Browse content similar to 06/07/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The invasion of Iraq - a scathing verdict from | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
the long-awaited Chilcot inquiry on Britain's decision to go to war. | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
Military action was based on flawed intelligence, | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein, | :00:16. | :00:17. | |
It is an account of an intervention which went badly wrong | :00:18. | :00:25. | |
Many of the families of the British troops who died in the conflict | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
responded with fury as the catalogue of mistakes was revealed. | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
There is one terrorist in this world that the world needs to be aware | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
of and his name is Tony Blair. The world's worst terrorist. | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
Tony Blair says he accepts responsibility for the mistakes made | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
- but still feels he took the right decision. | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
I can look, not just the families of this country, | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
but the nation in the eye and say I did not mislead this country. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
I made the decision in good faith on the information | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
We'll be examining the findings of the Chilcot report, | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
and looking at the continuing impact of the Iraq war - 13 years later. | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
Our other main news tonight: Wales fans prepare for the biggest game | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
in their sporting history, in the semi-finals | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. | :01:17. | :01:54. | |
The long-awaited Chilcot report has laid out a catalogue of failures | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
The scathing verdict on the invasion in 2003, | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
says the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, posed | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
no "imminent threat", and the military action against him | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
The report says Britain went to war based on "flawed intelligence". | :02:10. | :02:16. | |
Eight months before the invasion, Tony Blair had said to the US | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
President George Bush, "I will be with you, whatever." | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
The inquiry also found that post-war planning was "wholly inadequate". | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
And in the end, the report says, the intervention went badly wrong, | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
This afternoon, Mr Blair said he accepted full responsibility | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
for the mistakes made, but he still believed going to war | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
Our first report tonight is from our Political Editor, Laura Kuenssberg. | :02:40. | :02:52. | |
Those who lead us in. War criminal! Those who loved and lost. And the | :02:53. | :03:12. | |
man who took longer than the Iraq war itself to judge what really went | :03:13. | :03:26. | |
wrong. Then, not a sound in the Westminster conference Centre, where | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
the Chilcot evidence was heard, and where the families waited for a | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
final few seconds for the verdict that has taken seven years. We have | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
that time was not a last resort. Polite but clear and devastating. | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
The judgments about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
of mass destruction, WMD, represented -- were presented with a | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
certainty not justified. Despite explicit warnings, the consequences | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
of the invasion were underestimated. The planning and preparations for | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
Iraq after Saddam Hussein were wholly inadequate. The government | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
failed to achieve its stated objectives. He found no evidence of | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
deceit, but simply the case for war was wrong. The report says it is now | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
clear that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed intelligence | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
and assessments. They were not challenged and they should have | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
been. And he found a woeful lack of forethought for British forces and | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
Iraq's future. Despite promises that Cabinet would discuss the military | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
contribution, it did not discuss the military options or their | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
implications. Blair did not ensure there was a flexible, realistic and | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
fully re-sourced plan. But word troops sent into an illegal war? | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
Nowhere in the 2.5 million words of this report was a legal judgment | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
made. It was not set up to do so. -- illegal. But the report except the | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
conflict may have broken the law. Circumstances in which it was | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
decided there was a legal basis for UK military action were far from | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
satisfactory. Blair lied! But there was rage outside. War criminal! Some | :05:37. | :05:46. | |
anger will never be abated. The report catalogued the growing | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
determination of Tony Blair and George Bush to take on Saddam | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
Hussein. At the Bush ranch in 2002, a strategy for a UN ultimatum where | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
such -- or Saddam would face the consequences. A couple of months | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
later, in a previously unseen note, Blair wrote, I will be with you, | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
whatever, still urging him to employ the UN. By September, flawed | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
intelligence led to this claim. Which could be activated within 45 | :06:16. | :06:23. | |
minutes. But his determination was stronger than diplomacy. By | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
mid-March, the talking was over. The war had begun. Tonight British | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
servicemen and women are engaged from air, land and sea, their | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
