25/04/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten: The British economy slides back

into recession. There was a contraction in the

first quarter of this year, but the Government says it's still not

changing course. The one thing we mustn't do is to abandon public

spending and deficit reduction plans because of a solution to a

debt crisis cannot be more debt. This is a recession made by him and

the Chancellor in Downing Street. Asted economy bumps along the

bottom, the pressure on household budgets is growing.

I haven't got enough for for We will be asking if there is any

prospect of an improvement. Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary,

allegations that he has been too close to the Murdoch empire.

During the day, Rupert Murdoch appeared at the Leveson Inquiry

denying he has any great influence on British politics.

The inquest into the death of a former MI6 officer hears new

details from a former landlady. Ronaldo!

And Ronaldo scores for Real Madrid as they try to join Chelsea in the

Champions League Final. I'll be here with Sportsday

including the action from the Crucible as the world number one is

knocked out of the World Championship. Good evening.

Britain is back in recession. It means the performance of the

economy in the past four years has been the worst in peacetime for at

least a century. In the first quarter of this year, national

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 109 seconds

output shrank by 0.2%. We have these debts. We have this debt

crisis. Debts were built up over many years. If I had some magic

wand I would wave and the British economy would spurt into growth and

He ignored our warnings and ignored our call for a plans for jobs and

growth and families and businesses are paying that price. This is a

disgrace. If you leave out the war years,

this has been the worst period for the UK economy in a century. Four

years after the start of the 1930s recession, we had more than made up

the ground lost after the crash of 1929. We recovered faster than that

after the down turns of the 70s and early 80s and the early 1990s.

This time we are not even close. Britain's economy is 4.3% smaller

than it was when the recession began in early 2008. Most

forecasters have the economy year. But even that depends on

consumers being more willing to spend.

We haven't got enough for luxuries or anymore now, it is trying to buy

your shopping and pay your bills. We have to reign back. We don't

have a choice really. Asda is based in Leeds, but they

are seeing a new norm for customers. When they are filling up the car,

they put in �5 or �10 because that's how much money they have got

that has been the case over the last, certainly the last 18 months

and we are not seeing any change in Stephanie is here now.

The message is what we have had over the last six months or a year

which is there is not much forward momentum, but we are not falling

back. When it comes to the next year, the Government and the Bank

of England, everyone else, they are expecting to get growth from

consumer spending picking up in the second half of the year. Households

feeling less squeezed. Inflation falling back a bit, but that

assumes we don't get any nasty surprises from the eurozone. It

assumes that we don't have a big rise in the oil price. In the next

few months, we could see more bumps. Things like the extra Bank Holiday

for the Diamond Jubilee could pull the figures down for the next

quarter. A bounce back in the construction sector might distort

the figures the other way. The message of the last few months

is when the recovery is this weak, it doesn't make much to blow it off

course. The Culture Secretary is doing an

excellent job. Mr Hunt has again resisted calls to

resign faced with allegations that he secretly backed Mr Murdoch's bid

to take over BSkyB. Nick Robinson reports. Is he the Culture

Secretary or the Minister for Murdoch? Protecting the public

interest or working for their interests? I am going to be making

a very, very determined effort to show that I have behaved with total

integrity and conduct this process fairly.

Today Jeremy Hunt gave his answer, but before he did, just before noon,

when the Prime Minister was to face questions, came a resignation. Not

the minister, but his political adviser, Adam Smith, driven out of

the department after he said he had given the impression that his boss

had too close a relationship with the Murdoch empire. That didn't

silence Labour calls for the minister to quit. While his Culture

Secretary remains in place, while he refuses to come clean on his and

the Chancellor's meetings with Rupert Murdoch, the shadow of

sleaze will hangover this Government. It is a pattern with

this Prime Minister. Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks, and now the Culture

Secretary. When is he going to realise it is time to stop putting

his cronies before the interests of the country? An anxious minister

looked on as the Prime Minister insisted it was for the Leveson

Inquiry to investigate and no one should prejudge it.

