24/04/2017 Look East

Hello and welcome to the start of a new week on Look East.

He came, he saw, he failed to conquer.

The millionaire party donor pulls out of the election

They go to a hustings and they become the local MP.

Former Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell says he's coming out of retirement

Worries on the region's farms as the Met Office confirms this

Later I'm in Newmarket, the home of horse racing talking to a sporting

great, Lester Piggott. It's been a day of twists and turns

in the General Election with one of Britain's biggest party donors

changing his mind over This morning, Arron Banks went

to Clacton to persuade Ukip supporters to choose him

as their candidate on June 8th. But, within the past hour, Mr Banks

has withdrawn from the race. He's a multi-millionaire

who made his fortune in insurance. But it seems the combination

of wealth and influence failed Mr Banks said a short while ago:

"I have no intention of standing in the way of hard-working activists

who are the soul of the party." Our political correspondent

Andrew Sinclair reports. If you hours ago, Aaron Banks

appeared to be on a roll, posing for photographs and meeting voters.

Archer impression so far? I'm enjoying it, everyone has a sense of

humour which they will need if I am standing. He is well-known as the

man who bankrolled Ukip, a close friend of Nigel Farage, the media

were very excited about him standing there. But there was an obvious

problem. Do you know who Aaron Banks is? Who? No idea. No, no. An

article, I believe, in the local paper mentioned him. His day began

meeting party members over sandwiches and crisps at a partial

tell. He told them he wanted Ukip to win here again and he wanted to be

the candidate. They told him they already had a local person in the

frame and afterwards when we spoke, this was playing on his mind.

There's a good local candidate. I'm not going to rush in here and take

over from here so let's wait and see what happens. If there is a local

candidate, you will support him? What I said was, Clacton is Ukip was

's another one seat and we will be financially supporting him come hell

or high water. Obviously there are unquestionable benefits to somebody

like him coming into Latin and being the candidate. His money? That would

be among them but he also has knowledge and experience and you

cannot ignore that. What also came out was the need perhaps for a local

element. In the last hour, he has issued a statement saying it would

be wrong but him to stand in the wake of a good liberal candidate and

he has promised the local party has full support. The question now is,

can Ukip when again in Captain? I think they will, yes. After the last

one when everybody had leaflets in their garden voting Ukip. In this

area, I believe they do have a chance. I think Douglas will win

because he is a good local MP. I don't think it was the Ukip factor

so I think it is false to say this is a Ukip very. For Aaron Banks, it

has been embarrassing today but at least he got an ice cream out of it.

Let's have a word with our political correspondent.

Looking at the amount of media attention Aaron Banks got today, if

he had stood as Ukip's candidates, Clacton and Ukip would have been

centrestage and would have got a lot of attention out of it but it was

very clear that he came away with a clear message that the party was

united and united behind a local person and he will remember that in

2014 when others cars well defected to Ukip, it split the local party

that had a local candidate ready to go but he was tossed aside so he

will remember that. Ukip does OK out of this. The local party gets his

money, which they will be pleased about that secondly and more

importantly, Aaron Banks has pledged to support the Ukip. A few months

ago, he was talking about forming his own party. There were many in

Ukip who were worried that he could really cause some problems in this

election. He is now back on board with Ukip and in the Ukip hierarchy

tonight, many people will be very happy.

In other political news today, the former Liberal Democrat MP

for Colchester, Sir Bob Russell, confirmed he would be trying

Sir Bob, who's now 71, lost in 2015 to the Conservative's Will Quince.

Sir Bob Russell at the canned in 2015, knowing he had lost the seat

he had held for so long. I was swept in on a national tide and stuck

there for former general collections and I have been swept out on a

national tide. But now aged 71, he wants to make a return to

Westminster. He has announced he is standing again as the Liberal

Democrat candidate in the General Election. I have the experience in

abundance, I have the enthusiasm in abundance so I think that's a

winning formula. Colchester is not a Tory town, it's got a Tory MP

because of the 2015 General Election and too many people who were not

Tories voted Labour or green. I think he did a good job, give him

another go, experience is a good thing. Personally don't think MPs

should be above 70, there should be a line trying to give younger people

are chance. I would certainly vote for him. Do you think he's done a

lot for this town over the years? Is, he has. Will Prince turned

Colchester blue and he's convinced he can do it again, Sir Bob, or no

support. We're making great progress. Full test now has a seat

at the top table of government and people do want, I think, over the

next five years, to see annex plan of action. What do you make of his

decision to stand again ) I was astonished to be honest. They say

never go back, don't they? I think you should have taken that advice.

