10/05/2017 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: President Trump is defiant after sacking the head

Explosive news out of Washington tonight.

The abrupt dismissal of James Comey triggers political shockwaves

but Donald Trump claims he had lost the confidence of almost

REPORTER: Why did you fire Director Comey?

Because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply.

Heading back to Washington, stripped of his job,

James Comey had been investigating links between Trump's

Are people going to suspect cover-up?

We'll be asking what impact James Comey's departure will have.

No Conservatives will face charges for breaches of expenses rules over

the 2015 general election says the Crown Prosecution Service.

Labour and the Lib Dems take the election campaign

to the classroom, both pledging billions more pounds for education

The 11-year-old girl who died on a school trip to a theme

park in Staffordshire, her family says their world

As US-backed forces drive more Islamic State extremists

from their strongholds, we talk to the foreign fighters

50 years after their debut album, we talk to Pink Floyd ahead

of the opening of a new exhibition charting the band's success.

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News, Atletico Madrid needed an

almighty comeback to beat city rivals Real.

Who would be joining Juventus for the Champions League

President Trump has defended his decision to fire

the head of the FBI, insisting that James Comey's

replacement would do a far better job.

The President claims America's most senior law enforcement official had

lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington and said

Republicans and Democrats alike would eventually thank him.

James Comey was leading an FBI investigation into alleged links

between the Trump campaign team and Russia.

His abrupt removal has brought charges from some

Here's our North America editor Jon Sopel.

FBI Director James Comey has been fired by the President

The term breaking news is banded around with abandon.

Because at FBI offices the first they knew that their director had

been fired was when it flashed up on their TV screens.

And James Comey, who was in Los Angeles addressing staff,

knew nothing about it either until an aide handed him

a note and the letter sent by President Trump was brutal.

"You are hereby terminated and removed from office,

At least they left him the Government jet to fly

back to the east coast, a private citizen,

And today the President was unrepentant.

REPORTER: Why did you fire Director Comey?

Because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply.

James Comey, the 6'8" tall FBI director, was the person

who confirmed in bombshell testimony in March that the Trump campaign

was under investigation for its links to Russia

The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission,

is investigating the Russian Government's efforts to interfere

The President has railed consistently that it's fake

news and there has been no improper conduct.

Last night, he fired the man heading the inquiry.

It's caused fury and dismay among some Republicans and all Democrats.

We know Director Comey was leading an investigation

in whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians,

Were those investigations getting too close to home for President?

The dismissal of Director Comey establishes a very

And Democrats have wasted no time in drawing parallels with the dark

days of the Nixon presidency when Richard Nixon, in 1973,

fired the special prosecutor investigating him over the break-in

It was known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

For special prosecutor then, insert FBI director today.

One of the most staggering, stunning acts of a President

compromising an investigation since the Saturday Night Massacre

In fact, it was a Nixonion act and reminds us all

about the importance of the rule of law, which evidently

But the White House is seeking to persuade people that the decision

to fire Comey had nothing to do with Russia or the FBI

It was time for a fresh start at the FBI.

And I think the President did, as he's done in so many other cases,

he took decisive action, he provided strong leadership

and to act on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general.

The White House says the loss of confidence stems

from James Comey's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use

of a private e-mail server from when she was Secretary of State.

I made a mistake using a private e-mail.

He decided last July there would be no prosecution,

Then, stunningly, he reopened his inquiry 11 days before polling.

It took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made.

But if it really is all about the way the FBI conducted

the Hillary Clinton investigation, why sack him now?

Why not do it when Donald Trump first came to office?

And how do you reconcile it with the praise that was

Whatever, it's left the FBI feeling very sore about the way

And into the Washington maelstrom who should arrive today

for his first visit to see the Trump administration, why none

other than Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister.

He then went to meet Donald Trump at the White House but curiously

for the camera-loving President the press was kept away.

This feels like House of Cards on steroids.

And Jon's at the White House for us tonight.

Such shock across Washington today an extraordinary political moment.

