24/02/2017 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten, Theresa May hails a historic victory

for the Conservatives in Copeland, as they sweep Labour aside.

They've got a lot to celebrate - pulling off the first by-election

win for a party in power in 35 years.

This is an astounding victory for the Conservative Party, but also

You know, Labour have held this seat since the 1930s.

Meanwhile Labour did hold on to Stoke Central,

It's a message about the economy, it's a message about jobs,

But above all it was a message that hope triumphs over fear.

We'll be asking why Ukip failed to win in Stoke,

an area which voted strongly to leave the EU.

The battle for Mosul - Iraqi troops enter the west

of the city for the first time, to face strong resistance

A nerve agent classed as a weapon of mass destruction is found

on the face of the murdered half-brother of

I'm live in Hollywood, amid the preparations for Sunday night's

Oscars, where it might be the speeches, not the films, that gets

everybody talking. And coming up in Sportsday on BBC

News: The world of football reacts Jose Mourinho said he'd

been let down by the Theresa May has said winning

the Copeland by-election was an "astounding victory"

for the Conservatives. It's the first time a party

in government has taken a seat Labour had held Copeland since 1935,

but the Conservatives overturned The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

described the defeat But he said he wouldn't

be standing down. In a second by-election

in Stoke-on-Trent Central, Labour did see off a challenge

from the Ukip leader Paul Nuttall - Our first report tonight

is from our deputy political His report does contain

some flash photography. Sometimes party leaders seem to grow

a little after a win. Theresa May's victory appearance

here today told you she'd use the Tories' win in Copeland to claim

she could reach people and parts of Britain no Tory leader has won

over since Margaret Thatcher. This truly is a government

that is working for everyone As for the idea the Tories could win

too big, that good government needs good opposition,

try telling them that - or her. Does Britain need a strong

opposition to hold you to The opposition will do

what they will do. What I'm concerned about is

what the Government does, what the Conservative Government

does. We are working for a country that

truly does work for everyone, That's the message that people

here in Copeland have heard. Did you think that Copeland

would vote Tory in this way? I've been a councillor

for 20 something years The Conservative Party

candidate, 13,748. The first win in a by-election

by any government over its opposition in 35 years,

and in a place that's It's been very clear,

talking to people throughout this campaign, that Jeremy Corbyn

doesn't represent them. Labour folk don't like it and some

feel they know a reason why. Copeland depends on Sellafield,

Jeremy Corbyn has The nuclear probably had quite

a lot to do with it, because Jeremy Corbyn said

he didn't want it. He did do a U-turn

on that, but who knows. The men have done no good

when they've been prime ministers, No hope for Labour

under Jeremy Corbyn? I have to back him, because I am

a Labour man myself. Stoke had been a safe seat

for Labour, but Jeremy Corbyn turned up keen to celebrate holding

out against Ukip. It's a message about the economy,

it's a message about jobs, But, above all, it was a message

that hope triumphs over fear. He'd already been dogged

by that defeat all day. Our party mentorship is in good

heart, it's very large, very strong and we'll be out again

tomorrow, and every other day, campaigning to get the message

across of social justice in Britain. Yet beating Ukip in Stoke

was a big relief to Labour... ..and a painful blow

to Ukip and its defeated This seat was number

72 on our hit list. There's a a lot more

that will happen, a lot We're not going anywhere,

I'm not going anywhere, so therefore, we move

on and our time will come. Paul Nuttall may not be on his way

out as leader, but his campaign And the question's being raised,

when Ukip lost Nigel Farage, Just now Theresa May

looks the biggest winner, ruling her party against weakened

and divided opponents with But back to business means back

to Brexit and there's The Stoke constituency was dubbed

the "capital of Brexit" after recording one of the highest

Leave votes in the EU But Ukip, which was running

against a Remain Labour candidate Our political correspondent

Alex Forsyth has been looking The morning after a hard-fought

campaign brought dawning In Stoke, more than two thirds

