24/04/2016 BBC Weekend News

President Obama ends his visit to the UK

urging Britain not to pull up the drawbridge.

He tells me that in an increasingly interconnected world,

Britain is better off staying in the European Union.

It would be, I think, tempting, for a lot of people,

to believe that we can pull up the drawbridge and that we can carve

a moat around ourselves and not have to deal with problems

As the president travelled on to Germany, campaigners

in Britain dismissed his warning that it could take a decade

to negotiate an independent trade deal outside the EU.

If Australia, with a tiny population, in relative terms,

can from start to finish, conclude a deal with America in 10

We'll have more reaction to the president's intervention

and we'll have the latest from Germany.

The retailer BHS could file for administration

as soon as tomorrow - putting 11,000 jobs at risk.

Dozens of councils say the plans to force all schools in England

to become academies could fail to raise standards.

And Eliud Kipchogi of Kenya wins the London Marathon with a course

record and his compatriot Jemima Sumgong did recover

President Obama's warning that it could take Britain up to a decade

to secure a trade deal with the USA outside the European Union has been

dismissed by those campaigning for Britain to leave.

Mr Obama had previously said the UK would be at the 'back of the queue'

Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, said British voters would not take

The president has travelled on to Germany today but before

he left, I asked him to explain how it would be possible for Britain

to have a special relationship with America and be at the back

Actually, the special relationship is not contingent

There are emotional and cultural and commercial and strategic bonds

between our two countries, that are unmatched by any two

As a practical matter, what we are doing with respect

to trade is negotiating with big blocks of countries,

It's the phrase, isn't it, "back of the queue",

which has I suppose offended some people and alarmed others,

No, as I said, it was simply a response to I think the argument

that I've heard from others, who are proposing to leave the EU,

that somehow America would be able to do things more quickly

with the UK than if they were in the European Union and I was simply

The UK would not be able to negotiate something

We wouldn't abandon our efforts to negotiate a

trade deal with our largest trading partner,

the European market, but

So maybe not right at the back of the queue,

towards the back of the

I think the broader point is that if you're

interested in trade, we are on the cusp of getting

a trade deal done with the European Union.

seamlessly with a massive market, one of the wealthiest markets in the

world, that accounts for 44% of my exports,

the idea that I'm going to

be in a better position to export and trade by being outside of that

market and not being in the room setting the rules and standards by

which trade takes place I think it's wrong.

You've been very clear the special relationship, you just said

We've been focusing on lots of things,

including intelligence sharing, the threat from terrorist

Is it possible to say today that if there were an exit

from the EU those elements of the special relationship wouldn't be

They wouldn't be affected in the sense that our intelligence

Our militaries work extremely closely.

Kingdom will have less influence in Europe and as a consequence less

influence globally, in the sense we rely heavily on the UK

as a partner globally, on a whole range of

There will be some people watching, they put a much higher

price on the bond with the US than they do with the bond on the EU.

They will say the president is very clear, the special

relationship is not going to be damaged

by any decision on coming in

or out of the EU and if that's the case, we shouldn't be concerned

about coming out, that's how they will probably

Well, I guess if the countries that are

closest to you, that care about you the most, the countries

with whom you cooperate most frequently, those

who you have a special relationship with,

are suggesting to you that you

might be better off staying in this relationship with Europe, it's worth

There a sharp focus once again on some of the

really dangerous flash points around the world.

If your range of options in Syria includes the military option

of some kind, are you concerned in the European context for example

that parliament is like the British Parliament have shown

very little appetite to be engaging in that way,

so how would not affect your thinking in terms of the options

Syria has been a heartbreaking situation of enormous

complexity, and I don't think there are any simple solutions to Syria,

and those who pretend that there are probably haven't been

paying a lot of attention to the details.

It is my view that it would be a mistake

for the United States, or Great Britain or a combination

of Western states to send in ground troops and

There are plenty of voices in Europe, you

will know better than anyone, who say that part of the reason that

Europe has been dealing with such a big migration crisis is the lack

of assertive response, if you like, or

the lack of assertive engagement, not least from the US.

You can't say - we don't want to do anything in Syria,

our Parliaments won't ratify any action in Syria,

but we do want the United States to do

One of the challenges during the course of my

presidency I think is to encourage everybody to recognise that whether

we like it or not, we are in an interconnected world.

This relates to Brexit, this relates to Nato,

this relates to the migration crisis, this relates to

counter-terrorism efforts, it relates to public health issues like

Ebola, it is a problem in the United States

as people have debates about

It would be I think tempting for a lot of people to believe

that we can pull up the drawbridge and that we

can create a moat around ourselves and not have to deal with problems

President Obama speaking to me before he travelled on to Germany,

and we'll have more from there in a moment.

But there's been plenty of reaction to his comments,

with many of those campiagning to leave the EU expressing

anger and resentment at his intervention in the debate.

