owen smith is sacked from the shadow cabinet but diane abbott remains?s against the labour party's settled position now in relation to brexit and i think on that basis, if you are to speak against the collective view of the cabinet, the shadow cabinet, then you have to go on to the backbenches. i stepped down from the front bench myself a couple of months ago because i wa nted couple of months ago because i wanted to speak on a wider range of issues and i was not able to do that whilst being on the front bench and soi whilst being on the front bench and so i decided to be an outrider on the backbenches and that is what owen smith can now do. he decided to speak up for the things he feels passionate about. when you take on a front bench role you have to accept collective responsibility. that is a normal process but why have diane abbott ‘s remarks not be regarded as a sacking offence when these are? lemi compared to your benefit, you've probably read all of this, but our people watching probably will not have done, owen smith wrote, we have the right to k

why didn't you sack diane abbott?, all of you, for coming. 0wen smith insists he was surprised to be sacked because he says his views are far more in touch with those of the party membership than his leader's. and certainly a survey of more than 4000 labour party members last year suggested that three—quarters of them wanted a second referendum on the final deal with the eu. but most of the activists i spoke put tight—lipped loyalty ahead of any policy concerns. i think we need unity to beat the tories. is he right to sack 0wen smith over europe? no. and it's perhaps a measure ofjeremy corbyn's grip on his party that he sacked someone with pro—eu views swiftly without causing a serious split. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. cambridge have beaten oxford in both university boat races. the light blues won convincing victories on the thames in the men's and women's events. john watson has all the details. the traditional duel on the thames. under overcast skies, a battle for clea rwater. cambridge started under overca

how does labour square that with this letter that was in the public domain since diane abbott sent itys that the government won the vote of moving the brexit bill to the next age but the labour party continue to push for the many are not the nightly shoe argues for the electorate voting on the deal. interesting. it is tricky from the tea m interesting. it is tricky from the team corbin perspective. it is a letter to which several of owen's supporters have gazed intently in the last few hours. it is only four months old. quite quickly after that she popped up on question time and did a discrete traverse manoeuvre in front of david dimbleby in a large audience on bbc one. there was clearly a discrepancy people are pointing to that. i suppose the argument might be that this is not a public forum as much as the guardian, although it did become that. it is clearly tricky some will point out that diane abbott is a fellow political traveller with jeremy corbyn. owen smith is very much not but equally owen smith will have known and did know that when he wrote this column there was clearly the

some will point out that diane abbott is a fellow political traveller with jeremy corbyn.wen smith is not. equally, 0wen smith will have known that when he wrote this column, there was a high potential that it would cost him hisjob. there was a high potential that it would cost him his job. chris mason, thank you. a former classmate of the russian spy poisoned in salisbury has claimed that his friend wanted a full pardon from president putin. vladimir timoshkov told bbc news that sergei skripal regretted becoming a double agent. mr skripal and his daughter yulia remain critically ill in hospital. 18 investigators from the uk‘s information commissioner have been searching the london headquarters of cambridge analytica overnight, after a high court judge granted them a warrant. the firm is at the centre of a data privacy row and is accused of using information from millions of facebook users to help political campaigns, without their consent. ben ando reports. after a week of waiting for a warrant, last night the inspectors called. theirjob — to search the offices of cambrid

why didn't you sack diane abbott?r coming. 0wen smith insists he was surprised to be sacked because he says his views are far more in touch with those of the party membership than his leader's. and certainly a survey of more than 4000 labour party members last year suggested that three—quarters of them wanted a second referendum on the final deal with the eu. but most of the activists i spoke put tight—lipped loyalty ahead of any policy concerns. i think we need unity to beat the tories. is he right to sack 0wen smith over europe? no. and it's perhaps a measure ofjeremy corbyn‘s grip on his party that he sacked someone with pro—eu views swiftly without causing a serious split. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correspondent iain watson joins us now. the end of your piece seems to imply that a lot of people agree with the actual point but they think that discipline comes before that at this point. which is interesting. jeremy corbett when he was a backbencher rebelled about 500 times against his own par

why didn't you sack diane abbott? nice to see you. thank you so much, all of you, for coming.acked because he says his views are far more in touch with those of the party membership than his leader's. and certainly in an academic survey of more than 4,000 labour party members last year suggested that three—quarters of them wanted a second referendum on the final deal with the eu. but most of the activists i spoke put tight—lipped loyalty ahead of any policy concerns. yes, i think we need unity to beat the tories. is he right to sack owen smith over europe? no. and it's perhaps a measure ofjeremy corbyn‘s grip on his party that he can sack someone with pro—eu views swiftly without causing a serious split. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. a car bomb has targeted the head of security in the egyptian city of alexandria. the minister survived, but two policemen were killed and five others were injured. the attack comes two days ahead of the presidential election. the headlines on bbc news: hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets across the united states for mass demo

