Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Five 20180109 : vimarsan

BBCNEWS BBC News At Five January 9, 2018

And gary 0ldman is among the nominations for this years bafta awards for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in darkest hour. Our main story at 5 theresa mays cabinet has met for the first time after a reshuffle that triggered a resignation and was dismissed as a lacklustre pr exercise by labour. Today she carried out the second stage of her ministerial reshuffle with new roles for dominic raab, jojohnson and alok sharma. Mark garnier, who was cleared of inappropriate behaviour towards a member of his staff, has lost his job as trade minster. Separately, the journalist toby young resigned as a member of the new universities watchdog, the office for students, after criticism of derogatory comments hed made in the past about about women, gay people and disabled people. 0ur Political Correspondent alex forsyth reports. The new look top team, gathered at the cabinet table for the first time today. Theresa mays reshuffle was meant to be something of a reset for the government, but it was far from a dramatic transformation. Plenty of old faces showed up in downing street this morning, including the Health Secretary who kept his job after persuading the Prime Minister not to move him. Are you more powerful than the Prime Minister, mr hunt . There were a few new faces too. There will be two more women around the table, but not in senior roles. And one will be notably missing. Justine greening quit as education secretary. I did what i thought the right thing to do was. She refused a move to another department and left the government instead. Even so, claims the reshuffle had gone wrong were rejected. I think it is very clear the Prime Minister is refreshing the cabinet. Every reshuffle means there is always going to be change, movements around the cabinet, sometimes people leaving the cabinet. Its always sad to see colleagues go, but as i say, the nice problem we have in the conservative party is having such a wide pool of talent. This morning, the moves continued among middle ranking ministers, designed to prove the tory partys diversity, to embrace a new generation of mps and better reflect society. It was hoped this reshuffle would rejuvenate the tory party, renew its appeal to voters and allow theresa may to assert her authority after the troubles of the past 12 months. But with some ministers refusing to move where she wanted and some critics claiming the shake up wasnt radical enough, it didnt quite go to plan. And that wasnt the only reason this political new year got off to a bit of a bumpy start. This morning, toby young resigned from the board of a new university regulator. Well known in the field of education, with some high profile supporters, he had onlyjust been appointed but faced a backlash for offensive comments he had made in the past. Another unwelcome distraction for a government wanting to show it can run smoothly. These things do not help, but if you imagine government is a bit like a ship going from one destination, always buffeted by storms from day to day and this is one of those storms. But i think he has done the right thing in stepping down. It had to happen because he had just crossed too many boundaries. Here it was hoped the Prime Ministers new team would help get the new year off to a fresh start but it seems like she cant get shake off scrutiny of herjudgment and authority. Alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. 0ur chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in westminsterfor us. We heard Brandon Lewis there, starting as a means to go on, the new Party Chairman talking up the changes saying that the reshuffle indicates the nice problem they have, that there is such a huge pool of talent, is that how everyone sees it . The opposition will not see it that way but there are many in the conservative party who think that some of those elected in 2017 have a lot to offer and that was a moment to bring them into the fold. Yesterday was underwhelming, particularly because not many people changed positions, there were problems with theresa may when she tried to move some people. If you look at this, the morejunior some people. If you look at this, the more junior ministerial some people. If you look at this, the morejunior ministerial ranks which are not household names but they are the next generation, if the conservatives were to stay in power, they might get to the cabinet. If you see what has happened, there has been a change, six are men and eight are women and five are from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. There does seem to be a difference, whether it changes policy is a different matter but all parties in this place want to encourage a more Diverse Membership of the house of commons so maybe this will go some way to encouraging others to stand for parliament. Theresa may believes she has the right team around terror to co nfro nt she has the right team around terror to confront the challenges that britain faces and she has just released a statement saying that this reshuffle helps us to do just that, by bringing fresh talent into government, boosting delivery in key policy areas like housing, health and social care and insuring the government looks more like the country it serves. It also allows a new generation of gifted ministers to step up and make life better for people across the whole uk. Reshuffles a re people across the whole uk. Reshuffles are significant for the people involved, this makes and brea ks people involved, this makes and breaks careers, people who work around westminster watch them closely but lets not pretend that there will be people down the pub discussing this, it will be interesting in the coming months to see if the changes the policies of the government. The