Let's talk to our political correspondent Ben Wright

Ben, given the extremely high-profile of this intervention by

the President, where does that now leave the Leave campaign, looking at

the week ahead and the weeks ahead? Well, Huwa tough few days for the

Leave campaign. I'll bet they are glad Air Force One has gone but they

welcomed some of what President Obama said to you - for instance his

assurance that the security relationship between the UK and US

would remain strong and special, whatever the outcome of the vote.

They also detect ap softening in his tone on trade. They think he sounded

more conciliatory. They don't believe it could take as much as ten

years to get a deal between the UK and US. They say look at recent US

history they have done deals with country quicker than that and they

are confident Britain could get one. For his part, the Ukip leader, Nigel

Farage said Britain could get one. I think the American President

is coming out with the same rubbish that David Cameron is coming up

with - basically the line is that Britain isn't capable of negotiating

its own deal in the world. Well, little countries

like Switzerland have more free trade agreement than we do,

they do it on their own with a tiny population

in relative terms - can from start to finish,

conclude a deal with America in ten months, we can do

even better than that. Nigel Farage said the issues of

immigration and border control will be crucial to voters on the in-out

referendum and on that front, the Home Secretary, Theresa May conceded

this morning that the free movement of people did make it harder for the

UK to curb immigration. I'm told tomorrow Michael Gove and Boris

Johnson, lead figures in the Leave campaign will launch scathing

attacks on the Government's EU renegotiation in newspaper articles.