He called for an independent judicial inquiry, that is the

is the proper regulation of the press. Whether It is cleaning up

our financial system. Whether it is dealing with our our debts. I don't

pity, he can't live up to his. this was provoked by evidence

produced when James Murdoch was questioned on oath at the inquiry

yesterday. What is at issue is what is the

truth about the attempted multi- billion pound take-over of BSkyB

and the Culture Secretary's relationship with James Murdoch as

revealed by text and e-mail messages sent between their

advisers. In one, Hunt's adviser, Adam Smith, tells Murdoch's

Later Murdoch's man asks him: He gets the reply:

Today the Culture Secretary insisted that he had done nothing

wrong, despite the publication of material which he said was...

Alleged to indicate there was a back channel through which News

Corporation were able to influence my decisions. This is categorically

not the case. But he said his adviser had gone

too far to inform and reassure News Corp.

The volume and tone of those communications were clearly not

appropriate in a judicial process and today, Adam Smith has resigned

as my special adviser. Not everyone was impressed. When

posh boys are in trouble, they sack their servants.

The man who had to give a verdict on BSkyB's bid for a bigger stake

in ITV says ministers have to behave like judges.

providing information to either side let alone apparently to one

side. You really have to act scrupulously fairly and importantly,

you have got to be seen to be agenting fairly.

Not long ago, politicians were desperate to get close to the

Murdochs. Now Jeremy Hunt is Rupert Murdoch appeared at the

Leveson Inquiry into press standards today denying that he had

had great influence on British politics over the years and

insisting that he had never asked special favours of any Prime

Minister. He also claimed that Gordon Brown had declared war on

him after The Sun withdrew its support from Labour. Mr Brown says

the claim is wholly wrong. Robert Peston watched the exchanges and

his report contains some flash photography. Driving to a little

piece of history. Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul courted and feared

by Prime Ministers was about to be held to account in four hours of

interrogation by the Leveson Inquiry into media standards under

oath. I swear by Almighty God that the

evidence I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing

but the truth. A big figure in the British media

since the late 1960s, the biggest since the early 1980s, the doors of

Prime Ministers have been open to him.

Would it be fair to say that you always have been a great admire of

Baroness thatcher and what she stands for?

Yes, I was, I became that after she was elected.

But it is since the election of Tony Blair in 1997 that the

question has arisen whether Rupert Murdoch's influence over political

I, in ten years, never asked Mr Blair for anything. Nor indeed did

I receive any favours. It's Mr Murdoch's ownership of this

newspaper, the Sun, which matters to those who run Labour and the

Tories. If any politician wanted my opinions on major matters they only

had to read the editorials in the Sun. So what did Gordon Brown think

in September 2009 when the Sun came out in support of David Cameron and

the Tories? He said, "Well, your company has made, declared war on

my Government. And we have no alternative but to make war on your

company." Mr Brown deny this is conversation. But how did Mr

Murdoch get to know David Cameron? I checked him with my daughter,

because he was being flown, I believe, by my son-in-law law's

plane on his way to holiday in Turkey. He did stop in Santorini

and she says that I in fact met him on her boat. And Mr Murdoch's

political relationships extend beyond Westminster. How would you

describe your relationship with Mr Salmond? Is it warm or is it

something different? Today? Yes. would describe it as warm.

Leveson Inquiry heard from the horse's mouth how politicians

leading political figures over many years have courted Rupert Murdoch

and how Rupert Murdoch's editors tend to have very similar political

views to his views. Now, the big question for the inquiry is whether

the enormous power this confers on Rupert Murdoch is good or bad for

Britain. In half a century as a powerful

media proprietor Rupert Murdoch has rarely, if ever, had to explain

himself as he had to do today. And he's got to do it all over again

tomorrow when Leveson grills him on hacking.