Yeah, I think this is one of those once in a generation occurrences,

you know, I think it was Mark Twain who said history doesn't repeat

itself but it rhymes, the only other FBI director you have seen sacked

was by Bill Clinton in 1993, but perhaps the nearest parallel is with

Richard Nixon in 1973 when he was being investigated by a special

prosecutor and he fired him and that led as we all know to the end of

Richard Nixon having to resign in disgrace. One thing we have learned

from all of this, this is remember only 110 days or so into the Trump

presidency, we have so far seen now the head of the FBI fired, we have

seen the acting Attorney General fired, we have seen the senior

attorney in New York fired. It tells us that the most dangerous place to

stand is anywhere where Donald Trump is moving and he wants to get to and

you are in the way. Where does this leave the investigation into Russian

links to the Trump campaign team? Well, I think there are going to be

all sorts of calls now, we have seen some today for a special prosecutor

to be appointed so that it is at arm's length from the Justice

Department who were instrumental in the firing of James Comey. He

himself has been invited to give evidence next Tuesday to the Senate

intelligence committee. I think touts would be able to do good

business there were it not for the fact it's held in private. I guess

the wider issue is this, Donald Trump insists there is nothing there

to see over Russia, there has been no improper conduct and it's all

fake news. But what had Donald Trump done, has he made this story go away

or given it booster rockets? An awful lot of people think it's the

latter. Thank you.

The Conservative Party has welcomed the decision

of the Crown Prosecution Service not to bring criminal charges against

any of its politicians or officials following an investigation

into alleged breaches of election expenses rules in 2015.

The Conservatives called the allegations politically

motivated and a waste of police time but the CPS says it's

still considering one case relating to the south Thanet

Here's our home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds.

The last general election, Conservative activists tour

the country by battle bus, staying in a string

of hotels as they campaign for local candidates.

Party officials declared the cost of this as national election

And political rivals said the law had been broken.

But today prosecutors decided there was no case to answer.

After full and lengthy investigation, the legal

authorities have confirmed what we believed all along,

and what we said all along, which was that the expenses,

that local spending was properly reported, was properly declared

and that the candidates had done nothing wrong.

Prosecutors said today that under the relevant law it must be

proved that a suspect, that's the local official

putting in the declaration, knew the return was inaccurate

and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration.

But in these cases the local officials said they'd

been told what to do by the national party,

which wasn't prosecuted but did receive a record penalty

Gregg Kinsell and his partner Louise were also on the bus supporting

But they went to the police about how the campaign was run.

I think this is absolutely disgusting, it's a cover-up

on a huge level and I think that the Electoral Commission

are involved in it, and I think the CPS and the Government.

I think it's all to deflect attention from what really goes

The candidate and former MP for South Thanet, Craig Mackinlay,

avoiding interviews today, could still be charged.

Prosecutors are reviewing spending in his constituency

Tomorrow is the last day on which he could be replaced

But he's not going to hear about any prosecution by then.

So, for now, it seems the Conservatives are pushing

on with him as their candidate, no doubt holding their breaths.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have both promised to invest

billions of pounds more in education if they win the election.

Labour is promising an extra ?8.4 billion by 2022 in England,

that's at least four times more than the Lib Dems.

But both say they'd pay for it by significantly

The Conservatives say school funding has already reached record levels

and accused their rivals of made up promises.

Our education editor Branwen Jeffreys reports.

We're going to take lots of measurements of how long it takes

Measuring the speed of sound in Cambridge.

Today a lesson in politics as well as science -

news travelling of money for education.

At a college in Leeds it was all about lifelong learning.

Labour promising to invest in adult training but,

most of all, in schools, paid for by a rise

We have a problem in Britain, we have not invested enough

enough in infrastructure, we have not invested enough

in the skilled workers, engineers, scientists and teachers of tomorrow.

We are determined to turn that round.

Labour promises for England include extra money each year for schools,

reaching ?4.8 billion by 2022, almost a 10% increase

?1.5 billion extra for adult skills training, and no school losing under

a funding formula to share out money across England.

