in votes for finland. the singer made history as the first woman to win twice. now on bbc news political thinking with nick robinson. who was the star of the coronation? apart, that is, from their majesties the king and queen. the answer, most watching would surely agree, is the bearer of the sword of state, all 8lb of it, held aloft for a muscle straining 51 minutes. my guest on political thinking, a conversation with, rather than interrogation of, someone who shapes our political thinking. it was a feat performed by the first woman to do the job at a coronation, penny mordaunt, and it won the admiration of people who are normally her political foes. she did it as lord president of the council. her dayjob is leader of the house of commons, and that performance led to the bookies cutting the odds on her becoming the next leader of the conservative party. worth remembering, she came mighty close to getting the job and becoming our prime minister last summer after borisjohnson
and activating the national guard as the storms gutted entire communities. she spoke about the destruction earlier today. i have had the opportunity over the last couple of hours to speak with both the homeland security secretary as well as president biden, who have offered a tremendous amount of support anything that arkansas need from a city county state and federal perspective, i would say that everyone is working in total lockstep and we re going to do everything we can to make sure that people of our state are back on their feet again. and more devastation in several other states, including indiana and illinois. people are waking up to their homes and businesses destroyed their neighborhoods littered with debris. but the threat is far from over. some 70 million americans are now bracing for more severe storms. today cnn has teams tracking all of the latest developments from these destructive storms. derek van dam is in wynne, arkansas. at this hour. derek to you first. w
england s euro 2024 qualifying campaign begins this week but without in form striker marcus rashford. he s one of three players to have withdrawn from the squad for the qualifiers against italy and ukraine. the 25 year old is having the best goal scoring season of his career for manchester united, with 30 goals in all competitions so far. but he s withdrawn from gareth southgate s squad after picking up a knock during the 3 1 fa cup quarterfinal win against fulham. mason mount and nick pope will also miss the start of england s qualiying campaign. fraser forster has been added as goalkeeping cover. meanwhilejonny evans has withdrawn from northern ireland s qualifiers against san marino and finland. the leicester centre back has 100 caps for his country but misses out due to a hamstring injury. the new wales captain aaron ramsey is urging his young team mates to make their own history . they begin their qualifying campaign against croatia on saturday. wales then take on l