We are confident that we have the money members in Colchester, about

1,200 members and if we get them out on the street telling people what

our policies are, we think we have a chance. He's been in a few general

collections of years but in what could be a 3-way marginal seat, he

knows he faces his toughest political battle yet.

Farmers in the region say rain is desperately needed after the UK's

In places, there's been no significant rainfall since February.

Irrigation has begun months ahead of schedule to save some crops.

This is the side we have irrigated for planting yet over here, you can

see we are very standing. It is dust here. There is nothing at all. This

is a direct result of months of no rain. Every year they grow thousands

of bedding plants, shrubs and trees at this nursery. The start of this

growing season has been far from normal. Months earlier than usual,

they have had no choice but to irrigate. We would just lose the

plans and there wouldn't be anything here for us to go on with. It's been

exceptionally dry as a bloody nose for this time of year. We have

trickle irrigation onwards at the containers you can see behind me, it

uses less water. He is not alone, at this far they have been very getting

bottom and spring cereal crops are something they normally wouldn't do

until mid-May. Met Office data shows that between October last year and

March this year was the driest in the UK for 20 years and East Anglia

was no exception. During that period, the region had just over 551

millimetres of rain, that makes it the 19th driest spell since 1910.

Getting this sugar eight crop the German it has been a challenge and

now it's at risk of damage from sand, stirred up by a biting wind.

We have had a below average rainfall since the end of last year and no

significant rain in this part of Norfolk for the past six or eight

weeks. You start to see the emergence of the crops which ends up

in the work yields for the end product. Growers are well used to

the weather but all see some rain soon, even if it is short lived, and

provide some welcome leaf. The sculptor Antony Gormley has

defended criticism of his work at the University of East Anglia

featuring life-size human statues Some students at the UEA claimed

the figures resembled people But Gormley said all art should be

unsettling and his work I think it's a wonderful place to

actually balance that intellectual life with an object that in a way

is silent, doesn't need to be read. It has to be felt,

it has to be lived The port of Ipswich has

opened a new storage depot Ipswich is Britain's biggest

exporter of grain with much of it It's the latest key facility at the

port of Ipswich, a new bulk storage terminal for the agricultural

industry. This warehouse is the second one we've built in two years.

These are the two newest warehouses and together they represent a space

about the size of a football pitch. This warehouse behind us is really

important because it gives us an opportunity to grow the volumes even

further through the porch of the card was we handle which helps

because of the farmers can grow it and store it and it can be shipped,

we want it to move through the port of Ipswich. The unit is fast and can

store up to 12,000 tonnes of cargo, products such as grain, barley and

pulses and animal feed for the counties farming community. Trade

here in Ipswich date back to the eighth century. Green brought here

was turned into malt to supply breweries around the world. The port

has developed during the last 200 years and is now the U:K.'s biggest

grain exporter. This new facility is a boost for the town. In 1850 when

the port opened it was four acres larger than the port of London so

it's been a significant port for hundreds of years and continues to

be so. The investment here for jobs, impact on the committee, is

tremendous. The company has three ports on the east which handle more

than 3 million tonnes of cargo every year. They say is official opening

is just part of the series of investments they have planned.

There's another news update in our late bulletin at 10:30.

Time now to hand over to Stewart who s is in Newmarket.

