12/12/2011 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: The coalition deeply divided as David Cameron

defends his European veto. 19 months after getting together, the

Prime Minister and his Lib Dem deputy are now openly at

loggerheads. Mr Clegg Stays away from the Commons as Mr Cameron

insists he did the right thing in Brussels. The choice was a treaty

without proper safeguards, or no treaty. And the right answer was no

treaty. It's not a veto when the thing you wanted to stop goes ahead

without you. Mr Speaker, that's called losing. We will be asking if

the Government's strategy makes sense and where it leaves the

future of the coalition. Also tonight:

Voicemail messages on Milly Dowler's phone were probably not

deleted by tabloid journalists, according to the police.

The near collapse of RBS three years ago is blamed on a mix of

poor management and deficient regulation.

The cubs are born blind and tiny... The wonders of Frozen Planet and

why the BBC insists viewers were not misled.

And one of the England rugby greats, Jonny Wilkinson retires from the

international game. Coming up in Sportsday, news from

Stamford Bridge where Manchester City were looking to extend their

lead at the top of the Premier Good evening. David Cameron has

given his account of what happened at last week's summit in Brussels.

The Prime Minister said he'd vetoed a new treaty setting tougher rules

on tax and spending because it wasn't in the national interest.

But Labour accused him of coming away with a bad deal for Britain.

The statement was made to a packed House of Commons but the Deputy

Prime Minister, the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, chose not to attend, as

Nick Robinson reports. Do you remember when they used to

be compared with a happy couple? Not any more. David Cameron and

Nick Clegg agreed on a negotiating strategy before last week's E EU

summit but they've divided on the outcome. The Prime Minister says it

protects Britain's national interests, his deputy says it's bad

for Britain. How much pressure is the coalition under this morning?

The answer to how much pressure came this afternoon when Nick Clegg

and David Cameron headed in different directions. When the

Prime Minister went to the Commons to defend his vetoing of a treaty,

his deputy stayed away. Tory MPs are delighted their leader said no

to Europe. But Labour MPs demanded to know where is Nick? This was a

statement dominated by the man who wasn't there. In Nick Clegg's place

on the front bench other cabinet pro-Europeans, Tory Ken Clarke,

Vince Cable and Chris Huhne. Listening to a Prime Minister

insist he was forced to use his veto. I have to tell the House the

choice was a treaty without proper safeguards, or no treaty. And the

right answer was no treaty. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was

the right thing to do. Today, France's President Sarkozy declared

that David Cameron's decision meant there now were clearly two Europes.

He meant 26EU members on the one hand, and Britain on the other. No

wonder the Prime Minister felt the need to give this reassurance.

are in the European Union and we want to be. This week there will be

meetings on councils, on transport, telecommunications... Labour MPs

pointed and jeered as Conservatives greeted that in silence. Ed

Miliband claimed the Prime Minister had left Britain without a voice.

How can the Prime Minister expect to persuade anybody else it's a

good outcome when he can't persuade his own deputy? It was, he said, a

bad deal made for bad reasons: Keeping the Tory Party united.

Prime Minister, Mr Speaker, claimed to have wielded a veto, but a veto

is supposed to stop something happening, it's not a veto when the

thick you wanted to -- thing you wanted to stop stkpws ahead without

you. That's called losing. That's called being defeated. But would

you have signed Tory MPs demanded to know? They got no answer. Those

his aides later said he wouldn't, he would have negotiated a better

deal. He's walked out without getting a rebate like Mrs Thatcher

did. He's walked out without a couple of opt-outs like Major. As

Del Boy would say, what a plonker. First one Tory eurosceptic, then

another Tory rebel, then another Cameron critic stood up to hail

what their leader had done. Can he confirm that he will not make any

further policy concessions to the lickspittle euro fanatics on the

Lib Dem benches as a result of doing the right thing for Britain

last week? Afterwards the man who wasn't there called in the cameras.

Being isolated as one is potentially bad for jobs, bad for

growth, bad for the livelihoods of millions of people in this country.

The coalition Government is here to stay. David Cameron and Nick Clegg

both insist the coalition goes on. It does, the question, though, is

how much damage this row has done? At the heart of the debate is

whether Mr Cameron's veto leaves Britain in a stronger or a weaker

position within the EU and across the world. The financial sector

employs more than a million people in the UK but not everyone in the

City and business agrees on the use of the veto and its likely impact

on the British economy. Our chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym,

has been weighing up the arguments. British business has a lot to think

about as a result of the controversial summit. Winding the

clock forward some fear the UK's influence over key economic

decisions will be reduced. It's much better to be inside, working

with the powers that be... This UK business chief told the BBC the

UK's image had been dented. perception will be, and we are

talking to an Indian businessman this morning about where would he

locate his plant, given what's happened in the last 72 hours, the

perception will be that the UK is outside western Europe.

