—— what is tony blair's legacy?liament, the whole parliament stood up to applaud him. it was a recognition that over his period in office he had done some positive things but it has been totally overshadowed by the iraq war, the damage it did, the effect it had on this country, the division, the loss of life and i'm afraid that is his legacy. a lot of people watching right now will have lost brothers, sisters, parents in iraq, who are going to say, well, actually, if we're hearing now that tony blair wasn't straight with the nation, action should be taken against tony blair now? well, there will obviously be a certain amount of linguistic analysis about what switch—on actually said that he did after a very, very long period of time produce a magisterial report last year, which was the summary of the evidence that is available at the evidence that is available at the time and which are severely criticised the judgments that did not argue that this was done in bad faith, sufficient to justify prosecution, and i think

that what mr blair is actually now proposing.e'sjust that what mr blair is actually now proposing. he's just trying to undermine brexit, that is his game. he has made no secret that he would prefer that britain was not leaving the european union. but setting up pa rt the european union. but setting up part of it aside, for talking about negotiating options, is it possible that we could indicate to the eu negotiators that we are willing to show flexibility on our side if they show flexibility on our side if they show some on theirs? well, as i say, the eu has set the negotiating guidelines. there are very, very set in these four freedoms. they don't want us to mess up freedoms. they don't want us to mess up their single market. they would rather we had a clean break and studio like canada. i call it a super canada deal, began better than canada. rather than actually trying to gain favour within the single market. as quite a big economy, the fifth largest in the world. that is where they're coming from. mr blair says he is not sayi

do you expect any response from tony blair. tony blair is at it responding saying great lengths nothing in particular hoping that he will win back support from based on public opinion but i think he's pretty played out on that now i don't i don't expect any meaningful response from him i think he'll have to live with the fact that. a lot of people in britain think he was a war criminal and the reaction of the relatives of servicemen and women killed in action are they going to accept this the high court has now ruled and move on do you think. well i think they'll have to accept what the high court has decided unless as i say there's an appeal i'm on not the right person to judge whether that is possible not. of course i have very great sympathy for them i have very great sympathy for people who are. sums and daughters all whose relatives are killed in any war or indeed in other circumstances but it doesn't mean that the law has changed. and just finally if tony blair is is off the radar himself will somebody else be target if h

a spokesperson for tony blair said sirjohn was clear that mr blair had not "departed from the truth". spoke to our political editor, laura kuenssberg. do you feel the politicians you dealt with were as straight with you as they ought to have been? i think i'd need to distinguish. they adopted different approaches. and i have to name names because these were public sessions. tony blair is always and ever an advocate. he makes the most persuasive case he can. not departing from the truth. but persuasion is everything. advocacy from my position. do you believe that tony blair was as straight with you and the public as he ought to have been? can i slightly reword that to say, i think any prime minister taking a country into war has got to be straight with the nation and carry it, so far as possible, with him or her. i don't believe that was the case in the iraq instance. do you feel he gave you the fullest version of events? i think he gave... i hesitate to say this, rather, but i think from his perspective and standpoint, it was emotionally truthful. i think that came out also in his pre

tony blair com pletely inquiry itself.n that he pursued his own version of events, but i think the broader significance of sirjohn‘s reading of this today may well be in terms of this today may well be in terms of what happens if we find ourselves ina similar of what happens if we find ourselves in a similar situation again, what should the responsibilities of not just no 10, but the mod, the military, the intelligence services, how can they avoid falling short as they did in many instances in terms of run up to and of course the aftermath of the iraq war? sirjohn does believe there have been changes already in the last 12 months, but i think his comments today are a heavy reminder to all institutions in this square mile that they have a responsibility to all of us when it cops to taking the —— comes to taking the most serious decisions, to commit forces into a conflict. thank you. finding the right care provision for the elderly has become a game of "russian roulette" — that's according to the charity, age uk. it follows

tony blair is always and ever an advocate. not departing from the truth, but persuasion is everything. there is, i argued, the responsibility of the leading politician of a government, both to make the case for the policy decision taken but also to balance that with realism about risks, downsides, counter—arguments. if you act simply as a one—sided advocate, you risk losing that, and i think that risk became apparent. but you spent years studying this intelligence. yes. the way you put it in the report and what you just said suggests, as somebody who spent their life in government, in public service... yes. that you feel he manipulated the evidence to make his own case? again, i'm declining the word "manipulate", and using "as best he could" but it's only fair to him to say that on the very eve of the invasion, he asked the then chair of the joint intelligence committee, can you tell me beyond reasonable doubt that saddam hussein has weapons of mass destruction, to which the answer was, "yes, i can". he was entitled to rely on