Welcome to Newmarket, this is the National heritage centre for horse

racing and sporting art. There's a big separation going on in that room

behind me, lots of champagne. Especially a couple of the trophies

because at the end of next weekend, this is the trophy for this 1,000

Guineas which is on the 7th of May, and this is the trophy for the 2000

Guineas, which is on the 6th of May. Last year it was won by Frankie

Dettori, trained by Hugo Palmer and today Tom Williams has been to meet

him. For Hugo Palmer, a horse well

with its weight in gold. Galileo Gold, a Guineas

winner, on a glorious day The fact that we were able to get

such a dream run with Galileo Gold last year,

I still, I pinch myself Frankie Dettori won the Guineas

and a first for Hugo Palmer. What is a victory

like that mean for you? Well, what it's meant is that we've

got more clients and more horses this year, which is very

exciting and while it's not entirely a numbers game, racing,

having 40 or 50 more that within those 40 or 50, there's

going to be another champion. Galileo Gold struck

gold for trainer Hugo Even if he doesn't win another race,

at least he's won the Guineas but he'll be

hoping for many more. You've got Escobar this year,

I'm sure you'd love I would love to protect and defend

the crown but I would hate to We worked Escobar at

Newmarket last week and he didn't quite sparkle in the way

that we wanted him to and the way that Galileo Gold had

12 months earlier. This year, all eyes

are on Frankel's babies. His offspring three years

old and part of the classic His son won the Guineas

trial at Newmarket. Being the first British

classics of the that everyone wants to win

and the added excitement this

year is the fact that girls and boys, will be competing

in the 1,000 and 2000 Guineas. Back in the yard, Hugo

has another 12 days to think about defending

the 2000 Guineas. 1000 Guineas and of course

the memories of last year will last These are the foods of horses that

have done very well. When the horse died, they cut the fifth of entering

them inkwell. Upstairs there is a great exhibition about one of our

greatest ever sporting heroes, Lester Piggott.

For nearly 50 years, Lester Piggott rode

The first one in 1948, aged just 12, on a horse called The Chase

No wonder he looms large here at the National Heritage

He's one of those names that transcends racing into the general

He's got such a presence and such an historic presence.

For someone who's had such an extraordinary career, well over

1957 was a very special for Leester and Newmarket,

21-year-old Lecster won his first ever 2000 Guineas race on the horse,

Crepello, and this is one of the hooves

from Crepello and later on that

year, they went on to win the Derby together.

It's Crepello and Lester Piggott is drawing ahead yard by yard

And for Lester Piggott, it's two winners

Thousands will get to see that famous old hood=f and the tiny

trophies thanks to Lester's generosity and they might even catch

a glimpse of the greatest ever jockey.

It's wonderful when he comes into the museum.

He sometimes comes very quietly to see things but it's lovely

for the public also to know that great names

of racing are coming in to the

60 years on from that famous season in 1957, Newmarket

is preparing for another Guineas Festival next week,

a fitting time to remember a sporting icon.

Some fabulous stuff in here. This is one of the very old original soaks

that the jockeys used to wear. A great pleasure for me today, I sat

down with Lester Piggott. He's man who sometimes doesn't see a great

deal but he was in very good mood this afternoon and I started by

asking him about his very first Guineas winner. There were quite a

few riders that day and he was the big favourite.

He came with two furlongs to go and he won quite comfortably. But he was

a very good horse. I've been listening to you talking about a lot

of your very big races and you remember them so well. Do you have a

mental picture of each race, each big race? Not really! I've won some

little races as well. You remember the good ones, I think. Living

around here, some pictures of you in your prime. What do you think of

that jockey now? Well, he wasn't too bad! What was it, do you think, that

set you apart from all the other jockeys. Was a determination? For

you that much a better writer? No, not really, but I got a lot of good

horses and I learned to ride. Very modest. You did very well on horses

that shouldn't have one, didn't you? Well, it was a great story on it is

a great story. I loved the right. That was a big thing. Were you more

focused or what was it that did it? Not really. I was working at it. It

was hard work? And the highs for you, what with the big highs in your

career? Obviously the Derby because they meant so much more in those

days than they do now. The Derby is everybody's favourite. Everybody

wants to win the Derby. If you could pick one moment in your life, see a

Derby winner, what would that moment the? Well, I think it would have to

be the first one. Never say die? That was a great moment. Never say

die wasn't fancied to win, was it? Not really but I think it was 33-1.