But the Japanese car-maker Honda, which is a major invester in the UK,

said its operations weren't affected by Britain's relationships

in Europe and other business leaders said the issue had been

exage rated. I tkrbg tkrbg -- exaggerated. They said when we

didn't join the euro this will be the end of the City of London, end

of the trading relationship, Japan and America won't want to invest in

Britain. Hello! There are concerns, though, about financial services

which contribute 9% of the UK's annual economic output. That's not

far short of manufacturing, with just over 10% of the economy. There

are fears the City of London will be hit by more regulations imposed

by Brussels. David Cameron said he wanted to safeguard the industry

and some say he is right. David Cameron played his hand as well as

he could. The UK was never going to be part of a fiscal compact, 25, 26

countries all tying together their budgetry discipline. Given that, he

had to do the best to try to protect British financial services

from a slew of regulations over which he would have had little

control inside the treaty. others think the UK's standing a as

a financial centre will suffer if it's perceived to be on the fringes

of Europe. There is a risk that multinational companies that are

headquartered in London because of the access of the single market and

the ability to sell into the 500 million people that make up this

market, suddenly decide that if we are isolated and marginalised

London is not the best place to be. Stock markets around Europe fell

sharply today on renewed fears about the debt crisis. It's another

remind they're whatever the long- term issues for the UK, the main

concern right now is the future of the single currency, and the

financial health of Britain's trading partners across the

eurozone. Let's examine where we stand

tonight with our Europe editor Gavin Hewitt in Brussels and Nick

Robinson at Westminster. I will ask you for your reading of the

response today to what's been going on, Gavin? Well, I think the best

response came from President Sarkozy and he didn't mince his

words, he said there are now clearly two Europes. On the one

hand there is the Europe of solidarity and regulation. On the

other hand, he said, there is the Europe attached to the single

market and its logic and that was clearly a reference to Britain.

When he was asked whether Britain would leave the single market he

said we don't want to lose Britain and he went on to say fortunately,

that is not on the agenda. This was, I think, on one level some olive

branch but it's clear he thinks there are now two Europes. There

was also today a warning shot from the EU's economics commissioner,

and he said if Britain believed by exercising its veto it would

protect the City of London from further regulation, it better think

again. This was a clear message that the push from here, from the

EU, for further regulation of the financial services would continue.

Thank you very much. Nick, Mr Clegg was saying clearly in that that

interview the coalition is here to stay. How do you see it? Well,

there's no doubt it is without precedent to see the gulf we have

had with the Prime Minister's statements on the one hand and Nick

Clegg's on the other, without precedent too for the Deputy Prime

Minister to stay away because he thought it would be too

embarrassing. Of course, the coalition itself is without modern

precedent as well. My sense is that there is less of a gulf between the

two men, than there is between their parties. The Tory leader felt

he simply couldn't come back here to parliament and sell a deal

without concessions and get it through parliament. Nick Clegg has

been enraged by the fact that he wasn't consulted at the last minute

on this veto and the sense that the Tory Party is gunning for Europe

and wants to carry on. The Prime Minister was careful today to try

to be concilliatory, praising the EU as vital to Britain, for example,

words it seemed to me not only written to asaupblg Nick Clegg but

checked by him and approved by him. They can hold together, the

question is Europe is not going to stand still for the next three and

a half years, nor this debate. How do these two men get their parties

through three and a half more years when the g ulf is this big.

Thank you. The Metropolitan Police says it's

unlikely that News of the World journalists deleted voicemail

messages left on the phone of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. A

lawyer giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press

standards said it was probable that they were removed automatically.

But lawyers for the Dowler family say it's far too early to reach any

conclusions. Claiming that messages had been deleted was one of the key

factors in the closure of the News of the World, as Nicholas Witchell

reports. Dowler was missing, her parents

were desperate. The one potential link with her was her mobile phone.

In a front page story last July the Guardian said the News of the World

had hacked into Milly Dowler's phone in search of a story. They

further claimed that the paper had deleted messages from her voicemail.

It was this action that, the clearing of the voicemail box that

Milly's mother told the inquiry had given her hope that Milly was still

alive. I rang her phone. It clicked through on to her voicemail. So I

heard her voice. It was just like, she's picked up her voicemails, Bob,

she's alive. It was then really. But who had deleted the messages?

That's the question that's now a mystery. The News of the World

investigator Glenn Mulcaire had been the main suspect, but the

Metropolitan Police now say it wasn't him. Could it have been

other News International journalists? There's no evidence to

support that. Police now believe the messages may have been deleted

automatically. The most likely explanation is that existing

messages automatically dropped off from the mailbox after 72 hours.