mission, to remove Saddam Hussein from power and disarm Iraq. A | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
toppling of the regime that quickly turned to failure. Hopes of a | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
transition were turned to dust. British forces without the basics | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
they needed, humiliated, according to the enquiry. But Tony Blair, who | :06:53. | :07:03. | |
made the decisions, was full of sorrow and regret, but still thinks | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
he was right. The decision to go to war in Iraq and to remove Saddam | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
Hussein from power, in a coalition of more than 40 countries led by the | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
united states of America, was the hardest, most momentous, most | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
agonising decision I took in my ten years as British Prime Minister. For | :07:25. | :07:34. | |
that decision today, I accept full responsibility. Without exception | :07:35. | :07:43. | |
and without excuse. The intelligence assessments made at the time of | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
going into war turned out to be wrong. The aftermath turned out to | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
be more hostile, protracted and bloody than ever we imagined. The | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
coalition planned for one set of ground facts. And encountered | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
another. And a nation whose people we wanted to set free and secure | :08:06. | :08:15. | |
from the evil of Saddam, became instead a victim to sectarian | :08:16. | :08:26. | |
terrorism. For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and | :08:27. | :08:34. | |
apology then you may have no or can believe. There were no lies, there | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
was no deceit, there was no deception. But there was a decision | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
and it was a controversial decision, a decision to remove Saddam and a | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
decision to be with America. The point about being Prime Minister is | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
that you are a decision make. You sit in the seat and take the | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
decision. Your obligation to the country is to take it as you believe | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
it to be. This report is a devastating catalogue of the | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
failures of your government and paints a very clear picture of a | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
Prime Minister who was determined to act with the United States almost | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
come what may. Do you understand the sentiments of some of the families | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
who believe you ought not to have said just sorry along time ago, but | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
now you should say some kind of punishment? It is true, I took the | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
decision after 9/11 we should be America's closest ally. Again, you | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
can disagree with that. In the end, what more can I do then say to | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
people, this is why I took the decision I did. If you disagree with | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
me, fine. But please stop saying I was lying around some kind of | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
dishonest underhanded motive. I had the motives I explained. | :09:45. | :09:52. | |
Blair lied! Millions died. Some moments of decision, moments of | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
protest barely last. Some stir anger and anguish and will never be | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
forgotten. The Iraq enquiry may suggest once and for all this was | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
never mission accomplished. Laura Kuenssberg, ABC News, Westminster. | :10:06. | :10:07. | |
Sir John Chilcot says that plans for any future intervention | :10:08. | :10:09. | |
should be calculated, debated and challenged in a way | :10:10. | :10:11. | |
His inquiry report runs to 2.6 million words and | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
Nicholas Witchell has been looking at it in more detail. | :10:18. | :10:26. | |
For month after month, some of the most senior | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
figures in the land, ministers, civil servants, military | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
leaders and intelligence chiefs, came to give evidence. | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
From their testimony and many thousands of documents, | :10:36. | :10:36. | |
Sir John Chilcot has distilled his conclusions. | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
It is on the use of intelligence that he offers some of his most | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
It is now clear that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
They were not challenged, and they should have been. | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
In the House of Commons on the 24th of September 2002, Mr Blair | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
talked up the credibility of the intelligence | :11:02. | :11:03. | |
It is extensive, detailed, and authoritative. | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
According to Mr Blair, Saddam Hussein could activate his | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes. | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
The judgments about Iraq's capabilities in a statement | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
and in the dossier published the same day were presented | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
with a certainty that was not justifiable. | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
Not only was intelligence flawed, so too with the discussions | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
The Attorney General at the time was Lord Peter Goldsmith, | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
but it is clear from the report that time and again, the Cabinet | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
was denied a chance to hear his detailed arguments. | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
One such an occasion was a matter of weeks before the invasion began. | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
And so to the chaos of post-invasion planning and another | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
According to the report Mr Blair 's government was warned explicitly | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
of the risk that an invasion would destabilise Iraq and leave | :12:07. | :12:08. | |
And as British forces faced the growing Iraqi insurrection, | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
the government failed to equip them properly. | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
