30/04/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10, David Cameron refuses to set up a new inquiry

into the conduct of the Culture Secretary, but Jeremy Hunt's

dealings during the bid for BSkyB were a breach of the ministerial

code according to Labour. The Prime Minister is defending the

indefensible, and he knows it. Endlessly questioning the integrity

of someone when you do not have the evidence is that judgment, rotten

politics and plain wrong. We will be asking if today's exchanges have

increased or eased the pressure on Mr Hunt. Also tonight, long queues

at Heathrow and new concerns about security ahead of the Olympics. It

is the wettest April for a century, with dozens of flood warnings, but

the drought is still with us. rain has been relentless in areas

like Gloucestershire for days now, but why isn't all of this water

enough to bring our drought to an end? A day of talks with the FA,

Roy Hodgson of West Brom is expected to be the new England

manager. And the sounds and images of a new

archive sharing British culture in a Olympic year.

And coming up in Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, the clash of the

season, the Manchester derby is over, we will tell you when to look

away if you don't want to know the Good evening. The Prime Minister

was forced to cancel his election campaigning this afternoon after

being summoned to the House of Commons to answer questions about

his culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. He insisted once again that Mr Hunt

had acted fairly during the Murdoch bid to take control of BSkyB, but

Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was clear in his view that the

Culture Secretary had broken the ministerial code and should be

sacked. James Landale has this report.

This is the journey that David Cameron did not want to make. He

was supposed to be out campaigning, but instead he was driven to the

House of Commons by Labour and the Speaker to explain why he had not

ordered an inquiry into what Jeremy Hunt knew about his special

advisers contacts with the Murdoch empire. At first, it was relatively

calm. A Casino evidence to suggest that the Secretary of State acted

at any stage in a way contrary to the ministerial code. -- I have

seen no evidence. The Prime Minister said there was no need for

a separate investigation but if new evidence emerged that the Leveson

Inquiry, he would act. Not good enough, said Labour. The Culture

Secretary is in clear breach of the ministerial code. And the Prime

Minister stands by and does nothing. Ed Miliband claims that Jeremy had

breached the Ministerial Code by failing to take responsibility for

his special adviser, making an inaccurate statement to MPs, and

giving information to News Corporation before Parliament. All

not true, said the Prime Minister. But the Labour leader said Mr

Cameron's independent adviser on the ministerial code should

investigate none the less. That is when things got heated. The Prime

Minister is defending the indefensible, and he knows it.

Protecting the Culture Secretary's job while a pass down the country

hundreds of thousands are losing theirs. And we all know why, the

special adviser had to go to protect the Culture Secretary, the

Culture Secretary has his day to protect the Prime Minister! The

Prime Minister has shown today that he is incapable of doing his duty,

to close to a powerful view, out of touch with everyone else. No, said

Mr Cameron, it was Mr Miliband was weak and wrong. There if you're

going to make these accusations, get your facts right. What a lot of

self serving double standards we had from the party opposite.

Endlessly questioning the integrity of someone when you do not have the

evidence is that judgment, rotten politics and plain wrong. We have

learnt something about the Labour leader today, and I think it is

something he will regret. It was combative, angry and brought Tory

MPs today. Downing Street said Mr Miliband had overplayed his hand,

but Labour said Mr Cameron had failed to answer the central

question. Isn't it time for an inquiry? Not yet is the answer,

another day lost on a row that he would rather it away. Where do the

events of today leave us? James Landale is in Downing Street. A big

week for all the parties, how do you read it tonight? This is a week

of big elections, local elections, they are all recollections --

mayoral elections. The lasting David Cameron wanted to do today

was spend another afternoon denying that his government had entered a

grand bargain with the Murdochs, trading electoral support for

support for their businesses, but there he was, doing exactly that. I

think the exchanges today have united Conservative MPs. It was

incredibly partisan in mayor. Yes, the Conservatives and Downing

Street certainly believe that Labour brought no real questions to

the House today. But it is another day of campaigning that David

Cameron has lost, another day in which his relationship with the

Murdochs is in the headlines, and Labour feel they have scored a few

hits today, particularly revealing just how rattled David Cameron is.