The News of the World does not contest the fact that it did hack

into Milly Dowler's phone. Yet it was the further claim that the

paper had deleted messages which ignited public revulsion and played

a significant part in placing the tabloids under intense scrutiny.

The Guardian reporter who broke the story is unrepentant. Don't let the

people who always try to conceal truth about all this try to pretend

that because one element of one story is now in doubt, that changes

the big picture. It doesn't even change the big picture on Milly

Dowler. The News of the World hacked that missing schoolgirl's

voicemail. At the inquiry Lord Justice Leveson

said given the significance of the claims about Milly Dowler's phone

and the conduct of the News of the World, he was determined to get to

Two former journalists have spoken about the paper's achievements. Mr

Mahmood said 261 successful criminal prosecutions of drug

traffickers, arms dealers and paedophiles had resulted from his

work and he was proud of what he and his team had done.

Police in West Yorkshire, investigating the deaths of a

couple and their two young sons have started a murder inquiry. The

bodies of Richard -- and Clare Smyth and their sons were found at

the family home near Leeds. Detectives say they aren't looking

for anyone else in connection with the incident.

The near collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland, three years ago, was

cause bld I a mix of bad management and poor regulation, that's the

view of the Financial Services Authority, which is critical of its

own failings, but insists it has changed completely in the meantime.

The FSA said it now had more resources and a sharper focus on

bank's capital. Royal Bank of Scotland was rescued

with �45.5 billion of investment by taxpayers would today face more

than �25 billion of losses. Three years after collapse, we have the

verdict of the Financial Services Authority. Management and regulator

made woeful errors but no-one has been punished. Do you understand

why people are so angry that no-one has been seriously punished?

absolutely understand the anger of ordinary people, not just about the

failure of RBS, but about what happened to the overall financial

system. Let's be clear, the financial crash of 2008 has caused

enormous harm and they ought to be angry about a lot of the talk which

existed before the crisis about the need for light-touch regulation and

unleashing the energies and innovation of the financial

services sector. In retrospect it is startling to look at the degree

of errors which were made. Failure of Royal Bank of Scotland was

caused by a catalogue of mistakes bit bank's previous management.

They paid far too much at the wrong time to buy the rump of a big

international bank ABN. The bank became hideously, dangerously

dependent on borrowing on markets wh. Markets wouldn't lend to them

any longer, we as taxpayers had to bail them out. Here's the banker

most to blame, its former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin. He left

with a pension pot of �16.6 million, but he handed back some money,

leaving him spds 2 million. Do you think you should have done more to

claw back more of Sir Fred Goodwin's enrmous pension? He had a

completely rock solid contract for all of his pension entitlement. We

were told even in litigation against it we had a negligible

chance of winning. We had to persuade Sir Fred to Val untairl

reduce his pension. The chairman of the Financial Services Authority

thinks the law may have to be changed, so that those who run

banks that go bust would face automatic professional and

financial punishments. Perhaps that should apply to regulators, who get

it wrong too. Coming up on the programme: It's

the end of an international career for England's all-time leading

rugby scorer. The BBC's Frozen Planet has

captivated millions of viewers with its account of life in the Arctic.

The producers have been accused of misleading -- misleading viewers

with images of polar cubs in Anand mall park not in the wild. The

producers denied that viewers were misled in any way.

Using as little energy as possible, she starts to dig a shallow nest. A

female polar bear filmed in the wild on her way to give birth.

on these slopes, beneath the snow, new lives are beginning. But Sir

David Attenborough's commentary, it's claimed, was misleading. The

footage of a polar bear and her tiny cubs was filmed, not in the

wild, but in a zoo. Today, the presenter defended the programme

maker's decision. If you had tried to put a camera in the wild in a

polar bear den, she would either have killed the cub or she would

have killed the cameraman. They're in the middle of the scene when

you're trying to paint what it's like in the middle of winter and

say, oh, by the way, this was filmed in a zoo, it completely ruin

the atmosphere and destroy the pleasure of the viewers and destroy

the atmosphere you're trying to create. The Frozen Planet team made

no secret of what they'd done. On the website they posted a video

showing how cameras were rigged in the bear's den in the zoo. They

didn't make that clear in the programme's commentary or in the

segment at the end of the programme, which explained how it was made sm.

Viewers felt misled. Now when I found out about it, I think I was

misled, yeah. I don't really mind. I wasn't really misled. It was fine.

