24/02/2017 Breakfast

This is Breakfast with Charlie Stayt and Steph McGovern.

An historic by-election win for the Conservatives as they gain

In the first by-election win by a governing party for more

than 30 years, Trudy Harrison takes the Cumbrian constituancy

UKIP leader Paul Nuttall coming a distant second.

We're live in both constituencies this morning and we have the latest

Also this morning: Shock as Leicester City sack

It's no happy ever after for the fairytale of Leicester City

or Claudio Ranieri, as the manager who masterminded the most unlikely

of Premier League titles is dropped by the club.

After weeks of front page campaigns and political protest,

the government has promised help for thousands of companies facing

sharp increases in the amount they pay in business rates.

Storm Doris brought us near misses like this,

and disruption to roads, rail and air travel.

As many people try to complete their journeys,

Nick has the details on what the weather's

Yes, good morning. Storm Doris is gone. It is cold and calm this

morning. Many places will be dry. It will turn letter later. It is

nowhere near as nasty as Storm Doris. I will be back with the full

forecast. "A truly historic victory" -

the words of new Conservative MP Trudy Harrison after taking

the Labour seat of Copeland in last nights by-election, the first gain

by a governing party since 1982. In the night's other result Labour

did hold on to Stoke Central, with Ukip leader Paul Nuttall

finishing in second place. Here's our political

correspondent Tom Bateman. Harrison, Trudy. The Conservative

Party candidate, 13700 and 48. Voters chose a Labour MP for the

last 80 years. It all changed in a dramatic night as the Conservatives

won by 2000 votes. What has happened tonight is a truly historic event.

You would have to go back more than a century to find an example of a

governing party taking a seat from the opposition party in an election

like this. Labour said the vote was on a knife edge. In the aftermath of

defeat the departing candidate tries not to face questions. This is a

moment in history. The first time a conservative has represented the

area since the 1930s. And for them tonight, jubilation. Serious

questions for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn. It took place after the

resignation of a Labour MP critical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Theresa May may be rare move of visiting a by-election seat vacated

by an opposition MP. It was a hardfought campaign of the nuclear

jobs and hospital services. The result leaves Labour assessing its

electoral prospects. But there was better news for Labour in the

by-election in Stoke-on-Trent, and other traditional seat for the

party. They held on with a reduced majority. The people of

Stoke-on-Trent when provided with a range of candidates have opted a

Labour candidate and me as a Member of Parliament. This campaign has

been about many issues. While there might have been a slight decrease in

our share of the vote, turnout was down on the last election, but I am

happy with the result this evening. This by-election was a test for UKIP

in a heavenly working-class area. It has increased its vote share. It was

a bitter campaign during which the UKIP Leader attempted to fend off

mounting personal criticism. UKIP's time will come. This will happen.

Hang on. Hang on. This seat was number 72 on our hit list. A lot

more will happen. There is a lot more to come. We are not going

anywhere. I am not going anywhere. So we move on. There will be

jubilation for Theresa May at the resort in Copland. Jeremy Corbyn

promised he would reconnect with voters. He might have to try

inspired offer the opposition for his own MPs.

So let's just take a closer look at those results for the Copeland

It was a conservative gain for Trudy Harrison

Labour's Gill Troughton received 11,601.

The Liberal Democrats' Rebecca Hanson got 2,252 votes.

And Ukip's Fiona Mills received 2,025 votes.

We can now speak to our political correspondent Tom Bateman

who is in Whitehaven for us this morning.

So, the Conservatives have said it is a truly historic victory. How

significant is it? I think it is an astonishing moment because you have

to go so many years back to find a Tory MP who represented this area.

The last Tory before Trudy Harrison was born in the 1870s. That gives

you a sense of just how dominant Labour has been in this area. And

why, of course? We are talking about that. Normally at a by-election we

would be talking about the governing party given a pummelling by voters.

That is how it normally goes. It is rare to have this turn of events

when an opposition party is defending a seat it has vacated and

to lose it. Yet it has happened overnight. First of all I think

there is going to be some happy faces in Downing Street this

morning. Theresa May will be jubilant. She visited in a rare move

last week. And it raises questions for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. We

have heard him say since the result Labour will reconnect with voters.

The difficulty is he must do that knowing that many of his own MPs

will use this to continue to argue the case perhaps privately and

increasingly in public again that they believe he is an electoral

liability for the party. Thank you very much.

And just after 7am this morning we'll be speaking

to the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell about the results.

Leicester City has sacked manager Claudio Ranieri just nine months

after he led the club's to its first Premier League title.

The Foxes are only one point above the relegation zone

He masterminded one of sport's greatest miracles, but less

than a year after Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City became

the most unlikely Premier League winners ever,

the man who achieved the dream has been dismissed.

Leicester City are the Premier League champions!

Last season's celebrations have turned to fears of relegation.

Having swept all before them, this season of the euphoria evaporated.

And with Leicester languishing one point above the relegation zone the

club decided to act. In a statement the chairman said...

Managerial loyalties are notoriously short in supply in the Premier

League but given what Ranieri achieved many will be dismayed.

Former Leicester star Gary Lineker described it as... Ranieri's last

game in charge was a 2-1 defeat against Sevilla in the last 16 of

the Champions League. The managers seemingly unaware of his fate when

he spoke after the match. We know, we know they are better than us,

very high quality team, highly experienced team, everything, OK.

But we have a very big part, and a very big effort, we help each other.

And I think we deserve this. It is Leicester's poor performances in the

Premier League that could see them become only the second English

champions in history to see a title defence and in relegation and it is

that which ultimately cost Ranieri his job. Their memories of what he

achieved will always be cherished but the fairytale is now over.

Malaysian police say they have found the highly toxic nerve agent,

VX, on the face of Kim Jong-nam, the murdered half brother

VX is the most toxic of the chemical warfare agents,

and just a drop on the skin can kill in minutes.

CCTV footage shows two women briefly holding something over

Kim Jong Nam's face while he was preparing to board

a flight at Kuala Lumpur airport last week.

Donald Trump has said he wants to expand America's nuclear arsenal.

In his first comments on the issue since taking office,

the President said America had, "Fallen behind on nuclear weapon

capacity," and must be, "Top of the pack."

Police investigating the escape of a convicted murderer from custody

have arrested two people on suspicion of assisting

Merseyside Police detained a 27-year-old man and a 26-year-old

woman in Liverpool in connection with Shaun Walmsley's escape.

Walmsley, who is 28, went on the run when two men armed

with a knife and a gun confronted prison officers guarding him

at Aintree University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

The clear-up continues this morning after Storm Doris battered much

of the UK leaving one woman dead after being hit by flying debris.

Winds of up to 94mph caused power cuts and travel chaos as flights

were grounded and train services disrupted.

Drivers are being warned to be wary of ice on the roads in the north

Our correspondent Nick Quraishi is at London Euston where many

We are told things will get back to normal today. Services were

suspended for several hours yesterday. Things started running

around 5pm but obviously there was huge backlog. The station stayed

open overnight to cater for many stranded passengers. People are

being told they can use tickets which they didn't use yesterday this

morning and tomorrow. Similar situations down the road at King's

Cross and St Pancras. There were wins of 94 mph, there were trees on

the line and even a shed in Nuneaton on the West Coast Main Line. --

winds. With the strong winds, it brought the death of a 29-year-old

woman in Wolverhampton city centre. She was walking past Starbucks and

this masonry fell on her, something the size of a copy to help could be

seen being taken away. West Midlands Police and Wolverhampton City

Council investigated in. And a schoolgirl is in a life-threatening

condition we understand after a ceiling at a sports hall in Milton

Keynes fell on her. Two other women were injured, a woman in her 60s

when a carport fell on her and a man in Victoria Station in London. On

the roads, many drivers had a lucky escape. One driving instructor, in

fact, a tree fell in front of him as he was driving. Problems started in

Scotland on the M80 with snow and there was no escape for air

travellers too. Passengers on a flight in down to Manchester had a

bumpy landing. And Heathrow and Aer Lingus cancelled flights. 24,000

homes in Northern Ireland were without power. 40,000 in East

Anglia. This morning, the problem is for ice in Northern Ireland,

Scotland and north-west England. Thank you very much.

It turns out the bee's knees are even better than we thought -

it's been discovered bumblebees can teach each other how to score goals

with a tiny ball, displaying a learning ability never before

They surprised scientists by working out how to obtain a food reward

In the experiment, the bees were placed on a platform and had

to roll a yellow ball to a specific location in order to obtain

Those that observed the success of other bees were better

at learning the task than those that didn't.