stepping down as it were of toby young from the university s regulator, given that the Prime Minister backed him only two days ago, how embarrassing is this . That was a problem. It seems bizarre first of all that downing street did not check some of the things he had been riding on social media, he what quite a well known person, all of that was public, it seems extraordinary that this was not flagged up. Then for the Prime Minister to defend him on sunday even though she said she was pretty appalled at some of the things he had written, for them for him to resign and the universities minister was defending him in the house of commons after a barrage of criticism from the opposition. This has not been handled well and it will raise questions about the judgment of the Prime Minister and how the downing street operation deals with this. It isa street operation deals with this. It is a kind of mistake that did not need to happen, it is not what the Prime Minister needed, she came out of last year in a slightly better and stronger position than the general election but it feels as though some of that has now been undone. Thank you. North korea has offered to send a team to the Winter Olympics in south korea, after the two countries held their first talks for more than two years. South korea has proposed more contact between the two countries, including talks over the norths nuclear programme, in what appears to be a significant move to lower tension in the region. Richard galpin reports. In the demilitarised zone between north and south korea, that atmosphere traditionally suspicious and hostile. But today something very different is afoot. A senior delegation of north korean officials heading to the south korean side for theirfirst formal talks in two years. The apparently warm greetings here are radical departures from the recent talk of war breaking out because of the norths Rapid Development of nuclear weapons. The leader of the north korean delegation said he had come in the hope that talks would be held in a sincere and faithful atmosphere. The korean people, he said, had high expectations. It is the Winter Olympics opening next month here in south korea which have provided the opportunity to reduce tensions in the region. And today north korea has confirmed the talks that it will send a team to the games. There is also a suggestion its athletes could enter the Opening Ceremony together with their south korean counterparts. In a further step to improve relations on the divided peninsula, the south Korean Foreign ministry has said sanctions on north korea could be lifted temporarily to ensure the north korean team can come to the Winter Olympics. Until now, south korea and the us have been piling the pressure on pyongyang with intensejoint military exercises like this, a clear threat to the north korean regime. And that may be why now the north is keen to talk. Although these meetings could easily go wrong, so far, that atmosphere seems quite positive, with some believing they could ultimately lead to negotiations between north korea and the us. Richard galpin, bbc news. With me in the studio is dr 0wen miller, chair of the centre for korean studies at Soas University of london. It is good to see you. What do you make first of all of the longest protracted talks they have added more than two years and now the north is willing to send a team to the south for the Winter Olympics. Clearly this thought is coming to coming from the top from kim jung un and they have moved on it very quickly. The agreement they made todayis quickly. The agreement they made today is not just quickly. The agreement they made today is notjust to send a team to the olympics, it is quite a big delegation they will said, it is also to reopen military talks and to also to reopen military talks and to also reinstate the kind of agreements they have before and say they would open up on talks on other issues. That is what they have said, whether it will come to fruition is another thing. But following the relationship is the classic way, we have seen this before, the classic way of driving a wedge between seoul and washington and one suspects that certain if many people in the south believe this but this is what it is all about. They may be tactics going on here but it is also true that the south korean side, a whole series of president s including the latest one who is much more liberal, have seriously wanted to deal with this on an inter korean level. They see from the south korean point of view, anything is better than the war talk that has been going on for the last six months and a year. You would think that is what the north is gambling on, that the pressure will come from the south and from seoul and this more liberal Prime Minister there, president there are, to put pressure on washington to not talk ina pressure on washington to not talk in a bellicose way and start beating the drums of war. I think so. North koreans feel they are in a strong position. Because they now think they have a verifiable way. They are projecting the image that they do but they quite clearly have something. We know that from the test last year and they feel they are ina test last year and they feel they are in a strong position and a number of analyst predicted that once they felt that, they would then move to thawing relations with the south and it is an opportune time, we have this new, more liberal president in south korea and it is an opportune time. It is helpful and they do not think we can be entirely cynical. It moves towards military cooperation, possibly sending a team to the olympics, you have also potentially got many people in the south and north, what they were wrong, that is a reunion. I covered an incredible reunion between a group offamily an incredible reunion between a group of family several years ago and that is