08/11/2017 BBC News at Ten

Turmoil at the top as Theresa May

loses her second cabinet

minister in a week.

International Development Secretary,

Priti Patel, resigns after a series

of unauthorised meetings

with Israeli ministers.

She'd been summoned back

from a government trip abroad

to Number 10 to explain herself.

The foreign secretary

paid tribute to her.

It's

been a real pleasure working

with her, and I'm sure she's got

a great future ahead of her.

Tonight Labour called on the prime

minister to get control

of her chaotic cabinet.

Also tonight:

The head of NHS England says

without more money one in ten of us

will be on a waiting list by 2021.

The mother of a teenager accuses

the actor Kevin Spacey of sexually

assaulting her son last year.

To Kevin Spacey I want to say this:

shame on you for what you did to my

son.

Pro-independence demonstrators

in Catalonia bring parts of Spain's

rail and road network

to a standstill.

And the Louvre comes

to the Middle East in a new billion

pound museum in Abu Dhabi.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, England's women say they're

aiming for revenge ahead of their

crucial Ashes Test with Australia

overnight.

Good evening.

After a day of high political drama,

a second cabinet minister has been

forced to quit inside a week.

Today it was the turn

of the International Development

Secretary Priti Patel -

made to rush back this afternoon

from a government visit to Africa

and then summoned to Number 10.

The reason - a series of highly

sensitive and unauthorised meetings

with Israeli ministers that she had

failed to mention to

the Foreign Office.

She offered Theresa May

a fulsome apology.

Labour accused her of

misleading the public.

Our Diplomatic Correspondent James

Landale broke the story

of Ms Patel's secret meetings.

His report contains flashing images.

Priti Patel arriving at the back to

Downing Street tonight. A short walk

before a mighty fall. And then after

a brief meeting with the Prime

Minister she was out, out of office

for the secret meetings she held

while on holiday in Israel, putting

on a brave face for a remarkable act

of political self harm. In the

ritual exchange of letters, the now

former International Development

Secretary admitted that her actions

fell below the standards of

transparency and openness that I

have promoted and advocated. I offer

a fulsome apology to you and the

government. Theresa May told Miss

Patel, when we met on Monday I was

glad to accept your apology. But now

that further details have come to

light, it is right you have decided

to resign. The man whose department

she fails to call before she went to

Israel was the Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson.

Well I just want to

save Priti Patel has been a very

good colleague and friend for a long

time, and a first-class Secretary of

State for International Development,

it's been a real pleasure working

with her and I'm sure she's got a

great future ahead, thank you very

much.

Earlier, Miss Patel arrived

back from a visit to Africa,

enjoying the queue busting perks of

ministerial office for the last

time. Summoned back more than 4000

miles for her lack of candour with

Downing Street over the full extent

of her secret diplomacy with Israel

that some felt broke ministerial

rules. It all began when Miss Patel

went on holiday to Israel in August.

I heard rumours of what she got up

to, check them out, then last Friday

I reported she had held a number of

meetings with ministers, officials

and charities without telling the

Foreign Office, as would be

expected. That afternoon Miss Patel

challenged my report, telling the

Guardian Boris Johnson did know

about the meetings. On Thursday it

emerged she had been summoned to

Downing Street to be reprimanded by

the Prime Minister and reminded of

the ministerial rules. Miss Patel

issued a statement apologising,

admitting there had been 12 secret

meetings including one with Israel's

Prime Minister. Downing Street hoped

that would be that. Then on Tuesday

I reported that after the trip Miss

Patel suggested using British aid

money to help the Israeli army in

its humanitarian work in the

occupied Golan Heights. That

afternoon Miss Patel left for Africa

as Downing Street admitted it hadn't

known about the plan to help the

Israeli army. Then this morning it

emerged Miss Patel had had two

further meetings with senior

Israelis in September. Again,

without telling civil servants.

After all this, it was no surprise

she was ordered back to London.