The party also says it would spend ?5.8 billion extra on schools

in England over the next four years, and more for poorer pupils.

The Lib Dems suggested they would also raise

Two thirds of schools, it now turns out today,

are trying to lay off at least one teacher, losing at least

one teaching post in the next two months.

Under that kind of pressure, there needs to be a response,

a fully costed response, to build a future for all of our

children so we can have a decent education and be confident in that.

Schools in Cambridgeshire are among the lowest funded in England.

All the secondary teachers here wrote to parents with a warning.

We've said there will be fewer teachers and fewer

teaching assistants, we've said there will be fewer

resources in classrooms, whether that is exercise books,

Fewer opportunities for students to perhaps go on trips

We have said across the board there will be an impact and reductions.

This school is one of thousands across England that have

been writing to parents, spelling out the difficult financial

That has galvanised parents to lobby MPs of all parties.

It is that grassroots pressure which has really pushed school

The costs in schools are rising faster than budget,

but today the Conservatives defended their record.

First of all, school funding is at record levels.

Within that we're putting record number of funding

into early education, protected the school pupil premium

But what matters in education is, actually, it's not just

about the funding, it's about the results you see

and the education you are providing for the children.

Labour and Lib Dems say there will also be extra education

Today, for young voters, no details yet on tuition fees.

Labour might well promise to scrap them in its manifesto,

an issue still toxic for the Lib Dems after they broke

So the big boost in funding for schools under Labour

and the Lib Dems would be paid for by a significant

Our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed has been looking at how

much could be raised and what impact it would have on

It seems a pretty simple equation, put more money into public services

Labour and the Liberal Democrats say they want to pay for the planned

boost to the schools budget by increasing corporation tax

The present rate is 19%, a figure which has fallen

Labour has said it wants to raise the rate to 26% by 2021,

one of the biggest tax rises business has seen for three decades.

The Conservatives on the other hand want to keep cutting the tax saying

they will reduce the rate to 17% by 2020.

The big question, of course, will a business tax rise bring

in the ?20 billion all Labour's policy, for example, needs.

The Labour Party proposals would certainly raise more than enough

from corporation tax to pay for these increases in school funding,

but of course an increase in corporation tax has significant

It will reduce investment by companies in the UK

and in the long one it won't raise as much as it might in the short

run, as companies change their behaviour, reduce investment,

Now, the surprising thing about corporation

tax is this: cutting it can bring in more money and raising it can

As firms change the way they operate to avoid

In 2010, when corporation tax was 28%, it raised ?43 billion

By 2016 the tax had been cut to 20%, but that amount raised figure had

gone up to ?49.7 billion, confounding the official forecast.

That's because the economy strengthened, boosting profits, and

the government introduced other business taxes.

Labour says it can continue the trend of increasing

the amount of tax firms pay and others agree that raising

Even if a future Labour government raised

corporation tax, Britain is still likely to be only about in the

middle of all the developed countries for the rate.

Germany has much higher rates of corporation

And there's no evidence it's the rate of

corporation tax which determines how much companies invest in your

Companies invest in Germany because they have good skills, they

have a very supportive environment, and not

because corporation tax is

Now there is nothing wrong in using official forecasts to say

how much money you will raise by changing tax rates as Labour

Voters should be aware, though, those forecasts can be very wrong.