the kind of things that keeps the countries linked anyway. That generation of people is dying now, but there are moving events when they happen and i saw the one that happened in 2000 as well, it is incredible. That apparently was not discussed today, whether it was because the north did not want to order they did not get to that item, but it was apparently not discussed today. Thank you for coming in. Five men and a woman have appeared in court charged with belonging to the banned british neo nazi group, national action. All six have indicated not guilty pleas to being members of the group, following an inquiry led by West Midlands Counter Terrorism unit. Theyll appear at the old bailey later this month. The number of people waiting more than four hours in scotlands accident and Emergency Departments reached record levels in the last week of 2017. The latest weekly figures show that just 78 of patients across scotland were seen within the target time, well below the governments 95 target, and the lowest since records began nearly three years ago. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon is in glasgow. Pretty dire figures. If you were caught up in that and had to wait a considerable amount of time in a e, it showed that nearly 5700 people, just over a fifth of those attending a e had to wait longer than their Scottish Government target time and then they were treated and discharged and more than 1000 had to wait more than eight hours. The worst performing health board in scotla nd worst performing health board in scotland for this snapshot of the week in question was nhs forth valley which saw just 57 of week in question was nhs forth valley which sawjust 57 of people treated within the target time. The Scottish Health minister has been standing up in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon to give a statement on this matter. She said that scotland was facing and the nhs was facing sustained challenges, some of them weather related, there was an increase of people who had slipped and fallen in the bad weather and one assumes, fracturing or breaking bones and there has been an increase in the number of people with flu. She said it had hit earlier than elsewhere and the number of people with the virus had doubled compared to last year. A number of Health Boards have taken measures to try and mitigate these unprecedented challenges, we are seeing some gps surgeries opening on saturday, there have been some cancellations of non essential elective surgery, Nicola Sturgeon has apologised for those caught up in this, but it has become a political football, those caught up in this, but it has become a politicalfootball, the opposition is hugely critical, the scottish conservatives saying that the figures were nothing short of a disgrace. Thank you. This is bbc news at five the headlines theresa may has held herfirst Cabinet Meeting since the ministerial reshuffle and she said that the shake up would boost key policy areas like housing, health and social care. North korea agrees to take part in next months Winter Olympics in south korea and hold military talks to defuse border tension. Record levels of patients are waiting more than four hours in scotlands a e departments. A court has been told the former football coach Barry Bennell was a predatory and determined paedophile who abused one boy on more than one hundred occasions. Liverpool crown court heard the 63 year old, who now calls himself Richard Jones, had pretty much unfettered access to aspiring footballers. He denies 48 counts of historical child sexual abuse. Our Sports Editor dan roan was at Liverpool Crown courts. Well, this is effectively the opening day of this trial. And in his opening remarks, the prosecution barrister, nickjohnson qc, told the jury that mr Richard Jones, previously known as Barry Bennell, whos appearing here at Liverpool Crown court via video link because of ill health and who has pleaded guilty to seven charges hes contesting 48 others had engaged in what he called a course of conduct over many years, involving the systematic and persistent sexual abuse of pre or peripubescent boys. He tended, he said, to repeat the way he behaved. He had pretty much unfettered access as a football coach previously to large numbers of young lads, he said, who dreamt of a life in professional football. He said he was a skilled and effective coach, but he had a much darker side. He was also a predatory and determined paedophile. His particular predeliction was pre or peripubescent boys. Nickjohnson qc went on. The abuse, he said, among other locations, had occurred at the ground of Crewe Alexandra football club, where Richard Jones had previously worked as a coach. The jury was then told they would need to decide whether, asjones would have it, you are listening to a group of men the alleged victims who were maliciously making up stories and jumping on the bandwagon or, as the prosecution insists, they were listening to details of details of serious sexual offending against vulnerable boys, who were systematically victimised by a devious paedophile. The trial is expected to last for the next eight weeks. The newly appointed culture secretary, matt hancock, has said the bbc must act to address the issue of equal pay. The corporations china editor, carrie gracie, has resigned saying she was being paid less than men in equivalent roles. The equality and Human Rights Commission has said it will write to the bbc for the facts of ms gracies case. Mr hancock said the issue must be resolved. Much more action is needed, especially when bbc foreign editors can learn more than her majesty s ambassadors in the same jurisdiction. In this specific case of carrie gracie, i welcome the decision to look into the issue she has raised. It is the regulatory body responsible and it is for them, not the gove

© 2025 Vimarsana