As we've seen tonight, what's the strategy they have there for trying

to pull through in one piece? hard to see, that because it is the

day it got extraordinarily serious for David Cameron. A double dip

recession, predicted for a long time but which Ministers and indeed

their opponents didn't believe would come today. That on the same

day when a Minister is fighting for his career and his Government is

fighting to per situate people that it is competent and it has

integrity. I have no doubt that it's the economic news that will

matter more to people than the row in Westminster. It is bound to mean

that for the first a time since the general election the Labour Party

finds it easier to get a hearing for their argument that the debate

is about how to get growth again and not simply how to cut the

deficit. All day and late into the night it was true that Number Ten

was focusing more on saving the career of Jeremy Hunt, the Culture

Secretary. In the end that requires him to jettison his surpriser. His

help takes plangs on a mighty big claim - that the spirz was acting

as a cheer leader for the Murdochs, while the Minister was unaware of

this and acting independently, almost as a judge. There's a bitter

irony for the Prime Minister. He set up the Leveson Inquiry to look

into the wrongdoings of the Murdoch empire. Tonight he looks relaxed.

David Cameron anything but the. Nick, thank you.

At the inquest into the death of Gareth Williams, the MI6 officer

whose body was discovered in a padlocked bag, former colleagues,

including his line manager, have been giving evidence anonymously.

The inquest also heard about an incident described by Mr William's

former landlady in Cheltenham, where he worked for GCHQ. Our

security correspondent, Gordon Corera, reports. Gareth Williams,

the intelligence officer whose body was found in a bag, a man described

as a very private person. He spent ten years living in this house in

Cheltenham while working at GCHQ. Today his former landlady described

hearing him cry for help at 1.30 one morning. She and her husband

found him alone in his underwear, embarrassed, with his wrists tied

to the bedstead. On August 23rd 2010 police found Gareth Williams's

body in the bathtub of his London flat, near his new workplace at MI6.

He was curled up inside the bag in a foetal position with the keys

beneath him. But the bag was locked to be outside, with police

believing someone else was involved. Today the inquest heard from the

police officer charged with liaising with the intelligence

agencies. His inquiries had found no evidence that Gareth Williams's

death was linked with his work. Today his former colleagues gave

evidence. His line manager said in hindsight he would have done more

to try to establish why Gareth Williams missed a week of meetings

and appointments before police were contacted. They gave their evidence

behind a screen to protect their identity. Lawyers questioned why

spies had not signed standard witness statements, and whether

computer material had been secured before police took possession. More

evidence from former colleagues in GCHQ and MI6 is expected tomorrow.

Coming up on tonight's programme: Was it a good night for the Special

One and his Real Madrid team in the Champions League?

An international court will deliver its verdict tomorrow in the trial

of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, who's charged

with waging war in neighbouring Sierra Leone in the 1990s. He's

accused of murder, recruiting child soldiers and terrorising the

population. If convicted, Mr Taylor will be the first former head of

state to be found guilty of crimes against humanity. Our correspondent,

Allan Little, has been back to Sierra Leone and sent this report

on the country's long process of recovery. A decade of war reduced

Sierra Leone to a poverty it has not yet escaped. In the heart of

Freetown children scavenge in a rubbish bump for bits of plastic

they might sell for pennies. This patch of land is still known here

as the Amputee Camp. Though the camp itself has long gone. In the

1990s it was home to a tented settlement of men, women and

children who had had their limbs severed by machete or axe. This was

the signature atrocity of the rebel Army known as the Revolutionary

United Front, or IUF. They stamped on my foot, came with an axe,

chopped it off. Not in one blow. About five, six times. He says he

heard Charles Taylor on the radio threatening to make Sierra Leone

taste the bitterness of war. We've tasted it. And this is my strong

conviction that everything that happened to Sierra Leone was

Charles Taylor's doing. Charles Taylor was President of the

neighbouring state of Liberia. He's been on trial in The Hague for the

last four years, accused of arming, funding and directing the IUF. The

indictment charges him with terrorising civilians, unlawful

killings, sexual violence and the use of child soldiers. At Yonibana,

a three-hour drive from Freetown the memory of war is raw. Rebels

swept through here in a frenzy of burning and looting. They are at

last rebuilding the town's water supply. When finished it will bring

Yonibana back to writ was in the 1970s, a measure of how the war

retarded progress here. It's the Chinese, ever hungry for natural

resources who will bring change. Chinese money is about to put a

rubber plantation here, a vast pineapple grove and rice fields.