However, tonight's two pieces are slightly better news for the

government, a poll suggesting that Boris Johnson is pretty

substantially ahead of Ken Livingstone in the race for London

mayor, which will cause some rather nervous Tory brows, because they

have been pretty close in recent weeks. Secondly, tomorrow we get

the publication of the report by the culture and media select

committee in Parliament on the whole phone-hacking affair. It is

expected to be critical of James Murdoch and News International,

former News International executives. The focus will be on

them, not on people in there. you, James Landale.

The number of forged passports and visas being detected at Britain's

borders has fallen in recent months. BBC News has seen confidential

figures showing that in February discoveries of forgeries were 26%

lower compared with the previous year. Some staff at Heathrow

Airport blame the staff shortages, and there are new concerns about

long queues for passengers arriving at Heathrow as London prepares for

the Olympics. Transport correspondent Tom Symonds has the

They will not believe me! Welcome to Britain, passport, please. But

last week passengers said that at times it was taking two hours to

hear those words. When one traveller finally made it through,

this was the reaction. Good luck, Darren Pike arrived back in the UK

on Thursday. His experience was typical. I have never seen the

airport so busy. The queue was down the corridor before you got into

passport control, and it was utterly ridiculous. This Heathrow

border officer was asked to remain anonymous said that at times a

handful of staff were coping with hundreds of passengers. We swiped

the passport, take the Prince, ask the bare minimum of questions and

then let them in. It is quicker to stamp somebody than adequately

examine them, and dealing with the queue is now the overwhelming

priority for frontline immigration officers. But in the Commons, the

Immigration Minister said that will stop over the weekend, there were

some breaches of the waiting times. This was caused by severe weather,

changing Flyjet jewels and the bunching of arrivals. But I would

stress to the House that our information shows that during times

bore no resemblance to some of the more wild suggestions. Labour

highlighted staff cuts, but the minister insisted that waiting time

targets for European passengers were met every day in early April.

It is becoming a battle of statistics, the government

emphasising the average rate faced by passengers, the aviation

industry stressing when they have had to wait longest. British

Airways said the targets were pathetic, the figures are

meaningless and the delays unacceptable. There is no doubt

that the queues are resulting in angry passengers, but are they also

affecting the way that passport control officers do their jobs? We

showed this officer figures leaked to the BBC showing the number of

forged documents he and his colleagues are detecting has fallen

by 26% in February. Do you believe that the reduction

in the number of forgeries being detected is linked to the number of

staff on duty? There's no question in my opinion and the opinion of my

colleagues that the fall in detection of forged documents is

directly related to the lack of available staff. The Home Office

says that better cheques abroad and the use of biometric passports has

reduced fraud, but the plan is to draft in more officers, 400 per

The Met Office says this April has been the wettest since records

began back in 1910. It is warning that more heavy rain is expected in

parts of England overnight after a weekend of storms. Nearly 180 flood

alerts and warnings are now in force. In Hampshire, a man died

when his car was swept into fast- flowing water. In County Durham,

they are still searching for an eight-year-old boy who fell into a

river. The West of England is also affected, as Jon Kay tells us.

After one of the driest winters on record, we have been taken by

surprise, by the wettest April in one century. Here in Somerset, they

have had more rain in a last few days than they had in the previous

four months. Every river in the county is now on flood alert. And

the impact goes beyond the West Country. Near Newbury today, a man

died when his car became stuck in Ms de Ford. The water was very fast

flowing at the point where the car was submerged, about 5 ft, so it

was completely submerged. Flooding on the line between South Wales and

London meant long delays while the tracks were pumped clear. In

Gloucestershire, the Badminton horse trials, due to attract

250,000 visitors later this week, have had to be cancelled. Almost

every region of England and Wales now has areas on some kind of flood

alert or warning, but despite all the rain, many of them are still

officially in drought. Analysts say it will take more than one wet

month to make up for many dry ones, so the drought goes on. I can

understand why people think it is absurd when they see the amount of

rainfall that they have seen over the last 24 or 48 hours, but the

fact is that groundwater levels are at an historical low, there are

still severe drought problems in terms of water availability. We

want to keep the taps flowing. is not just rainfall that has been

an issue. Across southern Britain, from London to Swansea, high winds

have left communities without power. In the Gloucestershire town of

Tewkesbury, where they suffered so badly five years ago, they were

practising today for a flood evacuation. Meanwhile, the local

flood plains were filling up for real. And some here are

understandably anxious. This new business only opened its riverfront

offices two weeks ago. In 12 hours, it has literally come up 3 ft,

literally another one metre, and we are in serious trouble, basically.

