Democrat nancy pelosi in which he claims shes cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment. Australia has experienced its hottest day on record with the National Average temperature reaching a high of 40. 9 celsius. Hundreds of thousands of people will have to wait months to have their faulty and potentially dangerous washing machines repaired or replaced. And bulls eye. Fallon sherrock becomes the first woman to win against a man at a major darts World Championship. Good morning 7 and welcome to the bbc news at 9 00am. Former Prime Minister tony blair is warning that labour will be replaced as a serious Political Force if it tries to in his words whitewash the scale of its election defeat. Speaking this morning, mr blair who led the party to three general election victories, says labours problems go far deeper than its brexit stance, or the unpopualrity ofJeremy Corbyn in some parts of the country. Mr blair has unveiled research which he says shows that the party faces electoral oblivion unless it changes course. The research, entitled northern discomfort, identifies a number of issues which mr blair says can help explain why labour did badly in its northern heartlands, losing some seats to the conservatives for the first time ever. This includes many labour voters feeling abandoned by the party because of concerns over its brexit policy. The Research Identifies mr corbyns leadership and the politics he represents as the main cause of the rupture with long held loyalties and the alienation felt by many traditional labour voters. And mr blair says there were concerns over a lack of economic credibility in its public spending and renationalisation proposals. Well, the current labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, says he will stand down as leader early next year and a number of mps have suggested they could run for the partys leadership. Labours shadow business secretary, rebecca long bailey, is thought to be considering a joint ticket with labours shadow education secretary, angela rayner, possibly running as her deputy. Other possible names in the hat include the mp for wigan, lisa nandy, Jess Phillips the mp for birmingham yardley, and the shadow brexit secretary, sir keir starmer. Hes told the bbc he is seriously considering running to be labour leader, saying it was time for the party to return to being a broad church. 0ur assistant Political Editor norman smith is in westminster. Good morning. Lets talk first of all about what tony blair has been saying. He knows a thing or two about winning elections and he has delivered a really blunt message this morning. I have heard tony blair deliver numerous speeches criticising Jeremy Corbyn, criticising Jeremy Corbyn, criticising his brexit policy. I have never heard him doing such a demolitionjob on the have never heard him doing such a demolition job on the labour party. Blu ntly, demolition job on the labour party. Bluntly, the demolition job on the labour party. Blu ntly, the gloves demolition job on the labour party. Bluntly, the gloves are off. He warns quite simply that in his words, if labour carries on with the corbyn programme it is finished. His belief is the electorate will never support this and the far left policies he espouses and it is now a battle for the very survival of the labour party and unless it discards what he calls a sectarian ultraleft policies it will be replaced by another party. He doesnt identify who but he suggests if labour is not seen as who but he suggests if labour is not seen as a who but he suggests if labour is not seen as a credible progressive alternative, some other Political Force will emerge. Im sure many of mr corbyns supporters and many in the labour party will say, same old tony blair, there he goes again. I think what is slightly different, i dont think tony blair is intending to surprise anyone with his comments, but is trying to open up a debate to ensure there is a genuine argument about what labour should do next, rather than a rather pale period of reflection where really nobody gets to grips with the scale of crisis that he clearly believes is engulfing the labour party. I think he is trying to prompt a much more radical and meaningful discussion about what happened to labour and what it has got to do to survive and avoid, as he sees it, a whitewash. And just a little nip and tuck and trying to carry on, because he is clear that unless labour pulls back from corbynism, it is game over and he cites the examples of the liberals who were the party of government before being overtaken by labour. These are some of mr blairs comments this morning. The take over of the labour party by the far left, turned it into a glorified protest movement with cult trimmings, utterly incapable of being a credible government. The result has brought shame on us. We let our country down. To go into an election at any time with such a divergence between party and people is unacceptable. To do it at a time of national crisis, when a credible opposition is so essential to the national interest, is unforgivable. Mr blair clearly thinks the length of the road back to powerfor mr blair clearly thinks the length of the road back to power for labour depends very much on what happens next. Last night there was a meeting between Jeremy Corbyn next. Last night there was a meeting betweenJeremy Corbyn and former mps, defeated in this election, losing their seats, and there were recriminations and a feeling of angen recriminations and a feeling of anger. Do you get a sense with Jeremy Corbyn still staying on as leaderfor the Jeremy Corbyn still staying on as leader for the next couple of