Hello, youre watching afternoon live im simon mccoy. Today at 2. Stop using inflammatory language Princes William and harry issue a joint statement denying a newspaper report speculating about their relationship. With his wife meghan joining on a conference call, prince harry prepares for a crucial meeting with the queen, his father and brother to discuss their future role. A historic moment for Northern Ireland as borisjohnson arrives in stormont to mark the restoration of devolution in Northern Ireland. Whats so great about it today is, asi whats so great about it today is, as i say, that Northern Ireland politicians have put aside their differences, stepped up to the plate and shown leadership. Thousands leave their homes as the taal volcano begins to spew lava, sparking warnings
of a hazardous eruption possibly within hours. Tight lipped flybe declines to comment on reports that the airline is in crisis talks in an attempt to prevent financial collapse. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport jane. Former world athletics president lamine diack has arrived for his corruption trial in paris. Hes been investigated over allegations that he took payments for deferring sanctions against russian drugs cheats. He denies the charges. Talk to you later, thank you. And storm brendan is on its way . Yes, ill give you more on that later, and on how these stones develops rapidly and drive across the uk. You then. Also coming up joker leads the Oscar Nominations, the film is up for eleven awards. And just behind that, with ten Oscar Nominations is war drama 1917. Ill be speaking to the star of that film, George Mackay, at two thirty. Hello everyone this is afternoon live. The eyes of the world are on sandringham this afternoon as members of the royal family gather for a historic summit. Top of the agenda the future role of the duke and duchess of sussex but at stake perhaps the future role of all so called minor royals. The stage is already tense a few hours ago Princes William and harry issued a strongly worded statement, describing as false and offensive a report in the Times Newspaper which suggests a breakdown in their relationship. Last week, harry and meghan announced out of the blue that they wanted to step down as senior royals. In the next few hours that will be at the heart of discussions between the queen,Prince Charles, prince willam, and prince harry with the duchess of sussex expected tojoin by phone from canada. This report from our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell does contain some flash photography. There are big issues at stake but at the heart of this is a family, and a feature of that is the relationship between two brothers, william and harry. This morning, a newspaper reported that harry felt he and his wife had been pushed away from the royal family by the, quote, bullying attitude of william. That brought a swift response, a joint statement from william and harry describing the story is false. At sandringham, as the duke of edinburgh was seen out and about on the estate, in the main house, the queen will be joined by the prince of wales, Prince William and by prince harry. It will be a chance for him to explain to them face to face why he and his wife want partially to withdraw from royal life and for the family to try to agree
on how such a withdrawal would work. The main issues have been identified. How would they finance a semi royal life . Would they expect to keep their royal titles . And who would pay for and provide their security . Theres already evidence that the couple are seeking nonroyal work. Here are harry and meghan at a film premiere last summer. The cameras caught harrys conversation with the chairman of the disney corporation, asking him if he could find his wife some voice over work. And, as the royal family tries to find a way forward, commentators are adding their analysis. Some are suggesting that criticism of meghan has been racially motivated. Its the tabloid press who have taken a particular tone with Meghan Markle and from the very beginning wanted to allude to the fact that she had African Heritage and that this was something that really threatened continuity within the royal family. Officials reject suggestions that
either meghan or harry have been driven out. Quite the reverse, in fact, they say that ever since their wedding, everyone from the queen down has recognised them as a hugely popular couple. Furthermore, theyve been at the heart of the prince of wales vision for the future of the monarchy, or at least, they have been until now. Now, it appears that they want to find a way out. Meghan is said to be adamant, harry is said to be conflicted. Our royal correspondent Daniela Relph is at sandringham. Every now and then in your life, theres a meeting at which you just wish you were a fly on the wall. This is going to be one of those 0h, this is going to be one of those oh, gosh, this is definitely one of those oh, to be a fly on the wall in that room inside the main house at sandringham where we have to presume now that that meeting, the sandringham summit as its been
dubbed, is now under way. What we are not getting as any kind of running commentary, guidance on when things started, when things are likely to wrap up exactly who is in the room and what is on the agenda. So they are just not willing to give us so they are just not willing to give us that kind of detail. But i think we can probably safely say at this point that things are under way. We know that both william and harry have been here since this morning, Prince Charles came in last night, the queen is obviously year as part of her winter court, its where she spent the period of time after christmas. So things are under way. And its 6am or so on Vancouver Island on the west coast of canada there. You would expect that leg would be in a position now to sorted through the ring in and join the conversation as well. That meghan would be in a position. And someone has to put out a press release at the end of this . What we are hoping for is that the end of the day that there will be some kind of closing statement in terms of what the state of play is. And because we have been
