march on sir after he stole a march on sir keir, becoming the first european leader to visit the white house. it comes as the prime minister says trump has changed the conversation on ukraine. >> what exactly does that mean? and closer to home, two police officers turn up at the door of a grandmother in stockport, seemingly simply for criticising labour politicians on facebook. what does this say about the state of free speech in britain? >> keir starmer said his number one political . leader, the one political. leader, the person that he most wanted to emulate in the world was olaf scholz. when keir starmer was leader of the opposition. he flew out to germany on multiple occasions, saying this is how you do it, this is how you run a

country. it seems that yesterday the german people disagreed. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> he schmoozed the wrong guy in germany, didn't he? and considering how much he wants to be in, you know, in a great relationship with everyone eu, it was probably the wrong man to be schmoozing. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> now what does he do? i mean, olaf scholz is almost irrelevant. probably. going forward, he's certainly going to lose his job. >> yeah. i mean, third place going from first to third place. i mean, it is quite extraordinary that like, you know, it's as if the labour party came in third, which i suppose is something that keir starmer is deeply worried about, given the state of the polls at the moment . and his new attack the moment. and his new attack on reform uk. is keir starmer worried that you saw a conservative party and a further right wing party come first and second in germany? i mean, is it possible that if trends continue, something like that could happen in britain too? >> but also, as with so many leaders, they've been in denial about the strength of feeling over immigration. now in

germany, yes, the economy has also been doing pretty dreadfully. but be in no doubt that this was about immigration first and foremost. and unfortunately, the swathes of attacks that have been and taken place in germany that have been perpetrated by failed asylum seekers or asylum seekers, recent refugees and the german people are thinking, well, hang on, it was the it was the socialists or the social democrats that let in all these people. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> another option. >> another option. >> although it was also merkel. yeah. who of course, was for a long time in coalition with the social democrats, with her cdu party. but but it looks like the outcome of this could be yet another coalition just with the other people swapped around the other people swapped around the other way. >> yes. they're going to try and freeze out the alternative fur deutschland, aren't they? yeah. yes. >> but what do you think of it all? and do you think that something similar might happen in other countries? could it happen here at home? well, gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get involved. all to come after your latest headlines with lewis

mckenzie. >> tom, emily, thank you very much. good afternoon. it'sjust much. good afternoon. it's just after 12:00. i'm lewis mckenzie here in the newsroom. today marks the three year anniversary of the russian invasion of ukraine. to mark the grim milestone. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is currently hosting leaders at the support ukraine summit in kyiv. prime minister sir keir starmer spoke at the event on a virtual link from downing street, saying the uk is with you today and every day. >> voices echo in my ears. they inform decisions that i take and the peace that i believe that we must see. so i have a very simple, clear message today. the uk is with you today and every day , from his majesty the king day, from his majesty the king to the nhs workers volunteering in hospitals in ukraine. >> the vatican says pope francis

remains in hospital, where he's also experienced mild kidney problems but continues to be alert and well orientated. pope francis has asked for prayers as he continues to receive treatment in hospital for double pneumonia. the vatican also says 88 year olds spent a tranquil night in hospital last night in rome. germany's conservative christian democrat party have won the country's election. friedrich merz party finished well ahead of rival parties, but short of the 30% vote share they had expected. the other winner of the night was the alternative for germany party, who were celebrating a record second place result of just over 20%. the cdu leader now begins the arduous task of forming a new coalition government. nigel farage has hit out at keir starmer after the pm accused the reform uk leader of perpetuating dangerous policies. in a major

speech at the labour conference in glasgow, the pm condemned what he is calling the dangerous right wing politics of reform. >> a dangerous right wing politics. even here in scotland. that will say they are the ones who can tilt politics towards the interests of working people. they claim to be the party of patriotism, but their fawning over putin. no, they are not the answer for working people in britain. >> a british couple in their 70s have been arrested by the taliban in afghanistan, 79 year old peter reynolds and his wife barbie, who's 75, were returning to their home in the east of the country on the 1st of february when they were detained. the couple have been running training programs in afghanistan for 18 years. it's currently not known exactly what the couple were arrested for. conclave has emerged as the film to beat at next week's academy awards. after sweeping the screen actors

guild awards overnight, winning best film and best ensemble. other winners included demi moore, timothee chalamet and kieran culkin, who were now heading into next week's oscars with a boost in momentum. and finally, the flying scotsman has made its first passenger journey of the year as it hauls carriers over the nene valley railway in cambridgeshire as part of a celebration of 200 years of british railways. well, those are your latest gb news headunes are your latest gb news headlines for now. more from me in half an hour. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/poll. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:07. welcome along to the.

well, our leading story of today migration backlash. a tidal wave in germany as voters turf out the governing left wing coalition. chancellor olaf scholz, a close ally of sir keir starmer, of course, collapsing his party from first to third place. >> yes, in first and second place are now two parties that pledged to clamp down on immigration. the christian democrats and the more radical alternative for deutschland? >> yes. well, anticipating the result yesterday, perhaps keir starmer chose to launch a broadside against the reform party, claiming they're right wing politics are dangerous. >> so does he now fear that, like in germany, the governing left wing party could fall from first place to third? >> well, should we get a bit more information about what exactly took place in germany and what it means with german journalist elisabeth dampierre? elisabeth, thank you very much indeed for your time. what did we see? was this a mass rejection of high levels of immigration in germany? >> good morning. yes, we saw that basically the people have

voted for a right wing government, essentially, and it is also a rejection of the current immigration policy. but what we're going to see in germany is probably the formation of another grand coalition, which means cdu and spd, which means essentially maybe a little reform on those topics. >> it is interesting, given the complete collapse in the authority, really, of the spd, the sort of governing social democrat party that they're going to end up in government anyway. but albeit as the junior partner. i mean, what does this say about where the german people are at? because the guy that's now going to be the new chancellor, he's a very different sort of politician to the sort of merkel kind of cdu conservatism that we saw for 15

years in germany. this guy is definitely to her, right? >> yes. that's correct. martell is definitely to merkel's right. but on the other hand, he will struggle to pass the legislation with the spd. and this is where he will be literally against the wall in many in many cases, they don't agree on energy policy. they don't agree on migration. they don't agree on migration. they don't agree on migration. they don't agree on the economy broadly. so how will we be governed in the future? >> yeah. and 20 odd percent of people voted for the alternative for deutschland, the more radical anti—immigration party in germany. can the mainstream parties continue to freeze them out? >> yes, they can, because this is an essential flaw of our german democratic system, because the parties themselves can select with whom they govern. which is why we'll get again a centre left wing government, despite the people voting clearly for a right wing centre