Thank you. The BBC has tonight obtained a copy

of the draft Labour manifesto which has been leaked ahead of its

expected publication next week. Our political corresponding Chris Mason

is in Westminster, this is not what Labour would have wanted, how has it

happened? The publication of an election manifesto was normally a

huge set piece moment for any party, a day in the sun when a party can

set out its stall, set out its governing agenda and mantra, worried

to win the election. The Labour manifesto was due to be published

next week but the Daily Telegraph, the Mirror and the BBC have got hold

of draft copies tonight. What ideas are in there? A big nationalisation

programme, energy firms, bus firms and the Royal Mail. A promise to

entirely abolish university Jewish and fees in England. On defence, a

desire to achieve a nuclear free world, as it is described, but they

advocate the Trident nuclear weapon session... Systems. -- a promise to

entirely abolish university tuition fees. Some people feel there is

something to be gained from leaking the sensitive document. The Labour

Party tonight said it does not comment on leaks. Thank you, Chris

Mason. Three women, who were arrested

during an anti-terrorism operation in north London and Kent ten days

ago have been charged with preparing a terrorist act

and conspiracy to murder. They include 21-year-old

Rizlaine Boular, who was shot during a police raid

at a property in Willesden. They'll appear at

Westminster Magistrates' The family of an 11-year-old

who died on a school trip to a theme park in Staffordshire yesterday

say their world has been torn apart. Ehva Jannath from Leicester fell

from a water ride at Drayton Manor. She was pulled from the water,

but died later in hospital. The park will remain closed tomorrow

while investigations continue. Evha Jannath, the 11-year-old girl

who lost her life during the school The emergency services

arrived quickly, staff and paramedics tried to save her,

but she was pronounced dead Today, investigators are examining

the Splash Canyon ride and trying to work out how she fell

into the water. There is a height restriction,

which means that young children who are between three and three

and a half feet tall have to be Although people aren't strapped in,

they are told to remain seated. This was Patrick Treacy just

after he fell in the water on the same ride four years ago

when he was ten. Parents really should

be aware of what... Of how safe their children are going

to be when they go on these rides. They look pretty calm, but they're

actually quite dangerous. And when children aren't

accompanied, I think seat Evha's school is shut today,

staff and pupils have been She was a lovely, sweet-natured

girl, and she was loved As a school and as a community,

we are trying to make sense Our thoughts and our prayers

are with Evha's family at this Evha's family has issued

a statement saying their world They described her as a beautiful

little girl who was full They say that words cannot

describe their pain and loss. The park was empty today -

Drayton Manor decided to close Phil Mackie, BBC

News, Staffordshire. In Syria, US backed forces have made

significant gains as they prepare to launch an assault on so-called

Islamic state's last major They've just recaptured the city

of Tabqa from IS and retaken a nearby dam, the largest in Syria,

after weeks of fighting. As the so-called Islamic State

extremists continue to lose ground, large numbers of foreign fighters

are now trying to get Dozens of them are currently

being held in northern Syria. The BBC has gained exclusive access

to some of the prisoners, From the north of Aleppo province,

our Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville and cameraman

Fred Scott sent this report. The Free Syrian Army

are driving out IS. Here in northern Syria,

the so-called Islamic But what happens to its believers

and converts, those that abandoned These camps are for civilians,

the most desperate, The camps here in northern Syria

are being overwhelmed. People are fleeing fighting

on a number of fronts, and this is before the big attack

on the IS de facto capital, Raqqa. IS fighters and their families

are trying to get out, Many of them are being captured

here before they even make it We were given exclusive

access to one jail holding They are a threat and distrusted

so are heavily guarded These are the personal belongings

of IS prisoners and defectors. Hundreds have been

captured, including whole Mohammad Atalla and his wife

left Niems in France He says he doesn't hate France

and wants to return. TRANSLATION: A friend came

and told me I should leave Life under the Islamic State

in Syria is difficult. TRANSLATION: I had

a normal life in France. Europe doesn't want them back

and the fighters who control TRANSLATION: They

are a burden on us. There is a huge number of defectors

here in the northern countryside, and we don't have the ability

to look after them. If we got more help

from their countries in Europe, then many more IS members

would defect and give themselves up. And the BBC spoke to

a British man inside Syria - Stefan Aristidou, who left for Raqqa

two years ago. Despite joining IS willingly,

he now appealed for rescue. He's since escaped to Turkey,

where he's been held in jail. A people smuggler we met was helping

Stefan Aristidou escape. He says IS has set traps

for those fleeing. TRANSLATION: The number defecting

is increasing a lot, but their main problem is IS sleeper

cells pretending to be smugglers. They make contact with members

trying to leave and hand them over IS prisons are full

of people who try to defect. The scale of the

problem is enormous. We visited three different prisons,

all holding IS fighters TRANSLATION: There was a kind

of compulsion for foreign fighters "It's not your business,"