given such a full briefing that this is happening, you know, told over the weekend that this was going to be happening today, all the media have been facilitated here on the sandringham estate, with various facilities late on for us, you would think if theyve gone public on the meeting actually happening, one who is attending and really what the kind of issues at stake are, you would hope that Buckingham Palace and the press teams around all the senior members of the royal family would feel that they would need to sort of with whats happened and what has gone on over the course of the afternoon. So i think we can anticipate, hopefully, some kind of kind of end of day statement. But whats not clear is how much detail that will give us. Thank you very much, back to you later on. Katie nicholl is the royal editor at vanity fair magazine and author of the book harry and meghan. Weve already had one statement today, perhaps underlining how tense things are. Yes, the statement from the brothers. Already weve had discord in briefings, royal sources,
to have a statement that is actually a joint statement between these two brothers was actually a bit of a relief because it does show that there is unity there. And i think eve ryo ne there is unity there. And i think everyone is hoping that if we dont get the statement that we want at the end of the day, that at some point soon there is going to be a compromise that will be reached. Because the idea that this is all going to be wrapped up in a day, its not, but this meeting at such an important meeting because it is the bringing together of the four principles of the First Time Since this all exploded and because so many damaging and sensational headlines, for them all to get together and start to thrash things out. You say four a mates five, there is someone listening in and contributing presumably on the phone. We know that meghan is an early riser, dont forget those dawn e mails to staff that upset some people at the palace, if anyone is going to be on the phone early, it would be the duchess of sussex the
mood in this meeting is going to be crucial, do you think there will be a sense of anger perhaps of the queen feeling snubbed by not being first told about this, or is at the heart of this a couple who are extremely vulnerable, clearly . think the latter, and i think the queen is aware that they are both quite vulnerable. Im told she is very concerned for her grandson. The queen doesnt really do angry. She was certainly hurt and upset by the way they took matters into their own hands and busted this out without really thinking it through, but anger doesnt get anyone anywhere. This just needs to be resolved now andi this just needs to be resolved now and i think its got to be a cool head ina and i think its got to be a cool head in a crisis. But its clearly a lot of simmering resentment, but i do think that statement you just mentioned between the two brothers does say a lot about wanting to perhaps draw a line under that anger and move on. Whatever is discussed will not just affect the duke and move on. Whatever is discussed will notjust affect the duke and duchess of sussex, we talking billy about how all royals in the future, particularly Prince Williams children will be expected to behave,
whether you can be half on or off out of this family. We are really about. Absolutely, and i think if a blueprint is to be found whereby this couple can have some commitment to the royal family, this couple can have some commitment to the royalfamily, carry this couple can have some commitment to the royal family, carry out some duties but actually be able to lead lives that they want to lead, then perhaps the prospect is a sunnier one for the cambridge children. Im not sure quite whether the principles are seen in that way at this point but that might perhaps be something to think about further down the line. Meghan need only look at twitter this morning and perhaps feel, this is why im doing all this, those of us who are around in the diana years, there is a move thatis the diana years, there is a move that is strikingly familiar and a rather dangerous one at that. Yes, absolutely, there is. And there are a lwa ys absolutely, there is. And there are always two size every story and she does feel she has been the victim of a negative press, certainly over here in britain. Two sides to every story. Harry has always had a
complex relationship with the press, there is a huge part of this that is about wanting to escape this, i think. But there are misguided if they think going to canada is going to bea they think going to canada is going to be a place where there are no cameras and the paparazzi, and in fa ct if cameras and the paparazzi, and in fact if you think about the level of intrusion they have had, the british media have largely left them as a family alone to raise archie away from the spotlight in windsor. I mean, there havent been any paparazzi pictures of them. I think that something that might change in canada. Its less the paparazzi, though, isnt it . Its those snide comments, the article suggesting that what meghan does is harmful in some way, there are those articles about. There is something wrong. S, and a lot of people are quick to pounce on it being racism and sexism and all that. I think a key part of it is that she is married into the royalfamily are it is that she is married into the royal family are quite different women to previous brides, she had a successful career before shes an