he said: the shadow home secretary diane abbott said that mr smith should not have spoken out in the colleague, he wanted to make a contribution to the debate, and he will be able to do so, what he can't do is sit on our front bench and advance a position which is simply not labour party policy. but no one is saying he can't have his own opinion, but we are clear, we want a meaningful vote on defining the deal —— the final bill in parliament because after a ll final bill in parliament because after all we are a parliamentary democracy. we are not calling for a second referendum. european union leaders in brussels today said they were preparing coordinated measures against russia following the salisbury attack. separately, they approved guidelines for the negotiation of future relations with the uk — in what's being seen as a key step in the brexit process. plans for a transition period after march next year were also formally signed off, as our political editor laura kuenssberg explains from brussels. they don't always look so pleased to see each other. the eu's chief negotiator gras

the accusation came from the shadow home secretary, diane abbott.ity in bedfordshire has his women in family groups as was a small number of men who arrived in britain as clandestine migrants on freight lorries. some women at the site are protesting about the conditions and medical access. the company which runs the centre has said some women were refusing to eat in the restaurant but it was not a hunger strike. newspaper reports show a letter that has been sent to these women by the home office. the letter is reproduced in some media outlets. it's a signed letter on the home office headed paper. it begins by stating that, "as you are currently refusing feud and fluids", this may lead to your case being celebrated. —— accelerated. this sounds to some of us on this side of the house, like punitive deportations for women who have dared to go on hunger strike. the minister said the letter was part of home office guidance and have been published for wine in november. nobody wants detainees to be at any risk. it is important that they should not regard t

diane abbott was asked for her response to the sacking on radio for a little earlier.league. he wanted to make a contribution to the debate and he will be able to do so. what he cannot do is sit on our front bench and advance a position which is not labour party policy. but no one is saying that he can't have his own opinion. but we are clear, we want a meaningful vote on the final deal in parliament because after all, we are a parliamentary democracy, but we are not calling for a secondary random. the reaction of one other labourmp, if only random. the reaction of one other labour mp, if only anti—semites were dealt with as swiftly as remainders —— remain. jeremy corbyn appearing to go against the removal of a mural which was anti—semitic. he says tonight, i'll sincerely regret that idid not tonight, i'll sincerely regret that i did not look more closely at the image which was deeply anti—semitic andi image which was deeply anti—semitic and i heartily support its removal. so he is getting flak for that this evening. thank you, jonathan bate, in westminster. the high c

the twist is diane abbott another frontbencher has articulated views not 1 frontbencher has articulatedtly from this in the past and has managed to survive. anyway, mr smith's supporters are rallying to his cause, he tweeted last night saying he had been sacked for saying what he had been sacked for saying what he believed and yes, he did say a lot of this stuff before he was at the top table but the idea is once you are in shadow cabinet you are bound by collective responsibility. the view from mr corbyn‘s team was that this was a disappointing lack of discipline from mr smith and he simply had to be replaced. chris, thank you very much. we will talk to you more later. hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in marches around the world today calling for tighter gun controls in america. the main rally in washington will include survivors of last month's school shooting in florida. last night, the usjustice department confirmed it will propose a ban on bump stocks — devices which can turn ordinary assault rifles into machine guns. conservation officials in australia hav

what i said in my article for the guardian newspaper and other members of the shadow cabinet, diane abbottve been clear the last two years these are my views and jeremy corbyn knew that when he appointed me and he has never asked me to renounce them. kyle abbott said you are a valued colleague but it is argued you cannot sit on the front page of the opposition while advancing a position that is not labour party policy. she does not agree. pretty rich for her to say that given she did the same thing by issuing a letter in her constituency in which she broadly repeated what i said in my article. why don't you join the liberal democrats? if you do not supportjeremy liberal democrats? if you do not support jeremy corbyn's liberal democrats? if you do not supportjeremy corbyn's vision on the approach to brexit, the liberal democrats want a second referendum, surely you would fit better there? no, iama surely you would fit better there? no, i am a labour mp and supporter and have been the last 30 or more yea rs. and have been the last 30 or more years. this is my labour party as much as it isjer

we have had support from people like diane abbott and lenny henry, but there has been some backlash asto articulate their experiences and add a whole narrative. a couple of years ago at the oscars, there was a big thing about there not being enough black and ethnic people nominated for the main categories. that now has changed a bit, hasn't it? are you reassured when you see things like the marvel film came out. phenomenal. and it had a phenomenal response as well, didn't it? of course, and i think it shows you what is there. when it is your experience to not see yourself in just leading roles and also the only see yourself in stock roles, i think subconsciously that is very damaging andi subconsciously that is very damaging and i think quite violent, actually, and i think quite violent, actually, andi and i think quite violent, actually, and i think quite violent, actually, and i think that is why black panther had such a phenomenal response. for a black kid to see a film that portrays advocate in such an amazing light, that isjust amazing. i went to see it twice because it was so goo