months, that the debate is flowing as freely as it could do about who should succeed him . Not quite yet, no. We are beginning to get people put their heads above the parapet. My put their heads above the parapet. My goodness, an awful lot, i counted nine different potential contenders this morning. Sir keir starmer firmly indicating he will stand with an interview on the hook today programme and an interview in the guardian newspaper. Whats interesting about keir starmer is that his is actually pretty carefully calibrated moderated message, unlike that of tony blair. So he does not criticiseJeremy Corbyn or the partys policies. Indeed, he praises the bold and radical agenda. He does not criticise momentum and he doesnt really criticise anything about the corbyn years. He he said instead that what happened during the campaign was that he didnt not see any challenging of the boris johnson, get brexit done mantra. It doesnt sound like a man poised to shake up and bring the labour party back from its worst defeat since 1935. However, the question is whether it is tactics. He knows he cant be seen to be castigating Jeremy Corbyn and disowning the corbyn years because the Party Membership is overwhelmingly pro Jeremy Corbyn and if he were to do that, it would be game over. So his was a much more nuanced approach. What we shouldnt do is now oversteer. I have seen organisations and Political Parties do this so many times. In 2010, we oversteered on austerity and began to think that it might be all right to have some cuts. In 2015, we oversteered on welfare. What we mustnt do now is for a third time oversteer, make this simplistic and go back to some forgone era. What is interesting, i think, is that there are kind of three schools of thought now emerging in this leadership contest. There is the corbyn camp that believes basically the manifesto was popular, the public like radicalism, although they didnt vote for it. There is a middle of seemingly around keir starmer, which believes in more professionalism, rebuilding the broad church, so the party can get back into government with one bound, with one more heave. And then there isa with one more heave. And then there is a blairite wing which believes the party is facing an existential threat and unless it changes radically it is game over. At the moment there is no candidate, it seems to me, for that blairite view and maybe one will not emerge because tony blair is now viewed by many in the labour party as toxic. But those are basically the three positions now in the parliamentary labour party. Carry on, nip and tuck, radical change. Members of the us house of representatives will vote on whether to impeach President Trump, and send him for trial in the senate. In a public letter, mr trump has accused the democratic speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and her party of an illegal, partisan attempted coup. If convicted by the senate, the president would be removed from office, but thats never happened in us history. Gary 0donoghue reports on an historical day for the United States. Without objection, the committee is adjourned. And with that simple strike of the gavel, democrats declared all out political war on one of the most controversial president s in americas history. Today is a solemn and sad day. Not one republican has come out in favour of impeaching the president. This is tribal politics at its most raw. They dont like the president , they dont like the president s supporters and they dislike us so much, theyre willing to weaponise the government. So what are the two charges against the president . The first is that he abused his power by pressuring the president of ukraine to investigate one of his main democratic rivals, former Vice President joe biden. The second is that he obstructed congress by trying to stop officials from giving evidence, and failing to provide documents. If its peace and goodwill to all youre looking forward to this festive moment, then washington is not the place to find it. Barring a political earthquake, democrats will shortly vote to impeach Donald John Trump with their sizeable majority in the house of representatives, making him only the third us president in history to face that fate. Good evening. From sex at the white house to a trial for his political life. Last time it happened was 21 years ago, almost to the day. Those opposed will say no. The republican controlled house impeached bill clinton for lying to a grand jury and for obstruction of justice, all relating to his affair with a 22 year old intern monica lewinsky. But he was cleared in the senate and thats the most likely outcome for President Trump, too. They took a perfect phone call that i had with the president of ukraine, an absolutely perfect call you know it, they all know it nothing was said wrong in that call. To impeach the president of the United States for that is a disgrace. Democrats know they wont get the two thirds majority needed in the senate to remove a president under the constitution, but theyre determined to do as much political damage as they can. The president has offered nothing exculpatory to disprove the evidence that has been put forward. Instead, hes orchestrated a cover up. Its left many in the senate and millions across the country asking, what is the president hiding . This impeachment process will all be over in a matter of a few short weeks, though its consequences will work themselves out right up to election day next november. Gary 0donoghue, bbc news, washington. Australia has experienced its hottest day on record. Data shows the average national reached 40. 