At the time he felt it was the right and honourable thing to do. The year is 2010. Prince andrew was in new york. He is videoed staying at the mansion of a convicted child sex offender called Jeffrey Epstein who had just been released from an 18 month prison sentence. Andrews presence gives rise to questions put to him by bbc Newsnights Emily Maitlis. You were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender. Yes. It was a convenient place to stay. I mean, i have gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one can have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do. But, at the time, i felt it was the honourable and right thing to do. I, i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my, um, tendency to be too honourable, but thats just the way it is. And then, there is andrews alleged friendship with the then 17 year old Virginia Roberts who was onJeffrey Epsteins payroll. She has alleged andrew seduced her. She says she met you in 2001, she says she dined with you, danced with you at tramp nightclub in london. She went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to ghislaine maxwell, your friend. And your response . I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever. You dont remember meeting her . No. It was in 2001, according to Virginia Roberts, that she had sex with andrew on three occasions including one orgy. The palace has denied that. In 2008, epstein was convicted of procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. It was in 2010, after epstein had been released from prison, that andrew visited him in new york and stayed at his mansion. I stayed with him. Thats, thats the bit that. As it were i kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. And we try and uphold the highest standards and practices, and i let the side down, simple as that. But nothing about this story is simple. Jeffrey epstein cant answer questions, he took his own life in august. As for andrew, lawyers for Virginia Roberts want him to make a statement under oath. The us authorities would almost certainly like to hear his account of everything he witnessed. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. And you can see the full interview in a bbc newsnight special on bbc two, tonight at nine oclock. Fire fighters have been tackling a huge blaze at an accommodation block for University Students in bolton. Crowds of students were evacuated from the cube when the fire broke out at about 8. 30 last night. It took 200 Fire Fighters nine hours to put the fire out which had spread to every floor. Two people were treated by paramedics. The fire service spoke at the scene this morning. We have identified and we do know everyone that resided in the building, and we are still working through trying to contact everyone that lived in the premises. At the minute we cannot confirm that everyone is accounted for. One thing that i would like to confirm and allay any fears was this cladding on this building was not the same cladding that was on grenfell. 0livia richwald is in bolton for us now. A large part of the Centre Bolton remains closed this afternoon, you cannot see the cue from here but it is adjacent to those fire engines. I can describe it, the top has been com pletely can describe it, the top has been completely burnt away, all you can see is the struts. It was covered with a cladding which has been totally destroyed. The fire service was quick to point out it was not the same as the cladding used at g re nfell tower. The same as the cladding used at grenfell tower. It also says it has identified every student that should live in the building but has yet to ascertain the whereabouts of all of them. Any students from that building are urged to get in touch to make sure everyone is safe. The fire Service Wanted to praise the work of the 200 officers here last night, according to them, their good work prevented the fire from spreading. The fire Service Remains at the scene this afternoon. Thank you. Senior labour party and trade union figures are meeting in Central London today to decide which policies will be included in the partys election manifesto. Labour has already announced a number of policies including a pa rt nationalisation of bt to make broadband free for everyone, and extra spending on infrastructure. 0ur Political Correspondent iain watson is at the meeting. Iain, what other policies are likely to be announced . As you say, many of the eye catching policies have already been announced and what they have in common is an active and greater role for the state. One policy which has been discussed currently inside that meeting and hasnt yet been announced is designed to appeal to older voters, the offer of more financial help to women who have been adversely affected by an increase in the state pension age. As you say, what labour has to do is on its many policies, which it will put in its manifesto. There was a demonstration this morning by people saying they want the rights of workers to free movement, notjust to be protected but to be extended. The manifesto will be carefully wedded but i would expect to see policies reassuring voters worried about immigration that they wont be undercut by migrant labour. Police say theyre assessing two allegations of electoral fraud after claims that the conservatives offered peerages and government jobs to Brexit Party Candidates to stand aside in the upcoming general election. The conservatives have dismissed the claims. Im completely unaware of any of these conversations of the kind that you mention. The conservative party is not interested in pacts or deals or arrangements of this kind. Were standing in every seat