LAUGHTER. Why? Who cares? It is more like bee curling. Especially with

Bumble Bee 11, Buzzy Izzard, in the B Top 11. You have been a busy bee.

Buzzy Izzard once played for Leicester. And another thing that we

can't explain, this fairytale, this match made in heaven. There is no

happy ending for Claudio Ranieri. It seems so harsh. Especially the

timing. They put in a good performance away in Seville. Even

Jamie Vardy scored! And then he was gone the next day. You would have to

think they have something lined up their sleeves.

There's no room for sentiment in football -

the harsh reality is that in 2017 Leicester have the worst record

of any of the 92 football league clubs.

No goals scored, and they've fallen to just one place and one point

above the relegation zone, and so the miracle man,

Claudio Ranieri, has paid the ultimate price with his job.

As for who takes over, fellow Italian and former Man City

boss Roberto Mancini is an early front runner.

Elsewhere, Tottenham's Wembley woes struck again as they went out

of the Europa League to Gent - they'd had England star Dele Alli

sent off by the time the Belgian side made it 2-all on the night

Flanker Jon Barclay will captain the Scotland side to face Wales

in the Six Nations at Murrayfield tomorrow.

Barclay, who plays his rugby in Wales, will lead the team

in the absence of the injured Greig Laidlaw.

World champion constructors Mercedes have unveiled their new car

Hamilton said the car felt incredible.

I will be back with Leicester reaction later on. Let's have a look

at the weather. Nick, a day yesterday. How does it look today?

Yesterday was completely horrible, today is a different story. This is

a storm Doris, well away from the UK now. It has been taking strong winds

across Germany into pollen but look how far away it is, how quickly it

has moved. The UK this morning is finding itself in the gap between

weather systems. It is colder this morning and there may be a risk of

ice across parts of Scotland and northern England but, more

importantly, it is much calmer and many of us will see dry and sunny

weather for a time today here is the picture today. There may be a lot of

cloud some patchy rain, sleet or snow across parts of Scotland. We

have a few early showers brushing the eastern coast of England. They

will pull away to the North Sea. One or two on the breeze pushing through

into the Midlands. They will tend to die away but you concede a cloud

this morning a lot of fine weather into southern England and notice,

wherever you are um the strength of wind is down compared to yesterday.

This is the picture through this morning. When you start with an

early shower it will tend to fade. By midday nearly everyone is dry but

there is another weather system coming into Northern Ireland,

pushing and western Ireland and this is going to bring not only wetter

weather but freshening the wind again. Nowhere near as messy as

storm Doris. Temperatures around 5- 10 Celsius. Taking it through

tonight there will be wet weather pushing through across the UK

preceded by snow on the hills free time in Scotland. Gales develop

again in north-west Scotland. Very little rain reaching southern

England and it is a mild night to come because with this weather

system coming in we have a flow of milder coming back into the UK. That

is how we start the weekend and throughout the week and for most of

us it will be on the mild side. It will be quite windy and there will

be some rain around at times but not all the time. I will show you

Saturday now, so we can see what to expect, a windy start with outbreaks

of rain spreading south eastwards. Heavy as towards the hills of

Scotland, moving into Cumbria. Easing a little bit into the

afternoon. Brighter skies with a few showers. Very little rain reaching

south-east England. Eastern areas generally not seeing as much rain as

you would see further west. For part two of the weekend on Sunday we see

another weather system coming in taking outbreaks of rain south

eastwards with the breeze as well. Very little in the south-east

England and notice that the temperatures for many of us are in

two double figures. It will be calling to the start of next week.

Weather systems around this weekend, it will be unsettled but nothing

like storm Doris. That is how it looks.

I think a lot of people will be pleased to hear that. It is 18

minutes past six o'clock. The main stories this morning-

A shock defeat for Labour - they lose their Copeland seat

stories this morning- seat for the first time in more

The Conservative victory is the biggest by a governing

In a separate election, Labour hold onto their seat in Stoke.

warehouse people with us now for a look through the papers. Letter look

at the front pages first. Main story on the front page of the Daily Mail,

we were covering the story yesterday, the news that Whirlpool,

this is about tumble dryers in what the Mail is calling the deathtrap

tumble dryers. The information out from Whirlpool is that they should

not be used. If you have these particular tumble dryers, the fire

risk now is so great that they should not be used recently. Over 15

months here at they have been saying that you could use them and keep an

eye on them when they were in use. In the Guardian this morning they

pick up on the by-election results saying that labour saw off the

challenge from UKIP in Stoke. The picture from yesterday, the storm

yesterday which brought the worst weather of the winter. The Met

Office referred to it as a weather bomb. From head to the Daily Mirror

has the storm as well. Cars crushed by trees and on the front page of

the times as well. Sean? Many of the newspapers are covering John Lewis

cutting back on positions across the business. People in administration

and customer restaurant, they will be consulted about their roles. A

little bit of restructuring going on and we have heard a lot about that.

A very nice picture in the Telegraph of the Royal mints, the new ?1

coins. 12 sided, they will be. There is a nice pile of them. They are

coming in in October. Now, they will be steadily brought in and there

will be a period where you can use both coins. After October, however,

the new ones, the old ones will cease to be legal tender. Do you

think they will have a secret thing on again so will be worth more? Not

at the moment, no. There is only 15 left. Did you say 12 sided? What is

that? Dodecyl gone? Sounds good. Well, no surprise in the papers they

are trying to make sense of why Leicester have gotten rid of rainy

area. The back page of the Times blames the players. They forced him

out, the special bond had gone and they had a meeting with the players

in Spain and it was the players that convinced the board that he should

go. Why do players never get the sack? They just get moved on. Is

this a joke? No. They get moved on eventually but the manager pays the

price first of all. The players are a collective, the manager is the one

who got shot down. The other story is... There is a lot of anger about

the players in the mail, saying the snakes, how could the snakes betray

Ranieri. The day the game lost its soul. It seems quite mean, does it?

Yes but in terms of form, there is only so much that fans can take full

think very much. It is just coming up to 23 minutes past six.

There are growing calls from patients, experts and nurses

for better training and awareness of Sickle Cell disease.

It's an inherited blood disorder that affects thousands of mostly

African and Caribbean people in the UK.

During a so-called Sickle Cell crises or episode, red blood cells

change shape, causing intense pain and organ damage.

And as Noel Phillips reports, just having the condition can make

This boy was six when he died from organ failure, sepsis and sickle

disease in 2015. He just kept saying mum, I want to lie Simone called

emergency. Over the next hour his condition worsened. What happened on

that day... I don't feel it was treated urgently enough when that

person on the phone told me I would have to probably wait up to 45

minutes for an ambulance. In an ambulances and a rapid response unit

were dispatched but then cancelled and sent to more urgent cases.

Shortly after paramedics arrived, the child went into cardiac arrest.

I was a little bit panicked but I was not trying to show that I was

panicked. But I was... It was serious then. Lola is one of the

country's most senior sickle cell nurses. You combine vomiting,

diarrhoea, that the mother said the child had a fever. You can buy most

things together with the fact that the child has sickle cell disease

and that should be a trigger sufficient to say that that child

needs attention. In a statement, the ambulance service apologise for the

delay in getting to the child. The medical director added that over the

last few years they had worked closely with the sickle cell society

to improve care to patients. They regularly ordered the care they

provide and sickle cell training is given to all ambulance crews. It is

like being stabbed while someone is pouring acid on you. This man is one

of 15,000 people in Britain living with sickle cell disease. It causes

crippling pain but he claims he has had to wait hours in hospital for

treatment. Waiting in a cubicle for two plus hours. Jo Howard is a

sickle cell consultant. In a recent report she says that staff shortages

mean that patients are not getting the right care. Patients should not

be left in pain. Patients should be treated within 30 minutes. I think

that is an absolutely reasonable thing that we should be doing for

every patient. I think all trusts should be aiming to do that. It is

swelling up. I have had to teach the doctors about it. Lavinia has been

living with the disease for 30 years. The understanding and the

Korea is not there. Nurses don't learn while they are training, they

learn on the job. The NHS as they are committed to providing patients

with the high standards of treatment care and support. But she says the

condition remains largely overlooked and like a sickle cell sufferers

will remain difficult. Thank you to the families who took

part in that report, reporting on the problems with sickle cell. We

have reached 26 Plenty more on our website

at the usual address. Now, though, it's back

to Steph and Charlie. Hello, this is Breakfast

with Charlie Stayt and Steph We'll bring you all the latest news

and sport in a moment, After the author Helen Bailey

was murdered by a man she met while grieving for her first

husband, we'll speak to a charity for people whose partners have died,

and ask if they can be particularly vulnerable when starting

new relationships. After victory in Stoke

and defeat in Cumbria, we'll ask the Shadow Chancellor John

McDonnell what a mixed night for Labour means for the party

and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. And they've been in decline