of people voted to leave the EU, but even where Brexit proved

so popular, Ukip suffered defeat. People may have voted Brexit,

but Brexit just doesn't mean Ukip. No, it doesn't and that's

what we think Ukip's They've got no coherent policies

whatsoever, whereas Labour had. Stoke's long been a Labour

stronghold, a collection of West Midlands towns

with a rich industrial heritage. A prime target for Ukip's leader,

who is keen to prove the party can But Paul Nuttall had a tough

campaign, forced to correct claims he'd lost close personal

friends at Hillsborough. Senior figures say that did play

a part, but insist he's Was this a Ukip failure or was this

a Paul Nuttall failure? Winning by-elections like this takes

time and people have to get We've been around

for years, as a party. Yes, focused on one single issue,

getting Britain out We're now evolving into something

bigger and we have to get that This was a significant

defeat for Ukip. Instead of proving it can win over

disillusioned Labour voters, it's left struggling to explain

what it stands for beyond Brexit. Its former leader said the campaign

failed to cut through on key issues. There is a debate in Ukip

as to how strong we should be We'll have to look

at that and think. Were we tough enough and clear

enough with the electorate? In Stoke, local Ukip members

who were out on the doorstep admit the party must broaden its appeal,

particularly given the Conservatives in government have promised

to deliver Brexit. There's no point in trying to dress

up as reasonable what was a defeat, Our number one target was to get

the UK out of the European Union. That is what we campaigned for,

but that was only the first goal. We have to move on and get our

message across to people on issues But having failed to do that

here in Stoke, Ukip is once again Alex Forsyth, BBC

News, Stoke-on-Trent. Let's go back to John

Pienaar in Copeland. Labour were relieved

to hold on to Stoke, but suffered this big loss

to the Conservatives in Copeland, where does that leave

the party and Jeremy Corbyn? It leaves Labour and Jeremy Corbyn

with good reason to worry. The Copeland by-election, on top of a

thick file of opinion polls has convinced some Tories they can

follow Margaret Thatcher in running away with millions of working-class

votes. The danger to Labour voters not look existential, judging by

Stoke. Jeremy Corbyn has time and space to prove the poles and the

pundits wrong. But many of his enemies in his own party in

Westminster will agree with that old colleague David Miliband who has

told tomorrow's times that Labour is in worse trouble than it seems in

the last 50 years and its Jeremy Corbyn's full. There will be no

coup, no organised mutiny. They are saying that would strengthen Jeremy

Corbyn. In the meantime they believe that Labour, as it stands, is simply

too weak to win, too strong to die. Deep in the doldrums and deeper in

trouble. John, John Pienaar, many thanks.

Iraqi troops have entered western Mosul for the first time

in their offensive to drive out so-called Islamic State

West Mosul is the last IS stronghold in Iraq.

They're surrounded, along with an estimated 750,000 civilians.

But government forces today met fierce resistance,

as they fought their way into the city from the airport.

Quentin Somerville and cameraman Nick Millard were the first

journalists to head in to the district of Jawsaq.

The so-called Islamic State - breached.

The very first Iraqi government forces roll into West Mosul,

Iraqi forces are encountering heavy resistance as they

It has taken them less than a week to get this far,

but this is a victory two years in the making after the humiliation

of the Islamic State sweep across Iraq...

For these men, they realise that beyond here, beyond this

neighbourhood, they are likely facing the battle of their lives.

The assault started in now practised fashion, armoured columns moving

These Iraqi officers plotted the route.

Past some greenhouses, they said, and right into IS territory.

The caliphate is shrinking, and with few options

for their escape, IS is in a fight to the death.

Iraq's superior firepower hasn't prevented it from suffering high

So while the attack was determined, it was cautious.

Standing at the breach, the Iraqi commander in charge...

TRANSLATION: I don't know how long it will take to liberate this area.

Our Humvees have now moved in, and we will open the road toward IS.

Inside the city - signs of civilian life.

But in the midst of all this no one dared leave their homes.

There are three quarters of a million people in the streets

beyond here, and a few thousand IS fighters.