There were also reports Miss Patel

had taken the controversial step of

visiting an Israeli army field

hospital in the Golan Heights, an

area Britain doesn't officially

consider part of Israel. Why did

Priti Patel act like she did? Some

MPs say she didn't realise it was

wrong. Others say she has a history

of doing things without telling

civil servants. Others suspect she

was pursuing her own private foreign

policy. At Westminster, Labour said

there were still questions about

what the Foreign Office knew and

when.

It's clear that the Minister

Priti Patel broke the code of

conduct, it's been clear all along,

she should have gone immediately.

Instead the Prime Minister

prevaricated, allowed a kind of soap

opera to run all week, finally

scuttling off to Africa and being

dragged back.

Priti Patel, who...

In

her youth, Priti Patel supported the

Eurosceptic referendum party before

joining a new and different

generation of young conservatives.

Elected in 2010, she rose swiftly to

become the first British Indian

cabinet minister, an international

developer and secretary promising to

reform Britain's aid budget, a

leading light of the pro-Brexit

leave campaign. But tonight, she's

out of office, a second cabinet

minister to resign from this fragile

government in less than a week.

Landale, BBC News.

Let's talk to our political

editor Laura Kuenssberg.

With Priti Patel's departure

today, that's two cabinet

ministers gone in a week.

Where does this leave Theresa May?

It feels like a political lifetime

doesn't it? It's exactly seven days

ago tonight we were talking about

Michael Fallon being forced to

resign for very different reasons.

These are two major figures in the

cabinet, disappeared from around

Theresa May's top table in one week.

There is still a question about what

other of her close colleagues,

Damian Green. The essential deputy

at number two, who is under

investigation for things he denies

but things he may have done wrong in

the past. How to clean up this mess?

We expect not until tomorrow morning

will there be a replacement for

Priti Patel. Theresa May has to

consider, does she put somebody into

that job just because of their

qualifications and experience? Or

does she try, more than anything

else, to preserve the very delicate

balance in the Cabinet between those

who are due to leave the European

Union and those who argued to stay?

Some people might listen to that and

think, why are we still banging on

about that after all this time? Why

does it still matter? It still

matters in terms of the personnel at

the top, because that is the great

unresolved argument that runs from

top to bottom in the Tory party. The

Cabinet was put together in the

current formulation very carefully

to try to preserve that political

balance. But I think more than

anything else, after what has at

times felt like a chaotic week,

Theresa May needs pretty sharpish to

try and show a steady hand. It's not

so long ago she was arguing she

would be the strong and stable Prime

Minister against the opposition

putting forward the proposition of a

coalition of chaos. Well, even those

who agree with her inside the Tory

party might agree right now the

chaos has been in Downing Street.

Laura Kuenssberg, thank you.

The head of NHS England has thrown

down the gauntlet to the government

ahead of the budget in a fortnight.

Simon Stevens says the NHS should

get the money it was promised

during the EU referendum.

Without more funding he predicts

that by 2021 one in ten of us

will be on a waiting list

for an operation and the NHS

will be forced to turn back

a decade of progress.

Our health editor Hugh Pym has more.

Waiting lists are

a key NHS benchmark.

Ten years ago there were over

4 million people waiting

for routine surgery in England.

That fell to around 2.5 million,

but, in the past few years, it's

crept back to the 4 million mark.

Now the head of the NHS is warning

it could hit 5 million.

It was an extraordinary intervention

from a senior public

official head of a budget.

On the current funding outlook,

the NHS waiting list will grow

to 5 million people by 2021.

That's an extra million people

on the waiting list -

one in ten of us waiting

for an operation,

the highest number ever.

In essence, NHS England is warning

that the problem starts

as soon as next year,

if there isn't new money

allocated in the budget.

That means waiting lists rising more

rapidly and, in effect,

a national policy to ration

non-urgent care needing

to be introduced.

Rose is one patient

who thinks the NHS needs

a rapid financial boost.

She believes she's missing out

on the specialist care

she needs for her MS.

You call to make an appointment

and they make you wait

two or three weeks.

Then, you when you get

in there, they're very busy,

and they just say, "Well,

actually, at this point

you should just call physio,

and maybe they can help

you strengthen your core muscles."