9 celsius yesterday. In some inland areas, the temperature rose to more than 45 degrees. It comes as Fire Services continue to battle a drought and bushfire crisis. Forecasters predict the most intense heat could come later in the week so the record could be broken again. Hundreds of thousands of people are facing a wait of months to have their faulty and potentially dangerous washing machines replaced. Whirlpool recalled half a million appliances yesterday because of a fire risk, but customers are struggling to get information because of problems with its website. The company was already dealing with problems with its dryers, as dan johnson reports. Apologies, apologies with the sound on that report. We will try to get back to that as soon as possible. Lets ta ke back to that as soon as possible. Lets take a look at the headlines in the meantime. Former Prime Minister tony blair warns that labour will be replaced as a serious Political Force if it doesnt learn lessons from the failure ofJeremy Corbyns leadership. Nurses in Northern Ireland have begun a 12 hour walk out in a dispute of their pay and over Patient Safety. Donald trump faces an Impeachment Vote today. Hes sent a letter to top democrat nancy pelosi accusing her of declaring open war on american democracy. And in sport, history at the darts. Fallon sherrock becomes the first woman to win a match at the pdc world darts championship. She had to come from behind to beat ted evetts and said afterwards shes proven women can beat the men. Liverpool are right in the middle of a strange 2a hours. Their youngest ever side were thrashed 5 0 by aston villa in the quarterfinals of the carabao cup last night. As their senior team gear up for their first fixture at the Club World Cup in qatar. They play the mexican side monterrey in doha this evening and its live on bbc two. Ill be back with more on those stories later. Around 9,000 nurses in Northern Ireland have started a 12 hour strike over ongoing disputes about pay and Staffing Levels. It s the first time members of the Royal College of nursing have taken part in strike action anywhere in the uk. All Emergency Departments will remain open, but some routine appointments will be cancelled and a number of minor injury units will be closed. 0ur correspondent chris page is outside the ulster hospital for us. Chris, you are at the picket line. Tell us why nurses in Northern Ireland are paid less than cou nterpa rts ireland are paid less than counterparts in the uk. This is one of the key reasons behind the strike. Thats right. The basic demand of the people on the picket line here in east belfast is that they want to be paid the same as their counterparts in the rest of their counterparts in the rest of the uk. Nurses say their wages have fallen in real terms by 15 over the last eight years. There has been no devolved government in Northern Ireland for going on three years. Whilst there have been different pay arrangements awarded for nhs staff in england, wales and scotland, there have been no such arrangements here. There has never been a strike like this anywhere in the uk. A number of unions involved including unison and the Royal College of nursing, which has existed for 103 yea rs nursing, which has existed for 103 years but never before have its members gone on strike. A whole range of the staff aside from nurses taking industrial action including paramedics, social workers and administrative staff. The big demand is over pay. They also say administrative planning in Northern Ireland has been very poor, partly because pay has been so relatively low, there has been difficulty filling vacancies so Staffing Levels are ata filling vacancies so Staffing Levels are at a dangerously low level and patients are being effected. Scenes like this playing out at hospitals across Northern Ireland with thousands of workers out on strike. Health service bosses say there will be significant disruption. Emergency departments will remain open. Areas of care deems to be critical will not be affected by industrial action, for example, people involved with Cancer Treatment will continue to work today. But hospitals will have to prioritise urgent cases. Hundreds of outpatient appointments have been cancelled. The people affected by that have already been contacted affected by that have already been co nta cted by affected by that have already been contacted by hospital so the message is, if you have not been contacted to be cancelled today then you should turn up. The demonstrators in good voice. Plenty of cars beeping their horns as they pass in rush hour. Supporting these workers. Leaders of the five main health trusts in Northern Ireland said this crisis had been years in the making. Because funding had been so stretched. People taking industrial action here today are confident the public is behind them. It sends a message to politicians who are in the middle of talks in stormont today, talks that began on monday into reviving the power sharing devolved government that collapsed injanuary devolved government that collapsed in january of 2017, say they must strike a deal to get back in the assembly and get ministers back in office to make decisions on pay and bring in urgent reforms for the Health Service that had been planned but left on the shelf because ministers have been out of office for so long. When i have been in Northern Ireland in the last couple of weeks i detected a good deal of public support for the nurses. A lot of people actually blaming the fact that the Northern Ireland assembly is not up and running to make decisions, the sorts of decisions those nurses are calling for on pay. Is there any way the secretary of state for Northern Ir