tony blair is a lwa ys public sessions. tony blair is always an advocate.e most persuasive case he can, not departing from the truth, but persuasion is everything, advocacy, from my position. do you believe that tony blair was as straight with you and the public as he ought to have been? can i slightly reword that to say i think any prime minister taking a country into war has got to be straight with the nation and carry it, so far as possible, with him or her. i don't believe that was the case in the iraq instance. do you feel he gave you the fullest version of events? i think he gave... i hesitate to say this, rather, but i think from his perspective and standpoint, it was emotionally truthful, and i think that came out also in his press conference after the launch statement. i think he was under very great emotional pressure during those sessions, far more than the committee were. he was suffering. he was deeply engaged. in that state of mind and mood, you fall back on your instinctive skills and reactions, i think. but he was relying, you suggest, on em

you have worked with tony blair. that does ring true, doesn‘t it? worked with tony blair.surprising that sirjohn chilcott thinks that himself as a senior civil servant has a slightly different style to that of an elected politician but let's look at the substance of the report and what it says, volume one of the report concludes that the was no secret deal in april, volume two concludes that the intelligence was not used in a false and misleading way. volume five concludes that the cabinet was not misled or deceived in this process sol cabinet was not misled or deceived in this process so i think if we look at the focus on the point of substance, for all conspiracy theories that there are, the report does not bear that out. you also have to look at it in this respect, you're absolutely right, he was advocating the case for war and when you're doing that you are advocating a particular cause. you don't look too carefully at the evidence that surrounds the case against. i'd agree with that. the decision to send people to war was not taken lightly. it is the most fundamental

be taken against tony blair nowlj nation, action should be taken against tony blair now.ic analysis about what sirjohn said. he did after a very long period of time produce a magisterial report last year, the summary magisterial report last year, the summary of the evidence available at the time, and which very severely criticised the judgments but did not argue that this was done in bad faith sufficient to justify prosecution or action of that kind. i think that is where we have to leave it. but i do understand. if i was a relative of somebody who died in that conflict and was sent into a war which should not have been fought in our name, i can understand why they would remain angry and bitter. but we had to rest with sir john's enquiry. it was a prolonged process and did produce some clear conclusions. thank you very much for your time this afternoon. in a moment a summary your time this afternoon. in a moment a summary of the business news but first, the headlinesjust after a quarter to two. on a visit to poland president trump calls on the west to stand up for their v

blocks a bid to prosecute tony blair for his role in kick starting the iraq war back in two thousand and three now this is a case that was brought forward by an iraqi general who accused tony blair of quote a crime of aggression but the justices here in london did rule that because no such notion exists under domestic law in england and wales this case is not going to go forward they also said that this is a decision that is not going to be reversed by the supreme court we have to say that the defense team did argue that the chilcote reports the massively controversial report published last year justified bringing tony blair to justice because if you remember this is a report that underscored the questionable intelligence used when it comes to the issue of weapons of mass destruction in iraq as well as brought to light information on not all peaceful alternatives having been considered before the iraq war was launched let's take a listen in the house of commons on september twenty fourth two thousand and two mr blair presented iraq's past current and future capabilities as evidence o

ambassador to libya told us blair should be prosecuted but probably never will be. believe that it will ever be about a foot for a british court to decide because. apparently the exist the crime over question doesn't exist in british law and i think that's the end of the matter until parliament sides otherwise known that of course opinion in britain is divided but now i think the majority is very much critical condemns the war and in the war i think i think i'm right in saying that and no doubt lots of people will have examined the story to see whether there is any legal recourse but i think the truth is that i am on record as saying that i think tony blair is a war criminal but then of course so is george w. bush. in the sense that it wouldn't be very satisfactory if tony blair was to be brought before a british court but nothing was to be done about america the fact is we don't have a world government we don't have an international criminal court which is fully effective we do have an international criminal court but a number of countries america russia israel hav