We have found that the Ministry of Defence was slow in responding | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
to the threat from improvised explosive devices and that delays | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
in providing adequate medium weight protective patrol vehicles should | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
Britain's invasion of Iraq has been minutely scrutinised. | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
Sir John Chilcot has found that it was an unwarranted invasion, | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
based on flawed intelligence, with insufficient discussion | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
It was an intervention which he said had caused anguish and suffering | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
The evidence is there for all to see, it is an account | :12:50. | :12:58. | |
of an intervention which went badly wrong. | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
Nicholas Witchell, BBC News, at the Iraq enquiry. | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
More than 150,000 people died in Iraq during the war, | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
and in the years that followed - among them more than | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
For years many of their families had campaigned for an inquiry | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
so they could finally find out the truth about why Britain | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
Fergal Keane reports now on the families' reaction | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
The bereaved have injured seven years of painful waiting and hoping | :13:28. | :13:43. | |
for truth. Debbie Albright and her son were on their way to hear Sir | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
John Chilcot speak. Steven all but, husband and father, was killed in | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
Iraq in 2003. In the last few days, the trauma has returned. It has | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
brought a lot of memories back. I dreamt I saw Stevie May shop. What | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
do you want from this report? I am just hoping we find out why we went | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
in and why we went in so quickly as well. In the quiet of nearby | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
Westminster Abbey, former SAS man John Brown was remembering his son, | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
Nick, also an SAS trooper. He wanted answers about the justification for | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
going to war. We want to know what the enquiry says about the entry, | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
the reasons to go to war. That is where the key questions are. I know | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
they did not have an exit strategy. A the families came here looking for | :14:38. | :14:49. | |
the truth that named names and apportioned blame. Well, they've now | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
had a chance to consider the report's main findings. The families | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
gathered here trust that we speak with honour and honesty. The | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
families say they will study the conclusions and decide whether to | :15:01. | :15:03. | |
launch legal action against Tony Blair. There were raw emotions. I'm | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
going back to that time when I learned that my brother had been | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
killed and there is one terrorist in this world that the world needs to | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
be aware of and his name is Tony Blair. The world's worst terrorist. | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
But there was a welcome for the reports findings from the families. | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
What is your reaction to what you heard? Amazed, I didn't expect it to | :15:30. | :15:37. | |
be as good an outcome, really. I thought we would have a bit of cover | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
up or something. Sir John Chilcot has done us a good job. I'm really, | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
really pleased with the outcome. It's good news but at the same time | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
it's bad news as well because I think if Tony Blair was on the Prime | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
Minister at the time, I think my dad could still have been here today. | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
The former SAS man John Brown watched Tony Blair's response this | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
afternoon. For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and | :16:09. | :16:15. | |
apology. Tony Blair has just apologised. What does that mean to | :16:16. | :16:25. | |
you? It's a joke. He is putting on an act. The Chilcot report has not | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
given the families all the answers they sought, but it has restored | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
some measure of their faith in British public life. | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
The violence which erupted in Iraq in 2003 has continued to this day. | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
And Sir John Chilcot underlined the suffering of the Iraqi people, | :16:43. | :16:44. | |
including a million forced from their homes, | :16:45. | :16:46. | |
As our Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, reports from Baghdad, | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
the war sent shockwaves across the entire region. | :16:51. | :16:59. | |
The people of Baghdad and the rest of Iraq are still living and dying | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
with the consequences of the 2003 invasion. | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
Security is being beefed up yet again after the bomb that killed | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
But the fear of a sudden random death is never far away. | :17:13. | :17:22. | |
When the US forces reached Baghdad in April 2003, pictures of them | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
helping Iraqis topple a statue of Saddam Hussein went | :17:28. | :17:29. | |
Hadi Al Jabari started knocking lumps out of the plinth to celebrate | :17:30. | :17:43. | |
Now like many Iraqis, he's nostalgic for the brutal | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
TRANSLATION: Saddam has gone and we now have 1000 Saddams. | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
If Tony Blair was here this morning, what would you say to him? | :17:53. | :17:55. | |
TRANSLATION: I would say to him, you are a criminal. | :17:56. | :17:57. | |
Less than an hour's drive from Baghdad, these are Iraqi Shia | :17:58. | :18:06. | |
militiamen, trained and equipped by Iran, | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
Chilcot says the British Government ignored a warning that removing | :18:10. | :18:18. | |