for years, but we'll find out about a new plan to save the UK's

last remaining red squirrels and how But now a summary of this

morning's main news. The Conservatives have won

the Cumbrian seat of Copeland which had been in Labour's hands

for more than 80 years. In the night's other result Labour

held on to Stoke Central, with UKIP leader Paul Nuttall

finishing in second place. This report from our political

correspondent Tom Bateman contains Harrison, Trudy Lynn,

the Conservative Party Voters here had chosen a Labour MP

for the last 80 years. But all that changed in a dramatic

night as the Conservatives took What has happened tonight

is a truly historic event. You would have to go back more

than a century to find an example of a governing party taking a seat

from the opposition party Labour said the vote

was on a knife edge. In the aftermath of defeat,

the departing candidate chose not The first time a conservative has

represented the area But serious questions for Labour

under Jeremy Corbyn. Theresa May made the rare move

of visiting a by-election seat It was a hardfought campaign

of the nuclear jobs The result leaves Labour

assessing its electoral prospects. But there was better news

for Labour in the by-election in Stoke-on-Trent, another

traditional seat for the party. They held on with

a reduced majority. This by-election was a test

for UKIP for UKIP in It just managed second place,

but did increase its vote share. This seat was number

72 on our hit list. So therefore, you know,

we move on and our time will come. There will be jubilation

for Theresa May at the result in Jeremy Corbyn promised

he would reconnect with voters. He might have to try inspired offer

the opposition for his own MPs. Our political correspondent

Alex Forsyth joins us Talk us through what happened last

night. And the thirsting notice is the UKIP campaign office behind you.

This was where the campaign has been based over the last few weeks. The

office is shut up. And when we have arrived, there is a red cross on the

door, the significance is unclear, though some might say UKIP is not

welcome in Stoke. This was a test for UKIP. This was their leader

standing in a seat where people supported Brexit. And UKIP after the

EU Referendum promised they would eat into the Labour vote in the

heartlands, in areas like this in Stoke and they failed. UKIP have

played down the significance this morning and said they did eat into

the majority. It leaves questions for the party about what they stand

for post EU Referendum and if they can't win in places like Stoke,

where can they win? Talk through what happened in Copeland and the

scale of the conservative victory? I don't think it could be

underestimated. It was a very significant win in Copeland, long

held by Labour, and Labour have said there were local issues dominating

his campaign. We know that Jeremy Corbyn at the moment has some of the

lowest ratings for a Labour leader for sometime, so it will renew

questions over his leadership. We are some way off a leadership

challenge. This will lend credibility to his critics who say

Labour under Jeremy Corbyn isn't performing as it should. For the

moment, thank you. Malaysian police say they have found

the highly toxic nerve agent, VX, on the face of Kim Jong-nam,

the murdered half brother VX is the most toxic

of the chemical warfare agents, and just a drop on the skin

can kill in minutes. CCTV footage shows two women briefly

holding something over Kim Jong-nam's face

while he was preparing to board a flight at Kuala Lumpur

airport last week. Donald Trump says he wants to expand

America's nuclear arsenal. In his first comments on the issue

since taking office, Mr Trump said it would be

"wonderful" if no nation had nuclear arms, but otherwise the US must

be "top of the pack." The government is announcing plans

for more universities to offer degree courses which last

for just two years. The universities minister Jo Johnson

will say students want more flexible courses which enable them to get

into work more quickly. In return, universities will be able

to increase annual tuition fees to more than ?13,000,

although the overall cost of a degree will still

be capped at ?27,000. The clear-up continues this morning

after Storm Doris battered much of the UK leaving one woman dead

after being hit by flying debris. Winds of up to 94mph caused power

cuts and travel chaos as flights were grounded

and train services disrupted. Drivers are being warned to be wary

of ice on the roads in Scotland, Northern Ireland,

and north-west England. And we've just got time to show

you some amazing pictures of a modern day version

of cat and mouse. But in this instance,

the mouse was a drone and the cats, The rare tigers in north-east China

were chasing a bird before spotting It didn't take long before

the electronic device became prey, the drone at least managing

to capture some incredible pictures It was down, yeah. Wow. It is quite

scary, isn't it, when you see them come toward you. Now, where to

start, with Leicester and Claudio Ranieri. The dream, the fairytale,

is over. You'd have to think the board saw something, a breakdown

between the players and Claudio Ranieri, the special relationship.

Because a new manager coming in can't assign any players, so all he

can do is try to motivate the set, so it has to be something they have

seen. Already, people are asking about loyalty, where is loyalty in

football? Yes, because Claudio Ranieri in summer had the chance to

go to Italy, it was such a famous story, his stock rose to

unprecedented heights, but he stayed at Leicester, turning that down,

because he thought the special thing they had going could continue.

We can remind ourselves of the special times, only nine months ago

when he was king Claudio, defying the odds of 5000 to one, to do what

many regarded as impossible, winning the Premier League title. Here he

is, crowned by Kasper Schmeichel, but then they only really lost one

main player to Chelsea, so you would have thought they could have stayed

in the top six, but form has been abysmal, it has got worse, and he

really is looking rather concerned. No away wins in the Premier League

this season, no goals in the Premier League this year, the worst record

of 92 Football League clubs in terms of form, although they offered hopes

for fans against Seville in Spain just two nights ago when Jamie Vardy

scored, but the border out there and according to some papers they spoke

with players. And we have a statement, indeed.

So, that is the harsh reality, that is what the board has set, but of

course, you said there is no room for sentiment in football, and that

is a feeling of hurt some up by a lot of the fans.

Gary Lineker, former Leicester City player tweeted: "After all that

Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now

is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad."

Former Leicester forward Dion Dublin was also shocked by the news,

Sacking the manager that won you the Premiere League title!

And Manchester United's Manager Jose Mourinho offered his condolences

to Mr Ranieri: "Sacked, that's the new football Claudio.

Nobody can delete the history you wrote."

I suppose the straw poll of Leicester fans I spoke with

overnight, two thirds of think it was too soon and harsh, but there

are some fans, like Chris in Bristol, Bristol-based Leicester

fan, it is right for survival, he said, I can handle defeat but not

the 92nd in form out of 92 clubs, and maybe Roberto Mancini is lined

up already, we don't know, but the timing would suggest they have a

plan in place. Roberto Mancini played for Leicester, he had the

Premier League at all, but what is he like with relegation, in which

Leicester is certainly involved in now. And some other sports as well?

Oh, yes, we have. (LAUGHTER).. It was a busy night already.

It was a dismal night for Tottenham - out of the Europa League

after they could only draw 2-2 against Gent of Belgium at Wembley,

Dismal especially for two of their England stars -

His own goal making it 1-1 on the night.

Then another of Spurs' England players, Dele Alli,

was sent-off for this horrendous tackle.

Tottenham out, leaving just Manchester United as the sole

England captain Wayne Rooney says he is staying at Manchester United

after being linked with a move to China.

The 31-year-old striker said in a statement: "It's an exciting

time at the club and I want to remain a part of it."

Rooney's agent had travelled to China to see if he could

negotiate a deal, which could still happen in the summer.

Coach Vern Cotter has made five changes to Scotland's side that

will face Wales in the Six Nations at Murrayfield tomorrow.

Flanker Jon Barclay plays his rugby in Wales with the Scarlets,

and will captain the team in the absence of the injured Greig

Ali Price will take over from Laidlaw at scrum half.

Fly half Johnny Sexton returns to the Ireland side for tomorrow's

Sexton missed Ireland's first two games with a calf injury,

but is back with Paddy Jackson dropping to the bench.

Catalans Dragons beat Hull FC 16-14 to go top of rugby league's

Luke Walsh kicked six out of six in a scrappy game

and his last penalty confirmed victory for Catalans.

I love the feeling when you get the keys to your new car, and that was

the feeling for Lewis Hamilton yesterday.

World champion constructors Mercedes have unveiled their new car

It will be going a lot faster than this when the season starts

But for now Lewis Hamilton, who was joined by new team-mate

Valtteri Bottas, took the car for a few laps around

Hamilton said the car felt incredible.

That is a good sign, then. It is, yeah, he is happy. Thank you.

Police in Malaysia say a powerful nerve agent called VX appears

to have been used in last week's killing of Kim Jong Nam,

the half brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

In a statement, officials said traces of the agent,

which is used in chemical warfare, were found on Kim Jong Nam's face.

Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes joins us now

This is a story which is quite baffling, really, and now this

information about is highly toxic nerve agent, what more can you tell

us? Yeah, this story continues to get more extraordinary as the days

go by. So, what the authorities are telling us is after Kim Jong-nam

died at the airport, on the way to the hospital from the airport last

week, they took him to the morgue and did an autopsy, during which

they swapped his face, especially cheeks and eyes, and they tested the

swabs and it has taken 11 days to come back with the results but they

said they found traces of the VX nerve agents on those swabs, which

is serious, because VX is considered the most toxic nerve agent invented,

invented in Britain in the 1950s. Large quantities were produced in

America and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. It has subsequently been

banned under UN chemical convention, so the fact it has been used in this

killing makes this a whole new level on this killing. Yeah, and also

looking at what the Malaysians have said, they don't blame the North

Korean state, but they say North Korea was clearly behind it, so

what's happening? Well, it is very unclear, is the short answer. They

are not at the moment accusing the North Korean state of direct

involvement. However, circumstantial evidence so far points to a plot

based in North Korea, or at least in the North Korean and busy in Kuala

Lumpur. There are women in custody thought to have been carrying out

the killing, they are not North Korean, but the other suspects named

are North Korean nationals, and one of them they want to talk to is a

diplomat from the embassy here, but the North Koreans are refusing to

hand him over. What happens next? There is this other person they want

to talk to. What happens next? Well, we are locked in a stalemate. North

Korea will not back down or hand over people who are wanted. There is

the potential for a diplomatic rift. I have heard people say they will

have to do something in retaliation, even kicking the North Korean

ambassador out of here. This is now very, very serious. And, as you say,

a really extraordinary story. Thank you very for your time.

The table that the weather. Things have calmed down? Absolutely. A

different story now. These is storm Doris with very fast wind speeds,

the whole system was moving very quickly so look where it is now. It

has taken those stormy conditions through Germany and into pollen. It

is weakening and we find ourselves between weather systems as morning.

A higher it pressure ridge and a cold flow of air. Watch out few icy

patches on untreated surfaces. A far more calm story this morning and a

brighter story as well. Some cloud around in Scotland and a little bit

of patchy light rain in a few spots are not amounting to very much. Icy

in places again. Some showers coast to the eastern coast of England. One

or two filtering through parts of north Wales in north-west England

into the Midlands. Quite hit and miss. At eight o'clock in the

morning a lot of dry and sunny weather and look at the wind speed

here. They are much lower compared with yesterday. A fine day for many

of us, even where you start with a shower roundabout midday the vast

majority is to be dry with sunshine. Another weather system is coming in

and back this afternoon will bring rain across Northern Ireland and by

the end of the day into western parts of Scotland. Nowhere near as

nasty as storm Doris. Temperature is down compared to yesterday so maybe

five to 10 degrees. We will take some wet weather, particularly

across the northern half of the UK, preceded by snow urban ills in

Scotland. Back to the rain, the wind freshening and our strengthening

again cross north battling north-west Scotland. Lottery but

milder with plenty of cloud around as we start of Saturday morning. It

takes is on to the weekend and what can we expect? Mild compared to

today. It will be windy again, nothing like the storm, most of us

will see rain at some stage but not all the time. It is quite a messy

picture as we start off on Saturday morning. Windy wherever you are.

Dales for some of us, if this were close to the west and inner

north-west Scotland. Rain heading south-east, not much down the

eastern side of the UK and into Saturday afternoon expected to turn

will be brighter in Scotland and Northern Ireland just a couple of

showers around and temperatures for many back into double figures the

whiz by blustery. On Sunday we bring in another wet weather system so

gets wet for a time. Scotland into Cumbria, quite wet throughout the

weekend, pushing south -- south eastwards. The breeze nothing

compared to storm Doris and temperatures hitting double figures

although will be turning colder the start of next week. The main message

to the weekend, it is looking unsettled and quite blustery at

times but we put storm Doris behind us. A lot of people will be pleased

to hear that. Thank you, Nick. Sean's here - and he's looking

at business rates this morning It is a fair thing to call this one

an argument because it has been backbench MPs of the Conservative

parties, many newspapers here, the mail the Telegraph and the Times

last week to have let on this several times. It has has been a big

talking point. Well it was all about over

the government's proposals to increase business rates that

are due to come about in April. There are nearly 2 million

businesses across the UK that will see rates come in at some point.

This is all about the proposal of the government to see those rates

increase next month. Those properties in England and Wales are

liable for business rates. Our tax is charged on properties like

offices and factories. The amount is based on how much rain could be

charged on those buildings that they are rain. If this are currently

playing rates on property valuations from 2008. They have now been

revalued in the raids recalculated with many winners and losers.

According to the government, over 1 million ratepayers will see no

change. Or, their bill will go down. But it is as loud half a million

businesses will see them go up, and some of them significantly. We have

had a lot of pressure we have heard this week that there may be some

help announced in the budget in just under a couple weeks time. We can

talk now to Christian spencer was head of research and policy at the

greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Christian, because it is

so closely linked to property prices is it just about the south-east and

London think Robbie prices go up and rates go up in the rest of the

country benefiting? As a broad generalisation that is a reasonable

assumption that the proper market across the UK is highly varied. We

feel of fluctuation in Manchester amongst the city and the outlying

areas. At a high level, yes, but with the winners and losers appear

in all sorts of odd places. People who expect changes to come in next

month, you still hear from businesses that I talk to that they

don't know the exact figure that they will be paying. As the

government run this as smoothly as it could have done? There have been

many challenges. This goes to the heart of some of the complexity and

the system we have been working with government with over several years

now. There are still some rates outstanding from the 2010 in grief.

That gives a sense of how collocated things are. Businesses have seen a

draft revaluations to 2017. Businesses are looking at those many

are already that these do not appear to be in line with where we would

expect them to be and we can expect a large set of appeals. Businesses

who are your members will have known that these revaluations were coming

in and they will have known how much the property price would have

changed since 2008, 2010. Is it fair to say that some businesses could

have been more prepared for these changes? It is difficult because the

process can take so long and bills can arrive close to the start of a

new financial year. There is also a question about many businesses about

how the valuations are arrived at themselves by the body who does it.

Even though once businesses know, of course, what the rent their pain is

on the valuation of a property is, sometimes the weather 's calculation

is are arrived at and give a very different number to what they

actually pay. And there has been a little bitter criticism that big

companies like Amazon have big warehouses that around town, seen

reductions on the business rates there while small shops on high

Street may see rises. You see that as well? Absolutely. And it is the

idea that people operating with his taxes similar to that of a land tax,

business rates is not about land it is about the business itself, the

building itself and even the kinds of machinery that sits within the

business. That means you can get buried peculiar distortions. Thank

you for your time. We got there in the end. About 500,000 businesses

will see a rate rise and that is where much of the talk is coming

from. Or in the budget in all just over a week. 653 now.

We've known for years that the red squirrel population is in decline,

and conservationists have been working hard

Now animal lovers are getting a chance to do their bit,

the Wildlife Trusts are uniting to recruit thousands of volunteers

Aisling McVeigh has been to Mere Sands Wood nature reserve

Red squirrels were once a common sight across much of the UK.

The introduction of their grey cousins 141 years ago spelt disaster

Carrying a disease which killed reds,

the greedy grey squirrel dominates our landscape more

than a century on, with more than 2.5 million of them around.

There are just 140,000 reds in comparison.

But in recent years efforts to protect reds have had some

success and now for the first time the wildlife trusts are combining

to recruit 5,000 volunteers to help with these conservation efforts.

People will be asked to monitor and record data and,

if they're willing, they'll be given training on how to cull

They're hoping the Red Squirrels United project will not only

maintain but maybe even increase numbers.

We can train people to help with the monitoring,

using cameras and tubes, we also need people to record

their sightings and report them to us and also help

It's a really great opportunity for people to get involved

in a large-scale conservation project at a local level and really

Most of us will never get this close to a baby squirrel.

This map shows how many red squirrels were around. The campaign

had to focus efforts of volunteers on the nine areas where there are

already reads oral including the Glens of Northern Ireland, Anglesey

in ways of Wales and Merseyside in England. The volunteer project of

saving the red squirrels in Scotland will also got under way. Most of us

will never get this close to a baby 's

-- Most of us will never get this close to a baby squirrel.

Rachel is nursing this one back to health.

But with this campaign there's a chance to make sure this native

species survives and maybe even flourishes once again in the UK.

