So if you are just tuning in a slightly different look for a saturday morning, dont worry, it is saturday. I know normally in on a monday, but few people off sick and various other staffing issues. Weve stepped into the breach, havent we, martin . Yes. Delightful to be back here with you. Likewise. Well, our top story this morning. Were leading with the economy. Its good news. Its grown at the fastest rate in two years, outpacing both america and the eurozone. And that means that the uk is officially out of recession, with many hoping for tax cuts over the next few months. And this comes after the former labour leader, lord kinnock, has claimed that voters in britain are not in love with sir keir starmer, with some concerns emerging of a shock result in the upcoming election. Yeah, if you recall, back in 1992, neil kinnock was thought to have lost an election that was deemed unusable. Was deemed unusable. Well, joining us now is political commentator peter spencen political commentator peter spencer. Good morning peter. Good to see you. And lets start with the good news, shall we. Lots of reasons for number 11 to be feeling pleased, i think coming out of recession , short, coming out of recession, short, sharp recession was always, i suppose, part of jeremy hunts plan and beating america in the eurozone. But but are we still ahead of where they would be pre pandemic . Pre pandemic . That is a very good question. And of course , a jeremy hunt is and of course, a jeremy hunt is picking up this. Weve turned the corner. The plan is working. Yayi we are winning at the same time, his labour shadow, rachel reeves, is saying, look, you know, were still pretty much in the doldrums and weve had 14 years of stagnant Living Standards and crumbling Public Services. So hey, whats new guys . And actually, im rather interested in theres a fairly senior city economist called simon french who said, well, quite frankly , theyre both quite frankly, theyre both talking through their, if youre, pardon the expression, naughty bits , its worth naughty bits, its worth remembering that during this, this shallow recession, that the chancellor was saying, oh, well, look, theres really nothing to it. Its ever so chalerm and its ever so technical. It doesnt really mean a great deal doesnt really mean a great deal. And then when weve come out of it saying, hey, everythings changed, magically corrected. And so, i mean, corrected. And so, i mean, theres a great deal of spin going on there. And of course , going on there. And of course, thatis going on there. And of course, that is heavily echoed, i have to say, by conservative supporting newspapers. But of course we are. Lets face it, in a pre election period, its interesting because, Liam Halligan gb news, economics and Business Editor interview rishi sunak yesterday , and he actually sunak yesterday, and he actually drilled into the data to show that if you compare year on yean that if you compare year on year, not period on period , and year, not period on period, and if you add in inflation and population boost, were actually 0. 8 down per capita per head. So theyre spinning it as best they can. But the big question is, are people actually noticing any difference in their pounds and the pence and their wallets and their purses . I would suggest perhaps theyre not. But the expression lies, damn lies and statistics comes into mind here. Does it not . No, i dont think. I dont see how they can possibly, be be registering this at this stage may be later in the year before the election. If we have, substantial tax cuts, they might register that. But in the meantime, no, theres that sense of just that the country has gone to the dogs and we need a change, which of course brings us into Neil Kinnocks thing, which i suspect, well, so. Well, lets talk about that, because a lot of people will remember neil kinnock shock loss in 1992. Hes done an interview , in 1992. Hes done an interview, i think it was on radio four where hes kind of said, look, all elections are unique. 97 and 92 arent comparable with today, but there is a scenario, isnt there, where starmer could have an upset because as kinnock is alluding to there, people dont seem to be enamoured with him. Well, no, i mean, it has to be said. I mean, going back through the history of this, that, neil kinnock, i mean, it seems only yesterday in 1992 and he went, yeah, at a Party Conference and then proceeded to fall in the sea, both little easily and metaphorically. When john major snuck in and, and got a surprise victory and he i mean, hes hes said this to me, he said, look, ive never forgiven myself for overplaying my hand at that stage. And it is a warning to keir starmer. But then, not that keir starmer needs that much of a warning, frankly, because hes very, very well aware of the danger of complacency in the run up to an election. I mean, and when it election. I mean, and when it comes to the country not being in love with keir, i mean, the fact is when tony blair came along, he was dripping with sex appealin along, he was dripping with sex appeal in political terms, of course. And whereas a keir starmer simply does not have that same appeal, theres no getting around it. I mean, they said theres sort of a try to dress him up and say, oh, well, hes jolly solid and dependable. Hes jolly solid and dependable. It reminds me of when they used to say about gordon brown, well, hes not flashy. Hes just gordon, but i mean, the, the, the opinion polls, though, do clearly indicate that, frankly, the labour party cant do worse. The labour party cant do worse. And this lot and so although there has been one set of analysis on the basis of the local elections that suggested there might be a Hung Parliament, that is, local elections dont function in the same way as National Elections and all the other opinion polls, point to a very clear labour victory indeed. The latest yougov poll gave them a 30 point lead, suggesting that the tories will end up with fewer than 100 seats in parliament, which is a pretty