 new

nurseries. >> the king and queen are heading down under for an overseas tour , king's first overseas tour, king's first since his cancer diagnosis. >> and in a bit. britain's most decorated paralympian, dame sarah storey, divulges the secret to her success and in other sport, this morning, the new england manager, thomas tuchel, has been saying all the right things but doesn't start his new job until january. >> in sailing, the america's cup isn't over yet. great britain won two races yesterday and cycling more cycling britain have won their first track world championship gold since 2008, following a gloomy wednesday with outbreaks of rain for many of us, thursday is looking much brighter. >> i'll have the full forecast coming up very soon. >> it'sjust coming up very soon. >> it's just gone 8:00. i'm stephen dixon, i'm ellie costello, and this is gb news breakfast. all the stories today

are about effect, about liam payne.i are about effect, about liam payne. i mean, it's i know a lot of you watching will be. and listening will be saying, well, we don't necessarily know quite who he is or we're not big one direction fans or whatever, but i guess the there's two elements to the story. one is just how big one direction were. i mean global, absolutely global sensations, but also the fact that liam payne, who found fame at such a young age, has died now tragically, at the age of just 31, and that's just horrific, isn't it.7 apparently. fell from the balcony in a hotel in buenos aires. >> well, fans from across the world have come together to pay tribute to the star who helped define a generation of pop music. >> well, apparently he was in argentina supporting former bandmate niall horan, who'd been there on tour and as is the way these days, he'd been posting on social media until just a couple of hours before this happened.

>> well, joining us now is showbiz reporter stephanie takyi. good to see you this morning, stephanie. it is just such shocking news, isn't it, that many people will be waking up to this morning. >> it's horrible news, ellie. and as we're seeing on the screen, fans have gathered , screen, fans have gathered, gathered outside the hotel where liam payne fell from a third floor from the hotel. and they've set up impromptu memorials and a vigil for liam payne because that was the power of one direction. they were a global success. they almost had a cult like fan base from people who just treasured them, even in their own individual solo journeys. and i think what is quite sad about liam's death is just all the trauma surrounding it. and local argentinian police have put out a statement and said that they were called to the hotel to, in an emergency call to help, and a man, an aggressive man who appeared to be under the influence of drink and drugs . and, you know, we

and drugs. and, you know, we would rather not want to focus on how it's ended for liam. but he was a very complex character over the years. he's always spoken about his battle with both drink and drugs and dealing with the limelight at such a young age. you know? you know, he found fame at 14 when he appeared on x factor. but he got rejected. but he came back two years later when he joined one direction. and then within five years they had split up. and he's been kind of left to his own devices trying to build up a solo career. but he is also a father. he was a father to him. and cheryl cole's seven year old son bear, so really thinking about them this morning. >> it just goes to show with these things because we report on stuff like this far too often. we do, don't we? and it is the curse of fame, particularly at a young age, that in a way people have all this money and not enough to do not enough direction in life. >> well, that's the sad thing,

stephen. i think it's almost a life of excess in the sense where you've got the wealth, you've got the fame, you've got the fans, but where do you really go next? you know what i find with a lot of these groups, such as the spice girls and other bands, boyzone, you always have the one star of the show who can manage to get the success like harry styles has, but for everyone else, while they're wealthy, what do they do? how do they carry on? and i've interviewed liam several times over the years where he's spoken about the loneliness that comes with fame. just last year, he spent 100 days in rehab trying to really battle through his addictions. he said he was six months sober, so when you come out of such facilities and you're back out around surrounded by different people at the parties and all that kind of stuff, it's hard to stay on the straight and narrow . but, the straight and narrow. but, you know, before his death, he was working on a second album, which he was rewriting certain songs. he was just really trying to get himself out there. he was supporting niall on his tour in

argentina, but over the past few weeks he actually had been quite ridiculed in memes with people making fun of him. his former lover was also taking out some legal action against him, so over the next few weeks, i can imagine we are going to see a bigger picture of what was really going on for liam payne. yes, because what we understand so far about the circumstances surrounding his death, because some of the authorities there have been speaking, haven't they, to local media? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> at the moment they are. they've taken his body to for a post—mortem where they're going to examine. but from what we hear so far is in the hotel. he did wake up. he got rather aggressive, which alerted staff at the hotel . and from the at the hotel. and from the circumstances, he fell from the third floor. when the police had arrived. they heard a big sound, arrived. they heard a big sound, a big drop. so there's more to come out on this. >> it'sjust come out on this. >> it's just the tragedy . we >> it's just the tragedy. we haven't. i mean, we've heard some tributes coming through . some tributes coming through. we've not heard from the one direction boys, have we? i mean ,

direction boys, have we? i mean, they must be in an absolute state. you'd imagine actually, with him and indeed with cheryl. yeah, that they're going to keep quiet for a little while at this stage. the main thing, the main thing cheryl is going to have to do is tell their seven year old son about their about his father. >> but i think for the one direction boys, even though they haven't been together publicly, i think behind closed doors they've been a pivotal source for each other because, you know, when it comes to understanding the fame and the ups and downs of it, only someone else who's been with you can understand zayn malik over the years has spoken about his anxiety. he fell out with liam, but recently they came back together. so i think, you know the boys are going to really have to process this and it's going to be heartbreaking for them. >> yeah, and it's devastating for fans as well, isn't it? because i mean, seeing liam and niall together at that concert in buenos aires, it did make their fans think perhaps they could get back together . perhaps could get back together. perhaps they'd see a reunion tour. and even if there is a tour now,

they'll be missing one member. >> we're very much in the era of the reunion bands, and i think for most people, they would have loved for one direction to come back together . they split up in back together. they split up in 2016, so since then i think fans have still followed all of their journeys. and i think they were secretly hoping they would come back together. but the success that this band had, 70 million records sold worldwide, four number one albums. it just goes to show how actually they've made their dent in the music industry and i think that's why a lot of people are talking about liam payne this morning, even if he's not of their generation. it'sjust even if he's not of their generation. it's just it's almost like the beatles of our era if like, you know, once john lennon went, it's j