We will talk more about how you can get involved in this project at

around ten minutes to nine this morning.

of next week with sunny spells and showers.

I'm back with the latest from BBC London newsroom

Plenty more on our website at the usual address.

Now, though, it's back to Steph and Charlie.

Hello, this is Breakfast with Charlie Stayt and Steph

An historic by-election win for the Conservatives as they gain

Harrison, Trudy, the Conservative Party candidate, 13,748.

In the first by-election gain by a governing party for more

than 30 years, Trudy Harrison takes the Cumbrian constituancy

UKIP keep their seat with Paul Nuttall. We have the latest

reaction. Good morning, it's Friday,

the 24th of February. Also this morning:

Shock as Leicester City sack their Premier League winning

manager. There's no happy ever

after for the fairytale of Leicester City or Claudio Ranieri

as the manager who masterminded the most unlikely of Premier League

titles is dropped by the club. The Royal Bank of Scotland

which also owns NatWest and Ulster Bank is just

about to publish its full The bank which is 73% owned

by the taxpayer is widely expected I'll bring you the full

details when I get them. Storm Doris brought us

disruption to roads, As many people try to complete

their broken journeys today, Nick has the details

on what the weather's Yes, good morning. Some disruption

may continue into today but Storm Doris has gone. We are in a calm,

cold spell of weather as we start this Friday morning. Rain coming to

Northern Ireland and western Scotland later with freshening wind.

I have the Friday forecast and a look at the weekend of weather

coming up. "A truly historic victory" -

the words of new conservative MP Trudy Harrison after taking

the Labour seat of Copeland in last nights by-election, the first gain

by a governing party since 1982. In the night's other result Labour

did hold on to Stoke Central, with UKIP leader Paul Nuttall

finishing in second place. This report from our political

correspondent Tom Bateman Harrison, Trudy Lynn,

the Conservative Party candidate, Voters here had chosen a Labour MP

for the last 80 years. But all that changed in a dramatic

night as the Conservatives took What has happened here tonight

is a truly historic event. You'd have to go back more

than a century to find an example of a governing party taking a seat

from the opposition party Labour had said the vote

was on a knife edge. In the aftermath of defeat,

their departing candidate chose not The first time a Conservative has

represented the area But serious questions for Labour

under Jeremy Corbyn. Theresa May made the rare move

of visiting a by-election seat It was a hardfought

campaign over nuclear jobs The result leaves Labour

assessing its electoral prospects. But there was better news

for Labour in the by-election in Stoke-on-Trent, another

traditional seat for the party. They held on with

a reduced majority. This by-election

was a test for UKIP in a working-class area that voted

hard for Brexit. It just managed second place,

but did increase its vote share. This seat was number

72 on our hit list. So therefore, you know,

we move on and our time will come. There will be jubilation

for Theresa May at the result in Jeremy Corbyn promised

he would reconnect with voters. He may have to try in spite

of futher opposition We can now speak to our political

correspondent Tom Bateman who is in Whitehaven

for us this morning. A lovely scene behind you and one

that the Conservative Party will be very pleased with today. Absolutely.

I think the calm waters and the gulls circling above are not

reflective of the political tsunami which has taken place in this part

of the world overnight. It is astonishing. Normally these mornings

we talk of the pummelling the governing party has taken. And yet

here we are in Copeland, it has been Labour for as long as anyone can

remember, and we are talking about Labour losing the seat to the

Conservatives. As for the candidate, Trudy Harrison, she was clear that

this meant the Tories were the party of the working people. That will cut

to the heart of what Labour MPs are concerned about, that they believe

Jeremy Colburn has failed to cut through to those Labour heartlands,

especially in working-class areas. Labour say there are specific

dynamics. It is about jobs in the nuclear industry. When you look at

the victory in Stoke it shows that they can win. However, at the end of

this, we are looking at more political trouble for Jeremy Colburn

from his own MPs. Thank you very much. It looks gorgeous.

In a few minutes we'll be speaking to the Shadow Chancellor John

Leicester City has sacked manager Claudio Ranieri just nine months

after he led the club's to its first Premier League title.

The Foxes are only one point above the relegation zone

He masterminded one of sport's greatest miracles, but less

than a year after Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City became the most

unlikely Premier League winners ever, the man who achieved the dream

Leicester City are the Premier League champions!

Last season's celebrations have turned to fears of relegation.

Having swept all before them, this season the euphoria has evaporated.

The champions losing their last five league matches.

And with Leicester languishing one point above the relegation zone

In a statement, the club's chairman said...

Managerial loyalties are notoriously short in supply

in the Premier League but, given what Ranieri achieved,

Former Leicester star Gary Lineker described it as...

Ranieri's last game in charge was this 2-1 defeat against Sevilla

in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The manager seemingly unaware of his fate when he spoke

We know, we know they are better than us, very high quality team,

highly experienced team, everything, OK.

But we have a very big heart, and a very big effort,

But it is Leicester's poor performances in the Premier League

that could see them become only the second English

champions in history to see a title defence and in relegation

champions in history to see a title defence end in relegation

and it is that which ultimately cost Ranieri his job.

Their memories of what he achieved will always be cherished

Well, we just have news in from RBS, Sean is here, another year of

losses, I mean, nine years of annual losses. And it is a lot bigger than

last year as well, so last year it was ?2 billion, but today we have

seen ?7 billion the Royal Bank of Scotland lost in 2016, a lot of it

to do with what they call one off costs, but when you're talking about

nine years of not making a profit, it seems to happen on a regular

basis. So, litigation costs in the US, PPI compensation, that is still

in as well, they are trying to get rid of a lot of their branches,

Williams unclean branches, which they had to sell, and they have to

try to get rid of, which didn't work, it has cost ?1 billion as well

-- Glynn. It is important for two reasons. The taxpayer owns three

quarters of the bank. Any losses that banks make, three quarters is

effectively taxpayers. It is important that banks do well. They

need to lend to small businesses and be able to give customers

confidence. When you think ?7 billion is being lost over the year,

that money could be used in much better ways. And is interesting

because we have Lloyd's results and that was a bank that we pumped money

into in the financial crisis and that is a different story

completely. Completely the opposite. Lloyds didn't have the legacy issues

from the financial crisis which RBS has had and that is why RBS said,

these are legacy problems, fundamentally, the bank is doing OK

but they don't expect to make a profit until 2018. Thank you very

much. I know that you will talk about it more a little later on.

Malaysian police say the highly toxic nerve agent,

VX, has been found on the face of Kim Jong-nam,

the murdered half brother of North Korea's leader.

VX is an extremely toxic Chemical warfare agent and just a drop

CCTV footage showed two women briefly holding something over

Kim Jong-nam's face while he was preparing to board

a flight at Kuala Lumpur airport last week.

More on one of the main stories this morning, reaction to the

by-elections last night. Lets get some reaction

from the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who joins us

now from Westminster. Thank you for your time this

morning. We want to talk about your Labour success in Stoke. What

reflections can you draw on that victory? Well, I think it is a

significant victory. I don't think just for the Labour Party, a

significant victory for politics in this country overall. Remember, what

was predicted by a lot of the media was UKIP would win the seat, it

would be the start of them destroying the Labour Party in the

north, and what the people Stoke done for all of us is they have

rejected the politics of division and dishonesty, so I think the

people of Stoke have done this country real service. I am pleased

that we won the seat. Obviously it was a hard campaign. And I am

pleased we turned back UKIP. They threw everything at it. The people

of state have done us a service. Do you think Paul Nuttall is finished?

Well, that is for UKIP and him, but, I tell you, on the streets of Stoke,

when I was up there, people were very angry about, well, the

dishonesty of the UKIP campaign, and the way in which they try to divide

the community. What the people of Stoke said last night is that we

will not be divided, and they concentrated on the issues which

concern them, and it was the same, well, jobs, the NHS and the future

public services. So, I am pleased we won last night. Their more work to

do in Stoke, developing the economy, supporting the community, and we

will work in that community to develop local plans, work with local

people, with a terrific local MP. People might detect there isn't

celebration in your time this morning, and they will know of

course it will be linked with what happened in Copeland. Now, to put

this in perspective, effectively, not in living memory has a

conservative being an MP in that area. To what do you attribute what

happened? Well, just to comment on what you said, I don't think in

Stoke, for example, we should be triumphant, in any way. It was a

hardfought campaign. I am so please we defeated UKIP and turn them back

and I think Stoke has done us all, politics in general and his country,

a real service, but yes, it was mixed fortunes, and I am

disappointed about Copeland. If you were to choose two constituencies

which would be the most difficult to fight at the moment, one would be

Stoke, with the UKIP threat, and remember, that was the largest

Brexit vote in the whole of the country, when we were campaigning to

remain, which would have been difficult, and Copeland was the

other one, with unique circumstances, the Labour vote has

eroded over a number of elections now, but this issue around the

future of the nuclear industry clearly dominated election

campaigns. Not that we campaign very hard on the NHS, and although we

gave the community assurances on the future of nuclear in the area, a lot

of the disinformation, misinformation from the

Conservatives really meant we couldn't convince people about that.