This park is meant to be on the banks of the River Avon, but

tonight the water levels are still creeping up here, and the Met

Office has put this whole region on alert for more rain in the next few

hours. For many of us, it is said to be a worrying week, as well as a

A court in Bahrain has ordered a retrial in the case of a hunger

striker who was jailed for lead in last year's pro-democracy protests.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 other activists were convicted by a

military court last year, but in an interview with the BBC's Frank

Gardner his wife has accused the authorities of buying time for

themselves with what she calls a Support for Bahrain's jailed

activists. He was sentenced to life for treason last year by a military

tribunal. He has been on hunger strike since February. Today's

ruling means he will remain in custody while his case is reviewed

by a civil court. His wife told me TRANSLATION: He was telling me that

my hunger strike was not for negotiation. That he was not going

to stop until he was free. Either by death or by coming out of jail

he was not going to stop. I think that the government is

assassinating my husband in a very slow and painful way.

The allegations that the government intends harm to Abdulhadi al-

Khawaja is absolutely untrue. At the beginning he has been given

access 24 hours a day to the best medical attention. We have reported

on his health, he is being visited by the Danish ambassador and his

family. At weekly players in the Sunni mosque, it was condemned the

antigovernment protest that had turned violent. We found little

sympathy here for those who clashed with the police or the jailed

hunger striker. Let him strike. Let him strike

until he dies, why do I care. There are other prisoners in other parts

of the world who strike on hunger, why should we care.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja wants problem gone. Here he is a following.

He is killing for the humans, not only for our family, but for human

rights. Therefore he is a popular man and we will fight for him as he

is fighting. This is one of the regular

organised antigovernment protests that take place almost every week

here in Bahrain. The problem starts when the peaceful demonstrator go

home and the masked activists Go come out on the streets and the

police respond with tear gas. Driving away we witnessed the

beginnings of that exkalation. Go for it! Go for it! And this

footage, recently posted online, appears to show the mass petrol

bombing by activists of a government building. So how does

the man brought here for policing assess the security? You can find

on the island there is no trouble, the vast majority is peaceful. Most

people know that. In much of the country life and

business goes on. But until issues of human rights

and sharing power are resolved, sporadic violence will continue to

playing that island. Consuming up on tonight's

programme: Squaring up in the biggest match of the Premier League,

United, versus City tonight. The West Brom manager, Roy Hodgson,

has been in talks with the Football Association with a view to

accepting the job of the England manager. The FA say he is the only

person to have been approached in succeeding Fabio Capello. In recent

talks it was said that Harry Redknapp may get the job, but he

says he does not bare grudges and wishes Roy Hodgson well.

Roy Hodgson arriving at Wembley for the biggest job interview of his

life. A man seen as the safest choice for England manager, but

also a surprise one. Harry Redknapp had been the overwhelming favourite

with the public, the press and the players, but today the Tottenham

Hotspur manager was philosophical. It is not a problem. I wish that

Roy Hodgson takes the job. I wish him all the best. He's a great guy.

I don't hold grudges. I am fortunate, lots of people will give

anything to have the job that I have here. Roy Hodgson is the most

experienced in world football. His coaching career began in 1976 at

Halmstad. Over the years he took charge of a host of clubs across

Europe, including interMillan and Finland. He mastered Fulham's

progress to the final. Roy Hodgson guided lowly Switzerland to the

1994 cup finals, but recently endured a painful spell at

Liverpool lasting only six months in the job.

Will the England fans been excited? No, but we will be excited to make

it out of the group in 2012 and beyond, who knows. The biggest plus

in favour of Roy Hodgson is he will lower expectations.

Harry Redknapp was considered a front runner, the FA would have had

to pay millions in compensation to pry him away from Spurs. Some

believe that he deserved an interview.

If I were Harry Redknapp, I would upset with the process, it would be

for the FA to explain and justify this process.

Roy Hodgson emerged after four hours of talks, described as

positive by sources. They are confident of announcing him New

England manager tomorrow. After xensaithing �24 million on

Fabio Capello a manager with more modest demands will appeal to the

FA. By going for Hodgson rather than Harry, and with the Euro 2012

six weeks away, the pressure will be on meeld.