rubbish result by any standards. Okay peter spence, with your analysis, always appreciated. Thanks very much indeed for joining us bright and early this saturday morning. Saturday morning. Lets talk about tony blair sex appeal. I thought, well, i actually recently read i dont know why, dont ask me why, but i recently read Cherie Blairs autobiography. Ive got a bit of autobiography. Ive got a bit of a thing about reading the people who are sort of not in power , who are sort of not in power, but next to them. Yeah, not necessarily always women, but quite often it is women. And she quite often it is women. And she was just talking about how she just couldnt keep her hands off him. She literally could. I mean, they famously had a baby, didnt they . That was conceived in balmoral when they were on one of his Prime Ministerial visits up there. So she clearly thought he had sex appeal. Yeah. In spades. Yeah. But you know, i hope youre enjoying your breakfast out there. Its this, this little, glimpse into your mind there. Isabel youre chosen. You asked me to go there. No, i read a lot of political books. Believe it or not, im a bit of a loser like that. But, yeah, i find it interesting little insight into what goes on in number two. I suppose he was quite, you know, he had a certain certain he was young panache for those days. I dont think there were that many young politicians. It was before obviously cameron as well. And margaret thatcher, lets be honest, unless youre a particular type of person, she wasnt exactly sexy. We know, and we really shouldnt delve into john majors, Sexual Activity at this time. Yeah. You started this conversation. Where have we gone . Sorry. Lets move on, shall we . Okay. Edwina currie might have something to say about it all. Lets talk about travel. Thats much less controversial and only travel if absolutely necessary. Thats the warning. If youre in the m25 area, advice has been given to thousands of drivers following another unprecedented closure of one of the busiest. Or is it the busiest motorways in the country, the m25 . It is ridiculous. Once again, the five mile stretch in surrey between junctions nine and ten are now shut until 6 am. On monday, causing delays and a 90 mile diversion. Well this is the first scheduled daytime shutdown of all lanes on the m25 since it opened back in 1986. Well, joining us now is travel correspondent for the independent, the legend simon calder. Simon, welcome to the show on location as well. Already dependable. Already dependable. You know this guy is always going to be in the right location. Simon the nightmare returns part two is back and its going to be chaotic for drivers. Tell us how bad is it going to be . Well, martin and isabel, first of all, thank you for those interesting insights. Just now i think it is very good that we talk about traffic this time in the morning. We talk about traffic this time in the morning. So, okay, the in the morning. So, okay, the m25, as you say , the worlds m25, as you say, the worlds busiest. Oh. Sorry. Not necessarily the worlds busiest motorway, but, it just sees an incredible amount of traffic in particular, about ten miles, from here. And the reason ive chosen this location, im in tolworth, which is in the south western part of greater london. Thats because this is the key intersection of that diversion route. And as a truck, obviously just, roaring past, theres been quite a lot of actually , eastern quite a lot of actually, Eastern European trucks going past. And thats typical because they dont necessarily know because they havent been paying attention, understandably, that theres been massive close down of this crucial stretch of motorway last time. And were going back to march , which they going back to march, which they managed to close a stretch of the motorway and it didnt have too much of an effect. And they say, well, that was because everyone paid attention. You might recall the guy in charge told everyone, decorate the bathroom that weekend, dont go out. And they seem to have, paid attention to that. The big worry today , today and tomorrow. And today, today and tomorrow. And this continues until 6 am. On monday morning, is that people will just think, well, it was fine last time. So we wont change our plans, if that were to happen , it would be, quite to happen, it would be, quite messy. Not least because theyre saying go by other forms of transport and you think, okay, well, i will go from london to portsmouth by train then, which you cant do because theres Engineering Works. Dont tell me that thats how im supposed to be getting home. Crikey, there you go. I couldnt work out my best route today because it was one. You know which way was worse, frankly, with the m25 closures and the train problems. Oh, well, thats something to look forward to, so what are they up to on the m25, simon . And why are they deciding to do it in the daytime . Surely they could do this stuff under cover of darkness. Yes. Theyre basically replacing a bridge or putting in a bridge at a gantry. And those could be done at night. And actually weve had overnight closures fairly regularly in fairly in a number of parts of the m25 over the decades since it opened. The big problem is that you spend typically half the night moving the stuff in, and youve got half the night moving the stuff out , and as moving the stuff out, and as a result, thats going to nuremberg. By the way, i think, as a result of that, the, the valuable time for actually doing anything is reduced. Theres also concerns about worker safety. And so theyve taken this unprecedented step, and theres going to be three more of these in the rest of the yean of these in the rest of the year, they just say its much better. And if you warn everybody in advance then it shouldnt be too much of a problem. Although, of course, problem. Although, of course, were here. Crucially, at, the Half Way Point between heathrow and gatwick airport, the two busiest airports in the uk, and lots of people trying to get between the two of