0r delusional, blair was asked.t is important is to understand that there is already a lot that we know now that we did not know a year ago when we took the decision. we know, for example, that our currency is down significantly, that's a prediction by the international markets as to our future prosperity. we know that businesses are already moving jobs out of the country and we know this time last year we were at the fastest—growing economy in the g—7 and we are now the slowest. i think we now know there is not £350 million a week extra for the national health service. in the short and medium—term there is less money. tony blair has set out his case in an article for his institute for global change. saying: but there is scepticism over whether there is really the political will in europe to allow britain to change the rules. just last week, the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier said that the principles of freedom of movement, of people on the goods and services are indivisible. the eu itself has made it absolute

prime minister tony blair opening him up to prosecution over the two thousand and three invasion of iraq. it's three o'clock here in moscow and you're watching r.t. international live from our studio with me in india today welcome to the program accusations of blackmail being leveled at c.n.n. after it tracked down the person behind the donald trump wrestling clip which the president tweeted a few days ago the channel is threatening to reveal his identity if he makes another video like the trump one i'll tease digs deeper into the story around this video. so this guy makes a humorous little video and then it blows up someone edited it donald trump found it and posted it on his twitter feed it got millions of views hundreds of thousands of likes and many people had to love c.n.n. did not like being laughed at not one bit they launched a manhunt for the original creator of the video what they did is dog saying it is digging up private information on someone or something and then publishing it could be used for law enforcement for business extortion coercion harassment online shaming and vi

not click accused tony blair of any intention to deceive, any liars and a spokesperson for tony blairerred as to the comments mr blair made at the time, the time sirjohn chilcot reference that, at the lengthy press conference when he accepted that the intelligence was wrong and planning had been poor but he insisted he had acted in good faith. there were no lies and no intention to deceive and he saw what he did at the time was right. we'll be speaking one british army general who gave evidence at the chilcot inquiry at ten past seven. a quarter of adult care services in england are not safe enough, according to inspectors. a report by the care quality commission says most care homes, nursing homes and home care services are good, but too many are failing on safety. among the issues raised by the care regulator are people not getting enough to eat and drink, and not being given the right medication. our social affairs correspondent alison holt has more. can you open your eyes, just a little? this woman carefully gives him at the lunch. the front room of their birmingham home has becom

tony blair is a lwa ys were public sessions. tony blair is always an advocate.se we can, not departing from the truth, but persuasion is everything. do you believe that tony blair was as straight with you and the public as he ought to have been? can i slightly reword that to say i think any prime minister taking a country to war has got to be straight with the nation and carry it as far as possible with him or her? i don't believe that was the case in the iraq instance. do you feel we gave you the fullest version of events?” think it gave what was... i hesitate to say this, rather, but i think from his perspective at that point emotionally truthful and i think that came out also in his press conference after the launch statement. i think he was on the really great emotional pressure during those sessions, far more than the committee were, and he was suffering. he was deeply engaged. in that state of mind and mood, you fall back on your instinctive skills of reactions, i think. fall back on your instinctive skills of reactions, ithink. but fall back on your insti

a spokesperson for tony blair said sirjohn was clear that mr blair had not "departed from the truth".you feel the politicians you dealt with were as straight with you as they ought to have been? i think i'd need to distinguish. they adopted different approaches. and i have to name names because these were public sessions. tony blair is always and ever an advocate. he makes the most persuasive case he can. not departing from the truth. but persuasion is everything. advocacy for my position. do you believe that tony blair was as straight with you and the public as he ought to have been? can i slightly reword that to say, i think any prime minister taking a country into war has got to be straight with the nation and carry it, so far as possible, with him or her. i don't believe that was the case in the iraq instance. do you feel he gave you the fullest version of events? i think he gave... i hesitate to say this, rather, but i think from his perspective and standpoint, it was emotionally truthful. i think that came out also in his press conference after the launch statement. i think he w

prime minister tony blair iraq. just after three pm this monday afternoon here in the russian capital welcome to r.t. international i mean you know good to have your company our top story venice we. turn to vote for a new constituent assembly was more than forty percent but the election sparked a deadly wave of violence across the country. an explosion on a street in caracas injured a number of people among them seven police officers six people were wounded two when a grenade was thrown into a polling station the opposition is calling for more protests a separate cards the election illegally. if you know republican we know if we don't have a republic we have nothing we may have a home food we can start a family raise children die so there's no need if we don't have a republic that's why we went to vote. this is a legal no one asked the people where they want and are now. i don't think you know i love you and people are tired of violence they can ask the government to fix the things that should be fixed but basically