So, yes, I'm disappointed, but it is not unexpected given the unique

circumstances in Copeland itself. Is that really the best you have got,

blaming the defeat on misinformation and disinformation? Not at all, we

are in the most difficult circumstances as a party for a

series of reasons. For the last, what, 20 months since Jeremy Corbyn

was elected, we have been through two leadership elections. It has

been a major distraction. We are coming out of the Brexit vote, which

we lost, we campaigned to remain and the country voted to Brexit.

Difficult circumstances. And it says clearly as well that people will not

vote for a divided party. We have looked divided over the last 20

months with the leadership challenges. The lesson is, we have

to unite. In Copeland, there were special circumstances over the

nuclear issue and we could link up through. One of the circumstances is

not very special, is it, the NHS, and the issue your party campaigned

over, specifically, a maternity unit in that area. This is one of your

core subjects, in an area you campaigned hard on, Jeremy Corbyn in

the House of Commons talked about it directly. Now, if you can't get some

kind of leverage under those circumstances, people were thinking,

well, when? Well, it is interesting, because campaigning on the NHS has

been near the top of people's concerns in opinion after opinion

poll, so we are having a breakthrough on the NHS as an issue

itself, but in Copeland, unfortunately, the nuclear industry

and the future of jobs, especially the issue about the Moorside

development which was in jeopardy, people concentrated on the issue of

jobs. I think the NHS was a matter of concern in Copeland and I am

hoping the government does not take his victory in Copeland as a green

light to close the maternity services and attack the accident and

emergency services, and we will continue to campaign to protect the

NHS against the conservative cuts. I have to ask whether you spoke with

Jeremy Corbyn directly, and the other question for you, as a friend

of his, a colleague and a friend, are you prepared to have that

conversation one day, which is, do you know what, as your friend, and

as your colleague, Soomin Lee get about the Labour Party, maybe, just

maybe, now is the time to think about stepping down? This isn't

about Jeremy Corbyn, this is about the position of the Labour Party for

the future. We have had a difficult period over the last 20 months with

the leadership talent is, because of divisions which have been sown

within the party. The vast majority of members, the vast, vast majority,

want us to unite and campaign and hold the government to account, and

that is what we will do. These by-elections were difficult ones. We

knew that. We have lost Copeland. We will learn lessons from that. But we

have won in Stoke and we have defeated I think something which was

really dangerous politics in this country. We have turned back the

politics of dishonesty and division and, as I say, the people of Stoke,

by supporting Labour, have done us all a service in this. John

McDonnell, thank you for your time this morning.

You're watching Breakfast from BBC News.

To storm to the Doris continues this morning.

Flights grounded, trains disrupted. Let's find out the forecast in a

couple of minutes but first let's talk to our correspondent outside

Euston station. It was a dramatic day yesterday with many trains

cancelled and delayed. What is it like there today? We are told that

things will get back to normal today. Late yesterday morning the

station effectively ground to a halt because there were no services

operating. People were told not to trouble. Things started to return at

about five in the afternoon that you will understand there is a backlog

of travellers and, in fact, the station remained open through the

night to cater for stranded passengers. People who could not

travel yesterday, are allowed to use their tickets this morning and

tomorrow morning. Other problems on the roads which I will come to an

and it, with the wind there was a fatality, a woman in her 20s, a

29-year-old woman died in Wolverhampton city centre after

masonry fell on her. A number of other people were injured including

a 13-year-old schoolgirl when a ceiling fell on her at a sports

hall. On the road is a driver instructor in Spalding had a lucky

escape when a tree fell in front of him. Problems at the airport is and

power was out to thousands of homes in Northern Ireland in East Anglia.

Most of those have now been restored. Thank you very much. An

important part of all of this is what is happening with the weather

today. Let's find out. Good morning. We heard there about the wind gust

of 94 MPh yesterday. If you wonder about some of the wind speaking EU

here are a selection of the thunderstorm. As fast as these winds

were blowing, storm Doris was moving quickly across the UK. It is now

actually long gone. This is where Doris is at the moment, taking no

stormy conditions through Germany and Poland and we have a look reach

of high pressure built across the UK. It is far calmer this morning.

And relaxed. It is also cold out there this morning. A touch of frost

across parts the northern half of UK. Watch out through few patches of

ice on untreated services. Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern

England this morning. A bitter sunshine to come for many of us as

we go through this morning. Here is a picture from nine a.m.. A fair

amount of cloud around and had to light rain in a couple of spots. Not

amounting to very much. Early showers across the eastern parts of

England. Pulling away into the North Sea so it is becoming dry and sunny.

We have one or two showers scattered about parts of north-west England

and Wales and the Midlands. These will fade away and become very few

and far between during the day. It is the wind arrows as we go round

the UK. A colder direction but the numbers at lower and it is far

calmer this morning. A lot of dry weather was sunny stuff to come

today. Just an isolated shower. You will notice the Northern Ireland you

have rain coming back in this afternoon. They will push into

western Scotland by the end of the afternoon. A freshening wind again

although nothing on the scale of storm Doris. Temperatures down

compared with yesterday. Most of us will not get that high. We would

take wet weather across the northern half of the UK tonight. Ren preceded

by snow and the Scottish hills but turning back to rain. When

strengthening across the UK the gales into the north-west Scotland

and those to temperatures are higher tonight compared with last night

where we're switching the wind around with a cold north-westerly to

a milder south-westerly. That mild weather will stay with us into the

weekend. It will be a blustery weekend to come and there will be

some outbreaks of rain around at times. The picture for Saturday,

taking rain south eastwards across the UK. Not much down the eastern

side. Heavy births in the hills of western Scotland and Cumbria. --

heavy gusts in the hills. Iraqi government forces have

begun their attack on the western Yesterday they managed to recapture

Mosul airport as part of the government's offensive

to drive so-called Islamic State Our correspondent Quentin

Somerville is the only foreign journalist

with the Iraqi troops. He captured the intense

fighting as it took place, Mosul airport may be in ruins but

more importantly it is back in government hands. The Iraqi flag is

flying here again. A landmark moment. The Iraqi forces now have

the Islamic State group on the run. Right now here in Iraq we are

witnessing the final days of the caliphate.

Joining us now in the studio is Dr Afshin Shahi, Senior Lecturer

in International Relations Middle East Politics

Looking at that piece there are, there are clearly dramatic scenes.

What are your thoughts on these developments? The operation

deliberate Mosul started last October. It took them two about

January two only liberate the eastern side. But when you think

about it, over the last 2.5 years, ISIS has dedicated most of its

defence preparation to the western side. So if, basically liberating

the eastern side proved to be that difficult, the western side is

probably going to be even more complex and probably will take some

very long time. Quentin tweeted last night as he was covering the ongoing

situation that the next step was going to be the hardest. Why some

scale of difference. What is the significance of Mosul to ISIS? It is

the largest urban centre controlled at the moment. Over the last 15

months they have lost 60% of the territory that they controlled in

2014 in Iraq. And a lot of their territory in Syria. They have lost a

lot of important urban centres in the country and Mosul is the last

one. As we speak, most 700,000 people are living there. It has a

lot of strategic and symbolic significance for the organisation.

If they lose it, it will be a game changer. That does not mean they

will be irrelevant. Even if they lose territory the conditions, the

factors that are part of the cause of the structure that made the

emergence of possible four years ago are still in place. Even if they

lose territory, unfortunately they are still going to cause a major

threat to the security of the country and nation as a whole.

Looking at the military hardware they are, how about the civilian

population that is still within the areas held by Islamic State? As I

mentioned, we do not know how many people are living there but assuming

that up to seven thousand people are living in the city. As ISIS has

proved over the last two or three years they are absolutely capable of

using a kind of human shelter. This is the main complexity because the

majority of people are still living in the western side. The western

side is very difficult to operate in and over the last two years they

have dedicated most of the defence preparation to this specific part of

the city. Obviously the implications for the civilian life is going to be

very profound and problematic. What does this mean for the strength of

ISIS at the moment? ISIS, if you are talking about their financial

position, they are under a great deal of pressure. In their peak, in

about 2014, they are having an annual income of $1.9 million a

year. -- $1.9 billion a year. That has dropped to about 800 million.