outspoken she wasnt this blank ca nvas outspoken she wasnt this blank canvas the royal family could just project an image onto, she was a person under the personality at that. And clear that she has married into a that. And clear that she has married intoafamily that. And clear that she has married into a family thats based on tradition and heritage and moves at a slow pace while meghan does not move at a slow pace, and i think that has become apparent through all this. A person and a big personality. She has leveraged, archie is with her in canada at the moment. Id say that is leveraged, bigla ridge. The message is clear, im here with archie and that needs to be resolved. Big leveraged. And theres a degree, the couple do have the royal family over a barrel of it, if they decided to do a tell all interview, can you imagine how damaging that could be for the royal family . You would imagine that could be nothing but damaging to everyone involved, one way or another. Absolutely, and you would hope it would never come to that but i would think everything is under discussion
as far as the couple is concerned. I would say dont rule everything out. Dont rule anything out. Would say dont rule everything out. Dont rule anything out. Thank you. Borisjohnson and the irish Prime Minister leo varadkar are in belfast meeting members of the new devolved government. Mrjohnson says its a historic time for the people of Northern Ireland after power sharing was restored on saturday after a three year stand off. Our ireland correspondent chris page reports and a warning, his report does contain some flash photography. , the First Official visit to the headquarters of the government which hasnt existed for more than 1,000 days. Many wondered if the deal would ever be sealed. But after months of negotiations, the power sharing coalition is back, headed by the democratic unionists leader Arlene Foster and Michelle Oneill of sinn fein. Mrjohnson wanted to savour a landmark moment. Never mind the hand of history on my shoulder. I see the hand of history. No, i see the hand of the future. I see the hand of the future beckoning us all and i hope that with goodwill and compromise and hard work on all sides it will be a very Bright Future indeed. The Prime Minister was might come to Apartment Building thats suddenly the Prime Minister has come to Apartment Building thats suddenly functioning and abuzz after a long and toxic stalemate. But now that the negotiations to restore devolution have succeeded, the parties are keen to talk cash. The biggest priority will be solving huge problems in the regional nhs. Northern ireland has the longest hospital waiting times in the uk by far, and workers, including nurses, have been on strike over pay and staffing levels. But they think having a Government Back will make a big difference. Of course our Health Service is still in crisis. Nothing has changed in two days, but the fact we have local political leaders in place, decision makers, that we have found the table around the table that we can have decisions made at, thats
a tremendous step forward. The question now is how much money local ministers will need to resolve the Health Service crisis and achieve all the other aims set out to restore devolution. Theres commitment that schools will have a sustainable budget, stormont says that in the last decade education spending has fallen by £250 million in real terms. Another focus is infrastructure, a High Speed Rail link from belfast and dublin to cork will be considered, and there is a promise to upgrade the sewerage system. The Water Company says it will take £2. 5 billion to make it fit for purpose. All that is just a start. Stormonts power sharing partnership has been reborn. But these new ministers have a massive challenge to make Northern Ireland thrive. In the past half hour, clive lewis has pulled out of the labour leadership race. Candidates wanting to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader have until 2 30 this afternoon to secure the support of 22 mps or meps. Mr lewis the mp for norwich south only had five of the 22 needed and in a statement said he was standing aside in the spirit of pluralism, diversity and generosity. four candidates, including the favourites, sir keir starmer and rebecca long bailey are already through. We can speak to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young so what are we expecting today . Clearly some labour mps are living in pretty late to get their nominations and, not all of them will do so, of course. Clive lewis has not got over that hurdle so he will not be able to go forward and he is saying hes pulling out of the race because he wants those who nominated him, theres five including himself, to be able to nominate other people. The other person struggling is emily thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, very high profile, senior woman in the party. She still needs
more votes and shes got 15 minutes to get those. Yesterday she told the bbc she was confident she would manage to do so. Shes been over in the house of commons, some people have spoken to her and she suggested it will be pretty tight for her. And of course theres the deputy leadership race, and in that, all the candidates have managed to get the candidates have managed to get the nominations, richard burgin, though, trying to do so. So i think once we know what that list is then they have to go through another hoop, they have to get the backing of at least two unions and for some constituency leaders, so its not overfor constituency leaders, so its not over for them. They still had to get to the hustings and the leadership contest itself, and the big question is what they want to do . Do they wa nt to is what they want to do . Do they want to carry on under the same policies as under corbyn, that is what rebecca long bailey is offering, she does not have any of a
problem with those policies, and indeed says she was one writing them. Sir keir starmer says he wants more change. Of course