prime minister tony blair has immunity from prosecution over the two thousand and three invasion of iraq. and russia and china are expected to present a joint plan on resolving the situation in the north korea later today after a u.n. security council urgent meeting as the russian foreign minister warns against attempts to instigate regime change in the country. you're watching r.t. international live from moscow with me in india today welcome to the program. we start with some breaking news this hour the russian defense ministry says it's taken out a number of eisel positions in syria the targets were located on the border of the provinces of hama and homs the strikes were conducted using high precision cruise missiles with a range of about a thousand kilometers and we will bring you more details as soon as we get. accusations of blackmail are being leveled at c.n.n. tracked down the person behind the donald trump wrestling pit which the president tweeted a few days ago the channel is threatening to reveal his identity if he makes another video like that. one here's the clip at the cent

up on the program london's high court blocks a bid to prosecute former british prime minister tony blair. over the iraq war. every year churning in from around the world. for your company our top story violent clashes in the venezuelan capital continue following sunday's vote for a new constituent assembly president maduro branded forty one percent voter turnout a victory while the opposition said it will continue protesting the results the controversy over elections how sparked the deadly wave of violence across the country. i. i. was all the protests over the months have seen a lot of violence such as an explosion yesterday on a street in caracas that enjoyed a number of people among them seven police officers also six people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into a polling station but the opposition is calling for more protests as a regards the election really. is you know the bullets and we know if we don't have a republic we have nothing we may have a home food we can start a family raise children die so there's no need if we don't have a republic that's why we went to vote. th

you can't call it has held a hearing on whether to lift tony blair has immunity from prosecution overthe iraq war. smith reports. the background to this is that last year a private criminal prosecution was brought against tony blair and it was blocked by judges because it was ruled that blair would have immunity against criminal prosecution so there was no point proceeding with it this case could see that immunity overturned it could see him face charges and in fact the charge that they want to level is one of aggression to the second aim of this case is to establish whether aggression is in fact a crime under english law this attempt to private prosecution is based on the findings of last year's chilcote inquiry report was published last year and it concluded that the war at the time wasn't a last resort which of course it should be that the consequences of the invasion were severely underestimated and that post conflict planning in iraq was wholly inadequate despite all this tony blair has been in public life off and on ever since then in fact earlier this year he announced that he

tony blair's offers have been clear to make that clear today.tinction made between tony blair's belief and his emotion in the cause for war and the fa cts . emotion in the cause for war and the facts. that something sirjohn chilcot talks about in quite a revealing way, tony blair's advocacy, his belief in the necessity to do this was as important as the facts of the case. thanks very much. this is bbc news at 5 — the headlines: world leaders gather in hamburg for the g20 summit, as thousands of protesters gather. a watchdog says a quarter of adult care services in england are not safe enough, and in some cases residents are not getting enough to eat or drink. bbc research reveals that more than 100 people have now been convicted of terrorist offences related to syria and iraq. and in sport, novak djokovic eases into the third round at wimbledon but kyle edmund is out, he was beaten by the 15th seed gael monfils in straight sets. joe root leads from the front and scores a century to rescue england in his first test as captain. earlier england wer

court has held a hearing on whether to lift tony blair's immunity from prosecution over the iraq war laura smith reports. and the background to this is that last year a private criminal prosecution was brought against tony blair and it was blocked by judges because it was ruled that blair would have immunity against criminal prosecution so there was no point proceeding with it this case could see that immunity overturned it could see him face charges and in fact the charge that they want to level is one of aggression to the second aim of this case is to establish whether aggression is in fact a crime under english law this attempt to private prosecution is based on the findings of last year's chilcote inquiry report was published last year and it concluded that the war at the time wasn't a last resort which of course it should be that the consequences of the invasion were severely underestimated and that post conflict planning in iraq was wholly inadequate despite all this tony blair has been in public life off and on ever since then in fact earlier this year he announced that he wou

tony blair says britain could win concessions on immigration and stay in the european union. thousands march through hong kong to mark the death of chinese dissident and nobel peace prize winner, liu xiaobo. turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan, has addressed a mass rally to mark a year since the failed military coup. tens of thousands watched him speak at a bridge in istanbul, where 3a people died in a battle with renegade troops. president erdogan said the defeat of the plot was a victory for democracy. he told the crowds that the suspects on trial should wear orange jump suits, like those worn by guantanamo bay detainees. mark lowen reports. they returned to where the nightmare began. seized by the tanks a year ago, it is now renamed 15 july martyrs bridge, tens of thousands celebrating victory today. they call it turkey's second independence, joy and relief clear, and they remembered the 260 killed as the people stood up to the plotters, known as feto. last year, a lion, that lion is turkish nation, was tried to strangle, by cats. who are those cats? they are militant