we were told. So we fought and we

didn't ask questions. The caliphate is in ruins

and its converts are lost. The Free Syrian Army can't

hold them much longer, so the dangerous and the unwanted

from IS increasingly have nowhere Quentin Sommerville,

BBC News, Northern Aleppo. It was the record-breaking transfer

of last summer. Paul Pogba's 83 -- ?89.3 million move from Juventus to

Manchester United. Football's world governing body

wants to know who was involved in the deal, amid claims that

Pogba's agent earned more than ?40 million

from the transaction. He came to England with the biggest

price tag football's ever seen - Paul Pogba moved from Juventus

to Manchester United last year The transfer was also highly

lucrative for this man - the French midfielder's

representative, Mino Raiola, one Earlier, Pogba arrived for training

ahead of the Europa League semifinal tomorrow, but his club are facing

questions over how Paul Pogba's occasionally put

in the kind of performance for Manchester United that goes some

way to justifying his remarkable transfer fee, but it now appears

that it could be the amount of money that his agent received

that is the most eye-catching According to a new book

published in Germany, That included ?23 million

of the ?89 million transfer fee and a further ?16 million

from United in five future instalments, plus ?2 million

extra from Pogba himself. Fifa are investigating,

confirming here at their annual congress in Bahrain that they've

written to United Pogba hasn't commented,

while Mino Raiola says the matter United, meanwhile, feel

the deal was legitimate. Jose, the story about Paul's

transfer, does that affect you or does that affect

the player at all? We're not here to discuss

that, we're just here He asks if it affects,

it doesn't affect. But some in the game

feel it's gone too far. The chairman of League Two

Accrington Stanley today telling me what he made of the money allegedly

paid to Raiola. Probably 20 times the cost

of running Accrington Stanley a year in one agent's fee,

from one club. If you can afford 41 million to pay

an agent for a player, The Premier League makes the point

that it is superstars like Pogba that drive its global appeal

and enable it to redistribute ?200 million a season

to Football League clubs, but for others it's the vast amounts

going to the money men behind It's 50 years since Pink Floyd

recorded their debut album. And to mark the occasion,

a new exhibition is opening at London's Victoria

and Albert Museum this weekend. It tells the story of the band

and how they gradually retreated from view,

preferring instead to create Their guitarist David Gilmour

said they'd come up with the maddest ideas -

but there was no one to stop them. Our arts correspondent David Sillito

has been talking to the band. The Queen Elizabeth Hall,

a classical music venue, hosted what was to become a landmark

in rock history. The lights, the surround

sound, the psychedelia. The Summer of Love had arrived -

and was being featured on the BBC. The Pink Floyd, they have

an audience, and people who have an audience ought

to be heard. Perhaps it's my fault that

I don't appreciate them. 50 years on, this exhibition tells

the story of how Pink Floyd helped turn rock music

into a visual spectacle. We would have the maddest

ideas and we'd follow Obviously some of them were just too

mad and got discarded, but we put a lot of time and energy

and effort into the strangest ideas. There was no-one to tell us

"You can't do it that way," because we just would do

it whatever way... And we were young

and arrogant and... It was an era of massive

experimentation and there was a whole generation of designers

and architects creating things that they thought no

one would ever built. The elaborate stage designs,

the giant inflatable The visuals were vital for a band

that was increasingly I do remember that when we went

on the road there was a big I think we were a bit

po-faced and snotty. It is in many ways a record

of an era that has now passed. When albums ruled and no one was

counting the cost of rock excess. Here is Evan with details.

Tonight, a draft of the Labour manifesto has leaked, we will have

an extended peep at what is in it. Join me on BBC Two. On