Back in Freetown there is more evidence still of Chinese-led

change. We ran into a camera-shy technician supervising a road

building project. It is changing lives here. I'm so glad to welcome

them, because they trained me up and I'm so glad to work with them.

They are good people. What did they train you as? As a surveyor. Slowly

the wheels of economic activity are turning again. There are vast

untapped resources here. The red dust indicates high concentrations

of iron ore. The London Mining Company had reactivated this mine.

It had been dorm mant and derelict since the 1960s. This land is

astonishingly rich in mineral wealth. Used properly it could

transform the country's fortunes. But this has been a curse as well

as a by-electioning, because this is what brought war to Sierra Leone

in the first place and paid for the war to go on for so long. It it was

diamond mines that is alleged brought Charles Taylor into Sierra

Leone's war. The court's verdict will be eagerly awaited in these

streets. For Sierra Leoneans it is another milestone on their journey

back from the horrors that they lived through.

Scotland Yard has called on the Portuguese authorities to reopen

the search for Madeleine McCann, saying there were nearly 200

potential leads to finding her alive. The Metropolitan Police have

reviewed the case and they've also released a computer-generated image

of how Madeleine might look now, at the age of nine. A week tomorrow

voters will take part in the local government elections in England,

Scotland and Wales. The smaller political partys will be hoping

that voters will look to them as an alternative. There are signs that

they are gaining support at theence expense of the biggest parties. Our

political correspondent Carole Walker considers whether whether

this will translate to votes and seats.

In parts of England the smaller parties could come from outside to

rob their mainstream rivals of some key seats. When Respect's George

Galloway pulled off his unexpected by-election victory he said it was

the Bradford Spring, an uprising against the political establishment.

Ambitious rhetoric but his party is fielding just 15 candidates in May.

It would be nice if you listened. The Greens know are contesting 965

seats and hope they can make gains with a campaign that goes beyond

environmental issues. I think when the Greens explain that not only

are we standing for the environment policies that they know us so well

for but also standing up against this regime of vicious thoughts are

being visited on people through national Government and via local

government, that is resonant ont the doorstep. On the doorstep they

are talking about local issues, but campaigners for all the smaller

parties will be hoping to capitalise on the national mood of

voters fed up with the three main parties. There's a wider trend

whereby the British public are winning to vote for smaller parties

which for most of the post-war period they were reluctant to do so.

Despite the patriotic cupcakes the British National Party's Nick

Griffin says this is a rebuilding phase after a financial crisis and

internal power struggle. The English Democrats hope to increase

their tally of five seats. They've broadened their message,

campaigning for tax cuts and more directly-elected Mayors as well as

an English Parliament. UKIP's leader Nigel Farage is buoyed by

one opinion poll putting his party ahead of the Liberal Democrats and

hoping his key theme of standing up to Europe will appeal across the

board. The funny thing is that everyone thinks that all the UKIP

Tories are disaffected Tories. Our vote comes from across the board.

The voting system means the smaller parties will cause few big upsets

on May 3rd. Heavy rain has prompted flood

alerts in parts of England and Scotland. The Environment Agency

has issued four flood warnings and 26 flood alerts in south-west

England, a region currently in drought. Flood alerts have been

smud in the Midlands, the north and south-east of England and in five

areas across eastern Scotland. Football news. After Chelsea's

heroics last night, tonight they've been finding out who they will be

facing in the Champions League final. One possibility coming up

against Jose Mourinho, whose latest club, Real Madrid, were taking on

Bayern Munich. It's been another memorable night.

The Germans were jumping, but that was before kick-off. A raking cross

field pass and optimistic swish and unfortunate arm and a penalty to

Real Madrid. Ronaldo struck the pose and then the corner. 1-0. And

shortly thereafter Ronaldo made it two, thanks to precise passing and

a defence missing. Then Bayern Munich won their own penalty and

Robben just, just edged the ball past Iker Casillas's gloves. The

tie, all square. In contrast, the second half was short on quality

and chances. Gomes apparently forgetting he could use his left

foot. Extra time. And then penalties. Ronaldo astonishingly

mised. His manager, Jose Mourinho, prayed. It wasn't enough. Bayern