them, simon, one thing that leapt out at me is a bit of a nightmare. The 19 mile diversion goes past chessington world of adventures. Therell be loads of adventures. Therell be loads of parents in the backs of cars with their kids. Been there, got the t shirt, complete nightmare, gridlock trying to get in and out of there. Is there any way around that . Short of being airdropped in . No. Its a really good point. And actually, yeah, i know you have your your helicopter on standby , but, when youre off standby, but, when youre off the air, but the, no, the crucial thing is that a lot of people are going to be following their satnav or the diversion, and thats wrong, because if youve got a car which doesnt qualify for the, emission levels that are required by ulez, the ultra low emission zone, then you are going to be okay because im well within the ulez here. Youre going to be okay as long as you stick to the diversion route. But if you think, oh, chessington world of adventure, ill just nip off down here, then suddenly youre liable for £12. 50 if your car is not exempt i the charge c charged for the privilege of sitting in gridlock. Wonderful. Something to look forward to. This absolute heatwave of a weekend. Simon calder, thanks very much indeed for risking your life on a roundabout for us there. I hope youre okay and see you again soon. Mowed down by a polish truck . Mowed down by a polish truck . Well, i hope not, right. Its 613. Lets take a look at some of the other stories that are coming into the newsroom this morning. And the Northern Lights spectacularly lit up the skies across britain last night as one of the strongest geomagnetic storms for years hit the planet. Usually they are seen in the far north of the country and are caused by charged particles hitting the different gases in the earths atmosphere. Do send us in your pictures if you were lucky enough to see them. Im always fascinated to see if anyones been lucky enough. Its gbnews. Com yoursay the us has suggested israel may have broken International Law using american supplied weapons dunng using american supplied weapons during the war in gaza. The state Department Said it was reasonable to assess that the nature of the conflict had created severe military challenges. However, the document also noted that hamas uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes and civilians as human shields. Now, if youre planning your Summer Holidays and you might need to rethink your destinations because the authorities in the Balearic Islands are cracking down on excessive drinking in some tourist hotspots after locals complained of poor behaviour , complained of poor behaviour, including climbing into peoples homes, the sale of alcohol will now be banned from 930 in the evening until eight in the morning. Morning. Its the best bit i was going to say. You have to cancel your magaluf lads trip, arent you martin . Its all off. What will i do all year, if you are planning on going to the lovely Balearic Islands, let us know if that will affect you. I mean, to be honest, i think thats a good thing. Why do you need to be buying alcohol on the streets after half past nine at night . If indeed youre not just going to be causing trouble, you know, if buy in the nightclub, fine. Buy it in the bar. But you dont have to be buying it in a supermarket or whatever, do you . Perhaps much younger isabel may have thought differently. Maybe same as me. Thats true. I mean, now im like, get to bed, you get to bed . Yeah. I dont even want to be in the restaurant at 9 30 anymore. Anymore although in spain, maybe its slightly different. Yeah. Were going to turn our attention now to the sentencing yesterday in relation to the death of pc beshenivsky, the family and friends and colleagues of the murdered West Yorkshire officer, sharon bosevski have been remembering the hero policewoman and as the ringleader of the gang responsible for her killing in bradford in 2005, begins his life prison sentence. Sharons friends say the dedicated officer and mother will never be forgotten. Well, our Home Security editor , mark white, has been to editor, mark white, has been to bradford to look back at a crime which shocked the nation. A grainy cctv video is all that charts the final few moments of Sharon Beshenivsky life, as shes seen crossing the road, with colleague Theresa Milburn responding to the activation of a raid alarm at a bradford travel agent. Just seconds later, the officers are gunned down, shot by Armed Robbers fleeing the scene. Robbers fleeing the scene. Almost two decades on, the moment justice finally caught up with the ringleader behind that robbery and murder as Piran Ditta Khan was taken into custody at a British Police station in. After years on the run in pakistan. Boarded up and run in pakistan. Boarded up and derelict, the site of the robbery, universal express travel agents , has long since travel agents, has long since closed down. The only evidence of the horror here a memorial stone to a fallen officer shot at point blank range. Sharon beshenivsky died here on the pavement. Theresa milburn was rushed to hospital and survived. She would later testify that neither she nor pc beshenivsky stood a chance that the moment the gunman saw them, they opened fire on the two unarmed officers, Piran Ditta Khan, the last of seven men convicted for their part in the deadly raid, was its mastermind and captured on cctv five days before the robbery in november 2005, khan was driven up from his home in london in this audi for a reconnaissance trip to scope out the travel agents. He was the the travel agents. He was the only one of the gang who had previous dealings with the business. Khan fled to pakistan two months after the robbery when he was finally captured, extradited and charged back in West Yorkshire. He denied any involvement in the robbery and murder. The gang, he said, were only meant to intimidate the owner of the business, who he claimed owed him money. On the 18th of day of november 2005, murdered Police ConstableSharon Bes