Well -- on immediate. Well, Roy Hodgson and many others

will be following tonight's big match. The match between Manchester

City and Manchester United. If you would rather wait for Match of the

Day after this programme, be warned we are about to tell you what

happened. So far the latest let's join our Sports Correspondent Andy

Swiss.Y, tell us what went on? it is the Manchester City fans

celebrating here. They have beaten Manchester United by 1-0, a result

that puts them in the position for the title race it was a tight,

tetchy affair. City dominated the first half, taking the lead on the

stroblg of half-time -- on the stroke of halt. So the second half

was a similar story, United struggling to create real chances.

City clinging on for victory. They will be greeted with delight by the

thousands of fans here, they've been hoping for the first league

title since 1968. City are now cop of the table. They have the same

number of points as United, but significantly they have a better

goal difference. That could prove hugely important come the end of

the season. Will are still two matches left it will go right to

the wire, but right now it is advantage Manchester City.

Andy Swiss, thank you very much. Now another item for the sports

news, the lawyer of Chamber of Commerce has accused the British

Olympic Association for colonial arrogance. The riling cleared the

way for Chamber of Commerce and David Millar to compete in London

2012. The BOA's rule was declared invalid, it failed to comply with

the World Anti-Doping Agency. Now the voters of Greece are

preparing to take part in the most significant election in decades

this weekend. The financial and the economic turmoil over the past few

years, rutting in smaller pensions and fewer jobs has turned many

Greeks away from the main stream parties. As we report, this could

have a dramatic impact on the final result.

The Peloponnese, where the Gods of Greek myth and legend once played.

And where today, we found Michalis Angelopoulos, desperately hoping

for better times. After five years of recession and continuing

government cuts now. Do you think that Greece should

carry on cutting in the way that Brussels is asking?

TRANSLATION: They have to stop. There will be trouble. People don't

have anymore to give. Despite the obvious beauty here,

there are dark storm clouds on the horizon. A large number of people

are expected to vote for parties that can't to turn their back on

the Brussels imposed austerity. If that does happen, there are those

who fear that this country could be charting a very different course,

one that take it is out of the Euro. With all of the massive impolice

stationcations for this continent - - massive implications that would

mean for this country. There is changing politics here.

The same faces have governed here for decades. In the local council

they know the two main parties who pushed through the cuts are losing

support, but the new Mayor and an independent, does not believe

anyone has the vision to save his country.

Now the plan is to win the elections.

It is the plan for 15 days. We want a plan for the next 15 years.

We don't have anything like this. What they need is growth.

But the orange groves are about the only place you will find that right

now. For some voters, the only option is

for the next government to renegotiate Greece's bail out with

Europe's leaders. We have to say to them that we

don't have the money to pay. I think that they will understand.

But in the end, if they don't believe us, we have to leave the

Euro. That is not yet a majority view,

but more here are questioning the direction that this country has

chartered after the election. And after the elections their voices

will be stronger. The run-up to the 2012 Games

includes a Cultural Olympiad, celebrating the rich variety of the

Olympics. Part of this project is The Space. It is a platform

launched by Arts Council England. It is meant to change the way that

the arts are consumed. With the mix of live broadcast and some of the

best archive available. Will Gompertz has been sampling

what is on offer. We are Gilbert... And gorge... And

this is The Space. The Space, a platform hoping to

revolutionise how we consume the arts.

Launching tomorrow for a six-month trial period, it will feature rare

and unseen archive material, such as these John Peel videos, but it

will focus main on showing the events and the performances taking

place around the UK this summer. Here at Sadler's Wells for example,

where the annual festival of hip- hop dance called Breaking

Convention takes place this weekend it will not just be those in the

theatre to enjoy the show, but anybody with a smartphone, internet

television, can sit down, check out the moves and watch this programme.

The man behind the convention spys that The Space is the future.

This is the way to get theatre to people. Now in the days of

austerity we cannot afford to go to the theatre. So I think this is a

perfect way in which we can develop the audience who are going into the

theatre. Not everybody is quite so

enthusiastic. The writer of the critically

aclaimed play Written on the Heart, has concerns.

I think if the performing arts are done digital Italy -- dijally, it

could abdanger that it becomes a substitute that the great national

institutions should be doing, like touring, so that the theatres are

seen in the real live here and now. Arts Council England says this is

all for new live arts. Could it be a way of getting a

bigger bang for the buck? It is a way of getting art to people, so it

will pick up our audiences. We are putting in �3.5 million for the

content. Out of that we get value from the investment we have put in.

Tomorrow on The Space, the world will be able to watch the news as