Distinguishing between the two will be very difficult.

TRANSLATION: When we liberated the last village we lost a few

We have taken this area in Mosul, and we will protect it,

and we will not leave until we beat terrorism.

It is the sixth day of the campaign, but in the words of one commander,

The real fighting started today when they entered the city.

Quentin Sommerville, BBC News, West Mosul.

Police in Malaysia say the substance used to kill the half brother

of the North Korean leader, at a Kuala Lumpur airport,

is one of the world's deadliest nerve agents.

The authorities say tests on the body of Kim Jong Nam

revealed traces of VX, classified by the UN as a weapon

From Kuala Lumpur, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports.

Last week at Kuala Lumpur airport someone chose to attack Kim Jong-nam

in full view of at least half a dozen CCTV cameras.

It was a very deliberate and very public act of violence.

It is the VX nerve agent, which is a chemical weapon.

Kim Jong-nam was walking across this busy departures hall last week

Now we know what was used to kill him - VX, one of the most

Just a tiny drop, one hundredth of a gram,

VX is also banned under international convention,

yet someone decided to use it here, in the midst of this

VX is colourless and odourless, with the feel of engine oil.

Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath,

South Korea says the North started producing chemical weapons

in the 1980s and has up to 5000 tonnes of stocks.

North Korea's young dictator Kim Jong-un already

Some think he is now sending a chilling new message,

by killing his older brother with the world's

They have shown that they want to be part of the weapons

of mass destruction club and that they should

And if we do nothing, then we're going to be

This is probably far more dangerous than the nuclear weapons programme

that has been much vaunted in the public over

The more we learn, the more bizarre this story becomes.

This is one of the alleged assassins taking part

Nothing about her suggests she could be a killer.

About the only thing we know for sure is that Kim Jong-nam must

have died in excruciating pain, his body convulsed,

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, in Kuala Lumpur.

Claudio Ranieri this afternoon spoke about his abrupt

sacking by Leicester, saying, "Yesterday, my dream died".

Ranieri led Leicester to the Premier League title

But he was dismissed last night after a string of poor results that

has left the side just one point above the relegation zone.

At least there is still some loyalty here in Leicester.

Claudio Ranieri remained in demand this afternoon,

as both he and the city came to terms with his dismissal.

Is there anything you would like to say to the fans, Claudio?

Emotions among the neighbours running high.

Having masterminded the least likely and most popular triumph ever seen

in the Premier League, the Italian has become the victim

Nine months ago, Ranieri was the toast of Leicester.

The man who stood alongside Ranieri in the dugout was left

Bit shocked, as we all were, but his tone was no different.

As I say, he's very level-headed in terms of, that's football.

Can you categorically say that he hadn't lost some parts

of the dressing room, Claudio Ranieri?

But what I would say is there was a lot of frustration

because of results, but he hadn't lost the dressing room.

But the ruthlessness of the dismissal has shocked even

those who've spent a lifetime in the game.

Former Leicester star Gary Lineker didn't just present Ranieri

He paid a very public price for doubting the team's success.

I'm not ashamed to say that last night when the news

I shed a tear for Claudio, I shed a tear for football

Ranieri's barely believable triumph last season won

admirers across the world, but since then the euphoria

The champions are languishing one point above the relegation zone.

Leicester's Thai owners said the club was in crisis

and with Premier League survival on the line, decided to act.

50% of the fans want him sacked because of results, but for me,

To come back to find out he's been sacked after last

Ranieri's former rivals, meanwhile, were struggling to understand.

There's a few strange decisions in 16, 17.

Tonight, Ranieri said his dream had died.