across the United Kingdom because we want people to have the chance to vote for conservatives so that we can have a working conservative majority to get Parliament Working again. Elsewhere, the conservatives and the liberal democrats are both promising to plant millions of trees to tackle Climate Change if they win the election. The tories said there would be 30 million new trees every year by 2025. While the lib dems are pledging to plant twice as many. The bbcs children in need appeal has raised almost £48 million, slightly lower than last yea rs on the night total. Stars from strictly come dancing, doctor who, star wars and the England Football Team took part in the five hour annual telethon. With all the sport now, heres gavin ra mjaun at the bbc sport centre. Good afternoon. Great britains Rugby League Lions will head home without a win on their south hemisphere tour, after they lost 28 10 to Papua New Guinea in theirfinal match. It started well for Great Britain they opened the scoring in port moresby when blake austin had a clear run into the corner for his First International try. They went 10 0 ahead but a spectacular try from edwin ipape set off the Papua New Guinea comeback. England lost the series 4 0. When you come away and play for your country it is the proudest thing you can do in your career. When you dont perform and let everyone down it is disappointing. We are all proud men but that is the game we are in. If you lose you have to wear it for a while and figure out where you go next. Englands women fell to an agonising defeat a last minute shirleyjoe try gave the Papua New Guinea 0rchids their first test win against england. They won 20 16 to level the series at 1 1. England batsmanjoe denly says he is as near as 100 fit to face new zealand in the first test, after a successful return from injury. He missed the t20 series but hes expected to bat at number three next week. Denly scored 68 in englands finalwarm up game there are full match details on the bbc sport website. The liverpool pairjordan henderson and joe gomez will miss englands final euro 2020 qualifier in kosovo tomorrow. Gomez was knocked on the knee in training yesterday and hasnt recovered enough to travel. Henderson has a viral infection. The other home nations all play today. During the International Break in 2009, germanys players were given some devastating news. Their goalkeeper robert enke had taken his own life at the age of 32. Football in germany and here in the uk is still working on how to tackle Mental Health issues. Joe lynskey reports. At one Football Club in germany, one players legacy is written in theirfoundations. Robert enke was hanovers goalkeeper. He was on course to play for his country at the 2010 world cup. But, in november 2009, he took his own life. Robert enke had suffered from depression. He feared if the game found out, his career would be over. Six months before his death, robert and his wife had adopted a baby girl. Now, teresa enke encourages players to talk. That might have saved him. Translation looking back, it would have been easier in football if he had opened up. I think he would have had a chance to survive. It should be allowed in the dressing room to show your emotions and sometimes to say, im not feeling good. I often ask myself, what if . A minutes silence was held for robert enke across german football last weekend. They say they have made progress in the last ten years. We try to bring it up that people understand that this is just an illness, like my cruciate ligament is torn, 0k, it is the same. I am hopeful that people are more likely to speak about their problems, not afraid as robert was to open himself. In britain, footballs landscape is changing. David cotterill now runs one of many Mental Health awareness campaigns. As a wales international, he took in one of their greatest moments but two years after reaching the euro semifinals, he quit the game atjust 30. I was suffering with Mental Health issues throughout my career. My thing was i would tend to drink. Numerous Football Players message me on a daily basis to say they are suffering, they dont talk about it. If a Football Player says they are struggling mentally, ifind it hard a manager will continue to play them on that saturday. Robert enkes team mates had no idea about his depression. For football, his story is a reminder of the human being behind the athlete. Joe lynskey, bbc news. Thats all the sport for now, but theres live action coming up with the barbarians against fiji here on bbc one at two oclock, and the tennis tour finals over on bbc two. Thats it from me. The next news on bbc one is at 5. 15. Bye for now. Hello. Youre watching the bbc news channel. More now on our top story. Prince andrew has told the bbc that he let the royal family down by staying at the home of the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Speaking to Newsnights Emily Maitlis at buckingham palace, the duke addressed accusations that hed had sex with a 17 year old american girl. He said he couldnt remember meeting Virginia Roberts and denies allegations of inappropriate conduct. Earlier i spoke to Emily Maitlis from newsnight and asked how the interview came about. There was months of planning that went into this. Weve been in discussions with the palace about an interview of some kind with the duke of york for pretty much a year. I think it was raised more recently, in may, this is before epstein was arrested and charged, and following his death in a prison cell in new york in august, i think there was a sense that things had intensified. We began to understand the breadth and the scale of his exploitation and abuse. The young