Financially they are not as strong as what they used to be in 2014.

Nonetheless they are still the richest terrorist organisation in

the world. You have to remember that some of the atrocities that they

conducted in your blood the attack in Paris, they did not require that

much money. It did not cost them much. So the very fact that they are

financially under pressure in the fact that they are losing territory

is not going to make them irrelevant. I think as they lose

more and more territory they may resort to more problematic tactics

and methods that are paid has been using. Potentially they can

constitute a greater security threat not only to the Middle East but to

Europe as well. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Time now

to find out what is Now, though, it's back

to Steph and Charlie. Hello, this is Breakfast

with Charlie Stayt and Steph The Conservatives have won

the Cumbrian seat of Copeland which had been in Labour's hands

for more than 80 years. In the night's other result,

Labour held on to Stoke Central, with UKIP leader Paul Nuttall

finishing in second place. And in the last few minutes we spoke

with the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell about the by-elections.

These by-elections were difficult ones, we knew that. We lost Copeland

and we will learn lessons from that. But we won in Stoke and we have

defeated I think something which was really dangerous for politics in

this country. We have turned back the politics of dishonesty and

division. And, as I say, the people Stoke, by supporting Labour, have

done us all a service in that. Our political correspondent

Alex Forsyth joins us Morning to you. You may have heard

John McDonnell speaking about UKIP, and that is the story from Stoke,

isn't it, Labour holding onto the seat and where it leaves UKIP.

Undoubtedly, that is the story, there will be Labour relief from

John McDonald, that they saw off the challenge from UKIP, but it has

raised questions for UKIP now, and that is because after the EU

Referendum and the victory for UKIP and what it stood for, there were

questions about where the party goes from there. UKIP said it wanted to

eat into the Labour vote in the Midlands and in the north of England

as well. This was a big test for UKIP. Here in Stoke, 70% of people

backed Brexit, this is exactly the seat UKIP wanted to target. They

even put their leader, Paul Nuttall, up to stand, so the fact they didn't

win will pose questions for what the party represents and where it will

go from here. And the story in Copeland is Conservatives have an

empty, effectively, for the first time in that area in living memory,

what does that say about where Labour is and about the Conservative

Party? Well, the significance of the result shouldn't be underestimated,

because it is incredibly rare for a governing party, the Conservatives

in this case, to take a seat from the opposition, Labour in this case,

especially when it has been such a strong Labour seat for such a long

time. Labour said there were local issues in play, in that Copeland

by-election, but undoubtedly it will leave questions for Jeremy Corbyn

and his party, and fuel critics who say he is not the man for the

moment. Thank you. Let's have a look at some of the other stories this

morning. The Royal Bank of Scotland reported a loss of ?7 billion, that

is its ninth consecutive year in the red.

The figure represents a hefty increase on the ?2 billion pound

loss the bank reported last year and is one of the group's biggest

since its Government bailout in 2008.

Malaysian police say they have found the highly toxic nerve agent,

VX, on the face of Kim Jong-nam, the murdered half brother

VX is the most toxic of the chemical warfare agents,

and just a drop on the skin can kill in minutes.

CCTV footage shows two women briefly holding something over

Kim Jong-nam's face while he was preparing to board

a flight at Kuala Lumpur airport last week.

Traces of this VX nerve agent on those swabs, that is a very, very

serious thing to have found out, because VX is considered the most

toxic nerve agent ever invented, it was actually invented in Britain in

the 1950s, large quantities produced in America and the Soviet Union in

the Cold War, but it has subsequently been banned under UN

chemical convention, and so the fact that it has been used here in this

killing makes this just a whole new level on this killing.

Donald Trump says he wants to expand America's nuclear arsenal.

In his first comments on the issue since taking office,

Mr Trump said it would be "wonderful" if no nation had nuclear

arms, but otherwise the US must be "top of the pack."

The government is announcing plans for more universities to offer

degree courses which last for just two years.

In return, universities will be able to increase annual tuition fees

to more than ?13,000, although the overall cost

of a degree will still be capped at ?27,000.

The clear-up continues this morning after Storm Doris battered much

of the UK leaving one woman dead after being hit by flying debris.

Winds of up to 94mph caused power cuts and travel chaos as flights

were grounded and train services disrupted.

Drivers are being warned to be wary of ice on the roads in Scotland,

Northern Ireland, and north-west England.

Those are the main stories this morning. And are you ready with

bumblebee football? Thank you to the Breakfast audience, we have some

excellent suggestions. It turns out that the bees knees were better than

we thought. It's been discovered bumblebees can

teach each other how to score goals with a tiny ball, displaying

a learning ability never before They surprised scientists by working

out how to obtain a food reward In the experiment, the bees

were placed on a platform and had to roll a yellow ball to a specific

location in order to obtain Those that observed the success

of other bees were better at learning the task

than those that didn't. That would make for some legwork. It

reminds me of golf or curling, a hole on the putting green. The

bumblebee 11. The manager has to be Max Busby, Hive Allen and Gordon

McQueen Bee. Not bad. Let's talk about Claudio Ranieri. For the

people who follow football, a lovely thing that happened, the players

delivering for the manager, wonderful moment, and now he is

gone. The way to explain it, it is like a fairytale with a dream

marriage, the fairy princess and the Prince of meat and go to the top and

have a wonderful honeymoon, they defy the odds, they defeat the

Dragons, if you want to continue the metaphor, and then when it gets to

the nitty-gritty, when things go wrong, it all falls apart, and there

is no happy ever after in this fairy tale. It is so mean. Well, it is

mean, and the board would say that you have to look at the facts, the

club form has been the worst of any 92 football clubs.

It's such a contrast to the euphoria of nine months ago,

but however harsh it may seem, the Leicester owners felt they had

to act now, with relegation for the champions a real danger.

Claudio Ranieri has cut an increasingly isolated figure,

and has not been able to lift his players to stop the slide.

It's not just the fact that the club are one place and one point

above the relegation zone, but they haven't won away

in the league all season, and haven't even scored

It's the worst form of any of the 92 Football League clubs.

The Leicester board have released a statement explaining

"Domestic results in the current campaign have placed

the Club's Premier League status under threat,

and the Board reluctantly feels that a change of leadership,

while admittedly painful, is necessary in the Club's greatest

Joining us now from Leicester City's stadium is BBC Football commentator

So, well, the rest of the football world may be full of shock, may be

fuelled by sentiment, but what do the diehard fans think, is it a

surprise for them, given the woeful form? I hosted a radio show last

night from 8:30pm until 10pm and we were struggling for people to come

and confirm they thought it was a good idea. This time yesterday I was

in Seville with hundreds, thousands of fans, talking about the Jamie

Vardy goal being a lifeline here in the King Power Stadium in March,

that they could overturn the deficit and the Italian could see them into

the quarter-finals of the Champions League. I looked into Claudio

Ranieri's eyes after the game, he had no idea, he thought it was a

good result. Clearly he has fallen on his sword. People on air were

gutted, very emotional people. He gave this club the best years in

133. So, you were in Spain, and the board was also, and you saw no

evidence of this supposedly down in the bond between the players and

Claudio Ranieri. It has to be to blame. Whoever comes in can only

work with the same players? Absolutely right, there is no

transfer window until the summer, you would expect Craig Shakespeare

to take over on Monday, what an enormous game. The manager is going

to walk in and take charge of a Champions League last 16 second leg,

which in itself defies belief and a 1-0 win and they are through, the

away goal will count and they are through to the quarter-final. The

relationship with the players has been spoken about. They looked like

they were together in Sir Bill earlier on Wednesday night but I am

led to believe his fate was probably sealed before the game after the

Millwall defeat. He was given the bad news after landing from the trip

yesterday afternoon, and he will be packing his bags, saying his

goodbyes, and the King is dead, long live the king. Yes, indeed. Do you

think the timing, it was improved in Spain, we saw the spirit, Jamie

Vardy scored, would it suggest the board have a plan up their sleeve

and a certain Roberto Mancini? Roberto Mancini was a legend here, I

say legend, he was on loan for a short period. 100 yards behind, I

watched him as a young boy play online for Leicester City, the crowd

loved him. Would he come to a relegation threat and Leicester City

in the Premier League? I don't know. I follow this club for nine years,

their been times when they have been burnt getting rid of managers

without a replacement, thinking of venue and Ericsson, Nigel Pearson,

it took them a while to appoint Claudio Ranieri. To sack him after a

good defeat in Sevilla smacks of the possibility of a replacement lined

up. Maybe not having been spoken to, but there might be at a replacement

relatively soon. Thank you very much indeed, fascinating to hear about

that last night, it seems a lot of emotion was poured out because it is

such a bizarre state of affairs. And even as he was celebrating. Remember

how loyal he was when he stopped, he was offered the Italian national,

his country's job, but he stayed at Leicester. Plenty of other sport

news as well. It was a dismal night for Tottenham

- out of the Europa League after they could only draw 2-2

against Gent of Belgium at Wembley, Dismal especially for two

of their England stars - His own goal making

it 1-1 on the night. Then another of Spurs'