I was more interested in what was actually happening than where it

was filmed. This isn't the first time the BBC's been accused of

faking things. We'd like to say sorry to you, because when this

mistake happened, we let you down. Blue Peter had to apologise, after

a child visiting the studio was asked to pose as a xet Titian

winner. -- competition winner. On radio six show, callers weren't

genuine. And a trail about a photographer was misleadingly

edited. They say the footage and commentary

weren't misleading. But this shows how careful programme makers have

to be, to make compelling television without provoking

allegations of dishonesty. In Afghanistan, British forces, led

by the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, have spent the past few

months trying to take control of a route in one of the most dangerous

parts of Helmand province. The route was patrolled by US Marines

until October this year. Our defence correspondent, Caroline

Wyatt, went to see the forces at work there. The battle here now is

for the road, route 611, which links Sangin to Gereshk further

south. The British force here is a quarter the size of the US Marines

before them. Unlike the Americans their job is not to go into the

hills hunting Taliban, but ensure the road remains open for Afghans

and NATO forces alike. The main focus for British forces in this

area is to keep this route safe and open. The Taliban are playing a

deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The surfaces have been tarmacked, so

they can't put bombs on the road. So they're putting them on the

roadside instead, sometimes to lethal effect.

Travelling in a mastiff armoured vehicle, we pass a bomb disposal

team working by the side of the road. Ahead is a packed local

minibus. It swerves off the road perhaps to avoid military vehicles.

Moments later we hear a muffled blast behind us. The minibus has

hit a roadside bomb. We're told not to stop. Trained medics are on the

scene, along with the Afghan police. 18 people are dead, five of them

children. A few hours later, we are able to return, this was all that

was left of the bus after the Taliban's bomb. For the soldiers

who rescued the injured and picked up the bodies in the aftermath, it

was a devastating day. At the time, I wasn't really, I was more

engrossed in the incident, trying to make sure those that were alive

stay alive. It's only afterwards when you pause in the quiet times,

you think about it. Yeah, it's the most horrible thing I've seen in my

life. At a checkpoint further north, the soldiers have had to deal with

their own casual tills from day one. This regiment have fought in the

area before. They know what they're up against. To separate friend from

foe, the soldiers collect biometic data on locals, fingerprinting and

taking retina scans. The Afghans know it won't be that long before

Western combat troops leave and the battles for their loyalties will be

waged bit Afghan forces who remain. It's the start of a week of rather

Stormy Weather across the UK. Gale- force winds and torrential rain are

expected to sweep through areas of England and Wales tonight. South-

east England could be hardest hit. We're hoping to talk to our

correspondent, Robert Hall in a few moments. Before we do that, we'll

move on to one of the day's other stories. This is about Jonny

Wilkinson, one of the England rugby greats. He has retired from the

international game. A man whose drop goal took his country to World

Cup glory in 2003 said today he had been blessed in so many ways to

have experienced success with the England team, despite a career

plagued with injury, he is England's all-time leading scorer.

Our sports correspondent, Dan Roan, reports.

He'll be remembered as the man who delivered English rugby's greatest

ever moment. His drop goal in 2003, clinched his country's first and

only World Cup triumph and brought a nation to its feet. His place in

sporting folklore was duly secured. Today he announced he had played

his last game for England. He's done so much for, not only English

rugby, I think British rugby and world rugby. He's taken the sport

it a new level, in terms of him as a figure and the way he conducted

hillself on the field. But especially off the field. Wilkinson

bows out as the second highest points scorer in Test history. An

obsessive perfectist, he established himself as perhaps the

most dedicated rugby player of recebt times. Despite all his

experience and his hero status, after a poor World Cup by his

standards, Jonny Wilkinson was seen by many as part of England's old

guard, with no place in the expected new-look side. You'd have

to ask him that question. I didn't get the chance to have that

conversation. For the future, we want to look at younger players,

there's no doubt. I think I said all along, if you strip out all the

experience, then you'll be naive also. He's made his decision. We

all have to support it. Having battled inner demons and injuries,

Wilkinson never quite managed to match his defining moment of eight

years ago. The heroics of a man who transscended the sport ensures that

English rugby will always owe him a debt of gratitude.

Back to the weather again. I was telling you about gale-force winds

and torrential rain expected in parts of England and Wales. Robert

Hall is in Dorset. This is a wild night at the start

of a miserable week. This is a storm that's been making its way up

the channel, winds gusting to 70mph, more or less continual driving rain.

Not as bad as that, which Scotland experienced last week, yet. It's

causing warnings on the roads to high-sided vehicles and to all

drivers because of the amount of standing water. It's caused the

raising of flood barriers on rivers, as the tide begins to rise towards

the high mark, due at midnight. This will blow itself out in the

early hours tomorrow. There's another worse storm on the way

later in the week. Robert Hall there in Dorset. A bit

of a warning there for lots of people who are thinking of