women at the centre were coming forward, speaking out for the first time, and there were more questions that the duke of york was facing himself about his friendship with epstein, about his visits to epsteins house in 2010, that was after he had been convicted, and even about his own Sexual Conduct from the allegations of one of epsteins victims. So i think there was a sense that there would never be the right time. And in fact, my very first question to the duke of york, as youll hear this evening, is why now . And he explains it in those terms. Theres never going to be a good time or a perfect time to talk about such deeply uncomfortable issues. And he chose to do it on thursday with us. Its a risk, though, isnt it, because one could argue that the story had disappeared from the headlines over recent weeks, and although it might come back again with future litigation, by doing this interview with you now, hes effectively put it notjust in the headlines of all the broadcasters, notjust the bbc, but on the front pages of all the newspapers this week. Yeah. I mean, i cant speculate as to what was in his head or what his life has been like. I mean, presumably there are things coming up, including his daughters wedding next year, and my understanding was that this was going to be a sort of once in a lifetime event that he would speak, he would answer whatever we put to him. Nothing was off record. There were no red lines. There were no preconditions . There were no preconditions on any of the questions that we asked. And, in fact, i think its fair to say that i was expecting pushback on certain areas. We role played the interview, as you can imagine, with my editor, and she, as Prince Andrew was saying, why would the bbc ask something so impolite, so rude, so impertinent . I was expecting to have to deal with a little bit of that, the sense that it was improper to ask those questions. I got none of that from Prince Andrew himself. And i think viewers will watch and theyll hear and theyll decide what they believe and what they trust and what they take away from what he says. But from the perspective of the interviewer, there was nothing that i asked that he didnt actually engage with. There was no attempt to deviate or to block the question. And afterwards he thanked me for asking the questions that were out there, because clearly the worst thing for the bbc and the worst thing for the royal family would be to not ask the questions that were already in the Public Domain as far as you possibly can. Standing back now, 2a hours, 36 hours after you recorded you, do you think the interview, do you think we learn something from this . I have been amazed, actually, at the level of detail that has come out. Just going back through the transcript, because you sit through an interview and you. You are in the moment. Youre catching up with the very last thing. But its only when you go over the transcript as a whole, you understand the level of detail, the fresh information, the new lines. There were extraordinary things, sometimes a turn of phrase, sometimes an explanation, sometimes things that weve never known about the duke of york himself that come to us fresh for the first time. So i think, you know, as an interviewer, thats what made it compelling for me. I came away thinking this is an extraordinary level of detail. I never expected that. And leaving aside the allegations, the epstein allegations, the ones that Virginia Roberts has made, as she was then called, its rare for him to do interviews. He doesnt do broadcasts. Hes never come across as someone, particularly comfortable in that kind of environment, unlike, say, his nephews whove grown up in it, even unlike his older brother. On that level, at least, did you feel you came away with a better sense of the man than you had before . I think its impossible to overstate how unusual this was for us. I mean, a sit down with the royal family, thats not sort of Walking Around a garden talking about, you know, trees or good works. This is quite rare in itself. And an accountability interview of this nature felt extraordinary for that reason. As you said, he doesnt do many sit down interviews. And this was an interview in which he knew how uncomfortable the subject matter would be. And there are moments where it is quite raw and its quite visceral and its quite uncomfortable for the viewer. And i think what you take away from that, aside from the content, is that this is a man right at the heart of the royal family who doesnt actually do this ever. Earlier, i spoke to the media lawyer Mark Stephens and asked him what he made of Prince Andrews decision to speak out now. Well, i think any Reputation Management professional, whether a lawyer or pr, is going to say that this was a catastrophic error of judgment. Only if you were absolutely certain that Prince Andrew could draw a line under every question and there were complete and fullsome answers to all of the questions would you say that this was a wise move. The questions that have already been left begging about why he went afterJeffrey Epstein was convicted to stay with him for several nights, doesnt really answer people will have real concerns about that the answer to the question about not knowing or not remembering. Of course, members of the royal family do see a lot of people but there are challenges about that and this is going to open up more questions and answers. Up more questions than it answers. It gives a body of information to the people in america and at the moment he isjust a bit part player in all of that, very important in terms of celebrity or status, but he isjust a bit part player in the case that