England players, Dele Alli, was sent-off for this

horrendous tackle. Tottenham out, leaving just

Manchester United as the sole England captain Wayne Rooney says

he is staying at Manchester United after being linked

with a move to China. The 31-year-old striker said

in a statement: "It's an exciting time at the club and I want

to remain a part of it." Rooney's agent had travelled

to China to see if he could negotiate a deal, which could still

happen in the summer. Coach Vern Cotter has made five

changes to Scotland's side that will face Wales in the Six Nations

at Murrayfield tomorrow. Flanker Jon Barclay plays his rugby

in Wales with the Scarlets, and will captain the team

in the absence of the injured Greig Ali Price will take over

from Laidlaw at scrum half. Fly half Johnny Sexton returns

to the Ireland side for tomorrow's Sexton missed Ireland's first two

games with a calf injury, but is back with Paddy Jackson

dropping to the bench. I love the feeling when you get

the keys to your new car, and that was the feeling

for Lewis Hamilton yesterday. World champion constructors Mercedes

have unveiled their new car It will be going a lot faster

than this when the season starts But for now Lewis Hamilton,

who was joined by new team-mate Valtteri Bottas, took the car

for a few laps around Hamilton said the car

felt incredible. So, more reaction from a former

Leicester player at 8:30am and from the tweets, it is what Ian has said,

two thirds has said it is a mistake, and Gary Lineker says it is

inexplicable. And you have a sense of the passion locally, it will be

fascinating to see what is happening next. Thank you. It is just coming

up to 7:45am. It is fair to say it was a bit of a crazy day yesterday.

The calm after the storm with the sum up in Devon. A horrible day

yesterday that such a contrast this morning. Calder, mind you, but it is

much calmer. Doris is long gone. The area of low pressure losing the make

moving so quickly it has moved into pollen and towards Russia where as

we are in between weather systems, a little bridge of high pressure.

Although there is some disruption continuing today there are many

things to clear up, the weather today is not making any of that any

worse. I must say, watch out for ice patches this morning. Scotland,

Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland. Indications of how

temperatures have dropped after storm Doris but there is plenty of

dry and, for many of us, sunny weather to come to day. This view

are nine o'clock this morning. No frost, widespread into Scotland.

Areas of cloud producing patchy rain and snow. Early showers are pulled

away from most of northern England at this stage. The couple were

scattered about throughout Wales and Internet England. Hit and miss and

if you are keeping an eye on the wind arrows here, far lighter winds

compared to yesterday. For many of us, sunshine. Although there is a

chance to catch an odd shower here and there look at the picture. At

midday, mostly dry with sunny spells. We will see another wet

weather system bringing rain into Northern Ireland this afternoon.

Double reached a western Scotland by the end of the day. A freshening

wind with that. Nothing on the scale of storm Doris. A call today for

many of us. The temperatures drop back to single figures. We will take

rain away from Northern Ireland and pushed across Scotland this evening.

Some hill snow for a time becoming rain. Outbreaks of rain in Wales and

the Midlands. Not much at all into the south of England. All areas

overnight the wind is picking up, gales developing again in north-west

Scotland. Overnight the temperatures will not be as low as they were last

night. Taking a look at the where the menu for the weekend. Mild

compared with two today. Windy, not on the scale of storm Doris. There

will be wet weather around at times. Here Saturday. Outbreaks of rain

spinning south eastwards. Not a lot down the eastern side of the UK,

heavy and the winds of western Scotland. Brightening into Scotland

and Northern Ireland. The leader in the day. Double-figure temperatures,

four to the weekend on Sunday brings another weather system south

eastwards, not much at all in the south-east England until much a

later in the day. Unsettled this weekend but storm Doris is not on

that scale. That is how it looks. Thank very much and we will see you

later. Let's return to our lead story now. The Conservative victory

in the Copland by-election has been hailed as historic. We speak now to

Sir Patrick McLaughlan. Good morning. How important is this to

the Conservative Party? It looks calm there but I imagine it has been

a night of celebration? It is a very important game. By-elections come

and go but this is truly historic. To have won a by-election of the

major opposition party two years into government is really

unprecedented. I would like to congratulate Trudie Harrison on the

fantastic campaign she waged. The campaign she fought is also an

endorsement on the work that the Prime Minister is doing. Do you

think, however, that this is not about how well the Conservatives are

doing but more about how badly everyone else is doing? Well, no. If

we had not have won the seat it would not be the question you would

be putting to me. The truth is that this is about the campaign that we

fought. We fought at positive campaign and in Trudie Harrison we

got an exceptional candidate whom fought the campaign from local

issues and also on the wider National front as well. Yes, there

were problems as far as the Labour campaign were concerned. But I would

like to come this morning, and congratulate Trudie on her

remarkable victory and also acknowledge the work that has been

done by the Prime Minister in ensuring that this was a victory

which was possible. Looking at what Trudie Harrison said in her

campaign, she made a commitment during the campaign to keep the

maternity services in west Cumbria open, this was not something that

the Prime Minister, Theresa May, could commit to where she came to

the area. What would you say to the people of Copland had now about

these services? Will Trudie Harrison be able to keep her word? Trudie

made a very clear promise that she was going to make the case and fight

the campaign for the retention of the services in the hospital. There

is a consultation that has closed. We have yet to see the results

about. The issue that is being looked at is how do you service the

hospital in the best possible way? That is obviously a very important

local issue which Trudie will be campaigning hard on. We spoke to the

Shadow Chancellor earlier in the programme. He accused yourselves of

misinformation and disinformation during the campaign. What do you say

to that? I would say that I was rubbish. If that is the best excuse

he can come up with then my estimation of him is going down by

the second. The truth of the matter is that if I looked at some of the

literature in the light of the make that the Labour Party were putting

out this campaign, it was outrageous. The governing party to

take a seat off the main opposition party in nine years into Parliament

is just unbelievable. And if he and this party cannot actually hold

seats like this now then they are going to be in serious trouble over

the coming years. I would like to focus on a very positive campaign

which was fought by the Conservative candidate. A campaign which was not

so positive, however, was the by-election in Stoke-on-Trent where

the Conservatives came third. Is it fair to say that there are still

many people it can not connect with the Conservative Party? Well, there

are two very different constituencies. In Stoke there was a

lower turnout. In Copland we had a high turnout for by-elections, a 51%

turnout which is a higher turnout than we had in recent by-election.

In Stoke was far lower. We increased our share of the vote in

Stoke-on-Trent. We have a very good candidate they are. The issues were

different. It came third but, you know, it he was 100 votes behind

Ukip. The Labour Party, overall... Sorry? Sorry, I interrupted you.

Please finish a sentence. Sorry, I was saying that the share of the

vote for the Labour Party went down. If you are trying to say somehow

that it was a bad result for us in Stoke, no, we improved our share of

the vote. I congratulate our candidate on what he did in that

campaign. Thank you very much for your time. You got there in the end.

We have figures from the RBS and the reason Tom shone, that we care about

these figures is that we still own three quarters of it?

The bank that us taxpayers own almost three quarters

of has just reported its full year financial results.

because of litigation costs in America, the failure to spin

off its business in England and Wales.

It is the ninth year in a row it's made a lost.

And it's announced ? 2 billion of cost cutting over

Frances Coppola is an independent banking analyst and she's

Good morning. I don't know where to start. Let's begin with a ?7 billion

loss. We were expecting that? Yes. I think it had been widely singled in

advance that there would be a loss and we were at expecting that.

Possibly a little bit more than we thought but it is in the ballpark.

Why does it matter? We talk about companies making profit and losses

or the time but as the Royal Bank of Scotland particularly important to

us? It is important for us because we own most of it. When there is a

loss like this it means that our lives as our ownership of it, how

equity is reduced because, you know, when companies make losses it is the

shareholders of those companies that takes a hit. As the Royal Bank of

Scotland, that is us, mostly. And when you look at cost-cutting as