But he was quite good, especially on a left-handed course. Nobody knew

that at that time. You knew it but no body else did, is that what

you're saying? It made no difference to him. He was exceptional. Do you

remember that moment when you cross the line for the first time on

Derby? I remember halfwit up the straight, yes. He went crazy. You

aware at the time how big a celebrity you where when, you are up

there with Muhammad Ali and George Best? Probably. But you don't think

about those things. Did you not? Now. Would you have had it any other

way? But really, no. Lester Piggott, thank you very much for talking to

us. The region has a new

world record holder. Ben Blowes from Suffolk broke

the record for running the fastest marathon carrying

a household appliance. He completed the London Marathon

with a tumble dryer on his back The new world record is five hours,

30 minutes. How was it? A long day. Were you the only person carrying

something. Yes. I kept hearing people say, there's a bloke with the

washing machine. What did you do with it when you finish? I put it in

a skip. I needed to get it off my back. I said my goodbyes. Was it

getting a bit hard towards the end? Six hours is a long time to be

carrying it? It was, it was a tough all day. The last two hours were

grim. The worst bit is when you're getting to the end or do you have a

spell in the middle where you think? From 13 to 20 miles was a pretty

dark time. Something clicked at 20 miles and then I picked up the pace

and just manage to get under the six-hour limit. Were you overtaken

by anything in fuzzy dress? I was overtaken by a rhinoceros! I thought

I'm not getting beaten by Irene Austria. Congratulations.

The weather is next. It may be late April but winter is

not done just yet. At last year in late April, we got a spell of cold

weather on the well. Not today. These are today's highs. 13 and 14

from any. We have had this cold front sinking southwards. But much

rain and behind that, north-westerly winds ticking over and that will

introduce which Calder, Arctic air tonight and tomorrow. The average

for this time of year is 13 15 is above average for today but over the

next few days, were below average and more importantly, some damaging

overnight frost for some of us. As we head towards the end of the week,

temperatures recovered by the weekend, were up to the mid-teens

and above average. Similar scenes across the region today. A lot of

cloud for many of us. Some rain here and there but it didn't amount to

much. A lot of cloud on the satellite picture. Northerly winds

in behind that bringing there are conditions tonight but also colder

conditions as well. 'S evening, some rain in the South. Then we try

tonight with some good clear spells developing and a breeze blowing from

the north-west carrying spells of rain in the North. These could have

sleet mixed in the butt in the clear spells, temperatures getting the

below freezing. Here is the jet stream pattern for tomorrow and into

Wednesday. A lot of cold air within that and that is a classic set up

for April showers so already showers from the world go in Norfolk. Many

do, try and sunny, if rather chilly start with. Sunshine in the morning

but cloud will develop and we will get showers developing more widely.

The far south could stay dry in the day. The showers could have some

hail, thunder and sleet mixed in the sunshine, 11 degrees, but feeling

chilly in that brisk north-westerly wind. As we go into Wednesday,

another chilly start. There will be some heavy ones, some hail again but

equally interspersed with some sunshine and highs of nine or 10

degrees. I pressure at West but the flow coming back in both the

Atlantic as we get into thirsty. A cold, frosty start on Thursday but

some early sunshine. More cloud sinking down from the North as we go

through the day. Not amounting to two much but a bit wet here and

there. Friday, a good deal of dry weather initially but there will be

a few showers. But everywhere catching these but they will be

heavy and could be slow-moving as well. Temperatures nudging up to 12

or 13. That is the trend into the bank holiday weekend. With Minnie

driver Saturday. Sam Hain potentially on Sunday. Uncertainty

as to how quickly that will clear. Rain not too far away on Monday but

some of us could get away with a dry day and it will be mild throughout

the weekend. That's it from me. Just before we go, have a look at this

statue. It's a horse cold around Jack and back in the 1920s, it won

the Queen Alexandra stakes. They said at the time the horse is almost

human. From all of us, good night. There are times in the life

of a nation when the choices we make define

the character of our country, times when people stand up

and demand real, significant change. we have the chance to shape

a brighter future for Britain