And I can't get through to physio,

they don't answer their phone,

they don't answer e-mails.

Remember this?

The Vote Leave battle bus

and the claim that Brexit would mean

£350 million a week more

for the NHS.

That was quoted by Simon Stevens

as part of his pitch for more money.

Trust in democratic politics

will not be strengthened

if anyone now tries to argue,

"You voted Brexit partly

for a better funded health service,

but precisely because of Brexit

you now can't have one."

The Health Secretary said

it was a Vote Leave,

not a Government pledge,

but any Brexit dividend

should help the NHS.

If we end up having less

pressure on public finances,

because of the fact that we are not

making net contributions to the EU,

then I believe that the NHS should

be the first port of call.

Any budget funding increase

for health in England

would automatically mean more money

for Scotland, Wales

and Northern Ireland.

It's now down to the Chancellor

and whether he believes

the claims of Simon Stevens.

Hugh Pym, BBC News.

The mother of a teenager has

publicly accused the Hollywood actor

and theatre director Kevin Spacey

of sexually assaulting

her son last year.

The US news presenter Heather Unruh

told a press conference that

Mr Spacey had plied her son

with alcohol and

assaulted him in a bar.

It's another allegation added

to a growing list against Mr Spacey.

And the actors union Equity has told

the BBC that the problems of sexual

harassment are endemic

in the industry at all levels.

Our Special correspondent

Lucy Manning reports.

In July 2016, actor Kevin Spacey

sexually assaulted my son.

The tears of a mother in Boston

today, revealing what she claimed

happened to her son.

The victim, my son, was a starstruck

straight 18-year-old young man,

who had no idea that the

famous actor was an alleged sexual

predator or that he was about to

become his next victim.

Journalist Heather Unruh's

tweet about Kevin Spacey

last month triggered

all the allegations against him.

Today, she went public and

the police are now investigating.

To Kevin Spacey,

I want to say this -

shame on you for what

you did to my son.

The BBC has interviewed

more alleged victims.

Kris Nixon didn't have to speak out

but wanted to make clear

Kevin Spacey's behaviour

was part of a pattern.

It's not just sleazy,

it's predatorial, it's...

He did what he did because

he knew he'd get away with it.

The one-time barman met Kevin Spacey

in London in 2007,

when he alleges the actor

groped him.

Kevin Spacey sat down

on the sofa next to me,

asked if that was my girlfriend,

then reached over, grabbed...

He then describes a sexually

explicit action and words.

A couple of weeks after

the party at his place,

he was in the bar, reached forward,

grabbed my waistband

and said something to the effect of,

"I can make it up to you,"

or, "Let me make it up to you."

So I went back upstairs, I was

standing behind the bar thinking,

"What the hell just happened again?"

I was in work so I couldn't

make a scene about it.

And told him in no uncertain

terms where he could go.

The BBC also spoke to an American

film-maker who didn't

want to be fully identified.

In the 1990s, he was a junior

crew member on a film

Kevin Spacey directed.

He claims the actor sexually

harassed him, something he mentioned

to another man working on the film.

He said, "You too, huh?"

And I was like, "What do

you mean, 'You too'?

What do you mean?"

And he goes, "He was touching

you and flirting with you?"

I said, "Yeah, it was awful!"

And he said, "Yeah,

he did that to me."

In the first week we were all out

at a bar, and he grabbed my butt,

and I turned round, and I said

to him, "Kevin, if you ever do that

again, I will kick your ass,

so leave me alone."

In the UK, the actors' union

says sexual harassment

in the industry is endemic.

I think it was every the place you

could imagine in our industry. Every

woman I have spoken to, female actor

I've spoken to, can tell you a

story, absolutely. And many, many of

the men, both straight and gay, can

also tell you stories.

Can those at the Old Vic Theatre,

where Kevin Spacey worked for 11

years, really have been in the dark?

The theatre initially said it had

no complaints against him,

but it has now appointed

external advisers to investigate.

Kevin Spacey has not responded

to any of the latest allegations.

Previously, he said he needed

to examine his own behaviour.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

The family of Carl Sargeant -

the former Welsh Government minister

who's thought to have

taken his own life yesterday -

have said he was denied common

courtesy and natural justice.