prime minister tony blair as immunity from prosecution over the two thousand and three invasion of iraq. and russia and china are expected to present a joint plan on resolving the situation in the north korea later today to a u.n. security council urgent meeting as the russian foreign minister warns against attempts to investigate regime change in the country. it's four o'clock here in moscow and you're watching altie international live from our studio with me. welcome to the program. our nations of black being leveled at c.n.n. after track down the person behind the donald trump wrestling to which the president tweeted a few days ago the channel is threatening to reveal his identity if he makes another video like the trump one here's the clip at the center of the controversy it's an edited video of scripted appearance at a wrestling match back in two thousand and seven the person who is attacked has a c.n.n. logo for a head the channel has since accused the president of encouraging violence against reporters. so this guy makes a humorous little video and then it blows up someone edited

underestimated and that post conflict planning in iraq was wholly inadequate despite all this tony blair has been in public life off and on. on ever since that in fact earlier this year he announced that he would be making a comeback to politics because of breaks it now when he said that he faced the now familiar cries of war criminal but he remains utterly unfazed by those listen to this legacy of iraq war and his responsibility for the crimes of the mean spirited regard him as someone who should step back into politics which reputation for being a warmonger. they really should be imprisoned these war criminals the reaction to the war has come and destroy your preschooler. not for me it's not i mean people say that. with this immunity being lifted or of course the relatives of those who died in the iraq war and in fact the families of soldiers who were killed crowd funded one hundred fifty thousand pounds last year and they've used that money to have this chilcote report forensically examined to see whether there is grounds for prosecuting tony blair the hearing is over for now there's

now we can blown -- blame tony blair for corbyn.tory says is that the local party in corbyn's constituency of islington north, they went to tony blairand said, islington north, they went to tony blair and said, look, islington north, they went to tony blairand said, look, he islington north, they went to tony blair and said, look, he keeps voting against you, should we think about getting rid of him, can we try to deselect him ? about getting rid of him, can we try to deselect him? and he said, no, the labour party is abroad church. this week is coming out as we're hearing speculation about tom watson and whether there will be a move on him. right of centre. the ides dear to replace tom watson with emily thornberry who is a much closer ally and she is right next door. this is interesting timing, i think, and and she is right next door. this is interesting timing, ithink, and i think it might be deliberate, it is to say that don't forget the labour party has in the past tolerated a wide for a ride to your views. only this week, tony

the former british prime minister tony blair says eu leaders are willing to compromise in order to persuade the uk to remain a member. if we were looking at this from the point of view of the interests of the country, one option within this negotiation would be britain staying within a reformed european union. also coming up: tears ofjoy as spain's garbine muguruza beats venus williams to win her first wimbledon title. hello and welcome to bbc news. we begin in turkey, which is marking one year since the failed military coup against president erdogan. tens of thousands have been attending this event in istanbul to mark the anniversary. president erdogan spoke at the rally against the soldiers who tried to seize powerfrom him. he said we need to chop off the heads of traitors. he is due to address parliament in ankara shortly, at the time it was bombed. the failed coup was a traumatic event in the country's history. 260 people were killed. more than 2,000 people were injured. in the aftermath, more than 150,000 state employees have been sacked, and another 50,000 people have been arrested. m

the headlines at 8pm: tony blair says some eu leaders are ready to compromise on freedom of movement to help britain stay in the single market. europe itself is now looking at its own reform programme. they will have an inner circle of the eu that would be part of the eurozone and an outer circle. laws on buying acid are to be reviewed by the government following a spate of attacks in london. a 15—year—old girl has died after taking a drug — formerly known as a "legal high" — in newton abbot in devon. two other girls were taken to hospital. time and time again we hear about people paying the ultimate price for this. it's not worth experimenting with your life. also in the next hour: supporters of turkey's president erdogan celebrate one year since the coup against him failed. the government crackdown against the coup is still continuing — with another 7,000 alleged opponents of the president sacked from theirjobs last night. spain's garbine muguruza beats venus williams to win the women's singles at wimbledon. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the former prime minister tony blair