Even if his former club now stays in the Premier League,

his dismissal, for many, will forever be

Ranieri's remarkable story restored faith in sport and now

A woman who died after being hit by debris in yesterday's storm has been

named as Tanya Martin. Storm Doris brought winds of nearly 100 mph,

causing power cuts and travel chaos, as flights were grounded and train

services disrupted. A man has been jailed for six years

for killing an innocent bystander with a single punch

in an unprovoked attack. Trevor Timon, 31, admitted

the manslaughter of Oliver Dearlove in Blackheath in south-east London

last August, but was The judge said the "senseless"

attack had caused "untold misery" A former suspect in the murder

of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence has been jailed

for drugs offences. 41-year-old Neil Acourt received

a six-year sentence. He was described as the "man

at the top" of a drugs ring which supplied cannabis worth

?4 million to addresses Past problems are continuing

to haunt the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank, which is over 70%

owned by the government, warned today that it made a loss

of nearly ?7 billion last year. That's three times more than

the loss they made the year before. Simon Jack takes a look

at what's happening at RBS. Not so much a lost decade,

as a decade of losses. Since then, ?4 billion,

?1 billion, ?2 billion, ?6 billion, ?9 billion,

?3 billion, ?2 billion, For the ninth time in a row,

fines and compensation for sins of the past have laid waste to any

profits made, and further cost-cutting could mean

thousands of job losses. I have not put a number

out and I won't. My view is, always talk

to our people first There will be job cuts

in this organisation. There has to be, given that over

the next four years we will take ?2 billion of costs out of this

organisation to reshape it But that is not going

to happen quite yet. You will eventually see a coherent

UK retail and commercial bank But we're still a long,

long way away from that. Even in RBS's own plans,

we are four years away, and their own plans

have a degree of hope. I did not expect to still be

here in 2017 reporting on yet It was not supposed to take this

long to fix, and the fact that it has shows that no one really knew

just how big a mess the world's biggest bank at that time

had got itself into. In 2008, the government of the day

announced an emergency ?45 billion bailout to prevent

a complete collapse. Could things have been

done differently? With the benefit of hindsight,

it should have been fully nationalised and broken up and used

in the national interest. But the taxpayer is now stuck

with the losses and it could be some years before it can be returned

in a way that taxpayers The bank is much healthier today

but with more losses yet to come, it seems certain we will be marking

a full decade in the red This Sunday, the film industry's

great and good will celebrate La La Land, a tribute

to Hollywood itself, is widely expected to do well,

as is the coming-of-age film The ceremony is no stranger

to controversy, and this year is set Will Gompertz is in Los Angeles

and joins us from the red carpet. I am watching the preparations being

made for the Oscars ceremony, which I think is going to be fascinating,

not so much for the movies, which are great. We know all about them.

But what might the winners say on this very public stage about the

world as it is now that will be memorable, that will capture the

times? In the past, there have been some crackers and some real howlers.

I went to find out what makes a winning Oscar speech.

Oscar night in Hollywood, with the motion picture industry

agog to know the winners of those coveted awards.

Once upon a time, going up to collect your Oscar

You shook a hand, smiled politely and maybe offered a brief remark.

But then Marlon Brando upped the speech making game in 1973

without saying a word, and asking a Native

He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award.

And the reasons for this being the treatment of American Indians

In these politically charged times, this could be a vintage year

for memorable Oscar winners' speeches, if those making

First of all, you have to start with the hallmarks of what makes

You have to speak with authenticity, you have to speak from the heart.

You have to connect to the material and the moment.

I sincerely hope I will always be a credit to my race

My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel.

OK, so anybody going up on stage to pick up one

of these on Sunday night - except theirs will not be

made out of chocolate - is being told to keep their speech

It is, of course, a live show, so theoretically

Except the organisers have a humiliating weapon they can

deploy, which is to ask the band to strike up and drown

It's an awful feeling, because I don't make that

The director tells me, "OK, get them off".

A classic example of how not to do it, and that would be

Michael Moore's example when he received the best

documentary award for Bowling for Columbine.

There was a great amount of negativity about George Bush,

His attack, though, was so personal, so clearly biased,

that he was almost booed off the stage, even though

nothing that he said was necessarily inaccurate.

This year, the Academy has asked the winners to deliver

That, or possibly face the indignity of hearing

Will Gompertz, BBC News, Los Angeles.

Now on BBC One, time for the news where you are.