Mr Sargeant had been sacked

after he faced allegations

of sexual harassment.

Sian Lloyd is in Cardiff.

This is clearly extremely harrowing

for the family and has shaken

the Welsh Assembly.

Indeed, and business at the Welsh

Assembly has been suspended for the

week as a mark of respect to Carl

Sargeant.

Assembly members paid

tribute and have left messages on a

book of condolence. Amongst this

great sense of sorrow, we are also

feeling the anchor of the family

today, because they released a

series of letters sent by Carl

Sargeant's solicitor to the head of

disputes that the Labour Party and

they show before his death, Carl

Sargeant had knowledge of a broad

area of the allegations made against

him, they fell into the category of

unwarranted attention, inappropriate

attention or grouping. But he was

distressed he could not defend

himself because he did not have the

details and there were warnings of

his mental welfare and allegations

the minister Carwyn Jones was

prejudicing the investigation

because of comments to the media.

They said the procedure was followed

a spokesperson for Carwyn Jones said

he is upset by the death of his

friend but there are many questions

and this is the biggest challenge

Carwyn Jones has faced during his

time in charge tomorrow he will be

here to face members of Welsh Labour

Party.

President Trump has arrived

in the Chinese capital

Beijing on the latest stop

of his twelve-day tour of Asia.

He was given the most lavish

of welcomes at one of the country's

most important historic sites -

the Forbidden City -

by President Xi Jinping,

in what's being described by Chinese

officials as a state visit-plus.

This report from our China

editor, Carrie Gracie,

contains flashing images.

The Forbidden City.

Today's tour guide to

the home of emperors -

the president of China.

His tourist - the other most

powerful leader in the world.

All smiles, despite the threat

of nuclear crisis.

President Trump had come

from South Korea, where he told

the National Assembly that

North Korea was a hell, and China

should not be helping it.

We call on every nation,

including China and Russia,

to fully implement UN

Security Council resolutions,

downgrade diplomatic relations

with the regime and sever all ties

of trade and technology.

But in the 1950s, Chinese fought

and died alongside North Koreans

and against the United States.

China still commemorates its war

dead and sees North Korea

as a strategic buffer.

Yes, it backs US sanctions,

but no, it won't let

its communist ally fall.

China has already done its most -

I would not use the term best -

but its most it can

to leverage Pyongyang.

Because when you push too far,

the Chinese ultimate concern is kind

of a regime instability.

So China's game plan is to charm

the US president and distract

from his grievances on North Korea

and unfair trade.

The Chinese have thousands

of years of experience

in flattering foreigners

and they are good at it.

They are very good at it.

China cannot bully

the United States.

The United States

cannot bully China.

But we have to stand up for

ourselves and say to Xi directly -

without Twitter and tweets,

and so forth -

you can't go any farther.

Trump and Xi, two strong

men with self-belief.

But that's where

the similarity ends.

This is Trump's guide -

The Art Of The Deal.

It says you cannot be imaginative

if you have too much structure.

But this is The Art Of War.

Essential reading

for Chinese statesmen.

It says know your

enemy, know yourself.

The supreme victory is to subdue

your foe without a fight.

In Chinese opera, not

everyone can be a winner.

US superpower, Chinese rising power.

The real business starts now.

Carrie Gracie, BBC News, Beijing.

In the next few hours we will see

the two Presidents discussed North

Korea and oversee the signing of

billions of dollars worth of

business for American companies in

aircraft, energy and food, but there

is more money going in the opposite

direction and American companies

complain imported Chinese markets

are still closed, including banking

and technology, to them. The

underlying problem for the US is

President Trump still does not have

a clear China strategy, while China

under President Xi has a 30 year

plan and growing sense of destiny

and confidence about becoming a

superpower. Thank you.

The worsening plight of the homeless

in England has been revealed

in a new report by the charity

Shelter.

It says the number of people rough

sleeping, staying in hostels

or temporary accommodation is more

than quarter of a million.

Since 2010, the number of people

sleeping on the streets in England

alone has increased by 134%.