So we know now what the President of the United States thinks about the

referendum. His views have been made emphatically clear and the

Government is delighted. Now the Leave campaign will try and hit back

and move the debate on. Ben, thank you very much. Ben Wright on the

latest on the Leave campaign. As we said, President Obama is now

visiting Germany where he's been holding talks with Chancellor Merkel

about a controversial trade deal between the

United States and the EU. Both leaders said they wanted

to push ahead with the agreement, known as TTIP, despite opposition

in parts of Europe and the US where there are claims the deal

could drive down wages, weaken environmental protection

and workers' labour rights. Our North America Editor Jon Sopel

is travelling with the President and is in the German city

of Wolfsburg tonight. What chances this one between the EU

and the US will come into being? Let's talk about the deal at the

front of the queue rather than the back, the deal between Europe and

the US. Barack Obama said tonight there is a chance that the deal

could be concluded by the end of this year so. That will have taken

roughly four years to complete. But he said that ratification would take

a lot longer. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. These

things are highly complex. He held a news conference a short time ago

with Angela Merkel. This time it was purely about that controversial

trade deal that you outlined. There was no mention of Britain and its

relationship with the European Union. And my sense of it is this,

Huw, that Barack Obama feels, I think, very pleased that he has

intervened in the debate in the way he has. He knew it would cause

controversy. He knew that some people would take exception to what

he said. But he will go back to America feeling pleased he has done

that. That said, I don't expect that we will hear much more from him on

the subject. He's made his intervention. He has said what he

wanted to say. He will now have to wait and see what the British people

think of what he has had to say when they vote in late June. All right,

Jon, thank you very much. Let's look a look at some of the day's other

news: BBC News understands the retailer

BHS could file for administration Sports Direct has been in talks

to buy some of its 164 stores but a major obstacle has

been the huge deficit Our business correspondent,

Joe Lynam, has the story. BHS hasn't exactly been lighting up

Britain's high-street of late. Sharper and more nimble retailers

have stolen a march. Despite getting a number

of major rent reductions from its landlords last month,

BHS has struggled to get other loans in place

with which to rejuvenate the brand. So, 13 months after it was sold

by the entrepreneur Sir Philip Green for ?1, BHS looks as if it

could file for administration Problems at BHS didn't come

as a surprise to these The problem with BHS is,

who does it appeal to? It doesn't necessarily appeal

to somebody of my age, We like the trousers in there,

that's all I can say! I do know if it's

moved with the times. That's a shame, because you always

get really good customer British Home Stores opened its first

shop in Brixton in 1928. In the 1980s it merged

with Mothercare and Habitat And in 2000 Sir Philip Green paid

?200 million for BHS. Within two years he had paid himself

a dividend of ?164 million. But he wasn't able to turn

the company around and sold it A year later the new owners haven't

been able to secure the money to reinvent BHS, and may be forced

to call in the administrators. And then there's the issue

of the pension deficit - that's the difference

between the money needed by BHS staff in retirement,

and what's already been set aside, which currently stands

at ?0.5 billion. They will probably paid

by the government backed pension protection fund,

but it does raise the issue of how the company was run,

and whether they can find I think it is more than likely

it won't be salvaged, and I think it will be the biggest

collapse since Woolworths. It's a business that perhaps hasn't

adapted to change in the retail sector as quick as it might have

done, and every category that British Home Stores works in,

has kind of been stolen You can buy furniture from other

places, you can buy your school uniforms now from the supermarkets,

and that's really had The retail business

in Britain is tough. It doesn't respect well-known brands

such as Woolworths or Comet. BHS may find new owners,

but it might just as easily disappear entirely

from our high streets. Three people have been arrested

on suspicion of murder after the bodies of two men

were found in a garden who was 52, and Matthew

Higgins, who was 49, died Two women and a man are being

held in police custody. A British man and two

of his children have been killed in a motorway crash

in eastern France. Their car hit a safety barrier

near Dijon this morning. The man's wife and another

child are in hospital. The Health Secretary,

Jeremy Hunt, has rejected a plan which was meant to avert the junior

doctors' strike in England The cross-party proposal -

backed by the Royal College of Surgeons - would see

new contracts tried at a limited number of hospitals,

rather than being imposed A group of local authorities

is warning that Government plans to compel all schools

in England to become academies The County Councils Network,

which represents 37 largely Conservative local authorities,

says it could also prove poor Its chairman, Paul Carter, told

the BBC that ministers should look Our education editor,

Branwen Jeffreys, has more details. Ministers will be working even

harder in the next few weeks, trying to overcome opposition

to their academy plans. For the first time,

county councils in England Most are Conservative-run but say

these Government plans I think that most county councils

across this country deliver exceedingly good support services

and value for money to their schools and I have grave concern that

what will replace local government's role will not be of the same

standard and quality. At this Devon primary,

it's a different story. It's part of one of the largest

multi-academy trusts. In the space of just a few years

this school has gone from being in special measures,

to being rated as good, Of course, a lot of that is about

what happens in the classroom, The debate, now, is about

whether making all state schools academies is really the way

to drive up standards. The boss of this chain

of schools isn't sure, but then he's unusual,

paid much less than others He thinks academies are a chance

for teachers to try new ideas. Why don't we try this -

why don't we try that? So I'm excited about what I don't

know about the future, about the fact that we have

unlocked potential, rather than we are delivering

a preconceived model. But, now, 15,000 schools could be

forced to become academies, he is worried about so much

change, so quickly. The problem is, do we

have the capacity to be Firstly, it is not

a preconceived perfect model. The jury is out on what

works and what doesn't So, can the Education Secretary

persuade her critics it all adds up? This week she'll face

questions from MPs. Nicky Morgan says the end result

will be greater freedom for schools, a system that will step in faster

where there is failure. Forcing the pace of change

in schools has proved a tougher idea It's ban very busy day of sport, the

London Marathon and memorable football. Lizzie is at the BBC

Sports Centre. And Match of the Day 2,

and Sportscene in Scotland, follow the news so please

avert your attention if you don't Leicester City took a giatn

stride towards their first Premier League title

by thrashing Swansea City 4-0. Leonardo Ulloa scoring twice,

ably filling the boots of Leicester now have an eight-point

lead with 3 games left. Another little step. Because we know

the battle now is very, very hard. We need five points more and now we

have to be focussed for the next match.

In the day's other games, Sunderland are out the relegation

There were wins for Inverness and Hamilton

Crystal Palace have reached their first FA

They beat Watford 2-1 to set-up a repeat of the 1990 final

For Crystal Palace and Watford, days like these are rare,

the journey to Wembley may be short, but their wait for

The Eagles and the Hornets, labouring in the league,

yet flying in the Cup and only five minutes in,

Yannick Bolasie soared to put Palace ahead.

If they won that aerial battle, the same couldn't be said

of the next, Joel Ward almost gifting Watford a route back.

Palace had been warned and after half-time

Troy Deeney, the Watford captain, leading by example.

With the sky seemingly the best route to go,

Palace used it again and this time Connor Wickham

So intent on defending their lead, Palace even began tackling each

other and helped by Watford's poor finishing, they were

Crystal Palace have never won the FA Cup, but now,

thanks to this man, Connor Wickham, they have a chance to make history

when they face Manchester United in the final here next month.

The London Marathon was won by Eliud Kipchoge

The defending champion's Kenyan team mate, Jemima

Our Correspondent Joe Wilson reports.

The London Marathon is a great expression of mass

achievement at a time of deep doubt in athletics.

Kenya's Government has finally met anti-doping standards,

hoping to be allowed to compete at the Olympics.

There was nothing to doubt the integrity of their runners here.

Eliud Kipchoge and Stanley Biwott pushed each other until Kipchoge

Here, too close. have broken the world record.

Jemima Sumgong, another Kenyan, showed extraordinary resilience

to get to her feet and win the race, matching any feat of

David Weir, in white sleeves, was trying again to win a record

Marcel Hug of Switzerland broke the tape.

Dame Kelly Holmes extended herself with Olympian stride to finish her

first marathon in three House of Commons 11 minutes. Well, for all

competitors, the whole point of a marathon is to prove that distance

is no barrier. Well, this year, this race took that to extreme. On the

International Space Station, strapped to a treadmill, in the

absence of gravity, Tim Peake ran the 26 miles, 3885 yards, and

finished where he started. And while Leicester's football team

are still on course for glory, there was heartbreak for the city's

Rugby Union side who missed out on the final

of the European Champions Cup, narrowly beaten by Racing 92

despite a late comeback. Thank you very much. A quick

reminder there is more on all of today's stories on the BBC News

Channel and on BBC News online.