Saddam would offer Iran an opening in Iraq. | :18:19. | :18:27. | |
Captured IS positions seemed to have been prepared by trained soldiers, | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
IS commanders include former Iraqi officers who joined | :18:31. | :18:38. | |
the jihadists when the US and Britain dissolved the Iraqi army. | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
Not all of the chaos, violence and war in the Middle East | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
at the moment can be traced back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
It was like throwing a great big rock into a pond, | :18:48. | :18:55. | |
it sent out shock waves, geopolitical, religious, | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
And 13 years later, they're still crashing around the region. | :18:59. | :19:08. | |
Warnings about internal strife, regional instability and the rise | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
of jihadists were also ignored by Number Ten, says Chilcot. | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
Iraq's sectarian violence spread to Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere. | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
As leaders used and abused Shia Sunni fears to fight for power. | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
Jihadists were on the attack before the invasion. | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
But Iraq after 2003 offered Al-Qaeda haven and launch pad that Islamic | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
Small numbers of British troops who we filmed on condition | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
At this base, Australians and New Zealanders | :19:47. | :19:54. | |
It is a long way from what Chilcot caused the humiliating | :19:55. | :20:01. | |
end of an intervention that went badly wrong, | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
But first, our Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera, | :20:05. | :20:19. | |
is at MI6 headquarters in central London. | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
How damaging is this reporter for the intelligence services? Well, | :20:25. | :20:31. | |
there was a colossal intelligence failure when it came to Iraq. We | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
knew that already but what we got from the Chilcot enquiry was really | :20:37. | :20:39. | |
stunning new details about the nature of that failure. Let me give | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
you one example. In September 2002, just as the dossier was being drawn | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
up, MI6 here thought they had a new agent who was providing intelligence | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
on Iraq chemical and biological weapons who promised them more | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
details in the near future. And yet, soon suspicion emerged about that | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
agent and, in fact, one person even in government suggested that it | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
looked odd that this agent Michael Bost ascription is of chemical | :21:10. | :21:11. | |
weapons were nothing like real chemical weapons but instead looked | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
identical to the descriptions in Hollywood films, in other words that | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
agent was a fabricator and he wasn't the only one making up the | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
intelligence on Iraq 's WMD. Not the only failure but a challenge to the | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
assumptions of intelligence even when the inspectors found nothing | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
and to challenge the government, Tony Blair, when he said the | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
intelligence was beyond doubtful well, it wasn't. All of that | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
together has left a damning legacy of trust in government as well as | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
spies. Gordon, thank you. John Simpson, this investigation has | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
taken years to complete. How long lasting with impact be? Far more | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
than seven years it took. I think we looking at the decades. Let's look | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
at the individual elements of it. I think you've got to go back to 1956, | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
the Suez crisis, which brought Britain's history as a colonial | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
power effectively to an end. To see anything comparing all. Iraq, I go | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
there a lot. As often as I possibly can. It is a damaged, deeply, deeply | :22:19. | :22:26. | |
damaged society, as we saw in Jeremy's piece. The damage goes | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
right through, it's not going to recover quickly. The United States, | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
well, it got involved because after 911 it wanted to show it was still | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
the dominant military power so it took on a country which looked | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
strong but actually wasn't. Iraq. And yet, within a few years, the | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
Americans were having to say, we can't fight two medium-sized wars at | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
the same time. Britain will never be quite as close to the USA again. | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
Certainly we won't just automatically follow what they do. | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
And I think you can say there is a line to be drawn from 2003 and the | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
invasion right through to a couple of weeks ago, that cynicism about | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
politics in this country, I think fed into the whole business of the | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
EU referendum. John Simpson, thank you. Some other news for you now. | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
The South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is back in prison | :23:25. | :23:26. | |
tonight after he was sentenced to six years in jail for the murder | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
A court overturned his original conviction for manslaughter last | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
year, instead finding him guilty of murder. | :23:34. | :23:35. | |
Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp four times through a locked | :23:36. | :23:37. | |
He said he had mistaken her for an intruder. | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
The pound fell to a new 31-year low against the dollar today | :23:45. | :23:46. | |
amid continuing concerns about Britain's economy | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
following the vote to leave the European Union. | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