And more than 100,000 children

in England are living

with their families

in temporary accommodation.

Our social affairs correspondent

Michael Buchanan has been to one

industrial estate in London

that is now housing

dozens of families.

In the world's sixth richest nation,

increasingly, people

cannot afford a home.

In Newham in east London,

one in every 25 people is homeless,

according to today's report.

Rising levels of rough-sleeping

are the most obvious sign.

But homelessness is not

always apparent.

This is the Willow Lane Trading

Estate in South London.

It's busy and noisy - and home

to dozens of young families.

They live here, Connect House,

a former office block -

scores of families sent

by nearby councils.

For Victoria and her daughter Daisy,

this cramped room is home.

Do you want some soup, darling?

They've been here since April -

seven months of sheer hell.

All I have to do to

electrocute myself here

is turn the tap on fully.

The water comes out

and drips everywhere,

all over electrical stuff.

They became homeless

when their landlord sold

their property and they could not

find another home.

I have malnutrition.

And it's a struggle.

I need to eat protein.

And I need an oven.

They do have a microwave.

But it's no substitute for home

cooking and quite dangerous to use.

It's heartbreaking.

I have never seen her so sad

in her entire life.

Sometimes if she's really

tired, I lift her legs

into bed and tuck her in.

This building is a damning

indictment of Britain's

housing crisis.

More than 80 families,

easily more than a hundred children,

are living here, and each family

is paying hundreds of pounds each

week to live in a converted office.

The landlord here gets almost £1

million a year in housing benefit.

They say they have costs such

as maintenance and that no-one

is forced to stay here.

But still, some are

desperate to leave.

Was he able to breathe on his own?

No.

Angellie Facey shows me the prized

photos of her son Kilani.

He died, aged 40 days,

of several complications.

Among his mum's regrets

is that the ambulance couldn't find

this obscure office block

when her labour started, forcing her

to have the child in the car park.

When I came back from the hospital,

when I came back to the estate,

I still saw all the blood

on the floor.

Every time I come here,

I just feel so weird

at being here, you know.

Sometimes I think I've seen my

little one in the bed next to me,

cos I was meant to to bring him home

to this address.

Following our enquiries, Angellie

says has been offered a move.

But her room will be quickly filled

- the councils who send people

here say they've few other options.

Ministers say they're determined

to end all homelessness,

though no-one expects it to happen

any time soon.

Michael Buchanan, BBC News.

Across the Spanish region

of Catalonia, thousands

of protesters have blocked roads

and train lines over

the continued imprisonment

of the region's separatist leaders.

It comes as the Spanish foreign

minister suggested that Catalonia

could have a legal referendum

on independence following last

month's disputed one -

but only if the necessary

constitutional changes are approved

by the rest of Spain.

Our Europe correspondent

Gavin Lee reports.

It

The streets of Catalonia tonight.

After a day where separatist

supporters have controlled

the rhythm of the traffic,

blocking every major

route across the region.

And the railways, too.

In Madrid, I met Spain's Foreign

Minister, who recently claimed

it was fake news to suggest

there was police violence

against voters during last month's

banned independence referendum.

Now he seems to have

softened his position.

I'm sorry if some of them got

injured, but this was not...

I don't think it was

a disproportionate use of force.

I am not denying that there

were some ugly images

that we would not like to see

repeated, but by all means,

and with all due respect,

this was no Bloody Sunday.

You think it might be a better

system to actually have a referendum

to change the constitution

for the Spanish people?

We have created a committee

in the parliament to

explore the possibility

of amending the constitution.

I think we are ready.

We acknowledge that there

is a political situation that

deserves to be looked at.

But, in any case, it is clear

a decision will have be

taken by all Spaniards.

This proposal from the Spanish

government appears to offer an olive

branch to separatist supporters,

but it means that 47 million people

across Spain will decide

whether to legally make it possible

or not to have the right

to self-determination, and, if so,

once again it will be down

to the entire Spanish

population to decide

if they want to see independence.

I think Catalonia have to decide

the referendum, not Spain.