the headlines at 11:00pm: tony blair says some european leaders are ready to compromise on immigration to try to keep britain in the eu. europe itself is now looking at its own reform programme. they will have an inner circle of the eu, that will be part of the eurozone, and an outer circle. a 16—year—old boy is charged with grievous bodily harm after five people were attacked with acid in london on thursday night. a 15—year—old girl has died after taking a drug formerly known as a legal high in newton abbot, in devon. two other girls were taken to hospital. also in the next hour: marking one year since the failed coup in turkey. turkey's president erdogan is rallying hundreds of thousands of supporters in istanbul tonight, while a crackdown against his opponents continues. spain's garbine muguruza beats venus williams to win her first women's singles title at wimbledon. good evening and welcome to bbc news. tony blair has suggested the uk could win concessions on immigration to try to keep it within the european union. the former prime minister said european leaders might be prepared

for others, tony blair may seem a rather irreleva nt tony blair may seem a rather irrelevant voice inay want to lead the anti— brexit fightback and persuade the uk that it is better off in the eu but he will always face the argument that he is ignoring the referendum result and ignoring that democratic ballot. 7,000 police officers, soldiers, officials and academics have been sacked in turkey, where a national holiday is being held to mark the first anniversary of a failed attempt to remove president erdogan. the authorities have accused them of being members of terrorist organisations or of groups working against the national interest. 150,000 people have now been arrested or sacked since the thwarted coup. there are plans to extend a scheme which allows members of the public to call for harsher sentences in england and wales. the unduly lenient sentence scheme already covers serious terror offences and crimes such as murder and rape. the ministry ofjustice now wants it to apply to people who have been convicted of offences such as encouraging terrorism. james earl has more. we've be

tony blair has told the bbc that continuing on the current path to brexit would be the "biggest delusion". the former prime minister says european leaders have told him they would be prepared to make concessions to keep the uk in the single market. he says a debate on the eu is needed. good morning, it's saturday the 15th ofjuly. also ahead this morning... demands for a crackdown to tackle acid attacks — a review will be carried out into whether laws should be tightened. a call for a more consistent approach to tower—block fires after the grenfell disaster, as one in five fire brigades say they still won't automatically send a high ladder to a blaze. a world record for hannah cockroft, as britain takes three medals on the opening night of the world para—athletics championships. good morning from wimbledon. it is women's final day, is 37—year—old venus williams aims to become the old est venus williams aims to become the oldest winner in the open era. she ta kes oldest winner in the open era. she takes on garbine muguruza here on centre court, live on the bbc this afternoon. the story of

prime minister tony blair for the iraq war. every hour of every day is r t international my names you know. your company our top story. the turnout in sunday's vote for a new constituent assembly was more than forty percent of the election sparked a deadly wave of violence across the country. ah an explosion on a street in caracas injured a number of people among them seven police officers also six people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into a polling station and the opposition is calling for more protests as it regards the election also illegal. as you know if we don't have a republic we have nothing we may have a home food we can start a family raise children die so there's no need if we don't have a republic that's why we went to vote. this is illegal you know when they ask the people where they want and are now i don't think you know you need people are tired of you they can ask the government to fix the things that should be fixed but basically we need peace. or president nicolas maduro called on venezuelans to thro

after a high court failed to prosecute former prime minister tony blair over the iraq war and bring you the story from london. it's monday july thirty first forty four pm in washington d.c. i'm in touch this week and you're watching our team america and we start with russia's response to a new round of sanctions imposed by the u.s. government russian president vladimir putin has announced that the u.s. embassy will have to cut seven hundred fifty five people as a result of washington's policies artie's roman kozyrev has more on moscow's comeback. new sanctions against russia are expected to be signed by president donald trump the document approved by congress aims to target the country's lucrative energy trade with partners in europe washington claims the measures are in response to alleged election meddling well moscow has already responded to another likely round of restrictions by asking the united states to cut its diplomatic staff in russia by seven hundred fifty five people by september the first just making the number of employees equal to the number of russian embassy staff in t

tony blair says he is hearing noises that yes we can.be rather sceptical around what is the evidence for this but he has told the today programme is that there is com pletely the today programme is that there is completely changed situation in europe and britain can get a better deal on immigration and he has warned against carrying on the part that we are currently on without considering this other option. britain benefits enormously from the freedom of movement but the changes are... qualifications to it around the things that concern people. what our poll today shows is that actually, majorities in france, germany as well as the uk support changes around things like benefits, around things like people who come without a job who come to europe. now, i'm not saying these could be negotiated. i'm simply saying, if we re negotiated. i'm simply saying, if were looking at this from the point of view of the interests of the country, one option within this negotiation would be written staying with a reformed european union. it is all very wel