Sterling slumped below $1.28 for the first time since 1985 before | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
There were also falls across many of Europe's | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
It's the biggest game in their history. | :24:02. | :24:10. | |
Wales take on Portugal in the semifinals of | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
More than half the population of Wales are expected | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
to watch the match in Lyon as Hywel Griffith reports. | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
With a roar that fills the streets of Leon, Wales is on an all-time | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
high. So new to success, so hungry for more. Very confident. He is very | :24:29. | :24:36. | |
confident today. I'm cautiously optimistic. Having never reached the | :24:37. | :24:39. | |
semifinal before, history has already been made. Now thoughts on | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
the future. It's not just about now, we want to qualify for the next | :24:47. | :24:50. | |
World Cup and the next major tournament after that, but also | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
inspire younger kids. We want to get more people playing football in | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
Wales which ultimately will be better players, more players to | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
choose from. For this team, it's been a journey to test emotions. | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
Many made their debuts in former manager Gary speed. His death formed | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
a bond which has proved a unbreakable. Gary 's father will be | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
at tonight 's game. Very emotional, it is. He is watching, I'm sure he | :25:14. | :25:23. | |
is, up there watching. It's fantastic, brilliant. You are the | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
proud dad, watching? Are very proud dad, yeah. Stronger together has | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
been Wales' motto, happily mixing with the fans of every opposing | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
team. Somewhere along this journey things have changed for Welsh | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
supporters after decades of dealing with defeat. Now everyone seems to | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
believe maybe this is not the end of the line, maybe they could go all | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
the way to the final in Paris on Sunday. | :25:51. | :25:50. | |
CHEERING Our correspondent Sian Lloyd | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
is with fans in Cardiff. What a night ahead. Absolutely, | :25:57. | :26:08. | |
Sophie, because the fans at home has been following and savouring Wales' | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
journey every step of the way and the atmosphere here in Cardiff | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
really building this evening. The principality Stadium, home of Welsh | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
rugby, has been transformed into a football fan zone and the gates will | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
be opening very, very soon. There are fans zones set up up and down | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
the country. Yesterday, 20,000 tickets were released for here and | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
they were snapped up within 90 minutes. 7500 were released today | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
and they went in half an hour. From inside the stadium denied, and of | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
course in France, from the Welsh fans, we can expect some fantastic | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
singing, cheering and perhaps some nail-biting come to, because this | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
really is a pinch me territory for Wales. It is a story would have | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
captured the imagination of the nation and one that these fans hope | :26:59. | :26:59. | |
won't end tonight. Thank you. Time for a look at the weather | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
with Matt Taylor. Thanks, soapy. I think the fans have | :27:04. | :27:14. | |
got the best deal in France. 27 degrees, not doing too badly across | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
southern parts of the UK. It's been a different story north and west. | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
The cloud has been thickening up and rather grey and gloomy skies. At | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
least the rain has held for many in northern England so far but further | :27:28. | :27:30. | |
north, across Scotland, the rain has been coming down through much of | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
this afternoon. A lot of it has eased off for the time being. | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
Northern Ireland, damp evening. Wet elsewhere through Scotland and | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
Northern Ireland. Rain spreading to the Shetland Islands after a lovely | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
day in the sunshine. Northern England, rain across northern and | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
western parts of Wales, but because the wind is coming from the | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
south-west, unlike last night, a good deal milder, temperatures | :27:56. | :27:58. | |
holding in the mid teens. Expect plenty of cloud in northern England, | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
the North Midlands and Wales through the day. Patchy drizzle on and off. | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
Turning heavier through the south-west later. A wet start in | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
Scotland, turning to blustery showers. Sunshine across Northern | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
Ireland, and temperatures in eastern areas up to around the low 20s. | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
22-23 in the south-east of England. Sunshine breaking through the cloud | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
now and again. As they go through Thursday night into Friday, a great | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
start. Occasional rain and drizzle through the day. For those heading | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
to Wimbledon, bear that in mind. Showers starting to these and the | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
afternoon should be dry and brighter. Once the sun is out, | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
feeling quite pleasant. The next batch of rain will then take it into | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
the next part of the weekend. For some of you, this low-pressure over | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
my shoulder coming in, will bring a windy start of the weekend as well. | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
Thank you. | :28:55. | :28:58. |