Spain does not have anything to say.

A new constitution may be a good

thing for Catalonia.

Maybe.

It was only days ago

separatist ministers

were declaring independence

here in the Catalan parliament.

Their seats are empty now.

Some are in prison, or on the run.

There are more in court tomorrow.

Gavin Lee, BBC News, Barcelona.

Relatives of those who died

in the Enniskillen bombing have been

gathering in the town to mark

the 30th anniversary

of the explosion.

The IRA attack was one of the most

notorious of the Troubles,

12 people lost their lives

in the bombing that took place

at the town's Cenotaph during

a Remembrance Sunday ceremony.

Our Ireland correspondent

Chris Buckler reports.

Exactly 30 years ago today,

people gathered in Enniskillen

for an act of remembrance.

In 1987, the service was held

to honour those who died

during two world wars.

Today's ceremony was to remember

those murdered as they stood

in tribute here at the town

Cenotaph.

Wesley Armstrong.

Each of the 12 names was read out.

Bertha Armstrong.

All victims of an IRA attack that

stood out as shocking even

amid the series of shootings

and bombings all too simply known

as Northern Ireland's troubles.

Bodies were left buried in rubble

after the explosion.

The dead left lying alongside

the dozens injured.

The loss is just so terrible.

And someone just said to me,

the grief is the price of love.

And I never thought of that

until I heard that.

And it truly is.

During today's service,

a solo was sung by a girl

who never had the chance

to know her grandparents

because of the bombing.

A message was read from the Queen,

in which she talked

of the irreplaceable loss suffered

by each of the families.

They will gather again

here in this town this weekend,

as is still traditional

on Remembrance Sunday.

The restaurant owner,

cookery writer and chef

Antonio Carluccio has

died at the age of 80.

Dubbed the Godfather

of Italian gastronomy,

he was known for his popular

television programmes, more

than 20 cookbooks and the chain

of restaurants he co-founded.

He summed up his approach

in the motto -

minimum of fuss, maximum

of flavour.

The world-famous name

of the Louvre now has a second

home in the Middle East.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has been

formally opened, which allows

the loan of the name for 30 years.

The new museum will show hundreds

of works from every culture and era,

half on loan from France's most

prestigious museum collections.

They are housed beneath

a spectacular domed roof -

designed to allow the desert sun

to filter through.

Our arts editor Will Gompertz

has been to see it.

The hit and miss architecture

of Abu Dhabi's recently

built high-rise skyline,

which sits alongside the impressive

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque,

perhaps the Emirate's

most famous landmark.

Well, it was, but now there's this,

the brand-new Louvre Abu Dhabi

with its 180 metres,

7.5 tonne domed roof,

designed along with the 55

individual buildings its bands,

designed along with the 55

individual buildings it spans,

by the prize-winning French

architect Jean Nouvel.

I wanted also, when you look

at the building, that you understand

it is a spiritual building.

The symbol of spirituality

here is the cupola.

For me, it is cosmographic.

It is kind of a sky under the sky.

And when you have the light through,

because I perforated this dome,

I thought that we could play

with the movement of the sun

and the ray of light has to go

through eight layers and,

of course, with the movement

of the sun, one spot disappears.

But at the same time,

two others appear.

The project is a collaboration

between Abu Dhabi and the Louvre

in Paris, which is being paid around

1 billion euros for lending

its name, expertise

and collection to the new museum.

Masterpieces such as Leonardo da

Vinci's La Belle Ferronier sit

alongside works lent by other

French institutions.

Monet, from the Musee d'Orsay.

Giacometti from the Pompidou

and this sculpture, Horses

of the Sun, from Versailles.

Did you need to do

the deal with the Louvre?

Couldn't you just have borrowed

works from museums around the world?

We have a saying in Arabic,

which is start where other

civilisations end, instead

of starting all the way

from scratch, instead

of going through all the learning

curves of thousands of years

of their experience.

The partnership is about

getting their experience,

learning from them, but also working

together to create something

that is new for Abu Dhabi,

but also new for France

and new for the world.

The Emirate says its Louvre will be

joined by a national museum